Enrich, Empower, Excel Summer School
Summer programming looked a little different this year but provided many of the great courses that families were accustomed to. Two programs within the district (ELP Super Summer and ALP summer school) and two community partners (YSS and United Way of Story County) joined together to create the Enrich, Empower, Excel summer program. Dr. Anthony Jones, Director of Equity and administrator in charge of the summer program said, “The reasons the programs joined together were to ensure all students have equal access to rich learning opportunities and to enhance the academic enrichment provided to all students.”
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New Logo and Brand Standards
In April 2018, the Ames community overwhelming approved a bond referendum for a new high school. With the design of the new Ames High School underway, now was a prime opportunity to assess the “Ames High” brand. Through our evaluation of the brand, we quickly realized that Ames High brand had no brand standards or proper file formats associated with it. Brand standards are a set of guidelines for the colors, graphic elements, logo specifications, and fonts that comprise a brand. In essence, they are the glue that holds a brand together. Without those, it is difficult to regulate how our brand is used and we often see the inconsistent application and an overall diminished brand. For example, a walk-through of Ames High showed three different secondary mascot logos being used in a variety of ways. Through our evaluation, we also quickly realized that our elementary schools, as well as Ames Middle School, would benefit from a solid identity.
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New Fellows Elementary Principal
We are pleased to announce Lana LaSalle as the new principal of Fellows Elementary School starting in the 2019-2020 school year. LaSalle has served as an elementary principal in the Bettendorf Community School District since 2012 and has vast knowledge in the areas of math and literacy curriculum. She has also been instrumental in providing professional development opportunities for staff in her district.
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Phases of Construction
On June 3, members of the school board and district administrative staff took a moment to celebrate years of design at the official “groundbreaking ceremony” for the next Ames High School. Just over a year since the Ames community approved a bond referendum for the building, the moment marked the end of design and the beginning of what will be a 3-year construction project to build the next Ames High School.
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The Ames High Experience
The high school experience is one that lasts with us forever. It is a formidable time in many of our lives where the experiences push us to become who we are. Values become established, personalities take hold, and it is a time when we contemplate our future and what we could become. There is no question that each high school experience is different, but the overall process remains the same: students gather together, they learn, and then they leave and make the world a better place. In Ames, our purpose is to empower every individual to reach their full personal and educational potential.
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Science Olympiad National Competition
To say that Ames has historically dominated the State Science OIympiad would be an understatement. The competition that includes chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, and general science categories, among others, has been won by Ames High 25/26 years and Ames Middle 24/27 years. That includes earlier this year when both teams won the Iowa Science Olympiad State Tournament at the University of Northern Iowa. Both teams beat the closest competitor by nearly 50 points and all but 4-5 of the 23 events in each division finished in the top three. Those wins earned them a trip to Ithaca, New York to the National Science Olympiad Tournament at Cornell University, May 31 to June 1.
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Girls Tennis 2019 State Champions
The Ames High girls tennis team followed up their runner-up state finish from a year ago with a team state championship this season. The Little Cyclones completed their second consecutive undefeated regular season and qualified for the team state tournament for a 13th straight season. Leading up to the team tournament, 4 players participated in the individual state tournament. Arunadee Fernando placed second in singles, Lauren Couves 4th, and the doubles team of Caitlyn Hanulikova and Chloe Wilson finished 6th overall.
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DECA 2019
The DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC) is the culmination of the DECA year. This year, more than 20,000 high school students, teacher-advisors, business professionals and alumni descended upon Orlando, Florida, for several days of DECA excitement. Ames High sent the largest delegation from the state of Iowa with 44 students. Each of those members qualified to attend based on their performance at the district and state level. DECA is a career and technical student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. Their industry-validated competitive events allow students to demonstrate career and college ready knowledge and skills at the highest high school level. Students from every state and many other countries including China, Honduras, Pakistan, Japan, and Spain competed at the international conference.
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Passion Clubs at Fellows Elementary
Care. Learn. Lead. At Fellows Elementary, this theme can be seen in the classroom, at assemblies, and in unique initiatives like passion clubs. New to this school year, third to fifth-grade students selected an interest-oriented club that was sponsored by teachers to be a part of. Fellows Principal Brandon Schrauth said, “This year we have been focusing on increasing a sense of belonging amongst our students. Passion clubs were one action we identified to increase belonging and support students in identifying their greatness.”
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Seal of Biliteracy: A New Recognition to Celebrate Language Proficiency
In October 2018, Iowa Department of Education announced that a state Seal of Biliteracy would be available for participating schools to recognize students who demonstrate proficiency in two or more languages by high school graduation. Ames Community School District is pleased to announce that students will have an opportunity to earn this seal. To receive a seal, students in participating schools must demonstrate proficiency in English and at least one other language through approved assessments. Students must be able to read, write, listen, speak in the language they are testing. Read more about the biliteracy guidance, including proficiency levels and accepted assessments here. At Ames High, assessments will be available in French, German, and Spanish. Additional languages are available to students off-site.
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