September 13, 1996
Volume 2, No. 1
With the emphatic declaration "Summit!" an auditorium filled with sixth, seventh and eight graders, led by principal Steve Haas, opened Summit Middle School and the 1996-1997 academic year. Guests in attendance were superintendent Lydia Swize, Board of Education members Kim Saporito and Don Shonkwiler, and Southern Hills principal Don Stensrud and assistant principal Tracy Weber. Students were welcomed by Mr. Haas, the chair of the Summit Board of Directors Chris Howard, Mr. Stensrud, and Dr. Swize. They were then introduced to the Summit faculty and staff. In the audience were many members of the Summit Board of Directors and the Organizing Committee. For the Organizing Committee, opening day was the culmination of twenty months of work which began on January 3, 1995.
On September 18, all Summit Middle School parents are invited to Back-to-School Night. It will start at 7:00 PM and end at about 9:00 PM. Parents will pick up their student's schedule in the cafeteria. After a brief welcome in the auditorium, parents will have the opportunity to visit their student's classes during a mini-schedule. Each teacher will outline course scope and objectives, as well as discuss classroom procedures. Refreshments will be served in the cafeteria afterwards. Please bring about a dozen cookies to share. We look forward to seeing you!
Students: Please cross Knox Drive only at the marked crosswalk in front of school. Please do not walk between cars waiting to pick up students in the afternoon. Needless to say, do not walk in the street.
Bikers: If you ride your bike on Knox Drive, please avoid riding in the street. Rather, ride on the sidewalk in the park. (Watch out for pedestrians.) Walk your bike across Knox Drive at the marked crosswalk.
Drivers: Please drive slowly and carefully, especially near the crosswalk. Do not block the crosswalk when picking up students after school. Do not double-park and block traffic lanes on Knox Drive.
Thanks to Board member Tricia Olson, who worked tirelessly throughout the summer on registration and scheduling, writing computer programs and entering data. Her efforts were intense the week before school opened.
Thanks to Linda Greenberg, Sue Bruggeman, Connie Reukauf, and Terry Cook, who worked for two weeks, repairing lockers and changing combinations.
Thanks to Joan and John Harig, who volunteered countless hours in setting up classrooms, cleaning, repairing equipment, ordering supplies, contacting volunteers, and obtaining free office furniture from generous corporations such as IBM, Storage Tek, and Quantum Peripherals.
Thanks to Debbie Fee, who volunteered as office secretary during the opening weeks.
Thanks to Molly Heins for helping with the teacher luncheon, stamping books, and many other jobs.
Thanks to Melody and Aaron Johnson for stamping textbooks and organizing the orientation lunch.
Thanks to Carol, Mike, Steve, and Nick Thomas, Tom McKevitt, Judy Hart, and Naser and Shole Afsar and sons for hauling, moving and cleaning.
And thanks to scores of other Summit parents who have donated their time and energy to help open Summit this year.
The new main telephone number for Summit is 499-9511. Please call the attendance line, 447-5529, if your child will be late or absent.
The social year at Summit got off to a roaring start with last month's "lock-in" at the East Boulder Rec Center. A crowd of 114 students plus parents and faculty ate 33 pizzas, drank ten cases of soft drinks, and got to know each other through the night.
The Social Committee will convene on Wednesday, September 25th, at 7 PM to plan activities for the rest of the year. Any parent, faculty member, or student wishing to join is welcome. Call Dean of Fun Jeff Bradley, 499-4275, or Linda Koivuniemi, 546-0050. Location to be announced.
Parent Volunteer Organization
Molly Heins, Melody Johnson, and Judy Hart are forming Summit's Parent Volunteer Organization. Call Molly, 939-9151, to sign up. Get to know other Summit parents and help out during Summit activities.
Volunteers are needed to tape the covers of paperback books for the English classes. If you can come into the school office for an hour or so this week when it is convenient (e.g., after dropping students off, or before picking them up), your help in preserving the books would be appreciated.
The telephone in the school office rings frequently in the mornings. If you can spend some time answering the phone during the next couple of weeks, please contact Lisa Singletary, 499-9511.
Volunteers will soon be needed to help with landscaping.
A student directory is in preparation. Call Cathy Burchett, 443-3482, if you would like any information omitted.
Summit students can ride district school buses on a space-available basis, using only scheduled stops. For now, there is no charge; the district is deciding on a reasonable fee. Residents of Louisville interested in contracting with a private bus company, call Joanne Marcus, 665-1139. The cost is about $60 per month, round trip. Students would meet at a central location. Transportation coordinator for Broomfield is Peggy Pingle, 469-9417.
A few incidents of student harassment occurred last week. If you witness or are a victim of harassment or intimidation, please report it at once to a teacher, Ms. Strong, Coach Adams, or Mr. Haas. Until all students on campus get the message that aggression and intimidation are not tolerated, there may continue to be incidents of harassment. For the sake of your fellow students, as well as yourself, please report bullying immediately. The Summit and Southern Hills principals are working together on enforcing discipline throughout the campus.
Parents: If you want to help work on prevention of this type of problem, or if you have concerns about how student harassment is being handled, please call Kendra Bartley, Chair of the Discipline Committee, 581-0579.
We have an opening for a paraprofessional for lunchroom supervision, 10:30 to 11:30 AM, Monday through Friday. Contact Lisa Singletary.
The school district uses the period September 24 through October 8 to establish enrollment. Please make every effort to have your child attend during this time period.
Parents' calls to the counselor are usually returned after school hours because Ms. Strong is with students during the day. Please indicate in your phone message if there is an emergency.
Sixth- and Seventh-Grade Girls' Soccer
A Boulder Junior Soccer/NOVA girls team with several Summit and Southern Hills girls is looking for a few more sixth- and seventh-grade girls with soccer experience. Practices are Mondays and Fridays from 4:30 to 6:00 PM at the South Boulder Rec Center field (just down the hill). Games are on Saturdays, through October 26. If you are interested, please call one of the coaches: Randy Dole, 530-2762, or Hiroshi Motomura, 442-6498.
The 20th annual University of Colorado Wizards program is an informal introduction to astronomy, chemistry and physics, intended primarily for students in grades 5 through 9. Each program lasts about an hour and includes several lively demonstration experiments. No reservations are required.
Shows are on the last Saturday of each month, September through August. (Note that the June show is the third Saturday of the month.) All shows begin at 9:30 AM, except the June show, which begins at 10 AM. Parking is available for $1.00 in the Euclid parking structure. Free parking may be available east of Folsom Stadium and east of the Engineering Center.
September 28, Why Things Move, Prof. John Taylor, Duane Physics G-030 October 26, Water and Its Elements: Chemistry Wet and Chemistry Flaming, Prof. Casey Hynes, Chem 140 November 30, Time and Clocks, Prof. Paul Beale, Duane Physics G-030 December 28, Chemistry and Change, Prof. David Nesbitt, Chem 140 January 25, The Physics of Sports, Prof. Jim Faller, Duane Physics G-030 February 22, Polymers, Foams and Gels, Profs. Tarek Sammakia and Gordon Yee, Chem 140 March 29, Light, Color and Lasers, Prof. Dana Anderson, Duane Physics G-030 April 26, Wintergreen Lifesavers, Fireflies and Molecules, Prof. Kathy Rowlen, Chem 140 May 31, Liquid Crystals, Profs. Chris Conery and Noel Clark, Duane Physics G-030 June 21, The Sky Tonight, Prof. Katy Garmany, Fiske Planetarium (begins at 10 AM, but come early because seating is very limited; free parking south of Regent Administrative Center).
M.A. Spanish language and literature (minor in women's studies), Colorado State University; B.A. liberal arts and Spanish (minor in Latin American studies and Asian studies), Colorado State University.
A Colorado native, Ms. Stough brings a love for the Spanish language and culture to the classroom. She lived in Mexico as an undergraduate student in Guadalajara, 1989, and as a graduate student in Puebla, 1991. She has taught Spanish at the university level for six years at Colorado State, Metro, CU-Denver, Community College of Denver, and the School of Mines. While living in Mexico, she taught English at the University of the Americas and at a private school.
Ms. Stough has several achievements in the area of professional development. In 1994, she attended two Women's Studies conferences at the University of California, San Diego, and at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She presented a joint project about the El Salvadoran poet and author Claribel Alegría, who is an outspoken advocate of the on-going liberation struggle in her country. Ms. Stough also attended a conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in 1992 where she did simultaneous translating from English to Spanish and from Spanish to English. There she presented a paper on the global coffee industry and the role it plays in the Honduran economy and well-being of its people. In 1993 she presented a joint session at the Colorado Conference of Foreign Language Teachers about alternative approaches to teaching grammar and vocabulary in the classroom.
Ms. Stough believes in the "total physical response" approach to second-language acquisition: her classes are very active. She believes students retain more of a foreign language if they are physically and emotionally involved in it. She is constantly studying ways to teach culture in the classroom, based on her philosophy that language cannot be taught as an entity separate from the culture of a people. She is looking forward to sharing her experiences living and traveling in Mexico, Spain, and Honduras with Summit students.
M.A. (anticipated December 1996) German studies, University of Colorado; B.A. Germanic studies, University of Colorado.
As the daughter of an Air Force captain, Ms. Ammon had the opportunity to travel early in life. When she was three years old, her father was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. This began a seven-year stay for Ms. Ammon, where she learned to speak German through friends, school, and with the help of her parents. She attended German schools from kindergarten through fifth grade and lived in three different towns.
After returning to the United States at age eleven, Ms. Ammon proceeded to forget her German in the course of a few short weeks. She did not have the opportunity to speak German again until she took courses in college. She decided to go back to Germany, and spent one year studying at the University of Regensburg and traveling throughout Europe.
Ms. Ammon is nearing completion of her master's degree in German studies. She also teaches first and second year German courses at the University. While she is very interested in scholarly activities, she has become even more excited about teaching, and has decided to pursue that career rather than academia.
Summit Middle School has provided Ms. Ammon an excellent opportunity to share what she knows with young students. She brings enthusiasm and action to her classroom. She believes that language is a living, active being, which needs to be fed a diet of practice and humor. She engages her students in practical activities to learn the language.
The year has gotten off to a great start, and Ms. Ammon expects that it will only get better.