May 17, 2001
Volume 11, No. 9
Due to timing overlap conflict with a Fairview concert, the starting time of the final performance of Choir, Starlight and Silver Rain has been changed from 7:00 PM to 5:30 PM on May 24.
To help you plan ahead for the next school year, please see the following 2001-2002 Summit school calendar, as approved by the Summit Board. This calendar indicates holidays and other key dates.
Can you believe the year is almost over? It's time to start thinking about next year! Every year we gather carpool information from our families, which is then sent to Denver Metro RideArrangers. They create the carpool lists, based on zip code, that are sent out in mid- to late summer so our families can arrange for carpools to Summit. Please return your carpool form to the Summit office. Mark yes if you are interested, or no to let us know that we should not include your name.
The meeting on May 14 was the last official meeting for Board members Marti Gorman and Scott Smith. We extend our sincerest thanks to both of them for their enthusiastic, dedicated service to Summit.
The Board approved a request to add Othello to the English 4 reading list. Two more IBM computers will be purchased, and an additional computer will be donated for use in the library. New students continue with placement assessments and registration. The administrative staff is working on plans for lunch and passing periods next year. All Summit families are encouraged to attend the S.H.I.N.E. evening on May 31.
The Board discussed teacher course assignments for next year as well as the electives to be offered, based on student signups. Summit's appeal to the State Board of Education will be heard on July 11. The hiring committee has begun teacher candidate observations and interviews.
Summit has extended an invitation to two German students, both studying to be teachers, who want to do an internship at Summit in September and October. They will need host families. Kathleen Inman is coordinating a reorganization of the teacher workroom, to make the space more convenient and usable for staff and parent volunteers. The Board will hold a year-end evaluation and planning retreat in late June.
The last Board meeting of the 2000-2001 school year will be on June 4 at 7 PM in the Summit library. We will officially welcome new Board members Debbie Feyh, John Jacus, and Tom Mahowald and select new Board officers.
Mark your calendar and come to Summit on Thursday, May 31, from 7 to 9 PM to celebrate our students' achievements in science. Enjoy an evening of hands-on, interactive science, hosted by Summit 8th graders. Technology purchased with the S.H.I.N.E. grant from the Toshiba Foundation will be demonstrated. Parents of 8th grade students are especially encouraged to attend, and all parents are invited.
If you missed the show last Saturday, or even if you were there, be sure to catch the final performance this Friday at 7 PM at Boulder High. It is a great show, and what a talented and funny cast! Ms. Hanckel and Dr. Burkhart have done an incredible job putting the show together -- you will be impressed. Pick up your tickets at the door. We'll see you there!
Parents and music students, please mark these dates on your calendar. We will be recording these concerts. Please plan to attend!
Select Strings and Orchestra will perform at 7 PM on Thursday, May 17, at the Academy, a retirement community located at 970 Aurora Avenue. The entrance is on the 10th Street side.
Choir, Starlight and Silver Rain will give their last performance of the school year on Thursday, May 24, also at the Academy. Due to a conflict with a Fairview concert, the time has been changed from 7:00 PM to 5:30 PM. Students should be at the Academy by 4 PM for warm-ups, if possible, or by 5:30 at the latest.
This is it! If you are going to run with the Summit group in the Bolder Boulder on May 28 you need to turn in your application this week. Here's the last minute scoop about the race.
1. To count towards Summit's numbers, you must turn in your entry to Ms. Blakemore or the Summit office.
2. You may be in any wave you want. The Middle School waves are "O" for runners and "V" for walkers. We have lots of our gang (35 - 40 to date) in these waves, but you may choose a different wave if you wish and still count as part of Summit. Just specify it on the entry form.
3. Students receive a $4.00 discount, a special design T-shirt and packet of goodies in addition to their race packet!
4. We will have a meeting place to walk to the start and a meeting place at the finish in the stadium. Both are optional, but available. (We do request that you have someone to meet you at the finish in case you can't find our group.)
5. If there is enough interest, we will have a "pasta feed" on the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend.
6. Centennial Middle School has 100 students and families signed up. Horizon has 71, with only 101 middle schoolers total. Let's get our Summit numbers up!!!
7. The Bolder Boulder Race is a BLAST! Come join the fun!
Call Ms. Blakemore @ 303-530-7173 with questions. Remember, it will make her muy feliz! And we wouldn't want to see Ms. Blakemore poco feliz, would we?
Congratulations to these 6th grade students who designed and shot outstanding catapults! (Editor's note-- the finished products were truly incredible and showed a lot of hard work and ingenuity in design). Thanks to all the parents and teachers who came to watch!
All Summit parents, families, friends, and alumni are invited to attend Summit's graduation ceremony on Friday, June 8, from 1:00 to 2:45 PM in the Fairview High School auditorium. The ceremony will be preceded by music performed by Summit's music ensembles, and Summit parent and retiring board member Scott Smith will give the commencement address. The ceremony will conclude with refreshments in the Fairview cafeteria. Please join us in wishing all our graduates the best of luck in their new high school adventures!!
Eighth grade students should be dropped off at or ride the SKIP bus to be at Fairview High School by 8:55 AM on June 8 so that they are ready to begin rehearsal at 9:00 AM. THEY SHOULD NOT BRING BACKPACKS. Lunch will be provided for them.
All other students will go by bus from Summit to Fairview at approximately 12:30 PM, and must be picked up between 2:45 and 2:55 PM at the back entrance to Fairview (by Southern Hills, on Knox Drive).
By now, all 87 Summit 8th graders should have received an invitation to the graduation party on the evening of June 8, 2001. If you have not received yours, please call Janet Christensen at 303-499-5786.
Enclosed with the invitation is a parent volunteer request sheet. Parents of 8th graders, please read the sheet and sign up to help in whatever way you can. We need several donations of prizes for a raffle and the use of tables and other items for the evening. Volunteers are also needed to decorate and set up, clean up, and everything in between! At least 10 parent chaperones must be on hand at all times during the party, so we especially appreciate parents who can sign up to stay for all or part of the party. Call Janet Christensen with any questions about how to help.
Appropriate attire for the party is semi-formal, which we define as a dress or skirt and blouse for girls and nice pants or slacks with a nice shirt for guys or girls. Please, no jeans, casual shorts, torn or ripped shirts, or shirts with sayings on them. Also, we remind our students that the party is a time for Summit graduating 8th graders only; no siblings or friends from outside Summit will be admitted.
Scholarships to help with the price of the party are available. Please contact the Summit office.
Speaking of parties … you know those simple yet fancy "wear-'em-once-and-put-'em-in-the-back-of-the-closet" dresses that have not been collecting compliments all these years because your child will never wear them again? Bring 'em on!
With graduation festivities coming up, we will be collecting those fancy duds for girls to borrow for those special events. Raid your high school and college-aged daughter's closets! We'll have a rack or two of cool clothes available for borrowing on May 29.
Details to follow ... call the Summit office with questions.
To all new families, and current families who want to join us, please come to an informal Meet 'n Mingle on Wednesday, May 30, from 2:00 to 3:30 PM in the Summit library. We look forward to meeting all the families new to Summit and sharing with you the wonderful volunteer opportunities we have at Summit.
Congratulations to Laura Tippit, who was one of ten girls selected to be on the Tennis Team Colorado. These girls are groomed to become competitive national players. Laura has won a number of Colorado and intermountain U.S. tennis tournaments. She is one of the top two players who will represent Colorado in an upcoming U.S. Tennis Association national tournament. Good luck, Laura!
Like their 7th and 8th grade counterparts, whom we profiled in the last issue of the Summit News, the 6th grade Math Olympiad team had a great year. The team solved challenging math problems every Tuesday after school from October through March. Students competed in a series of five contests, each having five problems to solve. The following team members will be receiving individual awards:
Eric Gonzales, a junior at Fairview High School and a Summit graduate and former Math Olympiad team member, assisted Connie Harmon with the team. Thank you, Eric!! And CONGRATULATIONS to a fantastic team!!
Special thanks to Shelly Hendrick for all her hard work in putting together the volunteer dessert "thank you" buffet that was held before our annual Summit community meeting. We wish all our fantastic volunteers could have been there to enjoy the sweets. Without the dedication and hard work of all our parent volunteers, Summit would not function.
A huge thank you to Joan Jacus and Debbie Feyh for the wonderful job they did during Staff Appreciation Week. The breakfast, the luncheon and the baskets done by the Summit families showed our teachers and staff how much we value all that they do.
Thanks to Mindy Logan for supervising the school grounds during lunch on Wednesdays. Her willingness to pitch in gives Coach Adams a much needed break and the opportunity to have lunch and interact with the rest of the staff. If anyone else is interested in providing additional lunchtime supervision, please call Julie Dotson at 303-499-8749.
Finally, many thanks to Kathleen Inman whose outstanding organizational skills have helped keep our teachers and staff on track throughout the school year!
Are you interested in coordinating tasks and working with our wonderful Summit families and staff? We need an energetic and willing volunteer to chair the Parent Volunteer Connection (PVC) next year. If the job seems too much to do alone, perhaps two or three of you would like to co-chair the PVC. Many of the committee chair positions are filled, so the PVC coordinator job really is a matter of keeping things rolling on a week-to-week basis. If you have questions or might be interested, please call Julie Dotson at 303-499-8749.
Summit families, please consider donating items to the "Showers to Go" project for homeless people in Boulder. The goal is to collect items that would help a homeless person with personal hygiene - soap, shampoo, comb and brush, toothbrush and toothpaste, tissues, lotion, deodorant, etc.
This student-originated project demonstrates the compassion and thoughtfulness of our Summit students. Will you help? All donations should go to Ms. Kapsak in Room 110. Please see her for more information. Thank you.
The StarHouse Ensemble choir, directed by our own Dr. Burkhart, will perform locally on Saturday and Sunday, June 2 and 3, and Saturday, June 16.
The StarHouse Ensemble, a group of Front Range singers who have delighted Colorado audiences for more than four years now, will perform a wide range of spiritual (and spirited!) music at three Front Range concerts entitled "This Sacred Place." On the evenings of Saturday and Sunday, June 2 and 3, the choir will perform at The StarHouse, a beautiful ceremonial center in the mountains overlooking Boulder. A Denver concert will be given on Saturday, June 16, at Cameron Church, committed to interweaving spirituality and the arts.
Ensemble director Burkhart explains, "Music goes directly to the soul, both through words and in spite of words. Music takes the words deeper into the soul. Our intention in this musical program is to speak to the individual soul of the listener with warmth and humor."
So, bring yourselves, your friends, and - definitely - your souls! Because seating is limited, advance ticket purchase is highly recommended. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Concerts at The StarHouse (www.TheStarHouse.org) are co-sponsored by All Seasons Chalice. Call 303-271-0374 for concert times, tickets, and directions.
The North Boulder Recreation Center hosts Friday Night Live, an open house for youth 9 to 14 years old, from 7 to 10:30 PM on Fridays. For more information, call the Rec Center at 303-413-7260 or go to www.fnl-nites.com.
In an effort to understand why some parents do not buy grocery certificates, we conducted an informal survey pf these parents. What we found was that it wasn't enough to know that these certificates reduce the risk of cancer and correlate highly with academic achievement. People want more. They said we need a giveaway …
Like a Summit T-shirt or perhaps a ride to a Summit Board meeting? No, they said, it has to be big. Like what, we said? Something like a car, they said. A car, we said? Yes, like a Corvette or maybe a Mustang. Oh, that big, we said? Yes, they said. That would get us to buy grocery certificates.
Well, it didn't take long for us to find out what an amazing person Joan Jacus really is. She looked those parents straight in the eye and said, "If that's what it takes to get parents to buy grocery certificates, then that's what I'll do." Next thing you know, she was on the phone calling the Ford dealer.
So, through Joan's quick action and generosity, we will be giving away a gorgeous, candy apple red Ford Mustang GT convertible to some lucky grocery certificate buyer. Look for the specially marked grocery certificate in the stash that you buy this week and see Joan to redeem it for the car.
Since there are now no excuses not to buy grocery certificates, be sure to stock up for the summer. In case your children haven't reminded you in the last hour or so, there are only a couple of weeks left in the school year.
We will be selling grocery certificates in the Summit parking lot from 2:50 to 3:10 PM Thursday afternoons. So, bring your money and win a car!
As always, you can also stop by the Summit office to purchase your grocery certificates. If you can't make it to the office, call Joan Jacus at 303-499-3013. Joan might even drive over to your house in the Mustang to get grocery certificates to you. Thanks for supporting Summit with this ongoing fundraiser.
Thank you to Ms. Blakemore for submitting this dialogue between two 6th graders:
Student A: "We only have 15 days left of school."
Student B: "No we don't, we have 20."
Student A: "Nuh, uh. The last week doesn't count 'cause they don't make us do anything."
Ms. Blakemore adds, I guess they don't know about finals ....
Please send humorous, and printable, material that you've heard around the school to: tomwhiteoc@msn.com
From May 1 to July 31, 2001, Radio Shack is once again partnering with the Wireless Foundation to collect cell phones for the Donate-a-Phone Campaign. Phones will be reprogrammed with 911 and other emergency numbers and given to victims of domestic violence so they can access emergency services at the touch of a button. If you have a phone to donate, stop by Radio Shack, ASAP.
If you know of families interested in finding out more about Summit, have them call the office at 303-499-9511 to receive a brochure and other Summit information.
The next deadline for submissions for the next -- and last of the academic year! -- issue of Summit News is June 4. Articles may be sent to Tom White-O'Connor at tomwhiteoc@msn.com or left in Tom's file folder in the Summit office.
The Summit News has come to you every other week this year through the efforts of many people. Foremost among them is Tom White-O'Connor, who has done an excellent job collecting articles and being an extremely responsible and able editor. Thanks, Tom!
Each issue then travels electronically to Marti Gorman and Barbry Hogue, who edit and proofread it. Once a final version is ready, it flies via e-mail through cyberspace to our Summit e-community and to Linda Parkhill, who prints it out in hard copy format and mails it to those without the wonders of e-mail. It simultaneously goes to elder statesman and Summit webmaster, Ron Goldfarb, who posts it to the Summit website.
The entire process takes the better part of a week, twice a month. We are working on ways to refine our Summit community database and e-distribution system for all Summit materials. With any luck, the process will be even better by the time school starts again in August!
If you are not receiving your newsletter via e-mail and wish to, or if you would like the newsletter sent to a different or an additional electronic address, simply send a message to marthagorman@att.net.
If your student is graduating and you wish to be taken off the mailing list, please e-mail Marti Gorman (marthagorman@att.net). Otherwise, we'll put you on our alumni distribution list so that you can stay in touch with Summit!
http://bcn.boulder.co.us/univ_school/summit/
Whatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true to us. -- Susan L. Taylor
Call 303-938-9090
English Department Wed. 3:10 - 4:00, Rms. 107 & 108
Foreign Language Department
Music Department Mon. and Wed. 3:10 - 4:00
Math Department
Science Department Mondays 3:10 - 4:00
Social Studies Department