May 15, 2003
Volume 15, No. 9
The staff and students from Summit invite you to the school's annual SHINE program. On May 19, student work from each discipline, including English, science, social studies, math, foreign languages, technology, and art, will be exhibited. The exhibition will be accompanied by Summit's terrific music ensembles. Come see the creative projects and examples of excellence from our students this year! Please join us for this special SHINE-ing! Doors open at 3 p.m. and close at 6 p.m.
We're in the home stretch at Summit, and the final concerts are in sight. Please note one of our two May performance dates has changed.
The first show, featuring Starlight, Jazz Band 1, Jazz Band 3, and Silver Rain, will be held as originally scheduled on May 21 at 7 p.m. at Boulder High School. Vocalists should show up, in uniform, 30 minutes before the concert begins, and instrumentalists should arrive 45 minutes before the concert for tuning and warm-up.
The second show, originally scheduled for May 20, has been moved to May 22 at 7:30 p.m. This show features the Choir, Jazz Band 2, Orchestra, and Select Strings. Vocal students should arrive by 7 p.m. and instrumentalists by 6:45 p.m. for tuning and warm-up. I apologize if this change creates an inconvenience for our families. On both nights, we'll have fun surprises between performances.
All string players and Silver Rain will perform at Summit's 8th grade graduation on June 6. See the following article for more information of special note for our participating musicians.
We are pleased to invite all Summit students and parents to the ceremony and reception honoring this year's graduating 8th grade students, hosted by Summit's board and administration. Graduation will be on June 6, in the auditorium at Fairview High School and will begin promptly at 1 p.m. We also invite you to enjoy the reception following graduation.
Please note the following information about the schedule and logistics for June 6, which are different in several important ways from a usual school day:
We appreciate your arriving at Fairview a bit early so that we can begin graduation on time at 1 p.m. Thank you for joining us for this important Summit tradition as we honor and wish farewell to our Class of 2003. We look forward to seeing you at Fairview on June 6.
Volunteers are still needed for the 8th grade graduation ceremony at Fairview High School on June 6. We like to have parents of 6th and 7th graders handle these duties, so the 8th grade parents can enjoy the day with their families.
We need parents to help with clean up after the graduation reception. All kids are picked up at Fairview so it just means staying for an extra 45 minutes or so. Many parent volunteers will have been there all day helping with the graduation ceremony, and it seems unfair to ask them to do clean up, too. Duties will include cleaning up decorations, picking up trash, and loading leftovers, coolers, etc. into cars for transport back to Summit. A few drivers will be needed who can then take our supplies back to Summit. Please call me if you have questions at 303-554-1816.
The Tools For Learning campaign is almost over, but still needs the support of more than 100 Summit families if we are to reach our goals for the year. The campaign has raised over $78,000 to date, and has received donations from 200 Summit households as well as some of their employers, some alumni families, and even some families that will be new to Summit in the fall. That's 86% of the way to our funding goal of $90,000, and 64% of the way to our participation goal of 100%. Thanks to all who have given. A final mailing of pledge packets will be sent this week, with phone reminders in another week, so please just give what you can to help keep Summit strong.
Are you a secret donor? We have a credit card pledge of $200, with an account number, but no signature and no name listed on the pledge card. We'd love to accept your donation, but can't without more information and an authorizing signature. See Shelly Hendrick at school or call John Jacus at 303-892-7305 weekdays to confirm if this is your pledge. Please complete your pledge carefully so we can accept your donation and promptly record it for mailing a tax receipt and thank you letter.
Once again, we list below more recent donors to the TFL campaign in this issue of Summit News. The following Summit families and alumni families (noted with an asterisk*) made donations in April 2003 unless otherwise noted:
Very recent donors (May 1 to present) and future donors will be listed in a future issue of Summit News, and all donors will be listed in the Supporters of Summit Annual Report on Giving, to be distributed to all Summit families by the end of the school year.
Thanks to the families who regularly participated in this year's grocery certificate program. This program raised more than $3,000 for Summit, a significant increase over last year's sales. Our thanks to Joan Jacus for successfully managing the program this year.
WE ALL BUY GROCERIES and the grocery certificate program is an easy fund raiser for the school. If you have not been a regular purchaser at Summit, we are considering changes to next year's program to make it even more convenient for more families to participate. This year we offered King Soopers certificates. Beginning in the fall, we will also offer Safeway, Wild Oats, and/or the (new) Boulder Co-op debit cards and certificates, if there is enough interest among our school families. We are also considering selling grocery certificates in front of the school two Fridays per month during morning drop off. We are interested in knowing whether one or both of these changes would encourage YOU to purchase certificates.
WE ARE SEEKING YOUR INPUT ON HOW TO ENCOURAGE MORE FAMILIES TO PARTICIPATE ON A REGULAR BASIS. Look for a brief survey and fall order form in your registration packet to be distributed shortly. Please call Dolly Dean at 303-473-9600 or email me at dohdean[at]aol.com if you have suggestions for expanding the program.
Many, many thanks to the wonderful volunteers who helped make the Spring Rec Center "lock-in" a success for 140 Summit students. They enjoyed basketball, volleyball, swimming, rock climbing, dancing, and especially the company of friends during an evening designed purely for fun, friendship, and enjoyment. We implemented a new check-in system that made the arrival/intake process faster and less chaotic for both students and volunteers.
After expenses for facility, pizza, soda, and hospitality, we realized a $479 profit for Summit! Many thanks to Dominos Pizza for providing pizza at a greatly discounted price. And a big thank you to Heather Rubi and Rebekah Olstad for providing equipment (Heather) and music (Heather and Rebekah) for the dance room.
With the exception of a few minor incidents, our students were well-behaved and represented Summit commendably. Thanks again to the volunteers who made this event possible: Norma Sierra, Carol Baum, Regula Steffen, Diann Glander, Kurt Fuhrman, Jenny Lucas, Dave and Linda Parkhill, Marianna Gnedin, Rachna Rawat, Christine and Chuck Blake, Cheryle Kapsak, Stanley Strauss, Howard Foster, Wendy Block, and Randy Sparks. Thank you also to the parents who provided impromptu help with clean-up at the end. And a special thank you to those who stayed and helped until everything was done. It was a pleasure working with you all, and a pleasure to see our students having such a good time.
THANKS to the wonderful Summit parents who graciously and generously donated their time and energy to donate delicious food throughout the 2002-2003 school year! All your donations and efforts have been greatly appreciated by staff, students, and parents. Those of us on the Summit Hospitality Committee -Lauren Hager, Angie Dorsey, and I - are also very grateful for all your help!
Many thanks to all who participated in the Spanish Club carnival on May 2. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, desperately nibbling away at donuts on a string, ring tossing, dime tossing, playing Spanish bingo, duct taping Mr. Havens to the wall, getting face and body painted, showing their strength in the tug-o-war, speedily sack racing, and plastering whip cream pies in the faces of Mr. Finell, Ms. Dornbush, Mr. Liebowitz, myself and (belatedly during lunch this week) Mr. Zettas! The snow cones, nachos, taquitos and Jarritos were a big hit. It was terrific to see everyone participating and your enjoyment earned more than $440 toward summer youth programs at Casa de la Esperanza, a migrant housing community.
The Spanish Club would like to thank Ms. Hendrick and Mrs. Warden for full-time help with set-up and supervision, Ms. Stough for providing a camera at the last minute, many teachers and staff for helping with supervision and laughter control, and Fairview High School Spanish Club members Preston Puckett, Eric Hansford, and Sabrina Von Allen for aiding our club members in the duties. Eric is a Summit graduate and the brother of Julia!
We plan on this being the first annual Spring Carnival and hope to see you next year to help us support the local Hispanic community.
Ten Spanish Club members attended a half-day festival in Brighton recently. There were fabulous exhibitions representing Aztec, American Indian, European, and African cultures along with Animals of the Wild. It was a great experience learning about knights and jousting, Aztec customs, and representations and African music and rhythm. We learned fascinating facts about unusual animals. The whole experience was participatory and educational. Attending were Rachel Baum, Gwen McGillivray, Helen Sims, Sandy MacDonnell, Alison Ferris, Sabine Kunz, Lizzy Halpern, Alexandra Rogers, Erin Silk, and Elizabeth Fleagle. Many thanks to Mrs. Baum, who helped Mrs. Blakemore chaperone.
The Foundation for Boulder Valley Schools holds a huge annual fundraiser to earn money to fund classroom mini-grants, Tech Grants, the Ask program, the Connect program, Students at Risk grants and the Impact on Learning awards. This year's theme was Latino based. Several Spanish Club members volunteered as hostesses on May 9. They participated in a training program on May 7 and then helped the party guests enjoy themselves by aiding with check-in, the silent and live auctions, surprise box sales, and checkout. Thank you to Summit students Teresa Wong, Gwen McGillivray, Elizabeth Fleagle, Rachel Baum, Katie Kopel, and Summit graduates Tegan McGillivray and Kate Beall.
The Spanish Club adopted a Boulder County road this spring. Twice a year members will clean up a mile and a half of 51st Street, from Jay Road to the Boulder Reservoir. Our first clean-up will be May 18. On your way to summer fun at the Rez, please see our sign and don't litter!
On April 26, seven students from Summit Middle School competed in the State History Day competition held at CU Boulder. The following is a list of students and the category in which they participated at the state competition.
Students from throughout Colorado ventured to Boulder to compete in this annual competition. For students to qualify for the state competition, they had to move through school and district competitions. The competition was fierce and only five students from the entire Boulder Valley School District qualified for the national competition. Three of those five students are from Summit Middle School! Sarah Smith and Tess Udall received first place in their category and Sabine Kunz also qualified for the national competition with a second place finish in her category. Nationals will be held at the University of Maryland, June 15 though June 19. Congratulations to all of those who participated in the State History Day and good luck to those going on to nationals.
Also, thank you to all the parents, teachers, and staff who have supported the students who have participated in the History Day experience.
All Summit World History 6th graders are busy building catapults at home for our Summit sixth annual catapult competition, to be held on May 23. Parents are invited to attend this festival of the Middle Ages! We need photographers, judges, cookies, and lemonade. If you can help, please send an email to me at summitkapsak[at]yahoo.com, call me at school, or send a note with your student. I hope the catapult projects are going well at home. If any one has an extra castle wall, may I please borrow it? Thank you.
Summit History club attended the Habitat for Humanity House dedication at 1128 Baker Street in Longmont on May 4. Students brought five large gift baskets of items donated by generous and caring Summit students and sang a song written by three talented History Club composers: --Tas Drake, Andrew Hyde, and Matthew Markham. After participating in the house dedication we celebrated our first year with a History Club picnic. "Showers to Go," Julia Hansford's award-winning community service project, is now in its final stages. We will be filling bags with personal hygiene supplies in the days ahead, to be donated to local poor and homeless. We held our bake sale and cake raffle May 12, and our team is preparing for the Relay for Life in June. Many thanks to these great Summit students who give their hearts to community service and make the world a better place, one kind act at a time.
Congratulations to the following Summit artists, who have their works of art on display at the Boulder Public Library main branch on Arapahoe Avenue: Bianca Griffith, Anna Sergeeva, Andy Cowley, Sarah Goldstein, Albert Brown, Kate Schimel, Michelle D'ippolito, Dana Stapleton, You Yeon Jung, Cassie Hickman, Rishi Rawat, Rachel Ertz, Jordan Leggett, and David Forman. Stop by to check out their works of art!. The Boulder Valley School District Art Show will run from May 11 through June 2.
As the end of another successful school year approaches, it is a wonderful time to think about honoring a Summit volunteer, staff member, or student. Donating a book to the Summit library in honor of a special person provides a lasting reminder of your appreciation as well as benefiting our school. I would be happy to help you pick a book from our wish list. Please email me (cathy.woods[at]bvsd.k12.co.us) and I will send you our wish list.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: All library materials are due May 16. Students receive overdue notices weekly, and should be aware of the materials that they have checked out. Each student must pay all fines and pay to replace lost materials before receiving his/her final report card.
Eighth grade graduates are eligible to take high school summer courses for credit through the Boulder Valley School District. Classes offered that might be of interest to Summit students include Algebra I (regular), U.S. Government, U.S. History, and Health. Please see Ms. Bartley for a complete list of courses offered and an application if you are interested.
Each summer, some of our families ask if they can borrow Summit textbooks for use during summer vacation. Unfortunately, Summit is not able to loan out textbooks during the summer months. All textbooks must be returned so they can be re-catalogued, repaired, and made ready for distribution when school starts again in August. Families may instead consider purchasing textbooks for summer use. A good source is Follett Pre-owned Textbooks (phone: 1-800-621-4272). The ISBN number of the book must be provided when making an order, and credit card purchases are accepted.
Many thanks to all of the parents who helped make Li'l Abner a success on so many levels. Your commitment and dedication to the students and their success was phenomenal. You gave your time, energy, talents, food, patience, love and encouragement. Your kids were terrific and so were you!
Appreciations to: Joan Jacus, Sally Scott, Dana Van Loon, Barb Silk, Dorinda Cudney, Penny and David Hannegan, Carol Kearns, Connie Harmon, Laurie Kuelthau, Barbra Weidlein, Michael Lamson, Dolly Dean, Polly Douglass, Joan Nagel, Cathy Reisfield, Bonnie Lucara, Linda Stancliffe, Beth and Tom White-O¹Connor, Sharon Atcheson, Claire Thurston, Mikael Van Loon, Grace Galler, Lynne Jacobs, Grace Galler, Toshiko Luckow, Pamela Guthrie, Mary Horton, Leslie Swirhun, Kathy Huttman, Claire Stepleton, Loretta Melhado, Jennifer and David Strand, Isabel Echenique, Clarissa King, Risa Heywood, Teresa Niebauer, Annie Davids, Lisa Lewis, Nancy D'Ippolito, Lori Cameron, Jon Karpilow, Margaret Sparks, Cynthia Mazzei, Julie Oatman, Irene Reese, Allison Stevens, Nancy D¹Ippolito, Nina Khosravi, Geoff Thrumston, and Ralph Gregory. If your name is missing, PLEASE forgive us for the omission and please know you are appreciated!
After the final curtain, there was still much work to be done. A standing ovation to the parents that came on Sunday to help us clean up Platt Middle School and move props and other materials back to Summit, including Irene Reese, Lori Cameron, Ron Harmon, Mikael and Dana Van Loon, Sally and Doug Scott, Tom Mahowald, Paul Atcheson, Grace and Bruce Galler, Dolly Dean, Tim Stancliffe, Regula Steffen (who did not even have a child participating in Li'l Abner!), and the wonderful dad that vacuumed the entire auditorium. Thanks for all your hard work.
Sixth graders must have a second MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) immunization and a series of three hepatitis immunizations before entering 7th grade. Please remember to send in a copy of your child's latest immunization record from the doctor for our records. If you have already sent one in this year and no immunizations have been updated, you do not need to send us one. Thanks!
The Foundation for Boulder Valley Schools has reluctantly decided to postpone the announcement of the Tech 21 grant recipients until May 30. This decision is due to the effects of the school consolidations and closures. The Foundation apologizes for this delay to all those who have worked incredibly hard on the grant applications. The quality and the quantity of the applications are a true reflection of the professionalism and dedication of teachers, parents, and administrators. Good luck to all the applicants and schools. If you have any questions, please contact Christina Suarez, Program Officer, at 303-447-5132.
Ms. Dornbush's Summer Art Camps are filling up quickly! The first session is almost full; however, there is still space available in the second session! Please e-mail Ms. Dornbush at talya_dornbush[at]yahoo.com for more information. For those enrolled, I will send information to you soon!
The Summit Board has approved Summit's school year calendar for 2003-2004. Take a look at the end of this newsletter for all the important dates you will need to know for next year!
For any student needing a bus pass for the summer months, the Just-for-Youth student bus pass is available for June, July, and August. The Just-for-Youth pass is sold at RTD bus stations, King Soopers, and Safeway. The price is $10 a month.
All graduating 8th grade girls interested in playing basketball at Boulder High next year will have some opportunities to begin their basketball career at BHS a little early. A league will begin May 20 with games on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A basketball camp will also be held at BHS June 9 through June 13, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., for a cost of $85. Potential BHS players may also attend the CSU team camp from June 14 through June 17. Please call 303-447-5310 for more information.
Incoming Boulder High School 9th graders can meet coaches at BHS May 21 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. This is an opportunity for incoming 9th graders and their parents to meet coaches and receive information about summer camps, conditioning, and the upcoming season.
The deadline for the Bolder Boulder registration at Summit has passed. Please take your forms to a BB registration site (such as Crossroads Mall) and they will try to add you to our numbers, though it is not guaranteed that you will get a goodie bag. You will still receive the Middle School discount. I will distribute Information with your registration packets, as soon as they arrive, about where we can meet before or after the Memorial Day race.
Check out the list posted by the library of who is participating with the Summit BB team. Congratulations to all students, parents, and staff participating in the Bolder Boulder training program. You have been focused and hard working and I laud you all. Just wait and see the results!
There are two more CU Wizards programs for this school year. They include:
Free parking is available in lots 169, 308, 396, and 436. Shows begin at 9:30 a.m.
Tutoring hours offered by Summit teachers for our students are posted on the school web site at www.summitmiddleschool.org.
To see the current or back issues of Summit News, information about Summit, links to other charter schools, and related education information, refer to Summit's web site via: http://www.summitmiddleschool.org.
If you are changing your email address or would like to add an email address to the Summit News distribution list, please send an email to tmahowald[at]qwest.net. Thank you for the updates.
The next Summit News will be distributed in two weeks. If you have news, notes, or announcements, forward them via email to pat.hyde[at]attbi.com.