March 1, 2004
Volume 17, No. 4
There will be no Hot Lunch on Friday, March 5th. Although BVSD does not have school, Summit does.
On Wednesday, March 3rd, the Boulder High and Fairview High School counselors will return to Summit and meet again with 8th graders to complete the registration process. Please remind your student to bring his or her completed registration sheet, which must be signed by a parent, on March 3rd! Students will hand in their registration materials to the counselors, who will meet individually with each student to go over course choices and make sure everything is complete. NOTE: Students who forget to bring their sheet, or who do not have their parent's signature, must hand-deliver their own registration materials to their high school, as they will have missed Summit's registration process.
Summit musicians will have a Mid-Winter concert on the evening of Monday, March 15th, 7:00 p.m. at Boulder High School. The following groups have enough music prepared for a performance at this time: Starlight, Silver Rain, Jazz Band 2, Select Strings, Ceoltori.
I don't like to put a group out in front of an audience prematurely. As you can see, we have a great variety of music for your enjoyment, and a few other surprises as well! Instrumentalists should arrive by 6:15 p.m. and vocalists should arrive by 6:30 p.m. for warm-ups and tuning.
Thanks. -- Doug Ackerson, Music Guy
Here is the summary from the Summit Board's February 19th meeting:
-- Ashley O'Connor, Boardmember
We're looking for a volunteer to supervise the library during lunch on Wednesdays (11:45 a.m. -12:30 p.m.). If you could help out on a regular basis, contact Cathy Woods at 303-444-1791 or cathy.woods@bvsd.k12.co.us. Thanks!
Spelling Bee Winners and Finalists! In January and February, the English Department held a three-round bee to select a contestant for the annual Daily Camera Spelling Bee in March. Once again, this year's top speller was Sam Galler, an 8th grader in English IV, who was the district-wide winner in 2002 and will represent Summit for the third straight year at the district/county competition next month.
After facing some very challenging words in the first and second rounds, the finalists who advanced to the third round included: Jordan Leggett, Jordan Lerner, Keith Winchester, Peter Hanssen, Jen Godina, and Robin Betz. In addition, the individual classroom winners were Zoe Thrumston, Frances Cheng, Ethan Hobson, and Paul Benz (English I); Christian Allen, Taj Dunn, and Max Saal (English II); and Ben Kuelthau and Victor Li (English III).
Congratulations to all and best of luck to Sam in the next round and beyond!
Parents … Staff … Teachers … Students ... Everyone! … is invited to attend a great lunchtime meeting with a representative from the Bolder Boulder on Tuesday March 2nd, 12:29 - 12:59 p.m. It will be a fun, energetic presentation, designed to gear us all up for the upcoming Bolder Boulder.
On March 4th, there will be informational meetings at lunch and after school in Room 6 about the training program and the many training options available. Then, on March 8th, tie up those running shoes because training starts, right after school.
There are no fees…just an invitation to students and adults to train for the Bolder Boulder, have fun, run our way into spring…and repeat our title as Middle School Champions! See you there!
-- Wendy Blakemore
Would you like to earn over $1,000 this summer while improving your own community? Would you enjoy working on a team with people your age, outdoors, for eight weeks this summer?
If you will be 14 years old by June 14th, and not older than 17, the Boulder County Youth Corps may have a job for you. Please pick up an application in the counseling office, or see Ms. Bartley for more information. You'll need to act fast…the deadline for applications is Friday, April 2nd.
-- Kendra Bartley
Monet, Renoir, and Manet met along the river to master the art of painting. This summer, kids will be offered the same opportunity… Ms. Dornbush is holding her popular art camp once again.
Participants will draw and paint along the Boulder Creek from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon each day. The camp will run for two, 2-week sessions. The first camp is June 21st to July 2nd; the second camp is July 5th to July 16th. For further information, please contact Ms. Dornbush at talya_dornbush@yahoo.com. Thank you.
Congratulations to Summit's MATHCOUNTS team for its outstanding performance at the Boulder Chapter competition on February 20th Marshall Carpenter (last year's state champion), Thomas Davids, Victor Li and Charlie Wilcox defeated 13 schools in three districts to defend Summit's championship. They will advance to the state competition on March 20th.
The top three individual scorers were also Summit team members! Thomas Davids took first place, Marshall Carpenter second and Charlie Wilcox third.
Thanks also to Albert Brown, Catherine Chen, Zoë Ingerson and Chris Metzler who represented Summit as individuals, all with commendable scores..
We are now preparing to defend our state championship, so please wish us luck!
-- Coach Greta Frohbieter
-- Haydee Phelps, Science Fair Coordinator; Peter Teasdale
The Science Department would like to congratulate ALL of the Summit 8th grade class members on the outstanding projects they completed this year. After two rounds of judging, we are pleased to announce this year's Summit Science Fair finalists. These students will be representing Summit Middle School with twenty projects at the District Regional INTEL ISEF Science Fair on March 4. We wish them good luck!
Sabine Kunz, Meg Simpson, Teresa Adams, Christopher Jarmon, Carrie Morgan, Elizabeth Fleagle, Michelle D'Ippolito, Erin Silk, Anna Sergeeva, Emily Woods, Rebecca Heywood, Alison Ferris, Allison Grady, Rachel Baum, Katherine Schimel, Erika Yamisaki, Nicholas Gerstle, Iam Heinzman, Nick Federov, and Elizabeth Rovira and Malia Guy with a team project.
Dear Summit Parents,
Boulder Valley School District is an advocate for the arts, however due to budget constraints in recent years there has not been funding for an arts coordinator. Stan Garrnett, among other BVSD board members, is suggesting that this be reviewed. This coordinator would oversee the district wide art shows, music and theater performances and would be a key proponent for the arts. I believe that this is an important step in ensuring that there is funding for the arts in Boulder schools, including Summit and other charter schools.
Mr. Garrnett has asked teachers to write a letter, in support of this position, to the board. He has invited parents and students to write as well.
Thank you.
-- Talya Dornbush
Have You Contributed to This Year's "Tools for Learning" Campaign? We are asking every family to help us reach our goal of 100 percent participation. Every donation counts -- in whatever amount is comfortable for your family -- we are counting on you!
The amount of money we raise is important, but so is our participation rate. Foundations and other grant programs look at parental participation in the annual fund campaign when considering grant applications. So far, only 65% of our current families have contributed to this campaign -- if you have been meaning to return your pledge, PLEASE DO IT TODAY! Additional pledge cards are available in the office and your pledge card can be returned to the office.
We are pleased to say that we have now received $88,000 in donations and pledges. This puts us within reach of our goal of $100,000 which will help us to meet a number of unmet needs, including upgrading our computer equipment and facilities. Thanks to the following families and alumni who have recently contributed:
* Denotes alumni family
Please remember to offer our school's number to the cashier when you're shopping at Office Depot. Summit will receive a five percent rebate on the amount of your purchase! Our school's number is 70017080. Thanks for your support!
February 26, 2004
The meeting began with a wonderful performance by our Celtic music group, Ceoltori. After introductions of two of Summit's founders, the recent video made by the U.S. Department of Education at Summit was shown. The video highlights Summit's accomplishment in winning the Blue Ribbon award due to continued excellence.
Mr. Finell reviewed some of the year's accomplishments, including:
Summit Board elections were the next agenda item. This year, three, 2-year terms are on the ballot, as well as one, 1-year term. The three highest vote-getters will serve two years and the fourth highest will serve for one year. Ballots and statements from each of the candidates will be mailed to each Summit family on March 5th. Please return promptly.
Paul Atcheson, Board member and chair of AAA committee, gave a short presentation on ways in which Summit uses standardized test results to analyze the performance of our curriculum. To determine if our curriculum is accomplishing what it was designed to do, we look at individual performance through middle school. In this way, we can determine the rate of increase in an individual student's learning, as measured by that student's standardized test performance from year to year. Results of the analysis will be published in the Annual Report.
Dolly Dean, Fundraising Chair, reported that this year's Tools For Learning campaign is the most successful in Summit's history. As of this date, $88,000 has been contributed by 65% of our current families together with an increased number of alumni families and some family foundations. This puts us very close to our monetary goal of $100,000. The remainder of the TFL campaign is focused on trying to get the percentage of families contributing to 100%, no matter at what monetary level. Foundations who give grants to schools always look at the level of participation as an indicator of support of the school by its constituents.
David Schermerhorn, Board member and Facilities Chair, discussed ways in which the committee has approached Summit's obviously inadequate facility. The approach has evolved from the initial focus on just getting a portable gym to the idea of developing a master site plan to address other site inadequacies as well. This has led to presentations to the Board by two excellent architectural firms specializing in school construction and remodeling. Simultaneously, the Board has taken the position with BVSD that Summit should move to the Paddock site if New Vista moves to the Baseline site. Another possible option is getting in on a District bond issue to fund improvements to our current site. Given the political uncertainties of moving to Paddock or being allowed on the bond ballot, the Board has concluded it is best to hire a professional consultant to help us develop a master plan program needs assessment. This would be essential in remodeling our site with either public school bond funds or private funding.
After a Q and A period, a Board candidate forum was held. The four candidates, Paul Atcheson, Dave Kopel, Barb Kostanick and Betsy Phelan, were introduced and given an opportunity to speak and take questions.
Boulder High School's Parent Forum Committee presents a free, informative evening with Dr. Michael Riera. Dr Riera is a best-selling author on the issues of adolescence, families and parenting. He has appeared on Oprah and The View and is a correspondent for the CBS Morning Show. Tuesday, March 9th, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Boulder High School Auditorium. All parents are invited to come and learn from this engaging speaker!