Courtesy Weld Re-8 School District

On Monday, May 6, the District Accountability Committee met and had many celebrations around our school district to share. We would like to pass this good news on to our community as much as possible.

Butler Elementary
    — Butler Elementary School hosted a Health Science Night. Joe Chavez scheduled more than 25 vendors for the health fair, providing valuable resources to our Fort Lupton families.
    — Butler and Twombly fifth-grade students will have a chance to get to know one another before starting middle school next year. Students will have their first gathering at the Fort Lupton Recreation Center for a picnic and team building.

Twombly Elementary
    — The art show at the public library was the biggest it’s ever been. We had standing room only, and that was even questionable. Twombly showcased 57 works of art, including some from the severe needs class for the first time.
    — On April 19 at the Colorado PTA Convention, Rosalie McMillan was awarded the Sue Anderson Educational Advocate Award. Many of the Twombly staff went to watch her receive this honor, which took her by complete surprise.

Quest Academy
    — Tiana Linkus was recently notified that after winning the local Optimist essay contest, her submission advanced in the competition and she will be awarded a $2500 scholarship. Tiana’s essay was judged against middle and high school entries in all of Colorado and Wyoming. Optimist officials couldn’t believe that an eighth-grader’s entry surpassed those of even high school seniors.  Way to go, Tiana!
    — Second-grader Emma Tone’s family arranged for her cousin in the Peace Corps to visit her classroom this year. This special guest shared about her work at the Gobajango School in Africa, and our students saw pictures of the African children using sticks and rocks to make a toy car. The class decided to donate a bag full of cars, and the Gobajango school decided to model them after our Best of Quest initiative and use them to recognize positive effort, achievement and behavior among their students. We appreciate our families and volunteers who enrich our Core Knowledge curriculum with relevant examples of geography and culture.

Fort Lupton Middle School
    — WEB (Where Everybody Belongs) students welcomed fifth-grade students on a tour of the middle school.
    — From the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey Results our bullying data shows a solid decline: In 2009 it was at 56 percent, then in 2010 it was down to 50 percent and down to 38 and 30 percent in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Anti-bullying has been a major focus throughout the school year and we are delighted to see such significant improvement.

Fort Lupton High School
    — We have 17 students who applied for the Weld County Community Foundation Scholarship, the most of any high school in Weld County. We received notice that 12 out of our 17 applicants have received $15,000 in scholarship money from The Community Foundation.
    — The National Honor Society (NHS) is graduating 18 seniors who have earned their sashes for graduation. Earning the sashes requires the completion of 48 hours of community service and a 3.5 GPA.  NHS is also inducted 19 new members May 8.

Weld Re-8 School District
    — The Colorado Department of Education selected our school district to receive a grant to work with the Darden School of Business Program at the University of Virginia (UVA). UVA is a unique partnership between its Darden School of Business, the Curry School of Education, and a School District.
    — Nancy Wendirad was voted the Migrant Educator of the year for the Weld Re-8 School District. Ms. Wendirad is a true advocate for our migrant population who works hard to ensure that they receive quality education and know about all of their educational options when they move on from our school district.