Examples of Excellence (Mar 2023)
March 2023
Overview
USD 231 is proud of the daily accomplishments in our classrooms and buildings. We are frequently notified of awards, generous donations by community members, and other occasions that warrant special attention. The USD 231 'Examples of Excellence' newsletter is produced to share the stories of our student and employee successes!
Do you have a 'feel-good' story or accomplishment to share? Let us know by submitting the information HERE.
GEHS Car Club Presented with Robert Cook Scholarship
On March 21, the Robert Cook Scholarship was presented to the GEHS Car Club ($2,000) to use towards the purchase of equipment that will aid in projects students are currently working on. THANK YOU!!!
The "Blazer Review" Launches
The Blazer Review is the literary and arts journal of Gardner Edgerton High School. It is edited by GEHS students and the artwork, poems, short stories, and creative nonfiction within it are all created by GEHS students. The 2022-23 issue, edited by senior Sophia Krauskopf and junior Ellie Parks, launched on March 1, 2023, to great success as students and staff celebrated together in the GEHS library. This year's full color copies were distributed free of charge thanks to a partnership with local partner TradeNet Publishing. This issue includes work by over 50 students including front cover artwork by senior Madison Orth.
Photo blurbs
Co-editors Sophia Krauskopf and junior Ellie Parks pictured here with sponsor Shannon Carriger.
Junior Alexa Oatman's artwork "I Feel Anxious" is the center image of the journal, and her "Untitled" double page spread appears late in journal as well.
Congratulations! Well done!!!
Girls On The Run at Moonlight Elementary
Moonlight Elementary is bringing back Girls on the Run (GOTR). This is an international organization working to empower young girls emotionally & physically. Erin Brown, DeAnn VanHouten, Ashley Stecklein, and Sonny Begert at Moonlight composed a team of 16 third & fourth grade girls. They began practice Monday, March 6 and will continue through May 4.
GOTR practice sessions are a combination of lesson and half physical practice. The lesson topics vary; examples: connections, empathy, self-talk, community impact. The physical practice includes warm-ups, stretches, running/jogging/walking laps. They end each session with cool downs, energy awards, and session celebrations. The season ends with a area-wide 5K at Swope Park with all GOTR teams from the KC area.
These are the girls participating: Karlie Anderson - 4th Addie Augustine - 3rd KaLiyah Bowen -4th Drew Dial - 3rd Kylar Coffey - 3rd Taylor Fanning - 4th Emmy Haggy 4th Chloe Hoedl - 4th Karrington Lac Kamp - 3rd Arilynn Lyons - 3rd Everly Pearson - 3rd *not sure, her home school is Sunflower Elementary and I don't have that list Olivia Riebel - 3rd Lucee Stewart - 3rd Kaylee Sturgeon - 4th Jaylee Waldman
Trail Ridge 8th Paleontology Club Finds Evidence of Rare Dinosaur
A team of eighth-grade scientists at Trail Ridge Middle School just wrapped up a month-long research project and sent hundreds of newly identified fossils back to Washington state where some of them will be kept at the Burke Field Museum, including a small tooth that proved to be a BIG find.
The club met officially on Thursdays, but several students found themselves working on their sediment in the classroom every day after school. To the random passerby, their work probably looked pretty boring as they sat hunched over a tray filled with small rocks… but once they knew what to look for it became clear that the sediment was absolutely loaded with microfossils. The team found over 300 fossilized fish scales, which are easy to identify because of their distinct appearance and shine. In the field, these are important because you tend to find them as they slowly fall down cliff faces. Then, by following the trail of scales, you can locate the specific layer that harbors fossil material. Once a layer is identified, the paleontologists will shovel as much of it into bags as they can carry back to the campsite. When the dirt and dust is washed away you are left with pebbles and fossils… the perfect sample to take back to the lab… or our classroom. Over 150 teeth were found, as well as some partial jaws that still had the teeth in place. These represented a wide variety of animal groups, including: ● Fish (shark & stingrays, gar, bowfin, other unidentified fish) ● Reptiles (unidentified) ● Mammals (therian & multituberculate) ● Dinosaurs (Richardoestesia & triceratops) They also found several pieces of turtle shell and over 50 vertebrae, primarily from fish but also a few from small amphibians and reptiles.
The site in Montana that the sediment was retrieved from has been dated to 67 million years ago- about one million years before the asteroid would hit Earth. Our evidence suggests that what is now the badlands of Montana was once a lush river ecosystem that could support giants like triceratops.
The biggest find made by the Trail Ridge team came when a student picked out a tiny tooth that was first thought to be from an ancient relative of modern crocodilians. However, when later analyzed under the digital microscope a huge clue would surface: a serrated edge. The only known animals from the Hell Creek formation with serrated teeth are theropod dinosaurs, the group that includes dinosaurs like the T. rex and velociraptor.
After reaching out to a couple of experts a positive ID was made. The tooth belonged to a species of small, theropod dinosaur that is named Richardoestesia. Very little is known about this dinosaur. Fossils have proven elusive and to this day we only know it existed because of the teeth (and one partial jaw) that it left behind. There is ongoing debate in the field of paleontology over what exactly left these teeth, but the most commonly accepted explanation is that it is a small raptor that lived alongside rivers where it would consume fish.
Individual gar scale alongside glass of scales
Triceratops tooth with jaw fragment still attached
Three fish jaws with teeth still attached
Aaron Batterbee receives the KACEE Award: Educator
Congratulations to Mr. Aaron Batterbee (Science teacher at GEHS) who was awarded the KACEE Award for 2023. Mr. Batterbee models the best of hands-on and real world problem-solving strategies with his students. From projects where his students partner with local water quality organizations to do stream testing to a partnership with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and Evergy to clean up and restore a wetland near the school, which he uses regularly with students to test water quality, inventory the habitat, bird watch and grow water willow to improve the habitat and water quality.
Mr. Batterbee sponsors the school's Ecology Club and engages students in supporting recycling and brings in partners whenever possible to both support student learning and give students real world experiences in conservation.
Congratulations, Aaron!
USD 231 Musicians Perform in KMEA All-State Honor Ensembles
Each year, student musicians audition for a variety of different honor ensembles. The audition process is very competitive, with thousands of students auditioning across the state. Being selected is one of the highest honors a student musician can receive in the state of Kansas.
The following students participated in the 2022-2023 Kansas Music Educators Association State Honor Ensembles:
KMEA All-State Elementary Honor Choir
Gardner Elementary
Lily Hartley
Madison Elementary
Cali Campbell
Allyson Chenoweth
Haven Hensley
Annie Ward
Lydia Weil
Wheatridge Middle
Gabby Doroh
Lily Workman
KMEA All-State Middle Level Honor Choir
Pioneer Ridge Middle
Gabriella Holland
Natalie Woerdehoff
Trail Ridge Middle
Emma Lloyd
Wheatridge Middle
Alissa Luft
KMEA All-State High School Treble Honor Choir
Grace Rieder
Samantha Scoggins
KMEA All-State High School Mixed Honor Choir
Aubrie Blanz
Elaine Jensen (4-Year Member)
Jacob Venevongsoth *Alternate
KMEA All-State String Orchestra
Nicholas Belcher
KMEA All-State Full Orchestra
Alexa Rieder
Josh Droegemeier
Madison Elementary
Left to right: Lydia Weil, Haven Hensley, Christina Kromminga, Ally Chenoweth, and Annie Ward (Cali Campbell not pictured)
KMEA Middle Level
Left to right: Natalie Woerdehoff, Gabriella Holland, Emma Lloyd, and Alissa Luft