Celebrations @ Sierra
Sierra Middle School Community Update — May 2015
Sierra Rubik's Cube Club Wins Big
The Sierra Rubik's Cube Club won the team event at the Colorado Rubik's Challenge Tournament that was held on April 14, 2015, in Monument, Colorado. The event was open to all schools and groups in the state and featured more than 20 teams and over 150 individual competitors.
Teams in the tournament had to solve 25 scrambled cubes in the fastest time possible. Sierra finished in 2 minutes 39.728 seconds during the heat rounds and won the final round with a time of 2 minutes 27.080 seconds. They beat the 2nd place team by more than 9 seconds.
Kyle Oakley, an 8th grader, took 2nd place in the solo competition. Kyle solved a single cube in 28.8 seconds.
Team members for Sierra: Riley Clark, Tyler Oakley, Kyle Oakley, Ethan McBride, Declan Palmer, Michael Bittrolff, William Verhoeven, and David Heurtevant.
History Day Participants Heading to Nationals
Team Vail Osprey's Ilke Derycke, Caitlynn Doyle, Megan Steinheimer, and their winning project on Eleanor Roosevelt are heading to the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest at the University of Maryland, College Park in June. Congratulations, ladies!
Sierra's Science Olympiad Competes @ State
Sierra's Science Olympiad went to the state tournament on April 18th in Golden at the School of Mines. The team competed in 23 events. The team scored in the top 10 for several events, including Air Trajectory, Robo-Cross, Write It Do It. The team took first place for Wheeled Vehicle! Team members ended the season with a culminating celebration to reflect on their success and prepare for next year. Team Members included Whitney Greaves, Ilke Derycke, Caitlynn Doyle, Megan Steinheimer, Matthew Belter, Jacob Engelstad, Jacob Vinson, Spencer Kime, Natalie Plaia, Sean Meadows, Declan Palmer, Kaysea Lawrence, Justice Sylva, and Evan Indge. Science Olympiad was sponsored by 7/8 grade science teacher Jessica Taylor.
Student Council Participates in Wish Week
The members of Sierra's Student Council donated $1,000. to Chaparral High School's Wish Week. In total, Chaparral raised close to $50,000. for Make-A-Wish. #AllInforColton
Lauren Lundgaard's architecture photograph took 1st place in this month's Digital Design photo contest.
NJHS Completes Service Project
Sierra Middle School NJHS students donated materials and their time to create 68 fleece blankets in under 2 hours at their after school meeting on April 15. Based on suggestions from the students, the blankets have been donated to Colorado Cuddles from the Heart and Denver Rescue Mission. Special thanks to Mrs. VanDoren and Ms. Wolfard for lending a hand.
Parker Task Force, Project Angel Heart, & Food for Orphans Benefit from Penny Harvest
Over the last few months students of the Penny Harvest Roundtable have researched and interviewed members of various nonprofit organizations as they decided how to disburse the $1,300. raised in last October's Penny Harvest. Based on student input, the following organizations benefited from these funds: Parker Task Force...$400.00; Project Angel Heart...$400.00; Food for Orphans ...$400.00; Assisted Animal Therapy Programs of Colorado ...$100.00.
Declan Palmer Honored with Journalism Award
The Journalism Education Association has named Sierra's own 8th grader Declan Palmer the 2015 Aspiring Young Journalist Award honoree.Declan has served two years on the Eagle Eye yearbook staff serving as copy/design editor in 2013-2014 and editor-in-chief in 2014-2015. He also served on the Summit newspaper staff as a photographer for two years and as a reporter with STV for a semester. Congratulations, Declan!
Sierra's Library Receives National Award
Sierra's Teacher-Librarians Stephanie Meurer and Jennifer Milstead, and language arts teacher, Erin Kelley, are the recipients of the 2015 American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) Collaborative School Library Award. The award recognizes and encourages collaboration and partnerships between school librarians and teachers through joint planning of a program, unit or event in support of the curriculum and using school library resources. Stephanie Meurer and Jennifer Milstead have worked in collaboration with the 8th-grade language arts teachers at Sierra to develop the project Investigating the Holocaust: A Collaborative Inquiry. The project began as a way to extend students’ learning of the play “The Diary of Anne Frank” by creating a museum type experience in the school library. Using resources from the National Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Anne Frank Museum, the Shoah Foundation, and the Newseum teachers, librarians, and students curated exhibits of photographs, oral histories, fiction, poetry and video. PRESS RELEASE
Caleb Covak Designs Winning Poster
Caleb Covak, from Mr. Thornton's Digital Design class, submitted the winning entry for this year's Recycling Poster Contest. Sponsored by NJHS to encourage recycling at Sierra Middle School, Caleb's poster will be on display throughout Sierra when students return in August.
Library Challenge Winners Named
Congratulations to Bianca Gonzales and Sawyer Keeneth. Both students submitted original designs to last month's Bookmark Design Contest. Their winning entries will be printed and available to students when they check out books next year in the LMC. View their entries here.