Weekly Parent Newsletter

Click on the STEM Events Calendar to see everything that is happening at STEM. We've added Enrichment and Athletic Events to the calendar as well. Upcoming events include:

• Monday, Feb. 19 - No School - Presidents' Day
  
• Wednesday, Feb. 21 (5:30-7:30 p.m.) - STEM SAC Monthly Meeting (KOSON/P-TECH Building)
• Monday, Feb. 26-Friday, March 1 - Elementary Love of Reading Week
• Monday, Feb. 26 (5-7 p.m.) - Love and Logic Parent Night (High School Commons/Zoom)
• Thursday, Feb. 29 (5-7 p.m.) - STEM PTO Skate City Night (Skate City Littleton)
• Friday, March 1 (3:15-4:30 p.m.) - Wish Week - Staff vs. Student Basketball Game (Secondary Gym)
• Friday, March 1-Friday, March 8 - NHS Wish Week
• Tuesday, March 5 (7:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.) - Vision and Hearing Screening
• Tuesday, March 5 (3:15-4 p.m.) - Student Forum/Information Session (High School Commons)
• Tuesday, March 5 (5-7 p.m.) - STEM's Got Talent Dress Rehearsal for Students
• Tuesday, March 5 (5:30-7 p.m.) - KOSON/STEM Monthly Board Meeting (KOSON/P-TECH Building)
• Wednesday, March 6 (7:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.) - Vision and Hearing Screening
• Thursday, March 7 (6-9 p.m.) - STEM's Got Talent Show
• Friday, March 8 (3:30-6 p.m.) - Wish Week - Carnival

In this week's Elementary News, you can find information about:

• A message from Mrs. McElroy, Elementary School Director
• Yearbook Cover Art Concert
• Elementary Yearbooks Available for Purchase
• Center for Strength Newsletter and Upcoming Events
  
• Important Elementary School Driveline Reminders
  
• CMAS Testing Information

In this week's Secondary News, you can find information about:

• A message from Mrs. Ridder and Mr. Alsup
• Sixth Grade Book Club
• Summer Programming Opportunities
• Mikron Group Summer Internship Program
• College Night for Juniors Presentation
• 2024 Douglas County Outstanding Youth Award Nominations
• Senior Cap and Gown Order Reminder
• Announcing BOLT Summer Camp
• Testing Accommodations Info for PSAT and SAT
• Medical Career Collaborative
• NYU GSTEM High School Research Program
• Interested in a Career in Healthcare?
• Accuplacer Exam Registration at STEM
• Mock AP Statistics Exam
• FREE Virtual Exchange STEM Program

The Backpack Society is an organization that partners with schools in Douglas County and Littleton Public Schools to reach students in need. They are a 100% community supported nonprofit based in Highlands Ranch. They collect food donations and raise funds for students who are sturggling with food insecurity.

• Click here to learn more about the Backpack Society
• Click here to sign-up to receive food

Want to see all the Good Things happening at STEM? Check out our Sharing Our Good News post. Each week we share photos, videos and information about the Good News that has happened that week.

Each week we'll share important Athletics News with our community. Updates are written by Athletics Director Susan Jones. In this week's update:

• Spring Sports Registration is Now Live! Sports are Girls Soccer, Boys Volleyball, Track & Field (coed), eSports (coed), and Girls Tennis (must have enough registered to form a team). Practices start in February.
• Click here to register for Spring Sports
• Want to play Boys' Lacrosse, click here to register
• New Athletics Website!

Enrichment at STEM is the place students can find all of the school’s after-school, summer, and other enrichment offerings.

• Donate to STEM's Enrichment Program
• Summer with STEM School
• 4th Quarter Enrichment Club Registrations Opening Soon
• Donations and Volunteers Needed for TSA State Competition
• Elementary and Secondary Club Registrations

Spartmart is the place to get all of your STEM Spartan Gear. The SpartMart is run by High School Students from our Business Department, who have a passion for building school culture and spirit. Check out our selection below.

We ask that all families contribute 30 hours (or more) of volunteering to STEM. Families can give of their time or make a Volunteer-Hour Donation. See all the opportunities available:

• Volunteer sign ups in Raptor Volunteer Portal
  
• Lunchroom helper
• Driveline helper
• Vision and Hearing Screening Volunteers (Need 24)
• Click here to donate for the 6th Grade Keystone Trip
• Click here to sign up for Vision and Hearing Screening Food Donations
  
• Click here to sign-up for TSA Snack Donations
• Click here to sign-up for CyberPatriot snack donations
• Our Health Room needs donations - Click here for the Amazon Wishlist
  
• Donate snacks for Enrichment Clubs
  
• Staff's Amazon Wishlists
• Make a Volunteer-Hours Donation via MySchoolBucks

Volunteering is easy. Once you're approved in our Raptor System, browse the Upcoming Events in the Volunteer Portal and sign-up! Your Volunteer Hours will automatically be logged when you sign-in for the event.

FRC Team Impulse 4418 is currently struggling to sustain itself through this competition season and must raise $45,000 this year to continue to supply the same benefits to our community as we have done in previous years. With a reduced budget, our options for robot construction become more limited and our ability to create a competitive robot for our district that exposes students to industry-relevant software, electronics, and manufacturing techniques becomes more difficult. If we fail to raise enough money, we may face the possibility of shutting down. To cut down our costs, we have resorted to tearing apart our previous robots for parts, limiting the number of robots we can field at outreach events to our community. Factoring inexpensive registration fees, we are struggling to compete at our usual pace.

Impulse is an independently funded team, so any support would greatly assist us this FIRST Robotics Season. The funds would help us pay for the maintenance that allows our team to build skills throughout the season, food for our 28-person team, and the materials needed to build the 2 robots we bring to competition each year. Our operating budget sits at around $30,000 per season, and we are planning on expanding our fabrication efforts this year in order to increase our chances at the national-level competition.

Please feel free to have a look at the attached Sponsorship Packet, which outlines our goals, sponsorship levels, and our mission as a team. If you have any questions or would like to sponsor our team, please reach out to first4418@gmail.com for any additional information!

Each week our STEM PTO puts together a newsletter for our community, sharing information about upcoming events and opportunities to get involved.

Niche.com is an online platform that helps connect families with their future schools in their neighborhoods. It is one of the top search platforms that families use when looking for a new school. If you love STEM and what we have to offer your student(s), please consider leaving us a review. Click the button below to visit our school's profile, where you can leave a review.

You can also leave us a review on our Google Business page. Click the button below to share why you love STEM School Highlands Ranch.

Thank you in advance!

Currently, we are excited to announce we are recruiting for the following positions:

• Associate Director of Admissions
• Elementary Instructional Assistant
• English Language Development Teacher
  
• K-12 School Psychologist