ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE TOGETHER
January 15th, 2016 
In This Issue
#Boone2020
Career Exploration
2016 Art Winners
Elementary News
Looking for Alumni Success Stories
Quick Links
Boone County Schools



Free/Reduced Lunch Online Form
 
 
Board of Education Meetings
 
 

5-year District Strategic Plan
The Boone County School District 5-year Strategic Plan is focused on "Career, College, and Life" readiness for all students.  The plan was developed using the input of parents, educators, and other stakeholders collected at numerous community meetings.
#Boone2020 is an exciting new social media campaign designed specifically to promote dialogue and transparency around the goals and details of the strategic plan.  We want to engage in a two-way dialogue with you and give you opportunities to learn more about innovative teaching and learning going on in Boone County Schools.  This week we take you to Camp Ernst Middle School for Career Exploration.  
ALUMNI REGISTRATION               
If you are a graduate of the Boone County School District please click on Alumni Registration in the block on the left and sign up. We would like to keep you up to date on things happening in the district since you've graduated. 
 
CAREER EXPLORATION
Left: Don Black
Camp Ernst Middle School
Blazer and Enrichment Class

Don Black is the STEM Coordinator at Camp Ernst Middle School in this class his students are learning a variety of skills designed to prepare them for careers of the 21st Century.  In the Blazer Enrichment Class Mr. Black encourages his students to dream, investigate, design and experience the things they are interested in.  Below are pictures from some of their most recent projects holograms, playground and furniture design. 

Hologram project 


Design & Modeling
playground sets
Design & Modeling
doll furniture


Mr. Black says students are very inventive when they are allowed to think and work outside the box. He believes in giving his students as many experiences as they are interested in investigating.  They just completed a hologram project where they designed and constructed a 3-D holographic projection pyramid.  Students Kyle Freihofer and Ryan Barlow say they really liked the idea and the opportunity to explore it.  They went on line to learn the basics. They cut out and taped together 4 trapezoids and placed the device on a cell phone with a video playing to create the 3-D image.

Mr. Black's 7th and 8th grade students are involved in a variety of projects from astrophysics, to quantum mechanics, problem based learning to service learning like their passion projects.  They are developing t-shirts to sell to help raise money for the community.

These are student driven projects not projects they are told they must do but what they are really interested in. In Mr. Black's  Design and Modeling classes his students have constructed 32 different playground sets for Lego mini figures. They are building furniture for dolls.  One design is a model chair for Barbie dolls. They plan to submit a version of that to the toy and gaming company Hasbro.  Mr. Black says these experiences teach students that nothing you can imagine is ridiculous and that if you can think it, design it and build it you have achieved something,  That achievement sets a student up for his or her future. 
ELEMENTARY  
2016 Art & Slogan Winners

              
Congratulations! Boone County Schools had 22 of 27 winners in the 2015 "Quit the Littering Coloring Calendar Contest," sponsored by Boone County Solid Waste Management.  The contest was open to all elementary age students from all schools in Boone County.  There were 770 entries.  All the winners below were recognized by Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore at the Fiscal Court meeting last month. Winners are also featured on Boone County's website at www.boone-countyky.org/bcswm.

Art Winners 

Cover WinnerRebecca Kramer, 3rd grade Mann Elementary
Runner Up Maya Nair, 4th grade Mann Elementary & Chloe Wagoner, Yealey Elementary
KindergartenAlex Kramer, Mann Elementary (Double win) & Izabelle Estey, New Haven Elementary
First GradeAlaina Hill, New Haven Elementary & Cole Ewing,
Collins Elementary
Second GradeAvery Jones, Yealey Elementary & Ronan Joyce, Burlington Elementary 
Third GradeBlake Middlesworth,  & Hannah Garrett, both New Haven Elementary  
Fourth Grade Winners outside BCS District 
Fifth Grade Kyla McDonner, Yealey Elementary & Nina Joyce, Burlington Elementary 

Slogan Winners 

KindergartenJourney Nicole Wiggins, Collins Elementary & Alex Kramer, Mann Elementary
First Grade Gage Grider, Florence Elementary
Second GradeHopelyn Reinhart and Hadassah Hall both New Haven Elementary
Third GradeBraylen DeWaters, Collins Elementary
Fourth GradeMadison Disibio, Ockerman Elementary & Brieanna Angel, Longbranch Elementary
Fifth Grade Anna Hayden, New Haven Elementary 

ELEMENTARY-continued 

              

Florence Elementary's Partnership with Fidelity Investments

Several Fidelity employees volunteered to mentor the LEGO League Robotics and Jr. LEGO League Engineering teams at Florence Elementary, meeting with students weekly during the months of September, October and November.  Mentors shared their time and talents as students learned about robot design, construction, programming and this year's theme of Reducing Trash.  On Saturday, December 5th, our Fidelity mentors gave up their weekend to share the day with their teams at the Northern Kentucky Regional FIRST LEGO League Tournament.

At Florence Elementary, there are two levels of teams -Jr. FLL teams comprised of 2nd and 3rd grade students and FLL teams comprised of 4th and 5th grade students.  FIRST Robotics programs provide hands-on learning experiences in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineer, Math) in addition to stressing 21st century skills that focus on communication, collaboration, problem solving and innovative thinking.  FIRST programs have been featured in the media many times because of the gains they are making in inspiring students to pursue STEM careers.

Fidelity Investments has been a strong community sponsor of the Florence Elementary Robotics Program for several years, providing not only the leadership of the mentors, but also financial sponsorship of the program, including paying registration fees and purchasing snacks and drinks for the students participating in this extracurricular program. They also invited students participating in the program to Fidelity Investments for their annual volunteer recruitment event, the Gobble and Give, giving students the opportunity to showcase and explain their robots and research projects to the community.
This year, Fidelity's sponsorship increased to include purchasing every child a tournament t-shirt and hosting a post-season holiday celebration where 20 Fidelity employees came to Florence Elementary to feed the students pizza and drinks, engage with the students in LEGO teambuilding activities (with LEGOs provided by Fidelity), and assemble winter warmer kits filled with hats, gloves, blankets, activities, tissues, hand sanitizer and a special LEGO gift for each the students to take home.

Students and staff members were overwhelmed by the generosity, and feel incredibly fortunate to have this partnership.
Fidelity strongly believes in the value of the FIRST LEGO League robotics program, especially in low income school environments where students may not otherwise have the opportunity to engage with these types of construction and programming toys.
Alumni Career News

We are looking for former graduates of Boone County Schools to tell us their stories of professional career success after graduating from this district.  If you are one of those students or if you have a son or daughter with post college graduate successes that should be celebrated. You will need to email your story and a j.peg-only picture of yourself or your former student to bcbe@boone.kyschools.us. Put in the subject line:
 For Alumni Spotlight.  We will post it in the Alumni Spotlight section of this school district newsletter.