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Students receive Colorado Seal of Biliteracy

It was her maternal grandfather who worked to ensure Bianca Hernandez Vasquez could read and write in her native Spanish language.

“He was the one who motivated me to learn,” Bianca said. “Knowing that I can converse with others in my family and my community means I can really show up in my culture.”

Bianca, a senior at Greeley West High School, is one of 131 GreeleyEvans School District 6 students who have qualified to receive the Colorado Seal of Biliteracy for high school diplomas. This is the first year the Seal of Biliteracy has been available in the state of Colorado.

A Seal of Biliteracy is a credential given by a school or school district recognizing students who have studied and attained proficiency in two or more languages by high school graduation. It was made possible in 2017 through Senate Bill 17-123, and provides avenues for students, through testing and other evidence, to earn the credential.

Bianca gained her seal by taking the Advanced Placement Spanish exam. She is also studying French and will be taking the IB French exam next week.

Mohammad Branham, a senior at Greeley Central High School, is fluent in Indonesian and several sub-dialects of the language. Because there is no exam for Indonesian, he completed a capstone project that provided evidence that he can write, read, speak and listen to the language.

Mohammad spent 10 years living in Indonesia with his native Indonesian mother and became fluent in the language. He is fluent in English and is also teaching himself Korean.

Colorado universities will give two credits for students who achieve the Seal of Biliteracy. Mohammad said that was the primary reason he decided to pursue the Seal of Biliteracy.

“It was worth it,” he said. “It will save me money and I thought, ‘Why not?’”

Bianca is headed to the University of Colorado at Boulder in the Fall to study biology, with the hope of becoming an obstetrician and gynecologist. Mohammed is planning to study software engineering at the University of Northern Colorado in the Fall.

Preserving their biliteracy is important to both Bianca and Mohammed. They know that being proficient in multiple languages will be beneficial in their careers and in life.

“It provides me more opportunities ahead and a jump start on my future,” Bianca said.

District 6 is one of 48 school districts in Colorado that have implemented the Seal of Biliteracy for High School Diplomas.

SHAWSHEEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ADOPTS NEW MASCOT

Shawsheen Elementary School in Greeley has adopted a new mascot. Effective immediately the school will now be known as the Sparrow Hawks.

For the past several years, administrators and teacher leaders at the school have been exploring the origin of the school’s name and mascot. Shawsheen is named in honor of a Native American woman, who was also known as She-towitch, who was a member of the Tabeguache Ute tribe and sister to Chief Ouray.

The Thunderbird, Shawsheen’s former mascot, is a powerful and sacred symbol to indigenous people in the United States. Many Native American tribes believe the Thunderbird is a powerful spirit who comes in the form of a bird. The use of the Thunderbird as a mascot can appear hurtful and disrespectful to some indigenous people.

In addition, Shawsheen is one of many schools in Colorado that is required to change its mascot to meet the requirements of the Prohibit American Indian Mascots Act, or Senate Bill 21-116. This law prohibits public schools and public charter schools from using Native American mascots unless the school can gain approval from a Native American tribe.

After meeting with a committee of staff, family members, students and community partners and conducting a survey of students, staff and families, the school has selected the Sparrow Hawk as its new mascot. The Thunderbird mascot will no longer be used, and the school is in the process of removing it from the school, its website and social media and anywhere else it exists.

poudre school district news

8th grader gifts puma mascots to teachers

Preston Middle School eighth grader Oliver Cossins started planning endof-year gifts for his teachers on Dec. 17, 2021.

Yes, you read that right: more than six months ago. If that isn’t the most generous showing of gratitude and creativity, then we don’t know what is.

It all started with Cossins taking more than 350 photographs of the stone Puma in the entryway at the southeast Fort Collins middle school. He spent countless hours processing the photos, retaking some to capture different angles and, ultimately, using the images to render a 3D model.

Printing each puma on a 3D printer took approximately five hours. Twentyfive of the mascot figurines were solid while two others were designed to light up. Cossins did all his own soldering for the electronic versions.

For Cossins, this project was a labor of learning and love.

He was able to take something from the real world and recreate it in another form—form that is spreading joy to others.

“The people at Preston supported me no matter what I was doing,” he says. “It was really fun being at Preston. I really liked being here.”

Tracey Winey, a teacher librarian at Preston, shared Cossins’ act of kindness on Twitter, garnering positive reactions, including from one person who called the pumas “rad” and adding that they would buy one online if they were available. Winey described Cossins as curious, kind, incredibly talented, intelligent, giving and fun.

“We loved having Oliver in the Preston library,” she says. “We will miss him and proudly will display our Pumas.”

FUELING UP KIDS WITH FREE SUMMER MEALS!

Summer vacation is here! Even though kids may not be in class, they can still power their minds and bodies with a nutritious meal.

Poudre School District Child Nutrition is feeding kids this summer… for free! Any child, age 18 or younger, in Larimer County can receive free meals this summer from May 31—July 29. There will be no meal service on July 4.

Meals will be available at: • Linton Elementary, 4100 Caribou Dr., Fort Collins, 11:30am–12:30pm. • Putnam Elementary, 1400 Maple St., Fort Collins, 11:30am–12:30pm.

Meals are the same for all children regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.

REGISTER NOW FOR KINDERGARTEN IN POUDRE SCHOOL DISTRICT!

Children must be 5 years old on or before Oct. 1, 2022. Kindergarten in PSD is free!

PSD has 33 elementary schools to meet students’ unique educational needs. Learn more at www.psdschools. org/schools/school-options-choice.

Don’t wait—register today!

For more information, visit the Kindergarten webpage at www. psdschools.org/kinder.

REQUESTS FOR BUSING FOR THE 2022-23 SCHOOL YEAR

Poudre School District aims to transport as many students as possible to and from school. To ensure that families needing transportation receive this service, riders must now apply for busing each year, even if they’ve had busing before.

Families may submit a PSD bus request by visiting the transportation section of the PSD website at www. psdschools.org. If your student is registered for kindergarten in or is a new-to-PSD student for the 202223 school year, please select the “No ParentVUE access” option when completing the request form.

Submitting a request is not a guarantee of services. Even with ongoing recruiting efforts and the hiring of additional bus operators, PSD is still busing fewer students than in previous years because of a reduction in routes due to the ongoing driver shortage.

What you need to know when submitting a request • Transportation will be provided automatically to all students who qualify for transportation through the Individuals with Disabilities

Education Act (IDEA), the McKinney-

Vento program, or foster placement.

Students who meet these criteria need NOT apply. • Busing is NOT provided for students who attend a school of choice or

PSD-authorized charter school. If your student is eligible for busing at their neighborhood school but is switching

to a school of choice, they will not receive busing. • Alternate bus requests will not be accepted for students in the walk area or for multiple addresses. • Incoming freshmen and sophomores who currently attend Poudre High

School or Fossil Ridge High School but live in the Wellington or Timnath attendance areas will not be eligible for busing to Poudre or Fossil.

thompson school district news

The 50th anniversary of Title IX

To help commemorate the 50th anniversary of Title IX, TSD is featuring a series of profiles of past district graduates who have a unique perspective on the federal civil rights law and who share their personal stories on the impact it has had on their lives.

JACKIE ANDERSON, 1972 LOVELAND HIGH GRADUATE CURRENTLY ATHLETIC SECRETARY AT LHS

When Jackie Anderson was a student at Loveland High School fifty years ago, there weren’t many opportunities for girls to participate in athletic activities. The only physical activities for girls were cheerleading, which was not considered a sport at the time, and the Girls’ Athletic Association, a sort of intramural organization that allowed girls to practice on volleyball or basketball teams every day before competing for one day each season.

“The girls had to practice at night to work around the boys’ schedule,” Jackie recalls. “The boys had priority.”

Jackie says that back then, people didn’t consider it “ladylike” for girls to participate in sports.

“Back in that day, girls who were heavily into sports were looked at more as tomboys – whereas now, they’re looked at as athletes,” she explains, recalling that when she was in high school, girls were required to wear dresses or skirts to school unless the temperature dropped below zero.

Many girls were members of the Pep Club, an organization that would take buses full of girls in uniform to out-of-town games to sit together and cheer with the cheerleaders.

“Attendance at games was expected, but it was also more of ‘it’s what everyone did,” she says.

After graduating from LHS in 1972 – the same year Title IX was enacted – Jackie took a job as athletic secretary at the school, a position she held until 1998. She left the job for a while to pursue other opportunities, but when the chance arose to come back to LHS as the athletic secretary in 2013, Jackie returned to the school, and has been there ever since.

Now, having spent decades seeing things change for girls in sports, Jackie says the effects of Title IX are profound, and the differences became apparent in the early 1970s, as LHS quickly added girls’ basketball, volleyball, tennis, gymnastics, swimming, and track over the next few years. She says the effect it had on girls who had wanted to participate in sports for years was immediate.

“I think it creates a sense of belonging and family, and of school pride,” Jackie says. “Even a sport that hasn’t experienced a lot of success, there’s still that sense of accomplishment. You don’t always have to win to be successful. You’re improving skills, teamwork, and character.”

Jackie explains that early on, girls’ sports were never taken quite as seriously as boys’ sports, and that the girls’ teams didn’t have much of a fan base.

“For girls it was more about promoting good sportsmanship and a sense of dedication and achievement,” she says. “Girls weren’t considered at the same level as the boys. I don’t think it took very long for that to change as numbers grew and things got a little more serious.”

Jackie comes from a family that was always into sports, whether as participants or as avid fans. Her parents graduated from LHS in the 1940s, Jackie and her two sisters all graduated from LHS, and the three sisters each married LHS alums as well. Years later, Jackie’s son would also graduate from Loveland High.

“I can remember getting into my

red snowsuit as a kid to go to LHS football games. It didn’t matter how far away they were playing, we went,” she recalls. “Loveland High has been such a big part of our family’s life; getting to be a part of our team successes, our school successes is fulfilling. It continues a sense of pride that’s been a part of our family for decades.”

Jackie was also the coach for the cheer team at LHS for seven years in the 1970s and 1980s, watching it evolve from more of an activity to a CHSAAsanctioned sport.

Spending all of that time immersed in high school sports, Jackie is somewhat of an authority on the effects of athletics on young people.

“There’s so much to learn from it: How to succeed, how to fail in an appropriate way,” she says. “I think it’s good when kids can do something for themselves that makes them stronger, better people, and at the same time get involved in their school.”

As schools expanded their girls’ athletic programs to create more opportunities each year, most recently adding programs such as lacrosse and wrestling, Jackie says the effects of Title IX have become evident.

“It’s much more serious and competitive now, partly because the opportunities are available at a young age, and there are more college opportunities,” she says. “I think it’s fair, and kind of wish maybe it had come along a little bit earlier. Why shouldn’t girls have those same opportunities?”

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