Girls on the Run is a program for 8-to-13 year olds designed to educate, inspire and prepare girls to lead a healthy life. The program integrates running while encouraging positive social, emotional, mental and physical well-being.

Congratulations to students from:

• Arkansas Elementary
• AXL Academy
• Elkhart Elementary
• Lansing Elementary
• Lynn Knoll Elementary
• Park Lane Elementary
• Peoria Elementary
• South Middle School

To learn more about APS bond and mill levy projects, view the 2012-13 Bond/Mill Levy Community Report at bond.aurorak12.org.

Jewell staff and students spent several months transforming the media center into a welcoming and colorful community library with new books, furniture and shelves. The library features an array of special sections customized for different ages, reading interests and subject matter, including:

• A science and math section geared to Jewell’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program
• Listening, publishing and young readers tables
• A preschool corner with books, puppets and learning activities
• A parent corner featuring books in English and Spanish tailored to adult interests
• Reading corners with comfortable beanbag chairs

The community library concept complements Jewell Elementary’s focus on reading improvement. Books are organized in student-friendly categories such as character books, series books, and popular authors. The library is also stocked with fun learning activities, board games, puzzles and stuffed animals. Students take an active role in selecting their own books and library activities. They also learn where to shelve their books and use a self-checkout scanner system.

Students can also participate in after-school library clubs and check out books with their parents. Margaret Robertson, Jewell literacy coach, has guided the fifth-grade “Build and Blog” Club as the “voice” of the library renovation. The fifth-graders create ongoing updates about the library and take a lead in teaching younger students how to make the most of its resources. To view the Build and Blog Club website with news, photos and videos, visit http://buildandblogclub.blogspot.com/

“Our goal is to create a buzz of excitement about the new library and encourage our students to engage in a variety of reading and learning activities available here. We’d also like our library to be a community hub for our parents—a  place where they can hold parent meetings, access our computers, and check out books with their children.”
- Patty Lewis, Jewell principal

“Our students are very excited about the transformation of the library. They love all of the new features and the way the books are organized into categories such as animals, series and character books. We have noticed that students are reading more because it is easier to find the books they want to read.”
- Deb Thornton, Library Educational Assistant

 “I like the new library because they have made it so you can color, read books or listen to stories.”
- Tamia, Jewell second-grade student

Park Lane teachers monitored student progress throughout the program and achieved positive results at every grade level. Key highlights include:

• 10 out of 14 kindergarteners were proficient on a final writing prompt using the kindergarten rubric. 
• 4 out of 11 first graders moved two text levels and 5 out of 11 made one text level growth. 
• All six second graders moved from drawing pictures to add quantities to breaking apart by place value and keeping the first number together. 
• 13 out of 16 third graders achieved 80% of their reading goals.
• 7 out of 11 fourth graders made growth in standards around comprehending the text. 
• In 5th grade math, 10 out of 11 students moved to proficient on multiplication and division or showed significant growth in the math concepts.
• In the 5th grade literacy group, 4 out of 5 students showed growth from their initial pretest.

Park Lane is one of several APS schools that are using mill levy dollars to fund intervention programs to help close student achievement gaps.

Kushmakar Baral

Twelve Aurora Public Schools students are on cloud nine after finding out that they had earned a Boettcher, Daniel’s Fund or Gates Millennium scholarship.

The Daniels Fund selects high school seniors who have demonstrated strong character and a determination to succeed in life. The scholarship covers all required tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies and a variety of other miscellaneous expenses.

The Gates Millennium Scholarship recognizes students with outstanding academic performance. It covers unmet financial need to attend any college or university. Aurora Central‘s Diego Aguilar Lupian and Rangeview’s Feyone La earned this award.

Aurora Central senior Kushmakar Baral is a Daniels Fund and Gates scholar, a feat not often accomplished. He plans to study biomedical engineering at University of Colorado at Boulder.

Hinkley student Scarlett Jimenez earned the Boettcher Scholarship, a "full-ride” merit-based financial award to attend any college or university in Colorado. More than 1,300 students apply each year. She is one of 40 statewide to receive the scholarship.

Congratulations to the following 2012-13 Daniels Fund Scholars:

Aurora Central 
Kusmakar Baral
Amos Gwa
Javier Lopez

Hinkley
Raul Amaya Barrios
Thong Phung

Lydia Sanchez

Rangeview
Marina Santiago

William Smith
JacRuelyn Howard

For more APS scholarship news, click here.

Diego Aguilar Lupan of Aurora Central High School was one of two students in APS to earn the Greenhouse Scholarship.

The Greenhouse Scholarship program provides comprehensive personal and financial support to high-performing, under-resourced college students.

Using their unique Whole Person© approach, which offers intellectual, academic, professional, and financial support, the program cultivates the next generation of community leaders.

Congratulations to Aurora Central High School's Diego Aguilar Lupan and Erna Lukac for earning the Greenhouse Scholarship!

The Aurora Public Schools Education Foundation awards five $4,000 scholarships to one student at each APS high school. The scholarship is funded by the “Paving the Way to Success” campaign.

The APS community members purchase engraved bricks and glass wall panels at the Professional Learning and Conference Center to raise funds for the scholarships.

Congratulations to Jacqueline Navarez of Hinkley, Taylor Botte of William Smith, Trevor Hancock of Rangeview, Michelle McCandlish of Gateway, and Erna Lukac of Aurora Central!

Target Team Lead Erin Brown, left, and Murphy Creek P-8 Assistant Principal Chris Capron, right, present the Target Teacher of the Month award to Patty McCool.

Submitted by Carol Davis
Grants and Partnership Development

Congratulations to Murphy Creek P-8 staff member Patty McCool on her recent Target Teacher of the Month award for April 2013. McCool was nominated by her peers for her commitment to staff and students.  The award recognized McCool for her tireless efforts in keeping all technology resources up and running for the school.  She has also been instrumental in assisting with the additional testing that has taken place throughout the year.  McCool's kind words and supportive attitude has been such an asset, especially during extremely busy times. 

Patty, you are Mc"Cool" indeed!

Meadowood Child Development Center recently celebrated Earth Day during the school's monthly Parent Day.  Pioneer donated beautiful rocks that students and their families will paint and eventually add to Meadowood's existing rock beds. 

In celebration of Earth Day, students planted a tree, donated by Nick’s Garden Center, to provide additional shade on the playground. 

Teachers and other mentors throughout the community selected Thomas to attend the Junior National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. The annual event offers mature, high-achieving middle school students the opportunity to learn about leadership by studying the leaders of the past and by focusing on social advocacy to make a positive impact in their homes and communities.

Conference sessions are designed to educate, inspire and motivate students by giving them the confidence and leadership skills that will take them through high school and beyond. Students receive personal guidance and direction from dedicated and experienced faculty advisors and are also provided with materials designed to foster self-directed experiential learning.