Blog

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After a written test, 28 elementary school and 18 middle school students took the stage at Thompson Valley High School for the Thompson School District Spelling Bee. Winners of the elementary division were: First Place – Valentina Bartels, 4th grade, Big Thompson; Second Place – Jack Kellogg, 5th grade, Centennial; and Third Place – Simone Rings, 4th grade, Loveland Classical Schools. Winners of the middle school division, who advance to the state competition, were: First Place – Kailey Sellers, 8th grade, Walt Clark; Second Place – Tate Charboneau, 7th grade, Bill Reed; and Third Place – Aiden Hurst, 7th grade, Bill Reed. A total of six middle school students advance to state. Rounding out the list are: Paxton Walker, 7th grade, Conrad Ball; Audrey Lehnherr, 7th grade, Walt Clark; and Anderson Hendrix, 6th grade, High Plains.

Thompson Valley High School coach Will Cantwell was selected as Colorado’s Boys Lacrosse Coach of the Year by the National Federation of High Schools Coaches Association. Cantwell was nominated for the honor by the state association and the Colorado High School Activities Association. Cantwell, who is entering his fifth year as the boys lacrosse head coach with a career record of 43-23, led the 11th-year program to its best season with a 15-2 record, 7-0 in Northern Conference play.

The McKee Foundation is supporting health and wellness in Thompson School District by providing grants to schools for their participation in the 2018 Turkey Trot 5K Run. This year, 708 students, staff and families from Thompson registered for the Turkey Trot. The McKee Foundation will award over $14,000, with every school receiving a grant.

Loveland High School students Hunter Ogg and Lucas Nelson have been named as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists. The National Merit Scholarship Program honors students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

The following Thompson School District students have been named Boettcher Scholarship Semifinalists: Michael Doolittle, Samuel Hatton and Delaney Lord from Berthoud High School, Alisa Sautter from Loveland High School, Tasha Reichhardt from Mountain View High School, and Sebastian Lawton from Thompson Valley High School. The Boettcher Scholarship Program provides merit-based scholarships to Colorado high school seniors (full-ride to any four-year institution in Colorado). Boettcher Scholars attain an excellent in-state education, a vast network of alumni and community leaders, and access to additional opportunities that enrich their time in college.

Two teams of Truscott Elementary School 5th graders placed 1st and 2nd in the Colorado Stock Market Experience. The students, who studied financial literacy as part of the curriculum through Economic Literacy Colorado, competed in the non-mentored category. After six weeks of tending their virtual $100,000 portfolio, Fernanda Villegas and Christopher “Topher” Page won 1st place in the state for elementary schools. Their classmates, Nilah Turner and Caini “Jen” Yang, won 2nd place in the Northern Colorado region. Students from Carrie Martin Elementary and Stansberry Elementary schools participated in the same contest in the category for students with a business mentor. (See article below.)

Students in the gifted and talented classes at Carrie Martin Elementary and Stansberry Elementary schools spent eight weeks learning the ins and outs of the stock market as part of a special curriculum, and three students placed 1st and 2nd in the state for the growth in their portfolios. The Stock Market Experience was part of an economic literacy unit that teaches students about earning, spending, saving, investing and donating money. Through the class, the students researched stocks and decided how to virtually invest their $100,000. At the end of eight weeks, the simulation looked at how 136 participants statewide stacked up against each other at the elementary, middle and high school levels. A team of 5th graders from Carrie Martin, Josiah Crill and Bradyn Cronin, placed 1st, and 4th grader Aidan Coble placed 2nd. The 1st and 2nd place winners won $100 and $50 respectively, and the overall classes won $100. The classes will use the $100 as seed money for an entrepreneurial fair in the spring at which the students market goods or services in hopes of at least doubling their money. The amount they end up with after the fair will be spent on the giving piece of the lesson by paying for student-created plans to address water issues.

Loveland High School freshman Cadence Lapp, Mountain View High School freshman Jackson Shorten, and High Plains School 7th Grader Kiera Shorten competed at the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in Reno, Nevada. All three achieved the designation of All American (top 25 in the country). Jackson and Cadence were the USATF State Champions in their age divisions in Denver and Kiera placed 4th. All three runners then moved on to place in the top 30 at Regionals in Phoenix, Arizona, which qualified them for the National Championships. At Nationals, Jackson placed 5th overall, Kiera placed 14th overall and Cadence placed 20th overall, making her an All American for the second time.

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The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages honored Toni Theisen with the 2018 Florence Steiner Award for Leadership in Foreign Language Education. Theisen, who is the district’s dual language immersion/world language teacher on special assignment, was chosen for the honor because of her contributions to language education at the national, state and regional levels through workshops, papers, associations and more, as well as the quality and impact of projects she has developed.

The Thompson Valley High School cheer team placed second in the 4A division at the Colorado High School Activities Association’s state spirit competition in Denver. The 23-member team brought home the second place trophy for the third year in a row, trailing the state champion Erie High School by just under a point (82.92 to 83). The second-place finish capped a season in which TVHS placed first at four competitions—one where they also earned grand champion—and second at two, including state.