East Grand School District students aimed for the moon in academics and extracurriculars over the week of April 18. Superintendent Frank Reeves offers the lowdown on how it went.

Over the weekend of April 15-17, five FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) members attended the State Leadership Conference in Downtown Denver for three days and two nights. There were nearly 700 people in attendance counting advisors. The conference was a combination of competitive events and workshops.

Three students from MPHS competed and two served as chapter voting delegates. The delegates, Nuru Hoskin and Aridai Antillon, voted on bylaw amendments during the state chapter’s business meeting.

Serena Stuart and Tayler Whisenhunt earned silver medals in their competition category “Focus on the Children.” The students created a project that worked with preschool-age kids to help teach them about emotion regulation in what they titled “social emotional puppet play.” With the preschool class at Little Sprouts Learning Center, the students helped the toddlers create puppets based on the big five emotions of joy, anger, fear, disgust and sadness. The students then presented scenarios to the toddlers that they acted out with their puppets.

Faith Ackerman took home a bronze medal in her category of “Job Interview.” In this category, Faith put together a portfolio, cover letter, resume and letters of recommendation as well as conducted a career investigation on administrative assistants.

In the competitive events, students are not judged against each other but rather against a set of common standards. It was a great experience for all of us as this was all of our first time in attendance.

East Grand athletes go out big for track

EGMS track has had a great start to their season. We have 50 seventh- and eighth-grade boys and girls on the team. Seventh-grade girls and eighth-grade boys won the opening meet at West Grand on Saturday, April 9.

Celebrating East Grand School District artists

Check out the District Art Show, which runs from April 13 to May 11 at the Granby Library. It features drawing, painting, photography, ceramics and sculpture from Granby Elementary School, Fraser Valley Elementary, East Grand Middle School and Middle Park High School students.

Fraser Valley Elementary kids honor Earth Day

Fraser Valley Elementary third graders will take a walking field trip to the town of Fraser’s waste and recycling center, The Drop, this week in honor of Earth Day. They will gain understanding of how recycling actually works, what truly is recyclable and how to make better packaging choices that are more beneficial to the environment. Fraser’s assistant town manager, Michael Brack, will guide students through The Drop as they learn these important skills. We’re all looking forward to this outdoor celebration of our planet!

Middle Park High Schoolers embraced canyoneering and tradition

The Crew Program completed our annual trip to Utah, on a canyoneering adventure. This trip has many important traditions for our class, including a 100-foot-long free-hanging rappel, using teamwork and problem-solving skills to complete the challenging Ding and Dang Canyons and a final day in the Robber’s Roost area.

We were able to experience natural history as well as the remarkable remnants of Native American history in the area. Also, for the first time, the entire Crew made it into Blue John Canyon. All students completed four rappels through winding and challenging sandstone slots, and then celebrated as a group in “The Cathedral,” a spectacular section of narrows where the walls tower above the narrow canyon bottom. This is a highlight for many students in the Crew Program thanks to the unique challenges they are able to overcome, the intense immersion in nature and the camaraderie required for a successful expedition.

We are reminded of our gratitude owed to partners such as MPHS Adventure Ed, Mountain Parks Electric and the Grand Foundation, who have supported the program and allowed us to borrow or purchase the gear necessary to make the trip happen.