Great Happenings this week in East Grand schools.

• Our East Grand Food Service Director Kristen McGuan and a team of volunteers provided 1,500 meals to West Grand Schools this week. When WGSD food service workers all faced quarantine, EGSD stepped in to make sure all of our East Grand and West Grand students would still have a healthy breakfast and lunch.

Thanks to our volunteers — Julie Anderson, Don Anderson, Pam Pottorff, Greg Pottorff, Suzie Peterson, Sofia Farah, Alden Whittaker and Alice Zwalen — along with our MPHS Crew staff and students who came in every afternoon and helped Kristen prepare and sack the meals. This is another example that “Stronger Together, We Are Grand.”

• If anyone is home at 8:30 p.m. Friday, MPHS graduate Birk Irving will be competing in the Super Pipe at the ESPN X Games in Aspen. Here are the viewing options: http://www.xgames.com/aspen/article/28477313/x-games-aspen-2021-how-watch

• Crew wrapped up our judicial project by conducting a mock trial that tested the admissibility of evidence obtained with drone footage. Students used cases ruled on by the Supreme Court to support their claims as to whether the evidence did or did not meet the standards required by the 4th Amendment.

We owe a huge thank you to the Honorable Judge Mary Hoak from our own 14th Judicial District, who presided over the case and helped make the experience impactful and realistic for our students. We are grateful for her time, attention, and contribution to our project.

• Crew students are also giving back by helping kindergarten through second grade students in their cross-country ski unit at Granby Elementary School. We are enjoying getting to know the younger students and watching and helping them progress in their skiing ability.

• During the pandemic it has been difficult, but not impossible, for our Homegrown Talent Initiative program to place students in internships. We want to thank our business partners who hosted interns second quarter: Middle Park Health, Grand County: Criminal Justice, Murdochs, Channel 17, Root Salon, Mountain Family Center, Church of Eternal Hills Pre-K, and Davis Welding. If you would like to host an intern and give our students a chance to experience the World of work, please contact our HTI Director, Ali Williams at ali.williams@egsd.org.

• Granby Elementary fifth-graders in Ms. Bankert’s class connected their reading, math, and writing skills in a recent activity reflecting on the important words Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived by.

One of the many thought provoking student explanations was on hope: “The word I chose is ‘hope’ because it lights up the darkest times when there is nothing left. This is very inspiring to me. It was probably inspirational to MLK and all the civil right movement leaders. Hope is inspirational because it says, ‘Try it one more time.’” — A. Rust

• East Grand Middle School robotics teams are working hard on their competition robots. We feel so blessed to have received six EDU REV robotics kits through the Freeport-McMoRan STEM grant (Henderson mine and mill) and help from Lori Birch, FIRST Curriculum Developer, to secure their Classroom Pack curriculum.

These tools are helping the teams successfully program, prototype, and build their main robots for competition. Team Members are able to use the kits to learn how to program the robots so when it’s time to program their competition bot they can be successful.

• Granby Elementary third-graders are enjoying rec basketball. Thank you, Granby Rec and Fraser Valley Recreation for everything you do to keep our kids safe and active.

• FVE’s ELL students have been working very hard for the last three weeks on their ACCESS testing required by the state. The rigorous assessment tests the students in four categories — listening, reading, writing, and speaking in English. We’re very proud of their engagement and efforts on their testing.

• Please consider attending the NACAC virtual college fair from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 31. This is a great opportunity for students and families to learn about over 500 different college options across the globe from the comfort of your own home. Go to http://www.virtualcollegefairs.org/events.