Good News Bulletin
April 19, 2024
Thirteen potential engineers currently in second and third grades at Singing Hills Elementary School participated in the FIRST LEGO League Explore Festival at Charles Hay World School in Englewood on Saturday, April 13.
The three Singing Hills teams -- The Painted Legos, Masters of the Galaxy, and the Mint Green Team -- presented their LEGO building projects to three judges, who asked them questions about how and why they chose what they did in constructing their project.
LEGO League coaches Susan McMullen and Ashlee Johnson have worked with the students after school once a week for several months. The Discover level of FIRST LEGO League introduces students to the public presentation aspect and leads to the Explore level (grades 4-8), in which students build a robot and program it to carry out tasks in a competition.
Also at the Explore event on Saturday, the students learned from older students about the next levels of robot building, ran relay races to collect LEGO bricks then use those in contests to build the tallest, free-standing tower and then the coolest thing they could think of -- thus connecting creativity and innovation to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) concepts they have been learning.
As the Resource Efficiency Initiative continues across Elizabeth School District, EHS interns are learning more about the process of upgrading numerous systems at their school.
On Tuesday, project managers and technicians from Schneider Electric, the company handling the REI for the district, showed engineering-interested students numerous improvements they have made at EHS.
As reported in an earlier Good News Bulletin, a handful of EHS students have internships with Schneider Electric to learn about a variety of career options in engineering. They were given a preview tour early in the school year, learning about the kinds of upgrades planned for the building. Since then, they have taken advantage of online classes offered by Schneider, and this week, they received an update tour of EHS electrical, heating and cooling systems. Tuesday's session began in the library with a presentation recapping the challenges and solutions and a demonstration of the news control systems then a visit to the boiler room to see the changes up close.
Schneider technicians have replaced every light fixture in the building with brighter, energy-and-cost-efficient LED lights (as they have done at all ESD buildings) and significantly upgraded the old HVAC system to one that can monitor and control the heating and cooling on an almost minute-by-minute basis and be controlled through a digital interface which provides real-time visual updates and control of the entire system. District staff and Schneider specialists can log in remotely from anywhere to troubleshoot and operate controls through this interface.
To provide those updates, Schneider technicians installed state-of-the-art control modules and mapped the entire system so any employee now or in the future can learn how the system controls work. As part of the tour, they showed students the upgrades -- both the physical additions and upgrades of equipment as well as the software controls -- and explained how the buildings were better sealed throughout the district to stop the escape of air through gaps that made it harder to control indoor temperatures. Sealing the building envelopes is another significant way to save money on the district's utility bills.
All of these improvements will result in cost savings over the next several years that will fund the price of the improvements. Schneider Electric guaranteed the amount of savings to ensure the upgrades do not incur extra cost for the district. The upgrades will have long-lasting impacts at the other schools, too. Elizabeth Middle School had no way to control its HVAC system, as anyone who has spent time in that building can attest, from a too-warm auditorium to too-cold classrooms. Now the indoor conditions can be much better controlled, which also saves money. At the elementary schools, upgraded systems mean that if and when funds become available to install air conditioning, the climate control systems will be "plug-and-play" ready.
How can learning how to stretch your dollars help you find space in your current budget?
That's the big question Elizabeth High School Business Department student will answer at FinSum '24, the Financial Leadership Summit conference hosted and taught by EHS Business Department students. The free event will take place from 7-8:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 30, at the EHS cafetorium.
Students will share creative ideas and strategies in eight different breakout sessions on how attendees can save a little money and have fun at the same time. Topics Include: impulse buying, real estate, budgeting, investing, entertainment, shopping, groceries, and travel.
Special Guest:
Andy Smith with Pursue Life Inc. in New Zealand will join the conference remotely. Smith is one of New Zealand's top leadership coaches and works with top personnel in the NZ Navy, NZ Army, NZ Air Force, and NZ Social Workers Network.
Team tryouts for the EHS Poms/Spirit Team are coming up May 1-3, and an informational meeting for parents will take place at 5 p.m., April 29, in the EHS gym.
Students need to be registered online and have a current physical uploaded to rSchool in order to attend tryouts.
Mandatory clinics and tryout are 5-7 p.m., May 1-3, in the EHS main gym.
The Elizabeth High School Music Program will host its annual Jazz Desserts event from 6:30-8 p.m. tonight.
The cafetorium will be decorated to look like an old-time speakeasy, and the jazz band and choir will play sets while guests enjoy sweet and savory refreshments.
Tickets cost $7 and include entry, desserts and the chance to participate in a silent auction!
All sales go right back to the EHS Music Program.
The Elizabeth Education Foundation partners with Elizabeth School District in numerous ways throughout the year to support students and teachers. This volunteer-led, independent fundraising foundation provides scholarships for graduating seniors, classroom grants for teachers, and the STARS Awards for outstanding citizenship among students.
Learn more about the EEF at its website.
The Colorado Rockies are partnering again this year with the Elizabeth Education Foundation to offer a pair of games that will benefit Elizabeth Schools.
The Elizabeth days at the ballpark are Saturday, May 11, for a 6:10 p.m. first pitch versus the 2023 World Series Champion Texas Rangers and Sunday, May 26, for a 1:10 p.m. game versus the Philadelphia Phillies.
By visiting Rockies.com/ELIZABETH to buy tickets, a portion of each tickets sold will be donated to the EEF. Seats available at that link for the Elizabeth fundraiser start at $16 each.
The sections that have been reserved for these ticket sales will be released for public sale 10 days before each of ESD's games, so if families, groups or teams want to be able to get a block of seats together, make sure to get tickets before the public release date!