Center Community News
February 2024
On January 23rd, top executives from both organizations came to Center High School to announce an exciting new initiative to support students, families, and staff in the Center School District.
As part of a community-wide program called Illuminate, the partnership will providing training, resources, and specialized consultative support to improve mental and behavioral health in our schools and community. This 3-year pilot project is the first of its kind in Kansas City and Center is excited to be a partner in this work.
Members of the media covered the event, including Center's own broadcast channel, HiveTV. Click here to see their coverage.
Click here to read more details about the program.
The Real-World Learning program, led by the Ewing M. Kauffman Foundation, includes over 30 school districts in the Kansas City area providing real-world based learning experiences for KC area students. Center has been a pioneer in this work as part of the first cohort of schools participating starting in 2019. On January 31st, the annual "Get on the Bus" luncheon was held at Union Station to recognize outstanding work by students, educators, and business partners.
Center received two regional awards at the event.
Jeremy Covey, Center's Real-World Learning Coordinator, was named as one of three Coordinators of the Year by the Foundation. Mr. Covey leads our overall participation in Real-World Learning, matching teachers with business partners, students with learning opportunities, and helping Center move towards a goal of 100% of our graduates earning one or more Market Value Assets by the class of 2030. Over the past two years he has added multiple new programs, overseen the growth of existing programs, and increased student participation in Real-World Learning.
One of our partners, the Kansas City Fire Department, was recognized as one of three Business Partners of the Year. KCFD has worked with Center to host courses that are offered to all three schools in our region (Center, Grandview, and Hickman Mills) including the new First Responder's Course.
Congratulations to the winners and thanks for playing a big-time role in providing unique learning opportunities for Center students.
We don't often schedule multiple events in the same building on the same evening, but numerous weather-related cancellations during January resulted in a very unique evening at Center High School on January 31st.
The Media Center hosted the induction of the 2024 class for the CHS National Honor Society. A community group provided free heart screenings for Center students and families in the cafeteria. The Athletic Department hosted a very well attended District Night, with student participation from all of Center's schools and a very large and enthusiastic audience enjoying the festivities.
Click here to read about each event.
Fentanyl is taking the lives of our youth at alarming rates. It is a crisis that crosses all lines of wealth, race, neighborhood and political views. Our local US Representatives, Emmanuel Cleaver and Mark Alford have very different political views, but they are joining together to sponsor a community panel discussion to raise awareness of Fentanyl and its dangers.
The event will be hosted at Center High School on Thursday, February 22nd at 7:00pm and will be open to the public. As we put together the details, we'll share them via our website and social media channels. This is a critically important issue and we look forward to a constructive conversation.
