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COOL SCHOOL MARCH 2021
VEGA ISD - While this livestock trailer may appear to be an ordinary trailer, it is far from ordinary!!
The Vega Ag Mechanics program has equipped students like Weston Hart and Masyn Friemel with lifelong skills that will enable them to design and build projects to benefit businesses and families.
A few years ago, Weston met a fellow cowboy that is paralyzed from the waist down. He depended on friends to help perform the daily tasks of getting his saddle and mounting on and off his horse. This inspired Weston to design and build a 20 ft. Handicap accessible livestock trailer that will give this cowboy back some independence.
Weston’s design started out as building a trailer with a wheelchair ramp, which transpired into a trailer with an automatic hydraulic slide out lift housed in the front of the trailer. The lift is completely controlled by the cowboy at all times to assist him in mounting on and off his horse. Weston designed the trailer to give the cowboy more independence when hooking up the trailer, loading and unloading horses and livestock into the trailer, saddling and mounting his horse. The cowboy uses a remote control to get the lift out of the trailer, he then independently transfers himself from his wheelchair to the lift and raises himself up to the height of the saddle to mount on his horse. What used to take the work of two men can now be done with little assistance.
The trailer is also equipped with many other accessible features that allow this cowboy to lead a more independent life and support his family.
COOL SCHOOL FEBRUARY 2021
GRANDVIEW HIGH SCHOOL - just completed a project called Humans of Grandview. Each one of the English 1 students interviewed a resident in the community. The students each then picked a story to share with the world. Here is the collection of stories.
COOL SCHOOL JANUARY 2021
WALL ISD - has a teacher funds project they hold every year where they provide every teacher funding to supply their classrooms.
COOL SCHOOL DECEMBER 2020
GRAPE CREEK TRANSPORTATION - Always working hard for the safety of our school. The bus drivers are there before anyone and mostly leave after everyone.
COVID - How do you social distance on a bus? Well you can’t, but out drivers sure help keep everyone safe as much as possible. Temperature checks, hand sanitizer, facial covering, bus cards and assigned seats. That is a lot of hard work for these drivers, but they do it all for the safety of the students at Grape Creek. They even helped deliver meals when students were quarantined.
Grape Creek added bus cards for contact tracing the students. We can always tell who is on the bus, what time and what location. This has come in very handy when needing to see who is on a bus at a certain time. Safety is our number one concern for our students.
Our transportation has worked so hard to help this year be successful and safe.
COOL SCHOOL NOVEMBER 2020
River Road Middle School has this incredible program called the "Academic Success Program". At the end of each 6 weeks they run reports to show students that have met criteria in academics, behavior, and attendance.
They celebrate these students by taking them on a FREE trip to the pumpkin patch, ice skating, movie theater, indoor pools, etc! "Many of our former students still talk about how they miss and appreciated the program! We are ALL about celebrating our students' hard work! Last week we just took 178 students to the pumpkin farm here in town! Such an incredible day! So, nonetheless, I believe that there is an array of reasons that makes our "School COOL!", but this program is something we are pretty proud of!"
COOL SCHOOL OCTOBER 2020
Guthrie Graduate Profile Days
Several years ago, the students, faculty/staff, parents, and community members of Guthrie all collaborated to answer two driving questions: What are our highest aspirations for our children? With those aspirations in mind, what do we think a Guthrie graduate should know and be able to do? The goal was to identify skills and characteristics the Guthrie school community stakeholders believed our graduates should embody and exhibit upon leaving our halls. Across months of work, these discussions resulted in the development of the Guthrie Graduate Profile (GGP).
Today, we still utilize the GGP as a living document which guides our efforts. One way we incorporate the principles represented in our graduate profile is through our GGP Days. Each year, we have three GGP days where our entire school (PreK-12) comes together for a day of learning. These days always center around at least one of the five GGP dimensions (Learners/Problem Solvers/Critical Thinkers, Effective Communicators, Persons of Strong Character, Productive and Valuable Team Members, Compassionate and Responsible Citizens). The GGP days may include group activities, outside presenters, competitions, or service projects, but they also always incorporate opportunities for our elementary students to spend time with their secondary peers. We have found all of our students benefit from these interactions, and it is typically these moments that stand out as the most special and memorable from our GGP days.
Our most recent GGP day occurred during Homecoming week, so we held a tailgate lunch for the entire student body. The administration cooked burgers, students helped serve food, and teachers were able to relax and enjoy lunch, because the secondary students were responsible for looking after our younger Jaguars. As you can see from the pictures, the kids had a great time together, and we ended up with what we believe was the largest impromptu game of playground kickball in Guthrie history. 😊