National History Day competitors moving on to state!
Twenty-six Ames students competed at the Historic Highways Regional History Day competition today. The competition judges students based on original research they have conducted around the 2018 theme: Conflict and Compromise. The students are ranked on their ability to find and creatively present primary source information; they may present their research as a film documentary, website, exhibit, research paper, or performance. Students who are ranked top 2 in each category progress to the state competition in Des Moines on Monday, April 30.
Read moreMathcounts Middle School State Tournament
On Thursday, March 23, six students from Ames Middle School competed in the state Mathcounts tournament held at DMACC. In…
Read moreFellows 4th Grade STEM Challenge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UteTEkD3GKE Right before spring break, the 4th grade teachers at Fellows Elementary created STEM challenges for their students with hands-on activities that presented students with a “problem” to solve and limited resources. Christy Franco said, “We decided to do the STEM challenges for several reasons. We know students learn best with hands-on exploration. For these activities, they must collaboratively come up with a plan, try it out, revise as needed, and test it. The STEM challenges allow our students to integrate scientific inquiry, technology, engineering, and math.” All four teachers combined the approximately 100 fourth graders and split them up. “We wanted to make this large group feel like a community and we want students to have the opportunity to work in groups with others they don’t normally get to work with during the school day,” said Franco.
Read moreKristi Mixdorf named as new Edwards Elementary Principal
The Ames Community School District is pleased to announce Kristi Mixdorf as the new principal of Edwards Elementary. She will replace Dave Peterson who announced his retirement earlier this year. Ms. Mixdorf will officially start her new position on July 1, 2018. Mixdorf has 18 years of experience in education as both a leader and teacher. She is currently serving as Director of Teaching and Learning for the North Polk Community School District, and her previous experience included being an Instructional Coach in Ankeny, and a classroom teacher in both the Ankeny and Des Moines School Districts. She obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Northern Iowa, and her Masters in Education degree from Viterbo University, where she also served as an adjunct professor for five years. Mixdorf is a highly engaged professional who has participated in a variety of professional development opportunities including presentations at local and national conferences.
Read moreYouth Diversity Inclusion Committee
The Youth Diversity Inclusion Committee (YDIC) is one of the newest groups this year at Ames High an is already increasing awareness about social justice. YDIC is composed of student leaders from a variety of different organizations that include student council members, SACRE (Students Advancing Civil Rights Education), Spectrum (LGBTQA), DECA (business), and SHEPH (Students Helping End Poverty and Hunger), among others. The group got started in the fall when they attended the inaugural Youth Diversity and Inclusion Summit in Des Moines along with many other CIML-member schools. Junior Kijune Kim said, “A lot of us were really inspired at the Summit and presented a lot of ideas there and wanted to take them back to Ames High, but it didn’t happen that way.”
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