Link Newsletter December 2014

Inside this edition: • Service Learning Impacts Local Community • Computer Science Opportunities • Middle School Students Celebrate Veterans • High School Musicals Showcase Talent/Commitment • Dixon Receives Title 1 School of Recognition Award • Celebrate Success!

Service Learning Impacts Local Community Elmbrook students have a passion to serve others. Participation in community service organizations such as Key Club and Interact is an integral part of many students’ high school experience and a large percentage of 9th-12th grade students actively participate in one or more service clubs at both high schools.

Ronn Blaha, Brookfield Central Key Club advisor explains, “Community service exposes kids to people with different needs than their own. They gain an understanding of their role in the larger community or the world. Sometimes, students find a passion for service that becomes the focus of their life as a result of their high school service experience.”

Central’s Key (Kiwanis Educating Youth) Club is one of the largest clubs in the nation, with 400 members performing over 5,000 hours of community service each year. Club projects are often student-initiated with local, national and international reach. “We serve community meals, collect food for local pantries and pack food boxes for global organizations,” said Blaha.

Students at Brookfield East also contribute thousands of hours of community service each year. Interact “is a volunteer club for high school students sponsored by Rotary International,” Student President and junior Lisa Browne explained.

“With over 50 members, we Brookfield East Interact Club members partnered with Interfaith to respond to local community perform yard cleanup for senior citizens and adults with disabilities. needs and international interests such as raising money for End Polio Now, a core interest of our sponsor.” Interact also supports yearly events at New Threads of Hope and The House of Peace in Milwaukee, in addition to running the Geography Bee Club at Burleigh Elementary. Browne adds, “Overall, helping others reminds members of how we are all connected, and is a positive way for students to interact and be involved in both the school and larger community.”

Elmbrook students at both schools are making a difference. “The students’ efforts have been fruitful,” said Interact Club Advisor Laura Avissato, “from providing funds and food to local charities, to assisting a French-speaking refugee family from the Congo adjust to life in Wisconsin. Our students are capable of doing amazing things and by connecting them to area service organizations such as Kiwanis and Rotary, they are exposed to adults who share an interest in serving others. This partnership can lead to powerful results for our local and global community.”

December 2014

Message from the Superintendent The first three months of the school year present many opportunities to celebrate the Elmbrook Difference.

September’s Mark Hansen, Superintendent release of the State Report Cards rated Elmbrook as Significantly Exceeding Expectations, the highest rating and third-highest score among K-12 districts in Wisconsin.

We celebrated 34 National Merit Award winners, a perfect ACT score, and added over 1,300 technology devices this Fall to support personalized learning.

Our varsity sports teams earned six conference and four sectional championships, with the East Boys Soccer team winning a state championship.

The 2nd annual Central-East Gold Out, Veterans Day ceremonies, Stuff the Bus Food Drive, and United Way campaign provide students and staff with tangible ways to make an impact in our local community.

Finally, extremely high participation rates in our parent-teacher conferences remind us that the Elmbrook Difference is strengthened by a collaborative partnership between our teachers, students and their families.

Computer Science Opportunities Prepare Students for Future Careers With a focus on the future, the School District of Elmbrook is equipping of this opportunity, knowing our students are well-prepared to tackle this elementary, middle and high school students for careers in the field of rigorous college course.” computer science through a variety of courses and activities.

Interest in computer science is blossoming at the elementary and Ryan Osterberg, a Brookfield Central Computer Science teacher middle schools as well. Middle school students are exposed to computer explained, “The computer science science careers and programming concepts courses offered at the high school in 7th and 8th grade technology classes, level are designed to expose establishing both a foundation and an students to topics used in the interest in pursuing the high school curricufields of Web Design, Video Game lum. In addition, opportunities such as Development, and Computer the newly formed Coding Club at Programming.” As a result of Swanson Elementary are being developed engaging curriculum and student in response to student and parent interest. interest, the District boasts one In its first year, over 30 students of the largest enrollments in participated in the six-week club that computer science coursework utilized free, online programming tools. across the state.

With support from parents and Success breeds opportunity, Brookfield Central student volunteers, and in response to large numbers A 4th grade student shares the code he wrote with other members of the Coding Club at Swan- Swanson’s 4th and 5th graders were son Elementary. of high school underclassmen able to code their own stories, games performing well on the traditional capstone Advanced Placement Computer and animations.

Programming exam, the District partnered with Marquette University to Tyler VanHaren, a student advisor to the programming club at Swanson offer a dual-credit course called Data Structures for Engineering. Open to and a senior at Brookfield Central, enjoys the opportunity to connect with students at Brookfield Central and Brookfield East, this college-level course younger students and share what he has learned. “I definitely feel my is delivered through web video and chat, allowing students to interact computer science classes have prepared me for programming coursework twice a week with the college instructor and Marquette students. in college and a future career in the field of computer science. It is also very “This is truly a one-of-a-kind opportunity for the students of Elmbrook,” fulfilling to support the students at Swanson as they explore the tools and said Osterberg. “Both students and parents were ecstatic when they learned programs that attracted me to programming when I was their age.”

Middle School Students Celebrate Veterans At Right: Wisconsin Hills 7th Grade students had the privilege to meet and interact with retired Milwaukee Fire Battalion Chief Mark Fox and veteran Joe Campbell on Veterans Day. In 2011, Mr. Fox and Mr. Campbell journeyed to New York City to transport a piece of World Trade Center steel to the Milwaukee War Memorial. Their trip later served as the inspiration for the children’s book “The Little White Truck with the Big Mission,” written by Mollie Manhattan. Soerens Ford, who donated the white truck for the trip, served as the perfect backdrop for the students to honor active military, fire and rescue, and police personnel, as well as all Veterans who have served our country.

At Left: Students at Pilgrim Park honored Veterans in a very personal way on November 12th.

Each Veteran was treated to a breakfast and participated in a classroom conversation about their military service and experiences with 6th grade students. The morning concluded with the Veterans joining the entire student body in a touching all-school ceremony. Thank you to all who have served and particularly those Veterans willing to share their experiences with our staff and students!

High School Musicals Showcase Talent and Commitment Year after year, Brookfield East and Central students have brought Broadway musicals to life at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Performing Arts. Student performances dazzle audiences and this year’s productions of Evita (Dec. 4-7) and Peter Pan (Nov. 20-23) are no different.

Before the curtains are drawn and the lights come on, teachers, students and parents will have spent months collaborating and preparing for opening night. Joshua Grant-Konegni, Above: The cast of Brookfield East rehearse for their performance of Evita.

Co-Director of East’s production of Evita notes, “Our collaborative planning process is year-round and involves staff members of the drama, band, orchestra, visual arts, and choral departments.” And yet, the dedication demonstrated by staff is exceeded only by “Through the combined the commitment of efforts of many we are the talented cast of students. able to create something Involving over truly stunning.”

100 students in each ~ Peter Arndt, Brookfield East senior production as actors, stagehands, orchestra and technical support, excellence is achieved by nurturing tremendous talent through hard work. Peter Arndt, East senior and actor in Evita said, “Through the efforts of many we are able to create something truly stunning. Each cast member’s dedication to our performance adds so much to the story we are able to share with our audience.”

Central’s production of Peter Pan continues a longstanding tradition of exceeding audience expectations. In addition to a first-class live pit

orchestra, this year’s production adds unique technical elements such as flight to stretch the abilities of its actors and backstage crew. “Some of our students have performed in school musicals since they were in 4th or 5th grade,” said Tommy Lueck, Musical Director. “Through quality instruction, countless hours of parent and volunteer support, and regular opportunities to perform in an outstanding venue at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center, our students are able to reach levels of excellence seldom seen in high school musicals.”

While for some students the high school musical is a culminating experience, for many others doors are opened to college and career pathways. Former Central graduates and Broadway actors, Chelsea (Krombach) Packard (’01) and Timothy Hughes (‘03) are among many alumni who have returned each of the past four years to run a musical camp for middle and high school students. Sharing their experiences from roles in performances such as Wicked and Chaplin with aspiring Brookfield actors, “The alumni place great value on the preparation they received in the Performing Arts while in high school,” Lueck continued.

Through appreciative alumni, committed volunteers, and dedicated staff, the next generation of talent at Above: Brookfield Central presented Peter Pan at the Sharon Lynne Brookfield Central Wilson Center for the Arts in November. and East is in good hands.

Dixon Receives Title 1 School of Recognition Award Students at Dixon Elementary help celebrate the school's recognition as one of eight High Progress and High Achieving schools in Wisconsin. This annual award spotlights schools that have made significant progress on closing achievement gaps, and was presented to Principal Jeanne Siegenthaler at a special ceremony at the State Capitol on October 13.

Celebrate Success!

National Merit Semi-Finalists: The National Merit Scholarship Program recognizes the top 1% of the 1.5 million students who took the PSAT exam in 2013-14. In addition to state and national recognition, these high school seniors are eligible for many college scholarships and National Merit Finalist status to be announced in the spring of 2015.

Brookfield East: Front row L to R: Manasi Mohan, Kalina Zhong, Apoorva Selvaraj, Leila Goodrum Back row L to R: Maxwell Zupke, Nithin Alexander, Linzheng Shi, Matthew Wol, Noah Haselow, David Foster, Hantao Jing

Brookfield Central: Front row L to R: Tyler VanHaren, Amritha Jayashankar, Julia Schmidt, Veronica Daniel, Samuel Liu; Back row L to R: Tarun Jella, Advait Reddy, Adam El-Meanawy, Daniel Lee, Jason Hubler

Brookfield East Boys Soccer Division 2 State Champions 13780 Hope Street P.O. Box 1830 Brookfield, WI 53008 262-781-3030 Mark Hansen, Superintendent Tom Gehl, Board President Chris Thompson, Editor Jill Kokta, Design www.elmbrookschools.org The School District of Elmbrook welcomes your feedback for continuous improvement.

E-mail questions, feedback, and suggestions to feedback@elmbrookschools.org.

State Qualifiers At Right: Brookfield East Girls Tennis - Sectional Champions, reached the Quarterfinals at State Lower Left: Brookfield Central Girls Golf - Sectional Runner-up, placed 7th at State Lower Right: Brookfield Central Girls Cross Country - Sectional Champions, placed 6th at State

The mission of the School District of Elmbrook is to educate and inspire every student to think, to learn, and to succeed.

LINK is written and produced by the School District of Elmbrook. The district is solely responsible for content. The school district and City of Brookfield are separate local government entities.

All costs associated with LINK are covered by the School District of Elmbrook.