I was able to make a quick and very fun visit to 5th grade camp at Sky Ranch this week. Fifth grade camp is a special tradition that bonds our student and parents as a class. Students spend three days and two nights at camp. I had no trouble locating our 5th graders when I arrived. I just followed the sounds of laughter. While I was there, students were identifying animals based on skull structure, ziplining potatoes, and building rockets. The parents were even getting into the fun with a little pickle ball
and fishing. A special thank you to the Sloan Creek teachers, parents, and administration. This exceptional student experience would not be possible without you.
It is School Counseling Week and we are sending heartfelt appreciation to our counselors. Our counselors have an important role in the success of our students. We are deeply grateful for their impact.
There is so much exciting news to share with you this week! Please enjoy the amazing accomplishments of our students and staff included in this week’s newsletter.
There is only ONE LOVEJOY and we are ALL LEOPARDS!
Katie Kordel Superintendent
Summary of LISD Make-Up Days:
January 31
All Campuses attend Feb. 20
February 1
All Campuses attend April 10
February 2
K-6 apply for State waiver day
7-12 use banked minutes
February 3
K-6 apply for State waiver day
7-12 use banked minutes
Once a Leopard, Always a Leopard!
Calling all Lovejoy Alumni! The Lovejoy Independent School District is excited to engage former LISD students and our community through Alumni spotlights in the district newsletter, as well as LISD social media. Alumni spotlights are a fun way for the district to celebrate our students' educational, professional, and personal journeys after graduation. If you wish to participate, please complete this form for our LISD Communications Department.
FEBRUARY 2023
February 6-10
National School Counseling Week
February 14
Board of Trustees Workshop - LCDC Library
The Board will convene in open session and then move to closed session @ 8:30AM in C113. The Board is expected to reconvene in open session at approximately 9:00AM.
February 15
February 16
February 17
February 20
February 22
February 27
School Marshal Appreciation Day
Early Release All Students - Early Release Times
Holiday/No School
School Day: Bad Weather Make-Up Day
School Bus Driver Appreciation Day
Board of Trustees Meeting - LCDC Library
The Board will convene in open session and then move to closed session @ 6:00PM in C113. The Board is expected to reconvene in open session at approximately 7:00PM.
On February 5th Lovejoy ISD hosted it's annual Advanced Academics Recognition Ceremony at the Collin College Conference Center. This event celebrated the 272 Lovejoy High School students who achieved AP Scholar status as designated by the College Board. Additionally, 9 National Merit Semifinalists and 9 Commended Students were recognized. Guest speakers, campus and district leadership, teachers, fellow students, and proud family members made this event a well deserved celebration of the hard work and academic achievements of these students. View the full list of recognized students here.
National Merit Semifinalists
Humzah Ahmad
Alissa Chang
Lauren Dumin
Patrick Dunleavy
Austin Gonzalez
Samatha Belatur
Connor O'Dowd
Liam Palazzolo
Luke Shull
National Merit Commended
Samatha Belatur
Similolu Fadel
Daniel Lamping
Audrey McCaffity
Logan Pedersen
Neil Prakuzhy
Sam Reagan
Shruti Subramaniyan
Michelle Wang
Join us in congratulating David Wise and Paari Palani on becoming UIL DISTRICT CHAMPS in Policy Debate Wednesday, February 8th after debating teams for almost 9 hours straight (a few breaks here and there)! They will be competing at the State competition next month in Austin. They're a power duo and worked really hard for this win- we are very proud of them! #LovejoyProud
Lovejoy ISD Men's Wrestling is competing at Regionals this weekend after a claiming victory as District Champs on February 4th with a 292.5 final score (106 points ahead of second place)!
Men's Team Placers
Jack Willard - CHAMPION
Jackson Lambert - CHAMPION
Jaden Bennett - CHAMPION
Mercer Ashley - CHAMPION
Eli Silva - CHAMPION
Andrew Kotecki - CHAMPION
Corey Soliz - CHAMPION
Jackson Dubree - CHAMPION
Payton Pierce - CHAMPION
Sam Reynolds - CHAMPION
Dalton Hart - 2nd
Elijah Strand - 3rd
Caden Stubblefield - 5th
Kyle McClure - 5th
Women's Team Placers
Tea Rupich - 3rd
Juliana LeFort - 3rd
Ariana Jones - 5th
Congratulations to Coach Eaton and Coach Tischer for being named District 9 5A Coaches of the Year!
Also, Cong t l ti t J k L b t f b i g med Most Outstand
Lovejoy HS Senior, Chris Dechant will join six other exceptional high school musicians from across the country at the John Philip Sousa Band Hall at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11, to compete in the final round of the Marine Band’s 2023 Concerto Competition. The winner will receive a $2,500 scholarship courtesy of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and perform their solo with the Marine Band on April 23. Second and third place winners will receive $1,000 and $500 scholarships respectively. This year’s pool of applicants was of exceptional ability, and were chosen from about 130 total applicants.
In this public performance, Chris will perform his concerto, Concertino for Clarinet, Opus 26, by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) before a panel of judges consisting of Marine Band Director Col. Jason K. Fettig, Assistant Directors Maj. Ryan J. Nowlin and 1st Lt. Darren Y. Lin, and guest adjudicator Timothy Roblee, director of bands at Shenandoah University.
The performance is free and open to the public and will be livestreamed at 2pm EST (1pm local). Please click to learn more about the Concerto Competition for High School Musicians as well as this program to follow the performances and Chris. We are very proud of this prestigious opportunity, and best of luck to Chris in his performance on Saturday.
The United States Marine Band was established by an Act of Congress signed by President John Adams on July 11, 1798, and is the oldest continuously active professional musical organization in our country. The Marine Band is the only musical organization whose primary mission is to provide music for the President of the United States.
Photo Credit: CareyLynn PhotographyThe 100th day of school is a tradition and milestone for kindergarteners in Lovejoy! The 100th day signifies that students have completed more then half the school year, reinforces math skills students have been learning, and celebrates all the learning that those same students have already accomplished!
Today, in celebration of the 100th day of school, students at Hart and Puster Elementary dressed as 100 year olds, participated in counting games and a #100thDayofSchool celebration!
We often hear from families with older students who see the flood of "granny's and grandpa's" on social media. They reminisce about when their students dressed-up for the 100th Day of School "just yesterday." #OneHeartOneLovejoy
Thank you teachers, administrators, and parents who made this an incredibly special day for our kiddos and families!
On Saturday, February 4th the Majestics Dance Officers, Imperials, and Soloists attended the American Dance and Drill Team North Texas Regional Competition hosted at Rockwall Heath High School. The girls represented Lovejoy in the highest regard earning many top honors and awards.
All groups received Sweepstakes and Gussie Nell Davis Recognition by earning a score of 93 or higher from all judges on all routines. The Majestics Dance Officers received Judges Awards in both Prop and Contemporary for receiving scores of 94 and above. They also received a Division 1 - Silver Ranking for earning a PERFECT SCORE for choreography and presentation. Our Dance Officers walked away with 1st runner up “Best in Class” in the Medium Public High School Officer Division.
Additionally, our Imperials received 1st place in the Medium Ensemble category and a Division 1 – Silver Ranking for also earning a PERFECT SCORE for choreography and presentation.
Finally, we had 7 students compete a solo and all earned a Division 1 Ranking. 3 students, Hannah Wyrick (senior), Genevieve Jones (sophomore), and Robin Crigger (sophomore) were finalists in the Medium Public High School Division. Genevieve Jones placed 4th, Robin Crigger placed 3rd, and Hannah Wyrick placed 2nd overall.
We are so proud of our Majestics Dance Officers, Imperials, and Soloists!
Please help me in congratulating these students for their hard work and huge success!!!
The Lovejoy Band travelled to Orlando Florida this past week to participate in the Instrumental Recording Session experience at Disney's Imagination Campus. This event allows students to quickly sight read, rehearse, and record a soundtrack to a Disney film in just a couple of hours. The students end up with a true, live recording of their playing synced up with a film as a final product of the event. The conductor was very impressed with our students and put them through their paces in the time he had with them.
On top of the musical fun, our students enjoyed 4 days in the Disney and Universal Parks. Students had lots of fun in the sun while while ice was falling back home. Travel home was delayed due to weather, but this experience was worth every minute! Go Band!!
We are Lovejoy Proud of teams 1082E [ Carbonated Potato ] and 1082X [ Infinity's End ] for their accomplishments at the Battle For Las Vegas Signature Event where teams from around the world and the nation gathered to compete! We also got to watch BattleBots while there- it was a blast! At the Signature Event, 1082E fought hard and ended as Quarterfinalists and won the Inspire Award while team 1082X ended as Semifinalists and won the Design Award! These teams traveled far to compete against the best and better prepare themselves for the State and World Championship and we are so excited for what is up ahead for these two excellent teams. Way to go students! We are Best Today, Better Tomorrow!
1082E & 1082X
Congratulations to our student athletes who have committed to attend and play their collegiate sports at the following universities:
Charlotte Wilson - Volleyball Southern Utah University
Hannah Gonzalez - Volleyball Abilene Christian University
Bella Landrum - Track and Field/XC Midwestern State University
Mary Mueth - Soccer University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Samantha Basson - Basketball Henderson State University
Noah Gardner - Football Tulane University
Gabe Joyner - Football Washington and Lee University
Roderick Mapps - Football The University of Texas at Permian Basin
Austin Gonzalez - Football The University of Southern Mississippi
Nicholas Spooner - Lacrosse Lincoln Memorial University
West Wilson - Football University of North Texas
Brayden Hagle - Football University of Chicago
Every year our visual art students submit work to compete in Scholastic Art and Writing; one of the country's oldest and most highly regarded high school art competitions. Students from around the US submit work to have it adjudicated and honored regionally (we are part of a 7 state region), before selected "Gold Key" works move on to the national level to be judged again for scholarship, awards, exhibition, and publication.
We are proud to announce that 51 artworks and 27 students from LJVA were awarded at this 7-state regional level!
Of the 51 regional award winners, 11 pieces received Gold Keys and will compete for recognition, scholarship, and award on the national level. Students who win a Gold Key at the national level will be invited to travel to Carnegie Hall in NYC for an awards ceremony and celebration. LJVA is beyond proud of all of our students and the planning, intention, and work that led to this esteemed honor! If you know any of these artists, please congratulate them on this prestigious award and recognition!
Click below for a complete list of our award winners!
The varsity girls soccer team is off to a 9-1-1 (4-0 in district) to start the season. Last week the girls beat Denison 10-0 and Sherman 7-0. This week the girls beat Princeton 2-0 before lightning stopped the game at halftime. Natalie Lenart and Kenlea Swadener have eight clean sheets on the season with an excellent defense in front of them. Midfielder, Emma Nelson, leads the attack with 8 goals and 9 assists and center midfielder, Kate Carlson, has 8 goals and 3 assists.
The JV girls soccer team has started the season 2-3-3 (2-1 in district). Last week the girls beat Denison 8-0 and this week the girls tied Princeton 0-0 in rough weather conditions.
Both teams play McKinney North next in a big matchup on Friday, 2/10, at McKinney ISD Stadium. JV kick off at 5:45 and varsity at 7:30.
The Lovejoy Guard started their winter contest season on February 4th at the North Texas Colorguard Association (NTCA) competition at Lamar HS in Arlington. The WSMS Guard competed in the Novice Category with their new show, Unwritten, and earned 5th place. The Lovejoy High School JV Guard competed as Scholastic AA/A and earned 2nd place with their show, Flowers. Our Lovejoy Varsity Guard earned a 5th place with their beautiful show, Turn in the Nationals A category. The Lovejoy Guard will continue their season with their next contest at the NTCA contest held at Richardson HS on February 18th.
Lovejoy ISD is the proud home of the FIRST EVER THSCA Coach of the Year for Girls Cross Country AND Boys Cross Country! Coach Carly Littlefield and Coach Logan Kelly are outstanding coaches with incredible impact‼
February 6th - 10th is National School Counseling Week! Join us in celebrating our incredible counselors at each campus and the tremendous impact school counselors make in our students' success and wellbeing.
Mary Ruggeri - Hart Elementary
Brittany Buaas - Puster Elementary
Glenda Martin - Sloan Creek Intermediate School
Amber Smith - Sloan Creek Intermediate School
Kelly Collins - Willow Springs Middle School
Carey Miller - Willow Springs Middle School
Natalie Coonrod - Lovejoy High School
Melissa Fletcher - Lovejoy High School
Carrie Robbins - Lovejoy High School
Sarah Thrash - Lovejoy High School
As a Board, we are committed to strong and proactive communication with our community. Part of this commitment is sending an email invitation to our community prior to Board Meetings with a sincere desire for you to be involved and fully aware, so we can come together as a community for our children.
You may find the full agenda with supporting documentation on our district's BoardBook Premier website HERE.
For information on the May 6, 2023 School Board Election, please visit the Lovejoy Board of Trustees webpage HERE.
Sincerely,
The Lovejoy ISD Board of Trustees Barrett Owens, President Amy Smith, Vice-President Anne Smith, Secretary Julie McLaughlin, Trustee Jeff Wood, Trustee Marvin Bobo, Trustee Jason Jaynes, TrusteeNEW! MTSS PARENT INFO MEETING
NEW! LHS STUDENT ATHLETIC TRAINING
LOVEJOY SOFTBALL BAT GIRL SIGN-UP
NEW! LOVEJOY VISUAL ARTS (LJVA)
The Lovejoy ISD Community News website is intended to facilitate connections and raise awareness of local events, activities, fundraisers and organizations that might interest Lovejoy families.
The Texas Department of State Health Services released new guidance for the 2022-2023 school year regarding Covid-19 and schools. LISD Health and Safety Measures are posted on the District website, linked below.
The information featured on the Community News website is submitted by community members. Lovejoy ISD is not affiliated with the organizations and does not claim to endorse them.
