Lovejoy Community,
The Fine Arts Festival was a resounding success! If you attended the festival, it will be no surprise that our visual and performing arts programs are state and nationally recognized. Over 3000 pieces of artwork were showcased at the festival which included every elementary student and all students enrolled in a secondary art course. Throughout the festival, there were impressive performances from band, cheer, choir, elementary music, dance, orchestra, and theater.
I had the opportunity to spend considerable time at the Fine Arts Festival this past weekend and enjoyed every minute. That said, my favorite part
was getting to attend as a family and experience it as a parent. Claire and Jacob were so proud to show Jeff and I their artwork. They also attended an art workshop in the AP art studio, selected a clay tree from the forest that Ms. Garza’s art students so thoughtfully created, and enjoyed holiday music performances.
The Fine Arts Festival is a tradition that reinforces our commitment to providing an outstanding educational experience for our students. It not only is a celebration of Lovejoy's legacy of excellence in the arts, it is a celebration of a culture grounded in connection and community.
A special thank you to our fine arts teachers, directors, and coaches who, in addition to providing remarkable student learning experiences each day, spent countless hours to make the festival a success. We also extend gratitude to our Lovejoy families for supporting the work of our outstanding faculty and helping us to celebrate music and visual arts education in this extraordinary way. There is only ONE LOVEJOY and we are ALL LEOPARDS!
Katie Kordel
"Thank you to our amazing parent and student volunteers who supported our bake sale, Chick-Fil-A, hot beverages and children's crafts! We appreciate everyone who made a donation or gave their time over the last 24 hours! The Fine Arts Festival Parent Committee were instrumental in supporting us this weekend. Our community involvement made this Festival one to remember.
We appreciate our administrators, principals, trustees and Katie Kordel for allowing us this enriching opportunity to provide and serve our school with an amazing fine arts experience.
To the all of the Lovejoy Fine Arts faculty and students! You OUTDID yourselves - the entire weekend was a truly wonderful time of celebrating the incredible fine art opportunities here in Lovejoy. Thank you for all you do everyday to make art, band, choir, color guard, cheer, dance, orchestra and theatre some of the most amazing experiences and learning environments for our students."Dr. Fela Mathy
Students in Ms. Lavinsky's 5th Grade STEM class at Sloan Creek engaged in completing coding challenges. Student's participated in interactive coding activities that helped them practice writing codes and computer programming. Students and families can also participate in coding from home. To find fun and engaging activities see http://hourofcode.com/us/en for details. Happy Coding!
Brynn Caudell, uses Coffeescript to complete coding challenges during STEM class at Sloan Creek.
Kaden Butler and Henry Lewis, 5th graders at Sloan Creek, work together to code their robot using VEXcode IQ during Leopard Time Robotics Club.
During the Lovejoy Leadership meeting on December 6th, the Curriculum and Instruction Department discussed how they support teachers as they provide high-quality, evidence-based instructional and assessment practices to meet the needs of students. Parents and community members in the group had the opportunity to practice mathematical thinking with number sense routines and create lava lamps to learn more about chemical reactions! A special thanks to First Grade Teacher Stephanie Meaders from Hart Elementary and High School Chemistry Teacher Jared Glaze from Lovejoy High School for taking time out of their day to p nt experience to our Lovejoy Leadership group.
The Lovejoy ISD Board of Trustees, and Superintendent, Katie Kordel, hosted the Board Academy this week. Several community members along with Leadership Lovejoy members participated in a two hour presentation and discussion about what it means to be a Board Member in Lovejoy ISD.
Board
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The Girls Cross Country Team represented Lovejoy in Portland, Oregon on December 3rd at the Nike National Championship. This was the first 5A girls team to ever qualify for Nike Nationals from the Southern Region. The Leopards had the opportunity to race against the best of the best and finished as the 14th fastest team in the United States. They had an incredible experience, and it was a great way to cap off a stellar season.
The LHS Band placed MANY students into the Region 25 All Region Band!! If you see AREA beside a student's name, they advanced on to the next level of competition that will qualify them for state. Those area auditions are in January after the holiday break. In our entire region, Lovejoy HS Band has more area qualifiers than every 5A and 6A high school in Allen, Plano, Wylie, Princeton, Sherman, and Denison! Go Band!!
Lauren Dumin Flute Area
Kevin Zhang Flute Area 6A
Brielle Taylor Flute Area
Emma Ball Oboe Area 6A First Chair!!
Chris Dechant Clarinet Area 6A First Chair!!
Caleb Born Clarinet Area Emily Dillon Area Aliyah Book Alto Saxophone Area Adrian Phan Tenor Saxophone Area
Freshman Region
Audrey Oesterling Flute
Prateeksha Paulraj Flute
Marisela Alexander Clarinet
Sarah Gable Bass Clarinet Area
Davis Miller Baritone Saxophone (already qualified as an all-state jazz member!)
Joseph O'Brien Trumpet Area Reagan Wagner Trumpet Area Reid Robinson Trumpet Area Justin Poteet Tuba Area John Hanchey Percussion Area First Chair!! Max Rattleff Percussion Area
Adam Kent Trumpet Megan Lyons Horn First Chair!!! Cade George Horn Nolan Hummel Trombone
Alternates- Students with AREA next to a name, this student still scored high enough in 5A to be qualified to move onto the next audition!!
Noah Marsden Clarinet Area
Bella Campbell Clarinet Area
Joshua Varughese Clarinet Area
Malachi Liebl Euphonium Area
Matt Bolden Horn Alternate Area
Cooper Moore Trombone Alternate Area Anup Ghumman Percussion Alternate
Jacob Sleeper Percussion Alternate
Lily Bednar Flute Alternate Andrew Lamping Trumpet Alternate
Zayan Alam Clarinet Alternate Joshua Liu Clarinet Alternate Landon Matacale Euphonium Alternate Steven Chang Tuba Alternate
Every year thousands of performing, visual and literary artists age 15-18 apply to YoungArts through our national competition. Finalists attend National YoungArts Week to collaborate with peers and develop their crafts with internationally recognized leaders in their fields. Finalists in their senior year are further eligible for nomination as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students.
Lovejoy High School Senior, Chris Dechant, is a 2023 YoungArts Winner recognized at the Merit level for Clarinet. All award winners including Finalist, Merit and Honorable Mention award levels receive mentorship and financial awards; gain access to a lifetime of creative, professional development and funding opportunities; and become part of an uplifting, inter-generational community that helps artists connect, create and collaborate.
This is an incredible recognition of Chris's significant musical talent! Congratulations, Chris!
Lovejoy Theatre had great success at the annual Texas Thespian Festival! Please congratulation the following students on their acheivment as National Qualifiers!
Jillian Nuckels Monologue
Zoe Smithey Monologue
Zoe Nolan Solo Musical Chloe "Kore" Russell Solo Musical Sarah Jane Hanchey Solo Musical Katy Payne Solo Musical Audrey Bolen Solo Musical Clare Christenson Blake Gatlin Duet Musical Isabella Ruiz Costume Construction
The Girls Basketball Team is off to a great start this year. With many wins under their belt, they have also seen Senior Sam Basson named to the Georgetown All-Tournament Team averaging 20 points per game throughout tournament play. Senior Aaliyah Halstied also broke the single game assists record with 12 assists during the tournament - the previous record was 10.
Last week, the Lovejoy Robotics teams from LHS competed in a tournament in Greenville, TX. 1082C won Lovejoy's first Tournament Championship of the season! 1082X also won the Design Award. 1082V won the Excellence Award! That is the highest tier of judged award any team can earn, and it's an incredible accomplishment. 1082J won the Design Award. Each day of the tournament, we had Lovejoy Robotics teams in the elimination rounds and they all worked extremely hard for their success. We are beyond proud of the grit, determination and drive that these students have for robotics and engineering every day. #LovejoyProud
All of our WSMS Cross Country Teams are District Champs! Please congratulate our students and their coach, Kirby Hulme, on a hard fought season and a great outcome!
Dani Sussine - 3rd Madison Simpson - 5th Hannah Wright - 8th
Chloe Reyna - 1st
Natalia Martinez - 3rd
Cora Craver - 5th Talia Orshalik - 6th
Paige Spencer - 7th Michaela Martin -8th Grace Anderson - 9th
Kaleb Orshalick - 2nd Kaiser Lynch - 4th Will Brownlow - 5th Will Palmer - 9th Cooper Crawford - 10th
Tristan Arceneau - 1st Ty Muaina - 3rd Ajay Prithiviraj - 7th Donovan Eyle - 8th
Coach Carly Littlefield was also named this year's Girls' District Cross Country Coach of the Year and TGCA Coach of the Year! The girls' team were district champions, regional champions and defended their state championship. Additionally, the girls recently traveled to Portland, Oregon where they competed and placed 14th at the prestigious Nike Nationals event.
Coach Logan Kelly was named this year's Boys' District Cross Country Coach of the Year. Coach Kelly led his team their 16th straight district championship, 7th straight regional championship, and back to back years on the podium at the state XC meet.
Not only are Coach Littlefield and Coach Kelly and great coaches, they are great role models for all athletes as well as the students they have in their classrooms. They coach each athlete in their program, not just their top performers, and give every kid the attention they deserve. We are lucky they are both Leopards!
Before joining the Lovejoy team, I worked in Plano ISD for seven years. During that time, I was fortunate to hold three different positions:
Registrar on a middle school campus Registrar on a high school campus
Student Records Specialist - Trained and supported registrars, assistant registrars, and counseling secretaries at all secondary campuses.
I am a proud mom of two boys. My husband and I enjoy watching and supporting our boys in soccer. Our family enjoys listening to music, movie nights, and watching sports. I am very grateful to be able to work in such an amazing school district, with great team members and administration.
Coordinate with our fantastic PEIMS staff on all campuses to ensure our processes and procedures are efficient and benefit the Lovejoy ISD Community.
Collaborate with administration and campuses to review and process data from across the district for state reporting. Serve as a resource for campus and district staff, parents, and students.
These three principles are what make Lovejoy exceptional. I believe that collaboration is key to success, especially in my position. I take pride in having the ability to collaborate with other team members and departments. This provides opportunities to review and improve procedures that benefit all members of the community.
Contact Information
Email: ashley madding@lovejoyisd.net Work Phone: 469.742.8005
Dear Lovejoy Community,
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.
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, Trustee
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 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.
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,linkedbelow.
