The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)-Missouri Gateway Chapter challenged public and private schools within the chapter’s territory (Missouri and Southern Illinois) to devise and implement, with the help of Green Mentors, the most creative, effective and no or low-cost sustainable practices for their schools. This year, over 3,000 students and 180 faculty and staff were directly involved in this year’s Green Schools Quest projects. The Kirkwood School District (KSD) had six schools participate: Kirkwood Early Childhood Center, Keysor Elementary School, Westchester Elementary School, Nipher Middle School, North Middle School and Kirkwood High School. The projects were judged and winners were announced at the 12th Annual Green School Event at the Missouri History Museum. KECC was announced as the winner of the elementary school category and Kirkwood High School was announced as the winner of the high school category. Nipher Middle School and North Kirkwood Middle School tied for the middle school category.
This morning, Kirkwood School District administration celebrated key volunteers in honor of National Volunteer Week. National Volunteer Week is an opportunity for school Districts to shine a light on the important work that volunteers do every day for our schools and students.
North Kirkwood Middle School (NKMS) has a school-wide focus on service learning. Teachers and students are challenged to lean in to an issue or initiative to foster change. The groups meet on a near monthly basis, and quarterly service-learning days are planned. One group at NKMS sought change with literacy awareness. Sixth grade students in the “Plant a Library” group learned that not every school in the St. Louis area had the resources for a comprehensive and diverse library collection. The students, led by teachers Karen Ambuehl and Jen Siegel, decided the goal of the group was to: "Help us pass on the seeds of literacy and watch the love of reading grow!"
Kaityln Emerson, a 7th grade student at NKMS, was selected as a “Super Citizen”. She demonstrates the attributes needed to be an outstanding leader while representing NKMS and was worthy of the recognition as a Super Citizen.
Congratulations to all the participants in the 2019 KSD STEAMFest competition. The results are in, and dozens of KSD students are now eligible to compete at the Academy of Science-St. Louis Science Fair this May. For more photos and a complete list of participants, please visit the KSD STEAMFest website.
Dr. Denise Ford, SOAR gifted specialist and social studies teacher at North Kirkwood Middle School, as Kirkwood School District Teacher of the Year for 2019-20.
Congratulations to these outstanding Kirkwood Teachers of the Year, who were selected by their school colleagues to represent the many outstanding Kirkwood teachers and staff members in 2019-20: KECC-Penny Chastain; Keysor-Molly Brockmeyer; North Glendale-Lori Wehrman; Robinson-Shannon Appelbaum; Tillman-Molly Boesch; Westchester-Chelsea Witwer; Nipher-Luis Actis; North Kirkwood Middle-Denise Ford; and KHS-Mitch Eden.
Community members are invited to attend a school board candidate forum on Monday, March 11, 2019, at 7:00 p.m. in the North Kirkwood Middle School Cafeteria, 11287 Manchester Road. Two positions on the Kirkwood Board of Education will be decided in the April 2, 2019 municipal election.
