Author Archives: Dee Dee Zobian

StellerGives: Logan D.

 

My name is Logan Davis, and I am a senior from Ken’s advisory. Ever since I first came to Steller in 7th grade I have been at every Op. Group meeting as a representative for my advisory. In that first year I fell in love with the sense of community and leadership I felt during every meeting as we discussed current events within Steller and proposals for the future. In my final year at Steller, I feel a strong nostalgia seeing younger students engage in Op. Group and realize the value they contribute towards their community much like I did long ago. I was beyond excited to be elected as this year’s Vice President of the group and join some of my close friends as student leaders. Although certain dynamics of Op. Group have changed within the last year, I am proud to be a part of a community that has persevered and adapted in the face of turbulence.

I am also happy that I was able to become a seminar coach again for Leigh Anne’s second quarter 8th grade seminar. Like all eighth graders at Steller, I took seminar and I simply loved the class. I enjoyed being able to engage in academic discussions with my classmates within a relaxed peer-to-peer environment. I knew from the moment I finished the class that I wanted to go through it all again as a coach when the time was right. In my junior year, I coached for the first time in Danielle’s first semester seminar, and I was unsure if I would ever be able to coach again. Nowadays, seminar has changed much like Op. Group and the differences in my coaching experience from last year compared to now has been a great learning experience. Regardless of those changes, I have enjoyed watching another wave of underclassmen begin to find their voice and develop the critical thinking skills that remain with them in the future.

Logan D.

Steller Senior

Thanks for all your contributions to the Steller Community Logan!

Kirsten Tschofen

Chair, Steller Parent Group

#StellerGives: Update

During the typical holiday season, there is a drumbeat for gift giving – to friends, family, colleagues, and clients (to name a few!). This year, however, global and local circumstances may put a damper on excessive shopping. Indeed, as people seek ways to cut down on gift giving, they may instead focus on how to make a difference.

On December 1, hundreds of thousands of civic-minded individuals around the world will celebrate #GivingTuesday by donating to their favorite nonprofit organization or cause, and spreading the word to encourage more giving. According to â€œGiving Tuesday and Beyond”, 38 percent of those who donate to charity said that they are more likely to do so during the holiday season.

Here at Steller Secondary our community is known to be extremely generous — we have started highlighting all the ways our students and families give back to our school and the community at large with their time, talents and donations through the #StellerGives campaign.  Please continue to share your stories by emailing them to chairstellerparentgroup@gmail.com and we will highlight them through Flash and the Student Showcase on the website.

We also humbly ask that you consider donating to Steller Parent Group as part of your giving plan this year, if you feel you are in a position to do so.  This year, the Steller Parent Group has decided to introduce a direct donation appeal for families that would like to offer support since we can’t hold any in person fund-raising events. All donations go directly toward supporting Steller students and projects. There is a Donate button at the top right of the Steller Secondary website page for quick and easy payments (scroll down to the bottom if you are reading this on your phone).

This year Steller Parent Group has funded:

  1. $1100 to purchase Art Supplies while students are learning at home. 
  2. $125 for a Banner in the school entrance. 
  3. $700 for Staff Appreciation gifts.
  4. $640 for Hand Sanitiser Stands
  5. $1600 for Student Nutrition support on school re-entry.

When you shop using Amazon Smile with Steller Parent Group as your designated charity or using this link,  SPG receives money back to support student programs at Steller Secondary.  Want to know more about how we use the funds we raise? Visit here. 

Kirsten Tschofen

Chair, Steller Parent Group

 

 

 

Steller Parent Group Meeting December 8, 6:00 to 7:30

All parents/guardians, students and staff are automatically part of the Steller Parent Group and welcome to attend meetings, share ideas and vote on decisions.  This month in addition to regular updates from Reed, staff, and OpGroup we will be discussing the progress of the Student Nutrition Committee, updates on the #StellerGives campaign to recognise the contributions of Steller students, staff and families to our school and the wider community. We are still accepting funding requests as well. 

You can find the Agenda here, and previous Meeting Minutes on under the “Parents” tab of the website, here.

We look forward to seeing you!

Kirsten Tschofen 

Chair, Steller Parent Group

Use this Zoom link to join:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://asdk12.zoom.us/j/94394820644?pwd=ZkNYV3B3dXA2OFBKME9ZQVZkN2hDZz09

 Meeting ID: 943 9482 0644

Passcode: 693295

One tap mobile

+13462487799,,94394820644# US (Houston)

+16699009128,,94394820644# US (San Jose)

Dial by your location

     877 853 5247 US Toll-free

     888 788 0099 US Toll-free

Meeting ID: 943 9482 0644

Find your local number: https://asdk12.zoom.us/u/abixuyvn6

Welcome to the NEW Steller Flash

Hello Steller parents/guardians, students and staff.  Welcome to the updated website run by Steller Parent Group. 

The purpose of this website is to provide information to prospective students about Steller, highlight student achievements, and provide up to date information about SPG activities, OpGroup advisory information, school events, and other relevant information as submitted by community members. Our goal is to have at least one member of every family, and every staff member, subscribed so that no one misses out on important information. 

Please note the SPG Website/Flash is meant to complement the district website asdk12.org/steller and emails sent directly from the office.  For official communication from the school and district please visit Q to update your contact information and settings to receive their communications via email, text or call. 

Here is a quick tour of what you can find on the SPG website:

  1. Parents: Everything you need to know about Steller Parent Group – Welcome from the Chair, FAQ, Meeting Agendas and Minutes, Volunteer Sign Up, and how to make a request for funding. 
  2. Student Showcase: We will highlight student work and accomplishments here.  We welcome submissions from teachers, parents/guardians and students themselves for accomplishments both in and out of school. 
  3. Sign up for the NEW Steller Flash to receive updates right to your inbox. 
  4. Submit article: we welcome article submissions from anyone in the community. 
  5. Donate directly Steller Parent Group to support Steller students.  Find out more about how money is used under  the “Support Steller” tab. 
  6. Steller Flash can be found here – this is what you will receive in your inbox when you subscribe to Steller Flash.  Our goal is to send updates on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 
  7. You can also follow the OpGroup Instagram Account directly from this website. 

If this is your first time receiving a Flash update we encourage you to visit the site, and spend some time reading previous posts so that you are current about what is happening around school.

If you are new to Steller you might find the information under “Prospective Students” interesting background about the school’s history and philosophy. 

If you have subscribed to the NEW Steller Flash in the last three weeks, but haven’t received this “Welcome to the NEW Steller Flash” in your inbox your email client may be filtering or blocking our emails. Email clients like Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo filter incoming messages into spam or junk folders to keep unwanted mail out of inboxes. Unfortunately, these filters sometimes mistakenly move legitimate messages like the NEW Steller Flash into the wrong folder, which means subscribers sometimes miss out on important information.  This article from Mailchimp has good suggestions on how to fix this problem depending on what client you use. 

We also encourage you to join our private Facebook Parent Group, follow our public Steller Secondary Facebook Page, and follow the OpGroup Instagram account. 

Warm regards,

Kirsten Tschofen 

Steller Parent Group Chair 

Subscribe to NEW Steller Flash list by Wednesday!

Update from Steller Parent Group

Dear Steller Community,

Thank you to everyone who has subscribed to the NEW Steller Flash list.  We already have 104 subscriptions! Our goal is to have at least one member of every family, and every staff member, subscribed so that no one misses out on important information. If you haven’t already, please visit the website and enter your email address in the Subscribe box (at the bottom of the page on your phone, or to the right on a computer). We will discontinue the old list on Wednesday, November 25.

To learn more about how Steller Parent Group communicates with you please visit here. 

Student Directory is a new online directory for parents, students and staff to be able to contact each other directly. You must create an account and add your information using the access code CGYJAU when prompted. Add the information for each student and then download the app to be able to access contact information from anywhere. 

The next Steller Parent Group Meeting is on Tuesday, December 8 6:00 to 7:30 via Zoom.  All parents/guardians, staff and students are automatically part of SPG and we welcome your participation. If you would like the link please email chairstellerparentgroup@gmail.com. For Meeting Minutes and Agendas please visit here. 

As always, we are happy to hear from you at stellerparentgroup@gmail.com

Warm regards,

Kirsten Tschofen

Chair, SPG 

*Please note the SPG website/Flash is meant to complement the district website asdk12.org/steller.  For official communication from the school and district please visit Q to update your contact information and settings to receive their communications via email, text or call. 

 

 

 

#StellerGives: Eli & Ezra

 

I did a lot of shovelling!

My name is Ezra and I am in 8th grade at Steller. This summer I volunteered at the Seeds of Change Steller garden. I did a few various tasks, such as weeding, watering, and spreading wood chips. I went once a week for an hour to leave the house and socialize with other humans. It was a good experience because it was fun and I learned some basic gardening skills. I also liked that I got to bring home fresh vegetables like lettuce and cauliflower. 

We made wood signs for the gardens.

Hi, my name is Eli and I am a current Senior at Steller Secondary. I’ve been to a lot of different schools over my high school journey, and I have always tried to connect with the community as much as I could. When the pandemic began, most community events were canceled. Over the summer I saw Seeds of Change was re-starting the Steller garden, something I had never seen during my limited time at the school (I had joined Junior year). Volunteering at the garden every Wednesday over the summer gave me something to do during the monotony of quarantine life. In addition, not only did it provide me new skills in gardening I had never learned before, but it taught me soft skills such as long term planning and cooperation with others. 

Thank you Eli and Ezra for your work in Steller Garden this summer.  We are glad you enjoyed yourselves and learned something new! 

Steller Parent Group

To learn more about #StellerGives and how you can share how you give back to the community please see here. 

 

 

#StellerGives: Seeds of Change

 

Seeds of Change volunteers on the far left and right, with Steller students Ezra, Eli and Logan.

This summer Alaska Seeds of Change  and Steller partnered to reclaim the Steller Peace Garden.

Alaska Seeds of Change works with young people ages 16-24 to help them develop the vocational and personal skills needed to become successful adults. Most staff initially start at Seeds as apprentices, by volunteering for school credit or through an apprenticeship program with one of our partner agencies.

The first step was building lasagna beds on top of the old weed filled beds, and from there we planted the garden and maintained it all summer. 

In addition we were able to plant about 10 apple trees that were donated from a community member (he’s also interested in adding lots more trees if the Steller community is interested). 

We harvested lots of good veggies over the summer that were taken home by Steller students and staff/apprentices at Seeds of Change.  We even had a neighborhood veggie “pirate” that would harvest things periodically.  They seemed to know what they were doing and we figured that they needed the food so we decided it was a way to feed our local community. 

One of the highlights for me was being able to support the youth in making the garden their own and helping them take on projects.

We didn’t realize that we would be running the garden in a pandemic but it turned out to be a great way for Steller students to connect in person while following CDC guidelines to minimize the spread of Covid.  Many students said that this was one of the few ways that they were able to get out of the house and see people.   

Last year we were able to acquire funding through a grant from the Whole Kids Foundation.  We are yet to determine our funding for next year’s program.  If anybody has any ideas we have estimated that about $2,000 would cover the basics of running the garden next year.     

Kelly Ballantyne

Seeds of Change 

Thank you to Seeds of Change for the important role you play supporting the youth of our community, and to all the volunteers from Steller that helped out through the summer.  

If you would like to learn more about Seeds of Change, find out how to volunteer, or donate to support their work visit their website here.

To learn more about #StellerGives and how you can share how you give back to the community please see here.