Tag Archives: #community

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

 

 

 

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 

#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. 

 

#StellerGives: Alana P.

This photo is from me volunteering at the mobile food bank on Saturday 11/21/20 in Fairview.

Hi, I’m seventeen year old Alana Rose P. I am a junior at Steller Secondary this year. For the past four years I have volunteered through the Foodbank of Alaska to help run the monthly mobile food banks in Fairview here in Anchorage. I have also volunteered at the Thanksgiving Blessing, GRIT ( Girls. Ridding. Into Tomorrow) Anchorage. This is two days out of the week for eight weeks in the spring. Most recently I have volunteered with Anchorage Teen Council, which is a group dedicated to providing an educational sex ed experiance for ASD students. We meet once a week plus extra days for teaching.

I also volunteer through Steller as well, helping with the Steller Auction, Steller NHS President, TPC member, Op Group Sergeant at Arms and Yearbook director for the Steller yearbook. I have also helped run almost every dance at Steller since my 7th grade year. 

I find it very fulfilliing to give back to the people that gave the most to me. All these programs and resources have helped me or given me people to help support me through my home, academic, and social life. I wanna help build that same community for others since I know it was the fundamental building blocks of who I am today, I feel I do that through volunteering  I know I’m making a difference in my community. 

Alana

Steller Junior

We are so proud of all the work you do to make your community a better place! Well done Alana. 

To learn more about #StellerGives, and submit your own stories about yourself, or someone you know who should be recognized, visit here. 

#StellerGives: National Honors Society

 

Steller’s chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) is a service oriented organization.  Membership is by invitation and is open to academically inclined students who are interested in giving back to their community.  Brian Gehring serves as the NHS advisor.

This year, NHS students have focused on helping prevent food insecurity.  They have spent time volunteering with the Mobile Food Bank and the Thanksgiving Blessing event.  This valuable work has involved packing food items in boxes and lending their strong backs to the work of moving the boxes along the supply chain to those in need.

NHS students have also been able to establish and support a Steller Homework Club.  The Homework Club initiative has been valuable for students needing support with academic tutoring and to those seeking help to improve their study skills and study habits. 

National Honor Society is open to all Sophomores that have earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher.  Invitations are sent to qualifying students after the completion of their first semester.  Members in good standing must attend regularly scheduled meetings and complete a minimum of 20 hours of community service.

If you think you might enjoy joining our organization, we would appreciate your support and contributions.    

Submitted by the National Honours Society

Thank you to all the students that participate in the NHS.  We are proud of the work you do to make Steller, and Anchorage a better place to live!   

Want to join the #StellerGives campaign?

Let’s celebrate the contributions we all make – big and small – and accept the challenge to show our generosity in a variety of ways during the #StellerGives campaign from November 11 to December 1!

Send your #StellerGives photos to opgsml@gmail.com with your first and last name, grade, and a short description of what you are doing or the charity/cause you support to be posted on Flash, the Steller Instagram account, and this year’s yearbook. 

Then follow @steller_s_official to see how others in our community are contributing! 

Steller Parent Group

 

Launch of Updated SPG Website & NEW Flash Subscription List

We are pleased to launch a new updated website by and for Steller families.  The intent of this site is to complement the District website. 

Visitors to our site will be able to find information for prospective students and what makes Steller special.

The blog feed is where you can find up to date information relevant to our community:

  • Updates on Steller Parent Group Activities
  • OpGroup Advisory information
  • Important dates to remember 
  • School announcements
  • Information relevant to the Steller community like external events and activities, or performances. 
  • We are especially happy to celebrate student accomplishments! 

Don’t miss out on this important information! Sign up the the NEW Steller Flash Subscription list and get new posts sent right to your email! 

Under the PARENTS menu you will find:

  • FAQ about Steller Parent Group
  • SPG Meeting Dates, Agendas and Minutes
  • Volunteer opportunities and Sign Up Genius
  • Documents for Requests for Funding

In the RIGHT SIDEBAR your will find:

  • A NEW Subscribe button to receive Steller Flash Updates right to your inbox (anything that gets posted here).  We are creating a NEW list, so please make sure you visit the site and subscribe, even if you have in the past.
  • A link to send requests to post in Steller Flash 
  • A PayPal button to donate to Steller Parent Group
  • The OpGroup Instagram feed 

Under the STUDENT SHOWCASE menu your will find:

  • Student work submitted by Steller staff and students themselves.  
  • We are looking forward to posting art, videos, music, poetry, photography, and so much more.  Please send your submission via the Flash link on the right sidebar.