Every year, each school in BVSD chooses an impactful person in their school community who demonstrates exceptional collaboration, innovation, and dedication to our students.
These impactful individuals show an ongoing commitment to professional and personal growth and have powerful, often life-changing, effects on students and the rest of the education community through unfaltering and purposeful effort.
We hope you enjoy reading about our school honorees! Click each photo to learn more about why they were selected for an Impact Award.
Earlier this week, we gathered parent leaders of BVSD’s PTOs and PTAs for a Parent Partnership Summit. Nearly half of our 56 schools had a representative join the summit which was generously sponsored by Premier Members Credit Union.
We were fortunate to be joined by three BVSD leaders, including Dr. Rob Anderson, Superintendent; Dr. Lora de la Cruz, Deputy Superintendent and Dr. Sam Messier, Assistant Superintendent for Strategic Partnerships and Academic Supports.
All together for all students
Dr. Anderson shared some district updates with the group before sharing the three pillars of the BVSD strategic plan:
Ignite: all students benefit from challenging and relevant educational opportunities
Equip: reduce disparities in achievement
Soar: ever student graduates empowered with the skills necessary for post-graduate success
As the newest member of the BVSD leadership team, Dr. de la Cruz introduced herself and shared her perspectives about the successes of the district and challenges that lie ahead.
Our attendees asked relevant and informed questions about bringing volunteers back into schools, staffing and substitute constraints, funding for paraeducators in elementary schools, and declining enrollment across the district.
Building strategic partnerships
Next up was Dr. Messier, discussing her new role building systems to better support partnerships that are aligned to BVSD’s strategic goals. Attendees spent time in small groups discussing how their school group connects to the pillars of the strategic plan. From all of the conversations, three key themes emerged regarding ways parent groups can support BVSD’s progress towards its goals:
Supplementing school staff
Intentionally engaging families
Supporting educators
Working together
These school groups are each working hard to support their school, educators, and students. From providing funding for paraeducators to creating opportunities for all families to have a voice to hosting community events, we are grateful for their dedication to Boulder Valley School District.
Attendees left the session with a deeper understanding of the School District’s strategic direction, the role of Impact on Education and the ways that other parent groups are supporting their schools. We hope they also left energized and encouraged and with some new connections.
Our local K-12 students returned to classrooms last week, and preschoolers start on Monday, August 30. Everyone can feel the excitement, the anticipation, and the pure joy of being back at school.
On Friday, August 20th, hundreds of Boulder Valley community members came together (in person and virtually) to help Impact on Education ensure that all of these students have a great school year. We’re incredibly grateful for the sponsors and donors who joined and supported us.
Together, we raised nearly $250,000 to strengthen Boulder Valley’s public schools.
Impact on Education has big plans ahead, including a major investment to provide supplemental instruction for students to make up for unfinished learning from prior years and initiatives to ensure more students are prepared for college and careers.
At the gala we were touched to hear stories about students whose lives were positively and directly impacted by our work. And our keynote speaker, Erik Weihenmayer, took our theme, Together We Climb, to new heights. As a former educator and world-renowned athlete and adventurer, he spoke about the importance of teams in classrooms and in life, and he inspired us all with his incredible story. Every student will encounter barriers throughout their life much like the challenges Erik faces living and adventuring without sight. Erik reinforced the importance of our work as alchemists to eliminate the barriers standing in the way of student success.
We take this message to heart and are starting the school year off committed to helping all students find their paths to success. We wish every student and educator a wonderful school year!
Students and educators are excited to return to classrooms this week, and we’re proud to help ensure every student is equipped for success.
Students across our community have come to rely on Crayons to Calculators to provide a positive start to their school year, and 2021 was no exception.
This year was one of the most critical for the Crayons to Calculators program as more families found themselves needing assistance due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. For health and safety reasons, we ran a modified program again this year, collecting monetary donations to purchase backpacks and supply kits, instead of having items donated and assembled by volunteers. Our partners at BVSD and SVVSD handled the logistics and ensured that each of more than 100 schools received backpacks and supplies for every student in their building facing financial hardship.
We exceeded our Community Challenge goal of raising $25,000 and together with our Title Sponsor Western Disposal we collectively raised $250,000 to purchase and distribute school supplies to the students who need them most. We’re so proud of this and your dedication to our community.
Thank you for helping us provide school supplies to over 11,000 students in two school districts. We couldn’t have done it without you!
“Sometimes, when something truly surprising happens, it feels like it lasts a long time, even if it really doesn’t.”
Marcel the Shell: The Most Surprised I’ve Ever Been
BVSD Superintendent’s Honor Roll
Boulder Valley School District recently gathered district leaders and representatives from different teams throughout the district to share their stories about the biggest pandemic initiatives during a special Superintendent’s Honor Roll. Superintendent Dr. Rob Anderson recognized Impact on Education for our service to the BVSD community during the pandemic.
Our job is to make sure student needs are met. Whether those needs are inside or outside of the classroom, we work with BVSD to identify student needs and then turn to our community to find the resources to help. This year, we worked tirelessly to ensure students had food, internet, and school supplies, and now we’re focused on helping students access supplemental learning opportunities.
IOE awarded for outstanding dedication
Fast forward to 1:33:57 in the video below to see our Executive Director, Allison Billings, take the stage and accept our award “for outstanding service to the students, staff and community in the Boulder Valley School District.”
For the past 28 years, we’ve honored individuals in the Boulder Valley School District at our annual Impact Awards. This celebration recognizes one person from each of Boulder Valley’s 56 schools making an extraordinary impact on student learning because of their exceptional collaboration, innovation, and dedication to students. We also award one educator with the Blake Peterson Lifetime Achievement Award and another with the Imogene Maxon Early Teacher Award.
This year, we’re seeing so many people stepping up for our students, we decided to recognize the entire BVSD community through the Impact Awards: Community Edition.
Why we’re celebrating you
Every single person involved in education—teachers, staff, administrators, parents, and students—has gone above and beyond this school year, demonstrating their commitment to education and our students. So this year, in the most extraordinary school year we’ve faced thus far, we’re recognizing the entire BVSD community with an Impact Award.
Educators, thank you for engaging students and families and keeping them at the forefront of decisions.
Students, thank you for adapting and staying committed to learning through this difficult year.
Parents, thank you for your patience and flexibility during a very challenging school year.
Supporters, thank you for standing with us to show the strength of our community.
How we’re saying thank you
We didn’t let an historic snowstorm get in the way of saying thank you. We hope you were able to see our messaging throughout the community this week. Here’s what you might have missed:
Our BIG thank you in the Daily Camera on Sunday, March 14, 2021
Banners and yard signs at every BVSD school
Posters and stickers at schools and local businesses
We’re thankful for our presenting sponsor, Premier Members Credit Union, in addition to Google, Comcast and the Boulder Valley Education Association for allowing us to recognize our incredible BVSD community through this gratitude campaign.
Special discounts through the end of the school year
We’re thrilled to partner with 25 businesses offering special discounts for the BVSD community through the end of the school year. It’s been a tough year for our small business community as well, and we’re grateful so many were able to join us in saying thank you.
From coffee shops to bookstores to local restaurants, we hope something on the list brings your family some extra joy.
Looking ahead
It’s too early to say what next year’s Impact Awards will look like, though we sure hope to celebrate with you in person. Regardless of how many educators we’re able to recognize each year, please know: we appreciate you!
Did you know that you’re part of BVSD’s support system? We couldn’t do what we do for local students without people like you behind us. If you’re looking for ways to give back this holiday season, we would be grateful if you included Impact on Education in your giving. Here are three ways you can brighten the holidays for local students.
Bid in our Virtual Auction
Bidding closes on Monday, November 30 in our virtual auction. Support public education and fine dining by placing a bid on top-rated wines from around the world and local fine dining and shopping experiences.
All proceeds from this event will go directly to BVSD students thanks to our generous sponsors: Premier Members Credit Union, Crestone Capital and Trailhead Wealth Management.
We’re collecting new and gently used children’s books for kids ages 0-14 in the Boulder Valley School District. The books collected will be part of the Share-a-Gift Holiday Toy Shop for local families.
Books will be collected November 30 through December 14. Gather books and deliver to one of our collection sites at your convenience.
Schedule your Colorado Gives Day gift and help us unlock a $20,000 matching gift from Google. Your gift will go a long way towards creating equitable change in Boulder Valley schools!
We have a long way to go to achieve equitable education in Boulder Valley. With people like you behind us, we can continue adapting, learning, and supporting the most critical needs of students in our community.
BVSD is proud to announce that the annual Corden Pharma Science Fair will be held February 22, 2021 in an online, virtual format due to COVID-19, and judges are needed! This annual event invites middle and high school student researchers from across the district to showcase their extraordinary research projects and compete for prizes and a place in the Colorado State and International Science Fairs.
This year’s Science Fair judges will be using a software program to conduct project judging, and judges will interview students and evaluate them based on established project criteria. In terms of time commitment, the fair will take place between 8a and 4pm on February 22, 2021, and judges can choose among evaluating high school (Senior level) projects or middle school (Junior level) projects or even both. Judges usually evaluate about 3-5 projects within their area of expertise or interest and as part of a judging team.
The Corden Pharma Science Fair stands out as a meaningful and rich opportunity for students to engage in all aspects of research, including data collection and analysis, as well as presentation of that research in various formats, including visualizations and video. Impact on Education is excited to support BVSD in reaching out to our community science experts and advocates to share their passion for science with our future leaders. Judges make this event possible!
Feel free to check out the Science Fair website for additional information, and if you would like to register, please complete the form here. You may also contact the Science Fair Coordinator, Kristin Donley kristin.donley@bvsd.org to help answer any questions you may have.
Last Thursday, we held our first-ever virtual event: Together We Bloom. Thanks to our staff, a dedicated committee, and some great volunteers, we were able to execute an exciting virtual celebration. Although we couldn’t be in person, it truly felt like the community came together that night, and we’re so grateful to everyone who joined us.
Thanks to you, we were able to raise nearly $240,000 in support of BVSD students!
We were inspired to see the community unite in such a huge way, sharing our commitment to ensuring that as this new school year unfolds, every student is fully equipped and prepared to learn, whether in school buildings or from home.
That community support extended into the event itself. All of our musical performances and demonstrations for the evening had a connection to the community. Whether alum, parents, or residents, each is proud to support BVSD, and this support expanded across our silent auction items—each donated by members of the community, supporting local businesses. It was motivating to see everyone come together in a meaningful way.
Highlights from the evening
From Face Vocal Band and Hazel Miller, to Ultalowfi and Gasoline Lollipops, we heard from many attendees that they just might have found a new favorite band. And we can’t forget, Colorado Springs-grown OneRepublic closing out the night!
Along the way we had a delicious pasta demo and even a tasty drink demo you could follow along with at home if you had purchased the mixology add-on package. Executive Director Allison Billings and our amazing emcee, John Tayer, President and CEO of the Boulder Chamber, shared a bit about what we’ve been up to at IoE and why our work is more crucial now than ever. We shared a video to further clarify how the COVID crisis has affected our community specifically and the action IoE has taken to help alleviate the burden on our most impacted families.
Your contribution to our work is what makes it all possible. Whether donating, spreading the word to friends and family, or just taking the time to learn more about us, we can’t thank you enough for your support. As the event theme, Together We Bloom, suggests–when we work together and support one another, our community emerges even stronger! Although this school year will be unlike any other we’ve seen, we’ll get through it together.
Amidst the many challenges facing our community right now, we are excited to share good news about a virtual celebration we held on May 7 during Teacher Appreciation Week. We had the joy of honoring seven BVSD early career teachers and recognizing one first-year teacher as our inaugural Imogene Maxon Early Career Teacher award (IMA) winner! We originally intended to recognize and award these educators in person during our annual Impact Awards event in March, but we rescheduled the event for September, when we will honor them all in person with our Impact Award winners.
Earlier this year,we received a bequest from the family of Imogene Maxon, a lifelong educator who taught in BVSD, in the form of 5% of her estate. Imogene believed strongly in the impact of teachers who spend a lifetime honing instruction and learning practices and positively impacting countless students within the classroom.
Our seven nominees were chosen for their commitment to the teaching profession, and for embodying a passion and stamina that reflects one of a veteran educator. The nominees represent Boulder High, Emerald Elementary, University Hill Elementary, Eldorado K-8, Transitions Center, Manhattan Middle, and Nederland Middle/Senior.
Congratulations to Emily Trujillo
Our first-ever IMA winner, Emily Trujillo, is a kindergarten teacher at Emerald Elementary and a BVSD graduate. Announced by BVSD Board of Education President Tina Marquis, Emily stood out with her wise-beyond-her-years demeanor, natural leadership, and dedication to individual students. She is dedicated to showing students how they can be represented in their teachers.
The virtual celebration included all of the award nominees, their principals, BVSD Board of Education members, and BVSD administrative leaders, and was broadcast on BV22 simultaneously. We encourage the community to watch the video and celebrate our BVSD educators!
Thanks to the Maxon bequest, each nominee and the winner was given a monetary award.
