Bobcats Making Headlines

Sara McCue

Lenihan Intermediate School vocal music teacher Sara McCue attended a workshop with the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation at New York University.

The workshop was held July 17-20 and featured teachers from all over the country who came together to talk about school curriculum the foundation has provided, offer input on an upcoming “Soundtracks” show for CNN and hear from various speakers including teachers and those representing the music industry.

“I plan to incorporate even more lessons from TeachRock (curriculum) into my classroom, and I am hopeful to pursue the creation of a Sonic Highways video, which is something that will be a student led look into the history of music and musicians in Marshalltown,” McCue said. “I also would love to see more Marshalltown teachers taking a look into this curriculum.”

McCue also took part in a walking tour of Greenwich Village led by actress Maureen Van Zandt and also talked with Maureen’s husband, Steven Van Zandt, the founder of the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation. He is a member of the Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band and was an actor on “The Sopranos.”

“He expressed his passion for education and using rock and roll to engage students and keep them in school,” McCue said. “I was able to talk with him about ways to get artists into classrooms to teach students directly.”

Lenihan teacher Sara McCue is pictured in the center of this group of teachers who took part in the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation workshop. The workshop was held in New York City from July 17-20.

Linda Mills paints a classroom at Rogers Elementary School on July 20. Rogers received a donation of 40 gallons of paint from the True Value Foundation’s Paint a Brighter Future program.

Classrooms throughout much of Rogers Elementary School in Marshalltown are getting a fresh coat of paint thanks to a donation through the True Value Foundation’s Painting a Brighter Future program.

Forty gallons of paint have been donated by the True Value Foundation and distributed locally through the Thompson True Value store. The new paint will help spruce up the classrooms in the building in advance of students coming back in the fall.

Dave Thompson, owner of Thompson True Value, said they help out local schools annually with this project and he is pleased to be able to offer the paint. He encourages other area schools to apply for the donations in the future.

“It’s always wonderful to be a beneficial part of the community,” Thompson said.

Rogers Elementary Principal Dr. Mick Jurgensen said he was grateful to Thompson True Value for providing the paint and working with the school. Dr. Jurgensen also appreciated the help of Rogers custodian Adam Rundall and the summer cleaning crew at the school as they worked the painting into their schedule.

Marshalltown High School students Nayeli Barajas, left, and Isabel Paredes participated in a weeklong program at the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business in June. 

Two Marshalltown High School students participated in a weeklong program to learn more about opportunities in higher education in business, hosted by the University of Iowa.

Nayeli Barajas and Isabel Paredes took part in the program and both will be seniors this fall at MHS.

The Gateway Program at the Tippie College of Business provided students with information on majoring in business and helped them experience life on the University of Iowa campus from June 25 to 30.

“I thought it was a good way to learn more business skills and a lot of other information,” Paredes said.

Barajas said the program increased her interest in studying business.

“It opened my eyes and expanded my horizons,” Barajas said.

Both students received recognition from the Marshalltown school board at the July 17 meeting. Paredes said she hopes her experience will inspire other students to chase their dreams.

These three teachers have been hired as STEM specialists to work in the elementary schools in the Marshalltown Community School District, implementing more science, technology engineering and math. Pictured at STEM instruction training at Iowa State University on July 11 are, from left, Francie Woerner, Amanda Miller and Alexandria Jahnke.

The Marshalltown Community School District is expanding its STEM programming to its younger students as part of the implementation of three STEM ELL specialists in the six elementary schools.

These specialists will teach science, technology, engineering and math as part of the Project Lead the Way Launch elementary curriculum.

“Students will benefit from these teachers as they will have regular, high quality STEM learning by highly trained teachers using engaging lessons and materials,” said Dr. Lisa Stevenson, director of instruction with Marshalltown Schools. “In addition, all of these teachers are or will be certified in ESL (English as a Second Language) which will benefit those students who are English learners.”

Each specialist will work in two elementary schools including Francie Woerner at Rogers and Woodbury, Alexandria Jahnke at Anson and Hoglan and Amanda Miller at Franklin and Fisher.

The three have been participating in STEM instruction training at Iowa State University this week from Project Lead the Way.

“MCSD has a rich history of science, technology, engineering and math coursework and support with PLTW and the community for students in grades 7-12 and in preschool,” Stevenson said. “The goal was to expand STEM to K-4 by having science instruction delivered by STEM specialists instead of the classroom teacher.”

After this elementary level STEM is implemented, the next course of action will be to bring Lenihan Intermediate School more on board to make it a “seamless exposure” to STEM for preschool through 12th grade, Stevenson said.
The district received a $36,000 grant this past spring from the Governor’s STEM Council to fund the training for the specialists as well as training for additional MCSD staff members. It will also help fund the cost of lesson materials for the STEM programming in the elementary schools.

Marshalltown High School student Rosa Yanez has been selected to participate in a health careers exploration program at Drake University on July 20 and 21. Yanez will be a senior this fall at MHS.

Marshalltown High School student Rosa Yanez has been selected to participate in the Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences D-PREP program.

The two-day program will include a number of activities that will help participants learn about careers in the healthcare field and the work being done at Drake by current college students. It will be held July 20 and 21 at Drake.

Rosa, who will be a senior this fall at MHS, has an interest in pursuing a nursing career.

“I’ve always had a passion for helping people,” Yanez said.

She said she is excited to learn more about the medical field during this two-day program.

Rosa is also active in the MHS student leadership group Al Exito. MHS teacher and Al Exito director Jocelyn Frohwein said she feels Rosa has a big future ahead of her.

“Rosa is well-organized, professional and has a very good work ethic,” Frohwein said.

D-PREP stands for Discover, Prepare, Research and Explore Pharmacy.

Marshalltown High School will host a Friday Night Lights youth football camp on Friday, July 28. The event will be held at Leonard Cole Field at MHS from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. It is for all youth entering grades kindergarten through eighth grade.

Youth will receive coaching in the fundamental skills of football from the MHS coaching staff and current Bobcat players.

The camp is free but to register email new head Bobcat football coach Adam Goodvin at agoodvin@marshalltown.k12.ia.us. Walk up registrations are welcome the night of the camp.

Coach Adam Goodvin

“Having the young campers under the lights on a Friday night with current MHS football players will hopefully be a special time for them,” Goodvin said. “Hopefully we can all have a great night of football.”

Athletes are asked to wear a T-shirt, shorts and shoes to the camp.

Mark Lee is pictured during his first week as principal of Fisher Elementary School.

New Fisher Elementary School Principal Mark Lee has started on the job and said he was excited to get going.

“There are so many good things in place here at Fisher and I’m excited to pick up with the things that are working great,” Lee said.

Lee also has been impressed with Marshalltown during his brief time here saying it has all you need without the hassle of trying to get around a big city.

Mr. Lee talks about his early goals, his impressions of Marshalltown and his time in Alaska in a video available at this link.