WRITING SAMPLES
Preston Aims to Improve Students’ Success Through Their Transition Program
Kaylyn Sanderson
March 11, 2017
Published in Poudre School District Monthly Newsletter
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – With the public school system in the United States starting to become so crowded, transition programs in schools have become an essential part of students’ success. At Preston Middle School, the transition program is designed to make the transition to both middle school and high school as smooth sailing as possible for the children.
Preston’s transition program is built up of multiple walk and talk tours for both the incoming students and their parents, a sixth-grade open house, a pep assembly, counselor visits to the feeder elementary schools and even more components to help students feel welcome.
Transition programs, especially ones as complex as Preston’s, have become indispensable in a student’s experience throughout school. Students who have not had access to these programs have shown higher high school drop out, depression and suicide rates. However, when exposed to a transition program, students have a much higher chance of success in high school, not just academically but also socially.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, since 2000 the high school completion rate in the United States public school system has increased from 83.7 percent to 92 percent. With more public schools adapting effective transition programs, perhaps the increase in graduation rates is correlated.
At Preston, sixth-grade counselor Stephanie Pitner, who attended Rocky Mountain High School herself, sees transition as one of the most important aspects involved in a student’s success in school, and she, as well as the rest of the Preston staff, aims to help students with as smooth a transition as possible.
As a school, Pitner said that one of their biggest beliefs, and something she personally works hard at is making sure that kids get as many opportunities to visit Preston before they come for their first semester in August.
Preston’s transition program is designed so the students come visit at least four times, and Pitner believes that so much exposure helps students really picture themselves there and connect with the school. Pitner said they want to make, “it a little more meaningful to them than just walking through the building every day, so that personal connection piece is really important.”
Within the program, Pitner goes to each of the feeder elementary schools and visits with the fifth-grade class, personally meeting each of the incoming students and walking them through registration for their sixth-grade courses.
Outside the program, both Pitner and Principal Amy Schmer try to ensure that each student’s experience is unique, and together they both personally set out to learn each name of every incoming sixth-grade student – over 300 names.
They also host a Sixth-Grade Only Day for the incoming students, where the fifth-graders come in solo without their parents’ assistance and go to a pep assembly hosted by the eighth-grade WEB leaders. The WEB program, standing for Where Everyone Belongs, not only assists sixth-grade students assimilate smoothly into middle school, but it also targets the eighth-graders transition to high school in helping them learn to lead and break out of their shell.
The students have an opportunity to participate in interactive activities and meet some new friends to look forward to for the next school year. “Our eighth-grade leaders are trained to facilitate small groups of maybe 10-12 students, and they play fun games with them, get them to meet other people and walk them through their whole schedule,” Pitner said.
At the sixth-grade only day the kids also have one of many opportunities to tour the school and really learn the layout. A lack of exposure to a school prior to a student’s first day usually leads to an expectation that middle school will translate to the exaggerated rumors that students have heard about school, from bullying to academics.
Preston takes pride in their strides to get the fifth-grade students into the school multiple times and to feel both comfortable and supported. “We just believe that if you can kind of speak to, ‘this is what middle school is like’, then it’s not as scary. You will be able to open your locker, we will help you, and then they can actually see themselves here, so that’s really important too,” said Pitner.
At Preston they want the experience to be as interactive as possible for the students, including sharing their lockers. The students definitely seem to approve too. Sheridan, sixth-grade student, said her favorite part of Preston is “having a locker and having all different classes.”
Although Preston is the largest middle school in northern Colorado, each of its students is still able to find their niche or multiple niches, staying involved with extracurricular activities Preston has to offer, including speech and debate, band, computer science and so many more. Pitner said, “transition is probably the most important piece and based on my research, it’s highly, highly, highly correlated with student happiness and overall connection to the school.”
Fort Collins Music Venue Aims to Support Local Musicians
Kaylyn Sanderson
Feb. 8, 2017
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – With such a significant growth in the music industry in both artists and venues, big-name venues in Colorado including Red Rocks Amphitheatre and The Pepsi Center are not the only music venues gaining the locals’ attention. A little hole-in-the-wall in Fort Collins The Colorado Room is a community favorite that drives to support local musicians.
After three years of business, The Colorado Room has thrived as a relaxing, fun place to kick back after a hard day’s work, offering food, local beer and craft cocktails. They received the “Best Appetizer” Award, a locally sponsored award, in both 2014 and 2015.
It wasn’t until recently that The Colorado Room expanded their back patio and began to cater not just to the residents’ bellies, but also to their musical souls, hosting various music events throughout the year.
The Colorado Room bartender Samuel Real said, “It’s probably the best job I’ve ever had. The owners are very good at what they do and have a good idea of what kind of atmosphere they want to give off to people.”
Part of that atmosphere The Colorado Room is looking to put out is represented through the bands and events they host that support all local art, whether it’s visual art or music. On a recent night, The Colorado Room hosted upcoming band Chess at Breakfast, who played from 9 to 10 p.m.
After only one year of playing together, the members of Chess at Breakfast have been expanding their live performances across all of Fort Collins. Chess at Breakfast includes three members – Caleb McFadden, guitarist, Justin Daggett, bassist, and Mike Davis, drummer.
On Saturday, Chess at Breakfast opened their show with their released single, “Weather or Not.” The crowd was pretty laid back and mostly sat in their seats. However, that didn’t stop them from dancing in their seats and bopping their heads along.
Hunter Tomlinson, audience member and Colorado State University graduate, says he loved the show. “I’ve never heard of Chess at Breakfast before. These guys are great,” Tomlinson said. “The beer here is great too.”
On top of entertaining Fort Collins’ residents, The Colorado Room also offers many food and drink options from local vendors, art and décor from local artists, hats and apparel from local merchants and, above all, friendly service from local people.
Real thoroughly supports The Colorado Room’s mission to support local music and said he even enjoys almost all of the bands they host. “There have been some really good acts that have come through for us being a smaller-time music venue,” Real said. “We’ve been getting a couple bands that come back fairly regularly, which is pretty cool.”
Chess at Breakfast seems to share a similar vision for their band as The Colorado Room does for their business in supporting and collaborating with locals. “We want to provide and be a part of a mixing pot of artists to connect with, tour with, record with [and] create with. Really just create a welcoming space for ideas that all our friends can play a part in,” Davis said.
Although recently established, circumstance has not stopped Chess at Breakfast from recording demos and releasing a single. “Our first EP will be coming out within the next month, though. It will be called ‘The Gutshalls’ EP, and will feature six songs,” Davis said. “In the meantime, we are just working on our live show and trying to gain notoriety.”
Chess at Breakfast aims to produce music of all different genres just as The Colorado Room aims to book bands from all different genres. The Colorado Room aims to host all types of events, too. Real said they even have a comedy night coming up soon. “We have four or five local stand up comedy artists coming,” Real said.
“We had what they called a variety show a few months ago,” Real said. “It was a mix of belly dancing, burlesque, knife juggling, comedy and some live music. That was a really interesting event. There were ten to twelve different acts throughout the night.”
Over the summer season, Real said The Colorado Room hosts much more music since their venue is outdoors and relies on optimal weather. However, with the gorgeous summer nights Colorado has it must be worth the wait.