April 2022

Monday, April 25 is a Teacher Work Day. No school for students. The second-grade classes are performing “Glow” this week. Your child’s teacher should have communicated the time of the performance.

We all view life through different lenses, shaped by our own personal experiences. On Friday, we had a Math Madness Week Pi Assembly, as 20 different students shoved pies into my face celebrate meeting their math goals during Math Madness Week. The students, staff, and I had a fun and enjoyable experience. There was one student, however, in the audience who saw the event though a different perspective. We have two Ukrainian refugee students, a boy and girl, both 5^th graders. The young lady was in tears as she saw pie after pie shoved in the principal’s face. It is safe to say that students in Ukraine don’t shove pies into the face of a school leader, and she viewed the pie-in-face assembly as disrespectful to an adult who should be respected. These students left siblings, pets and homes behind in Ukraine, and they can quickly Google the city where they lived and see where bombs have been dropped in their beloved homeland. Though the vast majority in attendance had a lot of fun at the pie assembly, the experience of our refugee student is an important reminder that the world is a lot bigger than Alpine, Utah, often with life changing realities in faraway places.

On Friday, I announced to students, parents and staff that our “One and Done’ fundraiser had brought in a little over $13,000. I forgot that our PTA is donating $5,000 for the purchase of Chromebooks, so in fact we raised $18,000; consequently, we exceeded our $15,000 fundraising goal! I will definitely be sleeping on the roof before the end of the school year. Thank you so much to everyone who donated for “One and Done”, enabling us to purchase updated Chromebooks for our students!

Mrs. Menssen, who has taught 5^th grade this year, will be moving to 4^th grade to be the English Partner Teacher in our Chinese Immersion Program. Mr. Finlayson now needs to hire a 5^th and a 6^th grade teacher. See the attachment for next year’s current staffing assignments

Please submit any Teacher Requests by April 29. The Teacher Request Form is attached and is also available in the office.

Just a reminder that you can bring your ink and toner cartridges to our Staff Room where we have a recycle box. The recycle program brings money to Alpine Elementary.

The following students were recognized as Students of the Week on Friday, April 22. Teachers nominate students who are consistently demonstrating the character traits of the Alpine Big 3: Being Respectful, Responsible and Ready to learn. Congratulations, Students of the Week!

Spencer Anson-5th grade, Mrs. Chang

Armor Arkell-1st grade, Ms. Johnson

Pete Ballif-1st grade, Mrs. Faux

Linden Bateman-6th grade, Mrs. Monson

Eliza Christensen-4th grade, Mrs. Vipperman

Benjamin Cluff-2nd grade, Mrs. Orgill

Rosie Ence-1st grade, Ms. Johnson

Easton Hogge-Kindergarten, Mrs. Aitchison

Joy Hung-6th grade, Mrs. Monson

Valentino Mendez-4th grade, Mrs. Keller

Thomas Simmons-Kindergarten, Mrs. Aitchison

Cora Spencer-5th grade, Mrs. Chang

Daisy Taylor-4th grade, Mrs Keller

Marshall White-5th grade, Mrs. Menssen

Akselander Wilcox-1st grade, Mrs. Faux

It was a joyous week in the Perdue family! Our oldest son, Brady, and wife, Whitney, have been trying to start a family for over five years. They have spent thousands of dollars on in vitro procedures, and two of the IVF attempts were unsuccessful. They of course have been devastated by the unsuccessful in vitro attempts.  And Laura and I have experienced the crushing heartache that comes when what one of our children and spouse so desperately want does not happen. Their faith and resolve have been tested, but they continued to believe that one day a child would come into their lives.  Though Brady and Whitney live in Rapid City, SD, IVF attempt number three (first two procedures in Arizona) at a fertility clinic in Pleasant Grove was successful. And at 5:45 am on April 21, Lily Bea Perdue arrived three weeks early, weighing 6 lbs. 4 oz, and measuring 19 inches long! This is grandchild number 15 for Laura and me, but Lily in our hearts and minds is a miracle baby, so our entire family is elated at her safe arrival.

I fully understand that there are many couples who face issues related to infertility, and that not all couples have the outcome that our son and his wife have had. I have a more profound empathy for those wanting to start a family but are unable to do so.

Have a great week, and as always, remember that it is a great day to be an Eagle!

It is “One and Done” week! We call our fundraiser “One and Done” because it is only a five-day, one school week fundraising effort. Our goal is to raise $15,000 this week so we can purchase Chromebooks for our students. A student Chromebook only has a five-year life span as supported by the Alpine School District Technology Department; consequently, we have 200 Chromebooks that students are currently using that will be retired in June 2022. A Dell Touchscreen Chromebook costs $304.00 to purchase. We know we won’t be able to replace all 200 Chromebooks that are being retired, but we hope to purchase 1-2 new classroom sets of devices that our students can use next year.

You can make online donations by clicking on this Success Fund link. SuccessFund does attach an administrative fee, so you can subtract that fee from what you want to donate, or pay the additional fee. Please use this link and not the Donate tab on our school website.

You can also send checks (made out to Alpine Elementary) or cash with our child to school. Please place cash or checks in an envelope that your child can give to her/his teacher.

The Alpine Elementary Community has always been so kind and generous for worthy causes, as was the case in November when we raised $20,000 for our sister school, the Candlelight School, in Nairobi, Kenya. We thank you for any donations you can make to bolster the technology resources that our students will use!

There have been some changes in recent days in next year’s staffing assignments:

Parents will be able to make teacher requests. I will be sending out the teacher request information later this week.

The following students were recognized as Students of the Week on Friday, April 15. Teachers nominate students who are consistently demonstrating the character traits of the Alpine Big 3: Being Respectful, Responsible and Ready to learn. Congratulations, Students of the Week!

Russell Adams-1st grade, Mrs. Faux

Will Gifford-6th grade, Mrs. Reyes

Jackson Gifford-2nd grade, Ms. Andersen

Jacob Manke-1st grade, Mrs. Faux

Kimber Mason-5th grade, Mrs. Menssen

Watson Mathis-3rd grade, Ms. Elder

Claire Owens-2nd grade, Mrs. Orgill

Kennedy Rodman-6th grade, Mrs. Hill

Claire Sampson-2nd grade, Ms. Andersen

Ryder Sterzer- Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

Vivian Swalberg-Kindergarten, Mrs. Aitchison

Sydney Turner-6th grade, Mrs. Hill

Jack Womble-Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

Beatrix Wood-Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

Willa Yeck-Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

I hope you all had a joyous Easter holiday! The weather cooperated on Saturday, allowing me to get in a 45-mile bike ride in the Northern Utah Valley. And on Sunday, we had our three children who live along the Wasatch Front and 11 grandchildren in our home. The kids had a fun Easter egg hunt. Watching the grandchildren search for eggs in our yard, it is obvious it is time to mow the lawn and pull some weeds. Spring has sprung!

Have a great week, and as always, remember that it is a great day to be an Eagle!

I hope that the entire Alpine Elementary Community had a safe and enjoyable Spring Break. Can you believe there are only seven weeks of school left before our Summer Break?

Next year’s principal, Mr. Finlayson, and I are working cooperatively on a transition plan for the 2022 – 2023 school year. At this time, there is only one certified teaching position to fill, and that is our Computer Lab teacher, because the current teacher, Jaime Clement, will be teaching second grade next year. All hiring decisions will be made by Mr. Finlayson from this point forward, as he will be responsible for hiring and evaluation of the entire Alpine Elementary faculty.

Here is a link to sign up for an after school golf program for those that are interested.

Laura and I had a wonderful Spring Break, traveling lots of miles in our car. We drove down to Las Vegas to watch our son, Brady, who lives in Rapid City, SD run and finish his first marathon. From Vegas, we drove to the Pacific Ocean, where we stayed three days on the Oregon Coast in Lincoln City. We then spent the final part of the week in Redmond, our home for 27 years, and where our second daughter and her family now live. I biked in Red Rock State Park in Nevada, the Oregon Coast and in the Cascade Mountains. Watching our grandsons play baseball, seeing a Carrie Underwood performance in Vegas and visiting with many dear friends in Redmond made for a very enjoyable Spring Break!

Have a great week, and as always, remember that it is a great day to be an Eagle!

Next week, April 4 – 8, is Spring Break. We hope that the entire Alpine Elementary Community has a Spring Break filled with family time, fun and relaxation, but please be safe in whatever you will be doing!

Once again, our Lost and Found is overflowing, as you can see from the attached photo. We encourage students daily to check the Lost and Found for their personal items. Parents, please come into the school this week and see if your student or students have items in the Lost and Found. Any items not picked up this week will be bagged up during Spring Break and placed in storage until the end of the school year.

Our 6^th grade Battle of the Books team, The Book Busters, which included team members Lexie Orgill, Mollie Otis, Lucy Taylor, Joy Hung and Helen Mains represented Alpine Elementary in the District Battle of the Books Competition on March 26 at AFJHS in an exemplary fashion! Out of the more than 35 teams competing, The Book Busters, finished in the top four teams! We will find out sometime this week whether they finished 2^nd, 3^rd, or 4^th. The girls were amazing, and in the competitive rounds I watched, there was only one question they didn’t know the answer to. We are so grateful to our Librarian, Paula Ruesch, for all she does to make Battle of the Books a reality at Alpine Elementary! We had over 225 3^rd – 6^th graders participate in Battle of the Books this year!

Our fourth graders did an excellent job in their State of Utah Program on March 24. We are grateful to the fourth-grade teachers and a special shout out to our Music Teacher, Melinda Hunt, for all of the time and effort that went into the program preparation. I had one parent, who recently moved to Utah, come up to me after the parent performance, telling me how much she enjoyed the program, and how some of the songs brought tears to her eyes.

We are grateful to anyone who made contributions to our Diaper Drive for Ukrainian refugees. As you can see from the attached photo, our Alpine Elementary Community was very generous with their donations. We appreciate all that parent volunteer, Chelsea Hertig, did to organize the Diaper Drive.

The following students were recognized as Students of the Week on Friday, March 25. Teachers nominate students who are consistently demonstrating the character traits of the Alpine Big 3: Being Respectful, Responsible and Ready to learn. Congratulations, Students of the Week!

Carter Clark-6th grade, Mrs. Hill

Mia Crump-3rd grade, Mrs. Kaczmarek

Hank Gillespie-3rd grade, Mrs. Kaczmarek

Ellie Greenwood-6th grade, Mrs. Hill

Claire Hamilton-6th grade, Mrs. Monson

Dawson Joseph-Kindergarten, Mrs. Aitchison

Millie Lanham-1st grade, Mrs. Faux

Ella Muskat-6th grade, Mrs. Reyes

Isla Rose Parcell-1st grade, Mrs. Bailey

Sam Petty-4th grade, Mrs. Keller

Wyatt Prasad-1st grade, Mrs. Faux

Isobel Spencer-2nd grade, Mrs. Orgill

Julian Stanley-6th grade, Ms. Kuo

Elle Weichers-5th grade, Mrs. Chang

Caleb Whetten-1st grade, Mrs. Bailey

Anna Willis-4th grade, Ms. Moore

What a beautiful Spring weekend we just experienced! Because of a recent medical procedure, I couldn’t exercise for a week, so it felt good to be back on my bike Saturday morning before watching our students compete in the District Battle of the Books competition. There were lots of people biking, running or walking on the Murdock Trail. And biking up to the top of Suncrest was the both energizing and beautiful. The panoramic view of the Utah Valley, better seen on the descent, always makes me grateful to live in such a beautiful place in the world.

Have a great week, a wonderful Spring Break, and as always, remember that it is a great day to be an Eagle!