Posted February 14, 2023
Dear Swigert Families,
I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Our students showed up with a great deal of red, pink and hearts to celebrate! Their excitement is contagious. With all the recent events and challenges in our world, it is uplifting to be surrounded by the pure enthusiasm and love of children. There is a lot of student news this week.
Congratulations to our spellers who went on to the citywide written spelling bee last week. Swigert’s top ten spellers were Riley Sanders, Charlie Rager, Mark Sweeney, Layla Currigan, Alma Critton, Elliot Cyriaks, Mila Idrovo , Nisaar Jaiya , Sam Pfeifer, and Ellie Tsai. Huge shout out to Robin Bresnahan who organizes our spelling bee and coordinates the semantics club.
We have several students at Swigert with ties to Syria and Turkey who are wanting to support and help these communities devastated by the earthquake. Fifth graders Damla Kaya, Matisse Lofgreen, Manuela Cohen, Juliette Romo, Camilla Olvera and Kira Anderson are organizing a drive to gather more supplies to send to Turkey. Fourth Grader, Hakan Kavats, is starting a fundraiser to raise money for those impacted by the devastation in Turkey through the non-profit – Turkish American Cultural Society of Colorado.
Thank you all for you do to support our school, kids, and community.
Sincerely,
Shelby Dennis
shelby_dennis@dpsk12.net
Two Swigert students on the Swigert Semantics Team will be moving on to the State Spelling Bee Competition on Saturday, March 11th. A big Congrats to 5th grade students Charlie Rager and Riley Sanders!
The PTA is in need of a new School Supply Chair for the 2023-2024 school year! This is a great position for anyone interested in leading an important school initiative with light workload in the Spring (plus some organization hours in the late summer) while working on their own schedule. It’s also a nice way to get to know the teachers at each grade level a bit as you’ll be gathering teacher’s supply needs and coordinating with Swigert’s outside vendor, EPI. If you’ve been interested in volunteering, this could be a nice opportunity for a parent who is newer to Swigert. Please reach out to Hana Oglevee (current school supply chair) helizabethschaefer@gmail.com and Francine Mugge (PTA President) fmugge@gmail.com for more info if interested!
Please do not park in the bus zone anytime before 9 AM or after 2:45 PM, even if you’ll only be a few minutes. That entire area is needed for our school buses.
Choice for the 2023-24 school year will close at 4 PM (DPS time) Tuesday, February 21st. All students who will be entering ECE, Kindergarten, or 6th grade (and, for siblings, 9th grade) need to have a Choice Form completed. Students who are currently in Kindergarten through 4th grades only need to have a Choice Form completed if you/they are choosing to change schools. If you do not complete a choice form for a student in K – 4th, they will roll back into Swigert for next year. It doesn’t matter if you complete the form on the first or last day of the window, but you MUST hit submit by 4 PM on February 14th or you will have to wait until 2nd Round, which greatly reduces your likelihood of getting into your school of choice.
Please note, this is only for DPS. The UPK application still closed at 4 PM today.
On February 6, 2023 an earthquake hit Syria and Turkey. Many lives were hurt or lost, so some Swigert students have taken it into their own hands and organized a supply drive for Syria and Turkey.The drive will be from February 15 to the 24th of February at Swigert.Your student can bring in any donation to the big box near the front office. The most needed items are hand warmers as well as *new* sleeping bags, sleeping mats, and tents. You can also donate canned food, and *new* winter clothing/gear. All supplies will be given to the Turkish American Cultural Society of Colorado (TACSCO). The supplies will then be sent straight to Syria and Turkey to help them in their time of need. If you don’t have any supplies you can also donate money to TACSCO. Thank you!
Please do not park in the bus zone anytime before 9 AM or after 2:45 PM, even if you’ll only be a few minutes. That entire area is needed for our school buses.
Choice for the 2023-24 school year will close at 4 PM (DPS time) Tuesday, February 21st. All students who will be entering ECE, Kindergarten, or 6th grade (and, for siblings, 9th grade) need to have a Choice Form completed. Students who are currently in Kindergarten through 4th grades only need to have a Choice Form completed if you/they are choosing to change schools. If you do not complete a choice form for a student in K – 4th, they will roll back into Swigert for next year. It doesn’t matter if you complete the form on the first or last day of the window, but you MUST hit submit by 4 PM on February 14th or you will have to wait until 2nd Round, which greatly reduces your likelihood of getting into your school of choice.
Please note, this is only for DPS. The UPK application still closed at 4 PM today.
On February 6, 2023 an earthquake hit Syria and Turkey. Many lives were hurt or lost, so some Swigert students have taken it into their own hands and organized a supply drive for Syria and Turkey.The drive will be from February 15 to the 24th of February at Swigert.Your student can bring in any donation to the big box near the front office. The most needed items are hand warmers as well as *new* sleeping bags, sleeping mats, and tents. You can also donate canned food, and *new* winter clothing/gear. All supplies will be given to the Turkish American Cultural Society of Colorado (TACSCO). The supplies will then be sent straight to Syria and Turkey to help them in their time of need. If you don’t have any supplies you can also donate money to TACSCO. Thank you!
We are scheduled to host International Night on Thursday, May 11th this year. This is a community event where we love to recognize, honor, and celebrate different cultures from around the world. International Night is always made better by involving our students and their own backgrounds, traditions, and interests. If your student/family (or your student’s extra curricular group) would like to present, host, or demonstrate something at International Night, please reach out to Tabitha Jones at tabitha_jones@dpsk12.net. Examples of past student performances have included Irish Dancing, Drill Team, Japanese Flag Making, Mexican Folk Dancing, Capoeira, Bollywood Dancing, Polish Dancing, Craft Making, etc.
The kindergarten and 2nd grade concerts are coming soon!
The kindergarteners will present “Insects” and the 2nd graders will present “Folk Tales” on Thursday, March 9.At 5:45 PM, kindergarten students will meet in their classrooms. Their concert begins at 6:00 in the gym.
At 6:25 PM, 2nd grade students will meet in their classrooms. Their concert begins at 6:40 in the gym.
Dress for this concert is nice clothes.
If you cannot make it to the evening concert, you may attend the dress rehearsals. They are Wednesday March 8 and Thursday March 9 during the school day: 12:25 (2nd grade) and 1:30 (kindergarten).
Swigert International School is saving lives through Kids Heart Challenge! So far, We have raised $847.33 in donations towards our $10,000.00 school goal and 12 students have started Finn’s Mission, taking a health challenge and learning hands-only CPR! Thank you for all your support in making our school’s Kids Heart Challenge a success!
Bonus Fun!
We hope everyone will join Kids Heart Challenge and complete Finn’s Mission to learn the life-saving skill of hands-only CPR. The class that raises the most will get an extra jump rope day in PE! And any student who raises $50 will qualify to get a special ON COURT experience with the Denver Nuggets!
Heart Heroes are teaching the kids the importance of making healthy choices, being a leader and kindness. Click the Heart Hero below to hear their message to students.
Register to Participate in Kids Heart Challenge!
1. If you haven’t already registered for Kids Heart Challenge, click on our school’s Kids Heart Challenge link: http://www2.heart.org/site/TR?fr_id=7560&pg=company&company_id=392740 or download the Kids Heart Challenge app for iPhone or Andriod.
2. After registering, you can email or post to social media from the KHC website or app. How to Register for KHC Video.
3. Save lives and earn this year’s dragon Heart Heroes!
Your community can learn hands-only CPR through Finn’s Mission! Learn More About Finn’s Mission.
Finn’s Mission is not only a great way to learn hands-only CPR, but it’s also a great way to reach out to friends and family to ask for their support! Post on social media, or email friends and family from the KHC website or KHC app to help us take the CPR movement beyond our school families. Students who are registered and have an online donation by Monday will be entered into a drawing with other students across the country for a Large Squishmallow or a $50 Amazon Gift Certificate and earn some of this year’s Heart Heroes!
Isabelle shows how she worked through Finn’s Mission to make a difference!
So far, these students have complete Finn’s Mission! CONGRATULATIONS!!— Thomas M, Lincoln M
YOU’RE SO CLOSE!!: Ella E, Brody E, Trinh Nguyen, Thatcher M, Boden G
Looking for some ideas on how to help your student hit their donation goal? See how Extraordinary Kids are helping across the country!
Thursday, February 16th: Come purchase dessert at Pozzetti Gelato on Central Park Blvd and say “goodbye for now” to a cherished Swigert family!! Javier and Adriana, owners of Pozzetti Gelato on Central Park Blvd will be moving to Cincinnati at the end of February with their children Juan Diego (also known as “Juandi” from Ms. Draper’s 1st grade class) and older brother Juan Andres (from Ms. Colter’s 3rd grade classroom). Let’s show them our Eagle support and wish them well. They will be truly missed!
We are in need of sweat pants/stretch pants in various sizes to keep on hand in the nurse’s office. We use these so that when kids spill on themselves, slip in the mud, or have any other type of accident they have something clean and dry to put on. Our current supply is dwindling pretty low, so if you happen to do a closet clean out at home and have sweats or stretch pants that are still in good condition, we would be happy to take them! You may drop them off at the front office or send them in with your student to drop by the front office. Even the older students have a need, so sizes from very small to young adult are welcome. Thank you!
Swigert will be hosting an Art Show for Kindergarten through 2nd Grades on Thursday, March 23rd, from 5:30 – 7:00 PM.
We hope to see you there!
We have our CMAS schedule set for April for our third through fifth grade students. Please try and schedule trips and appointments around these times and dates. We will send out more information as we get closer, but want you to have it on your calendar. Please reach out with any clarifying questions.
We’d love to connect with you as much as possible. You will be automatically added to our weekly Swigert Eagle newsletter that comes out every Tuesday during the school year. Please also visit our website at www.swigert.dpsk12.org to learn more about Swigert and events that are coming up. You can also join our “Friends of Swigert International School” private Facebook page – www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofswigert. When requesting to join, please include a note to say you are a new family. We post pictures of events at school, interact as a school family, and you can see friendly reminders of upcoming events.
Who to contact if you have questions about:
| Registration | Daphne Jolley | DJolley@dpsk12.net |
| Technology and events | Richard Fisher | Richard_Fisher@dpsk12.net |
| Daily School Life | Emily Pool | Emily_Pool@dpsk12.net |
| Instruction, Programing, etc. | Shelby Dennis Amber Holthus-Pera | Shelby_Dennis@dpsk12.net Amber_Holthus-Pera@dpsk12.net |
| Health | Nurse Hoang Tran | Hoang_Tran@dpsk12.net |
| IB Program/Service Learning | Caroline Dane | Caroline_Dane@dpsk12.net |
Key Dates
Feb 16 Pozzetti Gelato
Feb 20- 21 No School (President’s Day)
Feb 21 DPS School Choice closes 4 PM
Feb 23 ECE Art Show
Mar 6-7 PTA Dine & Donate Chook Chicken
Mar 9 Kdg & 2nd Grade Concerts
Mar 22 Swigert Spirit Night – Urban Air
Mar 23 Kdg-2nd Art Show
Mar 27 – Apr 3 Spring Break
Apr 29 Swigert Auction
May 11 International Night
May 20 Swigert Night at the Rapids
