BY CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The O'Loughlin Elementary School chess teams were first-place and third-place finishers in the elementary age group at the Thomas More Prep-Marian tournament.
The students were honored at the Hays USD 489 school board meeting on Monday night.
They all finished in the top 10 individual placings at the tournament. Sheena Zeng, chess master, is the team's coach.
The students and their placings are as follows:
1st-place team
Kiana Sun, 2nd place
Lucas Dreher, 4th place
Carissa Sun 5th place
Eli Reed, 9th place
3rd-place team
Cyler Luck, 6th place
Camden Luck, 8th place
Aura Bai, 10th place
Spelling bee
No Roosevelt Elementary School spelling winners were present at Monday's school board meeting. The winners were Abbigail Conley, Callie Green, Peyton Mackey, Dakota Maier and alternate Jayci Plante.
The Ellis County Spelling Bee will be 7 to 8 p.m. Feb. 6 at Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center.
Wrestler
The board also recognized HMS student Aiden Amrein, who was an undefeated league champion for the boys wrestling team.
Horizon Award nominees
The Kansas Horizon Award program identifies and recognizes representatives of excellent teaching in the elementary and secondary classrooms of the state.
The mission of the program is to recognize exemplary first-year teachers who perform in a way that distinguishes them as outstanding.
The school board recognized Mackenzie Justice, the elementary nominee, and Katey Whitesell, the secondary nominee, for USD 489. Both Justice and Whitesell, along with the help of their administrators, completed applications for the state recognition. Although neither were selected at the state level, Superintendent Ron Wilson said he was proud of both of them and honored them for being outstanding teachers in the district.
Justice teaches fourth grade at Roosevelt, and Whitesell teaches high school at Westside.
Staff present at conference
Marie Henderson and Kyle Carlin were selected to present at the 2019 Learning Forward Annual National Conference in St. Louis in December. Their presentation titled, "Flexible Learning Experiences (FLEX): Redesigning Professional Learning," was among more than 300 concurrent sessions offered to attendees.
The FLEX learning framework, developed by Marie Henderson, is an innovative approach to professional learning. Both Henderson and Carlin have launched the program in each of the district's schools with the expectation that all teachers will participate in a FLEX activity during one of the district's spring-early release days.
Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert
In addition, Henderson was among four educators in Kansas selected to serve alongside 550 educators across the United States in being named a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert. Thousands of educators apply each year to be part of the program.
The Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Expert program is an exclusive program created to recognize global educator visionaries who are using technology to pave the way for their peers in the effective use of technology for better learning and student outcomes. MIE Experts help Microsoft to lead innovation in education.
MIE Experts meet online once a month to share resources and innovative practices. They are also given access to a training portal with hundreds of presentations available for use in their schools and across their districts and regions.