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Most artists are happy to be selling the work at any age, but few find themselves a senior in high school having sold about a dozen pieces before graduation. Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School student Haley Felton is such an artist. Felton also just got a scholarship to the University of Wyoming where she will pursue her passion. She noted that her great grandmother started the tradition of Felton women going to that university. Felton said she likes to learn about art in...
Adversity is part of sports, but it is tough when mothernature is your opponent. At Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School, winter weather canceled another senior appreciation night and the game that was to go along with it. On February 4, the wrestling team got the same dose of medicine from old man winter that he put out on Friday to the basketball teams. Roads were closed early morning and Guernsey-Sunrise let HEM know at 9 a.m. they were not coming down to play. "About a sixth...
Saratoga Elementary School (SES) was recently able to hold its annual spelling bee with a total of 48 students participating in the event. Held in the Platte Valley Community Center Auditorium, the venue allowed for students to participate while social distancing. Out of the nearly 50 SES students that competed, the top spots went to students in the 3rd, 5th and 6th grades. Levi Goodwin, 3rd grade, took 1st place while Snowdon Williams, 6th grade, took 2nd place. Cody Sewell, 5th grade,...
Saratoga Elementary School (SES) kicked off their 2nd Annual Health Moves Minds initiative on February 1 with the goal of raising money for a local charity. Last year, SES began working with the National Health and Physical Education Society to bring Health Moves Minds to the school with the initiative fulfilling a main component of the health curriculum by focusing on social emotional learning, or SEL. In addition to resources offered by the Health Moves Minds initiative, a fundraising component allows students to give back to their school...
In the past week, Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) has dealt with a minor coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak that has provided a speed bump to winter sports. In a January 27 update from CCSD2 Superintendent Jim Copeland informed parents and others in the district that the Saratoga Panthers had just returned from a quarantine following two positive cases along with the Saratoga Lady Panthers, who had three positive cases. Additionally, the Encampment Lady Tigers were quarantined as of...
The past months would be challenging for any current events and government studies instructor to teach as the United States has veered into unprecedented times. Then on January 6, the country and world witnessed protesters take over the Capitol building for several hours. The last time this building had been breached was in 1814 by the British. Americans are seemingly torn between those feeling like the hundreds that entered the Capitol were rightfully demonstrating against an election that was...
The author Adora Svitak once said “History is made every day. The challenge is getting everyone to pay attention to it.” For Jason Williams, history and government teacher at Saratoga Middle High School (SMHS), getting his students to pay attention to the history taking place may not be that challenging. On January 6, people across the country and across the world watched as an unknown number of people broke into the Capitol Building. When the Saratoga Sun spoke with Williams for his per...
As vaccines slowly begin to roll out and Wyoming continues to deal with the various impacts from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), legislators will eventually have to make difficult decisions on what to cut and where. Including in those discussions is the State of Wyoming’s funding of K-12 education. During their regularly scheduled meeting on December 17, the Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Board of Trustees were provided with a legislative update. At the time of the meeting, it w...
Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) appears to have solved their problem with property in Medicine Bow following their December 17 meeting. For more than a year, the school district had leased property surrounding the old Medicine Bow High School—which had been bought by Viridis Eolia in April 2017—to MedBow Lodging, LLC. The company then subleased the property for recreational vehicles used by contractors working on nearby wind energy projects. As was reported previously (see “Sc...
At each monthly meeting of the Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Board of Trustees, board members are asked to review or approve changes to the many policies that govern how the district operates. During their December 17 meeting, the board discussed Policy GCPA, which directs the school district in how to handle reduction in professional staff work force and the status of continuing contract teachers. The policy was first adopted in April 2002 and last reviewed in February 2017....
*UPDATE* During the December 17 meeting of the Carbon Count School District No. 2 Board of Trustees, the board voted unanimously to permanently approve the Encampment Football program. The program will remain self-funded with the exception of the district providing funding for officials and travel to away game. Two years after receiving permission to begin a six-man football program, the student athletes of Encampment High School will appear before the Carbon County School District No. 2...
Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School senior Taylar Scott signed on Thursday to attend Black Hills State University (BHSU). Taylar signed the papers in front of her parents, grandparents and coaches in the HEM school library to allow for social distancing. Jackie Jones, HEM track head coach was happy for her athlete/student. "Taylar was actually the first one recruited by Black Hills and she is officially the first one to sign for their track and field program for next year's campa...
Each year as student athletes take to the hardwood or the wrestling mats throughout the state, there is another batch of students that participate in a different indoor activity as they compete in speech and debate. Don't let the dress suits, jackets and ties fool you though; this activity is highly competitive. It is so competitive, in fact, that the National Speech and Debate tournament can be quite exclusive. It was only a matter of time, then, for the free market to see a niche and provide o...
Parents and staff members alike were in attendance at the November 16 meeting of the Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Board of Trustees to express their concern and frustrations over a “blanket quarantine” issued by Carbon County Public Health for three sports teams in the school district. As was reported previously (see “Over 100 cases in Carbon County” on page 1 of the November 18 Saratoga Sun), CCSD2 Superintendent Jim Copeland announced the news of the quarantine on November 15 vi...
As classes in Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) enter their third month of being in session, there have been changes to every aspect of how school is conducted. During their November 16 meeting, the CCSD2 Board of Trustees heard an update from Encampment K-12 School Principal Mike Erickson on how his school was adapting to the changes for the 2020/2021 School Year. “I kind of thought that I would do something a little bit different than normally we do with the reports,” said Erickson....
As the Wyoming Legislature prepares to face down a substantial budget deficit and following significant departmental budget cuts from Governor Mark Gordon, school boards across the state are having to examine their own budgets. In the case of Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2), a potential 16 percent cut in funding could come in the form of reduced personnel. During the October 19 meeting of the CCSD2 Board of Trustees, both the board and CCSD2 Superintendent Jim Copeland discussed a le...
As Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) continues to move forward into the school year with some students attending virtually instead of physically, the potential of teacher burnout has become a topic of discussion. During the October 19 meeting of the CCSD2 Board of Trustees, Director of Curriculum Noel Manning touched on the subject during his monthly curriculum update. According to Manning, the district was pushing the increased use of the Schoology program beyond just teachers who...
The Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Board of Trustees spent part of their October 19 meeting again discussing property in Medicine Bow that is leased to MedBow Lodging LLC. As the end of the calendar year approaches, so too does the end of the lease, which expires on December 31. Discussion of the lease and the property was placed on the agenda by CCSD2 Superintendent Jim Copeland. “This is just a reminder so it doesn’t sneak up right at the very end but their lease runs out Dec...
Wyoming students in grades 4-12 are invited to enter the 2021 Wyoming Letters About Literature reading and writing contest. Students from all schools—private, public and homeschool—are encouraged to enter. The statewide contest opens on November 1, 2020. Postmark submission deadline for entries is January 9, 2021. The contest asks students to read a book, poem or play, or choose one they have already read that inspires them or shows them a new way to see the world. The student then writes a personal letter to the author (living or dead) to sha...
A young Bill Cody (Buffalo Bill) could be seen walking around the grounds of the Grand Encampment Museum (GEM) on October 9. In actuality, it was not Wild Bill, but actor Thad Turner. He is working in a movie that the Western Writers of America (WWA) are producing for educational purposes. Candy Moulton, Executive Director for WWA, explained what was being filmed at GEM. "We are working on a program called 'Packing the West', Moulton said. "It has been four years in development and now we are...
Alexis Barney, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at Evansville Elementary School in Natrona County School District No. 1, was named Wyoming's 2021 Teacher of the Year September 22, during the Wyoming Education Summit. "Congratulations to Alexis on being named Wyoming's 2021 Teacher of the Year," said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow. "I find that her passion and charisma are contagious - and I'm excited for her to share that with others over the next year. Alexis has the...
Parents hoping to enroll their children in kindergarten next school year may have to wait due to legislation passed by the Wyoming Legislature during the 2020 Budget Session. This new information was provided to the Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Board of Trustees during their meeting on September 21 by Superintendent Jim Copeland. “The state has changed enrollment birthday deadlines for kindergarten. So, it has been September 15. They had to turn five before September 15 to e...
Though the 2020/2021 School Year just started, discussion of graduation appeared before the Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Board of Trustees during their meeting on September 21. While part of that discussion was about the graduation dates for the three high schools in the district, the larger part of that discussion centered around an early graduation request from a student at Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School. Early Graduation CCSD2 Jim Copeland informed the...
The beginning of the school year under regular circumstances can be difficult enough as the summer-time kinks are worked out. Add into that the precautions now required for school districts by the Wyoming Department of Education, and things can be a little less flexible. Despite that, Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) is working through operations in the age of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). On August 17, the CCSD2 Board of Trustees heard updates from Saratoga Elementary School (SES...