The Oak Hill Hawk greets students every Monday morning as they arrive at Oak Hill Elementary with a "word of the week." Each week a new word is emphasized. Students and teachers focused on "respect" recently. Fifth grade students take turns wearing the school mascot.

In Blue Valley, the district's strategic plan is more than an idea that gets placed on a shelf. It's a living document that guides the teaching and learning for the district's students and staff every day. On Thursday, October 8, Blue Valley facilitated a community forum that celebrated the district's achievements since the implementation of the strategic plan in 2005. The event also provided a platform for discussion about what changes should be made to ensure the development and success of the next phase of the strategic plan.

"Our current strategic plan has served the district well in its goal to provide every student in the district with unprecedented academic success and unparalleled personal growth," said Tom Trigg, superintendent. "It is now time to renew our efforts and begin work on a new strategic plan for the next five years."

Approximately 160 community members attended the forum that included a variety of stakeholders including students, parents, representatives from the business community, teachers, classified staff, administrators, community members and elected officials.

"The input from our community at this forum was incredibly valuable," Trigg said. "We place great importance in learning where our stakeholders think we should be in the next five years as we work to prepare our students for success beyond Blue Valley."

The final recommendation for the next five-year strategic plan will occur in late spring or early summer and must be approved and adopted by the Board of Education.

Pictured: Sunset Ridge Elementary Principal Mandy Shoemaker participates in the strategic plan forum on October 8.

Cottonwood Point Elementary (CPE) fifth-graders recently performed a musical about the writing of our nation's constitution. CPE music teacher Kate Radke directed the performance. Pictured are some of the featured constitution authors: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison. The students portraying the historical characters are: Jacob Mandry, Chloe Long and Annie Arnett.

Students across the Blue Valley School District recently collected canned food as part of Hunger Action Month. Lakewood Elementary and Middle students dropped off boxes of canned goods at the Cheesecake Factory, which was collecting food as part of their Feeding America Tour. Lakewood Middle students are pictured (from left): Morgan DeWalt, Shriyaa Shrouti, Ariel Mittleman and Danielle Lucido.

Blue Valley is filled with champions of academics, activities and virtues. On Friday, Aug. 28, the Blue Valley Educational Foundation celebrated the champions of Blue Valley at its 19th annual Community Breakfast.

More than 1,100 business leaders, community members and Blue Valley parents attended the event, which was hosted by John Holt of Fox 4 News. The foundation raised $170,000, which will help the foundation support educational excellence in Blue Valley schools.

Bill Self, coach of the University of Kansas men's basketball team, was a guest speaker at the event and spoke to the crowd about being a champion on and off the basketball court and the importance of public education.

"To the students, to whom much is given much is expected and to the parents and teachers, raising our kids is the most important job we have," Self said.

The highlight of the breakfast was Superintendent Tom Trigg's State of the District address featuring some of the district's many accomplishments and progress on its strategic plan, adopted five years ago. Trigg highlighted preliminary state assessment data. For example, 96.5 percent of Blue Valley students met or exceeded Kansas state standards in math while 97.3 percent met or exceeded Kansas state standards in reading. Preliminary results show that for the seventh consecutive year, all Blue Valley Schools and the district as a whole achieved Academic Yearly Progress (AYP) as required by the federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

"When you say yes, we say 'yes' to our teachers and students," Trigg said.

In addition, Kate Allen, BVEF Executive Director, and Tammy Edwards, BVEF President, thanked sponsors for their generous support. Three presenting sponsors were recognized for donating at the $10,000 level: Capitol Federal Savings, Shawnee Mission Medical Center and (collectively) all 32 Blue Valley parent organizations. Also honored were the 31 staff and 31 student Sunflower Ambassadors. Sunflower Ambassadors are champions of character and the Blue Valley Virtues.

The breakfast closed with a video of 2009 graduate Alisha Jiwani. Alisha's story told how the Lakewood Middle and Blue Valley West communities embraced her as she struggled with a benign brain tumor. Her story is one of many that represent the numerous faces of champions in the Blue Valley School District.

Kara Tenpenny, 2009 graduate of Blue Valley West (BVW), knows what it's like to be appreciated by her employer. Since June 2008, Kara has worked as a dining server at Tallgrass Creek. On July 21, John Harned, executive director of Tallgrass Creek, presented her with a $250 scholarship check to put towards her tuition at Emporia State University. And, there's plenty more where that came from. The scholarship, which was completely resident-funded, will be renewed each semester while Kara is attending Emporia State. Residents took up a collection and raised more than $2,000.

Because Tallgrass Creek is a fairly new facility, this is the first year a Scholars Fund has been awarded. For this year only, the scholarship award will be $250 per semester for a total of eight semesters. In the future, Tallgrass Creek hopes to raise even more money and increase the amount of the scholarship award for the next eligible student. In order to qualify for next year's scholarship, students must have worked at Tallgrass Creek for at least two years and be a high school senior.

Kara said that what she does at Tallgrass Creek "doesn't feel like work."

"I've gotten to know many of the residents here and have developed special relationships that I will always remember," she said.

During her time at BVW, Kara was on the track team and served as the football manager for three years. She has two older sisters, both of whom graduated from Emporia State. Kara plans to major in elementary education and hopes to become a teacher. She said that being a teacher has always been the one thing she has wanted to do.

"I can't imagine doing anything else with my life."

Canyon Burchett, a fifth-grader at Timber Creek Elementary, begins his first day at a brand new school. The school, located near 165th Street and Quivira Road in Overland Park, first opened its doors to students on August 17.

This is the amazing journey of Alisha Jiwani - a journey that began in eighth grade when her world was turned upside down after she underwent massive brain surgery to remove a benign tumor.