Back to School Balance

By: Tawny Morrison, Education Communications Specialist, PBS Wisconsin Education

"We want to share just a handful of the free resources and helpful tools available to help young learners start school, engage students with educational materials, and provide professional development opportunities for educators."

Live with Integrity and Follow Your Passion

"You’ve grown into confident young adults who have significant things to say and special talents to share."

Life is Full of Moments and Living Life is Full of Infinite Possibilities

"Life is full of moments, and living life is full of infinite possibilities. It can be written and rewritten. Your life is not defined for you, but you define your life."

Learning, Sharing, Engaging: My Internship with Communications and Marketing

By: Natalie Bosco, BMHS 2022 Graduate, BACH Academy, SDB Communications and Marketing Intern

"I was honored to be the first intern for the communications and marketing department with the School District of Beloit. This internship taught me many things that I will take with me to college and in my future career."

Learning Happens Everywhere

"We at PBS Wisconsin Education are thrilled to join several learning spaces in Beloit for fun learning events for children and professional development opportunities for educators. If you are looking for playful events or good ideas for keeping kids busy and learning this spring and summer, we happily invite you to explore with us!"

Beloit Memorial High School's Newest Collaboration with Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG)

"At Beloit Memorial High School, we are always looking for ways to collaborate with partners and organizations to enhance our student’s high school experience. Our number one goal is to graduate all of our student’s career, college, and community ready."

Why Art Matters

BY: Kathryn Buchanan, Art Teacher, Gaston Elementary School

"I love making art with my students and seeing them create new ideas from our discussions. Art is so much more than creating a finished product. Art can be many things to every person, regardless of their age, cognitive level, race, or socioeconomic status. Anyone can make art."

Music, the Sound of My Heart

By: Mathew Anderson, Choral Director, Beloit Memorial High School

"Music in our Schools month is a moment to celebrate the wonderful joy of teaching the whole student through music. Music education is as much about teamwork as it is also about individual work. It fosters a growth mindset and a spirit of adversity and grit vital to our student’s success when they leave the School District of Beloit."

Black History Month

By: Brandye Hereford, Principal, Merrill Elementary School

"I enjoy honoring my culture, not just the African American experience but the African American experience in Beloit, and learning about how the first African Americans in Wisconsin settled in Beloit, with dreams of making a better life working for corporations up north."

Showing Self-Care This Valentine’s Day

By: Ms. Gisela Mejia Delgado and Her 2nd Grade Class at Hackett Elementary School

"This month, my class spent some time exploring ways to practice self-care and we’ve come up with some ideas on how to love ourselves a little more."

Why I Love Being an Elementary School Principal

By: Brandye Hereford, Principal, Merrill Elementary School

"As a Principal of a 4K-3 elementary school, I understand that we are the first school experience for students. I love being a part of setting an educational tone and experience for students and providing that foundation for their education"

I Believe in our Kids, our Teachers, and our Community

By: Deb Prowse, Career Academy Coach, Beloit Memorial High School

"Beloit is my home. I bleed purple. I believe in our kids, our teachers, and our community and am hopeful that the academies will help many more of our students have a high school experience that will allow them to explore interests, find relevance in their course work, to find ways to grow as a community member, so they are well-prepared for whatever path they choose after high school."

Giving Back to the Community that Raised Me

By: Danielle Marx, Director of Human Resources, Stateline Family YMCA and Stateline Boys and Girls Clubs

"Once I settled into a career in the Beloit community, I quickly found a way to give back. Almost exactly ten years after graduating, I found myself back in the halls of BMHS volunteering as an interviewer for the practice interview program. To say I fell in love with the impact this program makes is an understatement."

Through the Iris

By: David Garcia, Professional Educator, Fruzen Intermediate School

"We can choose to blanket our students with colorful, positive, and dignified colors for them to radiate, or we can bury their self-respect with dark shades of grey. Our students bring to our classrooms vast color experiences grown from their everyday curiosity to belong somewhere. Every positive colorful human interaction we have with them should act as a paint stroke on their inner art canvas to be utilized as a tool to navigate through life’s journey."

Esperanza

By: Ariana Bruno, Cristal Peña, Crystal Silva, and Jennifer Silva, Bilingual Home School Liaisons, School District of Beloit

"Planning for our Esperanza celebration was at times difficult because there are many amazing Hispanic traditions to highlight. Hispanic traditions are a sacred and beautiful way to bring families together from different cultures. We wanted families to have a sense of belonging, and their travel through our stations at this event would do just that. "

Scholarship Opportunities

By: Tara Tinder, Executive Director, Stateline Community Foundation

"Last year, Stateline Community Foundation (SCF) awarded $151,750 to twenty-nine Beloit Memorial High School seniors continuing their education. The average scholarship award was $2,200. The largest was a full four-year scholarship."

NASCAR, Rev Your Engines!

By: Joe Vrydaghs, Principal, Aldrich Intermediate School

"First and foremost, as I shared in my opening, I love being the Principal of Aldrich because it’s completely a NASCAR-type experience. Think Daytona 500. Imagine fast cars with monster engines traveling at speeds more than 200 miles per hour, inches from one another. Imagine each driver using their skills and smarts to work the clutch, gear shift, brake, accelerator, and steering wheel."

Teaching During COVID-19

By: Gisela Delgado, 2nd Grade Teacher, Hackett Elementary School

"At first, it was difficult, but as time went on, it was easier and fun. As we moved into the 2020-2021 school year, I was a little sad about starting virtually, but I again relied on my talents and what I knew best to carry me through. At least 90% of my class participated virtually in daily lessons and created some of the best relationships with students I have ever made."

Developing Students and Creating a Workforce

By: Dr. Tracy Pierner, President, Blackhawk Technical College

"Blackhawk Technical College (BTC) strongly supports the School District of Beloit’s (SDB) Collegiate Academy at Beloit Memorial High School. The Collegiate Academy’s strategic goal of providing career-ready pathways that set a high school graduate up for life-long success is at the heart of this important strategy.

Finding the Joy in Teaching and Learning Post-Pandemic

By: Theresa Morateck, Executive Director of Teaching, Learning, & Equity, School District of Beloit

"The joy of learning does not imply that we are happy all of the time, either. We want our classrooms to be liberating experiences where students are supported in learning how to regulate their emotions. We want our students to connect positive emotions to learning, as we know, the emotional and social cannot be separated from the academic."

Why We Must Grow Our Own

By: Michelle Hendrix-Nora, Principal, McNeel Intermediate School and Jen Paepke, Assistant Principal, Cunningham Intermediate School

"Several years ago, a few district staff members came together to look at this specific need: increase the number of minority teachers in the School District of Beloit. We would get minority teachers in Beloit but they would come and go. There was a need for longevity and commitment of minority teachers. They saw other districts creating programs to support this need through offering scholarships to graduating seniors of color who would be willing to return to their alma mater and begin their career."

The Many Advantages of the Academies at BMHS

By: Emily Pelz, Principal, Beloit Memorial High School

"BMHS is dedicated to preparing students for post-secondary education and 21st-century careers through the high school experience. The BMHS Academy system provides real-life learning opportunities that benefit our students focusing on enrichment both on and off-campus."

One Million Meals

By: Jo Ann Armstrong, Executive Director of Business, HR, & Operations, School District of Beloit

"The School District of Beloit served more than 1,000,000 meals in the past year with the help of donations from area schools, Dominos, and Panera. Additionally, the district purchased six hydroponic gardens in which teachers grew lettuce during distance learning. Families received the lettuce produced by the hydroponic gardens during meal distribution dates. It’s amazing what can happen when everyone pulls together with a common goal and mission."

Why I Encouraged SDB to Fly the Progress Pride Flag

By: Jen Paepke, Assistant Principal, Cunningham Intermediate School

"My goal, my passion, and my purpose in life are to nurture, develop, create and inspire spaces where everyone feels a sense of belonging and safety."

2021 Graduation Speech

By: Dr. Keyser, Superintendent, School District of Beloit

"Getting your diploma and graduating from high school is an accomplishment and deserving of the recognition and honor we are bestowing upon you today. Doing so during a pandemic, takes it to an exceptional level of achievement."