On May 3, Lakota Schools welcomed 150 community partners, staff and students to celebrate a successful year and look ahead to the future at its Business Partner Breakfast. Katie Bauer, the district’s strategic partnerships coordinator, wanted to thank the business community for its commitment to the students at Lakota Local Schools.

Collaboration between teachers within a school building happens every day, as well as across the district. But what about collaborating across the country or even the world? Annie Clevidence, an English literature teacher at Lakota West High School recently had the opportunity to do just that.

A first-ever school-wide conference at Lakota West Freshman School this week encouraged both personal reflection and observation of others’ differences - all to build a stronger culture of inclusion and understanding.

Here is a recap of summer updates including school office hours, summer, school, free lunch program, mental health services, summer assignments and more.

An aspiring marine biologist, science teacher, graphic designer and astrophysicist at Plains Junior School all found value in a recent group project that challenged them to solve an engineering problem using fluid power. Why?

When third-grade teacher Katie Frambes asked, “Chicks are an example of what kind of metamorphosis?” just about every one of her students raised a hand. (The answer: incomplete metamorphosis.)

All across the district, year-end ceremonies are taking place to honor the academic achievements of our students. At the high schools, the “Top 25” students, representing approximately the upper 4 percent of their graduating class, were recently recognized during some special celebrations at Lakota East and West high schools.

For teacher Rebecca Striet, the arts don’t have to be limited to the art room every six days. In fact, the Shawnee ECS kindergarten teacher is so committed to intersecting the arts with the core curriculum that she teamed up with colleague Katie Welch to give their 50 kindergartners the invaluable experience of performing a full-scale re-enactment of “Peter and the Wolf.”

So many great things are going on around Lakota. Read about the latest Shout Outs.