Our School

Awards and Honors

Columbine Elementary has successfully competed for two significant grants that support our school's restructuring efforts to improve academic achievement and school climate.

• Each year, Columbine receives a generous grant ($6,000 in 2007-08) from Impact on Education's Opportunity Fund. 
• During the 2006/07 school year, Columbine was the recepient of 5 Classroom Mini-grant awards totaling $3000 for special classroom projects from Impact on Education.
• In late 2007, Columbine was selected as a Partner school to Casey Middle School for a $10,000 two-year grant from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.  The program, called the Alliance Project makes funds available to enrich student's art and science curriculum through workshops, performances, guest artists and scientists.  Find out more about the alliance project HERE
• Our PTA was awarded a $5,000 Toolbox for Education grant from Lowes in May of 2006 to upgrade our courtyard space. The project is completed with a new deck/stage available as well as some tree benches and other comfortable seating for reading groups.  We also installed a sprinkler system and beautiful plantings and flagstone patios.
• In September of 2002, the school began implementation of a $1.3 million grant award from the US Department of Education. This five year award is to support a long-term restructuring plan to address the needs of second language learners. It provides funds for teacher training, curriculum development, materials acquisition, school climate activities and parent involvement.
• Anne Goudvis, an ongoing Columbine consultant, frequently sites the school in her highly respected professional book, Strategies That Work.
• Columbine is the recipient of a Read to Achieve grant from the Colorado Department of Education, which supports literacy achievement for second and third graders. Funding for the 2002-03 school year was $84,000.
• Columbine is incresingly being recognized throughout Colorado and the nation as an exemplary model of school restructuring. Presentations by staff have been made at several statewide and national conferences.
• Schools throughout the Denver-Boulder area frequently request opportunities for modeling labs and visits.

 

Lynn Widger, Columbine Principal was named as a recepient for a 2004 Pacesetter Award.  The Pacesetter Awards are a prestigious honor in Boulder County.   Every year since 1985, the Daily Camera has presented Pacesetter Awards to those who go to extraordinary lengths to make this region great.  Individuals are recognized as Pacesetters in specific areas of interest.  Lynn was the recipient of the Pacesetter Award for Education. 

Read the article detailing Lynn's award HERE

 Commenting on the impact Pacesetters have on our community, Camera Editors note:

"It easy to become jaded and cynical about the challenges of today. With such people in our midst, however, there is reason for hope."

Monica Olguin, a CLIP (Collaborative Literacy Intervention Project)/ Biliteracy teacher here at Columbine is one of the 2007 recipients of the prestigious Impact Award.  This award, funded by Impact on Education, is in its 15th year and recognizes educational excellence by providing awards to individuals who make "extraordinary contributions to public education. Recipients are nominated by peers and community members and undergo a highly competitive selection process. This year Impact on Education received 33 nominations.  Each application, with all name and school identifying information removed, is evaluated and separately scored by five individuals. The scores are averaged and nominees with the ten (eleven this year due to a tie) highest scores are then interviewed by a committee of volunteers that selects the five Impact Award recipients.

Monica was nominated for the award because "she has dedicated her life to the children she serves and has done it with fervor and joy.  She has taught all of us to be bien educados."  The literal translation of bien educada is well educated.  By Monica's own definition:

  …being well educated has nothing to do with books.  It is, rather, a way of life and a way of being.  It is the insight and foresight that allows one to walk among others in a generous and gentle way without failing to survive and take care of your own.  It is the ability to recognize and validate the worth of others without reference or importance to appearance, intellectual ability, financial worth or language spoken…

Monica and the other recipients will be honored at the Impact Awards Dinner on April 19th, 2007.

In addition, Columbine will receive a $1,500 cash gift in her honor.  Thank you and congratulations Monica!

• Click HERE to view the article on this year's Impact Award Winners:
  
  
  
• For more information on the Impact Awards, click HERE

Columbine Elementary School
303-443-0792
Email: bvsd.coe@bvsd.org
3130 Repplier Drive, Boulder, CO  80304