By David Krenz

Austin Superintendent

As another school year winds down, we will be honoring over 250 seniors celebrating the milestone of high school graduation at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 5. With construction at Riverside Arena, this year’s Commencement Ceremony will mark a return to Austin High School’s Knowlton Auditorium. We would like to recognize this year’s High Distinction students, students earning a cumulative GPA of 3.9 or higher throughout their high school years, who will also serve as student speakers at the ceremony. Congratulations to Anna Bachmeier, Elayna Dyke, Giancarlo Marconi, Katherine Maxa, Bethany Rowbal, Natalie Sayles and Sophia Thoen.

We would also like to honor our staff members who either recently retired or will be starting their retirement at the end of the school year. We wish to extend our congratulations and a special thank you to these individuals for devoting their careers to education where they have touched hundreds of lives. Our 2015 retirees include Pat Anderson, Cindy Bellrichard, Kathy Hanson, Connie Hardwick, Trudy Heimermann, Kathy Huffman, Deb Iverson, Deb Johnson, Mary Knutson, Wendy Larson, Deb Linnes, Dave Nieland, Shelley Oldenburg, Julie Page, Marcia Siegel, Connie Stegemann, Ann Sundal, Deb Swanson, Carmel Taylor and Dave Thorpe.

As we reflect on the past year notable items include but are not limited to the following: Implementation of the Pi Academy for Gifted Learners, one-to-one computer implementation at Ellis Middle School, and implementation of REACH and AVID programs at the high school, to name just a few.

And as always, we continue to move forward with innovative opportunities created by our staff in the district. We will be expanding AVID to Sumner Elementary and I.J. Holton Intermediate School, Neveln Elementary will be creating the “Launch” program that will provide STEM opportunities for first- through fourth-grade students and we will continue to grow our partnership with The MacPhail Center for Music to enhance the already outstanding music programs in the district.

It is truly a wonderful and exiting time to be an Austin Packer with our focus not just on the challenges our students provide but more importantly, on the gifts each and every child brings to our schools. We want to see how high they can fly, how far they can go and how much they will achieve!