Two KCKPS Students Placed in the Wyandotte County Spelling Bee

Posted Monday, February 4, 2018

Congratulations to Alexa Gomez from New Chelsea Elementary and Bivek Kalikote from Hazel Grove Elementary on placing in the 2019 Wyandotte County Spelling Bee!The Spelling Bee was held at Turner High School Performing Arts Center and included 26 contestants. The contestants came from elementary and middle schools from KCKPS, Bonner Springs, Piper, Turner and four private schools in the KC metropolitan area.

The rankings were: 

• First Place - Rainy Shwe from Turner Sixth Grade Academy
• Second Place - Alexa Gomez from New Chelsea Elementary
• Third Place - Bivek Kalikote from Hazel Grove Elementary
• Fourth Place - Dylan Seitz from Turner Middle School

Congratulations to the other KCKPS students who participated. They are:

• Cassandra Orozco, 5th Grade, Emerson Elementary
• Adranae Few, 5th Grade, Eugene Ware Elementary
• Nevaeh Felix, 7th Grade, Central Middle
• Ruben E. Perez Cortez, 5th Grade, New Stanley Elementary
• Sean Byers, Jr., 4th Grade, White Church Elementary
• Akita Carter, 7th Grade, Rosedale Middle
• Gabrielle Bandy, 5th Grade, Quindaro Elementary
• Andrew Lian, 4th Grade, Whittier Elementary

KCKPL Warming Centers

Posted Wednesday, January 30, 2019

All KCK Public Library locations are warming centers. If you need to get out of the dangerously cold weather, come in and use the KCKPL resources as you get warm. We have books, magazines, computers, and more you can use. Please pass this information on to anyone you see who may need it.

List of KCKPL Warming Centers

• Main Library
  625 Minnesota Avenue
• Schlagle Library
  4051 West Drive
• South Branch Library
  3104 Strong Avenue
• Turner Community Library
  831 South 55th Street
• West Wyandotte Library
  1737 N. 82nd Street

Two KCKPS Students Placed in the Wyandotte County Spelling Bee

Posted Monday, February 4, 2018

Congratulations to Alexa Gomez from New Chelsea Elementary and Bivek Kalikote from Hazel Grove Elementary on placing in the 2019 Wyandotte County Spelling Bee!The Spelling Bee was held at Turner High School Performing Arts Center and included 26 contestants. The contestants came from elementary and middle schools from KCKPS, Bonner Springs, Piper, Turner and four private schools in the KC metropolitan area.

The rankings were: 

• First Place - Rainy Shwe from Turner Sixth Grade Academy
• Second Place - Alexa Gomez from New Chelsea Elementary
• Third Place - Bivek Kalikote from Hazel Grove Elementary
• Fourth Place - Dylan Seitz from Turner Middle School

Congratulations to the other KCKPS students who participated. They are:

• Cassandra Orozco, 5th Grade, Emerson Elementary
• Adranae Few, 5th Grade, Eugene Ware Elementary
• Nevaeh Felix, 7th Grade, Central Middle
• Ruben E. Perez Cortez, 5th Grade, New Stanley Elementary
• Sean Byers, Jr., 4th Grade, White Church Elementary
• Akita Carter, 7th Grade, Rosedale Middle
• Gabrielle Bandy, 5th Grade, Quindaro Elementary
• Andrew Lian, 4th Grade, Whittier Elementary

Coronado Students’ Experiment Selected for the International Space Station

Contact: Melissa Fears, Director of Communications and Marketing

Phone: 913-279-2225
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.kckps.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 18, 2019

Kansas City, Kansas, January 18, 2019 - Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools is pleased to announce that a microgravity experiment by four students at Coronado Middle School has been selected for the *Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Kansas City, Kansas (SSEP KCK) Mission 13 Flight to the International Space Station (ISS).

The experiment, which focuses on the Growth of Mint in Microgravity, is expected to be launched into outer space in the spring/summer 2019. Four Coronado students along with their 8th grade science teacher Erin Morley, and a team from KU GEAR UP, are working together on this once-in-a-lifetime experiment. Those student participants, who are also referred to as the project’s co-principal investigators, are as follows:

• Uhunoma Amayo, 7th grade
• DaQuon Cheadle, 8th grade
• Carlos Jimenez Reyes, 8th grade
• Daleshone Sharkey, 8th grade    

“It is a huge honor to have our students’ project to be recognized in this way,” said Morley. “They worked extremely hard during and after school to get to this point, and continue to work extra hours to prepare the experiment for the flight to the International Space Station,” she said.

Identifying a Proposal:

The students explored several options for a project proposal, including mold and seeds. The students wanted to conduct an experiment with materials small enough to fit inside a 10 milliliter test tube as well as fit the criteria of being helpful for astronauts.  They eventually chose mint seeds because of the size and its usefulness as a natural remedy for headaches and upset stomachs.

Selecting the Winning Proposal:

Community Program lead organization, aSTEAM Village, in partnership with the University of Kansas GEAR UP, enabled 1,276 students to participate in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. A total of 77 students submitted 19 proposals that advanced to the Step 1 Review Panel where a local cohort of engineers, scientists, educators and organizations selected the finalists’ proposals. Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools had a total of nineteen student research teams from different schools within the district that advanced to the Step 1 Review vying for this opportunity to represent the Kansas City, Kansas Public School District in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Kansas City, Kansas. 

The winning proposal from Coronado was selected from the three finalists that advanced from the Step 1 Review phase, by the National Step 2 Review Board assembled by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education.

Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools’ two other finalist teams are from Coronado and Argentine middle schools. The following are their proposals and the individuals involved in those experiments:

• The Efficacy of Organic Mold Killer Treatment in Microgravity, Coronado Middle School
  • Teacher Facilitator: Erin Morley
  • Co-Principle Investigators:
    • Stephanie Arroyo, 8th grade
    • Marleen Carmona, 8th grade
    • Leah May Perrin, 8th grade        

• The Effects of Mold Growth on Blueberries in Microgravity, Argentine Middle School
  • Teacher Facilitator: Alexander Taylor
  • Co-Principle Investigators: 
    • LaMya Alexander, 8th grade
    • Mwangaza Chobole, 8th grade
    • Nahomy Lopez, 7th grade
    • Avieser Pacheco, 7th grade
    • Carina Perez, 7th grade
    • Fazila Uwimana, 8th grade 

All of the students and facilitators are to be congratulated for a job well done.  

*The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (or SSEP) is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S. and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with DreamUp PBC and NanoRacks, LLC, which are working with NASA under a Space Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.