Brown, Fergen, and Lee all in running to become finalists

Less than 1 percent of all high school seniors in this country hold the distinction of being a National Merit Scholar Semifinalist. It’s a prestigious honor, there’s no doubt about that.

The Gilbert High School Class of 2025 is represented in that group. But not just once, and not just twice.

Yes, our current senior class has — count ‘em — three National Merit Scholar Semifinalists!

We are so excited and proud to inform all of you that students Isaac Brown, Ashton Fergen, and Nathan Lee have all been named as national semifinalists. They learned of their advancement in mid-September.

“Ashton, Isaac, and Nathan have each worked hard to earn this high honor,” GHS Principal Cindy Bassett said. “These GHS seniors take academic classes that challenge them and they seek opportunities to learn at the highest level. We are all proud of them!”

National Merit Scholar Finalists will be announced in February. A year ago, then GHS senior Alice Zhang reached finalist status.

Brown, Fergen, and Lee all reached the semifinal round on the strength of their performances on the PSAT test a year ago. All three scored between a 1,430 and 1,460; a perfect score is 1,520.

To become a finalist, students must submit an application and essay, and also score well on either the ACT or SAT. The trio scored between a 33 and 35 on the ACT. Lee also took the SAT and scored a 1,550 out of a possible 1,600.

All three say becoming a National Merit Scholar Semifinalist is key in their pursuits of college scholarships, and becoming a finalist would be a significant boon.

“If I become a finalist, Iowa State gives a full tuition scholarship, so that would be great,” Fergen said.

“It also helps you if you are applying to some of those top 20 schools,” Brown said.

Brown says his current plan is to major in engineering and then potentially earn a master’s degree in finance. He’s looking at a number of out of state colleges, including USC, Texas A&M, and Rice.

Lee intends to go the science route in college. He envisions potentially majoring in molecular or cellular biology. He’s also interested in USC, as well as Michigan as a potential landing spot.

Fergen is undecided on a potential major.

Congratulations to these three hard-working seniors. We’ll all be rooting for you as you attempt to become National Merit Scholar Finalists.

Five of our own Gilbert Schools’ educators spent time in Chicago last week to attend the 2024 Annual Meeting and Exposition of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Secondary Curriculum Coordinator Lindsey Good and four classroom teachers — middle school math educators Joel Franzen and Amanda Takes, and high school math educators Brittney Fredericks and Curtis Martinek — had the opportunity to learn and collaborate with other professionals from across the country.

This year’s conference theme was “The Math of Their Dreams: Illuminating Students’ Brilliance,” which captures the intent to center students and their experiences, while also being evocative.

Each of our conference attendees walked away with unique thoughts and highlights that they feel will enhance their teaching techniques for their students.

Lindsey Good, Secondary Curriculum Coordinator

My biggest takeaway was centered around Peter Liljedahl’s concept of Building Thinking Classrooms (BTC), which was integrated into many of the sessions I attended. I gained strategies for fostering a positive relationship with math, embracing failure, and learned about the neuroscience behind learning and mindfulness, and how these ideas can be applied to math education.

Amanda Takes, GMS Math Teacher

These last few days were all about boosting student learning through creative teaching strategies. A huge takeaway of mine was embracing failure and how those moments teach us just as much, if not more, about student learning and understanding. Additionally, there was a big focus on group work and effective feedback within a group setting. Feedback is a central art of the classroom, so I am excited to implement a few new feedback strategies between students and myself. I can’t wait to take the strategies I heard about and put them into practice with my students.

Brittney Fredericks, GHS Math Teacher

The NCTM conference focused on innovative teaching strategies like the “Building Thinking Classrooms” framework, which emphasizes student engagement, collaboration, and critical thinking. Sessions demonstrated the use of non-traditional methods, such as random groupings and open-ended tasks, to encourage deeper understanding. The sessions on algebra focused on real-world problem-solving and number sense, while the geometry sessions emphasized hands-on activities.

Curtis Martinek, GHS Math Teacher

A vibrant mathematics classroom gets students to think, communicate, and collaborate with each other. Each student is held to the high expectation of growing as a mathematician. While these are things I have always believed in, the NCTM conference reinforced that my goal should be to strive for continuous improvement in these areas. The conference also let me see creative and innovative ways other teachers are implementing the practices in their classrooms that I hope to include in my classroom in a way that makes sense for the classes and students I teach.

Joel Franzen, GMS Math Teacher

The NCTM conference covered many important concepts. Important ones for me were addressing math trauma and anxiety, highlighting that these emotional factors significantly impact students’ cognitive relationships with math. Peter Liljedahl and Vanessa Vakharia discussed the content of math therapy, which involves steps like myth-busting and motivating students to foster positive beliefs about their math abilities. Additionally, the integration of innovative teaching methods, such as Clothesline Math and Jo Boiler’s concept of “ish” thinking, promotes a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts. Overall, the focus is on transforming math classrooms into spaces that empower and engage all students.

Thank you to all of our educators for taking time away from their families to attend this conference. When they learn, our students learn, and we all win.

The future of the Gilbert Community School District moved in a positive direction Friday morning with the official ground breaking ceremony at the site of the new elementary building.

With Gilbert Superintendent Dr. Christine Trujillo, Gilbert Elementary Principal Staci Edwards, all five members of the school board — President Josh Bennett, Vice President Andrew Ricklefs, Melissa Pearson, Mindy Rash, and Nathan Kerns — several teachers, and an excited bunch of kindergarten students among those in attendance, dirt was moved to officially signify the start of the construction process.

“The ground breaking symbolizes the future of Gilbert Schools,” Dr. Trujillo said. “By having community members and kindergartners there, it represented building on our rich history while also building into the future for generations to come.”

The new Gilbert Elementary is scheduled to be completed in late spring or early summer of 2026 with the goal of opening to students to start the 2026-27 school year. The kindergarten students who took part in Friday’s ground breaking ceremony, all of whom are second-, third-, or fourth-generation Gilbert students, will be among the initial second-grade class to learn in the new building.

Several members of the team from CMBA Architects — the firm that Gilbert CSD is working with on the design of all of its upcoming construction projects — were present for the ceremony. Community members Gene Upstill, Donna Holtan, and Sharon Popp were also in attendance. Mrs. Holtan was a teacher at Gilbert Elementary when the current building opened to students in 1976, and she was excited to be present for the start of what will be the future of Gilbert Elementary.

With the new secured front entrance at Gilbert Middle School almost complete, and additional construction projects at Gilbert High School coming soon, it’s an exciting time in our district. Gilbert Schools is planning for the future of the district, one with more students and more opportunities.

The new Gilbert Elementary and a number of other construction projects scheduled are all possible due to the bond initiative that community members supported overwhelmingly in November of 2023.

“I’m so grateful to our community for voting yes to help us build for generations to come,” Dr. Trujillo said.

It was one year ago that Superintendent Dr. Christine Trujillo delivered the message to staff members that our district is stronger when we are together, and that’s when “The Power of We” was born.

The Power of We isn’t going anywhere, it’s still a necessary component to our long-lasting success. And the idea of Every Student, Every Day will always remain at the core of everything we do.

Now, through Dr. Trujillo’s message to our staff members at the kickoff rally earlier this month, we sprinkle in another idea that will continue to allow our district to thrive.

Inspiring Greatness.

By asking good questions and by truly listening to the answers, we all have the opportunity to inspire greatness in those around us — students, staff and community members, and our own family. That’s the message Dr. Trujillo delivered when she spoke to the staff, and you can learn more about that vision by watching THIS VIDEO.

Clark Builders believes in that message.

A custom home building business that has been in the Ames area since 1949, Clark Builders has its own successful history with Gilbert Schools. Four generations of the Clark family have already graduated from Gilbert, and a fifth generation is on the way.

To support the school, Clark Builders recently donated $1,945 to Gilbert Schools to pay for t-shirts with the Inspiring Greatness logo on the front. The t-shirts were given out to all staff members at the kickoff rally as a way to show unity and support for Dr. Trujillo’s vision across the district.

“We did this because it’s a way for us to give back to the entire staff to show how much we appreciate all that they do for students,” Carrie Clark said. “We believe in family and we believe in this district and the people that are here. This is one way we could say thank you.”

We cannot thank Clark Builders and all of the local businesses that partner with Gilbert Schools enough for their unwavering support.