Over the weekend, 9 Gilbert students participated in the DECA State Career Development Conference in Des Moines. There were 50 different events that students could choose to participate in.

Gilbert students competed in the following categories:

• Addison Hodgen – Apparel and Accessories Marketing – 5th Place
• Alissa Clark – Accounting Applications – 5th Place; Financial Consulting – 3rd Place
• Braelyn Thomas – Food Marketing – 1st Place; Professional Selling – 4th Place
• Elle Nguyen – Apparel and Accessories Marketing
• Aldo Escalera – Food Marketing – 4th Place; Professional Selling – 3rd Place
• Kalyn Schmidt and Alice Zhang – Marketing Management Team – 4th Place
• Joey Currans and Nash Hanson – Finance Team – 1st Place

Joey Currans, Nash Hanson and Braelyn Thomas all qualified for ICDC (International Career Development Conference)  and will be traveling to Atlanta, GA, in April.

Congratulations Tigers!

Leader In Me is a framework that teaches students what leadership means and can look like. Leader In Me teaches students 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and 5 Core Paradigms to see leadership in a different light. At Gilbert, we give the students different opportunities to show leadership with different committees. Every month, students have the opportunity to apply for a different leadership role! The leadership roles can range from Door Greeter, to Office Assistant, to Photographer, and anywhere in between.

Mrs. May is in charge of the kindness group for Leader In Me. She had her students work on a thank you card for the bus drivers for all of their hard work they do for our district. On February 14th, we delivered this card to the bus barn and gave the bus drivers a little treat.

We really appreciate everything the bus drivers do for our students. Be sure to ask your student about their leadership roles. To learn more about Leader in me, click here!

Students from the Middle and High School had the opportunity to submit one piece of writing to the Scholastic Writing Contest to be judged by a panel of creative professionals worldwide. We had seven students from the High School and four students from the middle school submit their writing. Six students were recognized for their work.

Judging goes as followed:

Gold Key (top award)

Silver Key

Honorable Mention

Congratulations to these Tigers!

High School:

Chloe Berns-Schweingruber: Poetry- Honorable Mention

Josiah Teske: Poetry-Honorable Mention

Middle School:

Alyse Beyer: Personal Essay- Silver Key

Lillian Dahlstorm: Journalism- Silver Key

Chloe Lee: Sci F/Fantasy- Honorable Mention

Celcilia Schwager: Short Story- Honorable Mention

Angie Bonthuis, a kindergarten teacher here at Gilbert Elementary School has received the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).  Mrs. Bonthuis has been teaching at Gilbert for 21 years and has taken on various roles including, being a model teacher, tech innovator, and being a member of the leadership team in the district.

Read the complete article posted by the Iowa Department of Education Here!