John Amesse is on the move.
We work collaboratively to reach our goals.
We strive for excellence so every child is a reader, writer, mathematician, and scientist.
The John Amesse Community–students, parents, and staff commits itself to doubling the number of students on grade level and above on the Colorado State Assessments by 2015.
We are on the move and take pride in our accomplishments!
A Toy for Each Child
John Amesse staff and volunteers combined forces to distribute toys to our students on December 20, 2012. Enormous black plastic bags bulging with skateboards, racecars, footballs, purses, and so forth lined the main hallway. One by one, each class was brought to the hall so that students could receive a gift provided by the Toys for Tots Foundation. Every student in the school received a gift.
We would like to thank the Toys for Tots Foundation for a spectacular Christmas at Amesse. In addition, a big “thank you!” to the Amesse PTA and Hill Moving Company, who provided volunteers to hand out toys as well as transport them from the Toys for Tots office to the school.
Teachers, staff, and parent volunteers came together at the school on November 17th to hand out Thanksgiving baskets to families who were nominated by our teachers. By 1:00 in the afternoon, all fifty baskets, provided by The Epworth Foundation, were gone. The mood was light, but the baskets were heavy with turkey, stuffing, rolls, dessert, and more—all the necessary ingredients for a delicious Thanksgiving meal.
On October 27th, a bright Saturday morning in the Montbello neighborhood, Amesse Elementary hosted a basketball camp in our school gym. Thankfully, I realized that my general lack of athletic talent was irrelevant here (the last time I played basketball was in second grade). Showing up on a Saturday morning, doing wall-sits, and generally being taller than the students made me and my fellow AmeriCorps members cool. It didn’t matter that I rarely made a shot during warm-ups with the kids. Though the turnout was less than we had expected, it became clear as the day progressed that this was an excellent opportunity for the students to receive some close attention from our two volunteer coaches, Johnny Terrell and Jamal Ward.
Throughout the day, the framework seamlessly transitioned from the intricacies of basketball to life, to questions of integrity and perseverance. Our volunteer coaches praised the students when praise was due and kindly pushed them further when necessary. Mental toughness naturally became a theme, a conversation that took place on the court as well as off. At the end of the day, everyone circled up and discussed what worked and what didn’t. What happened? How did that make you feel? What could this mean on a grander scale? To close, the coaches handed out awards and prizes to the students.
This camp was made possible by TCF Bank, B & E Screen Printers, and King Soopers. In addition, the Adair Group(http://www.theadairgroup.com/our-cause.html) graciously donated t-shirts for the event, personalizing and commemorating the event as something worth remembering when the shirt comes through in the clean laundry
