Each week, Clover Park School District (CPSD) will highlight a school or profession in our district on our social media pages with a #SuperSchoolShoutout where we celebrate the students and staff that make our district beam with pride.
Last week, we celebrated Carter Lake Elementary School!
Carter Lake is one of six CPSD schools located on Joint Base Lewis McChord. Students and staff take pride in the work they do to soar academically and their commitment to building a warm environment where all Eagles are welcome.
“Carter Lake is a special school because of our fantastic staff’s dedication to kids,” Principal Marianne Rupprecht said. “Every day, people work extremely hard to make this the best place for kids, including our families who make this a true partnership.”
Family and community partnership has been a top priority for the Carter Lake team this year. To enhance the role of family voice in the school, Principal Rupprecht holds Coffee with the Principal community listening sessions and works closely with the Family Engagement Committee to organize events and activities that bring families into their student’s classroom.
In addition to family involvement, Cater Lake staff and administration know the importance of student voice in creating a positive school culture. To uplift their leadership, teachers and staff hold student listening sessions to hear the input of the most important stakeholders of Cater Lakes’ success: the students.
“I believe that my role as a leader hinges on my ability to support staff, students and their families,” Principal Rupprecht said. “When everyone works together, our Eagles succeed.”
To continue our Super School Shoutout to Four Heroes, we honored Ilyana Crookston and fourth and fifth grade teacher Julie Twiggs.
Ilyana is a bright student who excels in each subject. Her favorite is science, but she also enjoys math and reading, and recently won the McChord Library bookmark contest. “Math is very easy for me and now it only takes me two or three days to finish a whole book,” she said.
Ilyana is most proud of her “Cool Mint?” 2024 STEAM Fair science experiment. She explored whether mints lower the temperature of mouths by experimenting with glasses of water. “I found that ice is the only substance that cools water. Mints make you feel cool by using menthol, a substance that tricks cold receptors on your skin and in your mouth,” she said.
Ilyana also enjoys storytelling and arts and crafts. She is imaginative and would like to create a puppet show on TV one day with the dragon character she created called Emerald.
Twiggs, Ilyana’s teacher, teaches a fourth and fifth grade split class. She’s passionate about teaching math and science and oversees the Carter Lake STEAM Fair each year. “Even if students come to class saying they hate math and science, they leave loving it, and it’s probably because I’m so enthusiastic,” she said.
Twiggs has found her rhythm teaching a split class and enjoys planting seeds with her fourth graders that will blossom once they begin fifth grade. “I hope my students feel supported and know they can succeed in anything they do in fifth grade and in middle school,” she said.
Twiggs grew up as a military child and has raised a military child. She feels connected to the JBLM students and cares deeply about supporting their unique needs. “This is my career,” she said. “I feel like before I was working jobs and now, I’m in the career I love at a school I love.”
Soar Eagles Soar!
