CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Two long-time LCSD1 staff members have received Support Person of the Year awards for their commitment to fostering student success.
At Monday night’s LCSD1 Board of Trustees meeting, the school board announced that Ramon Andrade of Carey Junior High and Amanda Singhas of Pioneer Park Elementary each received Support Person of the Year awards. Every year, a district support staff member receives one of the awards, while the other is given to someone in a non-teaching student support role, according to Christy Klaassen, vice chair of the LCSD1 Board of Trustees and representative for the support person committee.
Andrade is an assistant head custodian with the district and received the District Support award. He has been with LCSD1 for 35 years and received three nominations for the award, according to the board of trustees’ meeting agenda. The nominations characterized the custodian as a positive and resourceful figure at the junior high school.
“Everybody there truly loves Mr. Ramon — that’s how he’s known at Carey Junior High,” said Matt Schlagel, principal of Carey Junior High, on Monday night. “I can’t think of any other candidate more deserving than Mr. Ramon.”
Singhas, a library paraeducator, won the Student Support award. She has been with the district for 19 years. Like Andrade, the paraeducator was nominated by three people who said she has a clear love of learning and “strengthens our school community just by being a part of it.”
“She builds meaning and relationships with all the students and those especially who need a trusted adult in their life,” said Traci Garcia, staff member at Pioneer Park Elementary. “She is a wonderful human inside and out and a pivotal leader in our building.”
In total, 19 other staff members across the district were nominated for an Educational Support Person of the Year award:
- Matthew Bromagen
- Cindy Brown
- Jenilee Cossitt
- Jennifer Culp
- Clark Davis
- Hosanna Espinoza
- Lorraine Espinoza
- Tanya Gerdes
- Rhianna Herrera
- Eric Lavato
- Ashley Lawrence
- Kristin Layman
- Samantha Pierson
- Merillee Rennison
- Kevin Sadler
- Mark Sanders
- Nicole Schmidt
- Brenda Wrede
- Linda Yetter
Seal of Biliteracy Awards
District administrators and the Wyoming Department of Education awarded students with certificates for language proficiencies on Monday night. The State of Wyoming has awarded the Seal of Biliteracy Award since 2022, and LCSD1 has been giving out language awards since 2018, said Sarah Evans, French teacher with Central High School, on Monday night.
“It is an honor that carries weight in many contexts nationwide and is beginning to be rewarded with college language credit by major universities,” Evans said.
To earn the recognition, students must prove language proficiency in English and a foreign language through standardized testing, Evans said. The seal will appear on the students’ high school diplomas and transcripts.
Students received one of two certificate levels: a Seal of Biliteracy and a Seal of Biliteracy with Advanced Distinction. The advanced distinction seal is awarded to students who test at a higher level in all language skills, Evans said.
“The students who are receiving this advanced distinction have tested only one level of language proficiency lower than what’s required to be certified as a teacher of world language in the state of Wyoming,” Evans said. “So this is quite the accomplishment.”
The following is a list of the nearly 50 students who received biliteracy awards:
East High School
- Paloma Arago-Medina, Advanced Spanish
- Alexa Bassett, Spanish
- Luis Azua-Valdez, Advanced Spanish
- Ayana Bailey, Advanced Spanish
- Shehad Fino, Spanish
- Sofia Fitzpatrick, Advanced Spanish
- Kayleigh Gillogly, Spanish
- Natasha Gracia, Spanish
- Ethan Hall, Spanish
- Kael Hoshall, Spanish
- Mya McQueen, Spanish
- Janie Merritt, Spanish
- Caleb Miller, Advanced Spanish
- Emiliano Olmos, Advanced Spanish
- Aditi Ramesh, Advanced Spanish
- Eric Resendiz, Advanced Spanish
- Caleb Ruff, Advanced Spanish
- Frances Scott, Spanish
- Kinsington Dobler, German
- Olivia Gay, German
- Ynes Ronnau, German
South High School
- Mia Hernandez Romero, Spanish
- Ashley Martinez-Jimenez, Advanced Spanish
- Aleida Nieblas Caperon, Advanced Spanish
- Kimberly Policiano Lopez, Advanced Spanish
- Natalia Santiago, Advanced Spanish
- Aris Shank, German
Central High School
- Mia Garcia, Advanced Spanish
- Martina Pla Guix, Advanced Spanish
- Isabella Peña, Advanced Spanish
- Aspen Custis, Advanced Spanish
- Madisen Kaufman, Spanish
- Sarah Kostelecky, Spanish
- Reuben McGuire, Spanish
- Vincent Picard, Spanish
- Taryn Potts, Spanish
- Melia Samson, Spanish
- Nathaniel Thornell, Spanish
- Eva Collins, Advanced French
- Rachel Nichols, French
- Emilia Ricley, French
- Mallory Smith, French
- Kylie Vercelli, Advanced French
- Saimaa Widi, Advanced French
- Felicitas Michel, Advanced German
- Michael Sitompul, Mandarin Chinese
- Katarzyna Wojciechowska, Advanced Polish
East High School 4A State FFA Champions
The Wyoming FFA Association State Convention was held in Cheyenne recently, said Joe Allen, agricultural teacher at East High School. The convention attracted 1,300 students from around the state and hosted a myriad of career and professional development events.
The following students won awards at the state convention:
Meat Evaluation and Technology Team Champion
- Brody Medina, Haylee Bruckner, Regan Allen and Gage Broda
Agriscience Fair Champions
- Shelby Hoobler, Environment and Natural Resources Systems
- Regan Allen & Brody Medina, Social Systems Team
Agricultural Proficiency in Goat Production Champion
- Callie Rosner
Gold Emblem Chapter Application
- Brendan Nagy
- Callie Rosner
- Cierra DiCamillo
- Jayden Riddle
- Anthony Quick Charlotte Ehlman
East High School 4A State FBLA Champions
In March, the Future Business Leaders of America State conference was held in Laramie, said Liz Diekroeger, advisor with East High School. The Cheyenne students competed in several competitions and qualified for the national competition in Orlando, Florida, in June.
- Laura Trieu, Business Plan
- Tanish Perez, Financial Statement Analysis
- Ashley Smith, Data Analysis
- Eli Anderegg, Data Analysis
- Reece Vigil, Accounting II
- Braxton Monteagudo, Introduction to Business Procedures
- Mason Ralls, Introduction to Marketing Concepts
