<\/p>\n
The Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 School District and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe have been selected by the Denver nonprofit<\/p>\n
Montezuma-Cortez proposed a computer-based program for students on Sept. 14 and now awaits discussion by the foundation\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically it is an introduction at the middle school and high school to coding and computer science,\u201d Superintendent Lori Haukeness said. If approved, the program could lead to classes in which students could receive college credit.<\/p>\n
Haukeness said the foundation seemed less concerned about past district test scores and graduation rates than how to improve education in the district.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was about going to the heart of why we have gone into education, and that is to make a difference in our students\u2019 lives,\u201d Haukeness said.<\/p>\n
The foundation can support students in ways that the district can\u2019t afford, such as a high school student exchange program, Haukeness said. The proposed program would allow students from Denver to live in the Four Corners and Four Corners students to live in a Denver district, according to Tarika Cefkin, executive director of the foundation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of our students do not get the opportunity to leave the Four Corners area,\u201d Haukeness said. The program would help broaden students\u2019 minds and awaken them to new possibilities, she said.<\/p>\n
The foundation also would help support the existing Monthly Science Nights<\/a> program at Cortez Middle School, which pulls families and students together for dinner and a science experiment that kids choose and share with their parents.<\/p>\n \u201cThat isn\u2019t our project, but we mention it because it is something that we love to support and strengthen over the years because we think it is really important,\u201d said Mike Kalush, chairman of the foundation\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n The foundation also has paid for a group of five Cortez teachers to shadow teachers at STEM School Highlands Ranch, a charter school in Douglas County, which uses innovative ways to teach science, technology, engineering and mathematics. \u201cThey do a lot of project-based learning and have innovative ways for their students to learn,\u201d Cefkin said. The program gives teachers the chance to support one another and to share and implement the most successful practices.<\/p>\n The Nathan Yip Foundation plans to support the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe as well. The foundation partnered with the Denver-based charity Tech For All<\/a>, which refurbishes computers, installs a new Linux operating system and donates them to students who don\u2019t have a home computer.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were here not only to meet with the district and some teachers,\u201d Cefkin said. \u201cYesterday, we were at the reservation in partnership with an organization called Denver Tech For All. They equipped us with 38 desktops and five laptops that have all been refurbished, and we took those down to the reservation.\u201d<\/p>\n Kalush added that the foundation hopes to assist the tribe in its educational efforts while maintaining the Ute Mountain Utes\u2019 heritage. The foundation is counting on its experience working within China\u2019s diverse cultures to help bridge gaps in Towaoc,<\/p>\n \u201cWe go through this a lot in our work in China. There is a lot of cultural protocol that you have to follow,\u201d Cefkin said. \u201cWe have this idea that is starting to be developed, and once we come up with the plan, it will be presented to the tribal council, at which time we will get all of the permissions we need to kind of get in place.\u201d<\/p>\n The Nathan Yip Foundation has the patience to nurture a relationship, said Linda Yip, who along with her husband, Jimmy Yip, created the foundation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are real, and we want the local people to see that we are really sincere,\u201d Linda Yip said. \u201cWhat we say is what we do and what we mean.\u201d<\/p>\n The foundation plans to continue supporting the Four Corners area through projects well into the future.<\/p>\n \u201cWe care a lot about relationships,\u201d Cefkin said. \u201cWe have built our foundation as a family, and these relationships take time to build. But like a family, once you\u2019re in, you\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n The Nathan Yip Foundation<\/a> is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that focuses on helping underfunded schools. It was founded by Linda and Jimmy Yip to honor the memory of their son, Nathan, who died in a car crash.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wanted to help with youth education, so we have been doing this for 16 years,\u201d said Linda Yip. \u201cWe are very happy to help with kids in China, in Mexico, in Colorado as well.\u201d<\/p>\n In the past year, the foundation shifted its focus to rural Colorado as donors in the state voiced concerns about the education system at home, according to Cefkin.<\/p>\n Foundation members first visited the Montezuma-Cortez school district in November after a colleague at The Rose Community Foundation<\/a> in Denver suggested they connect with The Colorado Education Initiative<\/a> and Alex Carter, the previous district superintendent.<\/p>\n \u201cMike Kalush and I went to meet with Alex to learn about CEI and what they are doing,\u201d Cefkin said. \u201cThe conversation started going toward Alex\u2019s experience as a superintendent, and we were really intrigued by the student population here.\u201d<\/p>\n The foundation\u2019s work with indigenous people in China reminded them of the Four Corners.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really wanted to show this parallel between here and China and Colorado,\u201d Kalush said. \u201cIt has been a great learning experience for us just coming out here ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Foundation to discuss computer-based program<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,13,60,216,554,144],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-103382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-montezuma-county","tag-montezuma-cortez-school-district-re-1","tag-pleasant-view","tag-towaoc"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103382"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=103382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}