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Through the Rist Canyon, tucked away on County Road 27, there is an unassuming building that is the home of Stove Prairie Elementary School with a student population of 47. This sweet, well-kept school opened its doors in 1896, making it the oldest operating “one-room” school in Colorado.

Stove Prairie is the embodiment of a small, Colorado mountain school with everything from combined grade level classrooms to “critter drills” on the playground (drills to keep students safe from whatever “critter” may wander over). Students are a part of a close knit community. They work and play well together. It feels like a well-organized, relaxed, large family.  For students, it is not strange to have PE, art class, lunch and assemblies in the same room.

Integrated Service staff for Stove Prairie consists of 2 dedicated professionals. Teacher Kristy Kemp and paraprofessional Sue McPhaul  are holding down the fort and students couldn’t be in better hands. “I love working in the mountain schools. I feel very fortunate to be doing this job,” says Kemp. These wonderful women have become as much a part of the community as those who live there.

“Kristy and Sue are dedicated to serving students with disabilities.  I have watched both go above and beyond to assure that a student was receiving exactly what they needed.  This is all accomplished with great enthusiasm!”  shares Poudre School District Integreated Services director, Sarah Belleau.

Poudre School District Integrated Services                                                                Director: Sarah Belleau                                                                                                2407 Laporte Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80521

Congratulations Rocky Mountain High School ACE program on an amazing grand opening for your Geo-Dome.

Poudre School District Integrated Services                                                                Director: Sarah Belleau                                                                                                2407 Laporte Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80521

As small children we dream of careers like cowboys, princesses or astronauts. The truth is that for most of us, becoming a princess is an unlikely profession. Instead of what we will become, our focus shifts to when we will enter the workforce. At Poudre School District, we want students to be the most prepared they can be whenever, the time comes. When a student is supported throughout school with special education services, life and job preparation are critical to post-education readiness. One way students can be prepare is through Poudre School District’s Alternative Cooperative Education program (ACE).

ACE is a nationwide program designed to foster job readiness skills, entrepreneurial skills and career awareness in and out of classroom settings. PSD students fulfill required credits in economics and/or personal financial literacy classes with class course work and on site entrepreneurial experience. Often students participate in internships in the community.

With passionate teachers and dedicated paraprofessionals, each ACE program has created unique entrepreneurial opportunities. Educators become equal parts job/life coach and cheerleader. Each of the four comprehensive high schools as well as Centennial High School participate in the ACE program through the support of PSD’s Integrated Services department. “ACE provides a lifelong pathway to graduation and employment for students with a disability and those considered at risk,” according to Career and Tech Education Coordinator, Kathy Hanson.

To learn more about each site’s ACE program, click the links below:

Poudre High School

Rocky Mountain High School

Fort Collins High School

Fossil Ridge High School

Centennial High School

Spending time outside of the classroom is a great way for students to practice soft skills. The time away allows students to interact with people in the community, by means of purposeful field trips. Through a Community Based Education Grant, Integrated Service teacher Jake Neufeld has mapped out a year full of trips to places like the grocery store, Target, Michaels and even bowling.

Poudre School District Integrated Services                                                                Director: Sarah Belleau                                                                                                2407 Laporte Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80521

Cat shirts always welcome, even an extra for Integrated Services Director Sarah Belleau.

Congratulations Louise and Becca on your next journey. You are going to take the world by storm!

In recent days, Poudre School District has suffered unimaginable tragedies when two students took their own lives. An unfortunate fact regarding events like these is the frequency at which stories like this are told. Families and communities are left behind to pick up the pieces and make sense of the heartbreak.

Integrated Services’ social worker Derrick Searle and Poudre High School’s counselor Cassie Poncelow sought to offer support to the whole Fort Collins community. Together their dream came to fruition with The Poudre High School Mental Health Matters Event. Professional presenters from around the community volunteered their time and expertise for the open event. Topics such as “How to Help a Grieving Teen”, “What to Say, When to Say It, How to Say It, and What Not to Say”, “Hurt! How to Identify and Help Those Who Self-Harm”, “Recognizing Signs of Stress and Ways to Help” and “Ask a Therapist” are a few of the workshops that were offered. These workshops offered a unique space for the community to find information and support for a variety of topics.

“Cass took it to a level that I never could have imagined,” Derrick Searle shared about organizing the event with Cassie Poncelow. The event was the combined effort of 2 programs, Counseling and Social Work, that don’t often intersect. The event was made possible by Poudre High School staff and students who volunteered, as well as the numerous mental health professionals who selflessly offered their time. “Mental health is a huge concern for the adolescents in the community and there are a lot of adults that want to contribute,” Poncelow says.

Student Ambassador, Ayushi, chose to participate in the event because she understands the stress and pressure of being a teenager. The student leaders that make up PHS Ambassadors are a trained group who provide underclassman resources and support with whatever they are going through. The group tackles hard topics such as managing stress, sexual assault prevention and teen dating violence. “I love that instead of it just being a conversation for my age group, it is open to the community to help and hopefully alleviate some of the stigma that goes with mental illness,” says Ayushi regarding the event.

The Poudre High School Mental Health Matters event created a platform to start conversations that will hopefully produce a healthier community. It was a place where a father from the same neighborhood that lost a child to tragedy, was able to come and find words to share with his own children struggling to make sense of something that doesn’t make sense.

Poudre School District Integrated Services                                                                Director: Sarah Belleau                                                                                                2407 Laporte Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80521