Peak Virtual Academy Junior Sam Green Wins 2018 ArcGIS Online Mapping Contest

Congratulations to Sam Green of Peak Virtual Academy, the 2018 ArcGIS Online Mapping Contest Colorado State winner! MCSD is very proud of your accomplishment, which took dedication, hard work and lots of problem-solving!

Sam Green, a junior at Peak Academy has won the 2018 ArcGIS Online Mapping Contest for US high school students for Colorado. Sam’s entry titled “Riparian Restoration Management Plan” was submitted to the State Leadership Team for judging. The five best submissions are recognized by the State and the best of those five moves on to compete in the National Competition. Sam’s work was chosen to represent Colorado versus twenty seven other States.

Check out Sam's ArcGIS Story Map

For Sam to successfully complete this STEM/Problem Based Learning initiative special thanks goes out to:

The students at Peak Academy that helped do research and collect data. The staff and administration of Peak Academy. Their help creating the time and resources needed for implementing this STEM/PBL was essential.

The Montrose County School District. Their commitment to STEM and Problem Based Learning Initiatives made all of this possible. Without this directive this would not have happened.

Our Community Partners:
The 3M Corporation – They supplied funding via a 3M EcoGrant
Justin Musser – Montrose County Ecological Services Manager
David Sinton – BLM GIS Specialist
Lisa Goetsch – Montrose County GIS Coordinator
Dr. Phillip Crossley – Western State Colorado University
Dr. Tammy Parece – Colorado Mesa University
Dr. John McGee – Virginia Tech
And everyone else that offered advice and technical expertise on how to not only build the story map but design and implement the management plan.

Check out the Montrose Daily Press article below:

 

Peak Academy Enters ArcGIS Online Mapping Contest

Click the link below for Peak Academy's submission to Esri’s ArcGIS Online Mapping Contest for Colorado Middle and High School Students.

  https://bit.ly/2wyjS6L

"In 2017 the Montrose County School District was awarded a 3M EcoGrant targeting the management of invasive plant species in our community. This grant was distributed among three schools; Columbine and Centennial Middle Schools as well as Peak Academy. The grant was then used to create STEM/Problem Based Learning (PBL) initiatives managing invasive plants. Peak Academy students have created a riparian restoration management plan for a fifteen-hectare site near the Uncompahgre River within the city limits of Montrose, CO. We are currently embarking on year one of a five-year plan. The following story map details the progress made this past school year."

GIS with CMU Professor Tammy Parece

On January 11th, 2017, CMU Professor Dr. Tammy Parece met with MCSD teachers to discuss GIS (Geographic Information System). Dr. Parece graciously shared a wide variety of resources for teachers to begin using various GIS tools in the classroom. Dr. Parece is willing to return to MCSD for a more extensive training. If you are interested in this, please contact John Steele.

For the full shared folder of resources, click here.

Here's Dr. Parece's presentation outline from January 11th:



Here are Five GIS Activities you can do in five minutes:



Here's a collection of GIS resources for educators: