Internships and Opportunities

Meet our 2020 Gala intern, Valerie! Valerie is a Future Forward Business Student at Mountain Range High School and interned during the 2019-2020 school year to learn the ins and outs of running a successful large-scale event. Valerie is a DECA student, a track athlete, and a future entrepreneur. Her goal is to learn about sponsor relations, event management, and get to know businesses in the community.

Need an internship? A mentor? Some career advice? Contact us and we will do our best to provide you with an opportunity with us or with an expert in your preferred career field!

Our COVID Response

The Five Star Education Foundation works closely with the Adams 12 Five Star Schools by forging partnerships and raising money to invest in student success. In collaboration with the district and business community, we fund opportunities that inclusively prepare students for a variety of options after high school, ranging from learning-readiness, to post-secondary education, to students directly entering the workforce. We have halted all overhead fundraising to address the immediate needs of our students and our community as we face COVID-19 together.

Nutrition Services

This year more than 42% of our students in the district were registered for free and reduced lunch. Since the shelter at home order and the start of an economic decline, Adams 12 Five Star School District Nutrition Services is currently serving over 1,500 people per day. This program provides 12 meals per week for people in need, is a hub for other resources for families who are struggling and creates a community for all who come for a meal.

There is an estimated $150,000 monthly gap between what is reimbursed monthly by the USDA for meals (for school-aged students: we are currently feeding ALL people who come in need) and the cost of the current food distribution program. This number is larger than ever due to:​​

• Additional staffing for food packaging needs at distribution sites due to COVID

• Adult meal distribution not covered by USDA

• The mandates around distributing a full meal in a grab and go style rather than a pick and choose model in the cafeteria and loss of ala carte sales to offset expenses.

Technology Resources

The district has distributed almost 12,000 Chromebooks straight from schools to low-income students. This necessary expense of providing laptops is so ALL students can participate in online learning. However, when thinking just a couple months down the road, the loss of Chromebooks not returned, the amount of time and staff dedicated to fixing returned laptops and other IT technologies will be a massive unknown expense that the Foundation is gearing up to support.

Additionally, the district has entered into a partnership with Comcast to pay for and immediately provide internet services for our students in need. This partnership levels the playing field for our students to be able to do their work with their classmates.

Why the district is best suited to help:

While there are some food pantry programs in the area, the Adams 12 Five Star School District serves school-aged children and their families. The district has the large capacity to serve this community thanks to their hard-working staff and facilities at multiple locations. The district has the best tools to reach our students through taking distribution to their neighborhoods, pre-identifying students in need and strong communications systems. In addition to nutritional services, the district serves as a hub for other emergency needs services.

How the Foundation can help:

As the 501(c)(3) nonprofit partner directly supporting our students and teachers of Adams 12 Five Star Schools, we communicate the need to the community, rally support and provide vital connections and resources. We are asking for those of you who can, please consider donating to our Crisis Relief fund.

Dated March, 2020

Urgent Message to Our Community about COVID-19

Dear Five Star Community-

We hope this message finds you and your loved ones well and healthy.  These are unusual times and we must be the heroes our students need. Together, we must work to lessen the impact that COVID-19 is having on our community.   At this time, students of Adams 12 Five Star Schools have two crucial needs:

First, our most impacted students and their families need access to food and supplies to get through this time of school and business shut down.  Our community must stand together and make sure that ALL students are ok.  We are requesting your assistance to support the food services program with the district that is distributing meals to all students in need daily.  We need to support these efforts and increase the capacity to serve them. 

Second, our schools, teachers and especially our students need vital resources to continue their education. Our most vulnerable kids need equal access to the technology that will allow them to participate in the virtual the classroom. This emergency fund will be immediately available to the district to support families to ensure their students are ready for school when it goes online on April 1. 

The Five Star Education Foundation has been focused on the needs of Adams 12 Five Star Students for over 35 years.  We have always worked to partner with the district to help provide the best education possible for ALL students.  Together, we are being called upon to make sure every student is LEARNING READY.  We stand in partnership with the District and ask you to join us today to make sure our students are ready for their future.  Together, we WILL get through these tough times and so will our students.

In Gratitude-

The Five Star Education Foundation

To make a donation and support our students, please go to the button in the upper right corner.

SPANISH TRANSLATION:

Estimada comunidad de Five Star

Esperamos que usted y sus seres queridos se encuentren bien y saludables. Estos son tiempos inusuales y debemos ser los héroes que nuestros estudiantes necesitan. Debemos trabajar en conjunto para minimizar el impacto que el COVID-19 está teniendo en nuestra comunidad. En este momento, los estudiantes de Adams 12 Five Star Schools tienen dos necesidades cruciales:

En primer lugar, nuestros estudiantes más afectados y sus familias necesitan acceso a alimentos y provisiones para pasar este momento de cierre escolar y empresarial. Nuestra comunidad debe permanecer unida y asegurarse de que TODOS los estudiantes estén bien. Estamos solicitando su ayuda para apoyar el programa de servicios de alimentos del distrito que está distribuyendo comidas a todos los estudiantes necesitados diariamente. Tenemos que apoyar estos esfuerzos y aumentar la capacidad de servirlos.

En segundo lugar, nuestras escuelas, maestros y especialmente nuestros estudiantes necesitan recursos vitales para continuar su educación. Nuestros niños más vulnerables necesitan acceso equitativo a la tecnología que les permitirá participar en el aula virtual. Este fondo de emergencia estará inmediatamente disponible para el distrito para apoyar a las familias y asegurarse de que sus hijos estén listos para la escuela cuando esté disponible en línea el 1 de abril.

La Fundación de Educación Five Star se ha centrado en las necesidades de los estudiantes de Adams 12 Five Star durante más de 35 años. Siempre hemos trabajado para asociarnos con el distrito para ayudar a proporcionar la mejor educación posible para TODOS los estudiantes. Juntos nos aseguraremos de que cada estudiante esté LISTO PARA EL APRENDIZAJE. En asociación con el Distrito, le pedimos que se una a nosotros hoy para cerciorarnos de que nuestros estudiantes estén listos para el futuro.

Juntos, SUPERAREMOS estos tiempos difíciles y también lo harán nuestros estudiantes. Mientras tanto, únase a nuestra página de Facebook para obtener ideas diarias sobre cómo mantener a sus hijos aprendiendo durante las vacaciones.

Con gratitud-

The Five Star Education Foundation