Board spotlights Mountain Ridge, Pine Creek and robotics teams; Pine Creek to add AP Capstone

The Board of Education opened the meeting with school spotlights from Mountain Ridge Middle School and Pine Creek High School and heard a student presentation from the Rocky Mountain Robotics team.

Mountain Ridge Principal Jeff Stirk introduced a creative‑tech partnership with the Challenger Learning Center. Four eighth‑grade students described using Onshape for 3‑D design and a trial‑and‑error engineering approach to build rockets in class; a Challenger teacher, Gerard Carney, praised the students’ work and said the partnership gives K–12 students hands‑on engineering exposure.

Pine Creek High School staff described plans to launch the College Board AP Capstone program. TJ Earhart (AP coordinator) and Heather Scott (advanced academics coordinator) told the board Pine Creek will add AP Seminar next year and AP Research in 2026, and they said the school aims to grow AP access and move from silver toward gold recognition on the AP School Honor Roll. They presented AP program participation and pass‑rate figures and described pathways for students to earn the AP Capstone Certificate or Diploma.

Students from Rocky Mountain Robotics (team 662) spoke about their year‑long build cycle, boot camps for incoming students, and community outreach. Student leaders said the team is student‑led, runs like a small business and supports feeder elementary and middle school FIRST programs.

Votes and procedure: The board approved the meeting agenda and later approved the consent agenda by roll call; both votes were recorded as unanimous among members present.

Ending: Board members thanked students and staff for presentations and invited them to pose for photos after the meeting.