Andover Airwaves

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Join Alysia Rich, family engagement consultant, as she talks with students about mental health awareness and why it's important to them. 

Lacey Woods, Andover Central High School Culinary Arts teacher, joins ACHS students Hayley Boatright, Emma Geier and Madelyn Stowell to discuss their upcoming ProStart culinary competition. 

Alysia Rich, family engagement consultant, talks with Austin Bohanon, counselor at Andover High School, about navigating social media with your children.

January is the perfect time for your family to reflect, refocus and look ahead to the new year! Alysia Rich, family engagement consultant for Andover Public Schools, joins us to talk about helping your family be successful as you reflect, celebrate and look ahead.

Ashley and Cole Hurley had successful careers as a nurse and sheet metal worker, respectively. But when the opportunity arose to shift gears, both decided to become teachers at Andover Public Schools. Ashley now teaches in the medical strand at the Andover Center for Advanced Professional Studies, and Cole teaches industrial arts to students at Andover High School and Andover Central High School. They share about their early experiences in teaching and why they're proud to serve their community as educators.

Helping children with homework can be a challenge, but it doesn't have to be that way! Alysia Rich, family engagement consultant, talks with three educators about how parents can strike the right balance between being hands-off and being too helpful when it comes to completing school work at home. Featured are Tobe Wallace, fifth-grade teacher at Wheatland Elementary School; Amber Fetters, a counselor at Andover Middle School; and Sarah Wilborn, who teaches study skills and English Speakers of Other Languages at Andover Central High School.

Alysia Rich, family engagement consultant, talks about how to create positive, healthy routines and habits for children and adults. Amanda Cross, a parent of  children who attend ACHS and ACMS, describes her family's attempts at creating habits.

When an EF-3 tornado struck Prairie Creek Elementary School on April 29, 2022, it would take a massive amount of work to finish the school year and then prepare the building -- and staff -- for the new school year. Meanwhile, former Principal Shelley Jonas and new Principal Shawn Springer were preparing for a transition in leadership. In this episode, Jonas and Springer discuss their leadership efforts during the recovery and what lies ahead for Prairie Creek.

Zach Bush, an Andover High School PE teacher and basketball coach, is spending this summer coaching the Aftershocks, a team composed primarily of Wichita State Shocker alumni. The team competes this month in The Basketball Tournament, with its $1 million grand prize. Bush, who played for WSU from 2012 to 2017, discusses his approach to coaching high school freshmen vs. professionals, the history of the Aftershocks and what it's like to hang out with former WSU teammates during the summer.

Several of our schools have therapy dogs that help calm students, providing an additional friend that can help with mood and improve the building's overall atmosphere. In this episode, Laura Scaglione, assistant principal at Andover High School, and Brooke Holcomb, counselor at Meadowlark Elementary School, talk about their therapy dogs, Charlie and Lola (respectively). Though the process for becoming a therapy dog can be rigorous and the standards are high, they say the benefits to both students and staff are worth it. National Therapy Animal Day is April 30!

The start of kindergarten can be an exciting yet nervous time, for students and parents alike. In this episode, kindergarten teachers Heather Rainey (Wheatland Elementary) and Kayla Nelson (Prairie Creek Elementary), and principal Shari Rooks (Cottonwood Elementary) talk about how to talk with your student about the start of kindergarten, how to prepare during the months leading up to the first day of school, and what the process for beginning kindergarten is like at Andover Public Schools.

When the Andover Central High School took fourth place at the National Cheerleaders Association competition, it was the culmination of years of work for those on the squad. Hear seniors Cheyenne Brannan and Kailey Zwiener, and coach Desirae Moreno, talk about the competition and how they work to keep the crowds entertained and pumped up at sporting events.

Now that we've kicked off the second semester of the school year, how do your assess your child's progress so far through the school year? How do you celebrate successes and set goals for the rest of the year? Alysia Rich, family engagement consultant for Andover Public Schools, joins us with tips for how to have these conversations with your child.

Juniors and seniors at the Andover Center for Advanced Professional Studies are given the tools, resources and connections to explore their career interests. Along the way, many of them either discover an interest, confirm and interest or, just as importantly, decide a particular career field is not for them. In this episode, Brian Gregoire, director of Andover CAPS, discusses what students were up to this fall semester. Then, you'll hear 11 students talk about the connections they made and the experiences they had the past few months through CAPS.

Beth Smith's favorite parts of being an administrative assistant at Sunflower Elementary were interacting with students -- so much so that she decided to become a teacher.

After a year of pandemic limitations, full-fledged musicals are hitting the stage once again at Andover High School and Andover Central High School. AHS performs "Seussical," while ACHS performs "The Little Mermaid." In this episode, theater teachers, performers and tech crew members describe the shows and their feelings about performing once again in front of a live audience.

Andover Public Schools Horizon Award nominees Kari Schmidt and Madison Schmoll discuss beginning their careers in a pandemic, why they chose to be educators and their life experiences that prepared them for success in the classroom. Ms. Schmidt teaches first grade at Meadowlark Elementary and Mrs. Schmoll teaches band at Andover High School, Andover Middle School, Robert Martin Elementary, Cottonwood Elementary, and Wheatland Elementary.