RAS recently teamed up with community partners First Christian Church and University of Illinois Extension to provide some of our high school students with a unique and customized planetarium experience. Students in STEM class just finished a 5 week unit covering all things space! We ended it with an out of this world experience flying to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto, different moons and asteroids in real time. Thank you to Heather at UI extension and First Christian Church for making this possible for our students! 👨🏿🚀🧑🏽🚀👩🏼🚀🌝🌖🌎🪐💫☄️
Today, a few members of our staff had the pleasure of setting up for the Senior Citizen Valentine's Day Dance at Western Avenue Community Center. We are always happy and willing to help our great community partners! Here is a list of what we can provide your organization if you ever need assistance:
✅Muscles 💪
✅Event planning skills 📋
✅Teamwork 🤝
✅Ability to put on challenging chair covers 🪑👏
✅The best emotional support animal ever 🐾🐶
Our dear friends at First Christian Church provided RAS Staff with the sustenance to hold productive and collaborative conferences with students and their families over the past two days. Thank you, as always, for showing RAS so much love! ❤️
Friendly reminder: Student-Led Conferences are tonight and tomorrow morning. Please call to schedule one if you have not already done so.
What is getting us through a long day? Matching dino sweaters and cupcakes from our favorite EPG Bus Monitor, Paige!
Pic for attention 🤣
RAS-Bloomington Campus will have regular, in-person learning today. If your home school district is not transporting today, please log into your Chromebook and complete your work remotely. Email your teachers if you need any assistance. Thank you!
We were delighted to host a Staff Wellness Day at RAS! We wore comfy clothes and enjoyed a morning stretch, smoothie bar, energy balls, and a calming VR experience. The highlight of the day was Action Wellness providing free 10-minute chair massages 🤗
Dash even enjoyed some extra love and attention!
It's always a great day to be at RAS!
Dash is loving every minute of this beautiful day! Soaking up the warmth and vitamin D ☀️ We 🧡 our amazing support dog! Rated #1 RAS Staff Member 4 years in a row!
Showing up is the first step and often the hardest part of anything. Today, Mr. Eddins and Mrs. Quick rewarded students who had 90%+ attendance first semester with RAS gear. As Mr. Rudicil often preaches to our students, "The habits you build now will stay with you as you get older. If you get in the habit of coming to school, you'll get in the habit of going to work." We are proud of the 33 students who prioritize school attendance! Keep it up!
Due to the predicted unsafe wind chills for tomorrow, RAS will have a remote learning day for Tuesday, January 21st. Teachers will be emailing students tomorrow morning with expectations, check-in times, and learning activities. Please email or text Kara Quick (kquick@rasblm.org/309-445-3539) if you have any questions. Stay safe and warm!
Friendly reminder: There is no school tomorrow, Monday, January 20th, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Spread some kindness in his honor.
Contract time-3:30
Q: What were FOUR RAS staff members doing at 5:15 on a Friday night?
A: Meeting with a family at their home for an orientation because that is what they needed.
Our whole child approach often means whole family. Mr. Eddins, Mrs. LaCroix, Mrs. Quick, & Mr. Rudicil were able to facilitate a different style of orientation than we typically offer, but our Digital Learning Lab (DLL) allows us to think about education in a different way. We're always here to meet the needs of our students and families!
Rental and Utilities Arrears Assistance for Township Residents
The City of Bloomington Township has funds available for rental arrears assistance and utility arrears assistance through March 31, 2025. Eligibility requirements are similar to the General Assistance/Emergency Assistance programs. Applicants must apply for General Assistance/Emergency Assistance as part of the process. Contact the City of Bloomington Township by phone at (309) 434-2730 or in person at 607 S. Gridley St., Bloomington.
Township will require applicants to provide proof of all income, assets and place of residency. Applicants who received HERE assistance in the past are ineligible to receive again. Maximum amount of arrears assistance is $3000.
Eastern Illinois Foodbank will be at Normal West High School on Saturday, January 11 from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. to distribute food. Anyone in McLean County is welcome to attend.
ROE 17 and RAS are thrilled to be in partnership with Lifelong Access And Chestnut Health Systems by receiving 21.7 million in healthcare transformation capital improvement grant funding. This partnership will lead to the purchase and renovation of the Pantagraph building to serve as a collaborative hub for multiple agencies supporting services in behavioral health, psychiatry, youth urgent care center, dental care, alternative youth education, supportive employment, and food security initiatives.
Due to forecasted inclement weather for Monday, January 6th, RAS-Bloomington Campus will have a remote learning day for students. You will receive communication from your student's homeroom teacher Monday morning with more information. Please email Kara Quick (kquick@rasblm.org) with any questions. Stay safe and warm!
We are thankful for local companies that offer grant funding for some of our smaller projects. We have been the recipient of multiple PNC First Grants which have provided funding for hands-on learning opportunities for our students. This year, Mrs. Quick applied for funds to add more apparel-making equipment to our sewing machines and Cricut. We are hoping to engage our students in designing and making RAS gear, while building skills they can carry with them outside our walls. Thank you, PNC, for being a contributor to our hopes and dreams!
Fall 2024 @ RAS-BLM Campus: According to the Numbers… ⭐️200+ Student and Family Orientations ⭐️24 OSHA Certifications earned by students ⭐️14 Food Handler Certifications earned by students ⭐️50+ ISU Preservice Teachers completed clinical hours at our campus (TCH & EAF) ⭐️1 Student Teacher ⭐️1 Full-Time Social Work Intern ⭐️2 Part-Time Social Work Interns ⭐️4 Vocational Field Trips (2xHCC, CornBelt, MWFB) ⭐️12 Weeks of Boys & Girls Club Thursday activities with our Middle School students ⭐️12 Guest Speakers (Tricoci, 2xISAC, 2xArmy National Guard, Army, Marines, MTI, OSF Community Resource Center, StaffQuick, Laborers Local 362, Project Oz) ⭐️3 AMAZING local church partnerships (FCC, Eastview, St. Mark) ⭐️2 REMARKABLE partnerships with local food banks (MWFB & EIF) to stock the RAS School Market ⭐️300+ people served each month through the RAS School Market ⭐️14 weeks worth of VR opportunities to work on vocational skill building (mechanic, HVAC, small engine, farm hand, etc) ⭐️5 trips to the RAS Community Garden ⭐️50+ future educators from Unit 5 visited our campus ⭐️16 weeks of visits from outside counselors (Project Oz, CHS, Court Services) ⭐️1 irreplaceable partnership with CareerLink leading to a part-time student custodian ⭐️20 local schools served to meet the needs of their students ⭐️11 local school districts providing transportation for their students to our campus ⭐️24 high school graduates ⭐️20 dedicated and caring staff (19 humans, 1 dog)
🎓⭐️🎉 🤗RAS-BLM Campus provided educational opportunities for 24 local students this semester who were able to complete their graduation requirements. These students came to us from six different high schools in our region, and because of our amazing staff and programming, we also made sure they completed post-secondary tasks to send them off into the real world with employability and life skills! Help us in congratulating them! 🤗🎉⭐️🎓
Happy Holidays!
As we 🎁 WRAP UP 🎁 first semester, the RAS Staff would like to thank the students, families, home schools, community partners, and ROE #17 for a great start to the 2024-25 school year! Our future looks bright 😎 and we cannot wait to continue to grow and serve more youth in our community in the spring semester and beyond! Happy Holidays from all the hardworking elves at RAS! 💚❤️
