North Valley School For Young Adults in Thornton, Colorado on DonorsChoose

{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":true,"callToActionDisplayName":"North Valley School For Young Adults","outOfStateSupporters":37.5,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":9219054,"projectId":9758685,"letterContent":"Our students have been incredibly excited to use these new STEM resources. From the very beginning, you could hear students talking about \"testing new ideas,\" building stronger structures, and finally understanding how things like bridges really work — and why sometimes they fail. What has been especially exciting is watching students fully embrace the Engineering Design Cycle. Instead of simply completing an assignment, students are now researching, hypothesizing, testing, failing, redesigning, and trying again in order to improve their catapults, bridges, and rockets. During class you would see different \"engineering firms\" simultaneously building, testing, sketching designs on graph paper, researching strategies, and analyzing data while laughing, cheering, and competing to see whose projectile could fly farther, higher, or more accurately hit the target.\r\n\r\nOne of the biggest impacts of this grant has been the increased level of authentic engagement made possible by the higher-end equipment and expanded materials. As one student stated in his reflection, 'I learned that analyzing one's mistakes is the key to overcoming any engineering challenge.' Students are no longer satisfied with just building one bridge or launching one rocket — they want to collect data, revise their designs, and improve performance. We've watched students use the structure tester to compare bridge designs beam-by-beam and cheer as structures either barely hold or suddenly collapse under pressure. Students are also applying concepts from earlier in the year in meaningful ways, discussing things like ratios, momentum, mass, force, and energy transfer in order to gain an advantage in competitions. We've even heard students say things like, \"Wouldn't this be easier if we used Excel?\" as they realized the importance of organizing and analyzing real-world engineering data. Prior to the gift of this grant, this was impossible for generating quantitative data from our bridges testing, but now students can interface with actual data/numbers to analyze their structures. \r\n\r\nPerhaps the most rewarding change has been the shift in our student's mindset. Many students initially signed up simply because they needed credits to graduate. Now, they are excited about improving designs, solving problems, and \"winning\" through creativity and persistence. Even before our rocket unit has officially launched, students are already researching ways to increase rocket height and optimize performance using the new altimeters and sensors. These materials have transformed the atmosphere of our end-of-year Intensive from something students felt obligated to attend into something they genuinely look forward to. Instead of checking out at the end of the year, our students are running toward learning, collaboration, and discovery. One student asked, 'Why don't we do this all year long? This is fun!' This grant has changed how students perceive school, which for our alternative school's students tends to be negatively. Now we see that students are even now this last week of school, already talking about next year and graduating! This grant has really impacted our students and helped them see the 'fun' in learning which for many of them has not really happened. Your generosity has facilitated this joy of learning and doing which for so many of our students has been absent in their school experiences. Thank you!!","fullyFundedDate":1761587788482,"projectUrl":"project/end-the-year-strong-stem-credit-recove/9758685/","projectTitle":"End the Year Strong! STEM Credit Recovery Intensive","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Touher","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-8_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9219054"}],"pageName":"schoolpage_97259","usesDonorsChoose":true,"infoPageType":"school","demographicsInfo":{"numStudents":null,"numTeachers":null,"percentFrplEligible":76,"percentAsian":2,"percentBlack":0,"percentWhite":12,"percentIndigenous":0,"percentLatinx":77,"showFreeAndReducedPriceLunchInfo":true,"showDemographicsInfo":true,"sourceTooltipString":"the National Center for Education Statistics","percentHawaiianImputed":0,"percentMultiracialImputed":2,"gradesServed":"Not specified","studentTeacherRatio":null,"demographicsDataSource":"MDR District Record","equityFocus":true,"titleOne":false,"metroType":"UNCLASSIFIED","ncesMetroType":null},"inStateSupporters":62.5,"schoolId":97259,"financialInfo":null,"twitterShareText":"Learn more about North Valley School For Young Adults on @DonorsChoose:","schoolName":"North Valley School For Young Adults","canonicalPageUrl":"schools/colorado/mapleton-school-district-1/north-valley-school-for-young-adults/97259"}

About this school

North Valley School For Young Adults is a public school in Thornton, Colorado that is part of Mapleton School District 1. Its teachers have had 6 projects funded on DonorsChoose.

Supporting this school will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Public School

Grades Not specified

# of students unavailable

# of teachers unavailable

8990 York St

Thornton, CO 80229 View local requests

Direct, proactive support

Empower teachers at North Valley School For Young Adults to request what their students need.

Give to this school

Ms. Vero, a DonorsChoose teacher for 9 years.

Kindergarten teacher at PS81 - Robert J. Christen School in Bronx, NY

North Valley School For Young Adults Teachers on DonorsChoose

Mr. Touher

DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for public school teachers.

Every donation funds real needs — pencils, books, lab equipment, art supplies, and more — helping students learn and thrive. We ship supplies directly to the school, and you'll see exactly where each dollar goes.

See how DonorsChoose works

North Valley School For Young Adults Demographics

76%

of students receive free or reduced price lunch

Source: the National Center for Education Statistics

79%

of students are Black, Latino, Native American, or Asian

Schools in districts that mainly serve students of color receive substantially less state and local support than similar districts that serve primarily White students. Learn more about this gap, why it exists, and how you can help close it.

North Valley School For Young Adults Support on DonorsChoose Last updated May 26, 2026

DonorsChoose makes it easy for anyone to help a teacher in need, moving us closer to a nation where students in every community have the tools and experiences they need for a great education.