All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
Sorted by date Results 401 - 450 of 483
The Longmont Downtown Development Association (LDDA) cordially invites alumni from all graduating years at Longmont, Skyline, Silver Creek, Niwot, Erie, Mead, Frederick, Lyons, Olde Columbine and the St. Vrain Online Global Academy to come downtown and enjoy food, music and old friends at the fifth annual St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) High Schools Reunion on Friday, June 8. Festivities kick off at 4th and Kimbark at 6 p.m., when SVVSD student band Bad Choices hits the stage, followed...
Niwot IB valedictorian Kamran Elahi said he was thrilled when he learned early in the 2017-18 school year that he had earned the top rank amongst his talented cohorts. “I had an idea I was up there,” the senior said. “Obviously there’s a ton of really, really smart, really nice kids that I go to school with, so I was a little bit unsure. It was probably one of the happiest moments of my high school career to find that out.” Elahi was quick to dispel the notion that students in Niwot’s e...
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church has been a mainstay in the Gunbarrel neighborhood since 1974. Today, Pastor Janet Kettering is making sure that the church’s role in the community continues. A former court reporter in Minnesota, Kettering has been a Lutheran pastor for nine years and began her ministry at Shepherd of the Hills in November 2016. Kettering is carrying on the church’s long-held mission set by its first pastor, Glenn Lundahl, that the church belongs to the community. “We certai...
For a sure sign that the Niwot boys track team is having a special season, look no further than the Northern League championships, held May 4-5 at Everly Montgomery Stadium in Longmont. Behind surprisingly strong performances in the sprints and jumping events, the Cougars scored 151 team points to claim the 2018 conference title, a feat Niwot head track coach Maurice Henriques called “a great accomplishment for our program.” “Being here for eight years, we’ve never a Northern Conference meet,...
Last month, St. Vrain Valley School District superintendent Don Haddad was announced as one of four finalists for Clark County School District’s (CCSD) search for a new superintendent. CCSD serves over 75 percent of the students in the state of Nevada, including the Las Vegas area. CCSD’s school board’s selection was originally expected to be announced April 19. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, immediately following the announcement of the final candidates, the school board trustees balked at the absence of nominees from within the d...
Up-A-Creek Robotics Team 1619, comprised of primarily St. Vrain Valley School District students, came away from the 2018 FIRST Robotics World Championship competition in Houston with a third-place alliance finish, making this the most successful finish to a season for the team. Adding to the excitement of the finale, the team also earned the General Motors Industrial Design Award, which recognizes “form and function” for the robot that best performs each year’s assigned challenge. Prior to th...
Forty years of immersing himself in Rocky Mountain majesty and magnificence, countless miles of hiking and skiing to rugged, remote, and idyllic locations, and hours of patiently waiting for the perfect lighting, hues, and wildlife to be present has ensured that John Fielder’s epic images are now synonymous with the wondrous state of Colorado. Fielder spent the good part of last Tuesday at Longmont’s Flagstaff Academy. His initial meeting was with art teacher Natalie Reed’s photography 2 class...
The St. Vrain Valley School District has designated Friday, April 27 as a non-student contact day “in anticipation of high levels of teacher participation” at the Colorado Education Association’s Days of Action demonstration scheduled for Thursday and Friday at the Colorado state capitol in Denver. Citing concerns about “adequate supervision and instruction,” Superintendent Don Haddad called the cancellation “necessary” in an email sent to parents on April 18. “While this is a statewide initi...
Track and field coaches, student-athletes, parents, and other spectators from across Boulder paid their respects to long-time Courier photographer Edward Navarro at the 42nd annual Lonnie Nixon Boulder County Championships, held April 14 at Centaurus High School.. Navarro, a fixture at area high school and college sporting events for more than a decade, passed away on Dec. 31 from complications of pulmonary fibrosis. Navarro family members, including wife Trudy, son Edward (Lucky) and daughter...
February 21, 1947 – April 7, 2018 Dennis Jerome Hurianek, 71, passed away on April 7, 2018 at his home in Niwot. Dennis was born February 21, 1947 in Denver, CO to Jerome W. and Lois E. (Cushatt) Hurianek. Dennis grew up around the world with his family wherever his father was stationed as a US Army medic. He graduated from Kaiserslautern American High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. As a young man, he was a Boy Scout, achieving the Order of the Arrow, and a camp counselor. Dennis earned a B...
Winds gusting up to 65 m.p.h. knocked down power lines and snapped tree limbs as a quick moving front descended on the front range Tuesday afternoon. Power outages and street closures caused busing disruptions for students in the St. Vrain Valley School district, and many area athletic events were rescheduled. The girls soccer match between Niwot and Longmont will be played tomorrow at Niwot at 4 p.m., as will the baseball game against Skyline. Winds are expected to diminish overnight, and the...
Don Haddad, Superintendent of Saint Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD), is on the short list of candidates to be at the helm of Clark County School District (CCSD) in Nevada, the fifth largest school district in the country. Haddad was named as one of four finalists for the superintendent position from an initial pool of 77 applicants. Haddad, 56, has been an educator for 33 years and progressively moved up the ladder from being a teacher to entering the administration ranks, including a stint...
The Niwot boys track team is off to its best start in years, thanks in part to distance specialist Oskar Wells. At the season’s opening meet on March 10, Wells claimed his first-ever individual title with a victory in the 800M, finishing in 1:58.61, a new personal best. Since then, the soccer-player-turned-runner has won the 800M at two more local meets, the St. Vrain RE-1J meet on March 22 (1:58.69), and the Lyons Invitational (1:59.19) on March 31. He has also raced on several of the Niwot r...
Two of Flagstaff Academy’s fifth-grade teams will be competing in the VEX IQ World Championships, which will take place Sunday, April 29 through Wednesday, May 2, 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky. One team, the Saphiras, earned the coveted STEM Research Project Award. This award is only given to one team with the best research and application project. The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Research Project Award is presented to the team that shares the most effective STEM R...
St. Vrain Valley School District Superintendent Don Haddad opened the bond update and school safety town hall meeting held at Silver Creek High School (the fourth such meeting this month in the district) by emphasizing that for SVVSD, and for himself, student safety was an area of concern long before the recent shootings. Haddad pointed to the “summer of violence” that occurred in Denver in 1993 as the initial cause for the heightened worry over school safety. At that time he was working at a h...
Doing Democracy Day has been a St. Vrain Valley School District annual event for the past nine years. It’s a day when school board members, teachers, city council and students gather at the Longmont Civic Center to discuss and present issues within the community. This year, for the first time, select students from St. Vrain Middle Schools were invited to join with high school students to share their opinions and thoughts. The event was started so students could be involved with topics that a...
Local robotics Team 1619, based in Longmont, earned a significant honor this month at the Hub City Regional Competition in Lubbock, Texas - the Regional Chairman’s Award. Along with their alliance teams, the team also took first place out of 41 teams at the same event. Since the St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) team was formed in 2004, and dubbed Up-A-Creek Robotics, membership and facilities have dramatically improved. Its beginnings were humble, with the first meeting in a t...
Charges have been filed against two juveniles following a Feb. 16 “Safe 2 Tell” report at Niwot High School. Last month, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office responded to the report, but the school has been unable to report the incident to district patrons due to the investigation. Now that charges have been filed, the two students were arrested on Friday, March 16. Since they are both 16, names have not been released. “Safe 2 Tell” is an anonymous method for students to report suspicious behavior or knowledge of threats made by other students o...
Teens and adults can apply for summer jobs Boulder County residents ages 14-17 have until 4:30 p.m. on March 30 to apply for summer jobs with the Boulder County Youth Corps. Boulder County is also hiring adults to be team leaders. Boulder County is especially in need of female applicants. The Youth Corps will hire 160 teenagers to work 30 hours per week, Mon. through Thurs., from June 11 to Aug. 1, on a variety of community service projects such as trail construction and maintenance, historic preservation, forest thinning, construction and repa...
Arrest warrants issued for two 16-year-old students today Niwot, Colo. - On February 16, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office received a “Safe 2 Tell” report that a 16-year-old juvenile male student at Niwot High School, located at 8989 Niwot Road in unincorporated Boulder County, made statements and posted a video on social media which were generally related to the recent school shooting in Florida. These online comments caused other Niwot students alarm and resulted in several Safe2Tell reports being made. The school district and law enfor...
Attending a Niwot High School theater production is always a treat. But this March, the audience could walk away with an even bigger prize. During the March 10 matinee performance of The Foreigner, the theater department will be auctioning off four tickets to the Broadway hit musical Hamilton, currently playing a sold-out run at Denver’s Buell Theater. The Hamilton tickets, along with other items donated by local Niwot and Longmont businesses will be part of a silent auction held in the NHS a...
This month’s progress issue features several area groups, clubs and organizations that are all about volunteerism. Though they may range in variety — such as the Niwot Historical Society, the Niwot Community Association or the Longmont Foundation — they have one common goal, and that is to make the community a better place to live, work and play. The next six pages of this issue feature several of the organizations, what they’re about and ways to get involved. We hope you enjoy learning about the many groups that make this community tick. N...
In the fall of 2018, Twin Peaks Charter Academy in Longmont will launch a new program to attract the youngest students. In mid-February, the school’s board of directors approved the addition of a preschool program to the K-12 school. The program was the brainchild of K-5 Principal Amber Coniff and Executive Director Joe Mehsling, who both started at the school in 2016. They noticed many St. Vrain schools have preschool programs and wanted to give Twin Peaks families the opportunity to start their three to five-year-olds at the school instead o...
Back in his home state during Senate recess, Colorado senior senator Michael Bennet dropped in on the AP government and IB economics classes at Niwot High on Feb. 22 for an informal discussion with students. Accompanied by Principal Eric Rausckolb and St. Vrain Valley Schools Superintendent Don Haddad, Bennet first joined Mr. Burton’s AP class, where he fielded questions on military spending and gun control, before taking to the chalkboard to illustrate a point about deficit spending. He also s...
For recognition of her efforts in technology education and outreach, the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) has selected Niwot senior Michelle Tran to receive the 2018 Award for Aspirations in Computing. Every year, NCWIT recognizes high school women “for their demonstrated interest and achievements in computing, proven leadership ability, academic performance, and plans for post‑secondary education.” Tran was one of just 41 students selected out of 3,600 appli...
On Jan. 26, Niwot High freshman Emily Creek took first place in the CHSAA girls slalom race at Copper Mountain. With a time of 1 minute 35.66 seconds, Creek beat out more than 70 other competitors for her first high-school win and her third top-ten finish of the season. On Jan. 18, she was just 12 one-hundredths of a second out of first in the girls slalom at Winter Park, and on Jan. 12, she finished fifth in the giant slalom (GS) event at Eldora. With the wins, she is qualified to compete at...
It is with great sadness that we report the heartbreaking news that Ed Navarro, longtime sports photographer for the Courier, passed away Dec. 31 after a battle with pulmonary fibrosis. Though his death will be felt deeply by his wife Trudy, a retired teacher, and his two children, Ed “Lucky” Navarro and Emily Marcellus, his friends and the many lives he touched will also experience a great loss. I knew Ed as a lawyer in Longmont for many years before he took up photography. I recall seeing him...
It is with great sadness that we report the heartbreaking news that Ed Navarro, longtime sports photographer for the Courier, passed away Dec. 31 after a battle with pulmonary fibrosis. Though his death will be felt deeply by his wife Trudy, a retired teacher, and his two children, Ed “Lucky” Navarro and Emily Marcellus, his friends and the many lives he touched will also experience a great loss. I knew Ed as a lawyer in Longmont for many years before he took up photography. I recall seeing him taking photographs along the fence at a Niwot Hig...
Another statewide award has been given to administrators at Niwot High School, this time honoring assistant principal Andrea Smith. Smith earned the award from the Colorado Association of School Executives as Assistant Principal of the Year in the state, following NHS principal Eric Rauschkolb’s award earlier this year. “The recognitions we’ve received are really a reflection of the good work going on all over the place at NHS,” Rauschkolb said. “The teachers are amazing, the students for the m...
Niwot High School will soon have a new roof, but not the kind made of shingles. Thanks to a power purchase agreement, the St. Vrain Valley School District will be installing solar panels at NHS, Erie Middle School and Red Hawk Elementary over the winter. Dara Ward, energy and sustainability manager for the district, said that this will become a great opportunity for the students as well as the facilities and constituents. “Going into this project for the district, it was really important to n...
Niwot High School Principal Eric Rauschkolb was selected as the Colorado Association of School Executives principal of the year for 2017 and just returned from a trip to Washington D.C. for a national conference. The principals of the year for all 50 states met for the event, sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. “It was a combination of professional development, networking and advocating for public education on Capitol Hill,” Rauschkolb said. Rauschkolb had an...
Friday’s celebratory announcements at Niwot High School included the newsflash that students had earned an average ACT test score of 24 in the previous school year, a threshold that has not been hit since the year 2012. NHS principal Eric Rauschkolb said scores have hovered above 23 since that year, but this year saw the score tip up to 24. While students received their individual scores prior to the beginning of school this year, the composite score had not been publicized. Niwot High School’s average score gives it the distinction of bei...
Niwot gymnastics head coach Marisa Purcell believes she has all of the pieces in place for another serious run at this year’s Class 4A state title. With three proven all-around performers and a crop of talented newcomers, the Cougars should once again be in the mix come state competition in November. But as the coach of a very diverse group of perfectionist athletes, Purcell knows the road back to state championship glory depends on more than just individual talent and hard work. Leading the c...
Niwot High School is part of an effort to help reduce the carbon footprint of students and staff within the St. Vrain Valley School District. Two charging stations for electric vehicles were installed over the summer. “We’re pretty excited to take more green initiatives,” Niwot High School Principal Eric Rauschkolb said. “We’ve already seen it used this summer and we anticipate it being used more by the community as well.” The charging stations are limited to students and staff during the day, but are open for public use outside of school hour...
How to Support your Child and Niwot High School The 2017-2018 school year is only days away and the excitement for new opportunities and friendships is buzzing across Niwot and St. Vrain Valley School District. Now is an ideal time for students and parents to get a fresh start and consider the impact they want to have in the coming year. Below are recommendations for Niwot High School families to make the most of the academic year and ways to partner with the principal, administration, teachers and Niwot High School Education Foundation to supp...
In her three years as a varsity athlete, lacrosse goalie Morgan Pittser had at least one thing most other Niwot athletes didn’t -- a commute. Though girls lacrosse is the fastest growing high school sport in Colorado, there are still no teams in the St. Vrain Valley School District, so Pittser, who’s played lacrosse since grade school, had to join the team at Centaurus High in Lafayette. Late last month, Pittser capped her remarkable career with the Warriors with a CHSAA All-State Honorable Men...
Niwot resident and volunteer Riki Frea said she was “completely shocked” when she was told she had been selected as Grand Marshall for this year’s Niwot July 4 parade. The Niwot Community Association, which sponsors the parade, publicly announced its choice at the board’s June 7 meeting, citing Frea’s hard work and enthusiasm for volunteering in the community. “Oh my goodness, I’m just a Niwot mom who likes to be involved,” Frea said. “I have a lot of fun doing what I do, but this was totally...
The county’s preliminary plan for improving bike and pedestrian safety near Niwot Elementary School (NES) was met with opposition by area residents at a meeting held June 8 at the Left Hand Grange Hall. Two project phases were outlined by members of the transportation department staff, with Phase I slated for completion this summer. The construction phases are part of the St. Vrain Valley School District’s (SVVSD) goals for reducing car traffic while maximizing safety, according to co-presenter Cammie Piller Edson, a coordinator for the cou...
The fourth-annual St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) High Schools Reunion will take place on Friday, June 9 from 6-9 p.m. The Reunion will be held during the first Downtown Summer Concert of the season on Fourth Avenue between Main and Kimbark. Boulder-based band The Goonies will play all the hits from the 80’s. The night’s festivities will get underway with a Niwot High School student Jackson Cloud who will showcase his talents on the guitar and vocals, along with the rest of his Jackson Cloud Band. Alumni from all graduating years at...
Forty-one years ago, Susan Burnett stepped up to the chalkboard in her first classroom. Always up for a new challenge, Burnett has held many titles at many schools over her long career, including assistant principal at Niwot High, but in her heart, she’s always been a teacher. For Burnett, the call to education was clear. “When I was about third or fourth grade, I wanted to be just like my teachers,” Burnett said, recalling the path to her career. “I’ve just been in education the whole tim...
Before last weekend’s St. Vrain New Balance Invitational, Niwot head track coach Maurice Henriques was hopeful his boys relay team would finally post a state qualifying time. With just one week left before the 2017 Class 4A Track & Field Championships, the crowded meet was the last chance they would get this season, and he knew they were close. “That’s our goal,” he explained following the Northern Conference championships, where all four relays finished in second place. “Hopefully, the weath...
For the last two years, Niwot High School’s Education Foundation has hosted a spring festival to showcase the work of aspiring student filmmakers. But when the foundation announced that it would no longer be able to support the event, NHS teachers Jim Asmus and Jason Watkins teamed up to ensure the show would go on. In the process of taking over the festival, Asmus and Watkins made several changes, including renaming the event the St. Vrain Valley Student Film Festival. “That was because I’m...
The Niwot girls track and field team can add another title to its already lengthy list: 2017 Northern League champions. In yet another dominating performance, the Cougars outscored their nearest opponent by more than 60 points to capture first place at last weekend’s conference meet, winning nine of the 19 events, including all three sprints and both hurdles races. Senior Alexis Carroll and junior Mary Gillett combined for five of the Cougars’ nine individual titles, and between them set thr...
A need for sturdier event, detour and road closed signs in Niwot led to a spring project for welding students at St. Vrain Valley School District’s Career Development Center (CDC). “This is a win-win for everyone,” said Niwot Community Association President Dick Piland.”We get better road signs and the high school students were able to put their skills to use on a community project.” Last winter, NCA board members investigated purchasing five stands for road signs, but were concerned about high...
It was business as usual for the Niwot girls track team at the Stutler Bowl Twilight Invitational, held April 24 at Cherry Creek High School. Against a talented field comprised of several of Colorado’s top-ranked Class 4A and 5A squads, the Niwot girls scored 98.7 points on the day to edge out Rocky Mountain (96) for the team title. It was also business as usual for Niwot junior Mary Gillett, who finished the day with multiple individual titles, including the 100-meter dash (12.38 seconds), t...
Eric Rauschkolb, Principal of Niwot High School in St. Vrain Valley Schools, has been selected as the 2017 Colorado Secondary School Principal of the Year by the Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE) and a committee of his peers from the Colorado Association of Secondary School Principals (CASSP). Upon being notified of receiving the honor, Rauschkolb said, “ This is an acknowledgement of the hard-working staff, and the passionate and committed students that Niwot High is honored to educate. To be able to serve this school is a p...
Students from all over the world are preparing right now to leave their countries to come and study in America for the upcoming school year. These students are leaders in their schools. They exhibit great academic skills as well as a heart for volunteer work. These are the students who will impact their countries when they return home with the experiences they have had while living here in America. The students are placed with volunteer host families throughout the US. Host families are...
Each spring since 1988, the Colorado Council for Economics Education (CCEE) presents the Koebel Enterprising Teacher of the Year Award to an educator who demonstrates excellence in the teaching of economics and personal financial literacy. This year the council has selected Niwot High School economics teacher Ken Benson to receive this prestigious award. Benson currently teaches four sections of economics at NHS, two for the IB (International Baccalaureate) program and two AP (Advanced Placement) courses. Benson also sponsors the school’s Econ...
“We know you’re guilty.” Fourth grader Eden Zenz and her classmates accuse Kim Lancaster, director of St. Vrain’s APEX Homeschool Enrichment Program, the moment she walks into their Literature Detectives class in the sanctuary of Vinelife Church in Gunbarrel. The students are using clues prepared by their teacher to solve a whodunit as part of their unit on the novel Chasing Vermeer. Their list of suspects includes Lancaster and several other APEX staff. This scene is much like a typical...
The Niwot girls track and field team continued to dominate the local competition, picking up wins at the St. Vrain Re-1J District meet on March 23 and at the Broomfield Shootout on March 25. The boys also fared well at the District meet, finishing second out of nine teams, and placed 23rd at the Broomfield meet, in a 33-team field that included several Class 5A schools. It was another impressive week for junior Mary Gillett and her senior teammate Alexis Carroll. At the St. Vrain meet, held...
