All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
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When Krista Chiaravalle was first asked to leave her biology teacher position at Niwot High to join Sunset Middle School's staff as the STEM & Learning Coach, she was a little nervous but excited. "I didn't know a lot about coding [or computer science], but thought that it was a great opportunity and that we [she and the students] could learn together," Chiaravalle said. She explained that her STEM classes are hands-on, focusing on the building and designing; but her computer classes largely...
The Education Foundation of the Saint Vrain Valley School District recently announced the winners of their 2020 Tribute to Teachers, which honors individual teachers at the Pre-K through 12th grade, who exemplify excellence in teaching. In what has been an unprecedented end of the academic year, these three award-winners have continued to play a critical role in the growth and development of the youngest members of our community. Jess Esinhart: Legacy Elementary School Jess Esinhart is no strang...
If you were walking the Niwot Loop Trail last Tuesday afternoon, you likely bumped into Kodi and his owner Jayne Zmijewski. Kodi may have looked like any other yellow lab, but he wasn't out for leisure; he was helping facilitate a training mission. His title--Search and Rescue Dog. "They're like family dogs," explained Zmijewski, "but when there's a mission, they know they have a job to do." Zmijewski retired from a long career teaching P.E. at Longmont Junior High School (nka Sunset Middle)....
Colorado state minimum wage is $11.10 an hour. But by various exemptions provided by law, many agricultural workers make only $7.25 per hour. That might be enough during the long days of summer, but for those whose livelihoods fluctuate with the seasons, winter can be an economically trying time. Casa de la Esperanza means House of Hope, and this local organization is dedicated to supporting agricultural workers and their families year-round. In 1993, the first migrant laborers moved into this...
Sunset Middle School principal Anthony Barela showed off his new pink hair-do to a crowd of fawning admirers after the Fall Crawl wrap-up assembly on Oct. 31. Barela was once again subject to the salon chair, after his students met their goal for this year's annual Parent Advisory Committee fundraiser, held on Oct. 5. Last year, Barela received his first Mohawk, but didn't get any color to go with it. Through this year's Fall Crawl, the PAC raised more than $15,000 that will go towards...
On Friday Oct. 5, a cadre of tweenage ninjas-in-training jumped, swung, and climbed their way through a colorful obstacle course that tested the strength and agility of even the most seasoned trainees. In the process, they raised more than $15,000 for the Sunset Middle Parent Advisory Committee, which will go towards upgrades in the school's interior, and a new sound system for the cafeteria. The obstacle course was a new twist to Sunset's annual Fall Crawl fundraiser, and both parents and...
Autumn brings crisp mornings, spiced treats, shorter days, and, for many excited Sunset Middle Schoolers, the annual Spartan Fall Crawl. On Oct. 4th, middle schoolers will get the chance to partake in a little friendly competition in a ninja-warrior style course that encourages the students to stay active. Last year's Spartan Fall Crawl raised $15,000 from pledges and local business sponsors. These funds went towards school improvements such as classroom designs and renovations in addition to...
Knowing children in Uganda were playing soccer barefoot, and in some instances with only one cleat, was not acceptable to Preston Lee, so he launched a project to remedy the situation. Called Kleats for Kids, Lee’s initiative was inspired by Niwot Elementary School teacher Dale Peterson and the Mwebaza Foundation, an organization that has its roots at NES. “My dad travels a lot for work,” Lee said, “and on one of his travels he got some pictures of kids without cleats or with just one cleat,...
Last year, Mwebaza Foundation set the goal of outfitting Niwot Elementary’s sister school, Mwebaza Infant Primary School in Kyengera, Uganda, with two shipping container classrooms to help with overcrowding. When students reach age 10, they usually drop out of school, because there isn’t a physical place to go anymore. The Mwebaza Infant Primary School tries to hold on to these students for as long as possible, even construction card-board partitions to increase individual classrooms, but thi...
Heading back to school is often a mix of emotions for students and teachers alike. For many students, the end of summer is bittersweet, nostalgia for mid-week sleepovers and late night pool parties setting in as soon as August rolls around. But there’s also something to be said for heading back to school. With each new year comes the chance to see old friends and start fresh with a new teacher, a new classroom and a new perspective. Teachers get excited to see coworkers again, catch-up on s...
Full-day kindergarten programs have been available in the local school districts for more than a decade, but often came with a steep monthly tuition fee. Starting this school year, those programs will be free to families in all Colorado public schools, thanks to a bill signed into law last May by governor Jared Polis that funds kindergarten at the same per-pupil rate as the other grades. For principals at Heatherwood and Niwot Elementary Schools, the move to make full-day schooling available to...
Debbie Lammers is this month’s Left Hand Laurel recipient because of her dedication to St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) and schools throughout Colorado. Lammers spent her formative years in Las Vegas where her father was a hotel executive. She was in seventh grade when her father passed away. Her family relocated to Northern California a year later. She attended California State University - Chico and then worked as a legal assistant and a paralegal for many years. She and Chris, her h...
Next fall, students and staff will notice huge changes when they return to Niwot High School. Renovations will occur both inside and outside the building. There will be new signage outside the school as you walk into the front patio entrance. Athletes will enjoy the newly resurfaced track. In addition, the tennis courts will be expanded from six to eight and refurbished. Inside the school, solar tubes will be installed allowing natural light to come in from the ceilings. The commons area will...
A teacher’s job description doesn’t fit a set list of responsibilities, chronologically checked off and completed at the end of each day. In fact, the job description is ever-changing and unique to the day. Good teachers take on a variety of roles including mentor, advocate, or even friend during difficult transitions and personal hardships. Good teachers stay late, reinventing lesson plans and tirelessly answering parent emails. Good teachers return each day, patience renewed and ready to tac...
When Richelle Burnett first put her daughter Cielle in ski school at age three, she had an inkling that the athletic youngster would take to the winter sport. That proved prescient when, just five years later, Cielle started out-skiing both her and her husband. Now the rising Niwot freshman is coming off an exciting win in the Buddy Warner league championship (BLW) race, and looking forward to strapping on a pair of boards for the area high school team in Nederland next winter. “I like e...
The Niwot Community Association did one of the things it does best at its April 17 annual meeting for members – connect NCA members with the broader Niwot area community. The group invited the principals of Niwot Elementary School, Sunset Middle School and Niwot High School to speak to meeting attendees about the academic and social achievements, strengths, school focus and infrastructure changes at each of the schools. The presentations grew from concerns from some NCA board members about e...
Niwot Community Association board members are gearing up for the group’s busy seasons. Kicking off the spring is the annual membership drive, already underway. Emails have gone out to members urging them to join for the 2019-20 membership year, and postcards are coming to those still waiting to join. Membership chair Johnny Barrett reported that membership stood at 248 households. In addition, the meeting will feature updates on membership as of April 3, and more members are expected to join a...
More than 50 women and girls are taken from Nepal to India every day to begin a horrific existence as a sex slave. Learning about this statistic and an unfathomable number of young girls around the world being forced into lives of misery had such an impact on Sunset Middle School (SMS) students Maya Lary and Anna Eastland that they felt compelled to take action. Every SMS student is in the Middle Years Programme (MYP), part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum. MYP is centered on...
Students, coaches, judges, volunteers, families, and technology fans overflowed Niwot Elementary School’s (NES) gymnasium on Saturday, Jan. 26 as NES hosted its first VEX IQ Robotic Challenge event. Enthusiasm, focus, and team spirit amongst all attendees, as well as mutual respect and a sense of accomplishment permeated the event. Twenty four teams from NES, Fall River Elementary School (Longmont), Eagle Crest Elementary (Longmont), Estes Park Elementary, and Hygiene Elementary schools w...
September 10, 1999- January 8, 2019 Olivia Ann Kunik, 19, made her final curtain call on Tuesday January 8, 2019. She leaves behind her heartbroken parents, Honey Beuf, Chuck Barnett, Maitland Kunik, and Joanne Kunik, her devoted sister Tess Kunik, her brave brothers Max Kunik and Anthony Martinez-Briggs, and the love of her life, Axel the pug. She graduated from Niwot High School and was studying early childhood education at the University of Northern Colorado. She loved children as she was a s...
Contributing to Niwot’s festive holiday decorations around town was on the minds of Niwot Community Association board members at their Dec. 5 meeting. The NCA put up holiday decorations this year at the Niwot Road entrance into town and board members agreed that they would like to add to that display. An informal subcommittee group, headed by Pat Murphy and Julie Breyer, are planning to hit the post-holiday sales to snap up decorations. In addition, board members expressed interest in working i...
Last year at this time, Dale Peterson’s bold vision for building and equipping a new classroom and then shipping it overseas seemed like an impossibly complex undertaking. But thanks to a willingly conscripted army of both local and districtwide students, a brightly painted two-story structure wired for electricity and solar power will be trucked out of Niwot on Dec. 8, bound for its new home at the Mwebaza School in Kyengera,Uganda. “I’m feeling overjoyed that we could have so many kids invol...
Mwebaza Foundation founder and president Dale Peterson was in good spirits after the closing ceremony for ‘Cougars/CDC Creating Classrooms,’ held at Niwot High on Nov. 29. “I’m feeling overjoyed that we could have so many kids involved,” he said about the months-long project to convert two shipping containers into a functioning classroom that will be used at the Mwebaza Infant Primary School in Kyengera, Uganda. “I am also feeling relief that I will get more time with my family, but mainly just...
Communities within St. Vrain are thriving and leading the way as Colorado continues to build and attract the top workforce and companies who want to call our thriving state home. St. Vrain Valley Schools is the educational home to more than 32,000 of Colorado’s students, with every school and feeder system committed to providing exemplary programming. While all schools share a high standard of excellence, as a district of choice, St. Vrain Valley Schools readily embraces a systemic approach t...
International Baccalaureate programs, offered to kindergarten through high school students, aim to go beyond basic curricula by developing inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people. In the Middle Years Program (MYP), students are at the center of their learning. They draw connections between all subject areas, participate in a world language, and learning is explicitly linked to the world around them. The MYP has at its foundation the focus of helping students learn how to learn by...
For 25 minutes on Oct. 5, students at Sunset Middle School walked, jogged or did something in between to raise money for some exciting events coming up during the school year, as well as some much needed supplies and equipment. “We’re hoping to sponsor a student dance,” said Assistant Principal Mary Ellen Graziani, who also did her share of jogging for the day. “We’re also looking to continue expanding our IB program through professional development and buying more technology for the classroom...
There’s a school in Kyengera, Uganda named Mwebaza. Two hundred students and six teachers spend their days learning and teaching there. More than 8,000 miles away, at Niwot Elementary School (NES), 450 students and 18 teachers spend their days doing the same thing. Dale Peterson is one of NES’s teachers and he has helped bring together the hearts, minds, and souls of the people of Mwebaza and NES. Peterson began his career as an educator 23 years ago as a student teacher at NES. As part of a w...
The annual Fall Crawl fundraiser hasn’t been a Sunset Middle School tradition for very long, but it has quickly become a favorite among parents and students alike. Last year’s event raised nearly $20,000 and helped the school purchase a new scoreboard, a sound system for the choir, and a 3-D printer. Now in its third year, the 2018 Fall Crawl is coming up on Friday, Oct. 5, and the Sunset Parents Advisory Council is inviting past and future students to come out and lend their support. “All of ou...
In a ceremony at the Longmont City Council chambers, the Longmont City Council designated Sept 11 as Mwebaza Day. The proclamation acknowledged the work of the Mwebaza Foundation, an organization founded by Niwot Elementary School teacher Dale Peterson to build and improve schools in Uganda. The proclamation reads: Whereas, the citizens of Longmont recognize that cross-cultural awareness and service learning enrich and strengthen a community; and whereas, the Mwebaza Foundation has been...
In a surprise announcement on Sept 10, St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) Superintendent Dr. Don Haddad informed those attending the school year’s first community meeting at Niwot High School (NHS) that the district has decided not to store an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in the school as proposed by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department. The sheriff’s proposal earlier this year was described as a way to allow school resource officers quicker access to a long range rifle to compensate for longer emergency response times to Niwot and L...
In an effort include a broader cross-section of the community, Niwot High will be hosting a carnival at Everly-Montgomery Field ahead of this year’s football game, instead of the traditional Homecoming parade through Old Town Niwot. “It’s going to give all of our feeder schools a chance to participate and get excited about becoming Niwot Cougars,” Principal Eric Rauschkolb said of the upcoming event, which is being modeled after similar events at other district schools. Niwot’s official...
Sunset Middle School (SMS) is welcoming 10 new staff members to its team this school year, starting with the top two administrative positions in the school - principal and assistant principal. Additional new staff members coming onboard include language arts, science, art and special education teachers, a new band director, a new school psychologist, attendance clerk, and school registrar. Anthony Barela is SMS’s new Principal. He grew up in Durango, CO, earned his master’s degree in edu...
On July 27-28, students from Niwot High kicked off the fabrication phase of ‘Cougars Creating Classrooms,’ a building project spearheaded by the Mwebaza Foundation to transform used shipping containers into instructional space for the Mwebaza Infant Primary School in Kyengera, Uganda. Over the two days, representatives from the football, girls tennis, golf, cross country, and track teams, as well as the IB program, Robotics Club, and Boy Scout Troop 161, unpacked materials for the project and...
Sunset Middle School seventh-grader Merrick Blondeau is the Rock & Rails Volunteer of the Week. Like his fellow gargoyles, Blondeau’s reasons for volunteering at Niwot’s weekly concert series are both altruistic and self-interested. “Jill [Whitener], the person who runs the gargoyles, usually has a hard time getting Gargoyles, so I do it for that,” he said, before adding. “There’s also free food.” Now in his third year, the Sunset seventh-grader is among the most veteran gargoyles. He...
For Olivia “Livy” Herring, playing for thousands of fans at Red Rocks as a member of the Boulder School of Rock’s House Band was easy compared to stepping onto the bandstand at Whistle Stop Park with her eponymous band to play for friends and family. But that’s just what the recent Niwot High graduate will be doing next Thursday night, when Livy & the Boys opens for Rebecca Folsom at Rock & Rails on July 5. “When I was performing as a student of the School of Rock, if I messed up no one knew...
Sponsored by Fabulous Finds The work of a few who quietly and reliably give from their hearts becomes the powerful way in which people’s lives are touched and forever changed for the better. Jim Jones is one of those people - a humble, caring man who has joyfully provided Niwot with his energy and positivity in a whole host of ways for more than 25 years. Jim and his wife Pat, both originally from Michigan, moved to Minnesota after college where Jim began his professional career as a software e...
A community meeting called by St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) to discuss the Boulder County Sheriff’s office proposal to store an AR-15 rifle inside Niwot High School (NHS) was quick to turn emotionally charged. An audience of about 150 people at Sunset Middle School on Thursday, June 6, unreservedly asked questions and offered opinions throughout the nearly three-hour meeting. SVVSD Superintendent Dr. Don Haddad led the discussion and was joined by five school board members, i...
The Boulder County Sheriff’s office is holding a meeting for the Niwot feeder community on Thursday, June 7 from 6-7 p.m. at Sunset Middle School to present a pilot program that would allow the sheriff’s department to securely store an AR-15 rifle inside Niwot High School’s main office. The rifle would be in a locked safe. The sheriff believes that storing an AR-15 would facilitate a better response time to an incident and provide the school resource officer with an important additional Resource. The department wants to receive public input...
The Home Run Derby kicked off the Opening Weekend of Niwot Youth Sports baseball May 5. With the first clicks of the bats and the smell of fresh cut grass, the boys of summer have arrived. “We had a blast at the MLB Junior Home Run Derby last weekend,” organizer Bobby Turner said. “Niwot Youth Sports had good representation with the Cougars 13U team. Several boys had multiple home runs with the win going to Josh Lurie, a student at Altona Middle School.” “Josh has been a standout on the NYS Coug...
When Sunset Middle School eighth-grader Sadie Connolly had a service project coming up, she knew exactly what she wanted to do, but wasn’t quite sure how well it would work. She found the inspiration in the family dog, Bear, a white German shepherd mix that was adopted from Lightshine Canine Rescue. The shelter helps pets that have been rescued from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, and Bear happened to be at a foster home in Erie. “We got our dog a little over a year ago...
How do you capture the careers of two teachers whose combined experience totals over 50 years of teaching at Sunset Middle School? It’s a challenge to do in just a few paragraphs. This May, longtime Sunset Middle School teachers Laura Lewis (drama) and Myron Whisman (band) will be saying good-bye to students, parents and colleagues as they transition into retirement. Laura Lewis went into teaching because her father was a junior high school teacher, and she saw firsthand the importance of w...
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...
The sound of music filled the hallways at Sunset Middle School on Feb. 24 as band students warmed up for their District Solo and Ensemble performances. The festival has been an annual event for choir, band and orchestra students for over 40 years — originally held at Longmont High School, but now hosted at Sunset Middle School. Sunset’s band teacher Myron Whisman performed in it when he was in junior high school. The festival format has changed over the years, but the one constant has been the m...
Karen Hannahoe, choir festival clinician at Rocky Mountain Christian Academy’s (RMCA) first middle school choir festival, had some advice for some 470 middle school choir students, “Be grateful. Be humble. Be kind.” The event, which took place at Rocky Mountain Christian Church on March 14, included performances from seven local schools, with critique sessions and whole group activities led by Hannahoe, choir teacher at Nevin Platt Middle School in Boulder. The festival itself was the brain...
With summer just a few months away, families and students are busy registering for camps and booking vacation plans. One Sunset Middle School eighth grader, Aleah Keppler, already knows what she is doing this summer. She was selected to attend the NYC Summer Academy hosted by The School of The New York Times. “My parents get The New York Times and there was an ad in the paper,” Aleah said when explaining how she learned about the program. “When we first found out about it we realized it was a lo...
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...
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...
It’s not typical for a freshman to emerge as a team leader, but, then again, it hasn’t been a typical year for the Niwot cheer team. Following a last-minute coaching change and the departure of more than half of the cheerleaders, the team nearly disbanded in the early weeks of the 2017-18 school year. As the fall sports season loomed, just a handful of cheerleaders remained. Fortunately for new first-year coaches Alexis Bellinger and Catherine Linhardt, ninth-grader Kendra Perez was one of the...
The weekend’s low pressure system had nothing on the high spirits of the Niwot Trot runners. Sunday morning’s cool air and teasing drizzle made for a beautiful setting to run a 5K, to feel the energy of the community, and to contribute to a wonderful cause. Niwot Elementary School’s PTAC organizes the annual race to raise money for the para-professionals who serve NES. The twelfth year of the Niwot Trot brought out 429 entrants, a record number for the event. Participants and spectators were...
Sunset Middle School’s 2nd annual Fall Crawl is just around the corner on Friday October 6. The Fall Crawl promotes a sense of community at Sunset by which every student participates whether they run or walk and in addition will receive a Spartan logo t-shirt. Last year’s inaugural event was so successful it met the school’s goal of $20,000 with 100% participation – enabling the school to purchase new sport uniforms and fund teacher-directed events such as the Robotics Competition. This year Sunset’s goal is to raise $25,000! Funds will go t...
