Niwot High School

BY TINA EDEN

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

National Honor Society Blood Drive

More than 90 students donated blood at the November blood drive organized by math teacher Katie Barger and the Key Club. Parents, teachers, and staff joined the eight-bed event, one of the larger blood drives in the area.

Barger recruited students by word of mouth, saying “Tell your friends. It’s fun to do it together.” Barger, who has been donating blood throughout her adult life, noted that high school students account for approximately 15 percent of all donations.

Bonfils Community Donor Representation Lauren Thompson and her staff of 13 told how each pint of blood can save three lives. Bonfils works with high schools in an effort to develop lifelong donors. In September 2009, the minimum age for donating was lowered to 16 from 17. All minors are required to provide proof of parental permission before donating.

Key Club members wore tee shirts with a quote from Gandhi on the back: “In a gentle way you can shake the world.” The NHS Key Club will once again shake the world in April when it holds its spring blood drive.

Arsenic and Old Lace

Tari Barger’s advanced drama classes staged Arsenic and Old Lace the weekend of November 6-7. The play was double-cast allowing fourteen students to perform in seven lead roles.

The drama students voted on the play last school year, and then saw it performed by the Longmont Theatre Company. Art teacher Jason Watkins and his technical crew designed and built the stage, a replica of a 1940s living room. 

Upcoming school theater productions include “Oklahoma” in February, and “A Taste of Niwot,” a joint venture between the Family and Consumer Sciences classes and drama classes, in April.

Honored Students

Fourteen seniors have been honored by the National Merit Program. Samuel Bloch, Derek Payne, Jeremy Richard, Grant Rilling and Zachary Thomas qualified as semi-finalists. They are part of a nationwide pool of 16,000 students who scored in the top one percent of their home state on the 2009 PSAT.

Solomon Smith has been named an Outstanding Participant in the National Achievement Program. He scored in the top three percent of more than 160,000 Black Americans who requested consideration when they took the PSAT.

Courtney Ballard, Emily Bertelson, Austin Broberg, Joshua Clark, Kit Goncharox, Elizabeth Hardwick, Mallory Juner, and Sarah Scheffle placed among the top five percent of the more than 1.5 million students who took the 2009 PSAT. They received letters of commendation for their outstanding performance.