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All Local, All The Time
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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...
Don’t look now, but Niwot is becoming a hotbed of world-class youth cycling talent. While Niwot Elementary students Collin Blatchley and Reid Porter were getting ready for the BMX World Championships in South Carolina, Niwot High student Kenny Lang was racing through the rural Canadian countryside in the Tour de l’Abitibi, an international junior road cycling race held each summer in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec. “It was crazy,” said the senior of the seven-stage race held Jul...
The good news for Niwot head golf coach Ed Weaver is that his 2017 boys team will feature two 2016 state tournament qualifiers in the top two spots and a sophomore with a year of high school golf under his belt at number three. The not-so-good news for Weaver is that after that, the Cougars will be “challenged with depth and experience,” according to Weaver. “I’ll have two juniors and some sophomores,” said Weaver, who admitted he’s not entirely certain how many players will be on his final r...
Three Niwot residents have been taking their skills abroad to help those in need. K. Lynn Walker, M.D., is a doctor in Longmont; Lisa Lee is a pediatric nurse practitioner; and Mary-Jean Fickes is an interpreter and translator. The three friends use their professional skills on medical mission trips to underdeveloped parts of the world. While Lee is new to these trips, Walker and Fickes are seasoned veterans and the three met under happenstance. “We all met at Pilates of Niwot,” Walker sai...
Jaryd Meek plays a variety of roles for the Niwot Cougar baseball team, both in the field and at the computer. Meek, primarily a first baseman who played both C Team and JV baseball last spring as a sophomore, played for Niwot’s Legion B team this summer under new head coach Adam Strah. In addition to seeing action at first base, he also played third base and pitched at times. Meek drove in the winning run in walk-off fashion in a 4-3 victory in the last game of the summer season for the C...
Eric Hejl (pronounced “Hail”) has been named the new Niwot High School boys basketball coach, replacing Preston Hardy, who resigned in June for family reasons, including a new baby on the way and club team coaching responsibilities. Hejl, a varsity assistant under Hardy last year and the freshman coach two years ago, will assume the reigns on a one-year interim basis, according to Athletic Director Chase McBride. Hejl works at Lake Valley Golf Course as a PGA apprentice and assistant pro when he is not coaching basketball. He grew up in Ran...
alzheimer’s support group An Alzheimer’s support group will meet on the first Wednesday of every month . This class is free and open to the public, no registration required. The events are from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Niwot United Methodist Church, 7405 Lookout Rd., Gunbarrel. Mosquito control For complete, up-to-date information about mosquito control in Boulder County and the Gunbarrel/Niwot area go to www.BoulderCountyMosquito.net. The site contains tips and information about mosquito spray schedules, spraying notification sign-up, mos...
Horses have been an important part of Amber Nusser’s life from an early age. An avid rider ever since her family’s move to a farm near Hygiene, the Niwot High sophomore-to-be has accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments and accolades as a member of the Boulder County 4-H program. Next week, the talented equestrian will complete a one-year term as Princess for the 2017 Boulder County Fair and Rodeo. Nusser joined Boulder County 4-H at age nine, and has devoted the bulk of her time in...
Registration for Niwot Youth Sports fall flag football season is now underway according to NYS Football Director Pat Longseth. The league is looking for boys and girls ages five to 12 who are interested in developing their football skills in a no-pad, non-contact environment. The $99 registration fee includes an NFL reversible, team identified color jersey, flags and mouth guard. Players can register at niwotyouthsports.org. Returning participants will see some changes to the program. Under Long...
Following a successful July 4 parade, the Niwot Community Association board has turned its attention to working with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office to hold a National Night Out event in Niwot. The National Night Out will be held at 6 p.m. Aug.1 along a portion of Murray Street in Niwot. National Night Out is a nationwide, annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. The event was previously held in Gunbarrel in the Heatherwood neighborhood, but the county sheriff’s dep...
For Niwot High School grad Libby White (06) being physically active is an integral part of life. Courier readers may remember her as a Cougar softball pitcher who went on to play at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. But being active also had a physical benefit in terms of managing her juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and ultimately, in her decision to become a physical therapist. Diagnosed with juvenile RA at age 10, White said having been exposed to health care professionals as a kid...
If the music at Rock & Rails seems a bit louder than usual this week, blame it on the Mikes (and their friend Lawrence). Niwot alums Mike Anderson, Mike Holubec, Mike Warren, and Lawrence Jenkins will be taking the stage with their bands this week, drawing scores of local fans eager for a night with old friends and hard rocking music. Denver-based band Legitimate by Friday will kick things off on Thursday night, July 20, at 5 p.m. Formed in 2009, the blues-infused rock combo got its start in...
In a school full of busy students, Savannah Parrot is perhaps the busiest of them all. When the junior-to-be isn’t cheering with the Cougars’ varsity squad, she can be found volunteering with the Interact Club, or chairing a Student Council committee, or out on the tennis court practicing her backhand, or attending an international leadership seminar, or helping out at the Longmont Humane Society, or studying for an IB class, or behind the keyboard creating custom Snapchat geo-filters. What you...
More than 50 years ago, Boulder businessman Bauldie Moschetti recruited a team of elite college baseball players to come to Colorado and join his new summer team, the Boulder Collegians. Hoping to compete with prominent collegiate clubs on the East Coast, Moschetti and the Collegians set up shop at Scott Carpenter Park in Boulder and proceeded to make some local history. Between 1964 and 1980, the Collegians won the National Baseball Congress (NBC) Championships four times, twice in the 60s and...
Niwot’s Legion B baseball team has had to overcome a lack of varsity experience as players battle against other local teams’ experienced lineups. One of the reasons is that the top returning battery for NHS, pitcher Caleb Martinez and catcher Colton Goldfarb, have spent the summer playing for the BoCo 19U team, consisting of players from a variety of local high schools. Martinez, who finished last season as the Cougars’ top hurler, and Goldfarb, who caught virtually every game for last season’s high school varsity, helped the BoCo team to a vic...
From the outside looking in, roller derby seems to have much in common with professional wrestling — cartoonish characters, cartoonish outfits, and cartoonish violence. That comparison may have been apt in the past, when television shows such as RollerJam and RollerGames featured scripted plots and inane stunts, but today’s players bristle at the comparison. While the sport admittedly has its theatrical side, there’s nothing staged about the competition in contemporary roller derby. The playe...
For Niwot student and history buff Stephanie Reitzig, Colorado Governor Ralph L. Carr is exactly the type of historical figure that deserves to be rescued from obscurity. As an outspoken critic of the internment of Japanese-Americans following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Carr’s commitment to civil rights and racial equality earned him enmity from fellow governors, voters, and the press, and is widely thought to have cost him a promising career in politics. This principled position in the f...
BASEBALL Former Niwot High teacher and baseball coach Bob Bote has been hired to coach Standley Lake High School next season. Bote, who coached at Niwot from 1978-2006, was the head coach for five Class 4A state championship teams – 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2005. Bote’s overall record at Niwot was 459-123. He served as an assistant coach at Erie after leaving Niwot, then served as an assistant coach to his son, head coach Danny Bote, at Faith Christian, where they won a state title in 201...
Niwot summer baseball coach Adam Strah had to dig a little deeper to find the silver lining in his team’s latest slump. Fresh off the team’s sixth straight loss, a 14-1 thrashing in their last game of a weekend tournament, Strah admitted that the Cougars need help in a number of areas. But he also sees where the high-level competition, both in quality and quantity, is paying off for his young players. “As they’re involved in more situations, there’s a lot of learning of the small details o...
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...
Jake Sims graduated from Niwot High School last month with a 3.71 GPA, and was a multi-sport athlete for the Cougars, but he had to overcome a serious ankle injury after his junior year to return to action for his senior season. “I fractured my fibula in two places sliding into second base in summer baseball,” Sims said. He also tore ligaments and dislocated the ankle, which got caught up with the second baseman as he went over the base. “It wasn’t fully healed until last January, but he resumed...
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Niwot’s summer Legion B baseball team, which is sponsored by Niwot Baseball, Inc.. With just three wins and six losses through the first nine games of the season, including an 18-4 drubbing by Northern League foe Thompson Valley last Thursday, the Cougars have seemed overmatched at times this summer. Luckily, that hasn’t diminished new Niwot High head coach Adam Strah’s essentially positive outlook for the Cougars. With many seniors lost to graduat...
Niwot Business Association President Tony Santelli welcomed the crowd and introduced Bert Steele of Niwot Market, which hosted the June 13 meeting. Steele expressed appreciation for the longevity of the market and thanked his management team, including his daughter Alison, whom he introduced. He is excited about the abundance of organic produce available to him from local wholesalers and invited everyone to shop in the produce department. Niwot Cultural Arts Association president Biff Warren...
The defending world champion Chicago Cubs have had their eye on Niwot High shortstop Skye Messinger since last summer, and liked what they saw. On the third day of major league baseball’s draft of amateur players, the Cubs selected Messinger in the 22nd round. “We knew it was a possibility,” Messinger said of his family’s eye on the draft. “We didn’t know where, but I was ready for anything.” Messinger had heard stories of players who had been told they would be drafted in the first 10 roun...
Kailee Stobbe, a standout forward for the Niwot girls soccer team, is the LHVC Student-Athlete of the Week. Earlier this month, Stobbe was named second team All-State for 2017 by the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA). While grateful for the honor, the co-captain was more concerned about her teammates also getting their rightful acclaim. “It was super-cool to see my name on the list, but I looked for my younger girls first,” she said about her reaction to the All-State team ann...
Shayla Amaya-Sidoti has been a cheerleader since she was five years old, and it paid off in a national championship at age 15 with Ignite, a competitive co-ed cheerleading program based out of Lafayette. “I was so excited,” Amaya-Sidoti said. “It was unbelievable that we won.” The 28-member squad traveled first to Minneapolis last December, winning the regional competition in the age division and a $25,000 “full pay” award to go to the national championships, known as the Summit, in Orlando, FL...
Niwot track stars Mary Gillett and Alexis Carroll traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina last weekend to complete in the New Balance Nationals Outdoor (NBNO), a prestigious invitation-only meet featuring top competitors from around the country. Unfortunately, neither left with results they were probably hoping for. Gillett finished 28th out of 31 in the 400 meter dash, with a time of 57.01 seconds, nearly two seconds slower than her state championship time of 55.12, and more than four seconds...
Skyler Messenger, known simply as “Skye” to his friends, is the Student-Athlete of the Week. Messinger concluded a stellar high school baseball career by being named the Northern Conference position Player of the Year this season. Messinger led the team and the conference in most offensive categories, and played outstanding defense at shortstop. He was also named Second Team Class 4A All-State by CHSAA, even though Niwot missed the playoffs. As a freshman, Messinger played in the state cha...
The Niwot Local Improvement District Advisory Committee held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 6 at the Niwot Fire Station. After the meeting was called to order, members reviewed the June budget reports prepared by county liaison Pete Salas and LID treasurer Harris Faberman. According to their figures, the LID has committed to just over $66,000 in expenses so far this year, including about $11,000 in pending requests, and has nearly the same amount remaining in the 2017 budget. The...
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...
Gunbarrel resident and Niwot High grad Colin Laughery spent nine hours last Sunday doing what he loves - swimming, biking and running. And he’s a pro at it. For his efforts, he earned an eighth-place finish and $1750 in prize money for his performance in the Ironman Boulder June 11. Weeks after suffering an injury in a training crash that Laughery first thought would keep him out of the race, he rebounded to post a top-10 finish, coming in with a total time of 8:58.45. “It’s my highest finis...
Though the official start of the 2017-18 high school football season is another two months away, Niwot’s new head football coach Jeremy Lanter has had his team hard at work for weeks. In May, Lanter held 90-minute practices on Thursday nights for current players and students interested in joining the team. Less than a week after school ended, those Cougars upperclassmen welcomed 45 incoming freshmen to a three-day clinic aimed at acquainting the newcomers with Niwot football culture. During t...
In a school where academic demands often crowd out other interests, Yingying Chen was an anomaly. A top student, Chen earned a 4.525 GPA in Niwot’s grueling IB program, for which she was named the Class of 2017 Salutatorian. She took five Advanced Placement (AP) tests in her time at Niwot, and graduated with a perfect transcript. She was also a member of the school’s state championship robotics team, as well as a concert master in the orchestra during her sophomore year. But for all of her sch...
Long-time varsity assistant Adam Strah has been named the new head baseball coach at Niwot, replacing Craig McBride, who resigned following the 2017 season. Strah, who has been with the team for the past six seasons, will also join Niwot High School’s faculty as physical education/health teacher. The promotion marks Strah’s return to the head coaching ranks. Before coming to Niwot, he held the top spot at Rampart High in Colorado Springs, where he amassed a career record of 73-30-1, inc...
The Washington Post, which recently named Niwot High School to its U.S. Most Challenging School’s list, confirmed what NHS students and staff already know - the school does an excellent job of preparing students for success in college and beyond. But it’s not just the AP and IB classes that make the school great. Four exceptional IB students from the Class of 2017, Vidhya Dev, Eva Kitlen, Tina Mo, and Qing Xia, spoke to the Courier about how a variety of aspects of their four years at Niwot hav...
Dark clouds gathered on the horizon as students, families, and friends gathered at Niwot High School to celebrate the graduation of the Class of 2017. Typically, graduation is held outdoors on the football field east of the school. But this year stormy weather drove the event inside. Teacher Jason Watkins, who has been at NHS for 20 years, said this was his first indoor graduation. Fortunately, the change in venue didn’t detract from the significance of the day for the more than 280 students w...
Niwot wrestling star Tommy Stager has amassed an impressive collection of titles over the past several months; state champion; first team all-state; Eagle Scout. And now the future Air Force Falcon can add one more: MaxPreps High School Athlete of the Year. For the 2016-2017 school year, MaxPreps partnered with the U.S. Marine Corps to recognize one male and one female high school athlete who represent “those outstanding qualities that make not just great athletes, but more importantly fine citi...
Niwot junior Mary Gillett wrapped up her breakout junior track season by leading her team to second place at the Class 4A state championships held May 20-21. Gillett captured two individual state titles during the weekend, in the 200-and 400-meter races, both with personal best times. She also took second in the long jump and 100-meter dash, accounting for 36 of Niwot’s 83 team points. Gillett blew away most of her 4A competition during the regular season, as she led her team to six meet t...
Jenna McCaffrey When Niwot senior distance runner Jenna McCaffrey started weighing her post-high school options last year, Arizona was the furthest place from her mind. “I was never really looking into going to school in Arizona, because it’s so hot there,” she said. Instead, the four-year member of both the cross country and track teams at Niwot looked into options closer to home, including Colorado School of Mines and CSU. Then a former running coach suggested she take a look at North...
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...
At the beginning of May, The Washington Post’s Education Columnist Jay Matthews released his annual rankings of how well the nation’s top high schools challenge their students. This list, called America’s Most Challenging High Schools, ranked Niwot High School at number 360 in the country, which is in the top two percent of all US high schools, and number three in Colorado, the first public school behind charter schools Peak to Peak in Lafayette and Lotus School for Excellence in Aurora. Accor...
Rock & Rails will kick off its 12th summer concert series on June 1 with Mojomama w/ Bass Legends as the headliner at Whistle Stop Park in Niwot. Nick G and Nalani will open the event with music starting at 5 p.m. The headliner usually begins around 6:30 p.m. The weekly event is sponsored by the Niwot Cultural Arts Association in conjunction with the Niwot Business Association, and is free to the public each Thursday from June 1 to August 31. One of the three event managers, Vicki Maurer, said...
It’s no secret that the Niwot girls track team had its sights set on another state title this year. After a dispiriting third-place finish in 2016 following three successive state championships, this year’s squad buckled down, putting in months of grueling workouts, determined to regain the team’s customary place on top of the championship podium. As they cruised through the 2017 regular season, capturing one meet title after another with machine-like precision, the slip-ups that doomed their...
Tommy Stager, student-athlete from Niwot High School, has been named the recipient of the MaxPreps Male Athlete of the Year Award, presented in conjunction with the United States Marines Corps. The presentation will be made during the Senior Talent Show at Niwot High School on May 25 at 7 p.m. by special guest presenter Rulon Gardner, American Gold Medal Wrestler who competed in the 2000 Olympic Games, and U.S. Marine SGT Daniel Fitzgerald. MaxPreps, which is the online source for high school sports news, results and statistics, has teamed up...
Last month, Boy Scout Troop 161 held a Court of Honor, a regular event to recognize scouts for their achievements. This one marked something special - Niwot High School senior Isaac Robare officially earned the rank of Eagle Scout. What makes this special, former scout leader Johnny Barrett said, is that Robare joins four of his peers as Eagle Scouts who all started together in Cub Scouts as first graders. “Only about five percent of scouts make the rank of Eagle,” Barrett said. “So to have...
Walk into Niwot Market and you’ll see artist Tom Studholme hard at work. Studholme, who created a mural in the store, has been commissioned by Bert Steele to do a painting honoring a cousin of his children, Jay Knaus. Steele said the painting has a lot of meaning for him. “It is a tribute to Jay Knaus, who passed away last year. He was a very good football player. He played for Longmont High School. He [had] many concussions as a player.” The painting, which shows Knaus catching a footb...
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...
Hunter Stephens, a senior at Niwot High School, has been an important part of the Cougar baseball team during his high school career. Stephens, who carries a 3.0 GPA, saw action in 11 varstiy games as a sophomore, batting .333. He worked his way into a regular varsity position as a junior, primarily playing third base while seeing some action on the mound, then moved to the outfield as a senior, while continuing to play third base and pitch. “He’s been playing baseball since he was four yea...
McBride steps down as head coach Before the 2017 season began, Niwot head baseball coach Craig McBride had a roster full of nine potential pitchers and a heart full of hope. Facing a schedule full of dangerous conference foes including Mountain View and Silver Creek, the longtime coach was nonetheless cautiously optimistic about his senior-heavy team’s chances to sneak into the postseason “if our pitching goes well.” Of course, the Cougars and their fans now know how this story ends. Niwot...
