All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
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Charlie is a 14-year-old who absolutely loves basketball, specifically the Lakers and the Warriors, as well as Legos and U.S. History. Charlie also loves to eat macaroni and cheese and Doritos. In many ways, he is a totally typical teenager, but something that is unique about Charlie is that he has cystic fibrosis. Make-A-Wish Colorado supports kids just like Charlie, granting their one true wish and raising awareness for kids with critical illnesses. For the past few years, Niwot High School...
Niwot High School is host to over 60 student-run clubs, and one stand-out is the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Club. NASA Club meets every Monday under the supervision of Niwot High School teacher Erin Smith. NASA Club leader and founder, Amelia Koth, collects feedback from club members regarding goals for their next “observation night.” Koth then presents the feedback to the club members to determine the details of their upcoming observation nights. In addition to “ob...
Lauren Mocilac's love for art goes beyond the classroom walls. As the art teacher at Niwot Elementary School, she not only cultivates creativity in her young students but also brings her own artistic talents to life through greeting cards, prints, and other gift items. Mocilac's journey as an artist began long before she stepped into the classroom. Her passion for capturing the beauty of the world around her, particularly the Colorado landscapes and the innocence of childhood, is evident in her...
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Madison Kintzel, an eighth-grader at Sunset Middle School won the Niwot High School Art Show Rising Star Award for her sculpture of a willow tree erupting out of the middle of a book, with long spiraled paper branches and tiny paper leaves hanging over a lake, which was made by cutting several layers of paper deeper into the bottom half of the book. The artwork is entitled "Weeping Willow." The award was presented during the Niwot High School Art Showcase in early December. The Rising Star...
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The Sunset Middle School Arts Student of the Week, seventh-grader Aliyah Olivares, was nominated for her incredible drive to create and learn about art. She improves her craft with every iteration and studies art in and outside of school whenever she has free time. Olivares creates art in many different mediums including clay sculpting, digital drawing and artwork, papercraft and paper maché. She particularly enjoys paper maché, however her favorite medium is drawing. She is planning on expandin...
Niwot High School is host to over 60 student-run clubs, and one that represents a multitude of talented and passionate Niwot students is the Drama Club. Aiden Sagner, Drama Club President, defines Drama Club as a group that "meets with students who are looking to improve their acting skills and broaden their knowledge and understanding of the theater world." Drama Club particularly appeals to students who may not have time to involve themselves in theater classes. For example those who are...
Julianna Deems was nominated by her art teacher, Jennifer Tjornehoj, as the Sunset Middle School Arts Student of the Week. Deems is in the sixth grade and recently won the Blue Ribbon Award, a prestigious award based on handpicked artwork by the principal of the middle school. Deems loves painting, oil pastels, and creating sculptures in and outside of her classes at Sunset. She also participates in the school's orchestra program. Deems said that she has a strong connection with art. "When I do...
A record number of choir students earned the distinction of becoming members of the St. Vrain Valley School District Honor Choir for January 2024. Fifty-three singers were selected after an arduous try-out process. The Honor Choir consists of both a Mixed Choir and a Treble Choir. Laura Walters, Director of Choirs at Niwot, said, "We practiced in class all semester up until the audition and students had to audition on their own in November." The audition process included learning a portion of...
Niwot High School’s Second Annual Art Showcase was a big success Dec. 4-6. The show was hosted by the Niwot High School Booster Music Performance and Art which is affiliated with the Niwot High School Boosters, Inc., and sponsored by the Boulder School of Fine Art. The show displayed art from both students at Niwot High School as well as from younger art students at Burlington Elementary School and Sunset Middle School. The show was started a year ago to help display the achievements of local arts students which often has been overlooked due to...
The annual Longmont Lights Parade was held on Saturday, Dec. 9, on Main Street in Longmont. Niwot High School and Silver Creek High School have both been participating in this parade for many years but in 2014, the two schools started to team up as a super-band for this particular parade. The increase in cross-school band cohesion among St. Vrain Valley schools has been remarkable. "Since we are a combined band and don't wear our typical marching uniforms," said Wade Hendricks, Director of...
Niwot High School junior Kennah Brackett has been selected to participate in the Colorado All State Jazz Choir (ASJC), which is open to students in the 11th and 12th grades. Brackett is the first NHS student to be chosen for this honor. According to Laura Walters, Choral Music Director at NHS, Brackett worked hard to prepare herself for the initial audition. "She had to prepare two solos as well as several scales," Walters said, "all performed in a swung/jazz style. For one of the solos, she...
Niwot High School is host to over 60 student-run clubs, and one stand-out is the Best Buddies club. In the words of Claire Jensen, vice-president of Best Buddies, "Best Buddies is a global organization that is devoted to promoting the friendships between students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and students without. We promote activism, acceptance, and education all while having lots of fun. Our club specifically focuses on one-to-one friendships between students outside...
By Kestrel Glick, Sienna Shear, and Graham Ottem (NES fifth-grade students) "Contemptible" was the winning word as Cooper Edwards, a fifth-grader, outlasted ten other competitors to win the 14th Annual Niwot Elementary School Spelling Bee on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. Fourth-grader Henry Himmerick took second, followed closely by fifth-grader Grayson Michael, who finished third. The bee was watched by all second-grade through fifth-grade students, who supported their schoolmates vigorously with...
Niwot High School is host to over 60 different student-run clubs, one of which is the impressive Model United Nations Club. According to the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA), "Model UN is a simulation of the UN General Assembly and its other multilateral bodies where students perform an ambassador role while debating topics such as gender equality, climate action, global health, and more." The Niwot High Model United Nation members, under the supervision of...
Although jazz guitarist Alex Fick has a busy schedule, with classes and performances in Marching Band, Advanced Jazz Band, Tenor/Bass Choir, and Drama, he still finds time to pursue a wide variety of other interests that engage his attention to detail and his passion to create. At the moment, he is inventing a card game. In addition, he is a volunteer gargoyle for Niwot's Rock & Rails summer concert series, and he recently made his own guitar. Over the summer. Fick built the guitar from...
Winter is a time for cheer, time with loved ones, good food, and of course, festive music. The Niwot High School orchestras, choirs, and bands will be hosting their annual winter concerts from Dec. 4 through Dec. 7. Kicking off the performance schedule on Monday, Dec. 4 at 7:00 p.m. is the “Winter Jazz in the Rockies” concert featuring the two jazz band ensembles at Niwot High School. The ensembles will perform several pieces including Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five,” Van Morrison’s “Moondance,” Lena Horne’s famous “Stormy Weather,” and more....
Niwot High School's "Pride of Niwot" Marching Band has been making tremendous strides in recent years, taking on more advanced halftime shows and attending more events and performances than before the pandemic. Band members celebrated their success at the second annual band banquet on Nov. 13. Band directors and parents helped organize the banquet, which was filled with awards, videos, a slideshow presentation, and a catered pasta dinner. Students and staff dressed up formally for the event and...
Niwot High School student Rae Sweeney has been an outstanding leader of the Niwot High School Color Guard for the last two seasons. The Color Guard performs with the marching band at football halftime shows, in parades, and at competitions, using a combination of flags, sabers, mock rifles, and other equipment, as well as dance and other interpretive movements. Its main purpose is to interpret the music that is being played by the band through dance and synchronized movements. Sweeney remembers...
Niwot High School's art show, hosted by the NHS Booster Music Performance and Art under the umbrella of the parent-run Niwot High School Boosters, Inc., is returning for its sophomore year Dec. 4-6 from 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. each evening. The art show is sponsored, in part, by the Boulder School of Fine Art. "Niwot High School is not only academically and athletically driven, but artistically driven," said Lydia Moy, Chairman for NIwot High School Booster Music Performance and Art, who helped to organ...
All around the country, we honor and thank United States Veterans for their military service on November 11. This originated after World War I to commemorate the armistice reached during the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Every year in honor of Veterans Day, the Niwot High School "Pride of Niwot" Marching Band marches in full uniform down Main Street in downtown Longmont playing, and singing the lyrics, to "The Army Song" (also known as "The Caissons Go Rolling...
When Niwot High School music students traveled to Europe for two weeks last summer, visiting Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland, one of the highlights of the trip for violinist Ian Springsteen was the visit to the Sibelius Academy and the Jean Sibelius house in Finland. Sibelius, who is widely known for his symphonies and tone poems, especially "Finlandia," now ranks among Springsteen's favorite composers. It was an inspirational trip. Springsteen remembers that their group performed in...
"Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic" is Niwot High School's fall theater production. This show is entertaining, comedic, and witty. It is also rated PG-13 because it includes adult language and situations at times. Amanda Foust, Niwot High's theater director and teacher, has put an immense amount of thought and effort into this show. The production has two full casts, both of which are full of talent. The characters in this show each have very...
Thursday Nov. 2 was the final football game for the Niwot Cougars' 2023 season. However, it wasn't just the final game for seniors on the football team; senior members of the cheerleading squad and marching band also had their last experience as students performing on Everly-Montgomery Field that night. Throughout the season, and for many, the past four years, students have dedicated hours of practice outside of school and performing at various sporting events and exhibitions. "I calculated the...
For the first time since 2018, the "Pride of Niwot" Cougar Marching Band attended the Greeley Invitational Marching Festival on Saturday Oct. 21. High schools from Greeley, Loveland, Longmont, and the towns in between were invited to come perform their halftime shows. Marching bands who attend the Greeley Invitational receive a score between one and one hundred. Scores are based on musical ability, marching performance, and a general effect category. However, bands do not compete against each...
When Allison Gundmundson was in elementary school, she learned that Candlelight Dinner Playhouse hosted acting classes that included children. Whenever she could find the time, Gundmundson would join in. Her theater repertoire expanded quickly, with roles in the junior production of "Mary Poppins," and roles in "The Aristocats," and "Beauty and the Beast." She also worked in two junior shows at Longmont's Jesters Dinner Theatre, including "Alice in Wonderland" and "Snow White and the Seven...
The Sunset Middle School seventh and eighth-graders in Advanced Band joined the Niwot High School Marching Band in the Longmont Halloween Parade on Oct. 28. The event provides middle school students an almost immediate connection and sense of community with their high school colleagues. It also provides a unique opportunity for Sunset students to get a taste of what marching band will be like when they join the high school marching band - a very different experience than concert band. "My...
The "Pride of Niwot" Cougar Marching Band has made monumental strides in recent years as they keep adding new traditions and energy to their program. Most recently, a group of students from the band traveled to the Niwot football game against Mead High School on Thursday, Oct. 19. "This is the first time I am aware of [that this has happened]," said Wade Hendricks, Director of Bands at Niwot. "Having a group of students who love having the opportunity to play this much is great, even if we...
Seven schools from the St. Vrain Valley School District participated in the annual SVVSD High School Fall Choral Festival, Thursday Oct. 19, in the Longmont High School auditorium. Two choirs from each of Erie High School, Longmont High School, Lyons High School, Mead High School, Niwot High School, and Silver Creek High School participated, with each choir singing one selection. Skyline High School also participated and was represented by one choir. Sedalia and Chamber Singers represented...
According to his teacher Laura Walters, River Osgood has been one of the most dedicated choir students at Niwot High School during his four-year tenure. Currently he is in three of the NHS choirs, and is a lead in the fall play, "Puffs." Theater and music have played a large role in Osgood's life. His parents met during one of their high school performances together. His sister was interested in theater, his older brother experimented with guitar, and his twin brother played the violin for a...
Niwot High School's Key Club will be hosting a haunted house at the former Niwot Feed Store from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, during Niwot's Great Pumpkin Party. The haunted house is one of several events happening at the Great Pumpkin Party, including trick or treating at businesses in Niwot, and a parade at 11:30 a.m., which will form up at the parking lot near Niwot Liquor at the intersection of Niwot Road and Second Avenue. Niwot High School's Key Club is an International,...
When you invite nine bands from across the St. Vrain Valley School District and beyond to perform what are traditionally their football game halftime shows, the turnout of parents, students, fans and athletes can fill the stands at Everly-Montgomery Field at Longmont High School. Wednesday, Oct. 4, bands from Erie, Frederick, Longmont, Lyons, Mead, Niwot, Silver Creek, Skyline and even Roosevelt high schools put on quite a show for their fans. Though the event is not a contest, many of the...
"When I was a freshman at Niwot High School," Sara Hallock said, "it was all online learning because of Covid. We had to learn everything through books and articles. Once we got to in-person learning, I was shown the sound board and almost immediately fell in love with it. As the years went on, I learned more and more about being a sound engineer and how good I was at it." In the intervening years, Hallock has perfected her craft as a sound engineer. Jason Watkins, who selected Hallock as Arts S...
The 2023 Niwot Trot 5K, which began and ended at Whistle Stop Park Oct. 1, brought a record number of participants, some running, some walking, and some with strollers. Aimee Morin, one of the main organizers, said the event was well attended, and was a huge success. "We had a record number of participants, just over 600," Morin said. "It was a perfectly cool, sunny morning and everyone brought happy smiles and great energy, making it a memorable and successful event for our community." The...
“Music,” Abby White says, “is important to so many aspects of life. It uses so many different parts of your brain in different ways than you would get from academics. And that has really helped me in my academic success. And I think it’s just good for your soul. “Music makes us happier. And it’s something that you can really work hard on. It’s difficult, but it gives you such a sense of accomplishment when you’re able to perform something at a high-level or like get through a hard passage....
High school marching bands from all the St. Vrain Valley District high schools will come together Wednesday, Oct. 4, not to compete against each other, but to showcase their 2023 field shows in support of everyone's dedication to the art form. This annual event is considered to be the highlight of the marching band season by students, staff, family, and friends. Unlike many other opportunities where high school marching bands perform, this performance is entirely dedicated to audience members...
Niwot High School senior Hayden Baldwin performs in the NHS Marching Band and two of the high school choirs: Tenor/Bass Choir and Evenstar. “Out of the two,” Baldwin said, “by far my favorite has been Tenor/Bass choir.” Baldwin, Arts Student of the Week, appreciates the community he has found at the high school. “Despite not being an advanced group,” he said, “the community in that class is amazing and super fun to be around. The community and people in Orchestra and for the most part the band...
The Niwot Elementary Parent Teacher Advisory Council (PTAC) is hosting the annual Niwot Trot for the 15th year to raise money for Niwot Elementary School. The Trot will start on Oct. 1 at 9 a.m. in Whistle Stop Park, and will likely end around 12 noon. Registration is $25 and includes a T-shirt, with race day registration at $30. All proceeds go towards the PTAC to help improve the school. Register at https://www.niwotptac.com/niwottrot.html. The PTAC is a non-profit organization composed of...
This year, Niwot Elementary School has hired six new teachers due primarily to the recent retirements of previous teachers, all of whom worked at the elementary school for at least well over a decade. In addition to Hanna Sandhoff, Lyndsey Moauro, and Nina Starks, who were profiled (https://www.lhvc.com/story/2023/09/13/education/new-teachers-at-niwot-elementary-2023/8339.html) in an the September 13 issue of the Left Hand Valley Courier, there are three more new teachers at Niwot Elementary thi...
This week's Arts Student of the Week, Natalie Fitches, is a percussionist who started out playing mallets and auxiliary instruments in her middle school band. Fitches joined the band in seventh grade, which put her a year behind her middle school peers. Although she found it very challenging, she took private lessons and had lots of help and support from her director. When Fitches moved to Niwot High School she joined the world of drumline. It was a big learning curve, she said, "But it felt...
Formed in 1924, the Niwot Nifties is the oldest 4-H club that has been continuously running in Boulder County. The club meets monthly at the Boulder County Fairgrounds and in addition to fair project work, focuses on several community service projects within Niwot and Boulder County. The club is made up of kids ranging in age from 8 to 18. This year the Niwot Nifties entered five general projects and all five were selected for the state fair. The Nifties picked up about two dozen ribbons and...
There are six new teachers and a new family liaison starting at Niwot High School this year, teaching a wide variety of different studies. According to Principal Eric Rauschkolb, these hirings are due to a large increase in Niwot High School's enrollment, This year, the school had 100 more students enrolled compared to last year, and the St. Vrain Valley School District has given NHS more staffing distribution. Three of the new teachers are familiar to the high school students because they have...
According to Kalah Jackson, the Arts Student of the Week, when she got her first jewelry commission it opened a new world of possibilities for her future. Jackson saw creating jewelry as a potential way to earn money once she becomes an adult, and that will be helpful, she says, given that she is not interested in typically high paying careers. Jackson's art has been shown at the St. Vrain School District Art Show for the last two years, and last year she was also able to show her work from a...
Niwot Elementary School has hired a significant number of new teachers this fall due to retirements and student enrollment. In the past year, several teachers retired at Niwot Elementary School, including Julie Nelson-Breyer, Jessica Easley, and Lori Charbonneau, all of whom taught at Niwot for an average of two decades. As a result of the retirements and the school's commitment to maintain an appropriate student-to-teacher ratio, the school hired six new teachers. "Because we lost teachers, we...
Ash Kissinger, a sophomore at Niwot High School, got involved in theater almost by accident. "I never really intended on getting into it seriously, it just kind of happened," Kissinger said. Now, he admits that it is the thing that gets him out of bed in the morning and the thing he wants to pursue for the rest of his life. "It has introduced me to the best people in my life and I wouldn't trade it for the world," he said. Since the age of nine, Kissinger has been involved in theater with the...
According to Lily Sykes, Arts Student of the Week, "Music is a beautiful mix between emotion and mathematics." Sykes believes that is what draws her to it. "Music theory is fundamentally based in mathematics, and playing an instrument is a very mathematical process: press the right buttons, use the right muscles," Sykes said, "and the right sound will come out. However, this is not the magic of music. While making the right sounds is very methodical and important, true music goes beyond playing...
The Niwot High School Marching Band has been working hard to prepare for the upcoming school year. Members perform at a multitude of events throughout their tenure with the band including the Boulder County Fair Parade, Niwot High School football games, St. Vrain Band Night, and several local parades. These performances would not be possible without the substantial practice time and effort each band member puts into their instrument. The first practices each year that bring the group together...
Did you ever dream of being the Prom Queen or Prom King? Well, only a few young people have ever been fortunate enough to live the experience. But for nearly 200 special needs students and young adults, that dream is about to come true. On Friday, Sept. 8, Rocky Mountain Christian Church (RMCC) will host its annual Shine Prom for special needs guests 14 years old or older and their families at its Niwot and Frederick campuses, and every special guest will be crowned Prom King or Prom Queen...
