Grand Junction
Main Office: (970) 254-6900
School Hours: Mon, 8:00-2:50, Tues-Fri, 7:25-2:50
1400 N 5th St, GJ, CO 81501|gjhs.mesa.k12.co.us
High School
Bill Larsen, Principal | Carol Coburn, Asst. Principal | Tom LeFebre, Dean of Students
Alicia Timbreza - Asst. Principal | Carol Sams, Athletic Director | Meghan Roenicke, Asst. Principal
Important Dates
A Message From the Principal:
Finals for 9th-11th
May 18-20, 2015
Dear GJHS Parents and Learning Community,
Booster Club Meeting
May 18, 3015
6:30 pm @ Room 115
Last Day of School
May 20, 2015
Teacher Workday
May 21, 2015
Check In For 2015-16
Seniors
July 21, 7:30-11:30 am
Juniors
July 23, 12-3:30 pm
Sophomores
July 21, 7:30-11:30 am
Freshmen
July 21, 12-3:30 pm
First Day of School For
2015-16 School Year
August 3, 2015
In This Issue:
Awards Ceremony
Concussions
From the GJHS Library
Booster Club
Volunteers
MyLocker.net
Tigers Roar!
May 2015
2
2
2
3
3
4
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The beautiful April showers have brought the month of May and the
sweet flowers of celebrating Graduation on May 12 with our GJHS
Seniors. We are coming down the homestretch of the 2014-15 school
year with just a few weeks before our last day of school on May 20. This
time of the school year brings an important time of reflection as we look
back on the many accomplishments of our students and staff over the
past year. You will see many celebrations of accomplishments in this
newsletter as we are so proud of the “Excellence” that radiates the many
venues of learning at GJHS.
This past month, we were very fortunate to find three days with our
new GJHS Principal, Mr. Ari Goldberg, who will officially become GJHS
Principal in July 2015. Mr. Goldberg visited GJHS on April 15-17, and
spent time with our staff, met many parents during the “Meet & Greet”
on the evening of April 16, and was introduced to the entire student
body during our pep assembly on April 17. I am confident Mr. Goldberg
will continue to move GJHS in our journey to become a “School of
Excellence” with the tremendous talents and experience he brings to our
valley from Jefferson County School District. Along the way, I have been
blessed to serve the GJHS Learning Community for this semester, and
I am sincerely thankful to meet so many wonderful students, staff and
parents along my short journey at GJHS.
As we bring closure to the 4th quarter and the 2014-15 school year, do
not hesitate to contact our staff for any way we can support the success
of your student. Thank you for your partnership in providing our students
with the best education that is the key to their success and the hope for
their future.
Sincerely,
Bill Larsen
GJHS Principal
Grand Junction High School| (970) 254-6900 | 1400 N 5th St, Grand Junction, CO 81501 | gjhs.mesa.k12.co.us| Page 1
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All School Awards Ceremony
On April 29, 2015, The All School Awards Ceremony was held in the GJHS auditorium where
approximately 260 students, teachers, alumni, volunteers and coaches were recognized. There is a full
listing of the awards program posted on the GJHS website. Congratulations to all of the award recipients.
We are proud of the excellent work that is going on every day in the classroom, on the sports fields, in
music venues and in the community. A great big thank you to all those who worked behind the scenes to
make this night such a success!
Concussion Management
If your son/daughter has sustained a concussion this school year, and intends to participate in any Grand
Junction High School sports team during the school year, he/she must be cleared by a physician in order
to begin the Return to Play process. If your child has been cleared to begin the RTP process by your
physician, you will need to contact our Certified Athletic Trainer Ms. Erin Glavan at the Saint Mary’s Life
Center, Wellness Department, at 970-244-6080 or 970-773-3155 to schedule time to begin and complete
the RTP process. If you have questions, please contact Athletic Director Carol Sams at
[email protected] or 254-6900.
From the GJHS Library
What’s the #1 thing you can do to help your student do well in school? Help him or
her become a reader. Kids who read (even just for enjoyment!) do better on tests and
all other areas of academics.
And on a more personal note: If you haven’t been to the Mesa County Public Library
lately it’s amazing! Lots of teen programs (everything from superheroes to book club
to video games to courses on how to be a better writer to summer reading programs).
Check them out over the summer!
Developing Self-Management Skills
July 20-21 and 23-24, 2015
Learn to: focus attention, develop social skills, manage
time, organize materials, and manage technology.
Instructor: Al Kreinberg
Get more information at www.essentialsinlearning.com.
Grand Junction High School| (970) 254-6900 | 1400 N 5th St, Grand Junction, CO 81501 | gjhs.mesa.k12.co.us| Page 2
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Booster Club
The Grand Junction High School Booster Club needs your help. Our membership has declined due to a
number of parents no longer being members after their child graduates. In order for the Booster Club to
continue to function and provide continued support of our 40 plus Tiger activities, we need more parent
members and parent involvement. Last school year the Booster Club was able to donate over $64,000 to
many of the Tiger programs and activities. Without this generous support of time and money, we would
have to continue to cut back on programs and what our programs are able to offer and accomplish for
your students.
If you have never attended a Booster Club meeting and are interested in doing so, please come and
check it out. The typical agenda for a meet is: to first hear requests from school groups asking for money,
then discussion and voting on approving the requests, followed with a monthly financial report, and finally
a discussion of Bingo business. We like to keep the meetings to about an hour. Meetings are held the
second Monday of the month during the school year at 6:30 pm in Room 115.
The May meeting date has been changed due to the busy schedule leading up to and including
Graduation. The MAY Booster Meeting will be on Monday, May 18, 2015 at 6:30 pm in Room 115.
At the April Booster Club meeting, the Booster Club approved $1420.00 in funding requests to support
the following programs: FBLA State Leadership Conference $400.00, and Spring Sports Waivers for
GJHS Athletics $1020.00. Thank you to our Booster Club and all of the volunteers for your continued
support of Grand Junction High School students, staff, and all of our activities.
If you are interest in becoming a Booster Club member or in volunteering, please contact: Booster Club
President Trina Brillhart at [email protected] or GJHS Athletic/Activities Director Carol Sams at
254-6900 or [email protected].
Volunteers
Thank you to all of the Volunteers who have given of their time and energy to the
students of Grand Junction High School. During the month of March alone, we
had 123 volunteers donate over 427 hours of time. It is because of the generous
time and effort of these many volunteers that our programs continue to operate and
perform at high levels.
Grand Junction High School| (970) 254-6900 | 1400 N 5th St, Grand Junction, CO 81501 | gjhs.mesa.k12.co.us| Page 3
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• Links to the GJHS My Locker site can be found on the GJHS Home Page, and on the GJHS Athletic Page
Tigers Roar!
STUDENT OF THE MONTH
Congratulations to the following Grand Junction High School April Student of the Month nominees.
The Daily Sentinel Student of the Week for this month is Ben Arja, son of Eileen and Tarek Arja. The
Kiwanis Student of the Month for April is Jonah Wilson, son of Ron and Lynn Wilson. The Alpine Bank/
CMU students of the month are Victoria Baltzell, daughter of Lee and Bill Baltzell and Jordan Hahn,
son of Eric and Britt Hahn. Grand Junction High School is proud to recognize these students for their
outstanding work in the classroom, and for the leadership they demonstrate in our school.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
The Tiger Girls Basketball team placed three players on the SWL All-Conference team. Senior Sydni
Brandon and Junior Tori Catlett were selected to the first team and Senior Melissa Atchley was
selected to the second team. Coach Sam Provenza was named SWL coach of the year. The team
advanced to the sweet sixteen in the state 5A basketball playoffs. Congratulations to the tigers on such a
successful season. Sydni Brandon was selected SWL Most Valuable Player for the 2014-15 basketball
season. This is Sydni’s second SWL Most Valuable Player award. The senior co-captain was also
selected to the Denver Post All-State Team, was chosen to play in the Colorado Coaches of Girls Sports
All-State Game, the Colorado High School Coaches Association All-State Game and the Denver Nuggets
sponsored All-Star Game, “The Show”.
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Grand Junction High School| (970) 254-6900 | 1400 N 5th St, Grand Junction, CO 81501 | gjhs.mesa.k12.co.us| Page 4
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(continued from previous page)
A two sport athlete, Sydni has qualified for the 5A State Track and Field Championships in the 4X 100
meter relay and the long jump. She recently was honored with the Joe Biggs Award as the top Senior
athlete at Grand Junction High School and inducted into the GJHS Sports Hall of Fame. Sydni will attend
Fort Lewis College on a basketball scholarship.
GIRLS TENNIS
The Girls’ 2015 Tiger Tennis season is coming to an
end. The team finished with a 6-3 overall dual record
and a 5-2 league record. The #1 singles player, #2
singles player, and # 3 singles players – Carolina
Campos, McKenna Brooks and Sarah Megan Erb,
all had impressive seasons with 7-2 and 6-3 overall
records, respectively. All three are playing very solid
and focused tennis and are looking forward to a big
tournament next week at regionals. Another team that
is having an outstanding season is the #1 doubles
team of Jessi Smith and Isabel Manzanares. They
have an 8-1 overall record going into Regionals, with
their only dual loss coming to Fruita at the beginning
of the season. They got redemption, though, and
beat Fruita in their last outing. They have both worked very hard in practice developing their game, both
mentally and physically. Regionals begin April 30th and conclude May 1st. The top two teams from each
category will get a chance to play at the State Championships. The Tigers hope to change some of their
earlier loses into victories at Regionals. Go Tigers!
GIRLS SOCCER
The season has rushed by for the GJHS Girls Soccer team. After a couple of tough early season losses,
the team has steadily improved as they work through and past
each game. As of right now the Girls Varsity Soccer team
sits at 8-4 overall and 6-2 in the SWL. The Junior Varsity has
demonstrated incredible growth, beating Fruita’s JV team for
the first time since 2011! We have leaned heavily on our senior
leadership throughout the season to remind the team of its core
values as a team. The girls look forward to an exciting finish to
the 2015 soccer season!
TRACK & FIELD
This has been a big month for the GJHS Track and Field Team!
Jill Payne broke her existing school record in the 200m dash
which is now set at 24.73 seconds! Austin Taylor broke
the school record in long jump which is now set at 22’9”!
Congratulations to these two Juniors for their accomplishments!
We will be competing as a team at the South Western League
Meet, the Tiger Invitation and the State Track meet in the next few
weeks!
(continued on next page)
Grand Junction High School| (970) 254-6900 | 1400 N 5th St, Grand Junction, CO 81501 | gjhs.mesa.k12.co.us| Page 5
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(continued from previous page)
GIRLS LACROSSE
The GJHS Girls Lacrosse team is currently 7 – 4 with three games remaining this regular season. State
playoffs begin the week of May 4th. The Senior members of this team include: Nikki Goff (Palisade),
Dominique Keifer (Palisade), Halle Harrison, Tyler Anderson, Cierra Veecchia, Kaitlyn Lynch, and
Cassidy Roberts. Congratulations girls for a successful season of girls’ lacrosse. Go Tigers!
BASEBALL
The GJHS Baseball team enters the final week of the season
with a record of 10-6, with an eye toward advancing to the State
5A playoffs. Seniors Caleb Coleman, Michael Hansen, Max
Fransen, Scott Nielson, Branden Shaver and Jaxon Trimm
have all played an integral part in the Tigers’ success this season,
leading the team through a challenging non-conference schedule
and providing key leadership throughout the highly competitive SWL
conference slate of games. Congratulations to Jaxon Trimm, a
senior pitcher, who signed a national letter of intent to continue his
baseball career at Hartnell College, a two-year school in California.
Go Tigers!
GIRLS GOLF
Grand Junction High School Girls Golf is doing great. We had 14
girls join the program this year, with 9 first time golfers. Tiger Tours was successful with 15 incoming ninth
graders signing up with the intent to play girl’s golf in 2016. The future looks exciting for our program and
we look forward to helping them become competitive golfers while learning a lifelong skill.
RUGBY
Josef Whitaker has been chosen to play rugby in the National High School Rugby 7’s Championship in
Philadelphia in May. Josef has been selected by national rugby coaches to play on the Colorado team.
This is a highly selective process and a represents the finest high school rugby players in the United
States.
FBLA
The Tiger Future Business Leaders of America would like to congratulate Savannah Bucher who
successfully completed her term as one of fourteen Colorado State FBLA Officers. As the District 9
Vice-President, she represented eighteen schools and over 300 students. Our chapter is proud of her
hard work in planning and implementing our District Conference in February as well as her hard work at
the State Conference in Vail this past April. We are both proud and pleased that Savannah was the one
FBLA student in the nation to be selected for a full tuition scholarship at Johnson & Wales University. She
also received a grant from the
Saccomanno Higher Education
Foundation. Savannah will
be leaving to attend the J &
W campus in Providence, RI.
We wish Savannah well and
thank her for all her efforts in
promoting our local chapter.
(continued on next page)
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STATE CHAMPION ACADEMIC TEAM
All State and Governor’s Cup - Academic Team
In April, the Grand Junction High School Academic Team, coached by Lyndsay Thompson, Lorena
Thompson, Lynn Thompson, Casey Smith, and Coady Shawcroft, won the Class 5A State
Championship. Since 1996, we have won the State Championship 18 out of the past 20 years. The
2015 Academic Team includes: Patrick Baier, Ryland Curtsinger, Parker Davis-McDougal, Ryan
Ferguson, Gregory Gibson, Corey Lans, Brian List, Ben Potter, and Sean Ridgeway. This year’s
team, for the second year in a row, won the Class 5A State Championship and also was awarded The
Governor’s Cup. The Governor’s Club is presented to the Academic Team, regardless of classification,
which scored the most points throughout the entire state tournament.
CHOIR
Men’s Choir took first place in the 5A category at the Colorado West Festival over Fruita and Brighton
high schools, and Westwinds earned outstanding jazz choir over Central and Palisade high schools.
Those were admittedly some of the smaller categories, but that’s because Colorado West Festival is
primarily attended by western slope schools, as opposed to many of the other big 5A high schools on the
front range
Of course the festival is not foremost about competition; it’s an opportunity for the students to perform
at a festival, get feedback from clinicians in a short workshop, and receive scores from the judges
(we earned three excellents and four superiors with our ensembles). We were especially proud of our
Advanced Women’s Ensemble; those ladies had an incredible performance and earned the highest
marks of all our classical ensembles.
Nick Morris indisputably earned the honor of “outstanding senior” on behalf of the choir department.
This year he represented our school at both the Colorado All State Choir in Denver and the ACDA
National Honor Choir in Salt Lake City. He also served as president of our choir council, which involved
work such as helping to plan the holiday extravaganza in December. Nick will be receiving the National
School Choral Award at tonight’s awards ceremony. Next year he plans to pursue a degree in vocal
music at Oakland University, Michigan.
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NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES SUMMER SCHOLAR
Sutton Casey, a Language Arts teacher at Grand Junction High
School, has been selected as an NEH Summer Scholar from a
national applicant pool to attend one of 25 seminars and institutes
supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The
Endowment is a federal agency that, each summer, supports these
enrichment opportunities at colleges, universities, and cultural institutions so that teachers can study with
experts in humanities disciplines.
Sutton will participate in an institute entitled “Scholarship and
Performance: A Combined Approach to Teaching Shakespeare’s
Plays.” The 2-week program will be held at Theatre for a New
Audience’s Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn, NY and
directed by Katie Miler, Education Director at Theatre for a New
Audience.
The approximately 544 NEH Summer Scholars who participate
in these programs of study will teach almost 68,000 American
students the following year. Congratulations to Sutton for
receiving this wonderful opportunity!
BAND
The following tigers received band awards:
John Philip Sousa Award – Damian Johann
Louis Armstrong Jazz Award – Riley Davis-McDougal
Marion Jacobs Award – Michael Poland
Performing Arts Award – Kia Marez
The Wind Ensemble received an Excellent rating at the CBA
State Concert Band Festival. The Tiger band program in total has
earned the CBA Exemplary Band Award for the 8th straight year.
Congratulations to these individuals and the GJHS Band!
BOYS BASKETBALL
The following tigers were selected to the SWL All Conference team
for boys basketball.
1st team:
DJ Wells - Grand Junction
Ridge Droskin - Grand Junction
Ben Volkmann - Grand Junction
2nd team:
Stockton Rock - Grand Junction
Player of the Year: DJ Wells - Grand Junction
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