11/16/18

Greetings Raptor Families,

In this season of giving thanks we are very grateful for all of the success being had at Silver Creek High School! From academics, to the arts, to athletics our kids continue to shine and take center stage.

A few of the notable accomplishments from this Fall Season:
-Nine Students selected to the Colorado All-State Chorus. Congratulations to Sonya Shoup, Jaya Schane, Thomas McMahon, Alex Latsko, Avery Johnson, Kelly Ireland-Ashley, Rubin Hochhauser, Michael Giles, and Sophie Gehorsam!
-Five students signing letters of intent to play collegiate athletics. Congratulations to Emily Reitz, Emma Gibbs, Sage Gardner, Annelise Vandiver, and Jetta Nannen!
-Three Conference Coaches of the Year Accolades. Congratulations to Rob Johnson Soccer, Tatum Mackenzie Volleyball, and Ryan Beavers Softball.
-Two students being recognized as National Merit Semi-Finalists. Congratulations to Max Ruiz and Paxton Lee!
-One Hundred and Twenty Advanced Placement Scholars who earned a three or better on three or more exams.
-Conference Championships in Boys’ Soccer and Softball.
-Academic All-State Top overall G.P.A. achieved by our Softball Team, who also made it to the state semifinals.
-Our CyberPatriot (Cyber Security Competition) has four teams, with our top team in the top 10% out of 2400 participating schools. 
-Five of our student-athletes were on the State Championship Niwot Gymnastics team.
-40 Capstone projects are underway addressing programming in areas such as: Soles4Souls, Instructional Student Assistance, Student Mentoring, Girls in Engineering Math and Science Fair, Longmont Regional Military Aviation Expo, The Chinese New Year, Poetry in Schools, Day of Champions, Special Olympics, Raptor Athletic Leadership Council, The Raptor Report Video Announcements and many more.
-Arsenic and Old Lace as produced by our Silver Creek Theatre Company, was a smashing hit.
-Cheer team has received a bid to nationals and taken top honors at several of their competitions.
-Ms. Grandsaert recognized as St. Vrain Teacher of the Month with Stapp Toyota.
-Data from the Colorado Department of Education indicating we continue to close achievement gaps amongst our English Language Learners and Special Education Students.
-Our parent organizations have raised and distributed thousands of dollars this fall to the classrooms, the arts, and athletics.

Indeed, we have much to be thankful for and let me take a moment to say thank you to such a wonderful and supportive community for our kids!

We still have a few capital improvement projects underway including engineering and improvements around the water issues at our Nelson entrance, new manifolds to our irrigation systems, and improvements to our HVAC system.

Some changes in store for the coming year… Registration timelines have been moved up slightly, so be on the lookout for auditions, AP registrations, and class registration information. This information will be posted on our website under 19-20 Registration. This change is being done to support items including earlier posting of teaching positions, being more competitive in hiring, as well as to accomplish student scheduling prior to dismissal for summer break.

We will be adding classes including School of Rock, a small ensemble based Rock n’ Roll recording and production class. Also to be added is Advanced Placement Human Geography at the Freshmen level, as this is an entry level AP class for 9th graders. Introduction to Drama will also be offered, with the hope of building our award winning performing arts programming. In future years we look to offer Theatre Tech and Advanced Stagecraft. Lastly, we have been incredibly busy in creating an Advisory for 19-20. We will be sharing this curriculum to our community in the Spring for input. The purpose of Advisory is to create connections with an adult and within the school community. A main facet of advisory will be to accomplish the Individualized Career and Academic Plan requirements.

We will also be retooling a few features of the school curriculum. Class of 2023 and beyond will begin Science programming with: 9th Biology – 10th Chemistry – 11th/12th choice of a Lab Based Science. This change is being made to create consistency in science programming district-wide. Interactive Math Programming will be phased out gradually. Students currently in the program will have the opportunity to continue through IMP 4, as next year we will only be eliminating IMP I. This change is being made to create consistency in math programming districtwide.

With winter sports and winter concerts gearing up, we would like to invite you to an upcoming event to see our kids in action. We also have a host of new clubs your child can get involved with including: Board Game Club, E-Sports Gaming Club, Diplomacy Club, Environmental Club and many, many more. Finals are right around the corner, the fall break gives an opportunity to study up and be prepared for the last few weeks of the semester.

Finals Schedule:
December 18 Blocks 1, 2, 3
Block 1………..7:30 – 9:00 AM
Passing……….9:00 – 9:15 AM
Block 2………..9:15 – 10:45 AM
Passing……….10:45 – 11:00 AM
Block 3………..11:00 – 12:30 PM
Lunch………….12:30 – 1:00 PM
Busses at 1:00 PM

December 19 Blocks 5, 6, 7
Block 5………..7:30 – 9:00 AM
Passing……….9:00 – 9:15 AM
Block 6………..9:15 – 10:45 AM
Passing……….10:45 – 11:00 AM
Block 7………..11:00 – 12:30 PM
Lunch………….12:30 – 1:00 PM
Busses at 1:00 PM

December 20 Blocks 4, 8
Block 4………..7:30 – 9:00 AM
Passing……….9:00 – 9:15 AM
Block 8………..9:15 – 10:45 AM
Lunch………….10:45 – 11:15 AM
Busses at 11:15 AM

Have a terrific Fall Break and thank you!

Erick Finnestead
Principal, Silver Creek High School