March 24, 2006

Spring Break
There will be no school from March 27th through March 31st due to Spring Break.

Wish Week
The Arapahoe Student Council is again sponsoring Wish Week. Arapahoe is partnering with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to make Carissa's dream of going on a Disney Cruise, and Rachel's dream of going to Hawaii come true. All the fun will take place from April 3rd through April 7th and there will be lots of exciting ways to get involved. The CU Buffoons will be performing on Monday April 3rd at 7 pm in the auditorium. The CU Buffoons are one of the oldest and most established college a cappella groups in the country. The song list is very diverse – ranging from Stevie Wonder’s “Signed Sealed Delivered” to Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away” to more contemporary songs such as “Soul to Squeeze” by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and “The Remedy” by Jason Mraz. Check out their website to hear their sample songs.

And the Senior vs. Faculty Basketball game is Thursday April 6th at 7 pm in the gym with an extraordinary half-time show featuring the Special Olympics Basketball team vs. the Faculty!

Tickets for both are $3 for students and $5 for adults and will be on sale during the week of March 20th.

Photo of the Week
Thirty-eight Wind Ensemble members and 165 elementary school students practice for a combined concert on March 15. Photo by Mark Gutman/Arapahoe Herald.

March 17, 2006

Arapaho Tribal Visit
Arapaho Tribal members will be visiting AHS on Friday, March 24th. We will have an all school assembly – visit the AHS Home Page and scroll down to see the bell schedule for the day.

Prom Talent Show is Coming!
Mark your calendar for this year’s Prom Talent Show. You can see some of Arapahoe’s most talented singers, dancers, bands and comedians perform on Thursday, April 27th. There will be performances at 5:00 p.m. (parents only) and 7:00 (students & parents) with the announcement of Prom Royalty at the second show.

Tickets for the show cost $5.00 and will go on sale the week of April 24th during both lunches in the AHS cafeteria. Seating is limited, so buy your ticket early!

Tryouts for the Talent Show will be held from 2:45 pm to 4:30 pm on Monday, April 10th and Tuesday, April 11th. Interested participants may sign up now through April 10th in the Main Office for a five minute tryout time slot.

Department Spotlight – Family and Consumer Sciences
Next year there will be several changes to the overall schedule for the Family and Consumer Science department. Both Interior Design and Fashion Design will be offered as year long courses. This will allow students to schedule these classes a little easier as they will go straight across the schedule for the entire year! Students are encouraged to sign up for both semesters together. Any student that has completed level I but would like to take level II can still sign up for those sections during spring semester. Both of these classes are open to grades 10-12. Also new next year is the addition of Independent Living. This is an excellent course for Juniors and Seniors as it addresses issues facing young adults as they move out on their own. They will learn about career information, financial responsibility, automobile purchasing – including insurance information, renting apartments and selecting roommates, clothing care and repair, and healthy eating tips. This class is open to grades 11-12 and will only be offered in the spring.

Our youth organization, FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America) is gearing up for their two final events of the year: State Conference and our spring community service project. We have three members attending the state conference April 6-8th.

Our spring community service project is preparing Easter Baskets for a local homeless or battered women’s shelter. We hope to assemble between 30-40 baskets to donate to the shelter. Anyone wishing to donate items for these baskets can drop off Easter grass or small items such as coloring books, crayons, and candy to the FCS office or to Mrs. Rains. Thanks to the toy drive at the holidays we have a number of other items to put in the baskets as well.

Photo of the Week
Officer Gordon Carrol takes the drug searching dog, Max, through the girls’ athletic room. No drugs were found. (Note: We conduct canine locker drug searches in order to take a proactive, "no nonsense approach" and rid our campus of drugs. Canine locker drug searches are fairly common within high schools today. We would not take this action if it were not necessary; however there is no doubt that drug activity is occurring with some of our students, and we are going to take an aggressive approach in dealing with drugs. The canine is trained to limit the search to lockers and not individual students. The appropriate legal interpretation of individual rights has been examined. The process is ensured to protect each student's legal rights, yet afford us the necessary authority to deal with this serious issue.) Photo by Kelley Robinson/Arapahoe Herald.

March 10, 2006

Help Your Child Succeed In Math!
Please encourage your child to visit the Math Lab for free math tutoring. What is the Math Lab? The Math Lab is a help center for students with questions in math. It is located in the Math Office and is run by National Honor Society students. Students are welcome to stop by any day of the week during any hour and stay for any amount of time. If you have additional questions, please call the Math Office 303.347.6034 or have your child ask their math teacher.

AHS Special Olympians Highlighted on Channel 4
AHS’s unified basketball team was recently featured on Channel 4.

Class of 2010 Freshmen Showcase
The incoming Freshmen class of 2010 and their parents are invited to attend the Freshmen Showcase Evening scheduled for Monday, March 20th in the AHS gymnasium at 7:00 pm. Information regarding academic, athletic, and activity programs available at Arapahoe will be shared. The evening is a great introduction to life at AHS.

Department Spotlight – Business Department
The Business Department is extremely busy. Our clubs have been busy competing. DECA, a marketing education club, had districts in December which qualified 28 students to attend state in February. Congratulations to the 6 International DECA qualifiers who will compete in Dallas in April.  

FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) had 44 students compete in district competition last Friday at Johnson and Wales University. Around 25 members placed in the top ten of their competitive categories. Congratulations to the 12 who qualified for state competition in Vail in April. FBLA is still selling Arapahoe drawstring bags for $10. Stop by the business office if you are interested in purchasing a bag before supplies run out.

Students who believe they are eligible for the Business Department’s Certificate of Proficiency may pick up an application in the business office starting in April. Certificates of Proficiency are awarded to students who have received a grade of C or better on a set sequence of business classes. These certificates include Business Management, Business Technology, Accounting and Marketing. These certificates are impressive credentials on college and job applications. If you need more information, feel free to contact the business department for more information. Additional announcements will be made in April regarding the applications.

March 2, 2006

CSAP is March 14th, 15th and 16th
The 2006 CSAP exams will be given at AHS on March 14th, 15th and 16th. View the details and bell schedule.

Spring Sports Schedule
While it changes often due to weather, the initial Spring Sports Schedule is available online.

Practice SAT offered
The Post Grad Center is offering a practice SAT on Saturday, March 11th from 8:30 to 12:30. A feedback session for parents and students to discuss results and learn test taking strategies is scheduled for Wednesday evening, March 22nd. The cost for the test and feedback session is $10. Register for the Practice SAT now in the Post Grad Center. Note that these scores are not reported to CollegeBoard.

Business Department Proficiency Exam
Effective beginning Fall of 2006, students that have a strong foundation in keyboarding and software applications will have the option to take an Introduction to Computer Applications (ICA) Proficiency Exam and test out of ICA directly into the next level of Computer Applications I to fulfill their graduation requirement. The curriculum in Computer Applications I assumes keyboarding proficiency and basic skills in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The learning objectives of this course focus on more advanced skills in the Microsoft suite, integration of software applications, and more hands-on learning projects.

The ICA Proficiency Exam will be offered as follows:

March 7th 5:50 – 7:20 Incoming ninth graders new to AHS
March 9th 2:30 – 4:00 Upperclassmen; and 4:45 – 6:15 Incoming ninth graders new to AHS
March 14th 2:30 – 4:00 Upperclassmen

All testing will take place in the Business Department in Rooms S2 and S3.

The exam will be one and a half hours in length and require students to demonstrate “touch typing” proficiency of at least 40 words per minute with proper technique using a keyboard cover. The second component of the exam will assess student skills in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Stop by the Business Department for a detailed handout listing all skills assessed on this exam. Self study materials are also available upon request.

Please mark your calendar with these important testing dates in March. Contact the Business Department at 303.347.6036 with questions or requests for additional information.

Department Spotlight – Art
A celebration of the imagination and creativity of our Arapahoe artists takes place during the month of March at the Curtis Arts & Humanities Center. The opening reception was Thursday, March 2nd. The exhibit is from March 2nd to March 31st at 2349 East Orchard Road, Greenwood Village. March is Youth Art Month nationwide which we invite you to celebrate with us by viewing the outstanding artwork. This watercolor painting was done by John VanNest (presently a junior at Arapahoe) and an example of the quality of artwork by our Arapahoe students.

The 2nd Annual Arapahoe "Art Attack" is almost here! This is a show exclusively for the students of Arapahoe High School sponsored by our Arapahoe PTO. This is our "show of shows" for the year which provides recognition for our students as well as prizes for outstanding work. The show is broken into the following 12 categories: Acrylic Painting, Watercolor Painting, Jewelry, Sculpture& Ceramics, Printmaking, Design, MultiMedia, Colored Drawing, Black& White Drawing, Digital Photography, Colored Photography, Black & White Photography. "Best of Show" will be awarded in each category plus Superintendent's Choice and Principal's Choice. This is a celebration of both the wonderful work of our students and an opportunity to share with the public our department and art curriculum. Students may enter two pieces per category. Tuesday, April 18th will be our night of celebration with a reception from 7 - 8:30 p.m. and the Awards Ceremony at 7:30. Viewing dates of the show are April 18th – 25th in the AHS Theater Hallway.

The Continental League Art Show is a very select show featuring artwork from high school students throughout the Continental League. The 2006 show runs April 20th -28th. The Opening Reception is April 20th from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. at the Curtis Center for the Arts and Humanities in Greenwood Village. Come enjoy these talented artists and their visual creations!

Photo of the Week
French Club members bake Chocolate Creme Puffs and Ginger Baked Pears after school on February 25th. Photo by Mary Hayworth/Calumet.