Welcome back for another week at Westgate!

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, many area already making plans of how to best spend the holidays. We’re just one week out before celebrations begin – let’s make it a good one! Here are a few updates and reminders:

First and foremost: Thanksgiving Break will be from Saturday, November 23^rd to Sunday, December 1^st. We look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Monday, December 2^nd.

Finals will take place on Monday, December 16^th and Tuesday, December 17^th. Students are required to report to the appropriate class for finals. There will be a break room for students who need to stay on campus during finals, but don’t have a final during that block of time. Students can only take a final during its scheduled time and may not start another final early at any point. On Wednesday, December 18^th, we will spend the morning having our Christmas party, and the afternoon will be set aside for make-up finals.

Monday, December 9^th and Tuesday, December 10^th are finals days for most college classes. If students do not have finals or are done early, they should not return to Westgate until their normal high school classes take place. All students will report to Westgate for full days Wednesday and Thursday of that week.

Family Game Night will be Thursday, November 21^st from 7 – 9 in Westgate High School. All ages are welcome! Admission is $5 per person. For families of over five people, entry will be capped at $25 (so, a family of seven would still only pay $25, and all would be welcome!)

The HS Improvisation Team will hold a show/fundraiser on Friday, December 6^th from 5 – 7. Be prepared for a roaring good time as you join our team for two hours of amazing skits, laughs, and showmanship. Audience contribution is welcome; the team will regularly take ideas from the crowd to determine each scene.

Consent Talks will be happening in December with Mrs. Schneider and our school psychologist, Mr. Chermak. High school is a trying time, and we want students to be prepared. These talks will revolve around laws regarding consent (with all topics, not just sex), as well as what it takes for a person to legally be able to give consent. These talks will take place on the following dates:

Freshman – Friday, December 6th

Sophomores – Wednesday, December 4th

Juniors – Wednesday, December 4th

Seniors – Friday, December 6th during seminar

Please reach out to Amy Schneider if you have any questions.

Students should be mindful of their language during class. In many ways, school teaches us how to act as we enter careers, and this means we need to keep our speech appropriate. This includes avoiding profanity and crass jokes.

College work should not be done during high school classes. Your high school credits count just as much as your college credits. If you are doing college work in class, we will ask you to put it away.

Computers and games should be kept away unless given permission by a teacher. There has been a recent upswing in computer games and card/board games appearing in the classroom. Please keep these away.

Best, and here's to another great week!

-Cuevas

Some of the main points we heard from Luke Mueller, our Costa Rica representative last night were:

He had us follow along with the website, which you are welcome to look over:

walkingtree.org/programs/2020-westgate-costa-rica-program

We went over the itinerary and saw what the accommodations will be for the different days.

We heard more about how Walking Tree partners with biologist conservation efforts, and heard about efforts to preserve sea turtle populations in Costa Rica.

We heard about a day dedicated to visiting a local elementary school.

We heard about some of the free-time activities such as surfing and whitewater rafting, and about alternates to those activities.

The parents in attendance had some questions about health insurance coverage—additional coverage available—and about how parents going as chaperones fill out the enrollment forms.

We will need to have our group of at least ten enroll by December 1^st for the trip to be a go, with full refunds in the event of a cancellation.

There were also several questions that we are asking of Mrs. Novak for clarification of the school’s policies.

We are looking forward to making this happen! Please let me know if you have more questions about this exciting opportunity.

Jason Brinkley

Hello,

I want to let you know that there will be a Costa Rica Informational meeting at 6pm on Wednesday November 13^th. Luke Mueller, our Walking Tree representative will run it. Please come parents and students. Officially, we still need one more adult chaperone (or another senior student) to come on the trip.

It will be a chance for you to get some of your questions answered and hear important information about planning the Costa Rica senior trip.

-Jason Brinkley

Welcome back for another great week!

With snow out of the way and Hogwarts successfully behind us (and preparations under way for next year!), we are ready to move into a relaxingly-normal school week. Here are a few general reminders:

No cellphones in class. We are operating under a "One Warning" rule, after which a teacher will claim a phone until the end of the period. If this happens multiple times (either with one teacher or multiple), a plan will be made with student and guardians in order to help the student.

No bikes/skateboards/longboards/wheeled devices may be ridden on campus. If you have a bike, skateboard, etc., please carry it onto campus and off of campus before boarding/riding.

College work should not be done during high school classes. Your high school credits count just as much as your college credits. If you are doing college work in class, we will ask you to put it away.

Computers and games should be kept away unless given permission by a teacher. There has been a recent upswing in computer games and card/board games appearing in the classroom. Please keep these away.

Best, and here's to another great week!

Hello, Wonderful Westgate Families!

As you may have heard, we will holding our first annual High School Hogwarts event on Friday, November 1^st. Students can look forward to joining like-minded friends for a day of fun, food, and activities. Is your child an intelligent Ravenclaw or an ambitious Slytherin? A friendly Hufflepuff, or a daring Gryffindor? Or perhaps they would feel most at home with Hagrid in his hut? Students may join whichever group they feel most comfortable with for the day, and we encourage them to dress the part!

Our schedule will be as follows:

8:00 – 9:00: Breakfast in the Great Hall (HS Commons)

9:00 – 10:00: Time to decorate our Hogwarts Houses!

10:00 – 11:15: Service Learning

11:20 – 12:24: Quidditch/Soul Service (individual student choice)

12:24 – 1:24: Lunch

1:24 – 3:15: Class rotations (with chances to win points for their house)

3:15: Ending Circle/Awarding of the House Cup

Important: For our morning breakfast, we are requesting donations from any family who would like to contribute. We would be extremely grateful for anything you can donate – every little bit helps add to a meaningful start to the students’ day. Please follow the link below to find a SignUp Genius with items we need.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409054AA5AB23A6F85-high

As always, thank you for being such an amazing part of our community and for allowing us to teach such incredible students.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Mr. Cuevas at [email protected].

Best,

Tim Cuevas

Head of Gryffindor House

October 15 - Free College App Day

Colorado has declared October 15th as College Free Application Day! This is an amazing new tradition within the state as it allows seniors to apply to any public and some private Colorado institutions without having to pay a fee. To celebrate this day, we invite everyone in the school and community to wear college gear on this day!

Seniors are welcome to join us for an application workshop all day. Come to Westgate and apply for college! 

No class for seniors on Wednesday October 16th because lower grades are taking the PSAT.

Hello one and all!

Welcome back for our last full week before Fall Break! Our big announcement this week:

Homecoming is here! Students can attend on Friday, September 20^th from 7 – 10 pm. This dance will be styled after the Roaring Twenties, so they should be sure to stop by for food, music, and a roaring good time.

A few notes with the dance:

Tickets can be purchased at the front office this week for $10, or they can be purchased at the dance itself for $12. Food will be included in this cost. Also, there will be a game room and a quiet room for those wishing to seek a little peace between songs. If a student has a game they would like to bring, they are more than welcome to do so! (School-appropriate, of course)

The Friday of Homecoming, we will also be hosting our annual Flick Football Tournament in the High School Pod. Students will have a chance to team up and compete in the greatest of all Westgate sports for a chance at fame and glory. We will hold the tournament instead of our normal afternoon classes on Friday.

Second, conference signups are live. Please look for an email or visit your student’s advocate’s page in order to sign up for a slot on either September 26^th or 27^th. The signup link will be taken down at the end of the day this Friday (the 20^th).

Just a few other reminders: students should not be in the pod during classes, and should use their passing periods quickly in order to get to class on time. Food is not allowed in class after the first five minutes, and cellphones are not allowed at all (they will follow our general structure for disruptive behavior).

It is also still summer, so we know the weather is hot, but be sure to follow dress code – no short shorts or belly shirts!

Finally, be sure to wait until you are off campus to get on bike or skateboard, and please dismount as soon as you arrive on campus in the morning. Things can get crowded out there, so we would like to avoid collisions and injuries.

As always, if students or parents have a concern, go to the teacher first, then the advocate, then Mrs. Novak, our High School Assistant Principal. Here’s to another great week!

Best,

-Tim Cuevas

Mathematics Teacher and Sophomore Advocate

Hello Seniors and Parents,

  The company that we partner with for the senior trip is asking us for a hard count of how many students are interested in going on the senior trip for planning purposes. Since we don’t have school on Friday this week for professional development, I won’t have a chance to ask you all again. Please take some time to discuss whether or not you are interested in going on the trip and let me know as soon as possible your “yes” or “no” to this question: are you interested in going?

  I went back to our administration to ask about the cost of the trip, and if any of them were more affordable, and the answer from the company was this:

“Thanks for the email and the update on what your students are thinking. The Costa Rica option is about as budget as we can get. Mexico might end up being a little bit cheaper but not by much. In 2020 Puerto Rico is likely to be a hair more expensive than Costa Rica. 

The Puerto Rico trip this past summer was $2490, 2018 in Belize was $3390 and 2017 in Costa Rica was $2590, all including flight. The 2020 Costa Rica proposal is priced at $2190 plus an estimated $500 for flight (which we might be able to beat with Southwest releases their fares) so pretty in line with what's been offered historically.”

-Jason Brinkley

Senior Advocate

Hello and welcome back from Jason Brinkley!

Last week we had a great time seeing you all again, meeting some of you for the first time, and getting into the groove of High School re-tooled.

Along with our new furniture, touch TVs, paint, and carpeting, we welcome some fresh faces to our team: Dale Kern in Social Studies, Amanda Matthews in English, and Amy Schneider in Science!

We started our first week with a mix of regular classes and some adulting 101, with everything from sewing a button to interest rates to changing a tire! Sophomores and Juniors took a day to visit CU Boulder. Go Buffs!

During week two we held mock interviews to prepare us for what that would be like for real. A special thank you to all the outside volunteers for making it possible. We also visited my Alma Mater—MSU Denver—and the University of Colorado at Denver.

This week, we will be on our regular schedule. Good luck at FRCC!

As always, if students or parents have a concern, go to the teacher first, then the advocate, then Mrs. Novak, our High School Administrator. I look forward to all we will accomplish together this year!

-Jason Brinkley