Niwot High School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
 |
To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article may require cleanup. More verifiable information on this school is needed. Guidelines and editing help are available. |
 |
| Niwot High School | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Niwot, Colorado United States of America |
|
| Information | |
| School district | St. Vrain Valley School District |
| Principal | Dennis Daly |
| Enrollment |
1,200 |
| Type | Public high school |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Campus | Closed Campus |
| Mascot | Cougar |
| Color(s) | |
| Established | 1972 |
| Homepage | http://nhs.stvrain.k12.co.us/ |
Niwot High School (NHS) is a public high school, located on Niwot Road in Niwot, Colorado under the jurisdiction of the St. Vrain Valley School District.[citation needed] Niwot High School provides educational experiences that inspire academic excellence, personal growth and social responsibility. Niwot High School accepts the responsibility for providing a safe and positive environment, a challenging academic program, activities that promote discovery of diverse interests and abilities, an atmosphere of respect and trust, and opportunities of responsibility.[citation needed]
Niwot High School is a 4A school, which enrols around 1,200 students, and functions as the district's magnet school for the International Baccalaureate (IB) program.[citation needed] Primarily, graduates of Sunset Middle School often continue their education at Niwot High School. Though, the school also attracts students throughout the district to participate in the International Baccalaureate program, creating a tightly knit subclass of students ranging from approximately 55 to 100 students. Typically, each class graduates about 300 students.[citation needed]
First opened in 1972, Niwot High School is situated about halfway between the cities of Boulder and Longmont in the small-unincorporated town of Niwot. Niwot is characterized by a beautiful campus including a large community athletic complex, large student commons area, and comprehensive Student Services Center, all complemented by an amazing scenic view of the Rocky Mountains.
School goals at Niwot High School focus on reading, writing, and mathematics with course offerings to meet the needs of students at all levels. Each year, students will demonstrate incremental improvement in the three focused areas. Specifically, by 2008, 93% of 9th and 10th grade students will be reading at the proficient level, 92% in writing, and 89% in mathematics.[citation needed] The Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) scores will be used to indicate proficiency percentages.
In an effort to achieve these goals, the high school staff continues to maintain a focus on language arts and mathematics while continuing to meet with middle school teachers to ensure vertical alignment across all of the core curricular areas. Additionally, a common writing rubric based on Six-Traits is utilized across all content areas.
Classes at NHS operate on a Day 1, Day 2, block schedule.
| Regular Block Schedule: | |
|---|---|
| Block 1/5 | 7:20 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. |
| Block 2/6 | 9:00 a.m. to 10:35 a.m. |
| Block 3/7 | 10:45 a.m. to 12:53 p.m. |
| Block 4/8 | 12:53 p.m. to 2:23 p.m. |
There are also two separate lunch times for students. Students are assigned lunch times according to third block teachers, though there is no specific order for which teachers have what lunch period. A lunch starts at 10:35 a.m. to 11:13 a.m., while B lunch begins at 12:15 p.m. and ends at 12:53 p.m..[citation needed]
Currently, Niwot High School offers a variety of courses in the following subjects:
| Art | Family Studies | Music |
| Business | Foreign Language | Physical Education |
| Career Development Center (CDC) | General Electives | Science |
| Drama | HILT | Social Studies |
| English | Math | Technology |
Niwot High School has a widely recognized music department.[citation needed] The school's music department is split into sub departments of Orchestra, Band, and Choir. The most notable group is the Symphony Orchestra, which was invited to take part in the 2007 National Orchestra Cup where they took 3rd Place against the top youth orchestras in the nation. The Symphony Orchestra is an audition-only group that is comprised of the standard symphony orchestra set up, including a wind, brass, and percussion section, though at times numbers in these sections have been short. Symphony Orchestra is entirely a performance-based group, where learning is done through intense rehearsal and performance of challenging symphony orchestra literature. This group has a strong reputation of excellence, achieving various awards and honors throughout the years and serving as a leader for all orchestras in the St. Vrain District. Along with their participation in the 2007 National Orchestra Cup, they have also done exceedingly well at the annual CHSAA Large Group Festival, constantly scoring near perfect ratings year after year. This group's latest honor is to have been invited to perform at this year's CMEA (Colorado Music Educators Association) Conference, the highest honor an orchestra can receive in the state of Colorado. Along with Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra department also has a string orchestra. The String Orchestra is a much more relaxed group, being a non-audition group with a much lighter performance schedule. As it is a string orchestra it consists of only string players, with the exact instrumentation varying from year to year. This group serves to provide another option to string players who are unable to be in the Symphony Orchestra, the majority being freshmen and less serious musicians who were not accepted into Symphony Orchestra or choose not to audition for the group. Still, it is a performance-based group that has a strong focus on teaching students classical music through rehearsal and performance of standard orchestra literature. Among the other instrumental groups at Niwot are the jazz bands and the concert/marching bands.[citation needed]
In the jazz department there are three groups - advanced jazz (Jazz I), intermediate jazz (Jazz II), and the recently added beginner jazz (Jazz III). Jazz I serves are the top jazz band, being a classic 17-piece big band, though at times due to last minute scheduling complications with students, it has been smaller. This group's main focus is performance, though jazz theory is studied lightly. This group has varied over the years in their presence in the district. For years it was one of the for most jazz groups in the state, but due to the loss of a key instructor, the group has lost a bit of its standing. Nevertheless though the group continually works towards excellence, usually scoring Superior rating at the Skyline Jazz Festival and always ready to play a gig. Jazz II has long been the band that serves to give an introduction into jazz, with the intent of getting as many students introduced to jazz as possible while still being a performance-based group. This group has varied in size through the years, initially being about twice the size of Jazz I to being easily over three times the size of Jazz I. An interesting note is that with the intent of getting as many students introduced to jazz as possible, this group has been known to accept non-traditional big band instruments, such as the flute, euphonium, and clarinet. A few years ago Jazz II was even lucky enough to have a full time Vibe player. With the recent addition of Jazz III, Jazz II now has a more standard instrumentation and has become more similar to Jazz I in its style and goals. Jazz III is the newest jazz band, added just this year. This jazz band has, to a degree, taken over the responsibility of being the group that serves to introduce as many students to jazz as possible, taking on many of the non-traditional instruments.[citation needed]
On the other side of the band department are the concert bands and the marching band. The Cougar Marching Band is an open group, meaning that anyone who wants to join it can as it is a non-audition group. The only exception to this is the drumline and the color guard, two key sections that must be auditioned for. The marching band has no set size, though about 10% of the school is involved. The size of most high school bands depend on the general size of the school. The Cougar Marching Band has had from around eighty to one- hundred and twenty students over the years, the largest being this year's group with about 140 students enrolled. With such numbers, the marching band almost always has a complete drumline and large color guard. One interesting note is that the Cougar Marching Band does not have a pit, pretty much eliminating the use of auxiliary percussion and mallet percussion, though this season the drumline did experience the addition of a single bell set to the line up. The band is lead by three drum majors who have gone through extensive interviews and auditions to obtain the position. The Cougar Marching Band is one of the most visible groups in the school, as they perform at all home football games, as well as most all parades in Niwot and Longmont. Other performances of the marching band include the St. Vrain Valley Band Night and the Greeley Invitational (both being judged exhibitions) as well as being the concluding act for the Fall Extravaganza. Since the marching band is a non-competitive group they do not participate in regional or state competitions, but usually receive excellent or superior ratings at the Greeley Invitational. Unfortunately, this past season the band was unable to participate in the Greeley Invitational due to lack of funds.[citation needed]
After the marching season wraps up the members of the band go into a concert band setting. For many years there was only on single band, known as the Symphonic Band. This recently changed though when the choice was made to split the band into two different groups, the typical concert band style Symphonic Band and the newest addition, the Wind Ensemble. It was due to the band's large size and the presence of two teachers that this choice was made. The Wind Ensemble is the smaller group, consisting of only several people to a part, which serves as the top performance group in the band department. Though it is still in the early stages of development, this group has already begun to set high standards for the Niwot High School Music Department. The Symphonic Band is the lower ranked band, being a larger group with more people on one part. Again, this band is still in its early stages despite it's similarity to the previous Symphonic Band, but overall has begun to prove their musical abilities. Since these two groups are made from the marching band and are taught during the same block, placement between these two groups is decided by one large seating test that is done by the entire band. Those who place in the highest seats are put in the Wind Ensemble while those in the lower seats are placed in the Symphonic Band.[citation needed]
The choir section of the department is also well developed and has it's share of groups. Currently there are three non-audition groups and four audition groups. For the non-audition groups there is the Varsity Men's Choir, 9th Grade Treble Choir, and Concert Chorus. These groups all serve as an introduction to choir and singing for those students who have never sang before or are unable to make it into an audition choir, all being performance based groups. The Varsity Men's Choir for all males, 9th Grade Treble for 9th grade females, and Concert Chorus for all males and females. On the other end with the audition based groups there is Chamber Singers, Sedalia, Evenstar, and Cantible. Sedalia is an all female audition choir with a performance focus. The literature they perform varies. In past years their performance repertoire being more along the lines of traditionally written contemporary choral work, but in more recent years they have performed a wider variety of works, delving into both classical, contemporary and pop music. Evenstar is the jazz/show choir of Niwot High School, being open to both males and females. This is also a performance based group in which the musical focus differs from that of the other groups, as they do not study classical choral music. Evenstar has performed everything from jazz standards to legendary musical numbers, and even into the relm of many famous pop songs. Chamber Singers is the classical choir of Niwot High School, preforming music the follows a more traditional choral sound. This choir is in a way one of the top choirs in the school as it is most likely the second hardest to be accepted into. Accepting both males and females and typically having smaller numbers accepted than Evenstar, this group is one of the most challenging choirs there is, accepting only the best. Chamber Singers focuses mostly on classical choral music, but they have also been known to perform very contemporary pieces. Cantible is a unique choir in that it is not a class the meets during the school day, but instead rehearses after school on Fridays. This is by far the most difficult choir to get into, as there is only about five people per voicing. Along with that there is a pre-requisite that one must already be in an audition choir to even be eligible to audition for Cantible, though there have been occasional exceptions to the rule in special cases. This choir is very similar to Chamber Singers in the style of music they perform, revolving around classical and contemporary pieces. One interesting piece of information on the performances of the choir department is the use of combining choirs. Specifically, at choir concerts all the various choirs (including the non-audition choirs) will combine into one massively huge choir for a piece or two, usually being the ending to the concert.[citation needed]
Another group of the choir department that stands on its own league is the Musical Theatre class. In between the years of the larger musical productions (meaning those that involve a larger number of students and are rehearsed after school) this class serves as the primary rehearsal and education center for the yearly school musical, but during the semester following the musical or during years in which the musical is entirely an after school effort this class allows students to study various musicals throughout history. During years in which the school musical is the Musical Theatre class for the first semester, this version of the class is only offered during second semester, while during the years in which the school musical is prepared after school, this class is offered both semesters. While this is not a performance based class, towards the end of each semester the class does present a musical revue in which students will perform various songs from the musicals that they have been studying. Despite not being performance bassed in the same way as the choirs, this class is an audition only as it is a class only for those who are serious about studying musicals as well as those who have the ability to perform the pieces for the musical revue.[citation needed]
Another excellent addition to Niwot's music department is its yearly musical. In the past years students of Niwot High School have put on the productions of South Pacific, Into the Woods, Beauty and the Beast, and Aida. In the fall of 2008 Niwot will present Little Shop of Horrors. Showing November 13-16. The number of students who take an active role in the musical varies, depending on which musical is selected, how many students audition, and how it is rehearsed. South Pacific probably had one of the highest number of student participation, involving a large number of actors/singers on stage, a student tech crew, and a full student pit orchestra (with strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion). Other musicals like Into the Woods and Beauty and the Beast has had the pior two listed above the but lacked a student pit orchestra, instead using one that consisted of the choir accompanist, hired professional musicians, and sometimes an exceptionally skilled student pianist. While there is a musical every year, it is only every three years that there is a larger musical production. What this means is that every three years the school musical will involve students in every aspect of the musical, including a pit orchestra and commonly student directors. For these larger productions the auditions and rehearsals all take place after school, making it a fully extracurricular activity. Typically since there is a higher students involvement and a true pit orchestra these larger productions are usually of the more elaborate and difficult musicals that often require a very high number of participants to fill all the positions. In between the years of large productions the first semester of the Musical Theatre class serves as the primary rehearsal time for the musical, usually having a smaller cast and no student pit orchestra. Along with that the musicals done within the Musical Theatre class are typically smaller ones that don't require as many people or extravagant sets, though Beauty and the Beast did defy this norm. This year students of Niwot performed Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida. This year was be one of the larger productions, so there was a pit orchestra comprised entirely of students, with the exception of the choir accompanist who was be playing the 1st piano/keyboard part. Along with a full chorus, all lead characters who have a vocal solo in their part had been double cast to expand the number of people able to participate in the musical. The show took place in November 2007 with a total of four showings, over all the entire production being a complete success as one of the best musicals Niwot High School has ever put on. Ms. Needham will be married over the summer![citation needed]
Niwot High School is also proud to be home of distinguished athletes. NHS's local high school rivals include Longmont High School, Skyline High School, and Silver Creek High School.[citation needed] Home of the Cougars, Niwot's high school colors are Kelly Green, Black, and Silver.[citation needed] Though, at most athletic and social events, students typically wear camouflage apparel to their avid school spirit.[citation needed] Niwot's football team has made it to the 3A Playoffs in 2001, 2004, 2005, and in 2002, made it to the 4A playoffs as well.[citation needed] Meanwhile, the Niwot baseball team has won the 4A State Championships in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2005.[citation needed] Not to mention, the Cougars were also recognized as Legion A State Champs in 2003, 2004, and 2005.[citation needed] Niwot Golf team also won the Northern Conference for Golf in 2006 with golfers finishing 1st and 4th in their conference.[citation needed] Other outstanding athletic programs that Niwot offers include:
-Football
| Girls'/Boys' Volleyball |
| Girls'/Boys' Basketball |
| Girls'/Boys' Swimming |
| Girls'/Boys' Soccer |
| Girls'/Boys' Tennis |
| Track and Field |
| Cross Country |
| Cheerleading |
| Girls' Softball |
| Gymnastics |
| Golf |
| Wrestling |
Aside from sports, Niwot also encourages numerous extra curricular alternatives such as:
| South Paw Newspaper | Book Club |
| Yearbook | Student Council |
| Color Guard | Dance Team |
| Forensics | FIRST Robotics (team #1552) |
| Habitat for Humanity | Amnesty International |
| National Honor Society | Knowledge Master team |
| Drama | Tech Crew |
| Odyssey of the Mind (OM) | Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) |
Niwot High School also has an education foundation.[citation needed] The NHS Education Foundation is a non-profit 501(c) 3 organization founded in 1994 on the principle that children are our most precious resource. Charged with the mission of enhancing and enriching student learning, NHSEF contributes to every student in the NHS community through mini-grants, major grants, fellowships, scholarships, and departmental awards. Through fund-raising efforts, as well as corporate and individual donations, the Foundation has distributed annually, an average in excess of $22,000 over the last five years. To become involved in the Foundation, contact Niwot High School.[citation needed]
[edit] External links
- School website [1]
