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Q&A: How Montview seniors live out the Core Value of Integrity

As we prepare to celebrate the DSST Class of 2023 at Senior Signing Day on April 27, we are featuring how this senior class lives out the six DSST Core Values (Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Courage, Curiosity and Doing Your Best) at school and beyond.

We are excited to feature DSST: Montview seniors Seline Mesfin and Clara Medrano, who are both leaders of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) at their school. 

Read our conversation on integrity, advocating for change and the worst pizza toppings below.

Q&A: CG Seniors leading the Black Student Alliance share how they live out the Core Value of Doing Your Best

As we prepare to celebrate the DSST Class of 2023 at Senior Signing Day on April 27, we are featuring how this senior class lives out the six DSST Core Values (Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Courage, Curiosity, and Doing Your Best) at school and beyond.

We are excited to feature DSST: Conservatory Green Black Student Alliance (BSA) senior leaders: Talile Abubakar, Gift Faleru, Amaiah Hurd, Miriam Kangethe, Lexi Leverett and Michael Oppong-Kakyire.

Sophonias Paulos, the BSA advisor, is incredibly proud of these seniors and all they have accomplished this year.

“One of BSA's biggest achievements this year was being able to organize a series of educational events and trips to further learn about Black Culture and the overall Black experience in the U.S.,” said Paulos. “This was possible due to our exceptional senior BSA leaders, especially our BSA president Lexi Leverett … who has dedicated herself to empowering and uplifting her fellow students of color here at DSST: CG High School.”

Read our conversation with these CGHS seniors on how they did their best to build a second home within their school community!

DSST Hosts Aviation Industry Nights for Students and Families

Students have been able to get first-hand exposure and connections to careers in aviation and aerospace thanks to a new partnership with the Denver International Airport (DEN) Center of Equity and Excellence in Aviation (CEEA) and DSST Public Schools.

A DSST: Green Valley Ranch High School family discusses career pathways with Southwest Pilot Deidre Glaser.

NPS results: An in-depth look at what we learned

We hope you all had a wonderful time off for Spring Break. We wanted to welcome you back with some information on what we heard for the Network Pulse survey that was sent out in March. 

Q&A: Cole seniors share how they live out the Core Value of curiosity

As we prepare to celebrate the DSST Class of 2023 at Senior Signing Day on April 27, we are featuring how this senior class lives out the six DSST Core Values (Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Courage, Curiosity and Doing Your Best) at school and beyond.

We are excited to feature DSST: Cole seniors Steven Esquivel, Anahi Martinez and Vanessa Vazquez.

Read our conversation on curiosity, high-quality STEM education, and plans for the future below.

Q&A: Senior Donna Williams-Martinez shares how she lives out the Core Value of responsibility

As we prepare to celebrate the DSST Class of 2023 at Senior Signing Day on April 27, we are featuring how this senior class lives out the six DSST Core Values (Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Courage, Curiosity and Doing Your Best) at school and beyond.

We are excited to feature Donna Williams-Martinez, senior at DSST: Byers High School for exemplifying the DSST Core Value of responsibility. 

Donna’s college counselor and basketball coach, Monica Anderson said, “Donna has played three different sports, been on an international trip with Global Leadership, led in the Pep Committee, has her own small business and has taken the lead on her college application process. I am so proud of her for her growth and determination. I cannot wait to see what she accomplishes post-high school.”

Read our conversation with Donna on responsibility, balance and her future plans below. 

Q&A: Senior Katrina Peacock shares how she lives out the Core Value of respect

As we prepare to celebrate the DSST Class of 2023 at Senior Signing Day on April 27, we are featuring how this senior class lives out the six DSST Core Values (Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Courage, Curiosity and Doing Your Best) at school and beyond.

Our first spotlight is on Katrina Peacock, senior at DSST: College View.

Her English teacher Tony Conte said, “Katrina both respects and commands the respect of everyone she encounters. Full of love and understanding, Katrina makes others feel valued and respected through her kind words, actions and positivity. CVHS will always use Katrina as a model for respect in the community.”

Read our conversation with Katrina on respect, close-knit community, and her future plans below.

Highlighting our amazing social workers for National School Social Work week

School social workers are culture leaders in our community. They play an integral role in ensuring that students receive mental health counseling services, leading crisis interventions and supporting our students in vital social-emotional development.

A step outside of STEM: How one DSST student learned to love photography through junior internship

For DSST: Green Valley Ranch junior Quinten Newbern STEM has been the main focus throughout his time at school. It has been a passion of his, and he has dedicated a lot of his time to developing those skills. 

However, when it came time to pick what he wanted to do for his junior-year internship, Newbern decided to step outside of his STEM comfort zone. 

“I have a lot of afterschool activities related to engineering, so I wanted to explore art through my internship," said Newbern.

Through the school’s College Success program, Newbern was placed at Downtown Aurora Visual Arts (DAVA), where he began to learn how to work with ceramics, developed skills in photo printing and more.

Post-Covid, DSST teachers chart long journey back to reading proficiency

Every day of our lives almost all of us will spend time reading. It could be a work of fact or fiction, a magazine or newspaper, or something online.

Through the written word we gain new knowledge. We combine these 26 symbols based upon the sounds they represent, or where they appear in a sequence and instantaneously recognize a word. As a species, it’s one of our most amazing skills.

Through reading, we quietly entertain or inform ourselves; are magically transported to other times—past, present and future; meet both real and imagined characters who exist in their own universe and are memorialized on the pages of books. Indeed, reading is the fuel that propels wonder.

What can be gained through reading is what literacy interventionists like Kelly Francisco and Samantha Hakes work on daily to impart to dozens of young minds at DSST: Green Valley Ranch Middle School and Aurora Science and Tech Middle School, respectively.