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What to know about the Black Excellence Resolution & DSST Public Schools

What is the Black Excellence Resolution (BER)? 

College View high schoolers celebrate incoming freshmen

The transition from middle to high school can be intimidating. It feels like the transition from being a child to taking your first step into becoming an adult. The College View campus is working to support students to help make sure they know that each one of them is valued in the Wolf Pack, and to create excitement for the next chapter as they enter high school next year.

Colorado researchers team up with middle schoolers to test out new masks

Researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health recruited a team of local middle schoolers to help test out face masks that can detect asymptomatic cases of COVID-19. The masks, which were developed by the University of Leicester in the U.K., contain a special 3D-printed strip that can trap exhaled microbes over a period of at least 30 minutes while the mask is being worn.

Colorado middle school, higher ed partnership sparks STEM engagement

Since November, volunteer students and staff at Aurora Science & Tech Middle School in Colorado have been wearing face masks with strips on the inside that can detect COVID-19 — as part of a study with Colorado School of Public Health that also aims to capture student interest in science.

How Colorado is preparing for the ups and downs of COVID’s third year

It’s lunch at Aurora Science and Technology Middle School, and student Fatima Najar reflects on life in pandemic times. “Yeah, it's been pretty hard, pretty difficult,” she said. Last year, the virus cost her and her classmates many months of learning in person. This year is better. Everyone is back and wearing masks.

COVID In Colorado: Middle School Students Join Experts In Mask Study

Researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health are investing resources their energy into Colorado schools. They hope a new COVID study will not only result in safer hallways, but a larger impact when it comes to detection of respiratory illnesses across the world. For students at the Aurora Science & Tech Middle School, it was a great opportunity.

Black and U.S. Immigration History: What it means to be 'American'

A note from Dr. Aaron J. Griffen, VP of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Some who are versed in History, Geography, migrant patterns and Human Geography, may struggle with the notion that Black History is American History, and that to be American is to reside in and be born or naturalized to the United States of America.

Take a moment to reflect on Black History Month and what it means for the Black community

Happy Lunar New Year: Here are a few things to know about the holiday

A note from Dr. Aaron J. Griffen, VP of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

'We knew we had a chance': DSST Byers High School cheer team places third in state competition

150 seconds. Months of training, conditioning, memorizing choreography, late practices and perfecting technique all boils down to two and a half minutes.

“We knew we had a chance, and we also knew we had done all we could in that moment to make it.”

For those who say cheerleading is not a sport, I would kindly ask you to spend some time with DSST: Byers High School cheer coach, Samantha Barton and her team. The blood, sweat and tears that went into perfecting those two minutes and 30 seconds earned the team a third place ranking at state competition.

That kind of success doesn’t happen in a few short months. The competition season for the Byers cheer teams starts with tryouts in May. There is open gym throughout the entire summer and practices where they work on teambuilding and conditioning in order to build a foundation for stunting.

At the end of summer, the team has 16 hours (broken up over two days) to learn the choreography so when practices get into full swing, it is just about polishing the technique and details.

It takes a lot of hard work to get to where they are, but Barton said this year in particular was “pretty tough.”

“We had a handful of people leave the team, which caused us to constantly change stunting groups, change positions and roles, and rework the routine. We had several injuries and then just dealt with people getting sick toward the end of the season,” Barton said. “Everyone stepped up to roles that they didn’t necessarily want to do, but they knew it was best for the team.”

It is that team mentality that Barton said really helped them be successful.
Michelle and Nadia, two of the team’s captains, agreed that team mentality makes all the difference.

“Being on a team makes you learn to work not only for yourself but for the whole team,” Michelle said.

“I love how willing people are to try new skills and throw themselves into difficult routines,” said Nadia. “I am inspired by everyone’s work ethic and commitment. I admire their eagerness to push themselves harder and do better.”

The team is young – only 6 years old – and to get to state, let alone place in the top three, they “had to land a perfect routine in preliminaries to get a spot,” Barton said.

Only three teams would be making it to the finals, and there is a lot of time for anxiety to build while they warm up, stretch and practice ahead of their performance, but Barton said the team was ready and never looked better.

“Their prelim performance was the best they ever laid out on the mat. They got a ‘hit zero,’ which in cheer terms means they did not get any deductions,” Barton said. “About 5 to 6 hours later they finally announced the teams going to finals. It’s a tradition for the team to hold hands, close your eyes, and put your head down … We heard “DSST…” and the team immediately was jumping up and down and screaming with excitement.”

It was the team’s third time attending the state competition and each year they had gotten better from ranking twelfth to coming in fourth, so just hearing that they were among the top three finalists was a huge win.

Neither Miranda or Nadia were surprised at the ranking, and both agree that it was well-deserved. Barton agrees with her senior leaders, saying they “hit a perfect routine in finals.”

“We felt honored to have the chance to go to finals, and knew we were with other great teams,” Barton said. “Third place in the state of Colorado is the highest we’ve gotten and we are so proud of that ranking.”