Helix Feed

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.”

What if your mask could tell you have COVID? Aurora school kids are helping scientists figure out how.

Gloved researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health are set up in the corner of the cafeteria at Aurora Science & Technology Middle School collecting nasal swabs and face masks with the power to detect the coronavirus. The middle school adjacent to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is part of a dual-purpose surveillance and research study that could create new protocols for future waves of the coronavirus pandemic or even future pandemics. 

Fighting the Good Fight' | Local principal co-writes book about African American experiences in higher positions in the Education system

Published by Word & Deed Publishing Inc., and co-edited by DSST VP of DEI Dr. Aaron Griffen, Indian Spring Middle School Principal Dr. Isaac Carrier credits the idea to co-write the book based on his own experiences.

Refer Someone to the Apprentice Teacher Program Today!

Help us build our most talented and diverse cohort of Apprentice Teachers yet! Applications to the 22-23 Apprentice Teacher Program have launched! If you or someone you know is interested, join THIS webinar on February 15 at 4 p.m.!

CV Award Competition Winner Cole Supports Youth on Record

At the Holiday Party, we announced that Cole won the Core Value Award Nomination challenge, submitting the highest number of nominations in the entire network. As the winners of this challenge, they got to choose a charity that will receive a $1,000 donation from the DSST network. Here’s why they chose Youth On Record to receive this donation: