Frederick High School

Home of the Warriors Longmont Times-Call Publication August 2012

Grand Opening Tuesday, August 21 5 to 7:30 p.m.

5690 Tipple Parkway, Frederick WWW.TIMESCALL.COM

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Letter from the Principal inspire young people. with over 900 students in They are deeply commitgrades 9-12th. Academited and believe each and cally, we have a variety of every student can learn. course offerings in both This top-notch group of core and elective classes. teachers, coaches and Frederick High is excited staff ensure that each to continue our partnerstudent who walks ship with CU Denver and through the doors of the CU Gold program. the new Frederick High We continue to grow Vargas School feels respected our advanced academic and connected. I’m lookprogramming, with over ing forward to the excitement and 300 students enrolled in CU Gold, challenges that await us.

Honors, or Advanced Placement We celebrate the opening of a courses. new and impressive building, filled We are also looking forward to with technology and endless working closely with Front Range possibilities, yet we won’t lose Community College to give our sight of what happens inside its students another option for higher walls – a commitment to academic education. We are committed to excellence. offering students an array of opThe new high school is a source portunities to prepare them for the of pride and accomplishment for future. both the school district and the TriAs the new school year begins, I Town community. I promise, on my have the wonderful opportunity to watch, we will not forget the tradiwork with a staff that can lead and

It’s not often a community has the opportunity to celebrate the opening of a new school, yet the long hours of planning and collaboration have paid off. In November 2008, District voters demonstrated their commitment to the community by approving a bond and mill levy override; we are now reaping the benefits of community values and an investment in our future.

On behalf of staff, administration, students and parents, we’d like to welcome the Tri-Town community to the new Frederick High School. With support from the St. Vrain Board of Education and Superintendent, Dr. Don Haddad, our students enter a state-of-theart facility that brings pride and inspires excellence. And just as the tradition started over 100 years before us, Frederick High School will continue to be the center of our community.

We open the 2012/13 school year

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tions and responsibilities that have been built by many people. Yet, as we walk into the new building, we hope to build new traditions as well as celebrate the old ones. From everyone at Frederick High School, I want to once again thank you for your continued support. This has been a team effort; we are a great example of what ‘as one’ looks like.

“It’s a Great Day to be Alive and a Warrior!”

Pete Vargas Frederick High School

Congratulations

Frederick Warriors!

We can’t wait to watch you thrive in your new home!

St. Vrain Valley School District

www.frederickco.gov .

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Historic bell will remain a part of new high school

By Melissa Howell

Longmont Times-Call

Years ago, the Frederick schoolhouse bell was a central part of the Tri-Town community, defining a student’s day and ringing for many to hear. That very bell, which has sat silent for years – will once again ring, giving students at the new Frederick High School an opportunity to remember the bell as part of their high school experience.

Manufactured in 1886, the bell was placed atop the Frederick K-12 schoolhouse in 1917. Frederick High School graduate Shirley Thompson Petroff (’53), remembers the bell ringing at the start of school, at lunch recess and at dismissal.

“Our principal Mr. Walsh or the janitor would ring it,” she says.

“It was an important part of our school. I remember someone who

lived near the school, who was always tardy, they would come running up when they heard it. It was a part of our school day; we knew what we were supposed to do.”

When the schoolhouse was torn down in 1961, the bell was sold to a collector in Evergreen, who housed the bell in a museum in his home. Some years ago, Thompson Petroff’s neighbor toured the museum in Evergreen with her senior citizens’ group, and discovered the bell, which was labeled as having been atop the Frederick schoolhouse. Recalling that Thompson Petroff had graduated from Frederick, the neighbor mentioned it to her.

The bell collector passed away, and willed his bell collection to his alma mater in Hastings, Nebraska. Thompson Petroff spoke with the executor of the estate, who was willing to sell the Frederick

The historic Frederick High School bell resides in its new location in the middle of the new school. (Matthew Wiggins)

Principal Pete Vargas says. “My vision is to ring it every Friday to start school.”

Asked who will ring the bell, Vargas excitedly replied, “It’s gonna be me!”

“I think it’s wonderful, I really do,” Thompson Petroff says. “I’m glad it’s in the school; it’s where it should be.”

bell. Thompson Petroff went to the Frederick Town Board, who agreed to purchase the bell. Housed for several years in the Frederick Museum in the Old City Hall, the bell has now found a new old home: In the new Frederick High School.

“We put the bell in the center of our school,” Frederick High School

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Frederick High School: Building on deep roots

By Dominique Del Grosso

Longmont Times-Call

Like a scene from “Little House on the Prairie,” Frederick High School (FHS) was once a small, modest schoolhouse. Built in 1901, the school served only a small number of students for many years.

Although small at first, in size and student population, today, nearly 975 ninth to 12th grade students are projected to attend FHS for the 2012 to 2013 school year. And this will mark the first school year FHS is housed in a new, state-of-the-art building.

For the past 111 years, this school has been a keystone in the Tri-Town area, strengthening the community through its education, innovation, staff and students. Although FHS has moved from building to building, both the school and its students have always been known as the Frederick Warriors. “We don’t know why, we haven’t been able to figure it out, but the Frederick Warriors is what we’ve always been. Being the Warriors has been a part of the students’ culture for some time,” Peter Vargas, building principal of FHS, says.

FHS roots run deep in this TriTown area, which includes the cities of Frederick, Firestone and Dacono. Many current FHS students are second and third generation students. In fact, many families stay in the area because of their ties to and history with Frederick Warrior pride. “There is a lot of rich tradition in this school. We are involved in major growth, but half of our student body is second and third generation students,” Vargas says.

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A technology lab at the new FHS building. Bottom from left: Classrooms have plenty of natural light. The new library will get a high-tech upgrade.

(Photos courtesy Matthew Wiggins)

What generations past can’t experience is the new, modern building FHS will now call home.

Located at 5690 Tipple Parkway in Frederick, FHS is not your typical high school. In fact, this building was not modeled after any other school in the area. Together with contractors, FHS school administrators developed a unique, progressive design to fit the needs of a large student population and tech-

nological advancements in education, ensuring their students are prepared, competitive candidates for college and the 21st century job market.

“Our goal is to make sure our students can compete globally in the future. With the way technology is progressing, we have to ensure our students are prepared.

Our new building has seven technology labs. Every classroom

will have a projector, every teacher will operate with a laptop, and we have document cameras that hook up to their laptops for teaching purposes,” Vargas says. “The entire school has Wi-Fi, and we’re also working to develop a multi-tech lab with music technology, photo art and video and photography in that lab.”

The entire building is well lit with natural light streaming in

“Our goal is to make sure our students can compete globally in the future. With the way technology is progressing, we have to ensure our students are prepared.”

– Pete Vargas, FHS Principal .

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The Auditorium.

from windows located all around the school.

Because of the amount of windows and the quality of light shining in, the entire school can operate for a full day of classes without any fluorescent or artificial lighting. With less strain to the eyes, the idea was to aid students during their school day through a progressive, natural approach.

What is more, even the library will get a high-tech upgrade, making more textbooks and

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A lab in the new FHS bulding.

resources readily available to students and staff.

“We will be moving our library into an e-learning environment. Our hope is to have our textbooks, novels, etc., all online and have every student and teacher operate in that way,” Vargas says.

With rapid population growth comes the need to accommodate more students with advancements and an expansion of square feet.

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That is exactly what was needed at FHS for the future and continued success of its staff and students. No matter how large FHS may grow, the homegrown feel is here to stay.

“Just about 10 years ago, FHS had only about 400 kids, which included seventh to twelfth grades. Now, with nearly 1,000 students, we still have that small-town feel, which is so unique and something we’re very proud of,” Vargas says.

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Community Collaboration

New FHS becomes a reality through community support

By Melissa Howell

Longmont Times-Call

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If the new Frederick High School is the figurative center of the Tri-Town community, it can be credited to the fact that many voices from throughout the community had a say in the planning process.

From administrators to students, teachers to community members, board members to taxpayers, the new school is the culmination of a process that has reflected all aspects of the local community.

According to FHS principal Pete Vargas, the passing of the mill levy and bond showed that the general community acknowledged that Frederick High School needed a new home. School Board member Mike Schiers says such groups as Grassroots St. Vrain and parents were influential in spreading the word to get the mill levy and bond passed.

“The mill levy and bond passing was a sign that the community was on board and behind this,” Schiers says.

From there, the community OK’d the funding for the new school, then had a say in what it would look like.

Students from throughout the district were assembled into a Superintendant Student Advisory Committee, to lend voices as to what they would want in a new school.

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The new school design took into account the growing Tri-Town community and its needs. It also provides a “natural” learning environment, with plenty of natural light to help promote student learning. (Matthew Wiggins)

“I attended the district student meeting,” says Rick Ring, chief operating officer for St. Vrain Valley School District. “The idea was devised by Clip Architects and Brian Lamer, the construction director. It was valuable to have student input; one of the reasons we brought Brian on board is because he understands where education and design come together.”

Location for the new school brought on

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discussions, with one of the options being to add on to the existing school, in addition to considering a completely new location.

“I went to the Frederick Town Board meeting, and said, ‘We need 60 acres of land, and oh, we need it for free,’” Schiers says.

“The next week I got a call, a developer and owner donated 30 acres from his subdivision, the City (of Frederick) had 30 acres of greenbelt space from the subdivision, all 60 acres were donated.

“That was a huge factor (in building a new school rather than remodeling the existing school). The donated land gave us more leeway to do more with the school.”

A planning commission was created to provide community members input into the design of the new school; among its members was Carmine DeSantis, a 1947 Frederick High School graduate who went on to become a shop teacher at Frederick for 31 years.

“When they started planning the new school, I was walking to the post office. Someone driving by stopped and asked me where the high school is. It was the architect, and someone with him recognized me and said I need to be on the commission,” DeSantis says. “Things happened at the right time.”

When Vargas came on board, he assembled a group of current FHS students – freshmen at the time, who are now seniors – to have input into what they wanted in their school. He selected 16 students – eight athletes and eight from music programs.

“Mr. Vargas picked kids that demonstrate the heart of the Warrior, and kids who are athletically and musically talented, all have good grades, in AP classes,” says Courtney Zimmerman, a volleyball player who is one of the 16 students who helped plan part of the new school.

“We met one day after school, we had all the building plans out; it was really fun. We got to pick the words on the wall in the cafeteria, the colors on the gym floor … we had some argu-

ments about the cool words in the cafeteria, but in the end we came together.”

Those 16 students’ names are placed within the large W-A-R-R-I-O-R-S on the cafeteria wall.

At the end of a process that lasted for several years and heard voices from throughout the community, the end result is largely a collective one. From the large turnout to the open house, which included the developer and owner who donated the land, to the responses that continue to pour in, the reactions reflect a community’s positivity and pride.

“The open house was packed; people came from all over to attend it,” Schiers says. “The town of Frederick has been so supportive. They are doing a 7-foot bronze statue of a Warrior to put in the median off of Tipple and Colorado.”

“I’m grateful for how we were treated,” Vargas says. “It’s a beautiful facility. We were taken

care of very well … Our kids are going to be able to come here and have a wonderful experience and learn. It will be exciting to see their faces when they walk in the first day.”

“I was speechless, didn’t know what to say, thinking, ‘This is my school now, I helped design it,’” Zimmerman says. “50 years from now when I come back and see all this growth, my name will still be up there. It’s an amazing opportunity, so blessed to have a new high school.

I’m very thankful. We’re all excited to come back to school.”

“I’m absolutely excited about the Tri-Town area having a new high school and the opportunities for student programs and excellent academics,” Ring says. “The reception from the community has been very positive. Now I’m excited about what teachers and staff can do for the students.”

Along with the new state-of-the-art building, FHS was able to provide students with a football field and track, baseball and softball fields, and tennis courts. Above: The new gym for the FHS Warriors. (Matthew Wiggins)

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The schools, students that makeup FHS

By Dominique Del Grosso

Longmont Times-Call

In a community where students aren’t required to attend a predetermined school based on city boundaries or a public school feedersystem, deciding which high school to attend can be a big decision. For Frederick High School (FHS), this school offers students the opportunity to experience a brand new building starting in the 2012 school year, progressive educational programs and technologically savvy classrooms that may entice many more students to attend in the near future.

Some school districts require students to feed directly from a specific elementary school into a particular middle school and again for high school. Generally, that type of feeder system is configured by city boundaries and the location of your home. However, for FHS, this isn’t the case.

In the Tri-Town area, which includes the cities of Frederick, Firestone and Dacono, families can choose the school they would like their student to attend. Although there is a feeder-system in place for all schools in the area, families are not required to adhere to the predetermined design.

Amy Weed, area assistant superintendent with the St. Vrain Valley School District, says a feeder-system is in place to ensure the best interest of the student’s education is kept at the forefront. “The purpose of a feeder-system is to align the standards and requirements of a curriculum and school. It’s a great way to standardize the school grades to ensure we’re not repeating curriculum and missing pieces of the different school level,” she says. Ultimately, the feeder-system helps to ensure students are progressing on the timeline they should, helping to guarantee a competitive edge for their higher education dreams and future career pursuits.

Because parents can choose to send their

Illustration by Matthew Wiggins

students to any school in the area, they must opt into the open enrollment system. Doing so isn’t as complicated as it may seem. No transportation to and from school is offered for students in the open enrollment program, so parents are required to manage this aspect. In addition, there is a short paperwork process to opt-out of the feeder-system and into open enrollment instead, Weed says.

“As a large administrative group, we make a

point to go into classrooms and evaluate what is happening in the classroom to see where improvements can be made. It’s an eye-opening experience and a great learning opportunity for us. It keeps everyone accountable,” Weed says.

The schools that feed directly into FHS are: Coal Ridge Middle School, Frederick Elementary School, Prairie Ridge Elementary School and Legacy Elementary School.

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Donated land for FHS expands offerings to students, community

By Summer Stair

Longmont Times-Call

It’s hard to miss, the 60 acres on the corner of Colorado Boulevard and Tipple Parkway that now house the new 190,351 square foot Frederick High School. Opening its doors to students this year, what once was just a big empty field will now house more than 900 students this fall in its halls, along with two baseball fields, two softball fields, a football stadium and track, as well as six tennis courts. But as many wonder, where did this land come from?

According to Rick Ring, chief operations officer for the St. Vrain Valley School District, the land came from the Town of Frederick and developers in the area as part of a land dedication. This dedication occurred after the school district and Town of Frederick started talk-

ing about the need for a new high school in the Carbon Valley area.

The current one was overflowing and a need to expand due to the growing student body was needed.

Jennifer Simmons, planning director for the Town of Frederick, says that the land the new school was built on was originally slated for a future community park. But when the talks came about for a new school, the town approached its developer and came up with a new plan. Under the new plan, the Town of Frederick donated 30 acres and the developer another 30 acres to the school district for a state-of-the-art school to be built on.

Pete Vargas, principal of Frederick High School, says the new school is three times larger than the old one and that he and the community are excited to have a bigger facility that they can grow into

The new tennis courts at FHS will not only provide a need to the Carbon Valley community, but will allow the school to have a future Warriors tennis team. (Matthew Wiggins)

six tennis courts will provide a need to the community, which lacks tennis courts, and hopefully to a future Warriors tennis team, Vargas says.

and one that adorns a state-of-theart technology system. He is also excited for the expansion in sports fields, not only for the school but for the community. Housing

Congratulations to the Frederick Community a n d S t . V r a i n Va l l e y S c h o o l D i s t r i c t !

klipp is honored to be the architect for the new Frederick High School, in association with Hutton Architects Studio.

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College Bound Frederick High School’s CU Succeed Program “With more actual college exposure in high school, we’re finding that the need for college remediation is decreasing among our students.”

– Doug Jackson, Assistant Principal at FHS

By Dominique Del Grosso

Longmont Times-Call

If there is one thing that helps Frederick High School (FHS) stand out in the Tri-Town area of Colorado, the CU Succeed Program is a good place to start. Much of what is said about the high school experience revolves around friends, dating, sports and school dances.

However, the CU Succeed Program at FHS can enhance the average academic experience by grooming students’ study habits for collegelevel material and building up their confidence in the process.

The CU Succeed Program allows students to earn dual credits for high school and college while simultaneously testing their skills for higher education in a controlled, supportive environment on FHS campus. Students are able to begin their college career in high school due to this partnership between FHS and the University of Colorado at Denver.

“In terms of readiness, universities all over the country are finding that freshmen require remediation courses,” Doug Jackson, assistant principal of FHS says. “With more actual college exposure in high school, we’re finding that the need for college remediation is decreasing among our students.”

The purpose behind the CU Succeed Program is simple: help students feel more prepared for

college and assist them in earning college credit at a reasonable rate.

The credits earned carry the same weight as college courses taken on CU campus, and the credits are transferable to any accepting institution.

“In addition to the aforementioned elements of readiness and credit, a great benefit is that students can choose to engage at whatever level is appropriate to them,” Jackson says. “We have students who have earned 18 to 20 credits, nearly entering college as sophomores, and we have others who are choosing to challenge themselves by taking their first college course to help them and their parents decide on a future path.”

Not just any high school teacher can participate in instructing students enrolled in the program.

“Typically, the instructor is an FHS

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Having their first college experience in a class that generally averages less than 25 students with a teacher they have probably had before, makes their first college classes a lot more comfortable.”

So how does the CU Succeed Program differ from Advanced Placement (AP) programs in other high schools? Jackson says the CU Succeed Program ensures college credit while AP programs only guarantee high school credit. In addition, for a student who would like college credit for participating in an AP program, they must pass a College Board exam, and the amount of credits awarded for those classes can vary from university to university.

“The CU Succeed option is also great because, like most of life, you are rewarded for ‘all’ of your work, not just one test like you are with the AP option,” Revielle says.

For additional schools information about the CU Succeed Program, visit www.ucdenver.edu/academics/ continuing-education/CUSucceed/ Pages/default.aspx.

teacher who has been approved as a CU adjunct professor, known as ‘CU Gold.’ Occasionally, the instructor in an actual CU professor who comes to FHS, known as ‘CU Silver,’” Jackson says.

In addition to helping students feel prepared to navigate the rigors of college coursework, the CU Succeed Program costs are affordable compared with the rising tuition costs of universities in and outof-state. In fact, the CU Succeed program offers credits at the rate of $75 per credit hour.

Jami Revielle, social studies department chair and AP government/CU Succeed Program American political science instructor, says she knows through experience the impact this program can have on her students’ future.

“I have had several students contact me after high school and have commented on how they don’t know how kids who don’t take the CU Succeed Program classes are ready to deal with the rigor of college life,” she says. “Unfortunately, I told them that many aren’t and end up struggling throughout.

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Community will gain a new school, early childhood center District makes plans for old FHS building

By Summer Stair

Longmont Times-Call

With the new Frederick High School built and ready to welcome students this fall for the 2012/13 school year, community eyes have turned to the old building, located at 600 Fifth St. in Frederick, that once housed the Warriors. As a small-knit community it’s hard not to be curious of the fate of the old high school, as a fence surrounds the old building and visible construction is taking place.

Amy Weed, area assistant superintendent with the St. Vrain Valley School District, says plans are in the preliminary stages right now, but once the school is renovated (hopefully, by late spring 2013) the old FHS building will be ready for a new Tri-Town K-8 school.

Renovations include updating the building to a newer-state, making it more up-to-date technology wise, and to make accommodations for elementary and middle schoolaged students.

While the renovations are “full speed ahead,” the process of getting the K-8 school to be ready by Fall 2013, a lot of planning still needs to happen. According to Weed, a planning team has been created, which will work with the teachers and community to come up with a name, colors and mascot.

“There’s a process of getting a lot from the community; setting up

community meetings to get feedback from parents,” she says. “We will be working on a curriculum, as well.” Weed says the hope is that

by November, the information can be presented to the School Board and accepted.

So which students will be attending this new K-8 school in Frederick? According to Weed, the entire Frederick Elementary will move to this building, which is approximately 550 students, and then it will relieve Coal Ridge Middle School of approximately 250 students.

Once Frederick Elementary students are moved to the new K-8 school in the Fall of 2013, the current Frederick Elementary building, located at 555 Eighth St., will become a state-of-the-art early childhood center. “We are in the very beginning stages of what it is going to be called. We believe it will house six to eight classes from Centennial, Prairie Ridge, Legacy and Frederick Elementary,” Weed says. “This will provide relief to the elementary schools, and they really need it.”

The growing Tri-Town community had recently found many of its schools “bursting at the seams,” so the new K-8 school and early childhood center will be welcome additions.

“We are really excited because it will be our (St. Vrain Valley School District) first K-8 school,” Weed says. “It is a wonderful structure, because you really get to know the students and parents.”

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The old Frederick High School building, at 600 Fifth St., is currently being renovated to house a future K-8 school. (Times-Call file photo)

by having elementary and middle school-aged students in the same building a mentor program can be implemented.

“We are excited for the many opportunities in a K-8 school.”

Aside from the family-feeling K-8 schools are known to provide, Weed says it also helps eliminate the elementary to middle school transition that so many students struggle with. Another bonus, is

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