December 9, 2022 EDition

Lost and Found

Please be aware that the remaining lost and found items will be donated to the Goodwill on December 20th. We encourage all students who might be missing hoodies, jackets, or water bottles to look through lost and found by December 19th.  Thank you!

Socks of Love Donations 

FCCLA is collecting toothbrushes, toothpaste, granola bars, and warm tube socks in order to put together Socks of Love to donate to the homeless. All donations are being collected in room R2205 through Wednesday, December 14th when FCCLA students will stuff the socks and deliver the donations.  

activities

A Message from RV PTSA

Ralston Valley would like to honor their teachers this holiday and finals season.  We would like to provide treats on 12/16 and gift cards for teachers at their luncheon on 12/20.  Please review the sign up and contribute as you can.  Thank you!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508054BA4AA2BA20-celebrate 

Choir Concert December 13th and 14th

The Winter Choir concert is  Tuesday and Wednesday, December 13 and 14.  The concert features all 5 choirs singing seasonal music and holiday favorites.  Tickets can be purchased at rvchoir.com.  Hope to see you there! 

Colorado State Thespian Conference

Last weekend Mr. Thomas took 28 theatre students to the annual Colorado State Thespian conference at the Colorado Convention Center, attended by 4000  students from across the state. The students participated in several workshops taught by professionals and professors from across the nation. Several students also presented performances for professional feedback and they represented RV well.    The ratings they can receive are: Good, Excellent, or Superior. Ali Carpenter, Micah Andersen, Amelia Pennell, Gabby Castillo, and Eden Wagonlander all received an Excellent rating, and Leo Stricker, Harrison Pina, and Anna Mitchell received Superior ratings. Congratulations!

RV Choir Performs at DCPA's "Nutcracker"

Over the past weekend, RV’s auditioned treble choir, “Sapphire” sang in Colorado Ballet’s annual production of “The Nutcracker”.  They performed for a sold-out audience of over 2,000 people and did a wonderful job.  Congratulations to Sapphire on a job well done in a professional performance.

 Here is a photo of Sapphire warming up in the orchestra pit at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts prior to the show. 

RV at Colorado All-State Orchestra

Big congratulations to junior Seriana Schneider who was selected for Colorado All-State Orchestra! She will perform in February at Colorado State University.

RV Orchestra Performs with Mark Wood

The Ralston Valley Orchestras were joined by the 8th graders of Oberon and Drake, to perform with world renowned Mark Wood. Mark is one of the co-founders of the Tran-Siberian Orchestra, an Emmy winning composer, who has performed with Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Celine Dion and many more. The orchestras had a two-day clinic with Mark and then put on a rock and roll orchestra concert in front of a sold-out audience. 

Student Government Fall/Winter Service Project 

Ralston Valley Student Government has been working on Fall/Winter Service Projects and one of the committees is the Cameron Holland Toy Drive. Cameron Holland was an RVHS Senior that died in a tragic car accident in 2019.  This year we have combined with the Holland family, the football boosters, and our 9th Grade Advisement classes to organize the drive. The idea is to start a new tradition where our 9th graders participate in a service project through their Advisement Classes, to promote the idea of empathy and service. Our goal is to collect at least 200 toys this year! 

 

We are collecting unwrapped toys or gift cards to donate to Children's Hospital and Jeffco's Head Start program which provides services to many families living in poverty within Jefferson County. This service project is open to all RV students. If you have a 9th grader, they can drop of their donation to their Advisement teacher and if they are not in 9th grade, students can drop off toy donations to the main office or to Mrs. Braketa.  Donations are due by Monday, December 12th. Thank you for your support! 

athletics 

Good luck to the Ralston Valley Cheer and Dance teams!!!  They compete at the Denver Coliseum today and tomorrow for the 2022 CHSAA State Spirit Championships.  Both teams have performed well throughout the competition season, and are looking to make a strong finish in order to make it to the finals.


Our girls swim and dive team are off to a great start. They have won both of their meets to start the year.  They have a triangular this weekend and will be at the Colorado Coach's Invitational at VMAC next weekend competing against many of the best teams from across the state.  Good luck ladies!


Wrestling had a good showing at last week's Battle of the Best Wrestling Tournament at Pine Creek.  Lincoln Gregersen was rewarded for his performance by being named to the Tournaments' All-Star Team. After two days of wrestling and seven duals against top teams from across the state and nation, the team is ready for a break this weekend. 


Girl's Basketball will play for third place tonight at the Fairview Fest Basketball Tournament.  After falling to #3 Highlands Ranch in a tight game to open the tournament, the Mustangs are looking to finish strong.


Ice Hockey is currently ranked #1 in the state of Colorado after drawing even with Regis last Friday and beating previously ranked #1 Valor on Saturday.  They play three big games in a row with Fort Collins tonight, Mountain Vista on Saturday, and defending state champion Denver East on Monday.


Boys Basketball hosted the 15th Annual Ralston Roundup this week.  With wins over Douglas County and Cherry Creek, the Mustangs are 2-0 in the tournament.  Tonight, they play Legacy for the Roundup Championship.

RV's Cheer Team competing at CHSSA 2022 State Spirit competition today.  Final results will be posted later this evening.

off campus policy

Due to the nature of our campus, we do not allow students to walk off campus during the school day.  


9th-grade students are not allowed off campus at any point during the school day unless they leave with their parent/guardians. 


If your 10th-grade student is driving, they may leave campus with parental permission.  They are expected to follow local and state driving laws.  Please click on this FORM to give your sophomore child the ability to leave campus with your permission.  


Our campus is not closed to our 11th and 12th-grade students and they may leave campus. 

 Schedule for The week of 12/5/22

Monday, Dec. 12th - White Day

Tuesday, Dec. 13th - Blue Day

Wednesday, Dec. 14th - White Day

Thursday, Dec. 15th - Blue Day

Friday, Dec. 16th - White Day Finals, regular bell schedule and ICE

Monday, Dec. 19th - Blue Day Finals, regular bell schedule

Tuesday, Dec. 20th - Make up finals by appointment only

Advisement Corner

Ninth Grade Advisement

Monday, December 5th was our last full advisement class for the semester. 

There is one day left to make up advisement time:

Wednesday, 12/14

Room: L1101

Time: 3:15 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

Please see Mr. Ackerman with any questions.

Counseling Department

Schedule Release

Second semester schedules will be released and available for viewing in the Parent Portal late afternoon Thursday, December 15.  Parents will be notified via School Messenger when they are available.  This notification will also include the process for paying fees and the dates/times for the Schedule Placement Review Process.    

11th Grade ICAP

On Monday, counselors led 11th graders through their ICAP (Individual Career and Academic Plan).  Students took a Self-Discovery Skills survey and learned more about soft skills.  Ask your 11th grader what the survey told them about their top three skills!

Transition to College Student Panel

Recent RVHS alums are returning to RV to provide information and perspectives around their transition to college.  The panel will be focused towards seniors, but all students are invited to attend.  If your student would like to attend, please have them complete the RSVP form.

Date: Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Time: 8:00 a.m. (during ICE)

Place: RVHS Auditorium

Scholarships for Future Educators

The Jefferson County Education Association awards three scholarships to graduating seniors who are pursuing a degree in education.  Click on the name of each scholarship to learn more:

JCEA Excellence Fund for students pursuing a degree in education

Shermita West Scholarship for students of color pursuing a degree in education

Sue Anne Berger Scholarship for students intending to study the physical sciences or related fields

Outdoor Lab Needs Leaders!

Outdoor Lab is looking for high school leaders! Each year, every 6th-grade student in Jeffco has the opportunity to attend Outdoor Lab. High school leaders help support the teachers and staff during this weeklong mountain adventure. We still need to fill spots for the spring semester, and we are really in need of male volunteers! If your student is in 11th or 12th grade (in certain cases, 10th graders are included) and would like to be a leader, encourage them to see Ms. McGlone in the counseling office for an application. Leaders earn 0.5 credit or 78 hours of community service for their work. 

ralston valley happenings

Spanish 3 students got to play doctor this week.  They created some "pacientes" with various maladies and practiced using commands to give them advice about how to feel better and take care of themselves. 

Levels 2-AP German classes took part in a cheese tasting this week. The cheeses were from Switzerland and Germany.  The favorites were brie with wild mushrooms (Germany), Kaltbach le Cremeux (Germany) and Gruyère (Switzerland). The majority of students were not fond of Cambozola (Germany), a type of blue cheese.  This cheese tasting was made possible by the AATG's Deutsch macht Spass grant. Vielen Dank!

Anatomy and Physiology students had a busy week reviewing body systems through dissecting cats and attending cadaver lab Wednesday and Thursday night.

Culinary Essentials II students prepared Eggs Benedict this week to practice poaching eggs and using eggs as an emulsifier to make Hollandaise sauce. They will continue studying eggs and poultry next week to conclude our semester together. Baking & Pastry students made over 600 cupcakes for the Three Creeks fall play "Death by Chocolate" which included dinner and dessert for attendees. This was an excellent first catering experience for these students which gave them the opportunity to see what a career in the Baking & Pastry industry would actually be like!  

The Significant Support Needs classroom held their first-ever Carnation Cart this week.  On Tuesday, students used the knowledge they gained about the vascular system of plants to dye white carnations red, green, and blue for the holidays.  On Thursday morning, the class sold the flowers to both staff and students, and all flowers were sold out more than 15 minutes early!  Students learned a lot about marketing, setting and managing a budget, and customer service skills by working on this project.  They will continue the Carnation Cart for special occasions when we return from break, so be on the lookout for news about these events!

Last Friday, all three language honor societies put on the Language Ball to promote and celebrate all of the cultures represented at RV.  We had a lot of fun learning to Salsa dance and trying the many authentic foods students made to share. 

Spanish One students are studying foods and beverages- comparing our own customs to those in the Spanish speaking world. This week, students had the opportunity to bring in their favorite "frutas frescas" and we made licuados (smoothies)! We had mango, berries, bananas and pineapple to work with and we even tried a grapefruit licuado in one class!

Child Development students have been studying infants and toddlers.  They completed care stations learning how to change diapers, prepare bottles and fasten car seats.  During the toddler unit, they had to complete various tasks with restricted motor skills, such as tying shoes wearing oven mitts, and piecing a puzzle while blindfolded.

This week Culinary Essentials I students competed in pizza throwdown.  As part of their yeast breads unit, each group made their own pizza creations from scratch and voted for their favorit among all seven groups in class.

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