Photo by Mia Nogueira

Mitch Mankoff is kind of a big deal.

He’s a Taurus, and it is said that a Tauruses make excellent directors and have good business intuition.  Mitch has a GPA of 4.7, and is ranked fourth in his class. He’s a baseball and basketball player, a member of the National Honor Society and a captain of his baseball team.  “What do Barak Obama and Mitch Mankoff have in common?” asked recent TJ Alumni Scott Bruskin, “They are both presidents of something pretty important, and that’s pretty cool.” To top his list off, Mitch is now the new president of TJ’s very own DECA club.

Mitch Mankoff was born into a family full of businessmen. “My dad, uncle and grandfather own their own insurance company called Manor Insurance Agency,” he said. Both of his older brothers, TJ Alumni Michael and Matthew Mankoff, were members of the DECA club and now are in college studying business. “Michael was the Vice President and Matthew was a Chapter Representative, so neither of them were President,” said Mitch. “My brothers really got me interested in DECA. I saw how much fun they had so it made me want to be a part of the club too,” he said.

As the only junior representative in DECA’s officer team, it seemed obvious that Mankoff would be appointed as president. But Mankoff was not appointed because he was a returning officer, he was appointed on the basis of GPA, desire, and his constituency with the entire chapter. Then the DECA chapter voted and he was appointed to the position. “It’s a huge honor, I was the only returning officer so it was a little expected but it does feel good to know that everyone in DECA thinks I’m qualified to lead the chapter,” he said. “I hope that next year we can get the school more involved with our activities. I hope to lead well, and make it the best chapter yet,” he said.

One of Mankoff’s DECA advisors, Danny Showers, is thrilled to have Mitch as the new leader of the club. “I’m looking for Mitch to produce the ‘trifecta,’ for the DECA organization,” he said. “That means he needs to have a good, solid leadership, new creative opportunities in management for the members in the chapter, and he needs to provide a clear guide path for the officer team to be effective in their jobs,” said Showers.

Last year’s DECA president, TJ Alumni Tommy Moehlman is equally excited to have Mitch lead the DECA organization. “Mitch is really smart. He is well organized and I know he will do well,” said Moehlman. “Be flexible; make sure you communicate with each officer individually so your always on the same page,” Tommy advised Mitch. “I’m deffinitily going to miss talking to the officers after the meetings, and planning the meetings, so I hope Mitch takes advantage of that time,” he said.

In the future, Mitch hopes to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder and major in business. “In ten years I see myself in a mansion with a nice car, being a major business executive and making ‘bank’,” he said.

The Senior Calculus Class of 2010 at lunch with their favorite math teacher. Photo courtesy of Aimee Witulski

Every year, Math Teacher Aimee Witulski treats her AP Calculus students to lunch after a long day of testing. Unlike most AP classes, AP Calculus takes a semester of Pre-Calculus plus three semesters of Calculus to cover everything on the AP exam. After enduring numerous classes with enough numbers to make even Isaac Newton’s head spin – as well as a day of rigorous testing – Witulski gives her students a well deserved break without calculating formulas.

However, being a math teacher, Witulski can’t go an afternoon without numerical influence. So instead of a trip to the friendly neighborhood Chipotle, Witulski takes her students to the modern, number-themed restaurant,Pi. This culinary establishment focuses on that never ending number used to calculate the area of a circle. Since Witulski has taken her classes there for years, the restaurant gave her a deal: each student could have a sandwich and a drink for 3π, or $9.42.

“It’s always really fun, and every year is a great experience,” said Witulski. “It’s right after the AP exam lets out, so they can relax and unwind from all the stress of the big test.” Since students are officially unable to talk about the test specifically, Witulski is able to hear about the experience of the test, and how her students felt about it. This helps her prepare her classes for next year.

Pi is not a greasy spoon restaurant, but rather a high-class establishment. “The whole place is really classy,” said Witulski. “There are pictures of Einstein everywhere, because Einstein’s birthday is Pi day. It has a really nice atmosphere, and it’s great that we go there in the afternoon because no one is there and we get the entire place to ourselves.” The restaurant provides a wide variety of foods, from the classic burger to a more expensive crab dinner. However, when asked if there was a Pi pie, Witulski seemed stumped. “I wouldn’t know how the pie is there though, I’ve never tried it.” she laughs.

Relaxing though the experience is, the trip is not just a way to lighten up after a harrowing final. Since it’s one of the last times Witulski can see her class before it graduates, “It’s a bit of a bittersweet situation,” Witulski said.

As the seniors move on, and the next grade moves up, Witulski prepares to continue the tradition. And maybe next year, she’ll try the pie.

Photo by Rebecca Holt

On April 29, 2010, Junior Luke DeGregori was summoned to the counselors’ office and informed that he had received a very prestigious award. “It’s an Outstanding Junior award presented by Colorado University at Boulder,” said DeGregori.

Attending CU Boulder has been on DeGregori’s to-do list for years, so receiving this award was very handy for him. “CU Boulder has been my college of choice since about 6th grade,” said DeGregori. “With tuition being raised every year, I’m glad I could get a head start on scholarships and other college funding before my senior year.”

Throughout DPS, one Junior is chosen from each school to receive the award.

“The award is the University of Colorado at Boulder Outstanding Junior Award, which recognizes the top juniors in the state of Colorado. Recipients are awarded a $1,000 scholarship to attend CU-Boulder. They are also invited to a recognition ceremony at CU in the summer with the other Outstanding Juniors and their families,” said TJ Counselor Dawn Catalano, who recommended DeGregori for the award.

DeGregori was eligible for the award without even knowing it. “I wasn’t aware the award even existed until it was given to me,” he laughed. “The candidates have to be set on going to CU Boulder to be eligible for the award, and I’ve been set on going to the school for a while.”

One student is nominated by the counseling department of each school in January annually, and it was a unanimous decision that the TJ nominee for the 2009-2010 school year should be DeGregori. “One day several months ago, I was called down to the office again and asked what college I plan on attending. I told my counselor CU Boulder, and then I was sent on my way,” laughed DeGregori. “I had no idea I was really being questioned for a potential scholarship.”

This year, CU received about 250 nominations from across the state, and from there CU decides who the winners will be. DeGregori is extremely grateful that he was one of the recipients. “I’m really glad I was nominated and won this award. I’m very humble to have received it, and especially so out of the blue. It was a very nice surprise.”

DeGregori plans on attending CU Boulder in the fall of 2011. “I’m thinking of applying for a few music scholarships, and there are a few others that I’ve already had my eye on,” he said.

Many adults at TJ agree that Luke is a top student in the school. “Luke is not only an Outstanding Junior academically, but he is creative, a talented musician, and a super nice person. He is a student we are excited to honor for his achievements!” said Catalano.

With nine years of violin under his belt, musical scholarships are also a potential money source for his college education. As a junior who has already received awards and college money, it’s safe to say that DeGregori has a lot to look forward to and an extremely bright future ahead of him.

Joe Spartan lookin' fly with his freshly cleaned car. Artwork by Mia Nogueira.

Dirt, mud, and grime are no match for the Class of 2011, who will be hosting a carwash this weekend here at TJ on Saturday, May 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and there will be a $5 charge per car.

Since the next Prom is coming up in just under one year, fundraising is critical at this time. “We had a lot of suggestions for fun fundraisers, and the carwash definitely sounded like a great idea,” said Class of 2011 sponsor, Teacher Amber Wilson, who hopes to make the customers happy by serving hot dogs, hamburgers and sodas while their cars are being scrubbed clean.

Teacher Jon Poole is also a Class of 2011 sponsor, and seems to be extremely excited about the carwash. “I really am excited about this fundraiser. I love to wash cars; it happens to be a hobby of mine. I hope to see clean cars, good fundraising and most importantly fun, because there’s no FUNdraising without the fun,” said Poole. “Oh and donations are welcome. (You should bold that),” he said.

Don’t forget Spartans: TJ Carwash this Saturday in the TJ parking lot from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and it only costs $5 dollars!

Photo by Rebecca Holt

Every year, TJ Physics Teacher Nelson Vore, assigns his physics classes design projects where they use their physics knowledge to build something that will out-do the rest of their classmates.

Usually this project is a scrambler or a catapult; but this is the first year that an AP physics class has been in the picture at TJ, so Vore had to discover a newer, more challenging project for his advanced students. After much contemplation, Vore decided to have his students build canoes entirely out of cardboard and then physically get inside the boats and race them around the pool. “I was at a summer camp for AP teachers last summer when I met a teacher from Dougherty High School in Colorado Springs who has been doing the cardboard canoes for several years.  I had been looking for some really different unique project for the AP course.  I knew I would have to push the AP students pretty hard all year to adequately prepare them for the AP exam, and I wanted something that would just be pure fun – a way to let go a little of the studying stress.  As soon as I heard about the cardboard canoes I knew that that was the project I had been looking for,” exclaimed Vore.

There were three groups that participated in this extra credit project, and each group built its own canoe. This reporter was actually a part of one of the three groups along with Alexandra Kaufhold and Akaxia Cruz. The second group consisted of Andrea Shacklock and Stephanie Warren, and the third group was comprised of Gilbert Carino and Jordan Shelton.

The task at hand was for the students to build a canoe while following strict guidelines, then row their canoes the full 25 meter-length pool and then back to the starting point, while being timed. Each group performed this timed race individually. This reporter’s group was randomly chosen to sail its boat first. Kaufhold watched from the sidelines as Akaxia and I climbed in the boat to test what we had built. With the two of us in the boat, it successfully floated. However, the design of the boat was not stable, and it tipped as soon as we started to paddle. Therefore, this group did not complete the race successfully, and received third place. “Since the project was simply for extra credit, we were mostly just focused on the fun of it, and not on the points we would earn. We were in if for the experience, and even though we went down right away, I had an awesome time and I’m glad we decided to participate,” said Akaxia.

Carino and Shelton successfully floated in their boats, and were able row their boats to the end of the pool and back in about a minute and a half.  “We were happy to have our boat succeed. We worked really hard on it, but it is just really nerve racking when you have to enter a competition without being able to test anything. So even if we didn’t win we were still excited to be able to finish the race,” said Carino.

The two other groups were most intimidated by Shacklock and Warren’s sturdy and professional–looking canoe. Just as everyone had expected, the two girls were also able to propel their boats the required distance with the exact same time as Carino and Shelton. With this unlikely outcome, Vore made the decision to have the two boats race side by side in an intense tiebreaker. Both groups’ boats survived this race but the girls finished the race first, as Carino and Shelton had trouble steering their boats. “I was worried because our boat was so heavy we didn’t think it would even float,” said Shacklock.

After the victory, our previous opponents allowed Akaxia and I, along with whomever else we could pack into their canoe, to play around and navigate in the pool to test their boat’s limits. Eventually, after having six of us in there, the boat collapsed. “Being able to fit six people in our boat was possibly the greatest moment of my life when we didn’t even think with two of us it would float,” said Warren.

The project was generally a success, aside from this reporter’s failure. “Whenever you do something like this for the first time there are usually all sorts of things that can go wrong.  Fortunately, I was lucky to have the complete Dougherty rules, which turned out to have been very well thought out – so no major mess-ups occurred – it all went very smoothly.  It was amazing watching Gilbert and Jordan’s wide, flat-bottomed boat concept in action – I was thinking it might not be stable and might capsize, but it swam like a duck.  And Andrea’s and Stephanie’s cardboard ‘battleship’ was awesome – at the end it actually held six passengers (for a short while).  Alex, Rachel and Akaxia’s overnight wonder didn’t make it very far, but it was a lot of fun watching them make the attempt.   I am already thinking about how the event could be improved for next year,” said Vore.

For teachers, the end of the school year marks the beginning of planning for next year’s classes. AP teachers use this time after the seniors have checked out – and classes are coming to an end – to meet with their incoming students who have signed up for the challenge of an AP class next year, and let them know what they are getting themselves into.

This week kicks off the long list of AP meetings for next year’s classes. A unanimous statement from all of the AP teachers is that these meetings are when all of the future students will be getting their summer workload, making the beginning of next year easier to hit the ground running and get off on the right foot with a bit of work in that subject under their belts. Another reason that these meeting are critical to attend is because they give the students a chance to meet the class instructor, and understand his or her personality and classroom and course expectations.

With AP classes being a very big deal at TJ, teachers are strongly advising the students to attend these meetings. AP Government Teacher Jon Poole says that not only will the students be getting their summer homework, but they will also be completing the process of enrolling in their AP classes. “We will be signing your contract for next year’s class. Also, I know that, personally, I will give you many tips to help you through my class and help you succeed so that maybe it will be a little bit easier. My first tip: do your homework!”

As for every other teacher, they recommend just about the same thing. AP Psychology Teacher Linda Estlund says that students will be receiving their summer assignments, needed materials, and syllabus. AP Literature Teacher Susan Stokley claims that she wants to make sure that the incoming students know how happy she is that they are taking her class. Physics Guru Nelson Vore stated that without the homework assignment that he will be distributing in his AP meeting, there is hardly any way a student can pass the first six weeks.

These dedicated AP teachers want to see the passion in the eyes of their incoming students, and can not stress enough how important these meetings are in order to be successful in their classes. If you can not attend the meetings for any reason, you must see the teachers as soon as possible. All meetings will be held at lunch in the teachers’ classrooms.

Tuesday May 18:
AP World History Rm 239

Wednesday May 19:
AP Psychology Rm 232

Thursday May 20:
AP Music Choir Room
AP U.S. History Rm 239
AP Language Rm 225

Friday May 21:
AP Chemistry Rm 219
AP Physics Rm 118

Tuesday May 25:
AP Government at 10:30 AM

Photo courtesy of Jerry Esparza

On April 16th, four students made TJ proud by winning first and second place in the Web Design portion of the SkillsUSA statewide competition. Theo Reger, Marelle Davey, Chelsea Skubal, and Nicole Blake all came home with honors, medals, and a feeling of pride.

SkillsUSA is a student run organization, much like DECA, that focuses on technical skills. There are a plethora of tech skills that fall under SkillsUSA’s classifications, but the ones offered here at TJ are multimedia, programming, web design, 3D animation, video, and photography. SkillsUSA is also a leadership organization devoted to training young adults to become the leaders of the future. One of their main goals, straight from the SkillsUSA handbook, is, “Building Champions for America’s work force.”

SkillsUSA runs an annual competition where the best students from each school district work on different challenges using technical skills they’ve learned in their classrooms. In the web design competition, students were told to create a website for the judge. They were given a prompt and a brief description of what the site needed, as well as data, a gallery of images, and other resources needed to complete their task. The students used programs such Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash to create the site and impress the judge.

Though the outcome ended in beaming smiles and medals, the competition itself was far less glamorous.  “It was basically sitting in front of a computer screen for eight hours,” laughs Junior Marelle Davey. The contenders had to create a fictitious website for a concert tour by the name of Big Day Out. They had to make the site work well, look interesting, and appear authentic. “It was really overwhelming,” recounts Davey. “The group next to us were the ones who won first place last year, and placed 17th in Nationals, and it was difficult to adapt because they had all the newest equipment.” The new technology and advanced versions of Adobe made the competition much more intense for the participating groups. “It didn’t seem like we had all the skills we needed, but we just used what we learned, and the next thing we knew we had won,” said Davey.

The competition only had one judge, who is a graphic designer, and the students were not judged aesthetically, but on how well the followed the criteria given. “The judge didn’t focus on what was done or not, but how creative (the site) was and how well it fit web standards, CSS rules, and the standards of graphic design and navigation,” said Computer Magnet Teacher Jerry Esparza. “Many of the groups failed to grasp the real meaning behind web design; that the site was not only appealing, but user-friendly and followed design guidelines and content management requirements.” Esparza’s class was what ultimately brought the team to victory, as they had all of the components the other teams seemed to lack. “I taught them there are three parts to a website: content, structure, and design. When all those three are balanced, the website looks good. If the website isn’t aligned, it looks sloppy; if it doesn’t have design, it’s boring; and if it doesn’t have structure, it won’t work.

“(When we won) it came as a real shock,” smiles Davey. “Neither of us really saw it coming.” Davey and Reger are not the only ones excited at their victory, however. “I’m really proud of them,” says Esparza. “They worked really hard, and even though they battled time, they still came out on top.”

This dynamic winning duo was paired under some unusual circumstances. “I was never in the advanced web design class,” said Davey. “Nicole Blake just knew I liked web design, and asked if I wanted to go along for the competition. I just said, ‘Okay, sure.’ I didn’t really think about it, I just thought it would be cool to go up to Red Rocks for three days. I was paired with someone else, and on the day of the competition Theo’s partner and my partner were absent, so we got thrown together at the last minute. The day of the competition was the first time I ever worked with him, so it was even more surprising that we won!”

Nervous though Davey was, nothing seemed to faze senior Theo Reger. “I wasn’t really worried, even though it was the first time I’ve worked with Marelle. I mean, Esparza prepared us well, and the whole competition was really fun.”

The two winners now have the chance to travel to Kansas City in June to compete at the National Conference. “I’m definitely nervous about that, because it’s the best teams from forty-nine other states, but I’m also really excited. It will take a lot more preparation though,” Davey said. Regardless of the outcome of Nationals, these Spartans have a lot to be proud of.

On July 31st a group of community minded families will converge on Thomas Jefferson High School to show their support for their community high school. Members of the New City Church plan to paint and clean their way through TJ in an effort to further our ongoing work and to show pride in their community. This second annual event, called Sharefest, is done also to encourage members of the TJ community to give some of their time to make TJ a better place for students to attend school.

The focus for this year is to paint the pillars in the front of the building to match the guard rail that was painted at last year’s Sharefest, and to scrub out as many lockers as possible. There are 18 pillars to paint and 1100 lockers to clean, so we can use all the help we can get.

If you would like to support Sharefest please contact Scott Lessard at Scott_Lessard@dpsk12.org and let him know you are coming. Last year we had nearly 100 students, parents and community members show up to help out. We would like to see even more folks participate this year. If you have a project that you would like to see addressed please include that information with your communication. Groups that want to focus on a specific job are highly encouraged to participate (for example, the softball team replacing the wind screen around the dug outs).

As a side note, TJ is implementing a community service requirement for students this year, and hours spent at Sharefest will be counted towards a student’s annual hours needed.

Thank you in advance for helping TJ be the best it can be, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Chelsea Skubal and Andrew Scherer acccept their scholarships. Photo courtesy of Stacey Fornstrom

On March 10th, thirteen seniors represented TJ in the Project of the Year competition at the Project Management Institute. On April 16th, two of those seniors took their aspirations even farther by being awarded the High School Project of the Year scholarship. “They are more than deserving,” said Computer Magnet Instructor Stacey Fornstrom.

The Seniors who won this scholarship of $2,500 each are Andrew Scherer and Chelsea Skubal. After winning the Project of the Year competition, Scherer and Skubal attended a luncheon to display their projects. Skubal presented her website and graphic design layout, which included accessories for Girls’ Swimming, along with a “You are here” map of TJ. Scherer set up a station showing off fliers, posters, and a video he had made promoting the JROTC program. “It was really successful,” said Scherer. “It drew a lot of people’s attention because we had everything laid out very nice and neat, so everyone started coming over.”

Skubal reflects on being slightly nervous during her presentation to the judges. “A lot of the judges kind of grilled us,” said Skubal. “There were also a lot of other good competitors, which was scary. But it eased up after a while. It was easy to present something we knew so well.”

In addition to creating a means of advertising the JROTC program, Scherer also applied his project as recruiting materials in various middle schools, such as Hamilton. “I really wanted to reach our feeder schools,” said Scherer. “I wanted to show them what JROTC is really all about.”

Throughout the creation of their projects, both seniors took a great of deal of guidance from Fornstrom, their Pathways instructor. “He guided us through the project, really,” said Skubal. “He helped with planning, gave us ideas, and encouraged us all the way. He was a great leader.”

Both Skubal and Scherer admit to being surprised after winning the scholarship. “They really seemed to like how I had all the stuff I needed,” said Scherer. “It felt really great to win the scholarship.”

After being awarded the scholarship, the two seniors hope to put it towards their college aspirations. Skubal plans to attend CU Denver, and hopes to major in some kind of engineering. Scherer plans to major in mechanical engineering at CSU in Fort Collins.

After an entire semester of vigorous work, Skubal has taken more than just a scholarship from the experience. “At first I didn’t take the project all that seriously,” said Skubal. “But then, I learned to work hard at everything you do, because it pays off in the end.”

For more information on the Project of the Year competition, go to http://www.tjjournal.com/2010/03/16/computer-magnet-excels-in-project-management/

Photo by Anna Becker

AP testing is something that can be very scary for students. But with all 11 AP teachers here at TJ preparing the students all year long, the tests seem a little less frightening. There are many tools to help the students practice for AP Testing.

“We completed content last Friday (from the book), so now we have a week to review.  We are spending a few days with on-line quizzes,” said Linda Estlund, the AP Psychology teacher here at TJ. Also, the AP Psych class is going to be doing vocabulary drills and a few AP practice tests.

“We had a study group on Saturday from noon to 2 pm. Also, a lot of the students had study groups outside of school, on their own time. Also we had a lot of review packets,” said Jon Poole, AP U.S. Government teacher.

“During the class period we are reviewing all topics and I am giving the students practice problems and old AP questions to work through,” said Aimee Witulski, the AP Calculus teacher. She also added that there are study sessions that are either with a specific topic, or some are open for any questions.

Nelson Vore, TJ’s AP Physics teacher, has been having the students practice for the AP Physics test since TJ got back from spring break. “In AP physics we had finished the entire course curriculum by spring break.  The main way we are getting ready for the big day is to practice doing old AP tests for the entire month of April,” he said.  Also, with most of the students having taken more than ten AP practice tests before they take the finally test, the students will have had a lot of practice.

“For AP Human Geography we are giving review packets and practicing multiple-choice exams for the students to complete.  We will also be reviewing released constructed responses from last year’s exam, in order to assist the students in furthering their understanding of writing for the exam,” said Rachel Stutzman who, along with Marsy Robben, teaches AP Human Geography. Also, to add a fun twist to the review for the AP test, Stutzman and Robben are having their students play review games to help them learn the major concepts for the course.

Edwina Herbert, the AP Music Theory teacher said,  “We have been doing practice problems and listening, in order to prepare for the audio portions of the AP Music Theory exam.  The exam is based in large part on aural examples and analyzing their musical content.  We are also holding after-school study sessions.”

Following is the schedule for all TJ AP testing:

May 3^rd- AP Government
May 5^th – AP Calculus
May 6^th- AP Literture
May 7^th-AP U.S. History
May 10^th- AP Biology
May 10^th-AP Music Theory
May 10^th-Physics
May 11^th- AP Psychology
May 12^th-  AP Language
May 13^th – AP World History
May 14^th – AP Human Geography