InsideThe Hub: Fashion article, Page 3

The Hub: Juniors graduate, Page 3Westward: Nuggets of AVID, Page 2Westward: State DECA, Page 2

WEST WORDMarch 9, 2015 www.greeleyschools.org/westword Volume XLVII No. 12

District hires superintendent after search

On February 23, the District 6 Board of Education unanimously voted to elect Dr. Deirdre Pilch as the new superintendent of Greeley-Evans School District 6.

Pilch is extremely qualified for the job because of her extensive amount of experience as an administrator. She was previously the principal of Centaurus High School, in Lafayette and also currently serves as the superintendent for the Boulder Valley School District. “She understands the richness that diversity brings to education. She is a community-builder who has

been effective in getting people to work together and has been a leader in creating change,” said District 6 Board of Education member Julia Richard via email.

Pilch was one of three finalists running for the position. The other finalists were John Borman, the former principal of Northridge high school, and Wayne Eads, who was a previous Chief Operations Officer.

The finalists were chosen after a rigorous job search that included applicants from inside and outside of Colorado. The board then narrowed down the applicants by selecting the top three candidates and brought them to Greeley for an extensive day-long interview process. No one is quite sure how daily life at any District 6 School will be effected by the change.

By Elise JohnsonStaff Writer

Pilch

Kathryn Mellin plays the part of Elle Woods during a num-ber at Freshman Registration Wednesday night. The official musical starts Friday night, tickets are on sale now in the main office.

Malia Long /West Word

Blonde amibitionGreeley West High School is performing

Legally Blonde starting Friday at 7:30 p.m. The musical will run for two weekends.

Greeley West students will be the cast members and Peggy Freemole, who is the theater director and teacher at West, will be putting on the show. The choreographer re-created the original Broadway choreography for all of the dancing in West’s show.

“The show consists of so much more than the movie did. There is singing and dancing and so much humor,” stated Freemole.

The lead cast members are; Kathryn Mellin playing Elle, Nate Gorsline playing Huntington III. Jacob Arscotte playing Emmet, Justin Witenburg playing Professor Callahan, Katie Gorsline playing Brook Wyndham, Seleste Roller playing Viviane, Brandon Tuttle playing the UPS guy,

Olivia Laroco is Pallet the hair dresser, Ali Brown playing Enide Hoops, Savannah Lucio plays the head UCLA cheerleader, Ellery Sedlacheck plays Margo, and Rachel Baldwin plays Pillar.

Greeley West is hoping to put on a teaser for the school but not sure it will be able to happen or when it would happen with all of the testing going on at the time.

By Malia LongStaff Writer

Freemole

Spring musical opens this Friday night

WestwardPage 2 3.9.15

Handful of Spartans compete at State DECAState DECA was held on February 22-24

in Colorado Springs at the Broadmoor Hotel. Senior Lyndsey Erler attended her last state DECA competition and she competed in retail merchandising. Seven other Greeley West students also attended the competition. Close to about 3000 students attended the DECA competition.

“We went to a lot of really nice restaurants for dinner and our lunches were held in huge ballrooms,” said Erler. Erler stated

that they all had a really nice time and when she was asked about the discussion about having to pay for their own hotel Erler said,” We weren’t upset about having to pay for it ourselves, we just were confused to why they at first said couldn’t stay at the Broadmoor, but we ended up staying there.”

Other students that attended state were Kenzie Starkey, John Atakilt, Jacob Simpkons, Nick Trujilo, Jackson Starkey, Andrew Wellington, and Tosh.

“I want to thank Ms. Christensen for all the hard work she has done for the DECA program at West. Going to state was an amazing experience that I learned so much from, and is something that I will never forget,” said Erler.

By Olivia DenovellisStaff Writer

Seniors take photoBy America MonjeStaff Writer

The senior class of 2015 joined together last Thursday at 10:30 to take their senior panoramic picture. Everyone who listened to the announcements and chose to go joined together in the gymnasium.

The photo was taken by Best Class Picture and will be hung up in the front office next year. Then this year’s picture will join the classes that have come before it, in the 100 hall two years from now.

“The senior panoramic picture was a very emotional event because it was one of the first times this year that it being my last year has kicked in. I haven’t really felt like a senior until after the photo was taken,” said senior Autumn Sands.

Sands

AVID kids visit Pepsi Center

On Monday, February 23rd, the AVID students took an educational field trip to Denver. They traveled to the downtown Pepsi Center for the leadership conference that all of the AVID students across the nation got to go to. They got to listen to a couple of speakers as they learned more about college and how AVID is really beneficial for the preparation for college. The field trip lasted all day, making a positive mark on all the students

that went.This was a pretty big conference for the students.

So, in hope to motivate and inspire the high school students that attended, the speakers told their stories that the attendees were able to relate to. The speakers were inspirational for the students, but the speaker that made a bigger impact to the local West kids, was speaker, Ivan, who actually

By Faith EscobedoStaff Writer

ContinuedAVID, Page 4

8th graders welcomed

Last Wednesday, Greeley West had ninth graders from middle schools all over Greeley visit the school. There were about 425 students and families who attended the event and had a lot of fun doing so.

The event started in the gym where the soon to be freshmen observed the cheer team, a teaser of theater’s production of Legally Blond, the Jazz band, the Poms, and participated in their very first Greeley West fight song. After being in the gym getting oriented, the 9th graders were divided into smaller groups where they registered for classes.

By Dalton RhoadesStaff Writer

ErlerPhoto Courtesy of Kenzie Starkey

All of the participants of State DECA pose for a photo at their conference last week.

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Mario Hernandez/West Word

A Greeley firefighter manages a controlled demonstration for the fire science students of District 6 last week at Station No. 2 on 23rd Avenue in Greeley.

Playing with fireFire-Science students experience the real thing

On Tuesday March 3, the fire science students attended a fire demonstration at Station 2 in Greeley. Firefighters at that location prepared a room where it was simulating a typical size bedroom with a fire. Within this bedroom, firefighters put items in the room that might

be found in a classic living room or bedroom. Some items placed in the room were a couch, a desk, a coffee table and a trash can. The firefighters started the fire in the trash can to show how quick and deadly the fire could escalate. The firefighter put gasoline in another corner from the trash can, so the students

can see how gasoline makes burn patterns. Theses pattern can help arson investigators to find if a fire was accidental or not. As the fire

was roaring, the window in the back of the room blow out, similar as if in a real house fire. In roughly 4 minutes, the little room was fully engulf with fire throughout the inside. The firefighters explained how the environment components may affect the fire. Since it was windy, the smoke was moving much quicker than it usual, plus the wind was feeding feed and spread the fire at a faster rate.

Elijah Gerber a Greeley Central High School students that currently attending fire science at Greeley west. Elijah mentioned “that the burning building was a great experience because I learn many different new things. A couple were how weather can affect the fire and firefighters, the exposures the fire had and the trends of fire.”

By Mario HernandezStaff Writer

Gerber

Handful of juniors seize chance at early graduationWhile some students love high school and never

want to leave, others are ready to move onto other things a little early. At Greeley West there are several students graduating as juniors in May of 2015. There are a variety of reasons behind the decision and often it varies for each student.

In order to graduate early, some students have to double up on certain core classes or have a

full schedule in order to meet the graduation requirements or get into college. It is becoming more common for students to graduate early, whether it is as a junior or at semester of their senior year.

Junior Jaxon Hilliard is an early graduate this year. He got held back when he was younger in school and has always been older for his grade. This led him to his decision to graduate early. Feeling too old to be in high school and ready to

move on with his life, Hilliard has decided to join the marine corp after high school. From the young age of eight years old, he has known what he has wanted to do. He will start boot camp in August at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California. “There are definitely sacrifices I’ve had to make to graduate early, but I’m ready to grow up and move on with my life so it is worth it,” shares Hilliard.

Hilliard is just one of several early graduates this year and all of them are excited.

By Lauren MillerStaff Writer

FASHION TRENDS:

Fashion Apps

With technology these days, there seems to be an app for almost everything. This thankfully includes fashion apps!

There are a variety of apps to help give you fashion inspiration when your wardrobe is feeling a little lacking in some aspects. Pinterest, of course provides g r e a t pic tures and ideas of things to wear for any occasion o r weather circumstance.

Looking through the “women’s fashion” category always gives you good ideas, or even better you can specialize your search based on the weather, season or your personal style. After getting many ideas from Pinterst, you can use the Etsy app to get more ideas and dangerously… be able to buy what you see. There are a variety of styles to choose from as well as a variety of price ranges. CAUTION: IT IS VERY EASY TO SPEND TOO MUCH!

Lauren Miller

Fashion Expert

Lauren Miller/West Word

Senior Lidia Hiott shows off some clothing purchased on an app.

“The burning building was a great experience because I learned many different new things.” - Elijah Gerber,Greeley Central student

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@GWWESTWORD

He mentioned that “the firefighter had a leakage due to the frozen parts on the bottom of the fire truck.” Which made the process much longer to be prepared and if it was a real fire, the fire may spread faster due to no one attacking the fire. Jessie Alvarenga another fire science student that attends Greeley west said “he really liked the fact that they made the room realistic with furniture that most people have and how fast it flashed over within four minutes.” Also seeing the hydraulic ventilation was really cool”

FromFire , Page 3

FromAVID , Page 2

attended Greeley West in the past. Ivan was an overall failing student

that became successful, when he joined AVID in high school. His AVID teacher, Mr. David Falter, helped him through his difficulties, having the biggest impact on his high school success. Even though Mr. David Falter

did not attend, he greatly thanked his teacher throughout his speech. After the conference, the students got the opportunity to stay and watch the Denver Nugget’s basketball game.

The students that went were mostly aimed to be junior and senior students, although some underclassmen were

allowed to attend. There were quite a bit of students that attended; including, sophomore, Julio Rascon, who stated, “It was an overall wonderful experience. I found it really meaningful that other people besides our teachers actually care about our education”.