Administrator's Corner
A reminder that we will be testing on April 10th and 11th. Seniors will not have school those days unless they have Edgenuity to complete. The SAT will be on April 10th from 7:30am to noon for all Juniors. PSAT 9/10 will be on April 11th from 7:30am to noon for all Freshmen and Sophomores.
Please make sure that your student is rested and has eaten a good breakfast. Thank you for your support!
Un recordatorio de que estaremos probando el 10 y 11 de abril. Las personas mayores no tendrán clases esos días a menos que tengan que completar Edgenuity. El SAT será el 10 de abril desde las 7:30 am hasta el mediodía para todos los Juniors. PSAT 9/10 será el 11 de abril desde las 7:30 am hasta el mediodía para todos los estudiantes de primer año y estudiantes de segundo año.
Asegúrese de que su estudiante esté descansado y haya tomado un buen desayuno. ¡Gracias por tu apoyo!
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Week at a Glance - Week of 4/2-4/6
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- No School
- Please click here (or see the above "Athletics Schedule" quick link) to see athletic events for the week
Tuesday-
- Southmoor Station Visioning Meeting (details below): 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday-
- Office Hours: 2:14-2:55 p.m.
Thursday
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Friday
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- End of 5th 6-week grading period
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Congratulations!
Leo Busse and Camy Guenther have been selected as 2017-18 Colorado Affiliate Winners of the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing.
They are being recognized for their computing-related aspirations and for their demonstrated, outstanding aptitude and interest in information technology/computing; solid leadership ability; good academic history; and plans for post-secondary education. Phoebe Briney and Ti'Ana Boultinghouse were Honorable Mention winners. These young ladies are among 2,300 young women who are NCWIT Aspirations Affiliate Award recipients this season! They will be honored at the
Colorado Affiliate Aspirations Award ceremony
at the end of April. Way to go, Spartans!
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Project of the Year Dinner Award
Project Management Institute (PMI) Denver Chapter sponsors the Project of the Year dinner for competing High Schools each year at The Summit Event Center in Aurora. This year, TJ took 16 students to present their projects to PMI members. All the students did an outstanding job using the Project Management process to create and develop their project. Conner Side came away with the Project of the Year award with his 3d simulated Prototype Turbo Charger System. Roger Nakagawa came away with the Project of the Year award for his TJ Golf Team Handicap App. Way to go, Spartans!
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Auction Thank Yous
A huge thank you to parent Megan Perkins for undertaking the coordination of TJ's 2nd Annual Online Auction. It earned TJ's PTO a record $15K and is earmarked to fund classroom grants across the school. She and her team reached out to local businesses who were more excited than ever to support SE Denver's neighborhood high school with their donations.
Thank you to three-time TJ parent
Tom Moore who supported the backend of the auction with proprietary PTA Pal software, making the experience fun and seamless for everyone bidding on auction items.
And thank you to all in the TJ community who bid, won, supported, and made TJ better poised to serve our students.
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The yearbook is now $65 and can be purchased online. The book will be available until sold out, so act fast!
Anything that you need to know about the yearbook can be found on the yearbook website
here
!
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Scientists are beginning to learn how vaping impacts teens - and the results are troubling
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A new study puts the figure into stark numerical terms: while as many as 2,070 adults used e-cigs to quit in 2015, another 168,000 young people who used the devices went on to become smokers of conventional cigarettes. The analysis, led by researchers at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth University, was
published this month in the journal PLOS One.
Click here to read more.
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The
TJ Spartan Spirit Store
is now in two places for your convenience-online and in the main hallway at TJ between the gym and auditorium. The store is also set up at select school events including athletic events, concerts, plays and conference nights.
Click here
for more information!
- On-campus Spirit Store hours are on Fridays during lunch only. A couple of our wonderful parents alternate shifts to make the store convenient and accessible to students. It's also open during various special events. Julie Thibodeau will continue to be available at other times for the occasional urgent or spontaneous purchase.
- We take cash and credit cards!
- Order Spartan wear online. Great gifts for every class, parents and grads, too.
- Purchases from the Spirit Store directly benefit PTO's activities to build community, improve school spirit, and have a positive impact on every student at TJ!
Questions? Contact Erin Markham for more information:
[email protected] or
303-809-5449.
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Southmoor Visioning Series
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Southmoor Station Visioning
Tuesday, April 3 at Thomas Jefferson High School (3950 S. Holly Street)
5:30-6 pm Check-in
6-7:30 Presentation & visit stations.
Residents have asked for better walkability, restaurants and fun gathering places for people near the Southmoor Station area. At this follow-up visioning meeting, we'll provide an overview of initial feedback gathered on Feb. 20, present creative ideas for you to reflect on and strategies on moving forward. Join us and let's create a community vision!
Review material presented at initial meeting at
www.denvergov.org/district4. Reminder, this is not a redevelopment plan (such as proposals to eliminate parking) or rezoning. Rather, the visioning process is an opportunity for neighbors to share what features they'd like to see and get ahead of any changes that may happen in the future.
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24th Annual Safe City Youth Summit
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- Want to help make your students high school experience the best it can be?
- Want to support the staff at TJ?
- Want to get to know some parents at TJ?
Come to a PTO meeting!
We meet monthly and have 1-2 events each month that we support. You can help out as your schedule permits.
Email
[email protected]
with any questions.
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Mental Health and Social/Emotional Tips
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Did You Know...?
How to Help a Grieving Teen
What is it like for teenagers when someone close to them dies? How do they respond to the death of a parent, a sibling, a relative, a friend?
Teens respond better to adults who choose to be companions on the grief journey rather than direct it. In addition, adult companions need to be aware of their own grief issues and journeys because their experiences and beliefs impact the way they relate to teens.
Six Basic Principles of Teen Grief
1. Grieving is the teen's natural reaction to a death.
Grief is a natural reaction to death and other losses. However, grieving does not feel natural because it may be difficult to control the emotions, thoughts, or physical feelings associated with a death. The sense of being out of control that is often a part of grief may overwhelm or frighten some teens. Grieving is normal and healthy, yet may be an experience teens resist and reject. Helping teens accept the reality that they are grievers allows them to do their grief work and to progress in their grief journey.
2. Each teen's grieving experience is unique.
Grieving is a different experience for each person. Teens grieve for different lengths of time and express a wide spectrum of emotions. Grief is best understood as a process in which bodily sensations, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors surface in response to the death, its circumstances, the past relationship with the deceased and the realization of the future without the person. For example, sadness and crying may be an expression of grief for one teen, while another may respond with humor and laughter.
While many theories and models of the grieving process provide a helpful framework, the path itself is an individual one, and often lonely. No book or grief therapist can predict or prescribe exactly what a teen will or should go through on the grief journey. Adults can best assist grieving teenagers by accompanying them on their journey in the role of listener and learner, and by allowing the teen to function as a teacher.
3. There are no "right" and "wrong" ways to grieve.
Sometimes adults express strong opinions about "right" or "wrong" ways to grieve. But there is no correct way to grieve. Coping with a death does not follow a simple pattern or set of rules nor is it a course to be evaluated or graded.
There are, however, "helpful" and "unhelpful" choices and behaviors associated with the grieving process. Some behaviors are constructive and encourage facing grief, such as talking with trusted friends, journaling, creating art, and expressing emotion rather than holding it inside. Other grief responses are destructive and may cause long-term complications and consequences. For example, some teens attempt to escape their pain through many of the same escape routes adults choose: alcohol and substance abuse, reckless sexual activity, antisocial behaviors, withdrawal from social activities, excessive sleeping, high risk-taking behaviors, and other methods that temporarily numb the pain of their loss.
4. Every death is unique and is experienced differently.
The way teens grieve differs according to personality and the particular relationship they had with the deceased. They typically react in different ways to the death of a parent, sibling, grandparent, child, or friend. For many teens, peer relationships are primary. The death or loss of a boyfriend or girlfriend may seem to affect them more than the death of a sibling or grandparent.
Within a family each person may mourn differently at different times. One may be talkative, another may tend to cry often, and a third might withdraw. This can generate a great deal of tension and misunderstanding within the already stressed family. Each person's responses to death should be honored as his or her way of coping in that moment. Keep in mind that responses may change from day to day or even from hour to hour.
5. The grieving process is influenced by many issues.
The impact of a death on a teen relates to a combination of factors including:
* Social support systems available for the teen (family, friends and/or community)
* Circumstances of the death - how, where and when the person died
* Whether or not the young person unexpectedly found the body
* The nature of the relationship with the person who died - harmonious, abusive, conflictual, unfinished, communicative
* The teen's level of involvement in the dying process
* The emotional and developmental age of the teen
* The teen's previous experiences with death
6. Grief is ongoing.
Grief never ends, but it does change in character and intensity. Many grievers have compared their grieving to the constantly shifting tides of the ocean; ranging from calm, low tides to raging high tides that change with the seasons and the years.
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Mental Health and Social Emotional "Did You Know":
Compiled by Samanda Davis, LCSW, MSW and Natalie Koncz, Ed.S., NCSP.
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Part Time Custodian Wanted
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Select "
Work in DPS
" and go to School support Operations and select "
Apply Now.
" Select "
External Candidates.
" Enter "
Custodian
" in Keyword box. Click the "
Apply for the Job
" button and enter your information.
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Especially Me Conference Celebration
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Colorado Youth Congress Travel Opportunity
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Aquetza: Youth Education, Leadership, and Community Empowerment Program 2018
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The application process for
the
Aquetza: Youth Education, Leadership, and Community Empowerment Program 2018
has been opened
. Go to:
https://www.colorado.edu/aquetza/
Aquetza is a weeklong, free, summer residential program at CU that engages high school youth in academic content and cultural knowledge sessions designed to blur the boundaries between school and community. The Program serves Mexican and Mexican-American high school youth (and Latinx students in general). You can find out more info by clicking the link above.
On the last day of Aquetza, youth are expected to present on topics that synthesize their lived experiences with content covered in Aquetza. I'm truly humbled and honored to share a short presentation from Aquetza's very own Ariana LeDoux.
She provides one of the best presentations I've seen on gender fluidity and intersectional identities. She is one example of the brilliant youth that participate in Aquetza.
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Great news! All Class T-Shirts are now available (as well as other TJ gear) in the Spartan Store!
- Supporting our TJ students, classrooms and teacher is as simple as a click of a button. Visit the online store to donate to TJ PTO today: Online Spartan Spirit Store for TJ Gear
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Class of 2018 parents:
We need your help. Please
sign up here to assist with After Prom.
We are also in need of many items: We are looking for items to use in the transformation of the lobby and the gym for after prom. The theme is "Enchanted Castle." Please contact Amy Leonard if you have any of these items. [email protected]
- Dungeon Lounge: bean bags, large chairs or couches, benches, rugs, dark blankets
- Garden Food Court: astro turf, garden tables and chairs, large glass jars & mason jars
- Drawbridge Entry: two beams (like the kind you use for edging in a garden) to
be used to mark the bridge as you enter the "castle doors" at the entrance to the school
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The Class of '19 is raising money for senior year activities including After Prom.
How you can support:
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Class of 2020 - Sophomores
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Thank you to Megan Perkins and Lisa LoJacono, the parent representatives for the Class of 2020. Please look for important information to come. If you are interested in getting involved please email Megan at:
[email protected]
or Lisa at:
[email protected]
.
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- New Graduation Requirements! DPS has adopted new, evidence-based graduation requirements that will go into effect this year for the graduating class of 2021. Click here
to read more!
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News from the Future Center
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Seniors are encouraged to stop by the Future Center to set up a time to discuss their plans for next year.
Rena Maez
College Advisor, Thomas Jefferson High School
Denver Scholarship Foundation | a 501(c)(3) Public Charity
3950 S. Holly Street | Denver, CO 80237
O 720.423.7134 F 720.423.7098
[email protected]
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www.denverscholarship.org
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