Friday, October 23, 2020

Local Halloween Events

This year has been very different from past years in terms of holidays and celebrations (and everything else). Halloween during Covid-19 looks different for people in terms of what they are choosing to do and how they are staying safe.

The corn maze at Chatfield Farms

Several local organizations have planned events that are Halloween themed, including the Botanic Gardens, the Denver Zoo, Chatfield Farms (part of Denver Botanic Gardens), and Fritzler Farms. These locations are offering events ranging from corn mazes to costumes contests, pumpkin patches, and go-carts. Many people will still be trick or treating, while some families might not. All of the events taking place will have safety precautions, including masks, social distancing, a limited amount of people, and hand sanitizer. For more information on these events, go here!


(article by Ian Wood)


Friday, October 9, 2020

Avatar: The Great Bending Debate

In the TV shows "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and "Legends of Korra," bending is one of the main activities. It is a mix of elements and martial arts whereby people with special powers, called Benders, manipulate one of the four elements. Have you ever wondered which Bending is better? Or what nation might you belong in? We have a lot of Avatar fans at DMHS who love to debate this! Four DMHS students are ready to convince you below that their favorite form of bending is the most powerful!
Avatar elements wallpaper by Ahanu84 - 96 - Free on ZEDGE™

Friday, September 25, 2020

Express Yourself: New Energy in the Art Program

Jessica Perry, our new art teacher, is making great additions to our popular art curriculum. Jessica has been helping students find their artistic style. So far students have learned about color theory, shading, figuring out their artistic style, etc. This class is incredibly fun, and right now students are working on their final projects for this quarter. Aubrie Hall (7th grade) says “With art, you can express how you feel.” 


Jessica’s Philosophy About Art Education
According to Jessica, “Your artist voice is a unique and recognizable artistic style that is distinctly your own; your inspiration, your materials, techniques, themes and color palette all working together in a way that looks like it comes from you and no one else. The main objective of this course is for students to discover, identify and develop an authentic style as young artists; Design Principles and concepts will be emphasized and students will learn how to utilize these principles and techniques successfully in their artwork. Students will learn a variety of drawing, mixed media and painting techniques and other creative processes.

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Cleaning Up in Soapmaking Class!

In Sakeenah Franzen's soap making class, students have been learning about the history, origins, and properties of soap and how it works to protect us from germs. They were surprised to learn that antibacterial soaps don’t actually do much cleaning and have chemicals that could be harmful. They learned that soap doesn’t actually kill germs, just gets rid of them. Another fun fact is that soap was originally invented by the Babylonians, but they didn’t use it for body cleaning as much as a cleaning product for other things.

Over the weeks, students have had several virtual labs on making soap or other body care products. The students will choose among many options for their final project, which could include making soap or some other body care product, creating a timeline on the history of soap, or exploring further the chemistry and structure of soap molecules and atoms.

Overall, the soapmakers are having fun learning the intricacies of soap making and use!



(Article by Ian Wood)


Thursday, September 17, 2020

Upcoming Denver Events!

There are some incredible events happening in Denver this weekend, including the epic Crush Walls street art festival in RiNo, with live music, circus performances, and dozens of artists from all over the world!

CRUSH Walls 2020

You can find more local events here.

If you go out and about, stay safe and have fun!

Student Art Feature

Welcome to the weekly student art feature, where we show off art created by students both in and out of class!

Katie Aron (7th Grade) drew a picture of her "happy place in the snow" in Creative Arts and Movement class.




Wyatt Muncy (9th Grade) drew two Anime characters. The first image was colored with alcohol markers and Prismacolor, and the second is a pencil drawing on which he practiced light and shading.


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Thank you, Katie and Wyatt, for showing us your artwork this week!


Thursday, September 10, 2020

A Glimpse Into Creative Writing Class

In Robin Yokel's Creative Writing class this week, students wrote short stories practicing the use of point of view (POV) and tenses.

POV refers to who tells/narrates a story: it might be 1st person (using I, me, and we), 2nd person (using you/your), or 3rd person (using he, she, and they). Tenses tell us if the action of a story takes place now (present tense) or in the past (past tense). We focused on keeping our POV and tense consistent throughout a story. As Robin explained, "Inconsistencies often confuse readers, and our jobs as writers are to make sure our readers understand our story. Otherwise, they can't enjoy it properly!" Students did a wonderful job demonstrating different POV and tenses.

Paulo Coelho Quote: “Writing means sharing. It's part of the human  condition to want to share things – thoughts, ideas, opinions.” (7  wallpapers) - Quotefancy

Our class is filled with talented, hard-working writers, some of whom have shared their short stories below! We hope you enjoy them!

Friday, August 28, 2020

It's that time of year... Welcome back to school!!!


DMHS is headed into the school year like a group of turtles, slowly and cautiously. (And late.) We started the first few days of school with community building in advisement and a "virtual trip" to make up for our famous fall trips that we can't attend this year. We made Play Doh sculptures, played games, and went on a scavenger hunt! Now, we are starting the first quarter of academic classes and settling into the school routine.


But before we immerse ourselves completely in school, here’s a glimpse of how some of our students spent their summers!


Helena Eddy, 10th Grade

During summer vacation I took a trip to Terrell, Texas and saved a cat. We had just gotten to the hotel and my mom had found a small tabby kitten in the parking lot. We cleaned and fed the kitten and had it stay the night with us in the hotel room. The next morning we took it to the front desk and asked if the hotel could call animal control to see if they could pick it up. Instead, the man at the front desk decided to take the cat home. In a matter of 12 hours just arriving in a new state we had saved and rehomed a small kitten!




Anuar Saenz-Quinonez, 8th Grade
Even though this summer was a little different than other summers it was still pretty decent. One of the more exciting things I got to do this summer was going to the dirt bike ramps at Ruby Hill with my friend Hector. It was really fun because we went on the big ramps which are like 6 feet tall and somehow we didn't end up dead so yeah it was fun! One of the tiring parts of the ramps is that some of the ramps are on a hill so you have to to the top of the hill every time you wanted to do the ramps and after you do that for about 2 hours it's pretty exhausting and energy-draining but we still managed to do most of them. The only ones we didn't do were the xl courses because those are for pros and they are really hard because they have so many ramps and curves that you practically have to be an expert. The best part of the ramps was when I got to see Hector fall off his bike after going too fast on one of the sharp curves.
Bike Parks
This is the bike park I visited


Max Logan, 12th Grade

This past summer has been weird for everyone, and a lot of people have taken that as an opportunity to do things they’d never done before. I’m Max, a senior here at DMHS, and while some have chosen to spend their quarantine summer being productive, I had a slightly different idea. I didn’t do anything revolutionary or exceptionally impressive but this summer I did sew some clothes and read sixteen books. I also started playing Dungeons and Dragons, so make of that what you will. All in all, this summer has been quite the break before starting senior year and I’m excited to start back up with all of our incredible guides for the 2020-21 school year!


Ian Wood, 8th Grade
During our summer, my older brother Drew and I went to help out at a day camp at Glen Eyrie. Every day for three weeks we would set up a 20 foot tall inflatable water slide and three smaller inflatable obstacle courses, and take them down at the end of the day. When we set them up, we anchored the inflatables down with 85 pound bags of water that took two people to carry. It was hard work but we had fun! The glen was beautiful and we had a fun time chasing turkeys.


Katie Aron, 7th Grade
This summer I went hiking in Winter Park. I did a couple of camps at the Y. I went to see two sets of my grandparents and did a road trip. I also saw my first drive-in movie! In August I played with my neighbors and drew. The day before school started I cut my hair off to donate to Wigs for Kids. It was fourteen inches long!


Friday, February 28, 2020

Treat yourself with the Micro-Economy Class's new products!

The soap making group in Micro-Economy class has been hard at work creating some gorgeous spa-ready products this semester!  We've experimented with gemstone soaps, sugar scrub cubes, and bath salts/soaks.

We are putting together a limited number of spa packages with our goodies for purchase this spring!  These make perfect gifts to treat yourself or for someone special in your life who could use a gift to help them relax over Spring Break (hint: all the teachers and school employees in your life!).  Each elegant package will have 2 beautiful gemstone soaps, a jar of sugar scrub cubes, and a sachet of bath salts.  You can customize your package from the options below.

How?  Just send your orders to robin_yokel@dpsk12.net and send in payment to Carol Delong or Dorothea Cotton in the front office by Friday March 13th!  You can pay in cash or with a check made out to DMHS.

How much?  Each package is $30.

How do I collect my order?  Orders will be sent home with students or available for pick-up at the front office (let us know in the email which option you'd like) on Tuesday March 17th.  If you'd like to order a package for pick-up after Spring Break, let us know in the email!

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Gemstone soaps:

Turquoise - these sparkly blue and green soaps are scented with woodsy vetiver.

Amethyst - these shimmery purple soaps are scented with lotus blossom.

Citrine - these shimmery and sparkly orange, pink, and yellow soaps are scented with wild berry.

Sugar Scrub cubes:

Green Tea - lightly scented delicious green tea and jasmine.

Lavender - lovely purple cubes with organic lavender buds inside!

Bath Salts:

Lavender - with organic lavender buds inside!

Mint - a strong but relaxing scent.


Next Week In Sports

DMHS Ultimate Frisbee is starting back up next week, so sign up to join the team! Our team plays home games and away games in the spring, so check in with your parents about transportation (all students will need rides home from the games).  Playing on the team is also a great way to practice for the annual advisement frisbee tournament so your advisement can crush it!!!

There are also lots of Rockies, Nuggets, and Avalanche games coming up! (Rockies tickets. Nuggets tickets. Avalanche tickets.)

March 1
  • Rockies vs. LA angels 1:10pm-4:10pm
  • Nuggets vs. Toronto Raptors 4:00pm-7:30pm

March 2
  • Rockies @ Seattle Mariners 1:10pm-4:10pm
  • Avalanche @ Detroit Red Wings 5:30pm-8:30pm

March 3
  • Rockies vs. Chicago Cubs 1:10-4:10pm
  • Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors 7:00pm-10:30pm

March 4
  • Rockies @ Texas Rangers 1:05pm-4:05pm
  • Avalanche vs. Anaheim Ducks 7:30pm-10:30pm

March 5
  • Rockies @ Chicago White Sox 1:05pm-4:05pm
  • Rockies vs. Kansas City Royals 1:10pm-4:10pm
  • Nuggets @ Charlotte Hornets 7:00pm-10:30pm

March 6
  • Rockies @ Arizona DiamondBacks 1:10pm-4:10pm
  • Avalanche @ Vancouver Canucks 8:00pm-11:00pm