Orange & Black » News

Media Days

adviser — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:42:48 +0000

By Spencer Pendry

The Orange and Black newspaper staff left the Grand Junction High School campus to walk to the Mesa State College Media Days annual two day workshop, they took home titles in five categories.
The Mesa State Media Days took place March first and second and several high schools from around Colorado participated.
GJHS took first place in best overall newspaper competition. Junior Jake Meyer won an award for coming in second place in the sports writing category. Junior Kimberlyn Bennett took third place in best overall column writing. Senior Kaitlin Cain and junior Jillian Arja took best in overall Feature writing. Senior Moriah Black took first in overall Editorial writing. Senior Katie Langford won first in best overall newspaper design. Senior Greg Coleman took first in overall graphic/illustration. Senior Cody Blankenship took third in news feature photography and junior Chelsea Settler took first in best overall newspaper cartooning.
Plaques and awards were given to the winners of the above categories categories.
Media day was not just put in place for competition, professionals and Mesa State students gave lectures and presentations to expose students to different aspects of media.

PSA-Driving

adviser — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:56:39 +0000

Administration Deals with Budget Cuts

adviser — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:43:43 +0000

With the budget status uncertain for the next academic year, School District 51 is bracing for cuts from the state.

Imminent budget cuts are nothing new to the school. GJHS was affected by a number of cuts earlier in the year; however, they were not substantial enough to affect the students.

“We took a small budget cut earlier in the year,” Principal Jon Bilbo said. “We tried to allow academic departments to retain their funds by optimizing the available money.”

Bigger cuts may be on the horizon. While academic departments may be safe for now, problems may arise if deficits are significant enough.

“The biggest issue is personnel,” said Mr. Bilbo of what might happen. “We are still waiting to get guidance from the superintendent (Steve Shultz).

With money becoming an increasingly large problem, students should be prepared for differences next year.

“We have at least 10 teacher retirements,” Mr. Bilbo said.

He also mentioned that the Early Retirement Package that the district has offered may entice some teachers to leave early, indicating that a number of teachers could take advantage of the opportunity.

If budget cuts are enforced, GJHS may not be able to fill all of the openings that retiring teachers will leave. In such a situation, fewer teachers could mean a larger student/teacher ratio as well as fewer alternative courses such as AP classes.

Until the budget is announced, though, nobody will be able to predict where money will be spent, and GJHS is left to wait.

“We have to sit back and wait,” Mr. Bilbo said. “By mid-March, we hope to have an idea what the impact is going to be.”

Cottonball a “Success”

adviser — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:12:58 +0000

On Saturday, February 27 Grand Junction High School Executive Student Council held the Cottonball Dance. Unlike in previous years, the dance was held at Bananas Fun Park Special Event Pavilion.
“I thought that overall the ticket system and hosting the dance in the pavilion was awesome,” Aaron Jenkins, sophomore class president, said.
Bananas hosts teen dances at the pavilion, but this was the first high school sponsored dance to occur there.
“I think the dance ran really smoothly, and there was a great turnout compared to the regular dances,” Justin Reed, a manager at Bananas, said.
Executive Council supervisor Rose Willet not only agreed with Reed that it ran smoothly, she also felt that the students did a good job representing their school.
“For the most part, everyone was well mannered and responsible, and we had a pretty good turnout,” Willett said.
However, some students felt that one part of the dance was not as spectacular as the rest.
“The disc jockey was kind of a disappointment. He played techno way too much at first, but once he started taking requests it got a lot better, and he did have an amazing light display,” Jenkins said.
Other than dancing and music, hosting the dance at Bananas did come with another benefit.
“I feel that the dance was a definite success because the students were able to walk around and maybe play some arcade games or different activities around the park,” Reed said.

Cottonball is “Under the Sea”

adviser — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:02:09 +0000

The time to dress up, find a date, and go out for an enjoyable dinner and dance has come again. Grand Junction High School’s next formal dance is coming up on Saturday, February 27.
With an “under the sea” theme and a fresh and original location of Bananas event center, many students such as Bailey Hilty, sophomore, are looking forward to the dance.
“I’m excited to go to a new place. I’m hoping that they play good music, and I’m looking forward to having a great time there,” Hilty said.
The dance costs $15 for a single ticket and $25 for a couples. Pictures are held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and the dance itself lasts from 7p.m. to 11p.m.

FBLA Leadership Conference

adviser — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:19:19 +0000

The high school group Future Business Leaders of America, was designed to help prepare students for a successful career in business.
On February 1, Grand Junction High School FBLA members joined other FBLA groups for a conference. The groups present were all “District 9″ groups, which include the area from Steamboat to Grand Junction.
FBLA members compete in areas such as sports management and computer marketing. Grand Junction High School junior Lissie Bloom and senior Amy Nelms won first place in their competition category of digital video production.
“I really enjoy meeting new people and networking. FBLA really looks good on applications, and I feel that it does a lot to help prepare you for the future,” Bloom said.

School to Career

adviser — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:55:30 +0000

Grand Junction High School recently acquired Cathy Larsen, the new School-to-Career coordinator. Her job is to help students explore what career they wish to have.
“I help students, create presentations for classes and bring in people from the community to talk to kids about their careers,” Larsen said.
Larsen helps about 100 students who are searching to find what they want to be after graduation from high school and possibly college. According to Larsen, approximately 25 students are involved in internships.
Larsen stresses self-awareness for anyone to figure out what they want to be later in life.
“I encourage students to take three steps to help reach his/her career goals. First, figure out something that you love to do. Second, know your natural strengths and skills. Third, know what will drive your economic engine,” Larsen explained. “But with figuring out your economic engine, don’t become someone just for money, because then in a couple of years you will not be happy with what you are doing.”
Larsen enjoys helping students learn what many opportunities they have to be successful.
“You guys have so many opportunities, way more than we ever had,” Larsen said. Her advice to students who do not know what they want to be is to come and visit her. Larsen encourages students to take time to think about their passion in life.
An example Larsen used is to find something you are passionate about and work from that.
“If you love basketball but you know you won’t be a professional basketball player, find a job that relates to basketball, like being a trainer or coach,” Larsen said. “Everything starts with what you are passionate about.”

Grand Junction High School Student Under Investigation

adviser — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:49:32 +0000

During fifth hour Jan. 26 four police cars and an ambulance arrived across the street of the math building.
“We are still in the middle of an investigation, and cannot give you the details at this time,” Grand Junction Police Officer Jeff Grady said.
“The cop said he smelled marijuana coming from the car,” Junior Kyle Hayes said, “The guy had weed.”
Hayes also explained that the cop told the Grand Junction High School student to get out of the car. When the student got out of the car he cursed at the officer and shoved him.
“The cop said he had to use physical force, then tackled (the student) to the ground and cuffed him,” Hayes said.
When being tackled, the student hit his head on the ground and had to be taken to the hospital, according to Hayes.

Dance in the Dark

adviser — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:10:56 +0000

The Blackout dance will be held this Saturday, January 30 from 7 to 11 pm in the new gym. Pictures will be taken outside of the new gym starting at 5:30.
It is $10 per person at the door and students must bring their student IDs to get into the dance or provide guest approval forms for people who are not enrolled at GJHS.
This year the dance will be jungle themed, and students are encouraged to wear neon colors and white so they can glow in the dark.
Official Blackout 2010 shirts will be sold tomorrow during lunch for $10 or in Room 201 all day.
“It’s going to be even crazier than past years,” said ALT member Margeaux Prinster.
“Expect epic decorations!” So come have fun and experience getting your groove on at the darkest dance of the year.

Grand Junction High School Helps Haiti

adviser — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:29:18 +0000

On Tuesday, January 12th, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the capital of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Across the nation, organizations are gathering supplies and money in effort to help the country’s people who continue to feel the aftermath of the earthquake.
Steve Brown, composition teacher and adviser of the club, “C the need,” is just one person that believes that if we all pitch in, we can help to make Haiti a more livable place.
“We have put up posters, handed out fliers, made announcements, and made a bulletin board in front of the library to help get the word out,” Mr. Brown said.
Mr. Brown’s goal is to collect money from GJHS students, and send it to the country for immediate relief. “If every GJHS student donates 20 dollars to the cause, we will be left with a significant amount to send to Haiti for relief,” Mr. Brown said.
Students can donate money to Haiti by taking it to the LEAG room, the library, or to the main office.