West Je Elementary’s Night of the Arts combines student, professional art

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Students got to see their art on display with professional art at West Je erson Elementary School’s Night of the Arts.

Families roamed around the school March 10 as they looked at the work of professional artists and students in every grade thanks to a $10,000 Science and Cultural Facilities District Collaborative Grant the school received. Classes at each grade also performed a musical number to round out the evening.

e grant has paid for students to take eld trips to a variety of places to get inspiration about art such as the Denver Zoo and the Butter y Pavilion. It also paid for the Cherry Arts Mobile Art Gallery to install a professional art show throughout the school, which will be on display until March 27.

“ is is an awesome event,” said principal Wendy Woodland as she prepared to watch the rst graders perform a song. “It’s really meant to merge professional and student art.”

She said Night of the Arts was a staple at West Je Elementary several years ago, but sta changes and the pandemic put the event on a hiatus until this year.

Fifth grader Haley Boocher drew a picture of a planet that hung in a display case in the main hallway. She was excited to play the xylophone in the musical performance portion of the evening.

Parents Linda and Randy Boocher were proud that their daughter’s artwork was displayed at the school.

Fourth grader Max Best drew a cartoon interpretation of a fox, his favorite animal.

“I really like nature,” Max explained. “I like it being green, and then you see something orange.”

His mom, Lisa Best, said she liked that the professional art show allowed students to be exposed to a variety of artwork.

Fourth grader Elise Bohn looked at the student artwork in the hallway with her mom, Melissa Bohn. Elise said the event was fun because she could see her friends and other people’s artwork.

Melissa Bohn added that she enjoyed seeing the di erent mediums and styles, calling them inspiring and great for kids.

Music teacher Samantha Shall said that while the focus of Night of the Arts was artwork, the music added another dimension. e kindergartners and rst graders sang songs, third and fth graders played barred instruments such as xylophones, and fourth graders played recorders.

Shall said the event was a chance for students to showcase the instruments they learn to play in music class.

Fifth grader Marin Loveday said she plays percussion in the school band, especially the xylophone, while dad Brendon Loveday said he loved watching the students per- form.

Art teacher Kelly Munro said the grant helped the school bring arts programs to the school that it normally wouldn’t have.

“It’s been great,” she said. “To see the joy on their faces makes it worth it.”

Low speed chase

CONIFER – Mom and Dad knew that Daughter smoked a little weed now and then, but when Daughter absently left her backpack in the garage, and Mom found two little plastic bags of “white powder” tucked into a side pocket, they decided to draw the, er, line. Daughter was furious that Mom had violated the sanctity of her backpack, of course, and was positively foaming to nd out they’d ushed her stash down the commode, but she atly refused to identify the white powder and, when pressed, stormed out of the house and took o down the street on foot.

Mom and Dad called JCSO, asking only that o cers return Daughter to their keeping — which was easy enough since she’d only made it about a hundred yards in more than 20 minutes of trying — and advise them regarding Je co drug intervention resources. Deputies gave them the 411 and 86ed the case.

Not with a bang...

EVERGREEN – In what can only be called a spectacular waste of spec- tacle, a woman stopped by the JCSO mountain substation on the afternoon of Feb. 17 to drop o “a pile of assorted boxes and tubs” containing “an assortment of recrackers, bottle rockets and mortars.” Her late husband spent “15 to 20 years” collecting the combustible cache, she explained to deputies, but with his passing she didn’t feel like supervising the scintillant stockpile solo. eir duty sad but clear, o cer accepted the glorious agglomeration, and within the black depths of the JCSO incinerator ignited, the most fabulous reworks display that nobody ever saw.

Ex-posed

EVERGREEN – Boyfriend and Girlfriend were celebrating their eternal commitment to each other by drinking a lot. When Girlfriend took a moment to freshen up, Boyfriend decided to celebrate the bonds of absolute trust and honesty that bound them together by snooping through her cell phone and turning up a big stack of steaming texts she’d been exchanging with her ex.

Boyfriend ordered Girlfriend from his house, and his life, forthwith. Girlfriend threatened to drive away from their timeless union. Boyfriend called 911 to inform JCSO of Girlfriend’s threat. Arriving deputies found Girlfriend outside, drunk but on foot. Girlfriend said she wasn’t really planning to drive drunk, but said she couldn’t nd anybody free to come and lift her out of the ashes of a love that was. While o cers couldn’t mend a shattered relationship, or make whole two hearts cruelly broken, they could, and did, give Girlfriend a ride to the nearest hotel.

Dinner theater

EVERGREEN – e 911 call came in at precisely 8:26 p.m., but the caller disconnected without a word. Per policy, the dispatcher called the number back. It was answered immediately, and just as quickly disconnected again, but not before the dispatcher heard “screaming in the background.” An o cer sent to investigate quickly made acquaintance with Lucy and Desi, newly- weds of three months for whom the honeymoon was well and truly over. Desi told deputies he and his lovely bride had no sooner sat down to supper when Lucy started “arguing” with him. “Don’t yell,” Desi told Lucy, which only made her want to “argue some more.” Suspecting that Lucy’s liking for liquor was behind her antagonistic table etiquette, Desi began calmly pouring out all of the hooch in the house, which is when Lucy began screaming and dialing. “She just gets her feelings hurt and calls you guys,” Desi explained. When Lucy more or less con rmed the details of Desi’s declamation, deputies called it quits and left the lovebirds alone in their non-alcoholic nest.

Sheri ’s Calls is intended as a humorous take on some of the incident call records of the Je erson County Sheri ’s O ce for the mountain communities. Names and identifying details have been changed. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty.