Highlands ranch herald 0808

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Herald Highlands Ranch 8.8.13

Highlands Ranch

Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 26, Issue 38

August 8, 2013

A Colorado Community Media Publication

ourhighlandsranchnews.com

Water drilling nearly complete Utility finishing work at second of two sites By Ryan Boldrey

rboldrey@ourcoloradonews.com After a late start, Centennial Water and Sanitation District is in the process of wrapping up its second of two major drilling projects this summer. The district announced in February that it would tap into its 1.7 billion acre-feet supply of groundwater this year due to Colorado undergoing the worst drought conditions it had faced since 2002. Plans at the time called for the water drilling to be complete by the time the weather got warm, but according to the company’s general manager, John Hendrick, delays in getting the contractor on site caused both projects to start late. Rig work on the first site, at Salford Lane, north of Gateway Drive and east of Broadway, concluded July 5 after five weeks of drilling. Work on the second site, behind Southridge Recreation Center off McArthur Ranch Road, began two days later and is expected to be complete by Aug. 15. Once the rig work behind Southridge is complete, design work at both sites will begin for the installation of underground piping along with the placement of pumping equipment in the wells. The sites will then be landscaped to make them blend in with the surrounding properties, Hendrick said. “Our reserves are big enough that we could use 17,000 acre-feet a year for 100 years,” Hendrick said. “But what we try to do is hedge and play it safe. We have been pumping a lot of groundwater because we knew the river was going to be dry. If you Well continues on Page 21

Highlands Ranch High School student Deborah Son concentrates on the vibraphone, while Keith Larsen, brother of Highlands Ranch High School band director Kevin Larsen, helps out on drums during the Aug. 2 marching band camp. Photo by Jane Reuter

School district ready to kick off year Superintendent touts additions, innovations coming in 2013-14 By Jane Reuter

jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com Security for middle and elementary schools, redesigned classrooms and almost 7,000 new computers are among the changes Douglas County School District students will notice when they return to school. They’ll also experience some intangible changes in the form of updated teaching methods, revamped lesson plans and,

in a handful of schools, the introduction of themed education models. Most of the county’s schools open for the 2013-14 academic year Aug. 12, though a handful started classes Aug. 5. “There are a lot of really exciting things coming this year,” Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen said. “This has been the busiest summer I can remember in education.” The most visible change will be at the district’s middle and elementary schools, where armed, plainclothes law-enforcement officers will patrol buildings through a district partnership forged in early summer. A school resource officer also will split time between Sky View Academy and the STEM high schools. The officers already

are fixtures at the district’s other nine high schools. “The marshal program obviously is a huge thing for parents to really have that sense of another layer of safety for our middle and elementary school students,” Fagen said. “It’s also part of our commitment to partnering with folks in the community, using that common-sense approach to improving and innovating.” Three years of curriculum changes designed to provide a 21st-century education now are hitting the ground, Fagen said. “I feel like we spent one year talking about why American education needs to School continues on Page 21

Former foster child does her part for change HRHS grad shares story, helps write policy during stint in nation’s capital By Ryan Boldrey

rboldrey@ourcoloradonews.com

Despite being behind schedule this summer, water drilling is coming to a halt near the Southridge Recreation Center in Highlands Ranch, as the second of two well projects near completion. Photo by Ryan Boldrey

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Spend 15 minutes with Ashleigh Davenport, and you’ll realize she is much more than a number. But being a number is part of what drives her. Davenport, a 22-year-old student at Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Va., is like many law students. She is full of conviction and passion and wants to change the world. Yet it’s her experiences as a foster child that have her on the fast track to accomplishing just that. When Davenport was just 4 years old, she was placed in foster care. Two years later she was adopted by her foster parents and grew up in Highlands Ranch. During her senior year at Highlands Ranch High School, she learned she had an 8-year-old sister, Leighanna, also in the foster care system. “By the time we found out about my sister, it was too late to find out about adopting her because she had already

been with her foster family and they were interested in adoption,” Davenport said. “Had they reached out to us sooner, my parents would’ve adopted her instantly, there would’ve been no questions, and she would’ve grown up with her biological sister and my family.” Even though the sisterly story didn’t take the shape that Davenport wished it would have, she has gotten to know Leighanna quite well and said she and her “mini me” celebrate birthdays together, share texts, email and Snapchat regularly. And whether she knows it or not, Leighanna has also put her older sister on a career track. It’s because of her that Davenport graduated from Colorado State University with a bachelor’s degree in social work and because of her that she spent this summer in Washington, D.C., as an intern for the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness of the needs of children without families.

Righting wrongs, improving lives

While both Leighanna and Davenport were foster success stories, according to Intern continues on Page 21

Ashleigh Davenport, a Highlands Ranch High School graduate and Regent University law student, speaks to members of Congress and child welfare advocates July 30 in Washington on issues pertaining to foster children. Davenport spent the summer interning the D.C. office of Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas, on behalf of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s Foster Youth Initiative Program. Courtesy photo by the CCAI


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