Taste of Arvada returns Je co School Board approves Moore/ Pomona school consolidation

BY JANE REUTER SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

e Je erson County School Board unanimously approved the consolidation of Westminster’s Moore Middle School and Arvada’s Pomona High School. Moore Middle School will close, and Pomona will become a 6-12 grade facility with the start of the 20242025 school year.

Principals of both northern Je erson County schools, located about a mile apart, proposed the plan. ey described it and the changes that will come with the merger as a vision for “a thriving 6-12 secondary experience.”

District leadership praised those who led the e ort during the June 22 board meeting. e consolidation is among several school closures planned districtwide due to declining enrollment. But unlike those district-initiated proposals, the plan for the Pomona/ Moore merger came from leaders at the two schools.

BY LILLIAN FUGLEI LFUGLEI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

If you’re looking for a new restaurant and want to try them all but don’t know where to start, look no further than Taste of Arvada.

Taste of Arvada is an annual event bringing together all the food, drink and live music Arvada has to o er. Planned by the Arvada Chamber of Commerce, this year’s event will feature more than 50 local restaurants, craft breweries and non-food vendors. is year’s Taste of Arvada will be from 6-8 p.m. July 13 at the Apex Center, with VIP early access at 5 p.m. Tickets are available through the Ar vada Chamber of Commerce’s website.

“As Arvada’s food scene constantly grows and evolves, we continue to add new and exciting restaurants to the Taste of Arvada mix,” said Samantha Geerdes, vice president of member services and events for the Arvada Chamber of Commerce.

“ is is the only event where you can sample so much of what Arvada has to o er,” added Geerdes. “Not only delicious food and beverages but local music, artisans and businesses. It’s a must-attend event for anyone who lives in Arvada or loves coming to visit.”

“ is is a great example of an idea that came directly from the community to solve a challenge they feel every day,” said Lisa Relou, Je co Public Schools’ chief of strategy and communications. “ ey wanted to get ahead of the district in terms of coming up with their own solution.”

Both institutions have seen enrollment steadily decline. Pomona’s enrollment

BY ERICA BREUNLIN THE COLORADO SUN

Growing up in a world that often sees di erences as de ciencies, Shannon Brennan long ago learned to question the things that set her apart from others rather than embrace them.

For Brennan, 37, those di erences play out in the way she learns. e two halves of her brain don’t always communicate with each other, she said, so she sometimes struggles to understand speech. Brennan was diagnosed with a genetic condition known as Fragile X syndrome at age 12, and is sometimes anxious and can quickly become overstimulated in large crowds or when bombarded by loud noises.

But last week, when Brennan found herself more than 5,000 miles away from her home in Aurora meeting people who navigate the world with their own set of special needs, she began to look at her di erences, well, di erently.

“I just have challenges, but (my body) ain’t broken,” she said. “It’s ne. It just works in a di erent way. Just because it works di erently than yours doesn’t mean it’s broken or damaged or anything.”

Brennan set o on a 10-day trip with e Wayfaring Band earlier this month, Berlin-bound to volunteer at the 2023 Special Olympics. e Denver-based nonpro t shepherds groups of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, along with their typical peers who want to learn how to be better allies, on excursions across the country and world. e getaways give adults with disabilities an opportunity to branch out of their everyday lives — much of which are often guided by other people like parents and job coaches — to explore new cultures and learn more about themselves. ose kinds of treks can be rare for people with disabilities because so much of the world falls short in accommodating their needs, said Kendall Hagar, interim executive director of e Wayfaring Band.

“Every human being should belong in our world,” said Hagar, who has attention-de cit/hyperactivity disorder. “And we believe that folks with disabilities are not limited in their capacity to enjoy the full human experience and all of the things that that entails.” e nonpro t, which has been whisking adults with disabilities to all kinds of destinations for nearly 11 years, also pushes for those individuals to be treated as the adults they are — rather than children. a-half month battle for an updated passport ended with her leaving for Berlin the day after she was supposed to y out with her bandmates. After the U.S. Department of State returned the initial application she mailed in, citing that it was incomplete without much more explanation, she struggled to nd an available appointment to renew her passport in person. She eventually secured an appointment in Kiowa, 45 minutes from her home, and paid an extra fee to expedite shipping.

“We’re actively ghting against that infantilization by doing very adult things,” Hagar said.

On past trips, that has included clinking drinks at biker bars and attending concerts. In Berlin, band members tried schnitzel for the rst time, shared a meter-long tray full of beers, checked out a marketplace, and visited both the Anne Frank Center and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. ey also watched Special Olympics athletes compete in swimming, soccer, cycling and equestrian events and made new friends from all over the world as they volunteered at the Games, welcoming attendees, o ering directions to spectators and energizing crowds.

Brennan, who was visiting Germany for the rst time, initially clammed up while thinking about introducing herself to volunteers and athletes from other countries. But with help from another band member, she overcame her hesitation and struck up conversations with strangers, exchanging ashy commemorative pins with many of them.

At the start of the Games, each team of athletes received pins decorated to re ect their country, with the idea that they would be traded with other teams, carrying on a tradition that dates back to the 1920s. e Wayfaring Band brought their own pins, breaking through language barriers as they approached athletes and gestured at pins to swap.

Justin Pressel, another band member, gathered 13 pins, which he fastened to a lanyard, and in his time in Berlin got to know people from Israel, Japan and North Macedonia, among other places.

Pressel, 32, previously traveled to New Mexico and Seattle with e Wayfaring Band but had never ventured out of the country. His voyage to Berlin with 11 other band members marked one of his biggest steps beyond his comfort zone.

Brennan waited a few more weeks while her passport was being processed and couldn’t get an answer from the passport agency about when she would receive her passport. e week she was slated to leave, she called U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s o ce to help rush the delivery of her passport. After more waiting and more frustration, she nally received her passport the day of her ight but not in time to catch it.

“It’s confusing,” Brennan said. “It’s really hard. Anybody but especially anybody who has a disability or some kind of di erence, it’s really, really difcult to understand.” at hiccup was the rst of several the group encountered leading up to and during their time abroad as they noticed and experienced accessibility challenges at the Special Olympics — the one place designed speci cally for people with disabilities. eir concerns started with ashing lights and loud music during the Games’ opening ceremony — special e ects that can be harmful to some people with sensory challenges. Band members also noted that bathroom spaces were not wide enough to t a wheelchair while some wheelchairaccessible ramps were often far from the areas where spectators led in to watch events.

And in Berlin, a steep set of stairs down to the subway and narrow sidewalks created additional hurdles for people who rely on wheelchairs.

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“I’m used to being alone at home playing video games,” said Pressel, who lives in Denver and also works full time at King Soopers.

He was in awe over an opening ceremony that featured lively, acrobatic performances and a parade of at least 170 countries, and he became mesmerized by soccer matches that were punctuated with slide tackles and collisions.

Pressel, who has cerebral palsy, had fun getting to know his fellow travelers and learning about their di erences — all while banding together with volunteers, fans and athletes at the Games to cheer everyone on.

“Even though they’re rooting for (their) country, everyone’s the same,” Pressel said. “ ey’re all for the Special Olympics. at’s what’s great.”

Brennan’s trip overseas stopped before it even started. A three-and-

“Accessibility is hard,” Hagar said, “and it takes work. And even folks that are doing the work still have learning to do. And I can’t imagine how much work it was to put on this massive global event and the logistics that it involved, and there’s always room for improvement.”

Other challenges for groups of travelers during previous trips and even at home have been prompted by people rather than places. For instance, while e Wayfaring Band was exploring Seattle last summer, a woman collecting tickets for a ferry ride belittled the troupe as they boarded.

“She was saying things like, ‘Why are you so slow? Are you an idiot? What’s wrong with you?’” Hagar recalls. at moment sticks with Pressel, who kept walking but grew quietly