1-Color
May 14, 2014
75 cents Teller County, Colorado | Volume 53, Issue 19 A publication of
pikespeakcourier.net
Ute Pass Elementary to add sixth grade By Pat Hill
phill@coloradocommunitymedia.com Education that springs from devastation, Mountain Academy for Arts and Sciences debuts this fall at Ute Pass Elementary School. With the addition of sixth grade, students have the option of staying in Chipita Park another year before transferring to the middle school in Manitou Springs. Both schools are in District 14. To say that the principal, Chris BriggsHale, is enthusiastic about the academy is an understatement. “We’re going to hire a really spectacular dynamic teacher who can connect kids to science, technology, engineering and math,” he said. “If parents want a small intensive experience for their children, we’re putting a lot of exciting expertise toward this.” For students whose playground was destroyed in the flood of 2013, whose leaders kept a wary eye on the sky all summer, the academy is in an environmental laboratory. “We’ve moved from fear of the forest and flooding to a deeper understanding of it,” Briggs-Hale said. “The experiences we’ve gone through as a school are something we don’t want just for the administrators and teachers -but we want our kids to be fascinated by rain gauges, fascinated with the geology.” As waters inundated the playground last summer, the students learned more than envisioned by educators who design state standards. “The (Sand) gulch revealed an incredibly important connection to geological history and the history of Ute Pass.” Briggs-Hale said, adding that the school is built on an alluvial fan. Warming to the subject, the principal views the sixth-grade class as an innovation that affects the other grades as well. “It gives that age group the opportunity to lead the whole-school community in a kind of learning that is essential as we go into the 21st century,” he said. At the academy, the students are expected to engage in project-based learning with meaningful and relevant content. “They are learning, not just what the standards say, but globally-relevant skills and ways to think,” Briggs-Hale said. “The curriculum represents a type of thinking that pushes the envelope around science, technology, engineer and mathematics that is absolutely essential to our nation as we move into the future.” The education will include local experts talking about the riparian zone across Ute Pass Avenue from the school, an environmental textbook. “Instead of being an area of fear, there’s an entire ecosystem on the south side of the building that doesn’t exist on the north side,” Briggs-Hale said. “You’ve got plants on the south side of the building that
Shannon Lapin, the National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, speaks at the USA Pro Cycle Challenge press luncheon on May 6. Behind Lapin is the map of the Woodland Park to Breckenridge route for the August 22 Stage 5 race. Photos by Mike Perini, Woodland Park LOC
Woodland Park gearing up for USA Pro Cycling Challenge Riders will make several loops through town along Highway 24 By Danny Summers
dsummers@colorado communitymedia.com Race fans will be able to get an up close and personal look at some of the top riders in the world when the USA Pro Cycling Challenge comes to Woodland Park in August. “I believe we will double the size of our city,” said Mike Perini, Woodland Park Local Organizing Committee chair. “I am optimistically hopeful we will meet that expectation, and maybe more.” Woodland Park’s population is about 7,200. In 2012, an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 fans flocked to the Teller County community to watch an intermediate sprint in town. This year’s event is an even bigger deal because Woodland Park gets to host Stage 5 of the event on Friday, Aug. 22. “The ‘City Above The Clouds’ is deeply honored that our town is one of the new start locations for the 2014 USA Pro Challenge,” Perini said. “We know this is an extremely important segment of
Woodland Park will be the start of Stage 5 of the 2014 USA Pro Cycling Challenge. the seven-day historic race and we are doing everything we can to make this memorable for cycling enthusiasts everywhere.” The Woodland Park start will begin around 11 a.m. on Midland Avenue between the Ute Cultural Center and the
library. A mobile stage will be moved in, where Pro Cycling officials will announce the names of each rider. The group of riders, about 120, will Cycling continues on Page 5
Grade continues on Page 5 POSTAL ADDRESS
PIKES PEAK COURIER (USPS 654-460) OFFICE: 1200 E. Highway 24, Woodland Park, CO 80863 | PHONE: 719-687-3006 MAILING ADDRESS: PO Box 340, Woodland Park, CO 80866 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Teller County, Colorado, the Pikes Peak Courier is published weekly on Wednesday by Colorado Community Media, 1200 E. Highway 24, Woodland Park, CO 80863. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT WOODLAND PARK, COLORADO. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 DEADLINES: Display: Thurs.11 a.m. | Legal: Thurs. 11 a.m. | Classified: Mon. 12 p.m.
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