August 20, 2015 VOLUM E 70 | IS S UE 41 | 50 ¢
TEACHERS PREPARE Although school officially started this week for most students, teachers began working in their classrooms the week before — decorating classrooms and hallways, developing lesson plans and brainstorming ways to provide the best learning environments for their students. To see what teachers were doing behind the scenes last week, turn to Pages 6 and 7 for more stories and photos. A DA M S C OU N T Y & J E F F E R S ON COU N T Y, COLOR A D O
A publication of
WestminsterWindow.com
Innovation marks scientific, technical businesses State-of-the-art operations visited by congressman By Clarke Reader creader@coloradocommunitymedia.com
Cadence Aguilar, a third-grade student, hugs second grade teacher Tia Nevil while waiting for the first bell to ring to signal the start of the first day of school. Photos by Corrie Sahling
First day of school at Explore, Mapleton By Corrie Sahling csahling@coloradocommunitymedia.com POSTAL ADDRESS
WESTMINSTER WINDOW
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PL E ASE RECYCLE T HI S C OPY
Weighed down with stuffed backpacks that hang to their knees, the first- through sixthgrade students at Explore Elementary School bounded down the sidewalk ready for the first day of the school year. It’s tradition for the day to begin by meeting the — Number of schools teachers in in the district the playground — Total students — the enrolled blacktop area was — Students served bubbling through special education with ex— Gifted and citement, Talented Program students energy and jitters. — Students who Among travel by bus to school the crowd were thirdgrade boys roughhousing, a mother fixing the piece of hair that fell out of a second grader’s ponytail and children of all ages hugging the teachers they know from previous years. Once greetings were thoroughly exchanged, the teachers led their line of students inside to their rooms and the activities that followed varied from class to class. In Ms. Kulick’s sixth-grade classroom the noise level reflected the excitement of the day. Standing in the front of the room, she reminded students where their supplies should be stored and laughed as she explained that the kids are “organizing their lives.” As the students familiarize themselves with their desks one student showed his friend his name tag on the table and said that he’s
the state will be able to help in
apprenticeship programs.
Right now we’re doing all the
participation we can.”
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ADAMS 12 SCHOOL DISTRICT BY THE NUMBERS
3,212
Wind power. Blood work. Infusion systems for interventional radiology and 3D metal printing — four radically different businesses in scientific and technical fields. But they share a common thread of innovation. Congressman Ed Perlmutter, D-Colorado, recently spent two days visiting four of his district’s most state-of-the-art companies to see how they work, the kinds of challenges they’re facing and what help they could Perlmutter benefit from. “The innovative piece of this is what I really wanted to focus on. There are a lot of really smart people here with some new ideas out there,” Perlmutter said. “We’re visiting an interesting group that has applications from medical and astronomy to energy and military.” Perlmutter’s district Heidi Hostetter, covers the west vice president and north of Faustson metro areas, including Golden, Lakewood, Northglenn and Thornton. On Aug. 10 and 11, he visited Lakewood’s Primus Aerospace and Windpower and Terumo BCT, Arvada’s Faustson Tools and Westminster’s Surefire Medical. The businesses specialize in different fields — wind power systems, blood work, 3D metal printing and infusion systems for interventional radiology, respectively — but all are facing challenges related to employee attraction and retention, growth and public awareness. “This business is so competitive,” said Randy Brodsky, president of Primus Aerospace. “Our building here has a 42,000-square-foot capacity, and we’re going to need to find additional space.” Primus and Surefire employees spoke about challenges of competition with China. Surefire is also potentially facing some high taxes as part of the Affordable Care Act’s medical device tax. Alicia Svaldi, co-founder of Faustson, highlighted the benefit of Colorado Helps
Miranda Talamantez, a fifth-grade student, poses for her mom to take a first day of school picture before lining up with her class. happy his teacher spelled his name correctly, unlike most people. On the opposite end of the spectrum in Mr. Frame’s third-grade classroom, students worked almost silently on a worksheet — their school supplies still sitting on their desks or by their feet. The day seemed to be on the calm side according to the school’s director Annaleah Bloom. Bloom had spent her morning greeting students out front of the school, knowing each by name and giving out hugs — even once the bell rang, the friendliness continued. As students walked down the hall with their hands in the air, a reminder to be quite, a few kids stopped for a quick hug and Bloom rubbed the shoulder of a little girl who had been crying, offering words of encouragement.
Innovation continues on Page 3