Weekly Communication 3.18

Posted March 21, 2022

3.18

Update from Principal Thomas

Dear Denver South Students and Families,

We hope you all had a wonderful week. We kicked off the week with Wish Week and a lot of school spirit! We want to thank all of our students, staff, and community for contributing to our Wish Week and helping us surpass our goal, raising over $12,000! We are still tabulating all donations and will share the final amount on Instagram as soon as we have it! We also celebrated our State Champion Hockey players and had a chance to listen to an amazing guest speaker – Ryan Harris from the Denver Broncos. 

This is a great time to speak with your students about their academic progress and discuss current grades.  Please reach out to your student’s teacher if there are any questions on missing work. For more information on how to access your student’s grades, click here.

We want to remind our students that next week’s schedule will be periods 1-7 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursday and Friday will be non contact days for students.  

There will not be a Weekly Communications sent on Friday, March 25, so please enjoy your well-deserved, much-needed Spring Break.  We hope you have time to relax, refresh, and re energize. 

Go Ravens!

We are Denver South

Sincerely,

Principal Thomas


Upcoming Dates for 2021-2022 School Year: 

March 18-20: The Lightning Thief-Spring Musical

March 22 Junior College Planning Night 

March 24-25: Staff work day NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

March 28-April 4:  Spring Break NO SCHOOL

Testing Dates

April 13: 

  • SAT Testing for 11th Graders. 7:30 am arrival
  • NO SCHOOL FOR 9, 10, 12th graders.

April 14: 

  • PSAT Testing for 10th Graders. 7:30 am arrival
  • CMAS Testing for 11th
  • NO SCHOOL FOR 9 and 12 graders

April 15

  • PSAT testing to 9th grade. 7:30 am arrival
  • NO SCHOOL for 10, 11, 12th graders

New This Week


Junior College Planning Night

Students and families, please join us for our Junior College Planning Night on Tuesday March 22 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM. This is a virtual event; the zoom link will be sent on the day of. Topics include: Financial Aid, Maia Learning, Finding the Right College Fit and Post-Secondary Options Beyond College. 

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CHSAA Solo and Ensemble Festival-top scores 

This past Saturday, both Lucy and Jana Noble participated in the CHSAA Solo and Ensemble Festival at Sand Creek High School in Colorado Springs. Both received Superior ratings on their performance and the highest rating musicians can receive at this event.  Over 20 schools participated in this festival.  Both Lucy on Violin and Jana on Clarinet performed advanced level solos and scored within three points of a perfect score! Way to go Ravens!

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Summer School Registration

Hi Families! Summer School 2022 registration is now live. If you believe your child needs to recover credit in a course, please access the link to fill out the interest form. Please note that summer school will not be offered at South, and will not be hosted in the building due to space constraints. Please select the school site that will be most convenient for your child. Summer school will run June 21st – July 21st from 8 am to 12 pm, Monday-Thursday.

Click here to fill out the interest form 

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Summer Learning 2022! Career Exploration Programs. 

Click here to find out more information about summer internships and camps that help students gain valuable career experience in a field that interests them. 


Recruit Students for Summer Concurrent Enrollment Courses

The Higher Education Initiatives and Regional Summer School teams are excited to announce the courses for concurrent enrollment summer school have been finalized. Concurrent enrollment courses help students gain access to free college credits, saving time and money on their path toward career and college. Content areas include: English, math, sociology, ethnic studies, literature, womens’ studies, chicano/a studies, computer information systems, and history.   

Click here for more information  


SeaPerch Challenge

The SeaPerch Challenge is an annual competition in which teams of students build underwater rovers and compete against other student teams to complete a set of tasks.  The theme of the tasks this year was space exploration.  The rover had to complete simulations of tasks that might occur outside a space station like taking a dead battery out of its compartment and replacing it with a fresh one.

Thomas Jefferson High School hosted the annual competition this year and South organized its first ever SeaPerch team.  The students first got together in late January, found funding for the parts kit, and in just 3 weeks had a rover ready to go in time for the event.  Not all teams were able to finish the two different courses but Team South was able to get scored runs on both.  Even though we did not place, the students feel good about what they have accomplished and look forward to next year’s competition. Great work, Muhammad Javed Paktinyar, Sana Paktinyar, Zulma Rodriquez-Corral, and Matthew Weisenburger!


Parent Updates

Thank you to all who participated in our great in-person PTSA meeting last week!  If you were unable to attend, you can read the meeting minutes HERE.  Our next meeting will be Thursday, April 7 at 6:30 pm, in the Counseling Center (room 114).  Everyone is welcome!

Thank you to everyone who came out to see Ryan Harris speak yesterday.  The PTSA is hosting two upcoming speakers for parents and caregivers:

  • March 23, 6:30p – Teens and Stress Management hosted by the CU Depression Center

Join us and experts at the CU Depression Center to discuss stress management. This will be an interactive talk focused on recognizing the function and method of stress and how to understand the essential ways to reduce stress. During this training, participants will learn practical tips and tools to manage stress and change unhealthy habits.  Join the Zoom here.

  • April 13, 6:30p – QPR Suicide Prevention Training hosted by the CU Depression Center

Join the CU Depression Center to discuss QPR, which stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer — the 3 simple steps anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide. People trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help. This evidence based training goes over national and state statistics about suicide, warning signs, and detailed explanation of how to talk to someone who may be in a suicide crisis. Join the Zoom here.

Sign up HERE if you would like to receive important email updates from PTSA, even if you are not a member! We send out information about supporting students, teachers, and families at Denver South High School.

Please add your business to our new South Business Directory HERE.  We would like to hear about businesses owned by members of our South community so that we can support, promote, and partner with you!

Recurring News 


Testing Dates-

Click here for full calendar

We are approaching that time of the school year when state-mandated standardized assessments are administered to students in 9th through 11th grade. These assessments will give our teachers information to help our students be on track for college and career readiness. As we return from Spring Break, our students will be testing during the month of April. We are asking that you encourage your student(s) to get a good night’s rest, eat a healthy breakfast, to be on time, and do their best on each test! 

These tests, to begin following Spring Break, are comprised of the following:

  • SAT – Administered to 11th grade students on April 13
  • PSAT 10 – Administered to 10th grade students on April 14
  • PSAT 9 – Administered to 9th grade students on April 15
  • CMAS – Administered to 11th grade students on April 14
  • AP Course Tests – Dates noted on Calendar

Click here for a detailed calendar for all of our spring testing, including AP tests. Please encourage your students to review this information and be prepared for the test session(s).

Thank you for your support in making these testing sessions successful! If you have any further questions, feel free to email Jen Warren at Jennifer_Warren@dpsk12.net.


School Fees

As we get closer to the end of the year, we would like to remind you that all fees need to be paid as soon as possible. Please make sure you log in to your My School Bucks account to review and pay your fees. Remember that these need to be taken care of before the end of the year.

To login to your account please visit the following link My School Bucks or you can log in to your parent portal account and access it through there.

If you do not have an account on My School Bucks, please follow the link below to create one.

My School Bucks User guide