By Lyndsie Ferrell
CREEDE— According to Creede School Principal John Goss, the school is pleased to announce that they welcomed 100 students back for the new school year, and they have a ton of fun and educational programs to offer this year.
“It’s been quite a while since we have reached the 100s for our student body and that’s a good thing. It means we are doing what we do best,” said Goss.
There a few new things for the students this year, including classes that were not previously offered. “We have a lot of wonderful things to offer our students this year and we are ready to get started,” stated Goss. One of the newest additions to the school year is the new student parking area. Being in a rural community like Creede can sometimes bring about questionable habits when it comes to young students learning to drive.
Goss explained that one of the main reasons for the new parking area on the west side of the building was to ensure that the students driving to school were ones that had valid driver’s licenses long enough to be carrying passengers. According to new state laws, new drivers are required to have their licenses for over a year before they can have passengers under the age of 21. “We just want our students to be safe and abide by the law while on school property,” stated Goss.
In addition to the new parking arrangements, students will also have the opportunity to join in dual credit courses like intro to welding, welding 1, intro to auto and auto 1 that allows students to earn college credits as well as high school credits through Trinidad State College in Alamosa. “This gives them a head start into college credits while they learn trade skills that are very important this day and age,” explained Goss.
The school will also be offering a communications course, art and creativity and in the second semester a college drawing course and can earn college credit through Adams State University. “We also want to start a senior seminar class that will help students plan for their future, whether its to enlist in the military, apply for scholarships and colleges. We will also do life skills throughout the class to teach students things like how to apply for a loan or balance their checkbooks,” said Goss.
The school welcomed new teachers Laura Vinchattle, Stephanie Hester, Heidi Anderson and her husband Steve as well as Collin Vinchattle who will be the new restorative service director. “We realized last year that we wanted to do something new to help students that either get into trouble or have a positive experience at the school. So, we decided to try this new restorative practice and so far, it has worked out great,” said Goss.
Restorative practices have been implemented in several schools around the state as a way to teach students the effects their behavior, whether good or bad, can have on the surrounding community. It highlights the ripple effect that students’ actions can have on others in place of more traditional punishments or rewards like certificates of achievement or school suspension.
Next up for the school will be the annual Back to School night on Sept. 6 with a time to be determined soon. Be sure to check out the monthly newsletter on the school website at www.creedek12.net to stay up to date on all future events and notifications.