At their regularly scheduled meeting on September 23, 2021, the Board of Education recognized some staff from Arapahoe High School for their excellence and dedication to LPS students, staff, and the community. From making sure a student was taken care of after hours to planning, scheduling, and attending almost every single sporting event in support of student athletes, these LPS Heroes are the epitome of what makes this district great.

Angel Cruz, night lead custodian at Arapahoe, constantly goes above and beyond to help students and staff at AHS. One evening, when Angel was working his shift, he noticed a student outside the doors after dark. In talking with the student, he noticed she was clearly distressed. Angel called the student’s mom and remained with her until her mom was able to pick her up. We are grateful for Angel's immediate care and support. He is truly an asset to Arapahoe High School and to LPS.

Ryan Miwa, assistant principal at Arapahoe High School, has been the face of all things COVID for Arapahoe. Ryan spent many hours contact tracing multiple positive COVID cases every single day throughout the spring semester. He was extremely efficient and maintained a very positive attitude throughout the entire process. What was even more impressive was that he was also able to complete all of his other administrative responsibilities with a high level of competency. His efforts managing the contact tracing for Arapahoe made it possible for everyone else to also stay on track with responsibilities last spring. He is a strong, young leader with a bright future ahead of him. Principal Natalie Pramenko said, “I am very grateful to have Ryan on our administrative team and a part of the Arapahoe and LPS family! He is the epitome of a true professional.”

Abby Kuhlmann and Brian Ceriani are also assistant principals at Arapahoe. They were instrumental in planning and executing Arapahoe’s graduation last spring. Wondering how this event would play out was certainly one of the greatest of the unknowns of the pandemic, and it is such an important event for our seniors and their families. Principal Pramenko said, “I could not be more grateful for the leadership Brian and Abby showed throughout the entire year of planning. The number of changes that were thrown their way due to ever-changing safety protocols were too numerous to count. They made each change and did so without hesitation nor visible frustration. They were gracious and professional. I am honored to work with such incredible leaders at Arapahoe!”

Pat McCabe is an assistant principal and athletic director at Arapahoe. Due to COVID restrictions over the 2020–2021 school year, CHSAA restructured the typical sports seasons from fall, winter, and spring to Season A, Season B, Season C, and Season D. Season D ultimately extended spring sports well into the summer weeks. Pat was not only closely involved in scheduling and communicating student contests, finding appropriate facilities, and implementing the current COVID restrictions, but he attended almost EVERY SINGLE season D contest last spring. Though it completely cut his summer break short, he did so without hesitation or reservation and genuinely enjoyed being out at the games watching the Warriors compete. We are so fortunate to have him as the athletic director at Arapahoe High School!

We are so grateful for the hard work and dedication of all these LPS Heroes. Thank you for all you do for our community!