Littleton Public Schools students and staff are kicking off 2024 with amazing accomplishments! We’ve had students participating in regional and state level competitions for academics, activities, and athletics, and we’ve had students and staff being recognized in various news stories and publications. We invite you to join us in celebrating these outstanding students and staff!

Emily Levesque, a junior at Arapahoe High School, was featured in a Denver 7 story: “Girls ice hockey players push for CHSAA recognition.” Currently, girls ice hockey “isn’t recognized by the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) as a sanctioned sport.” Emily and her teammates are looking to change that for Colorado high school students.

Jayden Lurtz, a senior at Arapahoe High School, won a silver medal at the SkillsUSA competition over the weekend of February 10–11. Maya Desimone, a senior at Heritage High School, also qualified to compete. This is a regional competition showcasing students’ automotive skills. Bob Parmley, their auto shop professor at Arapahoe Community College, said, “Both students did a fantastic job and had never competed before [this competition]. The automotive division of SkillsUSA is very competitive. It’s a test of a student’s ability to quickly recognize, measure, and diagnose automotive-related challenges. Each station representing an area of the automobile is observed by an industry expert. It is a timed event and there is a ton of pressure on the students to perform.” Congratulations to both Jayden and Maya!

Competing for Littleton High School, wrestler James Horton was featured in a 9 News story: “Wrestler who’s deaf inspires at Colorado state wrestling championships.” James attends the Rocky Mountain School for the Deaf. As stated in the news story, James hopes to inspire others. Congratulations to James and all 15 LPS students who competed at the state wrestling championship! From Arapahoe High School: Marek Mangers, Cole Rechsteiner, Cash Callas, Matthew Redfearn, Ben Brown, Kooper Griggs, Mackenzie Krenz, Daisy Padilla, Lizzie Padilla, and Madison Mckee; from Heritage High School: Finn England and Gabe Martinez; from Littleton High School: David Cruz, Luke Suro, and James Horton.

On February 8 and 9, nine students from LPS attended the Colorado Middle School All State Choir event. They participated in a rigorous audition process that involved singing a solo, singing scales and triads, aural recall, and sight reading, and only the top students in the state were chosen. This year, Brinley Asprilla and Rylan Maroney from Goddard Middle School and Julian Schultz, Zander Weren, Sarah Hucke, Siena DiMuro, Alice MacDonald, Hadley Glassman, and Gillian Glover from Newton Middle School earned the honor of participating. They learned music prior to the event and then spent two days rehearsing in the Colorado Convention Center with some of the top choir directors in the country. The event culminated in an evening performance at the Bellco Theater in downtown Denver. Congratulations on this amazing accomplishment!

An article for Thinking Collaborative called, “Serving staff and students with Adaptive Schools and Cognitive Coaching - Littleton Public Schools” featured LPS for our work with both Adaptive Schools and Cognitive Coaching. Mandy Leensvaart, director of learning and teaching, was interviewed and provided the information about the ongoing work happening in LPS.