GWHS IB Diploma Program

2007-2008 — News & Events

Updated on May 10, 2008

IB Parent Group Co-President Wins Volunteer Award
We are pleased to announce that GWIB parent volunteer, Debi Roads, is a winner of the Helen Phelps Award given by the Denver Teachers' Award organization. The Helen Phelps Award is given to an individual and a company who have assisted those teachers from the sidelines and
sometimes in a very direct way.

We would like to show our great affection for and strong support of Debi Roads by having interested parents attend this year's awards banquet on Friday, May 9th, at the Doubletree Hotel, 3203 Quebec Street. The social hour begins at 5:30pm with dinner and the awards program following at 6:30pm. Registration Information.

GW’s Mock Trial Team Moves on to Nationals!
After four years of competing and making it to the State Championship round twice, GW will be going to the National Mock Trial Competition in Wilmington, Delaware May 8-10, 2008. This is the first time that a DPS team will compete in the nationals.

The students who will be competing in Delaware are Alex Bates, Sarah Zapiler, Connor Phillips, Brenton Weyi, Tory Reiss, Zander Louden, and Peter Wright.  Habab Badri, a member of the JV team will be the official timekeeper traveling with the team to Wilmington.  Attorney coaches accompanying the team are Lindsey Rothrock and Dennis Kaw. Other members of the varsity team not traveling to Delaware include Brent Gaisford, Brinton Mitchell, Rebecca Barach and Elie Reiss. The team will sorely miss Kara Veitch, attorney coach, who is due to deliver her second child on May 10th and will not accompany the team to Delaware.  While the team knows this will be an exciting weekend, they felt this was more excitement than they could handle. Voted Best Attorneys at State were Brenton Weyi, Tory Reiss and Sarah Zapiler.

Junior varsity team members include Mariah Wilkerson, Habab Badri, Guy Lichtey, James Sze, and Jennifer Ruiz-Gallegos.  Selected Outstanding Attorneys from the JV were Habab Badri and Guy Lichtey, and Outstanding Witness, Jennifer Ruiz-Gallegos.

GW Speech and Debate Team
Highest Number of Wins in District & Seven National Qualifiers
This year Maryrose Kohan has led the GW Speech and Debate team to incredible and consistent success.  She has been helped by dedicated GW teacher Cyndi Koehler and by many parents and friends who are creating a solid foundation for the future.  The team of about 60 members has the highest number of Speech and Debate wins in its district, which covers a larger area than just DPS!

In the recent national qualifying tournament the GW speech team won not only the continuous trophy for consistent excellence, but also the tournament’s sweepstakes trophy.

IB Art Exhibit — Wednesday, April 23
George Washington's fourteen senior IB art students will soon exhibit more than 200 pieces in a range of media including clay, oil pastels, photography, watercolor, and DVD. The public is welcome to attend the opening Wednesday, April 23 from 5:30 - 7:30 pm at 2000 West 3rd Avenue.

Artists are Emily Berger, Jennifer Berger, Rachel Bergman, Jared Downing, Aaron Garcia, Keisha Jefferson, Guy Leichty, Connor Phillips, Brian Sulley, Heather Thomas, Matea Wasend, Katie Whitnah, and Sarah Zapiler. Their exhibit is the culmination of a two-year course of study in art history, art theory, and studio art.

Gallery space has generously been provided by Wastewater Management Division, Department of Public Works, City and County of Denver (directions online). The exhibit will be open to the public from 7:30 am - 4:30 pm, April 22 - 28.

Congratulations Math Scholars
Several IB students distinguished themselves on the 2008 American Mathematics Competition. Sophomore Hannah McGehee got the school’s top score on the Grades 9 and 10 level of the contest. The top three performers on the Grade 11 and 12 level were Senior Kevin Black, Junior Peter Lewis, and Sophomore Betsy Haddox. Additionally, Kevin Black and Peter Lewis qualified to sit for the American Invitational Mathematics Exam. This honor means that they scored in the top 5% of American math students who were strong enough to take the AMC10/12 in the first place.

GW’s Mock Trial Team dominated the Regional Tournament over the weekend (February 23-24), winning both 1st and 2nd and advancing two teams to the State Competition in March. In addition, the kids won 4 of the 6 outstanding attorney awards and 2 of the 6 outstanding witness awards. The awards were evenly split between the varsity and junior varsity teams—giving gives us a solid foundation for continued growth when the seniors graduate.

(front row) Julie Sharoff, Maddie Wohlberg, Ella Peterson, Vidya Pugazhenthi,
Amie Kashon, and Emily Peterson, and (back row) Brent Gaisford, Kevin Fulton,
Peter Smith, and Michael Skeen.

MODEL UN SHINES! Congratulations to the Model UN team for their fantastic performance at the North American Invitational Model United Nations (NAIMUN) meet in Washington, DC, February 14-17. Over 2,000 students from the United States, Mexico and Canada convened in Washington, DC for four days, simulating their role as delegates to the United Nations from a particular nation and serving as representatives of that country's policies. Kevin Fulton won outstanding delegate representing the Hungarian Finance Minister Gabor Agoston in the Battle for Marvaria, a NAIMUM war game. Michael Skeen won best delegate representing Syria in the League of Arab States. Brent Gaisford and Peter Smith won verbal commendation representing North Korea in the Group of 77. Great job, Model UN!

CONGRATULATIONS TO IB SENIOR KEVIN BLACK who achieved a perfect score of 36 on the ACT! Kevin is one of just over 300 seniors in the US, out of 1.3 million who took the ACT, to accomplish this amazing feat. His score puts him in the top 00.02% of college-bound seniors in the nation.

GW IB Student Interviewed on Colorado Matters (KCFR)
GW IB student Maddie Wolberg was interviewed on Colorado Matters on January 15, 2008, about the student initiated recycling program at George. Maddie, Joanna Foote and Jane Culkin started the recycling program in November. They held a fund raiser at the IBPA November meeting and raised over $100 which is being applied to the monthly fees for Waste Management recycling services.

The students picked up and washed out more than 75 purple recycling bins donated by Denver Recycles and distributed them to each classroom. Every week, a group of eight students picks up the full bins and carries them to the white recycling dumpster at the far end of the south parking lot. So far, the enthusiasm of the teachers and students has been phenomenal.

[ LISTEN TO THE ARTICLE ON KCFR ]

National Merit & National Achievement Commended Students Congratulations to the following Commended Students! National Merit Hannah Adler Kevin Fulton Michael Skeen Kalyn Tung Kevin Black Caitlin Opperman Christine Stewart Peter Wright Max Brennan Kathleen Shea Brian Sulley Sarah Zapiler         National Achievement Aala Abdelgadir       Brenton Weyi was awarded a $1,000 scholarship by the Providence Foundation of Law and Leadership at last month’s mock trial competition at the Providence Cup, held October 25-27 in Denver. The Cup is sponsored by the Providence Foundation of Law and Leadership. [ READ MORE IN THE GW IB BROADCASTER ]   GW’s Model UN team won in every council that it represented at the Cherry Creek/Smoky Hill November 10th meet. [ READ MORE THE IN GW IB BROADCASTER ] Coach Valana Van Cleave with the 2007 varsity volleyball team, fresh from their victory at Montbello. Valana Van Cleave (Class of 2001) recently completed her first season as head volleyball coach at GW, and successfully led the team to District-level competition. Her varsity team included IB seniors Becca Barach, Skye Gibson, Marina Kucic, Sophie Moore, and Olivia Nicholson; juniors Morgan Padilla and Cara Stamp; and sophomores Alyssa Cudiamat, Leigh Ann Howard, and Ashley Talebi. Two IB JV players, sophomore Sarah Audino and first year Kalah Haley, were tapped to play at Districts as well. Sean Manton, IB Junior has recently been awarded the Yudian He Award for community service. Yudian, a former IB student currently attending university was injured in a car accident while attending GW. He suffered paralysis and became a paraplegic, but continued to serve others. Sean is the first recipient of this award.   GW's The Surveyor received the Pacemaker Award at this year’s JEA/NSPA Journalism Convention in Philadelphia, recognizing it as one of the best high school newspapers in the country. Only 14 of 384 competing papers received the award; GW is the only school to receive the award in Colorado. Papers are judged based on the following criteria: “coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership on the opinion page, evidence of in-depth reporting, design, photography, art and graphics.” [ READ MORE ] GW’s Young Ambassadors to France

Thirteen George IB students joined GW French teacher Liz Ward on a tour of France and Spain last June. The trip featured a stay in a private chateau in Pau with home cooked meals, tours of castles, museums and forts, and visits with French high school students. Read more about the 2007 tour and learn about next summer’s trip.

GW IB Graduate and Hart Leadership Fellow at Work in Cambodia
GW IB alum Cassie Phillips' work with "Be the Change" is featured in CNN International story online. September 19, 2007

Eric Lofgren (Class of 2002) was a featured guest on National Public Radio's "Science Friday" program on August 31, 2007. He was invited to speak about an article he wrote that appeared in the Lancet about using a virtual game to model real world epidemics. After graduating from GW IB, Eric attended Tufts University and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina.

Congratulations to National Merit semi-finalists Thomas Gaisford, Marina Kucic, Amelia Powell, Matea Wasend, and National Achievement Scholar Semi-finalist Brenton Weyi. Approximately 16,000 students who take the PSAT are offered the opportunity to continue in the scholarship competition to qualify for the 8,200 scholarship awards to be offered next spring. GW has more qualifiers than all Denver Public Schools combined!