Happy Monday!

This is a busy time of year. Don’t miss out on all of the great events and celebrations we have coming. This week we have some great events to celebrate each other, support one another, and find new opportunities of our own.

Wednesday - Skilled Trades Fair @ 10 a.m. - must sign up to attend
Thursday - TJ Film Festival @ 6:30 in the auditorium 
Friday - TJHS Multicultural Night @ 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Saturday - Junior Classical League @ 8:00 a.m.
Saturday School @ TJ 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

And good luck to our DECA students at ICDC in Orlando!!!

Also students, make sure you are buckling down. There are only five weeks until finals! Seniors, you have even less time!!! 

Have a great week and stay focused!

Jon Poole
Assistant Principal

Monday-

• Regular School Day

Tuesday-

• Class of 2028 Fundraiser - Cafe Palooza (details below)

Wednesday- 

• TJHS Skilled Trades Career Fair - details below

• Food Distribution: 3:30-5:00 p.m.

Thursday-

• SkillsUSA End of Year Celebration: 5:30-6:30 p.m. in room 111

• Japan Trip 2026 Meeting: 6:00-7:00 p.m.

• TJ Film Festival: 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium

Friday-

• TJHS Multi Cultural Night: 5:30-8:30 p.m.

Saturday-

• CO Junior Classical League: 8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

• Saturday School: 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

• AP Music Theory: 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

• A huge thank you to PTO for providing the faculty and staff with coffee, tea, and a Food Truck last week during testing! We so appreciate your generosity and thoughtfulness.

• Thanks to Marnie Bromby and Suzanne Meyer for all of their work with testing last week! Thanks to all who helped proctor and make things run smoothly!

• Our amazing TJ SkillsUSA students did an excellent job of representing us at the SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference!  They participated with strong professionalism and supported each other in thoughtful ways. Nineteen of the twenty-five students who attended the conference received medals and three students medalled in two events.  Here is a list of the winners:

Brooklyn Darden - 1st place - Audio Production
C Faragone, Evangelia Latsis, Nes Masa, Emanuel Morales-Gomez & Elizabeth Zwerin - 1st place - Quiz Bowl
SophieAnn Scott - 2nd place - Criminal Justice
Vivienne Hill, Meriem Sadkhi, Ella Storey & Sarah Yellen - 2nd place - Entrepreneurship
Amaris Medina & Rachel VanWagner - 2nd place - Video Production
Cheickna Traore - 3rd place - Computer Programming
Noah Cortese & Avery Vinlove - 3rd place - Interactive Application and Game Development
Zoe Cooperman & Vivienne Hill - 3rd place - Web Design and Development
Amaris Medina, Amelie Miller, Tavin MacKinnon, Macy Whistler, Rachel VanWagner - 3rd place - Quiz Bowl

The Thomas Jefferson SkillsUSA Chapter received a Gold Chapter of Distinction award - the only chapter in the state to receive this honor.  Kay Le, Emanuel Morales-Gomez and Elana Russom did a fabulous job of helping to run the conference as our current state officers.

Kay Le was elected President of the Colorado SkillsUSA State Officer Team for 2025-26!

Click here to see highlights from the Awards Ceremony!

• See below for some exciting TJ news from the Optimist Club of Monaco South!

Hello Families, we are happy to announce that TJ will be hosting a Japan trip in 2026. Please click here https://bit.ly/3R9fSjT or scan to RSVP for the informational meeting on Thursday at 6:00 p.m.!

Join us this Thursday for the Annual TJ Film Festival at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium. Come see all of the amazing video work our students have done!

We are hosting our 3rd TJ Multicultural Night on April 25 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. There will be a fashion show, performance setlist and lots of food! For those of you interested in participating, please sign up using this link.

Sign up link: 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C054CAAA92AA2FECF8-56098764-multicultural#/

We greatly appreciate your help!

TJ Leadership Students

Link to buy a yearbook:  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12v4BiS0N1HDYbhNkpQE4hULbMSMztjPmTTh4TCBBbAw/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.3e2qzigqdi5q

During the week, (Monday-Wednesday) teachers will provide passes to students and assign them to Saturday School for Math and/or English. Students - if your teacher gives you a pass, you have been assigned to Saturday School due to a low grade in Math and/or English. Parents - you will receive a text message on Thursday if your student has been assigned to Saturday School. Saturday School hours are 8 a.m.-12 p.m. The entrance is located on the north side of the building near the softball field. A small breakfast snack will be provided for students. 

DATE CHANGE!  The April Food Bank Distribution has been changed to APRIL 23 due to shortened school days next week for testing!  Distribution will take place from 3:30-5:00 pm on Wednesday, April 23!  Please sign up HERE no later than Sunday, April 20, 2025 for us to have food available for you at the distribution. 

Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to support the school in a whole variety of ways. Our final big fundraiser of the school year will be our online auction. The auction link will go live on April 27th and will be open through May 1st. All proceeds from the auction will be used to fund our Spartan Grants Program for our amazing TJ Teachers! 

TJ PTO is proud to announce that due to your generous donations over the past several months, we were able to provide over $6,600 in grants to TJ staff.  Every request was at least partially, if not fully, granted.  What does that mean for our TJ Students?

•  The TJ Hispanic/Latino Club now has funding for field trips, meetings, graduation stoles, etc.

•  TJ Social Workers have critical funding to help students and their families in need.

• The TJ Speech and Debate Club now can pay for tournaments, entry fees, and supplies.

•  The TJ AVID program will be able to partially fund field trips and events such as college visits.

• Ceramic students at TJ will have new supplies, materials such as underglaze, and won't have to share tools anymore.

• The TJ PLEX program will be able to take their students on field trips which help in their social skills and community experiences.

• The TJ students who participate in the Problem of the Week (which encourages a positive disposition school wide towards mathematics) will be able to continue to earn prizes and weekly celebrations.

• All the talented TJ students who advanced to the DECA International Career Development Conference will receive a small grant to help lessen the financial cost of the event.

The TJ PTO will be holding a Silent Auction in a few weeks to help fund the TJ Spartan Grant program for next year.  Please participate in this amazing online event so that our students will continue to receive all these "extras" that make TJ so special.   

Bidding begins in less than one week. Buy parties, bid on a weekend getaway in Silverthorne, gift cards, experiences, and vacations! Preview all items NOW - follow the link below to preview the auction.  Auction officially opens for bidding on Sunday, 4/27 at 12 p/m.  

https://tjhspto.betterworld.org/auctions/thomas-jefferson-high-school-8th

Spartan Seniors and Families,

Congrats on earning OVER $4.5 million in scholarship dollars so far! Keep applying and sharing your Scholarship Wins so we can celebrate you in the Graduation Program! 

Below are a few important college tasks to work on in the coming weeks. 

• The DSF Scholarship application is now open and takes about 20 minutes to complete. 

Click here to learn more about eligibility and for the link to apply! 

• Share your Financial Aid Awards/Scholarship Wins by completing this form. Your name and the name of the scholarship(s) will be highlighted in the Graduation Program. Complete the form as many times as needed and add ALL scholarships, not just scholarships from the university or college you are attending! 

• Work on your Comparing the Cost of Colleges assignment to help your decision making process. 

Upcoming Deadlines and Events:

Monday, April 7th: Capital One Cafe Downtown Financial Aid/FAFSA Workshop

Friday, April 11th: The Journey To and Thru (DU) Law School in the TJFC. Sign up via MAIA Learning: Events

Emily Webster, M.S. Alyssa Baker, M.Ed.
DSF Lead College Advisor DSF College Advisor
emily_webster@dpsk12.net alyssa_baker@dpsk12.net

We all must have tough conversations sometimes, but here are 5 ways to make any hard conversation a little easier!

Mental Health and Social Emotional “Did You Know”: Compiled by Natalie Koncz, Ed.S., NCSP and Samanda Davis, LCSW, MSW.  Resources: https://www.bhg.com/ (April 2019)

Class of 2025 Parents & Guardians,

Prom will take place on Saturday, May 3, 2025. There will be a fun After Prom party at the Island, free to all seniors. There will be all kinds of games, entertainment, food, and fun. We recognize you all have busy lives and full schedules so there will be many ways to be part of this Class of 2025 signature event. One way is to help secure prizes. You can donate gift cards or purchase items from the Amazon Wishlist. This link can be forwarded to grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors and friends who may want to contribute to this fun event!

Check out my list on Amazon

We will need lots of help the night of After Prom on May 3rd. Please see the Sign up Genius below for volunteer shifts and items to loan us for the night.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084CA8AE29A3FB6-55782413-class

Let's celebrate our "Nacho" ordinary teachers and staff at TJ with a Nacho Bar and all of the fixin's! The Class of 2026 is kicking off Teacher Appreciation week on Monday, May 5th and we'd love your help.  Please check out the SignUp Genius for what we need to make this a big success for our amazing teachers and staff:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0849A4A823A1FF2-56210352-nacho#/

Thank you, 

Carrie, Sheila and Tracy

Class of 2027 upcoming events: Sophomores and S’mores (Friday, May 16 after school) and Class of 2027 Teacher Appreciation day (Thursday, May 8). A sign up genius for each event will be sent out in next week's newsletter- we will need supplies for both events and volunteers for the S’mores event! 

Please also consider making a donation to the Class of 2027’s Class Fund. Donations will support the After Prom (held Senior Year) and other class activities. This can be done through the online square account listed below

https://tjhsstore.square.site/product/2027-class-donations/

Want to get involved and help with ideas and planning for the Class of 2027? Please contact Class of 2027 parent co-chairs Tiffany Berry at broncofantif@hotmail.com or Katie Mousel at katielmousel@gmail.com 

We have a fundraising event at Café Palooza all day on April 22, 2025. The Café is located at 5322 DTC Blvd, Suite 100, Greenwood Village, CO 8011. Please mention the TJ Class of 2028 fundraiser at the cashier and for online ordering.

Please put these dates on your calendar:

The Bottom of the 9th event will be May 2, between the end of school and the 4:15 home baseball game. The kids tailgate to celebrate the end of the 9 th grade and then watch the game. The link to help with supplies is https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084CA8AE29A3FB6-56279978-bottom#/. Please let us also know if you can help set up, cook and tear down. Thanks so much!

The class of 2028 will provide food on May 6 for Teacher Appreciation Week. I’ll have a Signup Genius closer to the event.

We are all set for our Fun Run on May 17. The race will be around the TJ area in the neighborhood. We will need people to help with day of registration, water, check-in, etc. Sign up at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084CA8AE29A3FB6-56150578-class to help.

Class of 2028 Fun Run - TJHS PTO is the link to register for the fun run. Thanks to Andie Stone (Class of 2028) for the design. Please feel free to pass the link to friends and family.

It’s time to give $28 to the Class of ‘28

It’s time to give $28 to the Class of ‘28 to help cultivate community for our students! If each family gives $28, we get close to our fundraising goals. You can give the $28 for the class of 2028 through the PTO’s Online Square Account: https://tjhsstore.square.site/product/2028-class-donations/151