Andrew Skari
Assistant Principal
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Sean Slater wins Supervisor of the Year
Former interns, now part time employees Alizon Sanchez Salgado (left) and SophieAnn Scott (right) with Supervisor of the Year, Sean Slater (center) at the Sean Slater Insurance Agency. Sean has now supervised 7 Launch interns. While working in insurance may not sound like the most exciting way for a high school student to start professional exploration, the young people who work in his office quickly become part of the warm office culture. Not only do they gain an understanding of why insurance is an important part of adult life and why their car insurance costs what it does, they also learn the value of investing and protecting assets. Two past interns are now part time employees, helping out with marketing and doing research to help the team best inform their clients. Upon receiving her first paychecks, Alizon opened her first Roth IRA, ensuring her financial future. Sean Slater has been a partner on TJ's Industry Advisory Committee for years, but has really made an impact in welcoming interns to his office.
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Mai Travi and Jack Baker are working through their internship, the SHIFT program, to pass legislation on the My Colorado card, an expansion on the current My Denver card.
The current My Denver card allows for all youth to have unlimited free access to Library Activities, Events, and Homework/Research Assistance, Recreation Center Activity Calendars for Arts, Education, Sports, and Swimming, Cultural Facilities for Arts, Theater, Museums, including the Denver Zoo, the Museum of Nature and Science, and the Botanic Gardens. The future My Colorado card will expand this level of access for youth to a statewide level, providing essential support to students below the poverty line and those located in rural areas, offering out-of-school activities to grow their interests and obtain free support with school.
On Thursday, January 22nd, they will be meeting with state decision-makers, including the Senate minority and majority leaders, the mayor, and the House of Representatives minority leader. They will also be joined by elected members of the Denver City Council, Aurora Public School Board, and Denver Public School Board. Good luck, Mai and Jack!
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Thank you to everyone who attended our January meeting. The meeting minutes will be posted to the TJ website later this month.
Help Wanted!
TJHS Online Auction volunteers: We are looking for a couple of people to help us solicit donations for our annual online auction in the spring. Interested? Please reach out to tjhstogether@gmail.com to get involved.
2026-2027 Leadership: Our Co-President and Secretary positions will all be vacant as of May. We are hoping to have “apprentices” in place by January to shadow this role for a semester. Interested in any of these roles within TJHS PTO next year? Please reach out to us directly at TJHSPTO@gmail.com
Help Wanted!
TJHS Online Auction volunteers: We are looking for a couple of people to help us solicit donations for our annual online auction in the spring. Interested? Please reach out to tjhstogether@gmail.com to get involved.
2026-2027 Leadership: Our Co-President and Secretary positions will all be vacant as of May. We are hoping to have “apprentices” in place by January to shadow this role for a semester. We are also looking for someone to fill the role of Class of 2027 member at-large. Interested in any of these roles within TJHS PTO next year? Please reach out to us directly at TJHSPTO@gmail.com
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The February 2026 Food Bank distribution will take place Thursday, February 19, 2026. Any family that is in need of food support is welcomed and encouraged to sign up HERE. Please note that you MUST sign up no later than Monday, February 16, 2026 for us to have food available for you at the distribution.
Thank you to the TJ Community for your continued support of the Food Bank! If you are interested in making a financial contribution to the TJ Food Bank, you can do so HERE.
Reach out to Megan Perkins (megandperkins@gmail.com), Becca Mahoney (beccaandjoemahoney@gmail.com) or Jillian Krause (jillian.krause@gmail.com) with questions.
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Click here for information about an update on the DPS library system. Happy reading!
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TJ Baseball will have a pre-season information meeting on Tuesday Jan 27 from 6-7:30 pm in Room 111. We will cover important information about registration, tryouts, schedules, fundraising, supplies for the season, and more. Parents/players who are new to the program are highly encouraged to attend.
If you can't make it in person, you can attend via Google Meet here: meet.google.com/pqv-asdq-okg
If you have questions, reach out to Coach Baughn at graham_baughn@dpsk12.net
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Donate to the Spartan Grant Program!
Greetings TJ Community! We're launching our direct give campaign to raise funds for our teacher grants, also known as the Spartan Grant program. These teacher grants go a long way in providing financial assistance to our teachers, who continually go above and beyond for our students and the TJ community. Your support is greatly appreciated and will make a direct impact in the classroom. Every dollar counts. Donate today!
Donate to the Spartan Grant Program
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Score the latest styles, cuts and colors at great prices—customized and delivered to you with new discounts every week.
» Shop your Spartans Sideline Store
For in-house gear stop by the DECA store in the cafeteria after school. Feel free to email with any questions.
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Spartan Juniors and Families,
Your TJ Future Center schoology course is now available. Be sure to use the resources to support your college research throughout this semester. More information will be added regularly!
Spartan Seniors and Families,
Congratulations on an amazing first semester! We look forward to cheering you on this semester as your finalize your plans for life after high school graduation!
Have you been admitted to college(s)? Share your wins by completing the linked form.
Have you completed your FAFSA and/or been awarded scholarship(s)? Share your wins by completing the linked form. Your name and the name of the scholarship(s) will be celebrated on the graduation program! (We do not share $ amounts, FYI.)
College planning tasks from your Future Center schoology to work on now:
• If you have not yet done so, complete the FAFSA! The application is now open for submission. Be sure to complete the 2026-2027 FAFSA. Colleges are creating financial aid awards NOW. Don’t miss out.
• The CASFA application is now open for non-US Citizens who qualify for ASSET.
• Work on your Institutional Scholarship applications. These are often students greatest forms of financial aid. Colleges will send you information on how to access these applications through their portals. Stop by the FC for help!
Upcoming Deadlines and Events:
Wednesday, January 21st: Construction/Carpentry Apprenticeships for Summer 2026 Presentation during 5th in the TJ Library!
Sunday, February 1st: Denver Deltas Scholarship application DUE. DSF Scholarship application OPENS.
Saturday, February 28th: Latinas First Scholarship application DUE, Denver Kappas Scholarship application DUE
Sunday, March 15th: Sachs Foundation Scholarship DUE; MANY institutional scholarship applications DUE
Emily Webster, M.S.
DSF Lead College Advisor
emily_webster@dpsk12.net
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Did You Know…
That you can facilitate an increase in happiness in your kid?
Here are 11 questions that can make your child happier:
Some people are naturally happy/care-free, seemingly without having to make much effort to feel this way. Other people may struggle with this a bit more. The good old “Glass Half Full versus Glass Half Empty” debate. The good news is that there are some questions you can bring into your routine at home that can increase happiness in your family members (and even yourself!). These 11 questions focus your children on how to make themselves happy. Eventually, your children will internalize these questions and ask them in their own heads. Then you'll have given them the gift of happiness, which will make you so (you guessed it) happy.
1. What was your favorite part of today?
This is a good question to ask at bedtime, to help your child feel content and happy before sleep. It also instills a habit of focusing on the best thing that happened in any given day rather than the worst. If you make this part of your bedtime routine, it will become second nature.
2. What are you grateful for?
This is a good question for the dinner table. Every family member can take a turn saying what he or she is grateful for that day. There is a strong correlation between happiness and gratitude, so this one is very powerful.
3. What are you going to do about that?
When a child comes to you with a problem, ask this question in a warm and curious tone. Don't just jump in and solve their problem; how does that help them in the long run? At least give them a chance to work it out on their own, and give them the gift of your confidence in them, which is evident by this question that implies that they can think of solutions to their own issues. If your child says "I don't know," you can say, "I am not sure either, let's try to figure it out together." Happy people are people who think of problems as surmountable, and think of themselves as effective problem solvers.
4. How did that make you feel?
At the risk of sounding shrink-y, an essential part of happiness is being able to notice and express your own emotions. If you can verbalize what you're feeling, you can make sense of it, you can process it, and you can obtain support from others. This is a great question to ask when your child comes to you with something "bad" that happened, instead of either dismissing it ("that wasn't that bad") or fixing it ("let mommy get you some ice!"). It trains your child to be aware of his feelings, and to use that information effectively.
5. What do you think he/she feels?
In any situation, you can cultivate empathy by asking your child to wonder about what someone else feels. Empathy will make your child a happier person; he or she will have stronger interpersonal relationships, feel better about himself for thinking of (and then, often, helping) others, and derive more meaning from life.
6. How can we look on the bright side?
In any situation, you can teach your child that there are positives. With preteens or teenagers, this question may be way too corny, but little kids will like it. You can also teach them the expression "making lemonade out of a lemon" and ask them how you can make lemonade out of a bad situation.
7. What part of that can we learn more about?
In any TV show, book, trip outside the house, basically any situation at all, there is something to learn more about. And look at you, Super Parent, you already have your smartphone at the ready! So this time use it for teaching your child that life is full of learning opportunities. Happy people are people who are curious and always learning. So when you watch TV and someone says "Bonjour," you can look up pictures of France or a YouTube song sung in French. Let’s use our ever progressing technology to keep learning conversations going between each other!
8. What do you want to do on the weekend?
Research shows that anticipation of positive experiences brings more happiness than the experiences themselves. Once your child is old enough to realize that tomorrow is not today, start instilling a habit of positive anticipation of small pleasures. A child who is excited all week to get frozen yogurt on the weekend is a happy child, just as an adult who plans a vacation six months in advance is happier during those six months.
9. What can we do to help/to make someone happy?
Bringing your child along to visit a sick relative, or someone recovering from surgery, or to volunteer at a soup kitchen is a wonderful gift that you can give to your child. Your child will feel even more proud of his behavior if he is the one to think up the nice thing that can be done (e.g., baking cookies to deliver, drawing a card). Research shows that giving even releases oxytocin and endorphins, so it's like a high that your child can become addicted to. Also, involve your child in your charitable activities, as giving charity is a form of altruism that is also linked directly to happiness (and just to being a good person, which you also want for your child). Incorporate a spirit of generosity into your child's daily life.
10. What do you want to do outside today?
Getting outside and engaging in physical activities alongside your child is a wonderful way to get him or her in the habit of not just sitting around. Exercise releases endorphins and can be as effective as treating depression with medication. And the most powerful way that you can teach your child about exercise is to do it yourself. Children whose mothers exercise are more likely to exercise themselves. And sunlight can also help boost mood and regulate circadian rhythms, which means better sleep for your kids, which makes everyone happier.
11. When do you feel happiest?
If you direct your children's attention to the experiences that they most enjoy, they will start to realize that they can choose to proactively increase their time spent in activities that make them feel best about themselves. According to researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, "flow" is the state where people find an activity so enjoyable and rewarding that they become completely immersed in it, losing all sense of time and feeling completely in the moment. If your child is lucky enough to have found an activity that makes him feel a sense of "flow," it is helpful for you to point this out and allow your child enough time to attain this state.
Mental Health and Social Emotional “Did You Know”: Compiled by Natalie Koncz, Ed.S., NCSP and Samanda Davis, LCSW, MSW. Resources: Harvard Health Publishing, Discover Magazine, Greater Good Magazine, CBS News, Healthline.
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Thank you for all of those who attended our first After Prom planning meeting on the 14th. Our next meeting will be on February 10th at 6:30 p.m. in Room 111. We are still looking for help in our planning proces and would love to have you join us.
Don't forget that the Senior Recognition ad deadline is January 30th. This is a great chance to recognize your senior in the yearbook. The link to purchase the ad is on the TJ website under News & Events, then yearbook.
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SAVE THE DATE!! We have a fundraiser night at Dough Counter Pizza on Tue., February 3. Stay tuned for more details!!!
Please 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. 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
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COLOR FOR THE GARDEN
If the warm weather has you thinking about this spring’s
garden, this is the spot for you. The Class of 2028 Flower
Power website is currently switching over to the spring
catalog—spring bulbs, seed mats, strawberry plants,
garden supplies and more. We’ll let you know when the site
is back up and running. |
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS
A shout out to everyone who has supported the Class of
2028 on our dine-out nights! The new year is starting with some of your favorite
restaurants.
Tuesday, January 27, 4pm-8pm: Panera at University Hills Plaza
Wednesday, February 25, All Day: Birdcall at Happy Canyon Shopping Center
We’ll share more information about both events when we’re closer.
SOPHOMORES S’MORES
Ooey, gooey and just for the Class of 2028. This is the premier sophomore end of the
year event, and it won’t be possible without your help! We need parent volunteers for a
committee to help organize this fun afterschool event. If you think you might be
interested, email jillkrug@gmail.com or kevkrug@gmail.com. Volunteer early and you
get a voice about both when the committee meets and when the event will be held.
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
Remember, all money raised by these events and donations will help fund an amazing
after-prom event during the students’ senior year and a fun event at the end of each
school year.
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It's time to give $29 to the Class of '29
Give $29 to the Class of '29 and help cultivate community for our students!
The Class of 2029 Class Fund supports class activities each year. If each family gives $29 we get close to our fundraising goals.
Give $29 to The Class of '29 through the PTO’s Online Square Account: https://tjhspto.betterworld.org/campaigns/class-2029-donation
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