BRING LAIR

20
21
LAIR

2021

DRAKE MIDDLE SCHOOL

BRING
BRIN
BR
B RI
R
RIN
IIN
NG
N G

COLORADO
ARVADA,

VOL
55
.
 WEATHERED STRINGS.
Eighth graders Quinn Barry,
Taylor Foss, and Palmer Johnson
BRING
B RING
practice for the outdoor
orchestra concerts given during

.
Spirit Week in the fall. Due to
COVID-19, the students had to
perform outside since no regular,
indoor concerts were allowed.
“It was super cold and our music
kept blowing away, but it was fun
playing for people!” said Foss.

Table of Contents

Trimester 1: trimester 2:

16 40
Prologue:

6 rEFErence:

64 86 126
Trimester 3: PEOPLE:
CHECK THE CHANGE. Sixth grade science teacher Mike Reeke
demonstrates the electrolysis of water for students Parker Kelly, Holden
Gorostiaga, Caleb Hottovy, Max Given, Jacob Carpenter, Reese Barry,
Charlotte Jones, Abby Entlich, Ben Blair, and Brayden Alcorta. "We
produced hydrogen gas and made it explode and oxygen gas and made it
reignite flames," Reeke said.
BRING
DRAKE MIDDLE SCHOOL
12550 W. 52nd Avenue Mindi Feir, Principal
Arvada, Colorado 80002 Staff: 84
drake.jeffcopublicschools.org Sixth Grade: 321
303.982.1510 Seventh Grade: 329
Eighth Grade: 266
Total Enrollment: 916 VOL. 55
1
 BRING us back
TO SCHOOL!
It's all we want. Well, that and
the ability to see our

again.
WHO KNEW it could be
possible to attend school from
the couch?
NOT US...UNTIL NOW.
There’s a lot of things we're
gonna' learn, like the amount of
time we’d be spending on
TIK TOK,
the frustration that comes with a
photo by lwicke

BUTTON,
and the importance of
self care and support.
We’ve got a lot ahead of us.
And WE'LL DEAL
with it all.
OPENING
DESIGN BY: KAYLA GRENWIS
 ALONE TOGETHER. Megyn
Endes (8) participates in Debbie
Swartz's Advisement class. Students,
according to COVID-19 protocols,
sat six feet apart in classes whose
numbers were already cut in half
thanks to hybrid scheduling. All "I don't know how I feel about
these changes felt strange. "In the school this year. It's just not
beginning, I was nervous because of that interesting; I miss my
COVID, but after everything got
settled and adjusted, I felt pretty friends."
good," said Endes. -Orin Edwards (7)

photo by khenson
photo donated by michelle brownlee

TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE.

Samantha Bowes (7) and Audrey
Copher (7) await entrance on the
first day school. "I kind of had an
odd feeling that, at some point,
school was going to go fully on line
for at least a little bit again because
Corona was crazy then. I was
confused and excited about the
year," Bowes said. REMOTELY
FOCUSED. Brendan Brownlee (8)
completes an assignment for class. A
full remote student, Brendan has
done all of his coursework from
home. “It’s been a little boring not
being in class every day in person,
but I’ve still learned a lot of new
things and feel prepared for high
school next year,” Brownlee said.

3

"Hybrid hasn't been the best.
Online, it's really hard to get
motivation. It's easy to play
video games, so it's hard. At
school is so much easier."
-Oliver Hagans (8)
"Wearing
masks all day is
very annoying. I've gone
through six different ones.
This one is the best because
it's soft inside and doesn't
rub my neck."
-Emily Crockett (6)
photo by lwicke
OPENING
DESIGN BY: KAYLA GRENWIS
STRINGING IT OUT. Cellist Livia
Grau (8) rehearses outside during
orchestra class. "I don't like the
hybrid schedule. I don't like that
class lasts like two hours," Grau
said, only slightly exaggerating.
Classes clocked in at 90 minutes.
HERE'S THE POINT. Annabelle
Haney (8) gives direction during a
photography shoot. "I was excited
for my last year of middle school,
but it got ruined by COVID. We
couldn't do most of the fun things
that were planned for the year,"
Haney said.
 We’re still here, eyes forward.
WE'RE STILL
STANDING,
ready for what’s next.
We’re envisioning times where
photo by mscurlock
photo by khenson

see peers’ smiles, and have the

ability to turn in assignments on
paper, not just in Google
Classroom.
Until then...
We need to wear masks?

We need to quarantine?
alright.
We’re switching to hybrid
learning?

WHATEVER.
Dragons
know the word
don't
QUIT.
You brought your worst, but
YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN
HEADS TOGETHER. Patrick
Shannon (6) and Levi Rillos (6)
experiment with a Makey Makey in
OUR BEST.

IT.
pre-engineering class. Despite all of
the craziness of the beginning of his
first middle school year, Shannon
So all we can say
still had a good experience. "I liked
starting sixth grade," he said. "It
was fun." BRING
is,

5
 Where do we even begin?

photo donated by carrie edwards

It was a summer of many UNKNOWNS.
overhearing our parents
watch the news was

OVERWHELMING.
Updates on the increase in COVID-19 cases,
the protests, and the presidential campaigns
seemed to put everyone on edge.
And then there were the changes
to day to day life.
With
RESTRICTIONS
in place throughout the state, we were limited.

:fun.
Summer was being robbed from
us. Stuck at home, the boredom no
sank in. No restaurants, no
haircuts, no sleepovers.
WE KEPT OURSELVES BUSY
by finding new ways to fill our time. Some of us
just survived, some of us thrived.
Interestingly enough,
is endlessly
bingeable.
Many escaped
OUTDOORS.
while others made themselves comfortable in
gaming chairs. DUDE'S GOT SKILLS! On vacation
at Lake Powell, Tag Edwards (6) wake
surfs, his favorite activity on the lake.
LIFE KEPT GOING AFTER ALL. For Edwards, COVID-19 was not the
top worry once school began. "I was
nervous because I was new," said
But still, we awaited the decision for how we Edwards. "But after my first day, I was
excited because all of my teachers
would start school. were nice."

PROLOGUE - SECTION DIVIDER

DESIGN BY: KAYLA GRENWIS
 PRO-
LOGUE
7
 FINALLY, our first day of

photo by kgrenwis
SCHOOL .
But it wasn’t what we expected-- or
wanted. We spent (not just the first day,
but) the first two weeks
OVER A
COMPUTER.
As if that wasn’t bad enough,
Zoom crashed
nationwide, leaving teachers to use Google
Meets at the last minute. Can you say Google
Bombers?

*AWKWARD* When we were finally allowed in the

building, we got far too used to
temperature screenings

Oh, and, THE HAND

of course, SANITIZING.
(The less said about that, the better.)
being separated from friends (and crushes!)
with last initials on the other side of the
alphabet.
But we're back in school now.
SOCIAL...GATHERING? In Isaac
Hippely's science class, eighth
graders Avery Grieve, Eliana
DiManna, Sienna Eckert, and Raleigh
Greason play a Barbie Kahoot as a
brain break. "I just looked up Barbie
on Kahoot and gave the code to the
people sitting next to me. And then
everyone wanted to play, so the
entire class was playing the Barbie
Kahoot that was on my

FINE.
Chromebook," said Grieve. Kahoots,
EVERYTHING and Barbie, have become quite
popular this year.
WILL BE
TRIMESTER 1 - SECTION DIVIDER
DESIGN BY: KAYLA GRENWIS
TRI
ONE
17
A week before Thanksgiving Break, families got
the call they'd been dreading.
SCHOOL WAS GOING REMOTE
...AGAIN. We all knew it would happen, but

didn't soften the blow.

full time zoom;
no more masks, just a whole bunch of
internet problems.
That could be the definition of
Our eyes would be glued to our computers for
two whole months.

EIGHT WEEKS!
ThaT's like a
million school
days. But can you even imagine having
to teach kids like this? Or learn
like this for that matter?
There are so many distractions
at home, and it's not easy to learn IN
Can you say, ISOLATION.
"YIKES?!" CHECKMATE. Marin Siglinger
(7) gets frustrated at her chess
game in Mr. Donohue's
advisement. Despite the
Luckily, everyone got just what they needed in pandemic, Mr. Donohue

a chance to go back
late January: continued with the annual chess
tournament. About being in
person, Siglinger said, "I think that
to hybrid learning. I am going to learn better in
person, but I definitely liked it
more at home because you could
Something's better than nothing-- be in your pajamas and nobody
could see it."
TRI
TWO
41
 ah, a new trimester.

photo by ahaney
Time to begin again. With, as usual, everything
changing around us. But at the moment, we are
worrying about demanding,
PROBLEMS,
like having to stay up late to work on the
END OF UNIT HISTORY PROJECT,
or brainstorming ways to get that C- in science
B
up to a to stay in
honors.
Of course, it’s still total freakout
mode when people go in public
MASK.
without a
But parents and relatives are getting

and it seems like everything

is going back to
It's funny to even mention that word anymore
But seriously, things are Finally looking up.
We are just fantasizing about Summer vacation
just like any other year, and already

stressing about the school

year that will come after it. That’s "way-in-the-
future" thinking. Hopefully that’s when

actually happens.
DOES IT COMPUTE? Charlie
Weicher (7) looks over an assignment
But who knows? on his chromebook during art class.
This is the first year that
Like we said, everything is changing. And we'll chromebooks were used almost
exclusively in every class. "I've barely
be here no matter what, prepared to handed in any paper assignments this
year," said Weicher. "It's all been on
the chromebook, and I kind of prefer
it because you can't lose your work."
 TRI
THREE
65
LET'S BE REAL.

photo by kgrenwis
Most of us students don't come to school to
take tests, or turn in homework, or any of that

nonsense.
We come to see
OUR FRIENDS.
And thanks to Corona and its annoying hybrid
schedule, we can’t really do that anymore.
Friend groups
split apart and crushes
Thank you so MoVeD
much, global
pandemic.
away.
Honestly, we don't know what we would have
done without you. Live our normal lives, maybe?
To add to this already

there are only four classes in a day instead of

seven because of the even more annoying
cohort rule!
(Insert exploding head emoji here.)
We haven’t seen besties in months, and it’s
nearly impossible to get homework help
in classes where you
only
only know,
know, like,
like, two
two
people.
people.
It’s almost unreal, but that little voice in the MAKE THAT SHOT. During her lunch break,
Lexie Tancredo (8) looks to make a backwards
back of our heads is constantly reminding us basket. "Me and the boys were having a
competition shooting from the half court,"
that it isn’t. Tancredo said. For her, it's been a year of ups
This is REALITY, and downs. The low being unable to see friends
all the time, and the high of "getting new

and we'll deal. teachers and a fresh start."

 THE
PEOPLE
87
OK, BUT CLUBS?? we guess it was fine that school

photo by lwicke
got messed up.

That's where we draw the line.

At the beginning of the year,

to renew existing clubs, and actually established

new ones. But with all of the cohorting
guidelines and crap, clubs were
CANCELLED,
OR POSTPONED,
or held remotely.
(deep breath)
The whole point
of being in a group is to
BONDover a certain topic,
Band players had to wear
custom made masks
with a hole in the middle, then tie a cloth to the
end of their instrument with a rubber band.
And Ms. Brinkman had to move to the
auditorium to have enough

SPACE
between her choir students! TO A DIFFERENT BEAT. Brij Neogi
(6) plays the traombone in band. This
We guess it’s a blessing thatwe got to go back year, due to pandemic guidelines, band
students had to wear masks with holes
to
full in-person
in them, then attach fabric to the end of
their instruments with rubber bands.
"Mrs. Wilson's band class has been a lot
of fun this year, even with Covid. It has
been great to see all my classmates
Spring Break, even if it was for such a short working hard and improving together,"
said Neoji.
portion of the school year.
REFER-
ENCE
127
 BROUGHT
back to school with 31 days to go,
IT'S A RACE! Jackson Roesner (7)
helps Ms. Nelson get the class CO2
cars ready to race. '[Jackson] is an
all-around great kid, which is why he
was chosen to help me," said Nelson.
This was the first time Tech Ed was
able to race cars this year.

(SERIOUSLY??) it was

Or, we should say, it's crowded

again.
It's no different than it used to be,
EXCEPT WE FEEL
DIFFERENT.
Is it so bad that we've gotten used
to the
EXTRA SPACE?
We wished to no BEST
longer be separated FRIENDS &
from CRUSHES
Well, wish granted,
for better or for worse. It's a

than what we had gotten used to.

Being back was an adjustment, but
at least we didn't have to
sTaRE aT a sCREEN
aLL Day.
We'll take the good times with the
bad.
THIS IS GOOD AGAIN.
REFERENCE- CLOSING
DESIGN BY: KAYLA GRENWIS
 "It was fun making these
smoothies. You have to stay
on task, but you're having a
lot of fun while you're doing
it."
-Anthony True-Flores (7)

LADIES WHO LUNCH. Bella

Walker (8), Olivia Wilkerson (8),
and Jocelyn Stoehr (8) chat over
lunch on their in person day. Due
to COVID-19, lunches were held
outdoors on a usual basis since
lunchrooms were for serving only.
"Most days at lunch I just talk with
my friends because we have a lot of
catch up to do," said Walker.
GOOD TIMES ON ZOOM. Via
the internet, sixth grade ELA
teacher Kim Newhart greets her
class. Becoming an online teacher
overnight was challenging for all
staff. "This year has been a roller
coaster. I've never spent more time
on Google Meet. It was wonderful
to have our kids back," Newhart
said.

141
 ALL SMILES. Showing off his
work, Oakley Jordan (7) poses with
the fire engine he created in Tech
"This is the shortest year Ed. "He was so happy with that
EVER. Yeah, I feel like it just project, I just had to take a picture
of him," said teacher Gina Nelson.
started." "I'm really happy about it because I
-Brendan Brownlee (8) & like spray painting it and putting on
"The most Grayson Schmucker (8) the stickers," said Jordan. ALL IN
memorable part of my A LATHE-R. Carter Coorough (8)
year was learning to play carves part of his project in Tech
Ed. In a large class with students
the viola." who need a little help, Ms. Nelson
-Bella Williams (6) relies on Coorough as an aide."I'm
kind of the person people come to
when they need help," Coorough
said. "I like being the kid who can
help others."

REFERENCE - CLOSING
DESIGN BY: KAYLA GRENWIS
 It's been a year TO
SAY
THE LEAST.
But what can we say?
We’ve already had to change our
plans an
EXHAUSTING
EXHAUSTING
amount of times.
We're

THE WRITE STUFF. Totally focused,

prOS at that, actually.
Leela Metzinger (7) completes a
writing assignment in Ms. Wolf's ELA
Throughout all this chaos, we've
class. Metzinger is seen as a positive
influence in the classroom. "Lee always
been more flexible than a
has a positive attitude and makes sure
that everyone feels welcome and
included," teacher Laura Wolf said
about her.
mask strap. We have
high hopes
for what's to come. Because if we
made it through this year,
WE CAN MAKE IT
THROUGH ANYTHING.
Through this new normal, we still

had our projects, and

managed to keep the
SOCIAL EMBARRASSMENTS
down to a minimum.

IT.
You can say we
BROUGHT
143
COLO- 2020-21 yEARbOOK STAFF
PHON Front Row (Left to right): Laurel Wicke (advisor), Caitlyn Nguyen, Aislin Shannon, Makenzie Scurlock, Lydia Maugher,
Annabelle Haney, Kyra Henson, Kayla Grenwis, Isabelle Barela. 2nd Row: Aaron Hewitt, Andrew Lee, Solana Hall,
Madeleine Nations, Jaylie Pasini-Hill, Vannessa Woods, Olivia Davis, Hannah Thexton. 3rd Row: Kathleen Van Devener,
Lily Hardy, Naomy Jaquez-Resendiz, Raleigh Greason, Karsyn Kline, Morgan Farr,
Sarah Chamblin, Tara Donelson, Thea McWilliams. bOOK DETAILS
(because everyone's dying to know)
LEADERSHIP Editor-in-Chief: Kayla
Grenwis; Editors: Kyra Henson,
Makenzie Scurlock, Annabelle Haney,
Raleigh Greason. Advisor: Laurel Wicke.

FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF: STYLISTICS Trim Size: 8.5x11; Pages

Producing this book proved to be even more of a
struggle than we originally thought, and our
expectations were set pretty high. We couldn’t
predict what this year would bring, yet somehow we
thought it would be a good idea to come up with
the theme before school even started. Our plan
worked out, thanks to our Walsworth Rep. Andrew
Ross, Mrs. Wicke, the editors, and the rest of the
staff (and non-staff! Shoutout to Palmer Johnson,
Sam Burgess, and Mason Lusche, the yearbook
millennials!).
Our theme was heavily inspired and improved by
Walsworth’s summer programs. I remember we
were in the school library in July trying to come up
with theme ideas when we heard Jim Jordan talk
about how everyone needed to bring it this year,
and at that moment you could practically hear the
lightbulbs switch on in our heads. Moving ahead to
Elite Weekend, we got crucial feedback on our
spread and cover drafts from the experts, and I
personally felt like that was a priceless learning
experience. Throughout this year, although his visits
have been less frequent due to the global pandemic,
we were given some major guidance from Andrew,
and owe quite a bit to him. It was kind of our motto
this year that "everything will be fine," Andrew’s
most common saying. (Side note: Mrs. Wicke always
jokes that she is going to get a T-shirt for Andrew
with those words printed on it!)
It speaks to our attitude as a staff that, despite the
overwhelming amount of obstacles thrown at us this
year, like having to interview students through
Google Chat or having to switch to a chronological
organization format because of content uncertainty,
we knew we weren’t going to be stopped. All of us
were focused on maintaining and building upon our
foundation of excellence and aiming to get better
every day. With our class being separated for all but
four days before our final deadline, the teamwork and
trust among the staff has grown a great deal.
Outstanding staff leadership this year has also
contributed to the stellar quality of this year’s book
and has heavily decreased the number of random
yearbook to-do lists compiled and shared by Mrs.
Wicke at 1:30 in the morning!
Kyra Henson, I seriously could not have done my
job without your constant, unwavering support, not
only as a fellow editor, but as a friend. Thank you for
seeing me through all of those cold seconds, off topic
conversations, and late night story edits! To all the
other editors, I truly appreciate your compliance with
my craziness and your willingness to help. To the
newbies, you guys are absolute rock stars, and I can’t
wait to see what you’ll do in future years! To Drake’s
staff, we apologize for interrupting your lessons by
taking students out of classes. And to Scott Larson,
our custodian, I am so very sorry for breaking every
clock in the eighth grade wing...and not knowing how
to fix them! In my defense, the picture on page 67
turned out better than I’d hoped. Sometimes our
excitement inhibits our logical thinking skills, but
everything works out fine in the end.
We’ve put countless hours and an unmatched
amount of effort into this book, but every bit of sleep
deprivation has been worth it. As Kyra said, this book
is our pride and joy. We are beyond excited to share
our work with you and can’t wait to see what you
think. Thanks for everything, Dragons!
-KAyLA GRENwIS
144; Paper: 100# Legend Matte Paper
Stock; Cover: Printed 4-Color with
Matte Lamination, Clear Silkscreen,
Custom Embossing & Debossing
wrapped on 120 pt. binders board.
Endsheet: Printed 4-Color on 100#
White Endleaf, different designs front
and back.
PRINTING Walsworth yearbooks, 306
North Kansas Avenue, Marceline, MO
64658; 600 copies were printed.
EQUIPMENT 2 Canon T6 Rebel
Cameras; 25 Google Chromebooks, 4
Lenovo Think Centre computers.
FONTS Meloriac, Chantilly
COLORS Navy: F4691; Teal: F4100;
Yellow: F1700; Red: F0100; Black;
White.
COST OF BOOK $45.00
SOFTWARE Walsworth Online Design;
Adobe Photoshop CC 2020.
MEMBERSHIPS Colorado Student
Media Association; National Student
Press Association.
RECOGNITION All Colorado 2020;
NSPA Middle School Design of the Year
2020; NSPA Middle School Photo of the
Year 5h place; NSPA Pacemaker Finalist
2020;
The 2021 Lair was produced using student
generated content and was a completely
student driven initiative.
BROUGHT
WORLD TURNED DIGITAL!

IT.
Sitting at his Chromebook in
Mr. Vasquez’s science class,
Luke Younger (7) studies
without the aid of traditional
paper and a pencil. COVID-19
made the school environment
almost paperless. Luckily, Jeffco
district had moved to 1:1 tech
two years previously, which
allowed every student a device.