Mike Vidakovich
I taught fourth grade with Jim Benson for 14 years, starting in 1988, at both Glenwood Elementary and Sopris Elementary school. Along with Fred Davidson, Bette Hart, Jackie Durrett, Paul Driskill, and Lesyle Grigsby, I felt like we had an all-star cast of teammates at that grade level. We were the Lakers of elementary education.
I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, but I was very lucky to be surrounded by such caring and dedicated human beings.
When I first met Jim and his wife, Mary, who was brave enough to teach kindergarten, I walked away thinking these people are too good to be true. As the years wore on and the blind corners of life took their toll on us all, I realized that everything about the Bensons was genuine and true.
Staff report
The Aspen Art Museum is producing new student exhibitions through its new Teen Curators program this spring at Glenwood Springs High School and the Rifle Branch Library.
They are curated by Annika Bucchin of Glenwood High and Lily McCann-Klausz of Rifle High.
The shows result from the annual program formerly known as Young Curators of the Roaring Fork, which had been running since 2005, downsized for 2020-21 to two teen curators. It follows the museum’s expansive inaugural Youth Art Expo, which opened in March and showed local student art in the main galleries at the museum for the first time since the new downtown building opened in 2014. The museum also has established a Teen Council and Teen Artists program that, along with the Teen Curators, forms a new Teen Art Corps initiative for the institution.
Calling it an emotional boost, School District 186 Superintendent Jennifer Gill confirmed Monday that traditional in-person class graduation is a go for the three public high schools.
Lanphier, Southeast and Springfield will have separate ceremonies at the Bank of Springfield Center on June 5 along with Glenwood High School.
Each student will receive four tickets because the center is still operating at 25% capacity, Gill said, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students will have to social distance and be required to wear masks at the ceremony, Gill said.
Last year, students had the option of an individual stage experience, where they could receive their diplomas and dressed in cap and gown. Those graduations were held at the schools respective football stadiums or fields.
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Mike Vidakovich
When he walked into the gymnasium of the First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California on Jan. 5, 1988, Pete Maravich confessed to the pickup basketball crowd that had gathered for some morning games that he hadn’t played in months and that his game contained more rust than an antique store.
Maravich was in town to tape a Christian radio show for the Focus on the Family Ministry and all the players who had dropped by that morning including former UCLA great Ralph Drollinger were just happy to be on the hardwood with the legendary college and NBA star. They could have cared less that “Pistol Pete” was well past his prime.