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Centaurus High School (CHS) is a public secondary school in Lafayette, Colorado, United States, serving students in grades nine through twelve. It is part of the Boulder Valley School District and is a School of Opportunity. It offers
International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB D ...
, Advanced Placement, AVID and engineering programs.


Description

Centaurus High School is located in a racially and socioeconomically diverse suburban community between Boulder and
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
. It had an enrollment of 1,482 students in the 2020–2021 school year, with 39% minority enrollment (majority Hispanic), lower than the state average enrollment of 48% minority enrollment. Approximately 35% of the students at CHS are economically disadvantaged. Curricular offerings include an Engineering Academy, an
International Baccalaureate Diploma program The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...
, Advanced Placement courses, and fine arts. In 2015, CHS received national attention for its "package of reforms designed to create a school community that is welcoming and caring as well as academically challenging and supportive". As one of the
Schools of Opportunity Schools of Opportunity is a project that aims to recognize public high schools that minimize opportunity gaps with outstanding education. The National Education Policy Center, a non-profit education policy research center, created Schools of Opp ...
, Centaurus provides support for incoming ninth grade students, including "social and academic supports, hands-on learning, and extracurricular opportunities". A support program, AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), serves students with potential for college success, but whose families may be economically disadvantaged or whose parents may not have graduated from college. In Schools of Opportunity, "Practices include effective student and faculty support systems, outreach to the community, health and psychological support, judicious and fair discipline policies, high-quality teacher induction and mentoring programs, and limiting or eliminating tracking and ability grouping." According to Carol Burris and Kevin Weiner, who wrote the first report on the CHS Schools of Opportunity project, Students at CHS have also joined students and staff at
University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...
to create an elective ethnic studies course. Students wanted to explore other cultures, including their dance, food and the arts. Researcher have correlated ethnic studies courses with better attendance, graduation rates and academic performance.


History

The CHS building was constructed in 1974. By 2014, it was in need of major repairs to the HVAC system, the roof, the cafeteria, lighting, restrooms and tennis courts. In November of that year Boulder Valley School District voters passed a $576.5 million bond issue for renovations to district schools. Construction of a CHS addition, renovations, and the school's Spangenberg athletic complex were completed between June 2017 and September 2018, at a total cost of $25.2 million.


Extra-curricular activities


Athletic state championships


Boys

*Wrestling – 1992, 1995, 1996, 1999 *Cross Country – 2012, 2018(video, 1:49 minutes)


Girls

* Basketball – 1991


Music state championships

*Marching Band – 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 *Winter Percussion – 2019


Notable alumni

* Devon Beitzel – basketball player,
Northern Colorado Northern Colorado is the name for a region in the state of Colorado and a proposed state in the northeastern portion of Colorado. Region Northern Colorado is a region in the northern portion of Colorado. It borders northwestern Colorado, nort ...
*
Hilary Cruz Hilary Carol Cruz (born December 4, 1988) is an American actress, model and beauty queen who won Miss Teen USA 2007. Biography Cruz graduated from Centaurus High School in 2007 and was going to attend the University of Northern Colorado but cho ...
- beauty pageant contestant and 2006 Miss Colorado Teen USA * Jack D. Fischer – astronaut * Derrick Goold – writer, ''
St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-De ...
'' *
John Massaro John Massaro (born 1957) is an American conductor, opera director, composer, and pianist. Massaro is the co-founder and current Artistic Director of the Phoenix Metropolitan Opera. Career Massaro began his career in California working as an accom ...
(born John Hazlett) – musician


References


External links

* * , video, 5:39 minutes * , video, 10:13 minutes {{authority control 1971 establishments in Colorado Educational institutions established in 1971 International Baccalaureate schools in Colorado Lafayette, Colorado Public high schools in Colorado Schools in Boulder County, Colorado