RRCC offers degree in water quality management - #lakewoodnews

This fall, Red Rocks Community College makes Colorado history by offering a bachelor of applied science degree in water quality management technology.Red Rocks is the first community college in the state to offer a BAS degree, the result oftwo years of work by college faculty."The accreditation to offer a BAS will expand the learning opportunities for the students," said Chelsea Campbell, faculty lead of the Water Quality program, in an email interview. "This accreditation gives us the ability to offer more hands-on training for students and help them become better prepared for a career in the water industry."The water quality management technology program focuses on applications, regulations and technologies of water, and has been around since the 1970s, Campbell said. The campus' water quality building contains a hard, wet lab for the two water and wastewater analytical classes, and an outdoor distribution lab. The outdoor distribution lab is a live lab where students are able to experience all of the elements seen within the distribution system. The curriculum is directed in a specific way to increase likelihood of employment in the industry."The BAS allows us to be pioneers in creating educational pathways that perhaps have not yet existed in this industry," said Linda F. Comeaux, vice president of instructional services at the college. "Our students will get, what I believe, is the best learning experience, the elevated/upper division knowledge and hands-on, applicable experience to go right into the workforce and secure in-demand jobs."The road to accreditation began in February 2014, when Senate Bill 4 was passed. The bill allowed community colleges to offer a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree, and the Water Quality Management program was chosen as one of the first programs in the state to offer this degree.Red Rocks' team held a variety of industry summits to help develop a curriculum and classes, Campbell explained. At the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015, the BAS degree was approved by the Community College System Office and the Colorado Department of Higher Education. Then, in May 2016, the Higher Learning Commission approved the BAS degree."I am most looking forward to the growth of opportunities for students, especially since the water industry has very few degrees that are specific to water," Campbell wrote. "Most degrees are focused around the environment or more generic sciences. This degree provides students courses that match their specific interests. Employers can now hire graduates that match their specific needs and the graduates can get the degree they really want."As with most programs at Red Rocks, Water Quality is designed to be affordable and flexible -- classes are offered in a variety of modalities including online, traditional classroom and hybrid."We already have Ph.D. and qualified faculty on staff that will be able to teach some of these upper division courses," Comeaux wrote. "I am looking forward to the faculty having the opportunity to utilize additional parts of their spectrum of knowledge and do what they do best -- give our students exceptional experiences."

from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.comhttp://arvadapress.com/stories/RRCC-offers-degree-in-water-quality-management,224624?branding=15

It is time to be fierce about human dignity - #lakewoodnews

Although I write every year to commemorate Eva Levine's birthday on July 6, this year has even more significance for me, because our nation's birthday - and the principles upon which it was founded - stand out in sharp relief against the backdrop of fear, prejudice and fierce nationalism that is playing out in the U.S. right now.

Normally I consider fierceness to be a positive attribute, a quality that serves us well when we need to face the world head on. Certainly Eva Levine was fierce when the Gestapo broke into the house in Poland where she and her husband lived, and slapped Eva's father-in-law around. Eva herself confronted the Germans, fiercely defending her home and family.

Eva Levine was fierce when she was deported to Ravensbruck, a concentration camp in Germany. Her mother was so weakened by starvation and disease that she died on the floor of her filthy barracks, two days before the British liberated the camp in April 1945. Eva, her own health broken, had survived through her fierceness. She immigrated to the United States in 1950 - because she could - and she never saw any members of her family again.

Eva Braun Levine immigrated to the United States because, by 1950, she could. This was not always so, however, even as the world was becoming aware of the transports, the death camps, the fierce nationalism of one man who was able to whip his supporters into a frenzy, in part because of his country's economic downturn. Adolf Hitler was effectively able to demonize an entire ethnicity, a whole religion and con his followers into implementing his Final Solution.

So, this year, as I contemplate the 240th anniversary of the birth of the United States of America, I am chilled by what I am witnessing in my country. And although the circumstances are different (for which I am fervently thankful), the parallels are there: policies that would require an entire ethnicity, a whole religion, to register because they are Muslim. Talk of patrolling Muslim neighborhoods, and of punishing - legally - people who don't report on their neighbors' package deliveries. How far away are we, then, from internment camps when xenophobia reaches a fever pitch, whipped up by Donald Trump and his ilk?

Yes, I understand that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. And I also understand that thugs who call themselves Muslims are currently carrying out terrorism around the world.

But the Japanese-Americans who spent years in internment camps had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor. And the Muslim-Americans who practice their faith and go to work and pay their taxes and feed their families are no different today.

It is we who must be different. We who must put a stop to rampant stereotyping, which defies the very principles of liberty that are the foundation of our great nation. We who must continue to stand up for people whose lives are torn apart by war, as both my mother and father did when they served in World War II.

This is a time and a reason for fierceness, and if now is the time, the reason is to stand up for human dignity and turn away from ignorance.

Andrea Doray is a writer who desperately wants to help find the balance between liberty and security. Contact Andrea at a.doray@andreadoray.com.

 

 

from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/It-is-time-to-be-fierce-about-human-dignity,224617

Governor proclaims Jeff Hart Week

from Valley Courier - News http://www.alamosanews.com/V2_news_articles.php

The competitive side of CrossFit - #lakewoodnews

For many, CrossFit is fun fitness.

"It gets you to do things you never thought you could," said Meriah McLeish, a CrossFit and Olympic weightlifting coach in Arvada. "Everyone can work out together, but make it their own."

In general, people enjoy CrossFit because it provides them with functional fitness, said Bryan Lundstrom, owner of Mountainside CrossFit, which is located at 12860 W. Cedar Drive, #107, in Lakewood.

People look to the workout for fitness, Lundstrom said, "but we all have a little competitiveness in us."

Whether it's competing against oneself to up a goal, a friendly competition among members of a gym or training for the CrossFit Games, the community seems to enjoy the healthy competition.

Lundstrom competed in the CrossFit Games' Open contest for the first time last year, but has been a certified CrossFit trainer since August 2012.

While participating in the Open competition, people get to see what they're made of, where they rank and their weaknesses, Lundstrom said.

"It doesn't matter age, experience or athletic ability," Lundstrom said. "It's open to everybody. That's why we call it The Open."

Each week's workout is posted online on Thursday evenings, and athletes have until Monday evening to complete the workout and post their score, which must be validated to count.

More than 300,000 people compete in the Open, Lundstrom said, but not many qualify for the next step of the competition, called Regionals.

"Those who don't make it to Regionals get a laundry list of things they can work on for next year," he said.

Workouts at the final stage of competition, the CrossFit Games, can potentially involve "everything from classics such as running and squats, to more exotic movements such as climbing and odd-object lifting. The athletes will complete short sprint-type events, medium-duration challenges and longer tests of endurance," states the CrossFit Games' website.

McLeish has been doing CrossFit since 2008 and competing nationally in weightlifting since 2012.

She enjoys not only being strong, but also the technical side and mental challenge of weightlifting. Although CrossFit got her into weightlifting, McLeish uses CrossFit mostly as a conditioning tool these days.

"It helps fill in other areas that don't get used as much in weightlifting," she said.

But she will compete in local CrossFit competitions about once or twice a year.

They're "few and far between," MacLeish said, "and they're simply for fun."

Husband and wife Lindsey and Kris Marcelli started doing CrossFit about 10 years ago when they were in the military. They opened their gym, CrossFit Eminence at 864 E. 78th Ave. in Thornton, five years ago.

"Colorado has an amazing group of competitive athletes," Lindsey Marcelli said.

However, she added, not every person who does CrossFit feels the "need to compete" at the pro level.

"A lot of people do CrossFit because it makes them feel more functional and fit in life," Lindsey Marcelli said. And "every person sets goals for themselves."

Plus, she said, there's friendly competition with fellow community members every day in the gym.

But for those who do like to compete, "there's a lot more to competition than just competing," Kris Marcelli said. "A lot of competitions are put on for good causes."

For example, people can compete in competitions nationally that support Make-A-Wish foundations or breast cancer awareness.

One local competition the Marcellis participated in last year was the Jawsome Throwdown, which benefited a young lady of Erie with juvenile idiopathic arthritis that affected her jaw joints. Her insurance did not cover the cost of the procedures she needed, so all the proceeds from the CrossFit competition went to her, Kris Marcelli said.

"There is a two-fold take on it," said Jonathon Buschbacher of Golden who has been doing CrossFit since 2010. "Helping good causes and being a part of the broader community."

Buschbacher has been a personal trainer since 2005 and coaches CrossFit classes at Trailhead CrossFit, 871 Brickyard Circle in Golden. He also is a personal trainer for MBS CrossFit's two locations --; 10900 W. 120th Ave. in Broomfield and 6945 Indiana Court, Suite 700 in Arvada.

Buschbacher hasn't participated in CrossFit competitions for a while, he said, because he has been concentrating on coaching. Although he will start getting back into some local competitions eventually, he said, coaching has been quite rewarding.

"You help people realize fitness," Buschbacher said. "And fitness is life."

And classes are a fun, community atmosphere. "You're competing against yourself and others," he said. "There's always going to be "community and friendship going on between athletes."

from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/The-competitive-side-of-CrossFit,224594

Looking for lead in Jefferson County Schools - #lakewoodnews

Jefferson County Schools is hunting for lead this summer in its buildings.

In a matter of weeks, the district has found sinks, drinking fountains and hose hookups that tested positive for elevated levels of lead at the following schools: Green Mountain, Kendrick Lakes, Ralston, Westgate, Bergen Meadow, Bradford, Deane, Eiber, Slater, Stony Creek, Edgewater, Ute Meadows and Foster elementary schools.

Tests at Pennington, Coronado, Hutchinson and Miller elementary schools found no elevated levels of lead.

Each school was tested at numerous water sources. Ralston had nine high-lead spots; Slater had eight; Bergen Meadow had five; Ute Meadows had four; Deane had three; Green Mountain, Edgewater, Stony Creek and Foster had two; and Kendrick Lakes, Bradford and Westgate had one.

All locations were either a sink inside a classroom or food service prep area, a drinking fountain or a sink hookup.

The Environmental Protection Agency requires any water location that tests higher than 15 parts per billion be remediated. Most sites with positive tests were slightly above the suggested level, but a sink at Foster and Ute Meadows showed levels above 66 parts per billion, and two sinks at Slater tested above 100 parts per billion.

The EPA cautions that there is no known safe level of lead consumption.

Diana Wilson, Jeffco's chief communication officer, said that every school in the district will be checked over the summer.

This hunt for lead was initiated after Arvada's Jeffco Head Start building, a former Jeffco Schools building, tested positive for lead in April, Wilson said. Staff wanted to check the water quality to ensure the safety of the district's 86,000 students and its facilities. She was not aware of any other Colorado school district conducting such a survey.

Approximately 69 percent of Jeffco facilities are 29 to 68 years old, so Wilson warned more schools could see high levels of lead.

The estimated cost to test all the schools is $7,500. There is no cost estimate yet for fixing each lead-high site. Wilson said each water source will not be used until it tests below the EPA's lead threshold.

New schools are being tested daily. The district plans on testing all 154 district schools, and taking appropriate remediation steps by the time school starts in the fall. Wilson added that the district is willing to contract out additional testing and remediation work to ensure that schools are safe.

Families who have attended schools found with elevated lead levels are being notified right away by the district, Wilson said.

from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/Looking-for-lead-in-Jefferson-County-Schools,224581

Martin, Dingfelder change CSP command

from Valley Courier - News http://www.alamosanews.com/V2_news_articles.php

SLV seeks to boost tourism

from Valley Courier - News http://www.alamosanews.com/V2_news_articles.php