Niwot High School celebrates 50th anniversary
Sep. 2—Fifty years after Niwot High opened, the school will host its first ever football game on its own field for homecoming after artificial turf was added over the summer.
Homecoming, on Sept. 9, also will honor the school's history with events for alumni and retired teachers, including recognition for the first three graduating classes during the game. The school opened in the 1972-73 school year, with the first class graduating in 1974.
"It's such a cool thing to be the first," organizer Terri Ward said.
She was a freshman when the school opened and graduated in the class of 1976. She also taught at Niwot High and Niwot Elementary and coached the girls basketball team for 28 years — including eight years after she retired.
She said that, when construction was delayed, Niwot students spent the first semester attending "night" classes at Longmont High. They went to classes in the afternoon and evening, going to school dinner instead of school lunch. When the high school opened on the top of the hill, she said, the gym wasn't completed yet and there wasn't a track.
"It was kind of a work in progress for awhile," she said.
The first students chose the cougar mascot, the Kelly green school color and started creating traditions, including bonfire pep rallies in the fields around the school before football games.
"The school spirit was huge," she said.
As the school's sports program developed, so did a rivalry with Longmont High, according to a story in the school's Green and Black newspaper. Longmont High dubbed the students at Niwot the "Green Weenies" — and some Longmont students tossed hot dogs at their rivals during games.
Games then were held at the former Boulder County Fairgrounds at Roosevelt Park, with football players laying sod for the field after the fair ended.
Since Niwot High opened, there have been several additions to the building, including a new commons area, auditorium, large gym and a large portion of the lower wing.
"The school has changed a lot," Ward said.
Even as a new, small school, Niwot offered multiple sports, band and orchestra. The first year it opened, its football team made it to the state playoffs. Girls teams started the next year, following the passage of Title IX in 1972.
Since then, Niwot sports teams have won 33 state championships.
On the education side, Niwot became an International Baccalaureate, or IB, school in 2001. About about 70% of the school's upperclassmen take at least one AP or IB course. Altogether, about 1,350 students are enrolled at the school.
"We're building on the foundation of the staff and students that started the school 50 years ago," said Niwot High Principal Eric Rauschkolb. "The next 50 years, we're hoping to continue to grow enrollment, lead into innovation and technology, and continue to prepare our students to make a positive difference in our community and beyond."
The Sept. 9 homecoming events include a 3 p.m. parade, school tours led by students every 15 minutes starting at 4 p.m., a barbecue from 5 to 6:30 p.m., the game at 7 p.m., and an alumni gathering at Wheel Works at 9 p.m.
