Over 100 student leadership advisers and students took part in today’s virtual conference.

The conference, which helps student leaders to prepare for the upcoming school year, was a great opportunity to gather advisers, students, our state representatives, and some high school administrators to talk about growing campus culture, building student/staff recognition events, and promoting new activities.

Students began the day by listening to opening remarks by CHSAA associate commissioner Tom Robinson, who talked about what it means to be a leader, recognizing role models and creating a great environment for all.

James Layman, Director of the Association of Washington Student Leaders, was the keynote speaker. Layman talked to the group about multiple areas of growth, opening his presentation by telling student leaders, “Y’all are awesome!”

Layman also encouraged the audience members to “think about what they want their school to feel like” as they create their events and activities. There were moments of comedy as Layman told students not to compare this year to a tortilla chip; a reference to a personal story he shared. One of the key questions he asked attendees to think about was “what if we treated the past 16 months as the greatest opportunity you’ve ever had?”

Following the keynote, students and advisers participated in a workshop in a series of breakout sessions. Topics included everything from school spirit (post-COVID), effective leadership, amplifying student voice, to promotive a positive and inclusive school climate.

Outgoing student leadership committee chair and newly hired CHSAA activities director Rashaan Davis thanked the attendees for all of their hard work over the past few months and reminded them that it would be important to reach out to the incoming freshmen and current sophomores to help them grow back the climate of the building. Davis also thanked the Student Leadership Committee and incoming chairperson, Alice Stoneback (Manitou Springs High School), for continuing to make student leadership a priority.

Looking ahead, there will be more information coming out about student leadership events, including Fall Summits, Advisory University, and next summer’s conference.

The 2021 Student Leadership Summer Conference will be held virtually on Wednesday, July 14. The agenda will be posted soon.

The cost is $20 per student. Advisors may attend free of charge. Schools will receive $20 credit per student that attends the summer conference for the 2021 CHSAA Fall Conference (date TBD).

Register for the conference below. This form may only be used by student leadership advisors.

[divider]

Please note that there are two forms. The first form is information regarding your school.

This second form gathers information about your student attendees. In order to add more than one student, please click “Submit another response.”

The Student Leadership committee has selected fifteen students from a competitive list of over eighty applicants to serve as the 2021-22 CHSAA State Reps. The final selections, which include a diverse group of students from every corner of Colorado, each offer unique backgrounds and perspectives that stood out among their peers.

“I was impressed with the resumes of each applicant,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Justin Saylor, who oversees student leadership. “Each student had proven leadership qualities, which made narrowing the list down extremely difficult. I commend the committee for their hard work and look forward to working with this group of State Reps over the course of next school year.”

The State Reps will have a daunting task ahead as they continue to navigate the obstacles put forth by the COVID-19 pandemic that shifted all 2020-2021 CHSAA Student Leadership events to virtual platforms and will continue into the 2021 Summer Conference.

Led by State Rep Advisor Trey Downey (Central HS – Grand Junction), the group will go to work right away, planning for all Student Leadership programming for the upcoming school year.

State Reps will have myriad responsibilities, some of which include sitting on various CHSAA committees, assisting in the coordination of Student Leadership Summer and Fall Conferences, and being a voice for the CHSAA student body as a whole.

The final list includes two returning State Reps and thirteen new members, comprising ten seniors, three juniors, and two sophomores.

Joslyn Bowman, Rangeview HS

Kelly Clingan, Thompson Valley HS

Bryce Davis, Central (Grand Junction) HS

Micah Frazho, Palisade HS

Jaymi Gile, Alamosa HS

Keeley Haynes, Mountain Range HS

Mohamed Ibrahim, Wiggins HS

John Keleman, Arvada West HS

Landry Longmore, Riverdale Ridge HS

Samir Mongar, Denver South HS

Melia Palaroan, Sierra HS

Charlie Riggs, Resurrection Christian School

Camden Sharkey, Liberty HS

Caroline Thompson, Lake City Community School

Registration is now open for the CHSAA Student Leadership Virtual Spring Conference on March 1, 3 and 5.

We ask that Advisors or Athletic/Activities Directors register their students and CHSAA will invoice schools directly. The cost is $20 per student and all registration fees that were paid for the Summer Conference in July 2020, will be credited toward the Spring Conference registration (each Summer Conference registration will reduce your Spring Conference cost by $20 – does not have to be the same student that attends both events).

Advisors may attend free of charge. The registration link is available here.

Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, an in-person event was not a possibility. Traditionally the event was held on the campus of a Member School during the fall. The Conference was planned for five regional locations in 2020-2021, but will move to a virtual format to limit possible spread of the Coronavirus.

“We were excited to bring a new regional format to our Membership in 2020-2021,” said Justin Saylor, the CHSAA assistant commissioner in charge of Student Leadership. “A lot of time and hard work went into converting the event to a regional model with an enhanced curriculum. While it is unfortunate we will have to wait another year to make this happen, the additional time to plan and share ideas will only make for a better event in 2021-2022.”

The virtual conference agenda is still being hashed out but will include a mix of workshops, presentations, speakers and awards over the course of three days. Each date will run approximately 90 minutes in length from 1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m. on March 1, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on March 3 and 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m. on March 5.

“It has been heartbreaking for students and advisors to see both Advisor U and now the Spring Conference adjusted due to Covid-19,” said Rashaan Davis, the chair of the Student Leadership advisory committee. “While our in-person attendance may have been cancelled, I am confident that our virtual event will be just as inspiring and educational. Now, more than ever, leadership is needed in our schools.”

Agenda and Conference details to follow. Questions should be directed to Justin Saylor (jsaylor@chsaa.org).

We are now taking applications for students who want to become a student leadership state representative.

Students can apply by using this form.

The application deadline is March 5.

Our students and advisers that make up CHSAA are excited for another amazing group of student leaders to guide us successfully through the next school year.

Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green took questions from CHSAA’s student leadership community as part of their virtual student leadership conference, held on Wednesday.

Questions ranged from her heroes growing up to the impact of COVID-19 to the movement for social and racial justice.

The CHSAA Legislative Council met virtually for the first time in its 99-year history on Friday.

They voted on more than 50 items, and made a number of changes to the Association’s bylaws, which impacted things from alignment to the transfer rule. We have rounded up most of those changes here.

[divider]

Two classes of hockey

(PaulDiSalvoPhotography.com)

Hockey will split into two classifications, beginning with the 2020-21 season.

The two-class split, which was recommended by the hockey committee during its meeting in February, places 20 teams into Class 5A, and 17 in 4A. The committee used a variety of factors to place teams from bylaw 1500.21, including enrollment, geography, competitive history, competitive balance, participation rate, and the entry or selection process that places an athlete at a program.

The committee recognized the need for two classes because there isn’t much, if any, parity in the sport. Over the past four years, only 14 different schools have advanced to the quarterfinals of the state tournament. Hockey currently has 37 teams.

The alignments for the sport can be found in this story from February.

Hockey will use the CHSAA Seeding Index to seed its two state tournaments: RPI, MaxPreps, and the CHSAANow coaches poll.

[divider]

New seeding criteria for 5A basketball

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

An amendment during the meeting changed the seeding criteria that 4A and 5A basketball will use for their state tournaments: The two classes will now use a combination of the RPI standings, MaxPreps rankings and the CHSAANow coaches pool — bringing them in line with what a number of other sports are now using.

1A will also use the same criteria, but will also use the Packard Ratings.

[divider]

2A baseball changes postseason

(Lisa Hayes/StillOfTheMomentPhotography.com)

The 2A baseball postseason will now mirror what is done in 3A, 4A and 5A, with a 32-team regional bracket. All teams will qualify for the bracket via the RPI standings, and seeded by RPI. The top eight seeds will host regionals, and seeds Nos. 20-32 can be moved for geographic reasons.

The state tournament also got an overhaul, and will move to an eight-team single-elimination bracket. Previously, 2A had a 16-team bracket.

With this change, 2A schools can now schedule 23 games.

Baseball also created a game minimum to be able to qualify for the postseason: 12 games in 1A, 17 in 2A and 3A, 19 in 4A and 5A.

[divider]

New field hockey tournament

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

In an effort to help the growth of the sport, the state field hockey tournament will expand from eight teams to 12.

The top six seeds will receive a bye while the next six will compete in a play-in bracket.

In one of those brackets, No. 9 and No. 12 will play, with the winner playing No. 8. The winner of that game will face No. 1.

In the other bracket, No. 10 and No. 11 will play, with the winner facing No. 7. The winner of that game will face the No. 2 overall seed.

During that same round, the No. 4 and No. 5 seed will play, with No. 3 and No. 6 also playing.

[divider]

The transfer rule

A number of proposals involved the transfer rule. Among the changes which passed:

• An adjustment to clarify that a student doesn’t have to transfer from a member school, in or out of state, in order for the rule to apply.
• A proposal better explained the transfer consequence for transferring to another school, and a return to the original school — also known as an A-B-A transfer. Specifically, a student who transfers from School A, transfers to School B and plays at School B, and the returns to School A, will only be eligible for sub-varsity competition at School A in the sports they participated in at School B for 365 days.
• A new bylaw passed allowing for students to participate with “restricted varsity eligibility during the regular season” if their high school does not offer a JV team, or if their school doesn’t allow seniors to play on sub-varsity teams.
• The definition of a hardship was rewritten to read: “‘Hardship’ means a situation, condition or event which must impost a severe non-athletic burden upon the student or his/her family and require a transfer of schools. This does not include the personal or initial choice of enrollment and/or participation.”

[divider]

Notables:

• The alignments for sports were finalized with the approval of each sports report. Those new alignments will be posted in the near future.
• The season of sport was changed in boys swimming, allowing for those championships to be moved up a week and have their own spotlight.
• 6-man and 8-man football will use the same four data points of seeding that was used in 1A-5A this season.
• In 5A football, all playoff games will be hosted by the higher seed.
• 1A girls volleyball will move from districts to regionals. The sport will also require that all teams play a minimum of 18 matches against member schools and varsity opponents in order to qualify for the postseason.
• Boys volleyball will have one classification during its inaugural season in spring 2021.
• Girls wrestling will use the same weight classes that were used in the pilot season.
• The 4A and 5A boys lacrosse state tournaments will each grow from 16 to 24 teams starting in spring 2021.
• The new format that will be used for a two-classification setup in girls lacrosse was approved. Find the structure for that format here.
• 2A soccer will increase its state tournament field from 12 teams to 16.
• The regional field in 3A softball will grow to 32 teams, bringing it in line with 4A and 5A.
• The requirements for qualifying for the state skiing championships were made more strict, to make the state field slightly smaller.
• The state spirit championships will move to a three-day format beginning this year. Schools will only be able to participate in one cheer category and one dance category at the state championships. Cheer and dance are now considered separate sports.
• Schools will be eligible to join CHSAA as activity-only schools, and not offer sports.
• The process for classifying programs was clarified with an amendment to bylaw 1510, which deals with the Classification, Appeals and League Organizing Committee (CLOC). Now, the CHSAA staff can offer adjustments “in extraordinary circumstances” that are based upon bylaw 1500.21 (the bylaw allowing for classification based upon factors other than enrollment) in even years. These adjustments will need to be voted on by CLOC. Typically in even years, the classifications are already set and ready to go for the following cycle, so there would be very few adjustments, if any.
• The amateur status bylaw was reworked, and now reads that student-athletes “must maintain his/her amateur status” and notes that they “may not sign a professional athletic contract.” A new note defines a professional as “being paid in any form for playing in an athletic contest, or if you sign a contract or verbally commit with an agent or professional sports organization.” Notably, student-athletes will be allowed to play with or against professionals in certain situations, such as in the Olympics or a World Cup.
• The coach ejection bylaw was updated to give it a more consistent level of suspension across all sports. Now, the first ejection is penalized by a suspension equal to 10% of that sports season, and a second ejection is 20%.
• All-Star games were added to bylaw 2300, allowing for “up to two All-Star Games after the completion of the state championship in that sport.” No all-star games are permitted in football.
• Middle schoolers from “feeder” schools will be permitted to practice with high school teams in volleyball, basketball, soccer and football “when they cannot field enough high school athletes to hold an intra-squad practice in game-type conditions.” There are a number of limitations guiding this new bylaw.
• The number of practices required for students to participate in prior to competition in contact sports was reduced from five to three in all sports but football, which will still require nine.
• Schools can now form a team with only one participant, if they choose to.
• Adding a new sport or activity will now require approval from the Budget Committee in addition to CLOC, Sports Medicine, Equity and the Board of Directors.
• The full membership of the following schools is now official: DSST – Byers, KIPP Northeast, Loveland Classical, Strive Prep – Rise, Strive Prep – Smart, and Thomas MacLaren. KIPP Northeast and Strive Prep – Rise play together are a co-op: Regis Groff.
• Officials’ fees increased with a 2% cost of living adjustment across the board, for all levels.
• The alignment of State Festival and State Tournament will now be permanent in speech.
• Student Leadership’s fall conference will move to a regional model beginning this year.

(File photo)

The annual July CHSAA Student Leadership Conference has been converted to a virtual event which will take place on July 15.

Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, an in-person event was not a possibility. Traditionally the event was held on the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins but was moved to the Hotel Elegantè Conference and Event Center in Colorado Springs for 2020.

“We were excited to bring a new format at a new location to our Membership in 2020,” said Justin Saylor, the CHSAA assistant commissioner in charge of Student Leadership. “A lot of time and hard work went into converting the event to a conference model with an enhanced curriculum. While it is unfortunate we will have to wait another year to make this happen, the additional time to plan and share ideas will only make for a better event in 2021.”  

The virtual conference agenda is still being hashed out but will include a mix of different online platforms over the course of one day. Breakout sessions, speakers, awards, and a variety of other learning opportunities will highlight the event.

“It has been heartbreaking for students and advisors to see both Advisor U and now the Summer Conference cancelled due to Covid-19,” said Rashaan Davis, the chair of the Student Leadership advisory committee. “While our in-person attendance may have been cancelled, I am confident that our virtual event will be just as inspiring and educational. Now, more than ever, leadership is needed in our schools.”

More information, including how to register, will be sent directly to schools and advisors. Questions should be directed to Justin Saylor.

(Courtesy of Durango HS)

For its exemplary record of leadership, service, and activities that serve to improve the school and community, the Durango High School student council has been recognized as a 2020 National Gold Council of Excellence by National Association of Student Councils (NatStuCo).

“Receiving a National Gold Council of Excellence Award reflects the highest dedication on the part of the school to providing a strong, well-rounded student council program,” said Nara Lee, National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Director of Student Leadership. “NatStuCo applauds the work of the National Gold Councils of Excellence and challenges them to continue their leadership and service to their schools and communities.”

The 2020 Gold Council of Excellence was earned by 261 high schools nationwide and 16 high schools in Colorado. More importantly, Durango was also 1 of 13 schools in the country to be recognized for a Decade of Excellence award. This honor is bestowed on councils who have received a NatStuCo Council of Excellence award for at least 10 years.

“It’s a huge honor receiving this award and means so much more hitting 10 years of recognition,” said Miles Bronson, Durango’s co-student body president.

Added Kaylan Wait, Durango’s DHS co-student body president: “This award helps recognize all of the countless hours spent by student council members in their efforts to promote the welcoming environment of our school, and we are incredibly proud to be a recipient!”

Wait also thanked the StuCo parents and Durango community for their ongoing and continual support of DHS Student Council.

“We would also like to thank our parents and community members for their constant support and encouragement of our program,” Wait said.

Durango student body secretary treasurer Laura Clark expressed how this award has helped her grow as a leader.

“I can’t express the extent to which this program has influenced my growth and success in high school,” Clark said. “By following the guidelines for recognition of this award, our student council class and myself personally have become better leaders and hopefully impacted many lives throughout our school and larger community. Leaving DHS, I could not be more proud to say that I am an alum of both Durango High School and the student council program.”

Finally, Durango student body vice president Lilah Hwang offered thoughts on how receiving this award motivates her.

“Receiving this award makes me all the more proud to be a part of this council and family,” Hwang said. “To be able to show the community and other councils around the state all of our hard work is not only an amazing accomplishment but a motivation to continue to strive to be better than the year before.”

To meet the requirements for the National Council of Excellence Award, a student council must meet a variety of criteria. In addition to basic requirements such as a written constitution, regular meetings, a democratic election process, the councils have demonstrated successful sponsorship and participation in activities such as leadership development and service to the school and community.

Councils awarded the gold level of the award have successfully demonstrated the highest levels of leadership.

For more information on the Durango HS Student Leadership program, contact DHS Leadership advisor Dale Garland (dgarland@durangoschools.org) or the Durango High School Athletics/Activities office.

The Student Leadership committee selected the fourteen 2020-21 CHSAA State Reps on Friday from a competitive list of over fifty applicants.

The final selections, which include a diverse group of students from every corner of Colorado, each offer unique backgrounds and perspectives that stood out among their peers.

“I was impressed with the resumes of each applicant,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Justin Saylor, who oversees student leadership. “Each student had proven leadership qualities, which made narrowing the list down extremely difficult. I commend the committee for their hard work and look forward to working with this group of State Reps over the course of next school year.”

The State Reps will have a daunting task ahead, trying to navigate the obstacles put forth by the COVID-19 pandemic that has currently shifted all activities and learning to virtual platforms.

Led by State Rep Advisor Trey Downey (Grand Junction Central), the group will go to work right away, planning for all Student Leadership programming for the upcoming school year.

State Reps will have a myriad of responsibilities, some of which include sitting on various CHSAA committees, assisting in the coordination of Student Leadership Summer and Fall Conferences, and being a voice for the CHSAA student body as a whole.

The final list includes six returning State Reps and eight new members, comprising of twelve seniors and two juniors.

[divider]

2020-21 CHSAA State Reps

• Nikki-Jo Albert, Del Norte
• Walker Bargmann, Eagle Ridge Academy
• Lily Berg, Columbine
• Ayelina Flores, Grand Junction
• Daisy Grado, Brush
• Emily Hancock, Coronado
• John Keleman, Arvada West
• Daniel Lange, Loveland
• Koyinsola Oyefeso-Abisoye, Rangeview
• Jonathan Pazen, Dakota Ridge
• Jade Pruett, Durango High School
• Rachel Reese, Roosevelt
• Caden Salladay, Manitou Springs
• Camden Sharkey, Liberty