By Sterling Martinez

As you may already know Wheat Ridge high school has been around for a very long time.

There has been a school here in Wheat Ridge Colorado for 127 years. Many students have passed through these hallways, but some of them never really left. Some of your favorite teachers like history teacher Anitria Larson, English Kim Fowler, social studies teacher Arik Heim, science teacher Dori Walker, math teachers Kendra Gothard and Jane Johnson, cross country coach Scott Chamberlin and even principal Griff Wirth attended Wheat Ridge High School. For most of them the Farm is home. They probably spend more time here than at their own houses. Blue and yellow run through their veins and they wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

These people are proud of their roots here on the Farm. This is where they started and this is where they want to be. Even when it gets tough they do as Farmers do: work hard to come out on top and if they don’t they try harder next time.

For some of them, teaching here was merely an opportunity, but they didn’t hesitate to get back on the Farm and give it their all. Others had wanted more than anything to be a part of this great community and great school.

Heim, who graduated in 1981, had the job in the bag. This isn’t to say that he wasn’t perfectly qualified; it simply happened that a social studies teacher he knew was leaving and offered Heim the job. Heim says what has changed the most since he went to Wheat Ridge is that the term “White Ridge” has really lost its value do to the amount of diversity increasing. The school still has cliques, but Heim feels that they just have different names and types of cliques here today. The building itself has not changed except for superficial changes. Heim wishes that Wheat Ridge had more of a sense of community. He also feels that the junior high concept has changed a lot. Back in his day they didn’t have ninth graders and there was more maturing done in middle school. He does think that Wheat Ridge has changed for the better and become more diverse. Heim’s words of wisdom for his younger fellow Farmers are, “Enjoy high school. Work and learn and then enjoy it! Very little happens that will devastate your life.”

Courtesy of Wheat Ridge High School Agrarian.

Fowler Graduated Wheat Ridge in 1982, when the hallways looked the same, the school was reallyawesome at sports and almost everyone drove really nice cars.When she moved back to Colorado she couldn’t imagine teaching anywhere else than the school she graduated from and in the great district she attended that school in. She said “Once a Farmer always a Farmer” and Fowler wouldn’t change a thing about our Farm. She feels that Wheat Ridge has absolutely changed for the better. Her words of wisdom, “Work hard. Hard work equals success!”

Wirth believes so highly in Wheat Ridge High School that he decided to work here and

send his kids here for high school. He feels that the community spirit is not as great because choice enrollment allows for so much student mobility. Since he graduated in 1981, he feels that Wheat Ridge still has the same commitment to producing excellent young adults. He feels that, since his days in these hallways as a teen, the building has become more student friendly. Wirth’s words of wisdom are “Farmers are very dedicated and hardworking and persevere through adversity. Develop your character like a farmer and you will succeed!”

Larson, who graduated in 2000, is very thankful for the job opportunity that was made available to her. She couldn’t wait to teach in the great community. She feels that since her day, there has been a lot of construction and the population seemed higher when she was a student here. Larson feels that Farmers still help each other

and are able to come together when needed. She, like many teachers here, feels that Farmers are not abiding by the dress code and that the consequences for not abiding by the dress code should be more meaningful. She says that we are missing the “Higher level of respect from the students for each other and adults but mainly each other.” She can’t really say if the school has changed for the better from her day due to the fact that her perspective has changed since she was a kid. Larson’s words of wisdom are “It is hard to be successful if you don’t try!”

If you really want to enjoy your time here at the Farm as our teachers have, then take their advice: utilize the community, work hard, wear decent clothing, respect your peers and teacher, and keep your mind open to diversity.