By: Brynnley Prijatel
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District 70 builds in snow days at the beginning of each year. 

Due to the increasing risks during the winter. The school districts are not stingy about handing out snow days. It is harder for busses to run their routes and the road conditions are usually a predictable closure. Most students enjoy snow days, but do they enjoy adding extra minutes to the end of their day? 

Sophomore Tylee Glenn states, “I only enjoy snow days when the roads aren't too bad and I can go out and do something or be productive. I don't like that we have to add extra time to our school days because I feel as if students and staff are already here long enough. Many people have a life outside of school and work and I think that adding extra time takes away from other things that we enjoy doing.” 

Snowdays can be a refreshing break from the repetitive schedule. But, with the good also comes bad. Pueblo County High students had a relaxing bunch of snow days after the winter break. 

Denis Urban explains we have used six snow days, she explains we only had five snow days

Students were shocked with the amount of snowdays given in such a short period. District 70 has decided to add extra minutes to the day beginning on February 10, 2025. They decided to add extra minutes to the beginning and to the end of the day instead of adding more days to the school year. 

Freshman Logan Cipriani states, “I only like snow days when my alarms don’t go off and I sleep in. I would prefer that we go one or two days on Fridays so I don’t have to wake up earlier.”  

By: Madilynn Wilcox

Rocky Mountains Quiz Kids is a half hour television game show, exclusively on SOCO CW and FOX21. It features students from local high schools competing in tournaments to test their knowledge.

The Quiz Kid games are like games of jeopardy with a twist of four players on a team instead of one.
This is the first year Pueblo County High School competed in the competition. The way PCHS got into the competition was by emailing the coordinator science teacher Christopher Ludwig, they only knew about this because they were knowledgeable. 

They met at Fox21 SocoCW studios in Colorado Springs and spent the next two days there. They went to the studio three times in total; twice on Saturdays and once on Sunday. They made it to the final round of competition and placed 2nd out of 25 teams, earning a 2nd place prize of $3500.

“My favorite memory is from the final game. Our team had built up a great rapport with the game's host, news anchor Scott Kilbury, and were very easy-going around him, cracking jokes and generally making him laugh. When we lost the final game by missing a couple of questions, Scott seemed genuinely sad that we lost and I'm pretty sure we were his favorite team the way he went out of his way to say how great the team was for their 2nd place finish.”- Mr. Christopher Ludwig

Mr. Ludwig is a science and technology teacher at PCHS. Quiz Kids is nothing new to Mr. Ludwig, with him being involved in programs such as TSA, the Technology Student Association, and Knowledge Bowl. He joined Pueblo County in 2022 and since then has cemented himself as a proud member of the hornet team.  

“My favorite thing about this team is that it gives my Knowledge Bowl students a televised audience to show off how smart they are. Usually we do really well in our regular competitions and no one hears about it, but the Quiz Kids have actually run into people in public that recognized them from the TV show. It's nice for them to be recognized for how smart they are.”- Mr. Christopher Ludwig

The students that are involved have expressed how much they enjoy the club and hope that it will continue to be a thing, here is a quote from one of the students involved, “I enjoyed it very much, I found the experience very stimulating, exhilarating, and exciting. The fun we had there is not easily matched.”-John Guerrero. This club has sparked interests in many students and has left those who participated in it hungry for more.  

By  Laura Segura

The Pueblo County High School Snowball Dance, sponsored by DECA, was held on Saturday, Feb. 1,  in the auxiliary gym. The theme was A Wonderful Night on Olympus. The night was filled with people taking pictures, friends celebrating and plenty of dancing. 

On Jan. 30,  DECA had planned to hold an assembly to honor and congratulate the Snowball King nominees, but mother nature had other plans and surprised everyone with a snow day. This left the assembly to be rescheduled to Fed 3rd. The Snowball nominees were senior Patrick Noga, senior Quincy Arellano, senior Callan Bowman, senior Craig Allen, senior Chase Ginther, and senior Manuel Bojorquez. They announced the Snowball King at the dance with Craig Allen being the winner. As the nominees were congratulated at the assembly a video by Manuel played that shared the nominees childhood memories in a very lighthearted and comedic  After the video the Jazz band performed a cover of  “Tank!” by Yoko Kanno and Seatbelts. When the assembly was reaching its end DECA held a miracle minute to help raise money for a forming make a wish kid Cash Blanchfield. The total amount raised was $1263 the day of the assembly and $500 the day after. Totaling to $1763 in cash. 

By Imajin Woodson

Before Pueblo County High School students returned from winter break, a new district-wide, “No Phone Policy” was announced via emails and on social media, making an abrupt change throughout classes. Making teachers pleased and students disappointed.
 
The policy states, “Students in grades 9 – 12 are prohibited from using personal electronic devices during instructional time. Instructional time includes the entire period of a scheduled class and other times when students are directed to report to and participate in any instructional activity.” 

Multiple teachers in PCHS have had many issues with students being on their phones during class time. Science teacher Mrs. Gribble says, “I think it is a good policy to have in place so cell phones are not disrupting learning in the classroom.” Some teachers have never had an issue with phones because they own phone caddies in the back of the classroom until class is over. 
A great deal of good feedback comes from teachers but what about the students? Jackie Knox of sophomore year says, “I think the policy is dumb. I don’t like getting yelled at for having my phone in the hall and I honestly never even put my phone away.”  Currently, more than half of US teens spend more than 7 hours a day using their phones, and the majority of that time is spent during school. Although having a phone out is prohibited, some students still disregard the policy and keep using their phones during class hours. 

The only question we are left with is: Will this phone policy stay strict for the rest of the year, or will teachers soon give up after multiple students continue to rebel?

 By Laura Segura 

Pueblo County High School's annual badminton tournament was held Jan 16, 2025, in the main gymnasium and the auxiliary gym.  There were 64 teams battling against each other in fun, yet competitive mode. 
 
All teams are required to be co-ed.  The team must behave one girl(female)  and one boy(male)  per team. This ensures everyone a level of equality and fairness while playing. 

Bella Guzman, senior, said, "I think doing co-ed teams is a good way to make people play fair and not complain about who is better and who isn't.”

Teams range from teachers versus students to upperclassmen versus lowerclassmen. These match-ups make the matches somewhat intense and amusing to watch at times.

The day is chaotic. Students were in and out of their classrooms and teachers were scrambling throughout the tournament telling students to go to the gymnasium. This event was determined to make everyone feel included on their team and to let students engage in more activities and work together to win. 
Leann Troutt, freshman, said  “I think the tournament is a good way to expand your high school experience and to have good leadership with other people. I like how the tournament is competitive and that people are still kind and have good vibes.” Competition is all about having fun while being somewhat competitive. The good vibes. 

By Isabella Martinez 

Sources of Strength is a suicide prevention and mental health promotion program that focuses on making people feel seen. It is to make people feel like there's hope even when their brain may tell them otherwise. 

Sources of Strength has a wheel made up of eight categories: mental health, family support, mentors, physical health, spirituality, generosity, positive friends, and healthy activities. The wheel is used as a tool for people to see what their strong suits are to lean into during difficult times, and what their weaknesses are to build up and seek help on. 

 












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Photo from Sources Of Strength website


Mr. Ryan Moore, assistant principal, explains, “The district recognizes the need for many different student support systems in our schools. When they asked if someone at County High would help implement Sources, I jumped on board. I have been associated with Sources of Strength in other schools and like their message of identifying strengths and not dwelling on problems. I expect good things from our “Stingers of Strength” students over the next few years.”


This program is a combination of students and administrators who have the same goal, to create a safe place so students want to come to school Math teacher Mr. Koshak is eager to share his opinions on the group. “When I hear Sources of Strength, I think of all the things in my life that keep me going. I want Sources of Strength to bring a stronger sense of community to our school.  Society today is so divisive and negative, it is easy to get caught up in it.  I hope that Sources of Strength becomes a thing that all our students can bond over and find connections with.  No matter who you are or what your background is, we all are struggling in different ways.  Rather than trying to compare our struggles, it would benefit us all if we figured out how to help each other out.”

This is Sources of Strength’s mission statement,  “We are a group of diverse students and adults from many different corners and cultures of our school and community.” Sources of Strength, or the Pueblo County Stingers of Strength entered our school’s community this year. It truly pulls together many different groups of kids with the same goal, to help their school and community. 

As a student mentor, I can attest that, going to the meetings I saw a lot of unfamiliar faces. It was clearly evident that we all live different lives, though we could all agree upon the fact that life is hard no matter who you are. I thought it was amazing that no matter the individual or “clique” people come together to care about our community.

Throughout school and life in general, everyone knows what it feels like to not be okay, but Sources of Strength’s goal is to remind everyone that you will get through the hard times. Koshak says, “It is more than just reading something and writing about how we feel.  This organization is about how we can create an environment at our school that is inclusive and inviting for all.  It makes you really think about who you are as a person and makes you focus on being someone people can rely on and look up to.”

Senior, Capreese Lisac says, “Being a part of Sources of Strength has allowed me to identify many of the common and uncommon struggles that people go through. I think that this group matters because it offers help to students and adults, where if Source was never a thing, they would have no choice but to struggle. Just starting it this year has already opened my eyes to realize that even though I may be lucky and fortunate to have an amazing family support system, others do not. I hope that those who lack certain parts of the wheel could come to this group to gain support.”


At the end of the mission statement, it mentions, “We know our most powerful impact comes from our personal actions, conversations, and messages that use our music, our art, our writing, our activities, our social media, our culture, and our voice. This gives life to our efforts.” Sources of Strength starts off the action, and the goal is for it to spread throughout the school. Sources of Strength have many more years to come in PCHS. 

By Kinley Watada

This year’s Pueblo County High School hockey team is dominating the competition with an 8-4-0 record. The county team is currently number one in the 4A south division with just eleven games played so far this season. On January 11th the PCHS team traveled up to Air Academy and blew them out of the water with a score of 8-1.

“This team is a lot of fun for me to coach because I coached many of the players when they were in the Pueblo Youth Hockey program. It is rewarding to see how the players have grown and developed over the years. This team is very hungry for success as the seniors were part of a 0-19 season,” stated Head Coach Jeff King.

The PCHS team is made up of players from all around Pueblo, which is interesting considering the fact that the Pueblo County team is the only high school hockey team in Pueblo.

The team is senior-heavy this year with ten graduating seniors. The senior-heavy team is poised to make the playoffs this season.
“Don’t take it for granted, any chance you get do whatever you can to make it the best,” said Senior Captain, Garret O’Brien.