The following are photos and captions gathered in the first weeks of school by Mountain Vista Media staff members.

Sophomore Charlie Fu works on a computer in the library during A lunch. “It’s a great environment to interact with others and finish my homework,” Fu said. The library is open to all students and staff throughout the day.

Senior Kelly Baillie attends the first meeting of Mountain Vista’s newest club, Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA). “I want to join HOSA because I really enjoy biology and I want to be a psychiatrist. I hope it will help me decide if that is what I want to do or if I don’t, guide me in another direction,” Kelly said. Being a new club, HOSA is still looking for new members and working on determining a meeting schedule.

Sophomores Jessica Porter and Jensen Rogers play marimba at the first marching band rehearsal. “The best thing about being in band are performances” Porter said. The band will give its first performance at the home football game on Sept. 8.

Freshman Adin Weaver cuts out spanish notecards to help him learn the tough vocab. “Flashcards are a fun and easy way to help remember the spanish vocabulary” Weaver said. Spanish teacher Aj Sepich is keeping students entertained with arts and crafts in his classes.

Senior Kyla Kennedy visits the Hastings College table at Mountain Vista’s lunchtime college fair on Thursday, Sept. 1.“I like how it’s a small school [and] I’ve been really excited [about going to college],” Kennedy said. Students of all grades visited and learned about nearly 30 colleges.

Mountain Vista High School varsity field hockey players gear up for practice the day before their first home game. “I’m really excited for my first field hockey game,” sophomore Taylor Donaldson said. The team worked on key plays and voted for captains during practice on Aug. 30.

Sophomores Brian Ma, Jaiden Spicher and Eric Lopushansky use their phones in biology class. “Phones are critical for our culture, but they can be bad if used the wrong way,” Ma said. Phones are used everyday at Mountain Vista for multiple purposes including studying, passing time and communication.

Sophomore Drew Garrett experiments with fire in his chemistry class. “I think it’s fun when we can get up out of our seats and do labs and really be interactive with the material we’re learning,” Garrett said. He and other students in Katie Goldner’s chemistry class do frequent labs to demonstrate concepts they have learned in class.

Sophomores Charlee Johnson and Morgan Perry develop their performance, a piece that centers on the tough topic of sexual abuse, for a speech and debate tournament. “We think it is important to focus on something that is so prominent in our world,” Perry said. “Sexual abuse is romanticized in society, and we want to prove that it is an issue that should be taken seriously.” The pair will perform the speech in front of judges, but they hope to spread their message further than the tournament’s stage.

Senior Keegan Peisert uses the extra time during PLC to work on homework for his Calculus AB class. “I really enjoy Mr. Wood’s class. He doesn’t put homework on MathXL, which I’m pretty glad about and the class has been pretty easy so far,” Peisert said. Calculus AB is one of the most advanced math classes at Mountain Vista.

Sophomore Noah Frankel attempts to solve a four-by-four Rubik’s Cube while hanging out in the U200’s. “While other students play games on their phones, I entertain myself by giving myself a fun challenge,” Frankel said. He has been solving Rubik’s Cubes for over a year.

Seniors Kaitlyn Benton, Joel Gibb and Jennsen Womack grab 240 juice boxes from Womack’s car. “For each meeting we provide a snack so everyone can socialize and then get ready to do a community service project,” said Jennsen, FCCLA co-officer. FCCLA meets the first Thursday of every month after school in U503.

Junior Jaelyn Hendren practices her marketing presentation on values of customer service. “Marketing has helped me figure out that I might want to do something with advertising when I grow up,” Hendren said. The Marketing III students are working on presentations to learn about how companies use customer service and the benefits of using it.

Freshman Tessa Corcoran completes one of her first science experiments in Kelly Click’s biology class. “I am most excited about getting a new group of kids. I think they will have a better introduction to science starting with biology as freshman,” said Click. The science department is starting with labs as soon as possible to introduce freshmen to the basics of biology.

Sophomore Cate Johnson shows support for Brigham Young University (BYU) on College Wear Wednesday while hanging out with friends before school.  “I really like BYU because I feel like it has a really good [education] program,” Johnson said.  The first Wednesday of every month is College Wear Wednesday.

Cross country runners pose with the MVHS flag after running their first meet of the season. The team denoted the meet as a success, and will run in the Arapahoe Warrior Invitational this Friday, Sept. 2.

Senior Delaney Livingston, president of Technology Student Association (TSA), is ready for the new members joining TSA this year. “The biggest thing I want to help them with is learning what they’re truly capable of,” Livingston said. TSA meets every Thursday after school at 3 p.m in the upper main hallway.

Senior Lindsay Chaplin takes pictures in downtown Denver for her photography class. “I love exploring new places for this class. I always find unique places to take pictures,” Chaplin said. Five of the AP Photography students went downtown to shoot pictures for their portfolio project.

Senior Kendall Ruhnow speaks on her lofty hopes for the upcoming year at the first Sources of Strength meeting. “I’m really looking forward to this year. I think we’re going to be able to make some real, tangible change in people’s lives,” Ruhnow said. Sources of Strength formed late last year, and is scheduled to meet on the front lawn each Tuesday during both lunches.

Sophomore Shayan Zarrin, a runner on the varsity cross country team, parades the halls after an exciting time trials race on Friday. “It’s always a great experience to see all of the new faces on the team. The time trials are really what start off an amazing year of racing,” Zarrin said. The runners will race in the Arapahoe Morris Vogel Invite this Friday.

AP Physics II students participate in a fluid dynamics lab. “The lab is about energy continuity,”said AP Physics teacher Mark McConnell. “By the end, students should understand the equation of continuity for equilibrium flows and the concept of energy density in flows, including kinetic, gravitational, and dissipated energy densities.” In the end, the students were able to use their knowledge of energy continuity and fluid dynamics to understand the lab.

Music department chair Darren DeLaup sits and responds to emails during a rare moment of free time between his five classes. “I think music should be regarded as an important subject,” DeLaup said. He teaches five music classes and leads marching band, which is currently fundraising for new instruments.

Junior Jeffrey Barker, a Mormon student, relaxes after his Mormon seminary class. “I think it’s great that our Mormon community gets together every morning as a family to learn about our faith together,” Barker said. Seminary runs from 6:30 to 7:15 everyday before school.

Students and parents attend the future planning night at Mountain Vista on Aug. 30 in the library. “I just take advantage of every opportunity I can, large or small,” sophomore Vikki Wong said. Future planning night is designed to start students and parents on the path of scholarship hunting.