Participation is high in sports and activities

From the Mancos High School Blue Jay Chronicle,January, 2001
By: Amanda Liukko, senior

Student participation in sports and activities is big at Mancos Middle School and High School. During the 1999-2000 school year, about 65 percent of the secondary student body was involved in sports and activities. Mancos' percentage is ten percent higher than the Colorado average and 15 to 20 percent higher than the national average.

Many extracurricular activities are offered at MHS for every season of the school year. In the fall girls can play volleyball while boys can play football. Both boys and girls can participate in marching band, color guard, crosscountry, and cheer-leading.

As soon as the fall season is over, several other sports swing into action. Basketball is available to girls and boys, as well as cheerleading, pep band, and wrestling. Track is the only sport offered in the spring season; both boys and girls have the opportunity to participate.

Mancos has active Knowledge Bowl and Academic Decathlon teams which compete against other schools throughout the school year. A third academic competition, Destination ImagiNation, tests students' creative problem-solving abilities.

Students involved in activities at Mancos say they participate because they are willing to be committed and dedicated, they like the competition, learn life lessons, and enjoy the sense of pride.

Freshman Tara Martinez feels that students are involved because they enjoy the activities and they are good at them. "I enjoy volleyball and I like marching band," said Martinez.

If there is a sport that Mancos does not offer such as softball or golf, students may participate at another nearby school that does offer it.