A Message from Jorge Loera
Principal of The New Denver West High School

I am very excited, humbled, and honored to be named the new principal of West High School. I look forward to working collaboratively with teachers, community, parents, and students in providing the best educational opportunities for the 21 st century. In order to provide these opportunities in today’s society, West High School has been awarded a School Innovation Grant (SIG) to implement a very unique model known as M.E.T.A.S. M.E.T.A.S is based on the nationally acclaimed STEM model proven to provide strong academics as well as career preparation. This model will allow for all our students to choose from four career and academic pathways: Medical Academy, Engineering Academy, Technology Academy, and the Arts Academy. Of course we all know that putting your knowledge to use is an important aspect to the learning process that is why each academy will have a Service Learning component as part of preparing for a career. I will talk more about our M.E.T.A.S model later, but now a little about me.

I was born on July 3, 1970 in a small Mexican border town know as “Caseta” Juarez, Chihuahua. Little did I know that at the age of four years old my family would move to Denver, Colorado. My Father was born in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico and my mother was born in a small Texas town called Colorado City. My mother’s parents and her brothers and sisters fled into Mexico fearing World War II. It was in Chihuahua, Chihuahua that my parents met and started our family of ten children. Because my mother was a U.S. citizen, our family was able to move to the United States legally as U.S. Residents.

All my formal schooling has been through Denver Public Schools. I attended Wyatt Elementary, Merrill Middle School, and graduated from John F. Kennedy High School. I then enrolled at the University of Colorado at Boulder to pursue an Engineering career. After many years of self reflection, I determined that I wanted to be in a field where I can help the youth and provide them opportunities to better their lives. This is when I decided to become a teacher. As many people in the teaching profession, I wanted to touch the lives of many more students beyond my classroom, so I eventually pursued my administrative license so that I could make school-wide decisions. This new career path led me through one year as an administrative assistant at Beach Court Elementary, five years as an assistant principal at Lincoln High School, and three years as principal at both Horace Mann and Kunsmiller Middle Schools. Due to Kunsmiller Middle School transitioning over to a Creative Arts Academy, I was again challenged to start a new chapter in my life as principal of another school.

And then, I heard about West High School. My spirits lifted when I heard about the principal position at West opening up. I knew immediately that this was for me. As fate would have it, I have been blessed to be selected as the principal of West High School. And as the new principal, I look forward to adding new chapters to my life’s story with West High School serving as the main setting.

My vision for West High School is to provide all students, no matter where they come from, with the educational tools necessary to impact our society positively. I’m sure my personal story and journey is no different from the thousands of students who have walked and will walk our hallways at West High School. With your help and with the implementation of M.E.T.A.S, I know that together we can make West High School a place where all our students can succeed academically and at the same time a place we all can call home. Please join me in my vision of making West High School a premier school in the entire district.