Castle View High School

Campus

Castle View High School occupies a two-story building with over 70 classrooms, designed by H+L/LKA Architects. The campus is within the Meadows community. The building has three wings, each consisting of five "pods", in which 8-10 classrooms are grouped around a central office. In addition to this basic classroom space, there are a commons area, a three court gym, an auditorium, and miscellaneous classrooms and support buildings. The campus also contains six portable classrooms, partly because the school was originally planned to have a fourth wing, but it was never built. Various athletic venues, including two baseball fields, tennis courts, a track, and a football field, make up the rest of the campus.

The school is served by two roads, one providing direct access from Meadows Boulevard to the student lot in back, and a side street that connects the front entrance to the main thoroughfare. A road that will connect Castle View to US-85, and I-25, in addition to the rest of the Meadows, is currently under construction, with a expected completion date of Summer 2017.

Students

For its first year of operation, Castle View only served ninth and tenth grade students. During the 2007-2008 school year, eleventh grade students joined the student body. It is now at full capacity, operating ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades since the start of the 2008-2009 school year.

The first graduating class from Castle View High School graduated at the Red Rocks Amphitheater on May 22, 2009.

While operating below its grade capacity during the 2007-2008 school year, a portion of the school building was used as overflow classroom space for around 300 students from Castle Rock Middle School. It has stopped serving this purpose since the new Mesa Middle School was constructed over the summer of 2008.

Currently, it serves roughly 2200 students, automatically receiving 8th graders from Castle Rock Middle School, in addition to open enrollment of roughly 100 students.

Athletics

Castle View currently competes at the 5A level for all major sports, with some exceptions regarding cross-school teams. However, in the 2005-2006 school year, Castle View's football team played in the 3A Central Metro League. As of the 2008-2009 school year, most sports competed in the 4A Continental League.

The Castle View Co-Ed Cheer teams compete in the 5A Continental League. The Varsity team won the State Championship in 2014-2015, 2015-2016, and 2016-2017, and the Junior Varsity team won the State Championship in 2013-2014 and 2016-2017.

Football competed in the 4A Foothills Conference.

Extracurricular activities

Castle View offers a staggering 54 clubs and activities, ranging from the traditional programs of Art, Music, and Theatre, to programs like Competitive Gaming and Architecture. Major activities include:

DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America)

A national organization with 215,000 members, DECA prepares students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management through competitive events for students.

Band and Orchestra

Groups include Marching Band, Percussion, Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, and Orchestra.

Choir

Groups include Men's Select, Mirinesse Select, Jazz Choir, Saber8, Versaillies, and Voices of the Pride.

Speech and Debate

Competes under the National Forensics League.

TSA (Technology Student Association)

A national organization with 250,000 members, TSA engages students in STEM fields through competitive events, creating leadership and educational opportunities. Events range from traditional events such as Software Development to unique events like Fashion Design, Essays on Tech, and Promotional Graphics.

The View

The school newspaper publishes stories for the student body, written by the student body.

Notable curriculum

Castle View was the third high school in Douglas County to offer Chinese as a foreign language course, although it has now been discontinued. American Sign Language, German, and Japanese are also offered, in addition to the traditional languages French and Spanish.

Castle View also offers classes where professional level certifications can be obtained. Castle View's Engineering program offers the CSWA (Certified Solidworks Associates) and CSWP (Certified Solidworks Professional), issued by Dassault Systems, through its Engineering III and IV classes. The CCNA certification (Certified Cisco Networking Associate) is also offered through the computer science department.

Academies

Castle View's student body is structured around the idea of "academies". These groups, corresponding to an area of the school, or "pod," have a focus, which manifests in how classwork is structured. STEM, for example, may demonstrate a concept by building a machine that implements the concept, while VPA may demonstrate that same concept through art, writing, or another form. While these academies have no actual affect on which courses students can take, they allow students with similar future goals to work together and socialize, besides the logistical benefit the academies can provide when planning assemblies or other events. These academies can also compete against each other in various competitions, such as food drives and charity.

Castle View currently has five Academies:

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics):

VPA (Visual and Performing Arts)

BHS (Biotechnology and Health Sciences)

LGC (Leadership and Global Communications)

Mosaic (Project-Based Learning)