Editorial Board | Other Management | News Staff | Spotlight Staff | Sports Staff | Photography Staff | Freelance Staff | Former Staff Members

Editorial Board

Michael Auslen
Editor-in-Chief
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michael.auslen@rvhsnews.com

Michael is in his fourth year on the RVHS Xpress staff (having started freshman year). He loves history, politics, journalism and languages (especially English, but also Spanish) and hopes to enter into a career writing for a newspaper, magazine or news website after graduating from Indiana University with a degree in journalism. But he also finds his home in the outdoors. He is an avid hiker, camper, backpacker, rock climber, skier, cyclist and, despite his utterly pitiful lack of athletic prowess, enjoys trying just about any outdoor sport, if given the opportunity.

Ashley Pajor

 Managing Editor/Photography Editor
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ashley.pajor@rvhsnews.com

While it’s only Ashley’s second year on staff, it has felt like a lifetime (in a good way). She greatly enjoys photography and has been playing with cameras forever, but only recently has she taken that hobby to a higher level. Ashley loves traveling and experiencing the many cultures of the world by living with families of that country. (So far only Japan and France are on the list but many more are sure to come!) While school does take up a lot of her time and is important to her, she does participate in RV’s track team as well as soccer outside of school. When not doing these activities she is usually found attempting to catch up on sleep.

Mike DeGrace
News Editor
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mike.degrace@rvhsnews.com

This is Mike’s second year on Newspaper staff but his first year writing for the RVHS Xpress. He just moved here from Loveland, Ohio where he wrote for the LHS Roar. Mike loves science and math and has participated in Cross Country for four years while planning on participating in Track in the Spring. He also enjoys the Spanish language (he went to Costa Rica this summer on a cultural exchange program) and hopes to study abroad in college. He plans to graduate from Colorado School of Mines with a degree in Chemical Engineering and work somewhere out of the country. He enjoys music and some of his favorite bands include Seether, Weezer, Shinedown, Mudvayne and Disturbed.

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Joshua Nelson
Spotlight Editor
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joshua.nelson@rvhsnews.com

Joshua is in his third year on the RVHS Xpress staff (having started freshman year). He loves history, and music, and hopes to enter into a career rocking out for millions of fans. He finds his home in Arvada, Colorado. He is an avid journalist, rock climber, strength and conditioning coach, and Cubs fan, despite his utterly perfect amount of athletic power, enjoys trying just about anything, if given the opportunity.

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Shay Hicks
Sports Editor
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shay.hicks@rvhsnews.com

This is Shay’s second year on the Xpress staff. He loves to watch sports and play Basketball. His favorite sports teams include the University of Colorado football team, the Duke Basketball team, the University of Florida football and basketball teams, and the Denver Nuggets. He hates the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Miami Hurricanes. Shay loves to go on vacations; he has been to Disney World a handful of times and has gone on ten cruises. He hopes to get into the University of Colorado to get a degree in Journalism.

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Jeff Fleischman
Adviser
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jeff.fleischman@rvhsnews.com

In his ninth year in the profession, Mr. Jeff Fleischman is in his second year as the newspaper adviser for the Ralston Valley Xpress. Previously, Mr. Fleischman taught for four years at Silver Creek High School in Longmont, Colorado, and three years at Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale, Arizona. Prior to entering education, Mr. Fleischman was a sports reporter for the Longmont Daily Times-Call and the sports editor of the Buffalo Sports News. Mr. Fleischman is married and has two young sons. Outside of the school day, Mr. Fleischman enjoys running, hiking, biking and spending time with his wife and children.

Other Management

Courtney Gettel
Online Editor/Photographer
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courtney.gettel@rvhsnews.com

Courtney is a sophomore and is occupying her first year on newspaper as Online Editor and Photographer. She plays many sports and swims for Ralston Valley. She has a little brother and sister she loves to watch sports. She has always enjoyed taking pictures of scenery, people, sports and nature.

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Tyler Cook
Business Manager
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tyler.cook@rvhsnews.com

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News Staff

Ashley Haramaki
News Reporter
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ashley.haramaki@rvhsnews.com

Ashley is a sophomore at Ralston Valley High School. It is her first year on the Xpress news staff. Though she has only joined staff, she has already become ‘Photoshop Guru’. Outside of school, she draws constantly, including for a web site known as Anatheria.com. She hopes to earn a degree in 2d Animation or Illustration from Academy of Art University in San Francisco, an hour or two from her old home in California. Her favorite foods include yakisoba, vietnamese phơ noodle soup and curry.

Louisa Kennedy

News Reporter
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louisa.kennedy@rvhsnews.com

This is Louisa’s first year on the Xpress staff as a freshman. Her whole life is softball and she loves to run, and hang out with friends when she’s not writing or spending time with her family. She is very excited to be writing for the school newspaper. Her nickname is Lulu, she was born in Belgium, moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and has been living here for the past 9 years.  In August 2008, Lulu wrote a paper on leadership/politics and sent it into the DNC (Democratic National Convention) and was chosen to be a finalist and represent Kentucky. She also has a collie named Ginger, when she grows up she wants to travel the world and become a chef. This summer she hopes to go to Fiji and help build schools for unprivileged children. She hopes you like her writing!

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Emily Kribs
News Reporter
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emily.kribs@rvhsnews.com

Emily Kribs is a junior at Ralston Valley beginning her first year on the school paper after completing a semester of Journalism in spring of ‘09. She can’t honestly say she’s excited, but she wasn’t drafted either. She promises to try to be interesting.

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Marshall McStraw
News Reporter
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marshall.mcstraw@rvhsnews.com

This will be Marshall’s first year writing for the RV Xpress. He’ll be writing primarily for the News section of the paper and reporting on any stories originating in the RVHS math department. In his free time Marshall enjoys reading Philosophy, studying Psychology, and going fishing. Marshall’s favorite philosophical author’s include Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, and D.H. Lawrence. On a usual weekend if he isn’t reading or working on a news story, you can be sure he’s out fishing with his family.

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Connor Randall
News Reporter
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connor.randall@rvhsnews.com

Connor is a senior this year, this being his second year as a writer on staff. At school, he is involved with student government, mock trial, and the debate team. In the time off from writing tear-jerking, action packed news coverage he enjoys performing magic tricks, playing the drums, eating, laughing with (and at) his family and friends, being a spokesman for various charity organizations, and spending time with his many animals. He is also a proud Mac guy.

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Rebecca Raymond
News Reporter
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rebecca.raymond@rvhsnews.com

Rebecca is a senior here at RV, and this is her first year on the Xpress staff. She is also on the track team, running the 1600m and 3200m open. Rebecca has a passion for the outdoors and art. Sketching nature is one of her favorite pastimes. She is what you would refer to as a “health nut”, with aspirations of becoming a Registered Dietitian. Rebecca plans to attend CSU next year and is looking forward to the upcoming year ahead.

Hannah Stodden
News Reporter
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hannahstodden@rvhsnews.com

Hannah Stodden is a freshman here at Ralston Valley, and has just started her first semester on the paper.  Music is her life, she loves singing and playing guitar. She also love writing, playing softball and basketball. After high school, she plans on moving to Texas to attend University of Texas and one day be a successful journalist.

Spotlight Staff

Rachel Brown
Spotlight Reporter
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rachel.brown@rvhsnews.com

Rachel is a sophomore Mustang this year. She loves to write and decided somewhere in middle school she wanted to be a journalist…Something about being heard over the ruckus of the teenage years sounded appealing. Coming into RV, she made sure to take the journalism class offered; the idea was to prepare herself to try newspaper the next year. The various styles of journalistic writing were difficult to learn, but what’s life without a good challenge? And that’s one thing Rachel loves — a challenge. She hopes newspaper will put her to her limits as a writer and force her to think in ways other than her own. A school paper can do wonders for a person’s perspective on the world.

Teddy Dwyer
Spotlight Reporter
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teddy.dwyer@rvhsnews.com

This is Teddys first year in newspaper. He is apart of the drama department at the school. In his free time he likes to hang out with friends, help the shnarf shnarfs, have bon fires and eat italian food. Teddy also enjoys watching movies. Batman rocks.

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Evan Gaston
Spotlight Reporter
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evan.gaston@rvhsnews.com

Evan is in his first year on the RVHS Xpress staff (having started junior year). He loves sports, movies, music and hanging out with friends. He hopes to enter into a career of coaching soccer, or starting a fine eatery in Hawaii. He enjoys the outdoors, including hiking, camping, rafting, and many other things besides.

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Sami Roberts
Spotlight Reporter
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sami.roberts@rvhsnews.com

Sami has barely just started her first semester on the RVHS newspaper staff, as a freshman.  The semester before, she took the Journalism course in hopes of being an early writer, something that she’d like to study at Oxford University. Sami is from London, England and has lived in America for almost nine years.  In her free time she enjoys working on her ongoing hope-to-be novel, swimming, playing cards, and co-managing a fresh organization, The Messy Rooms Foundation, started in August of 2008, for the benifit of needy children and families.  With hopes of continuing RVHS Xpress throughout her high school years, Sami has an ambition of travelling all over the world and writing about it in the future. 

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Rachel Trujillo
Spotlight Reporter
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rachel.trujillo@rvhsnews.com

Rachel is a sophomore at Ralston Valley and this is her first year on the newspaper staff. She is part of the Ralston Valley cheer squad and tennis team. Her favorite foods are Buffalo wings and cherry pie. She loves to shop with friends. Her favorite movies are Talledega Nights, She’s the Man, and Transformers. Her favorite city to visit is New York City and dreams to live there one day.

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Sports Staff

Jordan Heeb
Sports Reporter
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jordan.heeb@rvhsnews.com

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Kyle Piersky
Sports Reporter
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kyle.piersky@rvhsnews.com

This is Kyle’s first year on the RVHS Xpress staff. He aspires to go to the Air Force Academy to become a pilot. In his spare time he plays hockey, cycles, and flies airplanes.

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Kaitlin Sorensen
Sports Reporter
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kaitlin.sorensen@rvhsnews.com

Kaitlin is a senior this year and this is the first year she is on the newspaper. She has been swimming competitively for 11 years and she is a part of Girls High School Swimming at Ralston Valley. This year she will be a captain. She loves cake, cupcakes and sweets and shopping with friends. She loves the TV shows Real Housewives of Atlanta, America’s Best Dance Crew, Keeping up with the Kardashian’s and True Blood.

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Photography Staff

Tyler Salen
Photographer
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tyler.salen@rvhsnews.com

This is Tyler’s first year of RVHS newspaper as a sophomore. He is currently one of other photographers for the Ralston Valley Xpress. He moved from Texas to Colorado at age 3 and was once in a taxi accident. He plays lacrosse for Wheat Ridge High School and has a hobby of drawing or photography.

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Brandy Wrenfrow
Photographer
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brandy.wrenfrow@rvhsnews.com

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Freelance Staff

Kayla Fochtman
Freelance Writer
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kayla.fochtman@rvhsnews.com

Caitlin McConnell
Copy Editor
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caitlin.mcconnell@rvhsnews.com

Sarah Piersky
Cartoonist
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sarah.piersky@rvhsnews.com

This is Sarah’s second year on the Ralston Valley Xpressstaff and she is loving every minute of it. Although she doesn’t plan on going into any form of journalism (she wants to be an oncology nurse), she does enjoy writing, designing and drawing. Sarah also loves reading, painting, and hanging out with her wonderful family and friends. She loves talking about life with friends over an order of sushi, loves Piña Coladas and getting caught in the rain.

Former Staff Members

2008-2009 Staff

Tony McKendry
Former Staff Writer
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Anna Patton
Former Editor-in-Chief
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Matt Schassburger
Former Staff Writer
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