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Letters from Basalt Middle School

Editor’s note: We received 15 letters from Basalt Middle School students who wanted to respond to some articles The Aspen Times printed this fall regarding some incidents at the school, including a fight between two students. We chose four of these letters to publish.

Recently you have written about some events that happened at Basalt Middle School that didn’t follow our school H.O.T. (Honor, Ownership and Tolerance) theme. I’m writing to inform you that most actions here at BMS do follow the H.O.T. theme. At BMS students have the opportunity to participate in many amazing activities. Some of those activities are sports and educational field trips.

The sports at Basalt Middle School are a good way for kids to be active and have fun. I was fortunate enough to be able to play volleyball this fall. I had a blast because a lot of my friends were on the team, too. I also got to meet new people who aren’t in my classes. BMS has a very enjoyable sports program.



Educational field trips are another exciting part of BMS. This year, the seventh grade got to go to Mesa Verde. We learned all about how the Anasazi Native Americans lived. It was a great experience. The fifth grade got to go to Anderson Camp, where they learned about the outdoors while having fun outdoors as well. Last year, the sixth graders got to go the Aspen Deaf Camp, where they learned about sign language and teamwork. The eighth graders went to Buena Vista where, like the fifth graders, they learned about the outdoors while enjoying themselves at the same time.

As you can tell, Basalt Middle School is really a H.O.T. place to go to school.




Naomi Hennefeld

seventh grade

My name is Whitney Janckila, and I am an eighth grader at Basalt Middle School. There have been quite a few negative comments and articles in the local newspaper recently. I believe that what negative things that happen here could never compete with all of the positive things.

Basalt Middle School is not a bad place. I really like it here for many reasons. We do many things here that kids love. We have a good sports program that helps students achieve their goals. There are many great, well-educated teachers that are really helpful and want us to make it somewhere in life. We have clubs that help other places around the world such as Africa, Iraq and other countries that are less fortunate.

A lot of those kids do not have a great school like us, and we are interested in changing that. Here, we also have an awesome band program with quite a few advanced students playing and appreciating music. The students here are really friendly and most have a lot of potential. Our new principal, Mr. Voss, is nice and knows how to run this school and keeps it a great place to learn. I want my community to realize that our school should not be thought of badly. Thank you for taking the time to listen to what I think of this great school.

Whitney Janckila

eighth grade

I think our school, Basalt Middle School, is great. In fact, I think it is one of the best schools.

One reason why our school is so great is that we have fabulous teachers who help make learning fun and easy. Basalt Middle School also has a wonderful environment to learn in. We also help other parts of the world; such as when we had a walk-a-thon last year to help build a hospital in Africa. Another thing that we did to help others was we raised money for a lady who had survived Hurricane Katrina. Well, I hope after learning these things about our school that the community will see how great BMS is.

Genevieve Lawry

sixth grade

Basalt Middle School students and teachers think this is a wonderful school. When kids walk into the school, they know that they have friends here. BMS’s upsides thrive in many ways. We have awesome teachers, happy students and our sports teams are great.

If you look at Basalt Middle School, and the kids that walk through the hallways ” you can see that it’s a great school. Our PEAK program is also a great way for kids to learn more while having fun. I think the atmosphere at Basalt Middle School couldn’t be more positive. That’s why I like it so much.

Courtney Aitken

fifth grade