Jan. 2: My sister, who has special needs, loves the water, so every day my dad and sister drove to the Aurora Reservoir every day during last school year. The pandemic kept many special needs kids at home with their families, which put additional pressure on many parents, including my mom and dad. “During the pandemic, there weren’t a lot of options for where to go out with her [my sister],” my dad, Jorge Castillo, said. “She didn’t use a mask and we were very afraid of exposing her to Covid.” – News Editor Amanda Castillo-Lopez

Jan. 7: The winter after 2020 was a whirlwind of activity. I was up in the mountains almost every weekend, which was a surreal experience compared to a lot of people during the pandemic. Many people couldn’t travel due to covid restrictions, no visiting friends or family, and no seeing your favorite places. I especially valued that time because it was a really nice escape from the chaos the world was experiencing. Traveling during the pandemic was pretty weird, but I was grateful because so few people got to do it. – Managing Editor Quinn Rudnick

Jan. 9: Throughout winter, I was able to go to the mountains with my family more often than ever before. My brother and I got to ski together nearly every weekend, so we had our fair share of wipeouts, but climbing out of tree wells only made each trip more fun. Online and hybrid school schedules gave us the opportunity to spend more time together, which I especially valued since I knew he would be moving out that year. “I loved spending time with my family,” my brother Ivan Roudakov said. “And skiing so much in the fresh snow was amazing. Getting out in nature so much felt great.” – A&E Editor Katya Roudakov

Jan. 12: On Jan. 6, as America prepared for a new president and new beginnings, The Capitol was attacked by far-right insurgents. I could tell, from the beginning, that many Americans were shell shocked by the event. Down the street from my house, another home had displayed the same sign since November, counting down the days first until the election, and then until Inauguration Day, when President Trump would be ousted from office. After the events of Jan. 6, when impeachment proceedings were carried out almost immediately, the family with the sign added an additional line, quipping that Trump would leave office “maybe sooner.” In the wake of all of this, it was difficult to gauge where the nation was heading next. “Many people are calling for displays of unity, but unity without accountability just covers up the root cause of what’s happened,” my mom, Shelby Balik, a history professor, said in an interview for her university’s newspaper after Jan. 6. “It’s a pattern we see through the years and in many ways is similar to what happened after the Civil War; calls for unification muted a brutally honest assessment of the South’s efforts to preserve slavery through secession and war.” – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

Feb. 10: Concerts, canceled. It was a new year and COVID-19 still had a hold on normalcy. All live shows were canceled, my entertainment was gone. Although Spotify and other streaming services were available, nothing could beat seeing my favorite artist in real time. Jeremy Zucker, singer and songwriter, released “brent ii” Feb. 4 featuring Chelsea Cutler, and I was aware I wouldn’t be able to see him perform it live anytime soon. When it was announced he would be hosting a virtual concert, I got out my debit card straight away and got my ticket as soon as possible. “The intent is wholesome but the experience is not the same,” my friend, sophomore Liv Fritz, said. I would have never expected myself to make a payment like that but in times like these, it almost felt like a necessity. This purchase was something I will never forget due to its strange yet worthy experience I gained from it. – A&E Editor Aila MonLouis

Feb. 10: My mom turned 47 on Feb. 10. Her birthday was one of the notorious pandemic birthdays, celebrated with no friends and just a few family members. Even though it was the beginning of 2021 and the world was slowly reopening, only my immediate family could celebrate. 2021 has brought back a lot of things, and hopefully 2022 will bring back big birthday celebrations. – Managing Editor Quinn Rudnick

Feb. 21: With the extra time between virtual classes at home, I, alongside many other teens, took up baking to fill my time. I made cinnamon rolls so many times that I still have the recipes memorized, and I even invented my own recipes a few times. I shared almost everything I made with my neighbors to feel a little less forsaken during such weird times. My closest neighbor, Nancy Fornaro, was the recipient of most of my goodies. “It was nice to feel connected again after such an isolated time,” Fornaro said. – Staff Writer Anna Christensen

Feb. 20: The new year brought promise for an end to COVID-19, as vaccinations were approved around the world. I tagged along with my parents as they received their first and second rounds of vaccinations, jealous that, at 15, I couldn’t yet receive my own (though I did eventually, in June, as soon as they were approved for my age group). The attitude of those getting vaccinated and the staff administering them was hopeful, and it was an optimistic time, as the world began to get ready to open up again. “I was very happy,” Douglas County high school teacher Sara Cady said about receiving her Moderna vaccine on Feb. 12. “As a teacher, this [was] the first step to get students back in-person full time.” – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

March 14: In March, I took this picture of my dog, Boo. He loves playing in the snow, and my family likes to say that he looks like a dolphin, jumping in and out of the piles of snow. During this pandemic, I think it’s really important to find comfort in the little things. In March, I was still primarily stuck at home, and every day felt like groundhog day. There was never anything new, just wandering around and listening to my teachers drawl on and on over Zoom. “Through that rough time, [our dogs] were my best friends, my supporters, and my family,” My sister Sophie Rudnick said. The little things, like baking cookies, watching your dogs play, or even snuggling up with a blanket, have had such a big impact on how everyone is dealing with this global pandemic. – Managing Editor Quinn Rudnick

March 15: On my birthday, I stepped out into one of the biggest snowbanks I had ever seen. As a person who was born in March, I’m used to being snowed-in on my special day. But this year was different. Practically no one could go anywhere for days: no shopping, working, or visiting family because the streets were packed with snow. “That snow was too much snow,” my mom Kristy Seckman said. “But the moisture was good.” Snow has always been unpredictable in Colorado, but it seems that every year snow patterns are changing and giant storms like this are appearing later and later in the year. – Design & Features Editor Madison Seckman

March 21: My mom and I decided to go to the Fine Arts Museum downtown in March, as part of our quest to visit every museum in Denver. We were only able to do so because of my mom working from home and Creek’s hybrid learning model, both thanks to the pandemic. I got to spend more time with her than I normally would be able to. With loosening restrictions, we could spend that time doing things we enjoyed, like going to museums. – A&E Editor Katya Roudakov

April 3: 2021 opened up the ability to celebrate holidays with more friends and family than earlier in the pandemic. I think it was really amazing to be able to start seeing family again, and to have to opportunity to celebrate Easter with people I wasn’t able to see during 2020. – Managing Editor Quinn Rudnick

April 10: One year and one month after much of America shut down due to COVID-19 marked two important landmarks for my family: our first time eating in a real restaurant and our first time hosting guests in our home since the beginning of lockdowns. My maternal grandparents, who live in Napa, California, and were fully vaccinated, visited us as a surprise in April. It marked a monumental point for me: finally, after over a year, life was beginning to get back to normal. It wasn’t normal, not yet, but it was getting there. We ate outside at Ted’s Montana Grill in Greenwood Village, a family favorite, on a slightly cool April evening. “Seeing our grandchildren after so long was weirdly wonderful,” my grandmother, Barbara Balik, said. “Then going out to a local restaurant…was so normal. We could hardly believe it. Things were back.” – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

May 12: The 2021 senior gift was a mural in the IC building, and in mid-May, artist Armando Silva was hired to do it. Silva spent over a week laying out and painting it in a hallway. Because of COVID, Silva explained that he hadn’t been able to visit schools in a while. “It’s just kind of good to be back in a school, hanging out, feeding off the energy,” Silva said in an interview at the time. “It’s like the silver lining, and I’m sure you guys are kind of in that same space with spring and everything.” – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

May 23: During quarantine, I realized how important having family near you is. My maternal grandparents live five minutes away from me, so I had always taken seeing them really often for granted. At the beginning of the pandemic, my time around them decreased really fast. We went from weekly dinners to cautions greetings. In 2021, things started to return to normal, and I got to see my grandparents weekly again. Now, non-traditionally, I call my grandparents Mimi and Papa, and I took this photo of my papa snuggling one of my dogs, Boo. Him playing with the dogs (sometimes he feeds them ice cream) is one of the constant sources of laughter in my family, and I was really happy to have that back again. – Managing Editor Quinn Rudnick

June 4: For the class of 2021, their senior year was filled with unanswered questions and graduation uncertainty as the previous class did not have the annual graduation every other CCHS graduating class received. A significant event in all high school graduates’ lives is receiving their diploma, and with much relief the class of 2021 got their diplomas with a traditional ceremony. My brother graduated amongst this class so I got to experience first hand the delight as graduation was announced to take place June 4, 2021. – Staff Writer Annabelle Crouch

June 19: Road trips aren’t something my family is a fan of, but with all of the craziness we experienced in 2020 and 2021, driving through a few states didn’t seem too out of the ordinary for us anymore. We drove through Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana as we visited Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. Though there were a few rough patches here and there, it was mostly an extraordinary experience, and being able to see bears, longhorns, bison, and other wildlife was just a cherry on top of all of the chaos we’ve been through. – Staff Writer Lianka Pechova

June 23: During the pandemic I had the honor of receiving a cake from my favorite childhood movie, Coraline. Throughout the pandemic watching my favorite movies helped me deal with the stress of the year. Watching Coraline and receiving this cake brought back many happy memories of watching this movie. It helped me relax and forget about the craziness of 2021. – Staff Writer Olivia Darnel

June 30: With vaccination rates rising and COVID case rates beginning to show signs of dropping, many people visited family or traveled over the summer, making up for what they missed in 2020. My family and I visited my mom’s family in California, and we took a short road trip to Fort Bragg, California, where I took this picture of my younger cousin, 10-year-old Braden Balik, and my brother, 13-year-old Peter Philpott. We hadn’t seen Braden and his family since mid-2019. “We hadn’t been on vacation in like one and a half years or so,” Braden, who lives outside Los Angeles, California, said. “So finally after a while, we got to see family and it was nice.” Braden’s 7-year-old brother, Drew, agreed. “It was kind of weird because we hadn’t seen everyone in a while, so everyone looked different,” Drew said. “And it was fun because I got to spend time with my cousins and you [my family] got to come up here and see Nana, Papa, and the whole family.” – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

July 4: The Fourth of July this year felt much more energetic than the year before. In 2020, the only clue that the date had any relevance to America was the fine print on a calendar. This year, our neighborhood was back in the swing of things. Late in the evening, unapproved firecrackers and sparklers were tossed around in a blocked-off section of road. My neighborhood is your traditional, upper middle-class, white mom community, so seeing children running around with firecrackers and little intervention from adults was jarring, but not surprising considering the year we’ve had. The smell of smoke combined with a stomach full of cheese and watermelon sticks in my memory to this day. The same can’t be said for the previous year. – Staff Writer Aurora Miller

July 9: If you ask me where my favorite place in the world is, I’d probably say Prague, Czechia, and one of the most comforting things is leaning on the windowsill, watching the city from my grandmother’s eight-story apartment room window. However, due to covid, I haven’t been able to visit my family in two years. 2021 was a new light amidst the darkness 2020 had brought us, as the new vaccines made travel and seeing family safe and possible. “It was really awesome when you came, but since we haven’t seen each other in a long time, it was completely different,” my cousin, Tereza Mandatova, said in Czech over text. – Staff Writer Lianka Pechova

July 13: Baseball may be my favorite thing in the world. But for all of 2020 and the first half of 2021, COVID meant my family and I couldn’t attend any Colorado Rockies games. My first game back? The absolutely epic MLB All-Star Game, where star players from teams across the league play in one game. It’s National League vs. American League, and even if only one Rockies player (starting pitcher Germán Márquez) was on the field and the NL lost (5-2) it was one of the coolest experiences I had this year. The American League’s players, such as the Toronto Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (right) and the LA Angels’ Shohei Ohtani, the starting pitcher, gave legendary performances in the team’s win, whereas NL players such as the Atlanta Braves’ Freddie Freeman (left) and then-Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer also played outstandingly despite their overall loss. – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

Aug. 9: After the whole world spent a year without visiting their extended families, this summer was the summer of family reunions. My immediate family and other relatives drove 16 hours to Minnesota to visit my mom’s brother’s family. We stayed with them for a few days, and at one point, my sister Norah Seckman (left) and cousin Eliana Sterns (right) made sandwiches for all 14 people at our reunion. “I was putting tons of mustard on [my cousin] Kyle’s sandwich,” Eliana said over text. “I felt very happy to see [everyone] after not being able to for over a year.” – Design & Features Editor Madison Seckman

Aug. 16: Getting a new pet was a significant event in many family’s lives over the past year as quarantine encouraged a more pet friendly environment. Families were finally at home and had time to spend bringing up pets without compromising work or social time. My family seized this opportunity and adopted a new kitten on August 16, 2020 who we named Bentely. My family’s adoption was not an anomaly as the ASPCA found that 1 in 5 households adopted a cat or dog during the COVID 19 pandemic. – Staff Writer Annabelle Crouch

Aug. 26: My dog, Quigley, is caught looking at my dad’s peach cobbler as it cools off after being taken out of the oven. The Pandemic forced many workplaces to shut down completely or move online and jobs are now more lenient with work hours and more aware of the struggles of working from home. My dad, who works as a lawyer at the EPA, has not consistently been in his office since the beginning of the Pandemic in March 2020, and without the commute to his building in downtown Denver, he has had extra time on his hands. “I normally have an hour and a half or more of a commute there and back,” he said. “That’s an extra 90 minutes a day to do other things; we had extra peaches from Palisade and I had extra time, so I decided to make an extra special peach cobbler.” – Asst. News Editor Emily Gleason

Sept. 3: Since there were no fans allowed in the stands at football games last year due to COVID, this was my first time attending a Bruins football game. Although I’m not a huge football fan, it was an exciting environment; Creek played Pomona and beat them soundly, 31-0. My family went with me to the game and enjoyed going just as much as I had. “I like that it seemed like we were getting back to normal,” said my mom. “There was a lot of colorful activity . . . and a lot of school spirit and participation.” – Asst. News Editor Emily Gleason

Sept. 7: This year, the world started reopening it’s doors to concerts and performances, and I finally got to experience one night I’d been waiting for forever. On September 7th, I got to see, along with many other Creek students, Harry Styles’s Love On Tour. Just over 470,000 people attended this concert, and it was a really weird environment to be in during a pandemic. The Ball Arena was very cognizant of safety protocols, and everyone I saw at the venue was masked. “It was the most amazing [and] unforgettable experience of my life,” My sister Sophie Rudnick said. Seeing Harry perform was such an amazing experience, and so was being back at a concert after such a long time. – Managing Editor Quinn Rudnick

Sept. 25: Until recently, since their founding in 1993, the Colorado Rockies have only retired one team player’s number (#17, first baseman Todd Helton), and have not seen any players reach the MLB Hall Of Fame. That changed with Larry Walker, the Rockies’ former All-Star right fielder. He was on the team from 1995 to 2004, and is considered by many to be the best Rockie ever. Walker was voted into the MLB Hall of Fame on Jan. 21, 2020, alongside former Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. Then, on Sept. 25, 2021, Walker was invited to Coors Field, where his number, 33, was retired in a ceremony with former players, coaches, and announcers returning to celebrate Walker. His daughters unveiled the #33 on the first deck, which joined the league-wide retired #42 for Jackie Robinson, an honor for Keli McGregor, former Rockies president, #17 for Todd Helton, and the Rockies’ 2007 NLCS champion pennant. – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

Sept. 26: Due to COVID this was my first baseball game in a while. I had the chance to go to Fenway Park with my brother and watch the Yankees/Red sox game. As a Yankee fan, it was an exciting and overwhelming environment being surrounded by the rival team’s fans. “It was great going to a baseball game after so long,” my brother, Jonah Darnel, said. “It was fun hearing the Red Sox’s fans’ reactions to my Yankee’s hat.” – Staff Writer Olivia Darnel

Oct. 18: It was fall break and the first time my family travelled for over a year. We stayed in Oahu to tour the University of Hawai’i in person – a luxury that would’ve been spectral just a few months earlier. College tours predominately switched to virtual tours during covid, so the opportunity to tour both the campus and the island in person was canonized. My brother, Nate Christensen, was a Creek senior last year and deprived of the opportunity to tour any colleges in person – a universal experience shared by many young adults. “The timing of everything was so bad for my age group,” he said. – Staff Writer Anna Christensen

Oct. 30: I took this picture as I sat 40 feet above Creek Theater’s audience seating. I had the really cool job of using one of the theater’s spotlights during Puffs, the school play. I started Creek Theater for the first time in late August, and it was an instant connection. A sense of family and closeness surrounded the theater, and that feeling only amplified when I joined the lighting crew. After years of activities and theaters being closed due to covid, it felt so good to be back with the people that make me happy. The world has felt muffled and nobody has been as connected with those close to them throughout this pandemic, and 2021 brought back so much opportunity and connection as the world reopened their doors. – Managing Editor Quinn Rudnick

Oct. 30: Right before returning back onto the field at state finals, some of Creek’s marching band members went to the stadium to watch other schools’ marching bands perform. Creek’s marching band placed 3rd overall in the state and earned a score of 83.3, the highest score Creek has gotten since 1991. – Staff Writer Lydia Foster

Nov. 6: Every year before Thanksgiving, my family comes over to my grandparents’ house. It is one of the only times we all see each other at the same time, and it is the first time I’ve seen my stepsister since the Covid pandemic. It was nice to see everyone all together for the first time in almost two years. – Staff Writer Lydia Foster

Nov. 14: Drivers on Berthoud Pass near Empire, Colorado, were dazzled by rainbow-colored clouds Nov. 14. The phenomenon, known as cloud iridescence, usually occurs in thin, newly-formed clouds with water droplets or ice crystals uniform in size. – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

Nov. 14: Music is a unifying experience, but no artist is quite as unifying as Taylor Swift. With the release of her re-recording of 2012 album “Red,” Swift topped every chart in America and captivated listeners everywhere. And as if that wasn’t enough, she even had her own latte sold at Starbucks for a limited time. It was a nonfat caramel latte, and not even that special, but I felt like I needed to get it anyway. Watching people around the world go viral for their Swift-related experiences felt like a universal thing. “Seeing Taylor Swift rise to the charts once more meant seeing the resurrection of my childhood,” my friend and fellow Swiftie Rachel Novak said. “‘T Swizzle’ was my entire childhood, and having more new-old music to listen to again was incredibly nostalgic.” – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

Nov. 25: Thanksgiving in 2020 was an unusual affair: rather than visiting grandparents and reuniting with cousins and family friends, my family of four was isolated in our home, cooking everything on our own. But this year, my family and I traveled to Napa, California, for Thanksgiving with our mom’s parents, brother and his family, and a select few family friends. Still, the celebration was a bit smaller than normal. Our usual Friday “leftover night,” which usually has around a few dozen guests, had only four this year, while the actual Thanksgiving dinner was missing my grandmother’s sister and her husband as they were traveling elsewhere. Even so, it was a step up from 2020’s unusual celebration. “Thanksgiving last year was weird because it was incredibly isolated,” my brother, Peter Philpott, said. “But it was also incredibly gratifying, because we got to set up the whole thing. We made all the dishes.” – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

Nov. 25: Usually a tradition my family has on Thanksgiving is to go to the Downtown Aquarium. For the last few years, because of covid we were unable to go to the Aquarium. Finally, we had the chance to go this year and got to visit the tigers, one of my favorite animals at the Aquarium. Covid broke a tradition that seemed impossible to break. By taking this step forward, life is slowly getting back to normal. – Staff Writer Sophia Noahchi

Dec. 5: It was the last night of Hanukkah for my interfaith family, and as our four menorahs held all eight brightly-lit candles, our Christmas tree was also on in the background. Since my dad is Christian and my mom is Jewish, we celebrate the major holidays of both religions, meaning the winter holiday season is very busy for us. 2020 offered a subdued holiday season, but 2021 felt slightly more normal. We saw family and friends from near and afar for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. We exchanged gifts and did almost all the normal traditions. But going back to normal was a readjustment, and I often found myself overwhelmed by what would usually be a normal holiday season, but felt much more complex and busy. – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

Dec. 10: The Denver metro area’s first snow came Dec. 10, setting a record for latest snow and the most days without snow – a full 232, the longest streak since at least 1948. Shifts in the normal climate contributed to the late snow, including different wind patterns from south of the equator. The lateness of the snow made the adjustments to cold weather harder, creating more than the normal traffic and accidents. “I love that it has snowed, but it messes up my perception of time,” junior Ella Sommerfeld said. “First snow and finals don’t go together in my mind.” – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

Dec. 11: I took this picture on one of my favorite days of the year, the day when my sister and I both lock ourselves in my room all day and spend the entire time wrapping and hand making Christmas presents. My family has never been religious, but this holiday is always such a huge part of the year, bringing people together from many places across the country to celebrate together. Having the ability to be together during the holidays even in the midst of a pandemic is really amazing, and I’m really glad we can do it. To quote Frank Sinatra’s “I Wouldn’t Trade Christmas,” “Christmas, we love you the best.” – Managing Editor Quinn Rudnick

Dec. 30: A sloth peers at Denver Museum of Nature & Science visitors in one of its temporary exhibits, Survival of the Slowest. The museum’s last temporary exhibit of the year, set to end Jan. 9, 2022, featured live animals, from snakes to frogs to tortoises, as well as the star of the show, a Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth, native to northern South America. At nearly 5 pm, the sloth was more active than I’d ever seen one, entertaining guests as it climbed around its enclosure. The exhibit had 16 species of “slow” animals, with information about why animals adapt the way they do from the amount of food they eat to the sizes they grow to. – Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott