The history of Trevista at Horace Mann began in the Fall 2008 school year as an ECE-8th Grade School to serve the community in Denver’s Northside who had previously attended Smedley Elementary School, Remington Elementary School, and/or Horace Mann Middle School.
The Smedley Elementary Stars community opened its doors in 1902, Horace Mann Middle School Tigers in 1932, and Remington Elementary Rockets in 1954 and they each operated as such until Spring 2008 when all three were closed, respectively, and consolidated at the Horace Mann campus.
The name Trevista is a portmanteau with “Tre” standing for the three original schools and “vista” representing a single vision for the success of all children from the three school communities.
When Trevista opened its doors at Horace Mann, a new mascot was also adopted for the new school: the Falcon. Falcons are emblems for success, victory, and rising above a situation. They represent visionary power, wisdom, and guardianship. The Falcon also carries with it a message of transition and change. All of these characteristics being very suitable for the new school.
In the 2011-2012 school year, Trevista was designated a turnaround school which meant that the school was put on an accountability clock with the state and needed to act quickly to improve. During Spring 2012, a new principal was selected and going into the 2012-2013 school year, an almost completely new staff began the turnaround journey together.
During the 2012-2015 school years, Trevista made significant changes and improvements as measured by the school performance framework. During this time, Trevista also celebrated being a high growth school, an honor that only 40 of nearly 200 schools earn. With the high growth status, Trevista was the highest growth elementary and middle school, respectively, in the northwest. Trevista’s middle school also brought home a lot of hardware in sports including division championships for boys’ basketball and girls’ volleyball.
In Winter 2014-15, the DPS school board voted to close the Trevista middle school program at the recommendation of the leadership team due to declining enrollment. The TNLI zone program had been moved to another nearby middle school which impacted enrollment which was already small and declining.
In Fall 2015, Trevista opened its doors as an elementary school and underwent a re-branding process. After the first year as an elementary school, Trevista earned green status on the School Performance Framework (SPF)! This news has excited the Trevista community because we have gone from “Red” (the lowest rating) to the second-highest rating, “Green” and we are officially off of the state accountability clock. In 2022, 2023, and 2024 Trevista exceeded expectations in regards to growth for Multi-lingual learners and in Mathematics, earning the Governor’s Distinguished Growth Award in 2022. While the Trevista community celebrates this victory, it has set its eye on “Destination Blue” and being a distinguished school for all students.
In Fall 2018, Trevista open a dual language immersion program for ECE and kindergartens students. Trevista will roll up another grade level each year and in May of 2024 our first class of Dual Language 5th graders celebrated their continuation to middle school – on track to be bilingual/biliterate.
Trevista continues to thrive with a strong staff culture and over 96% retention rate of teachers and staff in the 2023/24 school year. This care for one another transcends to our students and families, creating a school experience rich with relationships and a sense of belonging. Trevista started enrichment programming in the Fall of 2021 that allows for students to shine in art, music, sports, chess, and many other opportunities. Enrichments are celebrated through competitive games to highlight sportsmanship and our yearly musical that is truly magical and a showcase of our commitment to the arts.