Kathrine Allen, came out of high school, seemingly knowing what she was going to do for the rest of her life. Her talent in STEM fields and recommendations from teachers pushed her into engineering. She stuck with this major until she realized her aptitude for architecture. However, despite her talent in both these fields, she was drawn to something else. 

Allen’s mother was German, but she never learned the language fully. Nevertheless, she carried the culture with her. She decided to pursue learning the language and would soon come to teach it herself. 

She ended up graduating from Texas A&M with a major in German language and minor in Engineering. Eventually, she started teaching at Grandview High School, building up not only the language, but also a community. 

“I know it sounds silly, but I feel like [the class and I have] been a family,” Allen said. “I’m the only German teacher so every year I just build better

relationships with the kids and they just keep coming back.” 

Allen has been teaching the subject at Grandview for nine years- even developing an AP course on top of levels one through four. 

However, this was not an easy feat. She initially was hired when the language was declining. 

“I was really grateful that they decided not to try to get rid of it then. I was really proud that I was building it up to a bigger program. In the end it just became my own,” Allen said. 

However, despite the work that Allen has continuously put into German, her numbers have been taking a hit. This has led to the cut of the class starting next year. Allen will only be able to teach her remaining students. 

“I got an email asking me to come to a meeting to discuss German. I was thinking that they were going to tell me if the numbers didn’t increase this year, that they would consider getting rid of German,” Allen said. 

But this was not the case. Instead, she was told that German was getting cut from the World Language Department, and that this decision was final. 

“It hurts. That’s all I can say.  I mean, I get it. But, it definitely doesn’t feel good, you know. I put a lot into the program. I spend a lot of time here,” said Allen.

Allen, with her minor in Engineering, is still able to teach math at Grandview. German 1 will no longer be an option for incoming freshmen, as of next year. 

“If you still want to take German and you’re [an incoming Grandview student] and need to take German 1, then you can take it at Creek,“ said Principal Dr. Lisa Roberts. 

Many students within Cherry Creek School District often commute in order to take classes not provided at their particular school.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Emma Varela Rocha

Jacob Ricks getting help hanging up a German flag for Grandview's Culture night on November 30th, 2023.

“The hard part about any time we have a class or an elective that gets phased out, which is what’s happening with German, is that we’re declining enrollment as a school,” said Dr. Roberts. 

Declining numbers is not just a problem German is facing. It has been seen in multiple different spheres. 

“French numbers were down very low. Chinese numbers were down. Even the Spanish numbers were technically down,” said Allen.

Growth in the Grandview area is not comparable to that of when the school opened and enrollment is reflecting that.  Soccer, baseball, and other sports are also seeing fewer and fewer participants. 

“Anytime you have a decline in enrollment you have to look at which programs have students coming to them. And if they’re not then, all of a sudden, we have teachers staffed to teach these classes that don’t have many kids in them,” said Dr. Roberts. 

She explained that this makes it harder on other teachers when some classes have only a handful of students because it results in an overflow in other classes. 

“You have to think about, ‘What do kids want?’, and we staff our school based on what you guys want. So if no one’s taking German we can’t run German anymore,” said Dr. Roberts. “It is unfortunate. Any time we have to change programming in any way, especially in a decline, is not my favorite day, trust me.” 

Unfortunately, if decreasing enrollment at Grandview continues, program diversity and numbers will follow suit.