January 2008 News
updated January 31, 2008
Newton named AVCTL Division II Scholars’ Bowl Champions
The Newton High School Scholars' Bowl team gave an outstanding performance at the AVCTL Division II competition, posting the highest composite score to be declared the division champions. Newton's three teams combined for thirteen victories to edge out second-place Valley Center whose teams finished with eleven wins.
The first team, comprised of Kevin Leary, Andrew Erickson, Anna Unruh, and Gannon Benson finished in second place with a 7-1 record behind Winfield's perfect 8-0 score.
The Railers' second and third teams finished with identical 3-2 records to contribute to the overall championship. The members of the second team were Andy Nguyen, Sheralynn Neff, Monica Voth, and Andrew Walker. The third team included Gregory Schuck, Megan Leary, Jake Bevan, and Andrew Walker.
The next Scholars’ Bowl competition will be the 5A regional tournament at Hutchinson on January 31, followed by the state competition to be held February 9 at Carroll High School in Wichita. The Newton team will also participate in a televised QUEST match against Kapaun-Mt. Carmel at KTWU in Topeka.
Photo: AVCTL Division II Scholar’s Bowl champion team members along with Coaches Michael Keltin and Grant Scott
updated January 31, 2008
Newton schools perform well at Science Olympiad
Newton schools performed well at the regional Science Olympiad competition held on January 16, in Salina. The two middle school teams tied for 5th place overall, and the high school brought home a 3rd place team trophy. Several two-person teams medaled in the individual competitions.
Individual participants were:
Chisholm Middle School: Bryce Banks and Steven Harms, 1st place in Meteorology,
2nd place in Road Scholar, 3rd place in Bio Process Lab; Brittany Stark and Kendall Friesen, 1st place in Rocks and Minerals; Tyler Wenger and Alec Potluri, 3rd place in Simple Machines.
Santa Fe Middle School: Katelyn Dorrell and Sharon Long 2nd place in Amphibians and Reptiles and 3rd place in Oceanography; Erin Doerksen and Rachel Volk 2nd place in Tower Building; Brian Stewart and Clinton Unruh third place in Scrambler. Additional team members included: Jacob Beebe; Austin Crumrine; Courtney Briseno; Jared Fromm TJ Graber; Amy Kondziola; Hugh McConnell; Miles Johns; and Daniel Perales. Next competition will be at the state tournament on April 5.
Newton High School: Kevin and Megan Leary, 1st place in Oceanography; Emma Regier and Ruthi Wiens, 1st placein Experimental Design; Jacob Skala and Henry Unruh 3rd place in Robot Ramble. Additional team members wwere: Emilie Doerksen, Feilisha Kutilike, Alex Lawhon-Bush, Arin McMullen, Scott Rempel, Katie Stiffler, Anna Unruh, Hannah and Sarah Vogt.
All three Newton teams will compete in the state Science Olympiad on April 5.
Photos:
Top: Chisholm Science Olympiad team members
Middle: Santa Fe Science Olympiad team members
Bottom: Newton High School Science Olympiad team members
updated January 31, 2008
Newton named AVCTL Division II Scholars’ Bowl Champions
The Newton High School Scholars' Bowl team gave an outstanding performance at the AVCTL Division II competition, posting the highest composite score to be declared the division champions. Newton's three teams combined for thirteen victories to edge out second-place Valley Center whose teams finished with eleven wins.
The first team, comprised of Kevin Leary, Andrew Erickson, Anna Unruh, and Gannon Benson finished in second place with a 7-1 record behind Winfield's perfect 8-0 score.
The Railers' second and third teams finished with identical 3-2 records to contribute to the overall championship. The members of the second team were Andy Nguyen, Sheralynn Neff, Monica Voth, and Andrew Walker. The third team included Gregory Schuck, Megan Leary, Jake Bevan, and Andrew Walker.
The next Scholars’ Bowl competition will be the 5A regional tournament at Hutchinson on January 31, followed by the state competition to be held February 9 at Carroll High School in Wichita. The Newton team will also participate in a televised QUEST match against Kapaun-Mt. Carmel at KTWU in Topeka.
Photo: AVCTL Division II Scholar’s Bowl champion team members along with Coaches Michael Keltin and Grant Scott
updated January 29, 2008
NHS Winter Sports Celebration
Newton High School will hold their Winter Sports Celebration with special activities on Friday, February 1, during the men's and women's varsity basketball games vs. Derby. The Winter Sports King and Queen will be crowned on the court between the two games at 7:00 p.m., and a dance will be held in the evening, from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.
In addition to the coronation and dance, the Fine Arts Booster Club will be serving a roast pork dinner from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., with the proceeds providing scholarships and other opportunities for fine arts students.
Pictured are the 2008 Winter Sports King and Queen candidates
Richling named Horizon Award winner
Derrick Richling, a fourth grade teacher at the Walton 21st Century Rural Life Center, has been named a 2008 Horizon Award winner.
The award, presented by the Kansas Department of Education, honors outstanding first-year teachers throughout the state of Kansas.
The department selected sixteen elementary and sixteen secondary recipients from schools across the state. Richling received news of
the award via a personal call from the Kansas Commissioner of Education, Alexa Posney. He will be honored, along with the other 31
recipients at a special luncheon in Topeka, on February 22.
The Horizon Award program, currently in its sixth year, allows all school districts in the state an opportunity to nominate one elementary and one secondary teacher for the award. To be eligible for a Horizon Award, teachers must have successfully completed their first year of teaching and have performed in such a way as to distinguish themselves as exemplary. The Horizon Award program is a regional competition with four regions corresponding to the state’s U.S. Congressional districts. Four elementary and four secondary classroom teachers may be selected for the award from each region.
As a recipient of the Kansas Horizon Award, Richling is invited to join the Kansas Exemplary Educators Network (KEEN),
a network of educators from around the state who have been formally recognized for exemplary performance.
Members of KEEN have an opportunity to network with other outstanding educators and participate in a number of professional
development programs throughout the year.
updated January 28, 2008
Parents, Pages partnership benefits Slate Creek
Parents of students at Slate Creek Elementary School have partnered with Pages A Bookstore
to beef up the book inventory in the school library. Parents who purchase a book from the store
to donate to the Slate Creek Library are given a 20% discount. When the books arrive at the school,
the student’s name and date of donation are put in the front of the book. David Stockton, the school’s library media specialist,
then reads the book to the student’s class and places these “student favorites” in a special place in the library.
During the past week Stockton made a special point to read and show all of the books that have
been donated thus far to all of the students at the school. The “Parents and Pages” partnership began at
the end of November, 2007, and the students are very pleased to have the new books in their library.
Photo: David Stockton, Slate Creek Elementary Library Media Specialist,
reads a book purchased for the school by a Slate Creek parent.
Thanks to a program at Pages a Bookstore that offers a 20% discount on books donated to the school library.
Santa Fe News Show Goes Public
Thanks to the hard work of some Santa Fe students and their teacher,
along with the gracious assistance of Bethel College employee Tim Buller,
the public can now get an even better idea of what is happening in Newton Public Schools.
The Santa Fe News Team,
under the instruction of Jamie Rogers,
has begun broadcasting the school's daily news show on the Newton Community Channel
(local access channel 7). COX cable subscribers can tune in daily at 6:30 p.m.
to hear what's happening at the school. A student-created news show at Chisholm Middle School is
hopefully soon to follow suit.
The Newton Community Channel is a cooperative endeavor between Bethel College,
The City of Newton, USD 373 Newton Public Schools, and Newton Medical Center.
The channel accepts public notices of activities and events, along with local educational programming.
For more information go to http://www.newtonchannel.org/.
KWCH meteorologist visits South Breeze
Students in Megan Weaver’s 5th grade class at South Breeze Elementary School received a special visitor recently. KWCH TV meteorologist Rodney Price made a visit to the school to answer in person, a question posed to him via an e-mail from some of the students.
The children wanted to know how a balloon released in a balloon launch one afternoon could have landed in West Virginia less than a day later. After hearing from a person there who had found the balloon only 17 hours after it had been released, the students calculated that the balloon must have traveled an average of almost 60 miles per hour to make the 950-mile trek in such a short time—a pretty brisk pace for a balloon.
To find out how that would be possible, they sent emails to the weather departments of three Wichita TV stations asking about wind speed, the jet stream, and if the balloons would have shown up on Doppler radar. The students were hopeful of receiving replies. They were very pleased to receive a detailed email response from Dave Freeman, chief meteorologist of the KSN Weather Lab. But they were ecstatic to receive a call from KWCH’s Price, who asked if he could visit the class and answer all of their questions in person.
Price and a camera crew arrived the next day and spent nearly an hour answering questions and providing an in-depth lesson in wind travel and the layers of the atmosphere, including the jet stream. The classroom weather lesson later aired on the station’s evening news.
updated January 2, 2008
Todd Honored for NHS Custodial Career
Retiring Newton High School Head Custodian Terrie Todd was honored by NHS faculty and staff at a holiday brunch on December 20, 2007.
Todd is retiring from Newton High School and USD 373 after more than eighteen years of service.
Mary Glenn, a current custodial staff member will assume the head custodian position.
Pictured, left to right: NHS Principal Ken Rickard, new NHS Head Custodian Mary Glenn, and retiring head custodian Terrie Todd.
MS Staffs Attempt to Reach North Pole
North Pole explorer Robert Peary would be proud to know that others are still following in his footsteps, including the staffs of Chisholm and Santa Fe Middle Schools, figuratively if not literally.
The two schools recently decided to participate in a friendly challenge in an effort to promote wellness at both schools by logging enough miles to reach the North Pole (over 3,000).
The North Pole Fitness Challenge competition began December 3 and ended December 20, with the two teams competing to reach the North Pole first. Chisholm staff accumulated the most miles, logging 2,329, while Santa Fe walked a total of 2, 304. While neither team reached the North Pole, their miles logged were impressive. Chisholm staff attributed the extra 7:30 to 8:00 a.m. walk in the halls of the school the morning before the contest ended with putting their team over the top.
Participating staff members kept logs which were turned in weekly to coordinators Tanya Molleker at Chisholm, and Sonya Pena at Santa Fe. Many of the teachers wore pedometers while others used home fitness equipment to kept track of their miles.
Shown is the winning Chisholm team with their trophy. It will be a traveling trophy with another competition planned for spring.
Back row, left to right: Cindy Penner, Joan Hearne, Kathy Becker, Bev Buller, Mary Bradshaw, Jennifer Milton, Gary Ewert, Debbe Jantz, Tom Hatch, Darren Baumchen Middle row: Stacey Bruton, Chelle Gaede, Cesar Pena Front row: Connie Rickard, Sarah Kaufman, Tanya Molleker, Kathy Archer. (courtesy photo)
updated January 2, 2008
Weaver Wins White Eagle Credit Union Grant
Megan Weaver, a fifth grade teacher at South Breeze Elementary School, was named the recipient of the White Eagle Credit Union 2007 classroom grant. Weaver received a surprise visit from White Eagle representatives Debbie Morse and Stacy Barnett on December 20, and was presented a check for $419.59 from White Eagle Credit Union.
Weaver applied for the grant to fund a Lego® Robotics kit for 5th graders at South Breeze to use. In her grant application, she cited the ability to incorporate math, problem solving, computer programming, teamwork and science skills in a real-life environment.
Pictured is Megan Weaver (center) Stacy Barnett (left),
and Debbie Morse.