S'More Community News - NPHS

This year has provided several awesome opportunities for students, staff, and our administrative team. Our team has experienced a change in leadership, added new teachers, and still does their best to prepare students to be productive, responsible people in a safe, caring, supportive learning environment. To say that I am proud to be a part of this family is an understatement.

We have some exciting celebrations planned for the coming weeks. Our Student Advisory Group, Culture Club, Student Council, NHS, and various classroom teachers have been working to increase our student and staff recognition at NPHS.

Student Advisory indicated that we can make our school more welcoming for all students by putting work that students are creating up on display in our hallways. Currently, art students are working to create pieces that will be put on display. Photography students are taking pictures, and we will be placing their work up in our hallways. We have truly AMAZING and talented students and teachers in our school. Examples of our student work can be seen below (Photo Credit: Savannah Gove, Fr., and Art Credit: Chloe Bostwick, Jr.).

Culture Club has developed a plan to recognize more students who are demonstrating the pillars of character displayed on the entry of our building. Additionally, photographs of our student award winners, teachers of the month, support staff of the month, and other informational signs are being created in our graphics design class.

When you come into our building in the coming weeks, we hope you enjoy seeing some of the work our students and staff have worked on to show off some of the great things happening in our school.

Throughout this year, we will face challenges, evaluate our practices, make adjustments, continue to improve and grow, and celebrate together.

• Cory Spotanski

This week the counseling office has been busy reviewing the applications for early graduation. Students who have submitted an application will be notified by November 1st as to whether their application was accepted or not.

We’ve helped numerous seniors with their applications to UNK/UNL/UNO; that deadline for the free application has been extended to October 31st!

Ms. Horne and Ms. Quiroz are gearing up for the upcoming college visits with students throughout the months of October and November. If students are interested in going on a group visit contact the counseling office, some trips are still open!

Click here to see more resources from the library!

Dr. Scott Sigel's dual-credit Spanish 4 students are participating in Hispanic Heritage Month by studying South American poetry, music and film. So far we have focused on Chilean artist Violeta Parra. We have studied the lyrics of her two most famous compositions and then compared the original versions of the songs with subsequent cover versions. Class discussions give time for students to explain why they prefer a particular version. We have been diving deeper into Violeta's contributions as a Latina and indigenous woman (her mother was Indian and her father Hispanic) to South American culture by watching the film "Violeta Went to Heaven," the Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film in 2011 and winner of the Sundance Film Festival in 2012. The film presents multiple perspectives on the artist's life and eventual suicide in 1967.

We have been staying busy in the ag. room! Our Animal Science class had the opportunity to attend Temple Grandin’s presentation at the Fox Theater. Temple is known for her innovations in the cattle industry, with over half of the animal handling facilities using equipment designed by her. Our Natural Resources class has been learning about water pollution and completed a water quality testing lab. Intro. to Ag. has been learning about the value of soil and spent time texturing different soils from across the U.S.- including from Alaska and North Dakota! To keep up with all our adventures, make sure to follow our Instagram account @thehutchnphs.

From the Special Education Department:

During the month of October, we recognize Down Syndrome Awareness Month, Blindness Awareness Month and White Cane Safety Day.

Down Syndrome was first identified in the 1860's. There are actually three different types of Down syndrome. The most common type is the extra copy of the 21st chromosome. The other two types involve translocation and mosaicism of the chromosomes. Down Syndrome Awareness month first started in the 1980's. We also celebrate World Down Syndrome day in March. Start looking for your crazy socks to help us celebrate World Down Syndrome day on March 21.

Blindness Awareness Month is also recognized in October. It is estimated that 285 million people in the world are either blind or have a visual impairment that cannot be corrected, with 39 million people who are completely blind. Some people with a visual impairment may still have vision that they can use. Others may be totally blind and do not have any usable vision. There are many variations of vision loss. October 13 is World Sight Day. The theme this year is Love Your Eyes. This theme is being used to raise the awareness of eye health and the need to take care of your eyesight.

October 15 is White Cane Safety Day. This day started in 1964 to raise the awareness of people who are blind or visually impaired and use a white cane to navigate their environment. The canes are white with red reflective tape on them to make them more visible to drivers. Each state has their own white cane law that gives regulations to drivers needing to yield to a pedestrian with a white cane. Instruction in using a white cane is provided by an Orientation and Mobility Specialist. Only an estimated 2-8% of people who are blind or have a visual impairment use a white cane. Others rely on their usable vision, a guide dog or use a sighted guide.

Hello

This is coming to you from the Woods Math Nation

As we finish up on with the first unit, students will be assessing their knowledge by completing a project. They will have the option to choose one of three projects offered and two of these can be completed with a partner. The projects include: Integer Timeline, Integer Music video, and a Cartoon strip explaining the four basic math properties. Students will write their own lyrics relating to the math topic they chose, and perform it for the class. OR, Students will create characters for their comic strip and these characters will explain why the 4 properties help math be more predictable. For the student that prefers to work independently, The Integer Timeline is a good choice. This project has students using a

horizontal number line upon which their birthdate is located at the ZERO. These students will place events on the number line before and after the birthdate. We are looking forward to seeing the performances and art projects.

My name is Mrs. Mason, and I am one of NPHS’s two art teachers! I teach Art I, Art II, Multimedia, Sculpture, Ceramics I & Ceramics II. I have the most amazing teaching partner, Mrs. DeVoe! She also teaches Art I & II, as well as Painting, Drawing I, and Drawing II, Art History I & II. Come take Art I & II to find out what media you love, then you can sign up for our wide array of advanced courses to see just how you can flourish! This year, my Ceramics I & II are combined, so I am especially encouraging our NPHS Bulldogs to join in on the fun process of building with clay so we can have more sections available in the future. Hope to see even more of you soon!

Hey everyone. Mr. Milton here. I am a math teacher here at NPHS with Algebra 2 as my primary class. We are approaching the halfway point in our classes so everyone has been busy trying to finish Term 1 on a high note. We just finished our Unit 4 test over Statistics and Reasoning this week and will begin to jump into the Quadratics Unit next week. In the meantime, the class started looking at some ACT practice questions and we will take a Practice ACT test to end the week. I have been recording the results of this Practice ACT over the past five years and have almost 700 student results. I am looking forward to see if anyone from this year's crew can bust into the prestigious Top 10 List for the best scores.

Hey everyone, from Ms. Kincaid's Civics class! The freshmen have been working hard on synthesizing what they've learned about the first ten amendments into their own versions of the Bill of Rights. It has been a blast to watch them put their own twists on these projects, and to see them remembering their rights in new and interesting ways. As we get ready to move into our Presidential Cabinet Expo projects, I can't wait to see this creativity in action again. Great job Freshmen!

Careers

It has been a great start to the 22-23 school year in Careers Class. Students have explored the following topics and have a good understanding of how to become more career ready: personality, aptitude, and skills assessments, personal budgeting, insurance, they have explored careers with a focus on what they want to do as a career, completing job applications, writing resumes and cover letters, performing well in job interviews, and they will end the term with understanding written and unwritten workplace rules as well as workplace culture.

I have enjoyed getting back into the classroom after spending several years as the NPHS Career Coach. Who knows what may be next for me? Whatever it is...I know that I will enjoy my time being an educator!

Biology students have spent most of this term learning about genetics and natural selection . They began the year learning about natural selection as it applies to bacteria. They collected bacteria from the school and watched it grow. They then spent time observing E. coli bacteria and watching how it can become more resistant to antibiotics over time. They also drew models to show how bacteria undergoes natural selection to become resistant. More recently, we have been learning about a population of Junco birds and watching rapid evolution cause major differences between them. We are currently discussing whether certain behaviors can be learned or inherited. It has been fun watching them learn new information and apply their knowledge to different concepts!

Mentzer's Advanced English 11 classes have been reading through various Native American authors in our lit circle groups. In addition to weekly discussions and assignments about the reading, we recently did a new enrichment activity called Found Poetry. The students were asked to choose from three different articles addressing Native American hardships faced through their experiences on reservations and in boarding schools. After reading the article, they chose certain words to circle/highlight in order to create a poem that would express the emotion of the piece. Then, in the negative space between those chosen words, the students were asked to cover the leftover article with artwork that would accompany the message of the poem. Here is a look at some of their work:

This week in our welding classes we are working on practicing safe welding procedures while refining our welding skills. The activity that we are working on consists of making quality fillet welds on lap joints, utilising the welding electrode E7018. This activity is designed to help students learn about fillet welds and weld joints where fillet welds are used. Our main focus for this activity is to hone in on the Five Essentials of welding. They are as follows: Selecting the correct Electrode Diameter (E), Setting the correct Amperage (A), Using the correct welding Angles (A), Using the proper Arc Length (A), and welding with the correct Travel Speed (T). We remember the 5 Essentials of Welding through the acronym EAAAT.

Attached are pictures of Fabian W, Caleb O, and our 2nd block Welding 1 Class.

Hello! My name is Ms. Cepel and I am one of the Physical Educators here at NPHS. The classes I teach are Lifetime Activities and Aerobic Training. In my classes, we do a variety of games and activities that get kids moving as well as improving teamwork and other social skills. We oftentimes have tournaments within each class where the winning team is awarded a prize! We just finished our Pickleball unit and will be starting our Lawn Games unit next week. The Lawn Games unit will include Spikeball, Kan Jam, and Ladderball.

The North Platte Tennis team is finishing up their season with a dual against the McCook Bison this Thursday at 4 PM. The Varsity will compete at the high school tennis courts and JV will play at Cody park. The tennis season will conclude at the Koch Tennis Center in Omaha next Thursday and Friday when we compete at the State Tournament. In the pictures below, North Platte Bulldog tennis players Nathan Unger and Cayden Roehrs are competing against Hastings Tigers at the Tiger Invite. Levi Luenenborg is also competing in singles at the Scottsbluff Invite earlier in the season.

NPHS THEATRE DEPARTMENT PRESENTS BLUE STOCKINGS

North Platte High School Theatre Department will present Blue Stockings by Jessica Swale on October 7th and 8th at 7:00 pm in the NPHS Performing Arts Center.

The North Platte High School theatre department is currently working on Jessica Swale’s Blue Stockings for their fall production. Director Brittany McDaniel states that the show has been a growing experience for herself and the cast. This production explores the fight for women's right to education at the turn of the century in Great Britain. Throughout the process, McDaniel and her cast and crew of 39 have had conversations about women's right to education throughout history, the treatment of the female body in health care, and how both these issues have impacted our society today.

From a theatrical standpoint, the students have gotten the chance to experience period costuming with corsets, skirts, and suits as well as how they physically moved and sat during that time period. Students have also worked on learning their lines with a British accent and are incorporating fight choreography during the climax of the show. Senior Joseph Roeder said, “This show has been an amazing process! I've loved expanding my talents with trying new fight choreography and doing the entire show in an accent.”

This is McDaniel’s second show as play production director with NPHS and it is a complete 180 from the show the department produced last spring. “Trap was all storyline based. We wanted something that would bring everyone together, give everyone a chance to be on stage, and surprise the audience a bit. Blue Stockings is a totally different feel. While the story is important as it is based on real historical events, the true heart of the show lies within the characters and their struggles and successes.” McDaniel said. The historical events McDaniel is referring to includes the 1896-1897 school year where women at Cambridge University fought for the right to be able to graduate. This fight ended in a mob of angry men causing a riot while the university senate was voting on the issue. “I play Elizabeth Welsh, one of the characters in the show that actually existed in real life. It’s been super interesting to get to learn about the history behind the story we are telling and how people reacted to the vote.” said senior, Breanna Lundgreen.

Admission for the show is $5 at the door and doors open at 6:30 p.m.