NHS Induction

Tonight the Eagle Chapter of the National Honor Society welcomed ten new members.  The National Honor Society is based on four main areas: Scholarship, Character, Service and Leadership.  These students work hard to be successful in academics along with many activities.  They are some of our best and brightest at West Hancock. 

The group was addressed tonight by WHHS alum James Mallen D.O.  Dr. Mallen is a graduate of the University of Des Moines and currently doing a residency in the Des Moines area.  He spoke about many of the challenges facing our young people and the importance of setting goals.  Dr. Mallen is a great example of the success that can be achieved by our students after they leave our hallowed halls.  Thank you to Dr. Mallen.

Miss T. continues to be the NHS advisor.  Thank you to her for efforts throughout the year and the organization of tonight's ceremony.  Congratulations to all of our NHS students and especially our new inductees.

Dr. Mallen addresses the students.

2012 New NHS inductees

2012 NHS Members

Physics Olympics

Today West Hancock and CWL students competed in the Physics Olympics.  The students faced off in three events: Catapult, Mousetrap Car and Optical Slalom.  It was a very good demonstration of the Physics lessons that the students have been learning.  Thanks to Mrs. Carlson for putting this event together.

Donkey Basketbal!

The West Hancock FFA sponsored a donkey basketball game on March 26th.  All proceeds went to Emergency Services in Britt and Kanawha.  The teams were made up of FFA members, WHHS Faculty, Britt Emergency Service, and Kanawha Emergency Service.  A great time was had by all.  Thanks to Mr. Hauge and the FFA for setting this up.

Busy Week

Parents,

This will be a busy week.  Please make note of the following activities.

All State Speech will be today- Congratulations to our three All- State Speech performers. See previous posts for a picture.

We will be hosting Donkey Basketball tonight in our gymnasium at 7:00 pm.  The FFA students will be raising money for the Britt and Kanawha emergency services.  Tickets are $6.00 in advance and $8.00 at the door.  Please make plans to attend.

Our NHS will be inducting their new members on Tuesday night.  Congratulations to our new inductees!
This will be at the Methodist Church in Britt.

Track meets start this week.  Hard to believe we are into the spring sports events, but the weather should be nice, so that is a bonus!  Good luck to our runners, jumpers and throwers!

There will be an in-service and early out on Wednesday.

The 5th hex ends next week.  Please check with your student to see how they are progressing.  JMC parent access is always available.  Please keep up to date on your students if you have any questions.  We continue to have Success Center every night from 3:30-4:30.  This is extra help time for all students.

Students have begun meeting with Mrs. Clark regarding registration.  All students should have brought home a registration sheet so they can start picking their classes for next year.  If you have not
discussed next years classes with your student, please do so.  Once we have on line registration available we will get that up and running and students will sign up for classes.

Weekly Schedule

Monday – Donkey BB – 7:00 pm

Tuesday – NHS induction – 6:30 – Methodist Church

Wednesday –  In-service - 2 hour early out

Thursday – Girls track – Algona

Friday – Boys track – Forest City

Fine Arts Performances!

There will be two chances for fine arts entertainment in our district the next two nights!  Tonight will be the coffee house concert beginning at 7:00 pm.  This will be a chance for our students to show off their talents in a fun and exciting atmosphere.  This is always a fun concert and the kids do a variety of popular type music. Please make plans to attend! Admission will be $1.00 for students and $2.00 for adults.  Table seating will be $5.00.

On Friday night we will host the annual Speech Showcase.  It will begin at 7:00 pm.  This is always a great show and a chance to see the best and brightest from our speech department.  Please make plans to attend that night as well.  This year there will not be a meal. Admission will be $2.00 for everyone.

We have some very talented students in the fine arts areas please stop in and let them share their special talents with you!

Career Fair

On March 21st all the juniors and some of the seniors attended the Hancock County Career Fair. This is the third time we have attended this bi-annual event.  Once again it was a great experience for our students.  The day is divided up into two parts.  The first portion was a chance for our students to meet with several employers from Hancock County and the surrounding areas.  There were all kinds of industries represented.  Many from the Britt and Kanawha areas.  The students got the chance to learn about the career areas and in some cases talk about potential employment.  One of our students picked up a job application!  I think this really opened the eyes of these students to all the potential that exists in our county for employment.  I spoke with a representative from Kiefer Industries in Kanawha.  He encouraged me to send any students who were looking for a job after graduation his way.  He explained that they would train the employees and find a position best suited for them.  Stellar in Garner also shared that they were continuing to hire.

The second portion was a speaker who focused on success in business and in life.  He was an executive for Qwest for many years.  He had a great message and talked about change in business and in life. He gave great examples in history of people who had changed and people who were afraid to change and how that effected their lives.  He referenced technology a lot and discussed how that had changed.  He made an ATARI joke and I was probably one of the only ones who got it.  It is really crazy to think of how things have changed in the area of technology in the last twenty years!  His main message for students was to be able to ask themselves the following question every day, whether at school or work. "Why am I here?" If they could answer that question and be confident in the answer they were going to be successful people.  All of us should hopefully be able to answer that question each day in our own lives.  I thought about that and for myself the answer is "to help each one of our students prepare to be as successful as possible when they graduate from our school".  For our students hopefully the answer is "to learn" on simple terms or "to do what I need to do, to prepare myself to have a successful future."  If they can keep their eye on the ball and keep that question in mind, they will be successful.

All State Speech Qualifiers!

Congratulations to our three all state speech qualifiers!

April Burgardt, Larissa Christ and Paige Thompson all qualified for the Iowa All State speech festival on March 26th. 

Great job girls!

Larissa, Paige and April are All-State Qualifiers!

Security Drill

Today we had a security lock down drill.  This went very well.  Our teachers did a good job of handling the stressful situation.  We hope nothing serious ever happens, but we want to be prepared in case it does.

In conjunction with the lock down, we had a visit from the K-9 officers in Hancock County.  We do periodic random searches with the K-9 units to check for any illegal substances in our lockers and parking lots.  This is a great way to raise awareness among our student body and do some preventive work for any student thinking about bringing something illegal to school.  When there is a suspected locker, we have the student come out as we search the locker.  We also call out the locker occupant on either side and search their locker, so three students get called out.  Just because we call a student out, it does not mean they are guilty.  If your child was one of the students called, you do not have anything to worry about.  If you did have something to worry about, we would have already been in contact with you. 

We have our second night of conferences tonight.  If you did not come last night, make plans to attend tonight.  If for some reason you missed conferences do not be afraid to set up a meeting with any of your student's teachers or just shoot them an e mail.

We will be on Spring Break the next few days and the weather sounds like it will be awesome!  Have a restful break and we will see everyone back here on Monday.