October Update

Hi Everyone,

It has been encouraging to learn more of you are logging in to the blog and becoming followers to see what's happening at the high school. Please encourage other parents and interested parties to do so as well. I don't publish a hardcopy newsletter, this is my "21st century take" on a newsletter and I hope it continues to catch on. You may have noticed I published a letter with my colleagues in the Mexico Ledger's open forum recently. This was an effort to direct questions and concerns to our office - we want to hear from you and we want your school to be the best. We can't be the best if we don't listen to the community members we serve.

I thought I'd add a little inside information for everyone about discipline at the high school. I know every parent worries about the safety and security of their son or daughters school. What makes your school safer than most is the commitment of the teachers here and support staff - very little goes unreported here and our employees are always doing their best to supervise students.  Unfortunately, there have been some suspensions this year, but we have handled these issues within the guidelines given by the board of education. As administrators, we try and address behavior just beginning to go off-track - thus we can redirect students and prevent suspensions. We want our students to reflect appropriate workplace behavior. Along with subject areas to learn, students must also learn how to get along with others in the workplace.

Enjoy the highlights below, many teachers contributed these submissions. The information was  released to our school board for the meeting on 10/19/10:

Monthly Highlights:


Students of the month for September:

Ryan Pickering and Sabrena Joiner

Academics:

From Jamie Williamson – English/Yearbook/Publications Teacher:

The Growl was published on time, under budget, and with enough revenue to cover the printing. We succeeded in giving The Growl a new look, a new attitude, a bit of an edge and at the same time creating a project that the students were EXTREMELY proud of. We feel that we provided coverage on a number of relevant topics applicable to our student population. These were all goals, not just from me, but from the students.

From Ms. Bridget Bingham:

Counting money and making change is extremely difficult for most of my students. We have been working on counting money and making change since the beginning of school in math.  My students are gradually getting better and are now ready for a challenge.  They must count out $7.50, exactly, in order to 'purchase' a movie ticket.  If they can do that, they get to watch a movie.  They may also 'purchase' soda and popcorn.  3 of my students will be the cashiers and give correct change, if they don't, then I get a handful of their popcorn, kind of like a boss would deduct money from someone's paycheck for making mistakes.  They are enjoying this challenge.

Senior Night was held on October 6, 2010 in the cafeteria and band room.

Approximately 60 parents attended to receive information about graduation, college admission, and scholarships. In addition the Jostens representatives were available for cap and gown orders and Ms. Jamie Williams provided information about yearbook orders and senior page purchases by parents.

From Mr. Clark Winslow, Social Studies Teacher, History Club Sponsor

History club is going to the World War One national memorial in Kansas City on Nov. 6th, and have started their annual Toys for Tots toy/fund raiser.  Last year we bought 178 toys, we would like to double that this year!

Senior Seminar Classes:

The senior seminar team of teachers is scheduling various speakers to prepare seniors for life after high school.  Some of the speakers will include practitioners in the fields of finance and insurance (and other fields). College recruiters and scholarship and financial aid representatives will also be available during senior seminar.

 Academic Booster Club:

Mr. Anderson and Dr. Robinson led new members of this youth leader and parent group in a mission statement development activity on October 13. The new club is continuing to focus its efforts. Currently, the group is looking for ways to work with students as volunteers in the building and support Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Several members have visited our lunchroom to positively connect with students and assist with supervision.

Building leadership team (BLT):

The BLT at MHS continues to meet concerning pressing academic issues in the building weekly and will hold elections for teachers to serve on the team this fall. Significant decisions and monitoring continue about the Seminar class (a level one intervention class formed to keep students on-track to graduation). The team recently decided to form a new standing committee with the sole purpose of leading and monitoring the Seminar program. A Hart Career Center representative was also added to the BLT in an effort to closely couple HCC and MHS in meeting the needs of students. HCC and MHS have also worked together to implement the seminar class for students this year.

Trip to Spain and France being organized:

Foreign language teachers Laura Loudenslager and Julie Exendine are organizing a trip to France and Spain this summer!  They currently have 8 students and parents enrolled and are hoping to have 12 paid participants by the end of this month. The group will travel the first week of June and visit Paris, Provence, and Barcelona.  Sigths include the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Versailles, etc.

Sports and Activities:

From Sara Givens – Speech/Theatre, English Teacher

The first Speech & Debate Tournament is Friday, October 15 and Saturday, October 16 at Smith Cotton High School in Sedalia. 

Mrs. Given was asked to submit her workshop from the Speech & Theatre Association of Missouri Conference to be published in the STAM Journal.

From Julie Dreier – Vocal Music Director:

On Saturday, September 18, fifteen MHS choir students traveled to Moberly to audition for the Northeast MO All-District Choir.  Of these 15 there were, 3 Freshman, 8 Sophomores, 3 Juniors, and 1 Senior.  Students were required to perform a solo, sight-reading, and key signature identification.  Although the competition was stronger than in years past, Mexico had 2 students selected, Jordan Henry (10), and Shelby Hobbs (11).

From Mark Buffington and Volleyball Coach Rachel Leu:

The Dig Pink volleyball program raised approximately $1,500 toward breast cancer research. 

From Coach Megan Rice - Lady Golfers:

Cierra Schmidt, Layne Ray, and Maggie Geeson qualified for the sectional golf tournament.

Aultrusa invites Astra students:

Students were invited and attended the Aultrusa meeting on October 14 at the Mexico country with Asst. Principal Deb Haag.
Marissa Brown

Sam Spurling

Kelly Ingrum

Megan Brandow

Gabby Keller

Ann Baker

Maddie White

Cross Country Boys:
Won the Moberly meet and Centralia Invitational and placed 2nd at Hannibal.

From Mr. Cortez: The MHS Dixie Gray Band competed in the Central Methodist University Band Day on October 2, and had a gain of TWENTY points (on a 100 point scale) from last year to this year.  The hard work by the band members definitely shows in this.  The next competition will take place in Odessa, Missouri, on October 23.

CHEERLEADING

From coaches Susan Gheens-Magnus and Rhonda Vitale:

The MHS Varsity and Junior Varsity cheerleaders had a successful elementary cheer clinic on September 24. We had 60 elementary students take part in our annual fund-raiser. We taught these little ones chants, cheers, and a dance and then they performed at the home football game that evening.

The varsity squad received 1st place at the Missouri Cheerleading Coaches Association Northeast Regional Competition in July. This qualified the varsity squad to compete at the MCCA State Competition on November 20 at the Hearnes Center. The squad will be competing at approximately 4:00 p.m. We would love to have any or all of you attend this amazing event.

Our varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders have also been busy volunteering in our community. We planned and assisted with the Salute to Veterans football game (unfortunately the half-time show honoring our veterans was rained out). We have collected DVD's for the DVD's for Vets national program. We have donated our time to the Ford Drive 4UR School event in which monies were raised for all athletic teams at MHS. We donated our time to help park cars at the Salute to Veterans Air Show. Currently we have some varsity cheerleaders donating all their Saturday afternoons in October assisting with the "Y" cheerleaders at the flag football program sponsored by the Mexico YMCA.

Our lovable mascot "Spike" has not only been making appearances at our football games, but does his best to attend other sporting events for MHS.

It has been a busy fall for the MHS cheerleaders as they learn to give back to a community that so graciously gives to them.

Training for Teachers:

Paul Pitchford of the University of Missouri – Columbia provided training for 12 faculty members on October 7 concerning the application of the work Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. The authors of Understanding by Design pose and attempt to answer the following questions:

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in todays high-stakes, standards-based environment?

Paul Pitchford's work is a continuing training from the 2009-10 school year to enhance the curriculum and rigor of high school courses.

Upcoming Events:

10/15 and 10/16 First Speech & Debate Tournament at Smith Cotton High School in Sedalia.

10/21 9th Grade Football vs. Hannibal

Soccer V/JV at Booneville

Volleyball V/JV at Fulton

Girls Tennis V – Team State Tournament

10/22 Football V vs. Hannibal

Girls Tennis V – Individual State Tournament

Softball V – State Tournament

10/23 Dixie Gray Band Competition at Odessa

10/24 Youth in Government meeting

10/28 Junior Class Cookie Dough Delivery

10/29 Football V at Kirksville