It is hard to believe that the 2015-2016 school year is almost over

Northern Heights High School Qualifies
Four FBLA Members for Nationals in
Atlanta, Georgia
2016
It is hard to believe that the 2015-2016 school year is almost over!
What a great year it has been. The students have finished up state assessments, and the staff is preparing for the end of the year. Play Day
is coming up on May 6th, and we are hoping for good weather and a fun
filled day! Thank you to all of the staff for their hard work in planning
and setting up Play Day! There are a few important date changes that
you will want to mark on your calendars:
May 10th - 8th grade trip to Worlds of Fun
May 13th - 8th grade celebration/NLC awards night
May 13th - Last day of school for students
The NHHS graduation is still on May 14th. The Reading Elementary
School Spring Program has been rescheduled for May 10th at 6:30pm.
Kindergarten round-up in Americus has been rescheduled for May 12th
at 6:30pm. This is an extremely busy time of the year with all of the
activities and school events going on so please call your school’s office
or the district office if you have any questions. Everyone have a wonderful summer!!
Sincerely,
Aron Dody
Four Northern Heights FBLA members
recently qualified to compete at the National
Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
Tanner Boyce and Allie Houston finished 3rd in Publication Design along with
Natalie Leffler and Karsen DeWeese finishing 2nd in Business Financial Plan.
All of these members were provided a business scenario in which they had to
develop a product and present at the State Conference in Topeka, KS.
Tanner and Allie developed a brochure, poster, coupon, and newspaper ad for a gluten and wheat free restaurant. They worked together to develop an idea to market the restaurant and produce the products. After
placing in the top 5 through prejudged materials they presented at the state
conference.
Natalie and Karsen were given the task of developing a business financial plan to open and operate a fitness center. They were responsible for
identifying a location, facilities and equipment needed along with developing
a financial plan to obtain these items and operate. Natalie and Karsen also
qualified through a prejudged report and presented at the state conference.
These members are currently working on raising funds to finance
their travel and hotel expenses to attend the National Leadership Conference
from June 29th through July 3rd. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Businesses or individuals wishing to sponsor the members will be recognized on the school website as well as receive a poster “We Support NHHS
FBLA”. The national qualifiers will be working to raise funds for the trip with
the following:
May 2nd and May 6th @ Admire: Baseball Concessions
May 11th All You Can Eat Pancakes
5pm – 7pm @ Northern Heights High School South Gym
Free Will Donation Come eat before Academic and Athletic Awards Night
May 12th Flint Hills League Track Meet @ Northern Heights High School
Concessions: BBQ Pork Meal
State Top 10 Finishers:
Natalie Leffler / Karsen DeWeese: 2nd Business Financial Plan
Allie Houston / Tanner Boyce: 3rd Publication Design
Gene Finney: 5th Intro. to Parliamentary Procedures
District Top 10 Finishers:
Madison Glaser / Courtny Smart: 5th Business Ethics, 6th Mgmt. Decision Making
Mayo Arevalo / Kent Cottenmyre / Austin Korte: 7th Business Ethics, 2nd Emerging
Bus. Issues
Alec Tucker: 4th Emerging Bus. Issues
Claire Hamlin: 2nd Job Interview
Kaitlin Houck: 2nd Impromptu Speaking
Ian Malcolm: 4th Impromptu Speaking, 1st Public Speaking II
Gene Finney: 3rd Intro. to Parliamentary Procedures
Destiny Dody: 10th Intro. to Parliamentary Procedures
Carli Lupkes: 10th Public Speaking I, 8th Word Processing
Destiny Dody / Kristeena Thompson: 6th Sports and Entertainment Performance
Myky Coffman / Michael DeWeese: 4th Sports and Entertainment Objective
Tanner Boyce / Allie Houston: 5th Publication Design
Shelby McElfresh / Karsen DeWeese / Alec Tucker: 6th Publication Design
Eva Berry: 6th Spreadsheet Applications
Myky Coffman: 10th Word Processing
Principal’s Pen
By Peggy Fort
Dear Parents,
THANK YOU…THANK YOU…THANK YOU
Every year I take this time to thank all the people who volunteer their time and resources to help children. Many of you touch the
lives of our children through PTO, Scouts, Sunday School, 4-H, school
sports, intramural sports, teaching and the list goes on and on. Thank
you for your time and dedication.
The Reading PTO hosted another wonderful school carnival,
raffle, and auction. They would like to thank all the students, parents,
and community members for all the great support given each year.
Our school and PTO could not successfully operate without all the support.
I cannot believe there is less than one month of school left
this year. I would like to remind parents of several important end of
the year events.
May 3rd—National Teachers’ Day. Remember to thank a
teacher from your past for all they did for you.
May 4th—All school field trip sponsored by PTO to Emporia.
May 6th —USD #251 Annual Play Day at NHHS. All students
in grades Kindergarten to sixth will participate in the annual play day.
This exciting day begins at 10:30 a.m. at NHHS. (Rain date May 11,
2016).
May 10th—at 6:30 p.m. this evening, Kindergarten through 6 th
grade students and Mrs. Merring will present a concert featuring the
musical talents of our students.
May 13th—Reading School Cook Out at noon.
May 13th--Last day of school. Enjoy summer vacation. See
you all in August.
KINDERGARTEN WITH MS. HARRISON: Kindergarten has not slowed down
one bit. We had the great opportunity of having an incubator in our classroom this
month. It had 16 eggs inside. We waited patiently on day 20 and 21 and finally, out
they came. It was so fun watching them use their egg tooth on their beak to break
out. The students really enjoyed it. After the chicks were born, they were put into a
brooder with a heat lamp and we took care of them for one week. The students really
enjoyed it….I did too except for the cage cleaning part. We held them every chance
we got before they left us on Friday. We also used the chicks to do some serious Science work. We measured, weighed, and wrote about our chicks on Monday….and
then again on Friday. We then compared and noted how much they had grown. We
also made a book and read many books about chicks. What a fantastic Science lesson this was! Thanks to the Schauer family for this opportunity. They put in a lot of
hard work bringing in all the supplies and checking on us throughout the week. In the
end, I decided I couldn’t keep up with chicken farming for long, whew…that was
hard work!
SIXTH GRADE WITH MRS. BRIGGS: This year the sixth grade class has been very active in the Student Council. They are ending the year by developing a Leadership
Tree for the school, in which students can be nominated for being leaders and showing kindness. The class has shown great leadership throughout the year by doing
many school and community projects. Some of them are: breakfast for teachers at
American Education Week, decorations and activities for Red Ribbon Week, sponsoring canned food drive and boxing items for Christmas, bake sale for Heifer International, helping to host FAST night, Dr. Seuss posters and activities, and walking Laps
for Landon.
Our final field trip of the year will reflect all the leadership lessons we have
had. A trip to Camp Wood in May will have students completing team building activities. Our MTSS reading group has read many books on leadership as well. First
semester we read, Our Mt. Everest Story, and took a trip to the Kansas State Recreation Center climbing wall. Our final book was, The Traveler’s Gift, in which we meet
many great leaders in history. Students have created some amazing projects with
each book, including a Mountain Climbing Supply Catalog to maps and travel brochures.
There are so many great books we have read this year, too many to mention. A favorite was The Giver series. Currently, we are reading Mr. Lemoncello’s
Library Olympics. One of the amazing ideas from the book is to
create your own board game. Guess what one of our last fun projects of the year is going to be? We are definitely not “board” in
our class. Have a great summer!
Texting and Driving Essay
Mr. Dody challenged the Jr. High students to learn about the dangers of texting and driving to compete in a
state-wide essay competition called “It Can Wait.” This campaign encourages students to go to
www.itcanwait.com and take the pledge to “keep your eyes on the road, not on your phone.” In preparation
for writing, the 7th and 8th grade classes watched a video about Sydnee Williams, age 17, who died while
texting and driving. Students also read an article and looked at statistics that shared the dangers of distracted
driving. Below are some of the statistics that students found important to share as well as some quotes from
their essays.
Principal’s Perspective
Hard to believe we are into May already with summer about to begin! Summer is a
time for summer family fun and summer family traditions. Students have made great gains
during the school year, as evident by the various forms of data that we use to determine their
growth so take time to celebrate their accomplishments!
When we return in August, students will be tested again and every fall our data is
consistent with what national research says, and that is, that reading during the summer increases a student’s fluency, comprehension, and their vocabulary. Even more important to
know is that students who do not read show a very noticeable dip, a negative impact, and it
can take some time during the following school year before we see them reach the levels they
were at before summer. This means that the first few months at school are possibly spent just
trying to get students back to where they were when they left school before summer! This is
especially true with elementary children.
I encourage each of you that have young children to develop a new summer tradition. One where reading is incorporated and it can and should be fun! There are many ways
to do this. The simplest is to set aside some time to have your child read to you or for you to
read to them on a topic that interests the child. This is a great bedtime routine that helps them
unwind and relax. Libraries also offer summer reading programs to help reward children for
their/your reading efforts no matter when they read. The Americus Library will have
“Reading Time” from June 2nd-July 28th on Thursdays from 10-11am on June 2,16,30 and on
July 14 and 28th.
Setting aside just 10 minutes to read or be read to by your child is a great investment
and shows your child just how important reading is! Have a safe, fun, and reading-filled summer and I will see and talk to you all real soon!
Mr. Wiltz
Music News
Summer is almost here, but plans are being made for next year already! Ms. Lukehart is working on a project to raise money to purchase a classroom set of ukuleles for Americus Elementary students. Check out the project posted on donorschoose.org and is titled Ukulele Revolution. If you would like to donate anything to this project, it would be most appreciated by our
students who will get the opportunity to learn and play them in the school years to come!
Ms. Lukehart will be offering instrumental and vocal lessons over this summer from 11:00am
to 4:00pm on Monday’s, Tuesday’s, and Wednesday’s. They will be half hour sessions every
week beginning May 30. The cost is only $20 per lesson, pay as you go. The school owned
instruments may be used by those taking lessons. To sign up or get more information, email
Ms. Lukehart at lukeharth@usd251.org. Have a wonderful summer!
Ms. Lukehart
-Nancy Robinson
English Language Arts
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that in 2012
*driver distraction was the cause of 18 percent of all fatal crashes – with 3,328
people killed – and crashes resulting in an injury – with 421,000 people wounded.
* Forty percent of all American teens say they have been in a car when the driver
used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger, according to a Pew survey.
* The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that text messaging creates a
crash risk 23 times worse than driving while not distracted.
* Eleven percent of drivers aged 18 to 20 who were involved in an automobile
accident and survived admitted they were sending or receiving texts when they crashed.
Work Cited:
The Dangers of Texting While Driving. Federal Communications Division. 4 Nov. 2015. <https://www.fcc.gov/
consumers/guides/dangers-texting-while-driving>.
“You should always wear your seatbelt and never text and drive.” Hank Parks
“Nobody should lose their life to texting and driving.” Samantha Myers
“Is it worth your life?” Kaley Boyce
“I think kids often text and drive because of the influence of their parents or older siblings.” Darrett
King
Texting and driving is “like a stain in a blanket...one that, for some people, is near impossible to remove.” Hunter Plankinton
“One second, one post, could be the end of your life.” John Pringle
“Texting and driving is a very terrible thing to do. It’s kind of like saying that you want to kill yourself
every time you pick up your phone while driving…” Kaylee Burton
“Not responding to a text while you drive won’t kill you. Responding to a text while driving might.”
Landon Delgado
“It’s important to take the ‘It Can Wait Pledge to keep your eyes on the road, not on your phone’ by
going to www.itcanwait.com .” Courtney Elbert
“Let’s all take the ‘It Can Wait Pledge’ so we can stop this addiction to be checking on our phones
while driving.” Tyler Floyd
“Focus on the road and not on your social life.” Emily Gilbert
“It is so simple to wait, turn your phone off, put it on silent, put it in your bag and throw it in the back
seat, just don’t be on it while driving.” Olivia Hamlin
“You may think [your phone] is your life, but it could very well end your life if you text and
drive.” Isaac Lawrence
ART STUDENTS DO WELL AT
LEAGUE
On Monday, April 4th, NHHS Art students
traveled to Mission Valley for the League Show. All
of the artwork from the schools was spectacular this
year! NHHS students did very well with receiving 26
awards!
Students receiving awards are: Tempera category- Gold, Daisy Murphy; Silver, Marcus Waters
Pictured left: Jalaine King,
and Honorable Mention, Adrianna Stapleford. Watercolor category- Silver, Breann Kesler. Pastel categoryWire Jewelry and right:
Hon. Mention, Breann Kesler and Hon. Mention,
Daisy Murphy, Tempera
Emily Elbert. Acrylic category- Hon. Mention, Andrea
Painting.
Anderson and Hon. Mention, Shelby Siess. Pencil
category- Hon. Mention, Emily Elbert and Hon. Mention, Jordan Wooderson. Ink category- Hon. Mention, Daisy Murphy. Sculpture
category- Hon. Mention, Taryn Meyers. Wheelthrown Ceramics category- Silver,
Taryn Meyers. Jewelry category- Gold, Jalaine King; Silver, Kelsey Bosch; Bronze,
Marcus Waters; Hon. Mention, Eric Yu; Hon. Mention, Elizabeth Mayer; Hon. Mention, Levi Marcotte and Hon. Mention, Joelene Stewart. Misc. 3D category- Silver,
Breann Kesler. Photography category- Bronze, Shelby Siess. Computer Art category
- Hon. Mention, Shelby Siess. Mixed Media category- Hon. Mention, Andrea Anderson and Misc. 2D category- Silver, Andrea Anderson and Bronze, Shelby Siess.
We will be having our school art show on Wednesday, May 4 th (Night of the
Arts). Please mark your calendars so that you can see and hear, all of the hard work
and talent that’s in our Fine Arts Departments!
NORTHERN HEIGHTS HIGH SCHOOL
NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY BLOOD DRIVE
TUESDAY, MAY 10
9:30 AM-2:30 PM
NHHS GYM
Please contact Sarah Malcolm
at malcolms@usd251.org, or NHHS at 620-528-3521 to
schedule your appointment!
If we meet our goal of 35 units, one of our graduating
seniors will receive a scholarship from the American
Red Cross!
Please bring a Red Cross card or photo I.D.
16-year-olds must bring a signed parental consent!
NORTHERN HEIGHTS HIGH SCHOOL
ART, MUSIC, & THEATRE DEPARTMENTS
PRESENT
NIGHT OF THE ARTS
WEDNESDAY., MAY 4, 2016
ART SHOW OPENS AT 5:30 PM
PROGRAM BEGINS AT 7:00 PM