2015 March Newsletter - North High School

MARCH 2015
NORTH Polar Bear News
North shooters WIN
Regional Championship
The North High School MCJROTC Rifle
Team competed in the Eastern U.S.
Regional Championships for the Marine
Corps in Camp Perry, Ohio during the
week of February 12th—16th. The North
shooters won the Regional title for the 2nd
year in a row, easily out pointing
Pocomoke, Maryland 4299-4097. Fern
Creek, Kentucky took the 3rd spot with a
score of 4076.
Front Row: (L to R) Jessica Ebersole,
Lexi Smith and Anya Young.
Back Row: (L to R) Gunnery Sgt. Gettler,
Zane Simonton and James Ellefson.
North was represented by Jessica
Ebersole, James Ellefson, Lexis Smith,
Zane Simonton and Anya Young.
Ebersole led the North team with a 2-day
combined score of 1095 followed by
Smith 1075, Ellefson 1065, Simonton 1064
and Young with a 1049. Ebersole won
the all around Individual Championship
followed by Smith and Calbe Moxley of
Dallastown, Pa. was 3rd.
Next up for the North shooters will be the
Armed Forces National Championships
at Camp Perry, Ohio March 19-22nd.
North will then host the Junior Olympic
State Championships in April .
Some MJROTC dates to remember…
Friday/Saturday, April 3rd & 4th
Annual MJROTC Drill/Rifle/PT Meet, in the Gym
Friday: 5:00—8:00 PM
Saturday: 6:00 AM—5:00 PM
Thursday, May 21st
MJROTC Awards Night, in the Auditorium
6:00—8:00 PM
MARCH 2015
Bowlers from Hoover, Lincoln and North will be
competing at the State High School Tournament
on February 24th & 25th. In Class 2A, North High
School student, Paige Hennick, had the top score
in the state to qualify
individually for a State title. It’s
the fourth time in five years the
Polars Bears are sending a
bowler to State.
Congratulations Paige!!!
Danielle Abigail
EspinosaGonzalez Bellolio
competed in the
DMPS district on
February 12 at
the Science
Center of Iowa.
Her Science Fair
project was “Testing the Viscosity of Liquid in
Hydraulics.” She placed Second in the High
School division and now qualifies to move on
to the State Science Fair in March.
Congratulations and Good Luck at State!
Bowling Coaches,
Michael Lucht &
Amanda Dvorak
North Choir performed two
“Sweetheart Shows” in the Woodchuck
Theater for Valentine’s Day. You could
feel the love of song and music as they
performed. They were all smiles in this
pre-show photo.
MARCH 2015
March 17th…
Congratulations to senior Michael Xayavong
and sophomore Hebelin Sanchez on having
their Ensemble Acting piece, "The Universal
Language" chosen as an outstanding
performance. They are one of only TWENTY
groups from across the ENTIRE state that were
chosen to perform their ensemble piece one
last time at ISU on February 21st.
These two students came into my room every
chance they got to get direction, feedback,
and work their tails off to make this
performance the best it could be. They have
proven yet again that hard work does pay
off, and are incredibly deserving of this
outstanding All-State nomination.
Thank you for your continued support of NHS
Theater Arts!
Mark Rixner
Theater Arts Director/Instructor
NHS Theater Arts had a
GREAT day at Individual
Speech Contest this
past Saturday, March
14th. Nine of fourteen
performances received
Superior ratings and five
of those received a
superior rating from ALL
three judges! The
following students
received a superior rating and have a
chance at receiving an All-State nomination.
1. Esperanza Vargas (poetry STRAIGHT ONES)
2. Iliana Castillo (poetry STRAIGHT ONES)
3. Mayte Gomez-Cruz (musical theater
STRAIGHT ONES)
4. Hebelin Sanchez (storytelling STRAIGHT
ONES)
5. Lee Lee Hill (poetry STRAIGHT ONES)
6. Michael Xayavong (musical theater)
7. Rebekah Ostermann (musical theater)
8. Joe Noble (expository address)
9. FRESHMAN Jake Mentzer (expository
address)
I am very proud of these students for their
hard work and motivation! Thanks again to
Mrs. Rost and Mrs. Brady for their hard work
and travel time. This is the last contest of the
year for theater arts and they finished with a
bang.
Thank you for your continued support of the
theater arts students and their quest for
excellence!
Mark Rixner
Theater Arts Director/Instructor
MARCH 2015
Meet some of the toughest kids at North High
School. Krystal O’Morrow, Zach Hall, Binh
Doan, Phillip Clearman, Ian Penman, Jasmine
Moreno, James Milton, Wyatt Powers and
Rose Wallace-Smith proved that they had the
mental strength to excel in ten different
subject areas through the Academic
Decathlon competition this year.
The team trained for rigorous tests in subject
areas including art, music, science,
language/literature, math, economics, and
social studies. They conditioned their minds
through countless hours of reading, note
taking, and teaching each other. They
strengthened their skills in the areas of speech
and interview. They put their minds together
and competed as a team in an ultimate
round of questions called the “Super Quiz.”
This year’s team carried on a legacy of North
High School’s mental toughness by qualifying
for the state competition for the
11th year in a row. They came
into the competition ranked as
the 11th place team in the state,
but made the largest jump in
North’s history and finished in 6th
place.
Several individuals on the team
were recognized for their
outstanding achievements.
Krystal O’Morrow received 3rd
place recognition for her nearly
perfect interview in the Honors
division. Ian Penman was
awarded the 2nd place medal for
his work in the Scholastic division
for art. Rose Wallace-Smith
made history as the first North
High freshman to receive 2
medals in the Varsity division: a
2nd place medal in math and a
3rd place medal in language/
literature.
While the students excelled as individuals,
their true strength came when they worked as
a team. All of the team members contributed
strong scores in multiple areas. As a group,
they were the top-scoring medium-sized high
school in Iowa. This rank has earned them the
honor of competing in the online national
competition this spring. Through the online
competition, they have a good chance of
earning a high rank for Iowa and individual
National Merit awards.
The mental stamina that these students have
developed will serve them well next year. The
team’s two seniors, 4-year member, Zach Hall
and 1-year member, James Milton, will be
able to take the skills they have learned
through Academic Decathlon with them to
their college classes. The remaining students
are determined to keep growing mentally
and become even stronger for next year’s
competition!
Academic Decathlon Coaches
Anna Brown &
Mark Schmidt
Front Row: (L to R) Coach Anna Brown, Jasmine Moreno,
Rose Wallace-Smith, Krystal O’Morrow, Coach Mark Schmidt
Back Row: (L to R) James Milton, Phillip Clearman, Ian Penman,
Binh Doan, Wyatt Powers, Zach Hall
MARCH 2015
Our band students had an awesome day at
the Perry Band Olympics on Saturday,
February 21st!
Perry Band Olympics is similar to state solo and
ensemble contest, where students perform to
receive a rating. A "I" rating means superior, a
"II" rating means excellent, and a "III" rating
means fair. Sixteen high schools were there,
and there were over 750 entries! Our results
are as follows:







Itacia Sholley - Alto Sax Solo - I rating
Bridget Gervais, Marcos Hernandez, and
Heden Perez - French Horn, Tenor Sax, and
Bass Clarinet Trio - I rating
Jimmy Ellefson and Ian Penman - Marimba
Duet - I rating
Angel Brown and Meghan Brown-Garrett Flute Duet - III rating
Marcos Hernandez - Bari Sax Solo - II rating
Bridget Gervais - French Horn Solo - I rating
Marcos Hernandez and Itacia Sholley Alto Sax Duet - I rating
L to R: James Ellefson, Marcos Hernandez &
Itacia Sholley holding the 1ST PLACE trophy.
In addition to ratings, they also award the top
performances in each category. Several of
the large suburban schools are there, so the
competition is very tough. The trio of Bridget
Gervais, Marcos Hernandez, and Heden Perez
earned first place in the 9th/10th grade small
ensemble category. Marcos earned 3rd
place in the 9th/10th grade baritone sax solo
category, and Bridget earned 1st place in the
9th/10th grade French Horn solo category!
Finally, they divide the schools into classes
based on the number of entries. They use the
performance results to rank the schools within
each class. I'm very excited to report that
North received 1st place in Class 5! I'm
attaching a picture of Jimmy, Marcos, and
Itacia with the 1st place trophy.
These students have worked extremely hard
over the past few months to get their music
ready for today. Congratulations to all of you
for your hard work!
David Brown
Band Instructor
MARCH 2015
Counseling Dept. Events
for March 2015
March 23rd: Monmouth College from
Illinois & Kirkwood College from Iowa
City will be here during lunch for
students to visit and get more
information.
Beginning the second semester, we introduced
our students to Family Connection. Family
Connection offers innovative, easy-to-use web
applications for high school students and their
parents. Using the programs in Family
Connection, students will be able to link to
useful websites, surveys and many relevant
career and college topics. Students will
complete each of the Family Connection tasks
in their Celebrations class.
The Counseling staff is committed to assisting
each student in experiencing a smooth
transition to life after high school and
achieving post high school career goals.
Please feel free to contact the Counseling
Department if you have any questions. School
Counselors are;
 Julie Charikov (last name begins A - K)
julie.charikov@dmschools.org
 Kimber Foshe (last name begins L- Z)
kimber.foshe@dmschools.org
Again, students will be working with the Family
Connections program with their advisors in their
Celebrations class at school but do feel free to
log into your account and explore all that
Family Connections has to offer.
Login information: Hyperlink:
http://connection.naviance.com/northhis
User name and password:
 Username: school email address
(student ID#@student.dmschools.org)
 Password: student ID #
March 24th: DMACC student housing
will be visiting on Tuesday, March 24th,
for students needing more information.
March 24th & 25th: Polar Bear
Scholarship interviews will be Tuesday
& Wednesday, March 24th & 25th by
appointment.
March 26th: Central Upward Bound
will be here on Thursday, March 26th to
meet with their students.
March 30th: ETS will be visiting to meet
with their students.
March 31st: Simpson College from
Indianola will be visiting during lunch.
MARCH 2015
Infinite Campus for Parents
Des Moines Public Schools uses Infinite Campus as its webbased student information system. The service provides
students the ability to access their class related information
as well as allowing parents and/or guardians the ability to
view their children’s academic information.
Through the Infinite Campus portal, parents are
able to see important announcements, report
cards, attendance records, assessment scores,
student schedules, lunch balances, teacher
newsletters, household information and more…
There are two ways that an account can be
created for you. 1) If you have an active email
address we can assist in creating an account
for you using your email address as your user
name. 2) If you don’t have an email address
we can still help you create an account using
an activation key. Both ways work well and
help you stay connected to your student.
Creating an Account with an Activation Key
Access the Portal Log in Site by either going to the
district homepage (www.dmschools.org), find the
Parent section, and click on the Infinite Campus Link
OR go to https://sis.dmps.k12.ia.us/campus/portal/
desmoines.jsp
 CLICK "Help".
 CLICK "click here" to select 'If you have been
assigned a Campus Portal Activation Key’.
 TYPE the Activation Key that has been provided by
your school.
 CLICK "Submit".
 TYPE a user name in the "User Name" field.
 TYPE a password in the "Password" field.
 TYPE the password again in the "Verify Password"
field.
 CLICK "Create Account".
 CLICK "Click Here" to proceed to your Campus
Portal account.
 TYPE your new user name in the "User Name" field.
 TYPE your new password in the "Password" field.
 CLICK "Sign In".
MARCH 2015
Apr. 1
Apr. 3
Apr. 4
Apr. 9-11
Apr. 12
Apr. 17
Apr. 28
May 2
May 7
May 12
May 14
May 19
May 21
May 22
May 23
May 25
Iowa Assessment Tests
MJROTC Drill/Meet, 5:00—8:00 PM, Gym
MJROTC Drill/Meet, 6:00 AM—5:00 PM, Gym
Spring Drama Production, 7:00 PM, Auditorium
Spring Drama Production, 2:00 PM, Auditorium
Fashion Show, 7:00 PM, Auditorium
ACT Tests for 11th grade only, No School for 9, 10 & 12 grades
Prom, 8:00—11:00 PM, Kum & Go Theater at the DM Social Club
Two tickets for $50, One ticket for $30
Post-Prom, Midnight—5:00 AM, at NHS, Admission is free.
Awards Assembly, 6:00—8:00 PM, Auditorium
Spring Band Concert, 7:00 PM, Auditorium
Spring Choir Concert, 7:00 PM, Auditorium
Northside Orchestra Concert, 7:00 PM, Auditorium
MJROTC Awards Night, 6:00—8:00 PM, Auditorium
Class Day, 8:30 AM, Gym
Graduation, 9:30 AM, Drake University Knapp Center
Memorial Day, No School
Thursday, May 21st – Last day of classes for seniors
Senior finals are May 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st
Thursday, May 21st – Mandatory graduation rehearsal at 12:30 – 3:00 PM
 Students must be present to participate in graduation.
Friday, May 22nd – Class Day (all school assembly) is at 8:45 – 10:30 AM
Students must be present to participate in graduation.
Students must arrive by 8:00 AM
Saturday, May 23rd
Knapp Center (2601 Forest Ave.) at 9:30 AM
Graduates must arrive by 8:00 AM
All fees must be paid prior to May 20th.
This is three days prior to graduation.
ID fees Technology fees Fees from Junior High
Lost Books (please return all lost books)