The RPS Weekly Message

This week’s message includes information on the following topics listed below:

Tomorrow: Rams Soccer Free Admission for Students in K - 8th Grade
RPS Staff Appreciation Week: May 1-5, 2023
Monday, April 17th, Raising Cane’s Will Host a Celebration for Dr. Adler & #BeKind Fundraiser
RHS Theater Presents “Middletown”
Make Plans to Attend the Ralston High School Auto Show!
RHS Senior Social Media Tributes
New Camps Added! Get Signed Up for Ralston High School Athletic Camps!
Save the Date: RPS 5th & 6th Grade Track and Field Day
OneWorld Mobile Health Clinic to Offer Sports Physicals
Ram Recognition

Ralston Public Schools is hosting an Employee Appreciation Week for our entire staff May 1-5, 2023. The week will provide a way to thank all our employees for their hard work and dedication to District families and students.

As a District, we are contacting our business community and asking for support. In recognition of our great partnership we have with you, our parents/guardians, we would like to extend the invitation to participate and recognize our staff.

There are a couple of ways to participate in our Employee Recognition Week:

• Monetary or gift card donation to be part of our Gift Card Grand Give-A-Way (any amount to any business or restaurant)

• If the business you work for would like to participate, please reach out to:

Jim Frederick - jim.frederick@ralstonschools.org or 402-898-3496

• Write a special “Note of Appreciation” to an RPS employee (an electronic template and directions will be in next week’s RPS Weekly Message)

Donations can be dropped off at the District’s Administration Office (8545 Park Dr.) Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. All donations must be received by 2:00 pm on Friday, April 28, 2023.

** Please know this is optional. As part of our school community, we wanted to make sure you knew about our Employee Appreciation Week. Thanks for your consideration. **

Ram Nation, we hope to see many of you on Monday, April 17th, at Raising Cane's on 108th and Q St., as they will host a retirement party for Superintendent Dr. Adler, which will also serve as a fundraiser for the RA13 Legacy Foundation.

Raising Cane’s will donate 15% of its proceeds from 3:00 - 9:00 pm to the RA13 Legacy Foundation, the leading force behind the statewide #BeKind initiative to raise awareness for teen suicide and the dangers of cyberbullying.

Dr. Adler and his wife Joni will be at Raising Cane's from 6 to 8 pm. We encourage Ram Nation to celebrate Dr. Adler's 32-year career in public education, enjoy some chicken, and give back to one amazing organization.

Starting Monday, April 24th, Ralston Public Schools will be posting senior tributes to the District’s Facebook and Twitter social media pages.

Graduating seniors' families can start to submit answers to four questions and email two photos (one baby or “little” picture and one a senior picture) to RPSphotos@ralstonschools.org.

This information will help create our senior tributes to post throughout the last week in April and the first part of May leading up to the graduation ceremony. Be on the lookout for our first post on Monday, April 24th! Please follow the District on social media to view these tributes and learn about the Class of 2023.

The questions are:
What is your student’s preferred name?
Did they attend a Ralston elementary school?
What do they plan to do next?
What is their favorite Ralston High School memory?

Ram Nation, did you know Ralston High School offers a variety of athletic camps, workout sessions, and lessons just for your student(s) throughout the spring and summer? These are great opportunities for your future Ram to learn a sport, improve their skills, meet other athletes and coaches, and have fun!

** Attention - New Camps and Clinics Have Been Added! **

Ralston Middle School Cheer and Dance Clinic for incoming 6th-grade students and current 7th-grade students; Ralston High School Youth Volleyball Camp for 1st - 6th-grade students; Ralston High School Middle and High School Volleyball Camp; Ralston High School Boys and Girls Youth Soccer Camp; Ralston High School Middle and High School Boys Soccer Camp; and Ralston High School Varsity Football Camp.

Visit the District website by clicking this link - https://bit.ly/3mZ4rzi - for more information and download the registration forms. The webpage will be continually updated with new opportunities.

Parents of Ralston Public Schools fifth and sixth-grade students, mark your calendars for Thursday, May 11, 2023. Cheer on your students and their friends as they participate in the annual 5th and 6th Grade Track and Field Day.

This all-day event will start with field events at 8:45 am and running events at 9:30 am at

D.E. Speck Nelson Stadium at Ralston High School. Students will compete against other students from schools from across the District. Concessions will be open for parents and guests.

Let's fill the stadium and make this a day these students will remember forever!

Starting in May, the OneWorld Mobile Health Clinic will begin to offer sports physicals to Ralston Middle School and Ralston High School students. This will benefit RPS students. They will be able to receive their sports physicals early and will not have to leave their school campus to receive their sports physicals for the 2023-2024 school year.

Parents can schedule students’ sports physicals after May 1st by calling the OneWorld Mobile Health Clinic number at 402-880-4870. As a reminder, the OneWorld Mobile Health Clinic is located at RHS every Tuesday from 8 am to 3:30 pm and at Ralston Middle School every Friday from 8 am to 3:30 pm.

Each week in Ram Recognition, Ralston Public Schools will highlight some good news happening across the District.

Congratulations to two Ralston Middle School students who qualified for the National History Day National Competition! The competition will be held June 11th-15th in Washington D.C.

• Garrett Main: 1st Place Documentary - "Federal Highway Act of 1956: Changing the Face of America."

• Cillian Kerrigan: 2nd Place Website - "Pikachu Virus: Friends to Your End."

We would also like to recognize Mrs. Behounek and Mrs. Podraza! The time, passion, and dedication they provide to this activity and the students help keep the National History Day competition a yearly success.

Congratulations to the Ralston High School Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter on being presented with two awards at the state FFA Convention. The Rams received the Governor's Award of Excellence and the Connecting Chapters award. Along with the recognition, the RHS chapter also received a $2,500 grant to increase innovation in the school's agriculture program. Way to go Rams!

Congratulations to the Ralston High School Yearbook staff and the following students for their awards at the UNO High School Media Contest! Way to go Rams!

• Pamela Castaneda Martinez - first place feature story and second place yearbook layout
• Nina Kudlacz - first place sports photography
• Ireland Muhlecke - third place sports story
• Addison Callen - second place feature story
• Andrew Creek - first place yearbook layout
• Rendell Gines - third place original art/computer graphics.

RPS would like to highlight winter sports athletes from Ralston High School for their conference and state honors based on their performance this past season. #RamProud

Boys Basketball: All-Conference - Rex Buettenback (2nd team) & Deacon Courtney (2nd team); Academic All-Conference - Deacon Courtney; All Area - Rex Buettenback (Honorable Mention); All-State - Rex Buettenback (Honorable Mention); Academic All-State - Max Hoffman & Deacon Courtney.

Girls Basketball: All-Conference - Brooke Tejral (Honorable Mention) & Lexi Paskach (Honorable Mention); Academic All-Conference - Sami Cunningham, Lexi Paskach, Zoie Bartek, Kat Busenbark, Lilly Elsasser, and Andi Radji; Academic All-State - Sam Cunningham & Andi Radji.

Boys Wrestling: State Qualifiers - Anthony Baughman, Anthony Cortijo, Alex Karasek, & AJ Ress-Conkey; Academic All-State - Owen Elsasser & Brian Sanchez.

Girls Wrestling: All-Conference - Taylor Bergman (Champion), Ashlee Cavender (Champion), & Dylen Ritchey (Champion); Academic All-Conf - Dylen Ritchey; State Qualifiers - Dylen Ritchey & Oliviana Medina; State Medalist - Dylen Ritchey (1st) & Oliviana Medina (4th); All-State - Dylen Ritchey; Academic All-State - Dylen Ritchey; School Record Broken - Dylen Ritchey: Most Takedowns (132), Dylen Ritchey: Most Nearfalls (18), Dylen Ritchey: Most Pins (31), Dylen Ritchey: Most Wins (44), Dylen Ritchey: Most Match Points (353), Dylen Ritchey: Most Team Points (294.5), Dylen Ritchey: Least Takendown (2), Dylen Ritchey: Least on Back (1), Dylen Ritchey: Least Losses (0), Oliviana Medina: Most Reversals (13), Oliviana Medina: Most Escapes (21), and Taylor Bergman, Ashlee Cavender & Dylen Ritchey (tied): Least Reversed (1).

Boys and Girls Swimming: Academic All-Conference - Kevin Nguyenduy, Alivia Aerni, Monica Mendez, Emily Robbins, Allison Schanbacher, and Lillian Wagoner; State Qualifiers - Alivia Aerni, Josey Fink, and Maddy Vukov; Academic All-State - Kevin Nguyenduy & Allison Schanbacher

Cheer: Academic All-Conference - Vanessa Bejar-Williams & Alayah Kelly

Dance: Academic All-Conf - Faith Gerow, Emma Huff, and Shelby Stephens

Hope Week was recently celebrated at Ralston High School and Ralston Middle School. Each school has a Hope Squad, a student-led group that empowers students to build meaningful connections with their peers and to create a culture of caring and support within the school, the community, and within themselves.

Each school had a variety of activities throughout the week to celebrate and create awareness of Hope Week. They both raised funds to support The Kim Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing awareness around mental health and suicide prevention. Both RHS and RMS hosted Pep Rallies as a culminating activity for the week.

At Ralston High School, the Rams held a student versus staff dodgeball game. To celebrate raising $607 for The Kim Foundation, several staff members volunteered to receive a "pie in the face." It was an afternoon of positivity, fun, and school spirit.

At Ralston Middle School, the Rams sold positive affirmation bracelets in preparation for Hope Week. RMS raised over $340! The entire student body also got together and formed the word "Hope" on the school's track and took an all-school picture.

At their Pep Rally, the school held two basketball games. The first game featured the school's Unified team playing against a teacher team. The second game featured another student team versus a teacher team. In between, since RMS hit its fundraising goal, Mr. Taylor agreed to cut his long hair. He donated his hair to Locks of Love.

Both pep rallies were held on the same day. It was an afternoon of positivity, fun, and school spirit!

Email: jim.frederick@ralstonschools.org
Website: ralstonschools.org
Location: 8545 Park Drive, Omaha, NE, USA
Phone: 402-331-4700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RalstonPublicSchools
Twitter: @ralstonschools