Finding Our Rhythm
This four-day weekend holds great potential for students. It provides a chance to catch up on work so that they can begin this month with confidence. It's also a time to relax and recover allowing them to rediscover that motivation with which they began the school year.
We encourage you to ask your student about how they are managing their workload, social life, and home right now. What is working? Where do they need support? If they are struggling to "find their rhythm," please know we are also here to help!
Thank you to the families who took time out of parent-teacher conferences to join us on Oct. 2 or 3. It was great to see some of you again and meet a few of you for the first time. During our time together, we dug into some IB Lingo, as well as learned more about how students earn the IB Diploma and Career-related Certificate. For those not able to attend, please find a link to the presentation below.
Ms. Margarita Araiza
Ms. Araiza has taught for 6 years, three of which have been at NKCHS. She is a part of the Human Services Pathway and where she teaches Leadership in School Culture and Climate and Environmental Science. She teaches three very full sections of the IB Environmental Systems and Societies SL class! When explaining why her top Learner Profile character trait is caring, she said this: “I care about the environment and try to get students to care too!!! But not only the environment, I care about the kids and making sure they're doing alright and trying to support them when they're not! My class is very much an empathetic class of trying to see many perspectives from around the world and ensuring we consider everyone's needs when making environmental perspectives!"
Mr. Fabian Gomez-Gonzalez
Mr. GG (as the students affectionately call him) has been teaching for 4 years and is currently in his second year at NKCHS. He is a part of the Human Services Pathway and teaches Fundamentals of Effective Speaking. As part of the IB Group 4 team, he teaches IB Biology SL, HL1 and HL2. His strongest IB Learner Profile characteristic is inquirer. His ability to be curious and to ask questions is an asset in all aspects of life. Here at school, he is constantly looking for ways to be more inclusive of all.
Dr. Tyler McSparin
Dr. McSparin has been teaching for 12 years and has called NKCHS home for the last three years. As a part of the Health and Wellness Pathway, he teaches the foundational class, Principles of Biomedical Science. He’s also teaching IB Sports, Exercise, and Health Science SL, which has proven to be a popular course with students this year. His strongest IB Learner Profile Characteristic is open-minded. He loves thinking about and learning about new ideas. He especially enjoys learning how he can be better by learning how others do things.
Mr. Ed Squires
Mr. Squires teaches Chemistry and Pre-IB/Honors Chemistry in the Health and Wellness pathway. He is also teaching IB Chemistry SL and HL1.
Mr. Chris Basinski
Mr. Basinski joined NKCHS mid-year last year as a math teacher and, in his 6th year of teaching, he joined our science department this year. He is a part of the Business, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship pathway where he teaches Chemistry and Pre-IB/Honors Chemistry. He is also teaching IB Chemistry HL2. His top IB Learner Profile characteristic is inquirer. “My mind wanders constantly. I look into new ideas when I come across them, which leads to more questions and more answers.”
Ms. Emily Sage
Ms. Sage is currently enjoying her third year of teaching and is starting year two at Northtown. She is a part of the Health and Wellness Pathway where she teaches Therapy Studies and Brain Development and Anatomy and Physiology. Additionally, she teaches Human Body Systems, a PLTW course, that many IB Career-related studies students take. She is a natural reflector who consistently evaluates her teaching in hopes of getting better. She lives by the adage “progress not perfection,” and she tries to instill that in her students.
Mr. Tyler Gralheer
Mr. Gralheer has been working at Northtown all twelve years of his teaching career. He works in the Health and Wellness Pathway where he teaches Anatomy and Physiology and the PLTW Medical Interventions for IB CP students. His strongest IB Learner Profile characteristic is open-minded. He loves gaining new experiences and learning about all the different cultures and people here at NKCHS.
Ms. Carly Bowman
Mrs. Bowman has been teaching for nine years, the last two of them here at Northtown. She teaches Pre-IB Biology, also in the Health and Wellness pathway. She also teaches many of our IB CP students in her Capstone PLTW Biomedical Innovations course. Because of her desire to be both a critical and creative problem solver, she identifies thinker as her strongest IB Learner Profile attribute.
A crowd favorite, IB's annual Amnesty Weekend, is back! Oct. 31-Nov. 3 will be a time when IB teachers agree to assign no additional homework to students. This is designed to give students who are caught up a chance to relax a bit. It also provides students who have fallen behind a bit a chance to play a little catch-up. Enjoy and take advantage of Amnesty Weekend!
IB Helping Hands is a new student-led club with the goal of connecting IB CP and DP students to various service opportunities in our community. Seniors Dhanna Zubia Chavez and Alissa Ruano founded the club with the hopes helping students help others.
Students who are interested in participating in service-learning opportunities with the group should join our SportsYou team using the code EHHRAF68 and watch Enriching Students for meetings during MTSS.
The first big project is hosting a trunk for Trunk or Treat. Now is the time to join and get some service hours completed during the month of October.
Please remember that you have access to "all things IB" in our International Baccalaureate Canvas course. As a parent observer, you also have access to all of your student's classes, as well as this course. We keep meeting presentations, important dates, exam information, course syllabi, program policies, and so much more in this course. Please take a moment to take a look.
IB Career-related Progam Coordinator
Dr. Martha DeVries is joining us in her first year as the IBCP Coordinator. She can be reached at 816.321.6584 or martha.devries@nkcschools.org.
IB Program Administrative Assistant
IB Diploma Program Coordinator
Contact Us
Email: cymantha.beason@nkcschools.org
Website: https://bit.ly/NKCSIB
Location: 620 East 23rd Avenue, North Kansas City, MO, USA
Phone: 816.321.6508