Well I guess challenge accepted Cobra nation! y'all showed up Friday night and then some. The stands were full, the hills on both the North and South sides of the stands were full, and the student section was full. I was loving it. We were loud, but were we loud enough....I am sure we can get louder, but It was a great start for our first home game.

Now I want to turn my sights to a sport that doesn't get as much love and, due to the new schedule with the redesigned league, this upcoming Thursday is the last chance to give Varsity any love on our home court this season. Volleyball had to redesign their schedule with the addition of Riverside and Troy to the league which resulted in only two home events. One was last weeks meet agains Troy, and the other is this upcoming Thursdays Tri. Because it is our last home event, it will also be our Senior Appreciation night for the four seniors on the squad.

The team is doing great this year with a to date record of 6-3 and we would love to have a great showing of fan support for them Thursday night. These ladies work hard and would appreciate the love from Cobra nation. I have personally always enjoyed the energy that the volleyball players have. They are spirited and ready to play always. They are ready to win every game. They celebrate their victories and also support each other through their loses. It makes the team something to be proud of. I have always enjoyed asking players what is going to happen as a prediction for the game and somewhere along the line in my first year here the volleyball players started just telling me that it was going to be, "Dubs on dubs," on the night of a tri, and it stuck.

The team can't be this much fun to be around on their own. Coaches Visocsky, Sides, Rogers, and Honea do a great job with the ladies at every level. You can tell the coaches are loved when I walk by practice and hear the way that the team responds when the coaches talk. The efforts of both coaches and players deserves some love from the Cobras this Thursday.

To my student body: Thursday night's theme for the game "under construction" that student section better be packed with students. This is out last chance to support our Volleyball team on our home court and the ladies would love the support. Believe they get pumped from the cheering just as much as the boys do. And they deserve it too. I want that student section to be packed!

I strongly believe that cheering fans that cheer for their players help win games.

I care greatly about this school and take pride in who we are and how we act in all things. It is one of my core beliefs and one of our Cobra Core Values. Take Pride!

"Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind" The Doctor

From the first day to the last day, It's a great day to be a COBRA!

Derek E. Smith

Stryker has been upping his mascot game more and more lately. He wanted to make a big entrance for the 2024/2025 school year and what and entrance it was. With the thunder from the engine, he rode out with the team on a Harley Davidson Street Glide and did a lap on the track. He then kept his leathers on for the rest of the night and kept the fans engaged and the younger fans entertained. No one knows who Stryker is or where he comes from, but we are glad that he is on our side.

Halftime saw the field flooded with students participating in the punt, pass, & kick contest. It was great to see the little troopers showing what they got. What I was most impressed with was how organized the whole thing was. When they came to me and asked if we could do it on Wednesday I had doubts they would pull it off. However, if I have learned anything from the cheer squad in the last three years is that you never underestimate their ability to make it happen. So I gave the go ahead and away they went. One time, during the game, Mr. Alley asked me if they had a plan as halftime with that many young students could be chaos if not handled properly. So I went over and asked Mak if she had a plan and she then went into a full instructional outline that Mr. Folger would be proud of. The 9 of them orchestrate the kiddos beautifully and I was able to enjoy watching. Great job ladies.

Monday

• MS Cross Country Meet @ Home 4:00 pm

• HS Volleyball C Team @ P Ridge 4:30 pm

• MS Volleyball @ St. Benedict 4:30 pm

Tuesday

• Volleyball Tri @ P Ridge 5:00 pm

Wednesday

• FFA Greenhand Conference

Thursday

• HS Cross Country @ Onaga 4:00 pm

• MS Volleyball @ Valley Falls 4:30 pm

• MS Football @ Valley Falls 6:30 pm

• HS Volleyball Tri @ Home 5:00 Senior Appreciation Night

Friday

• #why apply

• HS Football @ Horton 7:00 pm
  

Saturday

• MS Volleyball Tournament @ Perry-Lecompton

• Volleyball Varsity Tournament @ Hiawatha

It has been another banner week for the Cobra Cup. This week, students have been completing a personality assessment known as the color code. The assessment generates one of four colors for the students based on how they answer the assessment. Breaking a personality based on a 1/4 seems like a pretty weak system and it is at that level. While that is a fundamental breakdown of a persons primary character, the free version only gives you the percentage of the dominant color, which is enough for what we need. I purchased my own personal breakdown and got a much more significant breakdown of the other colors and it was quite the read.

The science behind the system overall is grounded in educational theory and will be a great tool to help student interact with one another. It will be used to educate students on interactions with others around them. Once all of the students have finished their color codes, next week we will start to train them on the different colors and then get into how the different colors interact. This is where the color code concept shines as a system. You may be a red which is driven by order and power, but that doesn't meant you automatically will interact well with a Blue that is driven through emotion and caring without having to make some adjustments. This training will help our students to do that.

If any of you out there would also like to take the test, it is free.

1. Go to the link below

2. Click on the red arrow that says "free test"

3. Take the test (here is an important instruction item that I missed the first time I took the test. Take it as though you are your 13 year old self. How would the middle school version of you answer. There is a great deal of reason for that. You are going to tell me, "I'm a totally different person than when I was in middle school" and you are, but then you were driven by your fundamental drives, which is still there, you have just behaviorally adjusted past those since then. However, trust that 13 year old you is still in there)

4. at the end when you fill in your personal information, put in an email address you can check(you wont start getting spammed constantly, I get one or two per semester from them and you can unsubscribe any time)

5. check email for your report. make sure to check spam folder.

Once we have done the training with the students, I will post the training tools for everyone to take a look at.

There were several major integrity moves along with some serious demonstrations of striving for success this week.

Some spotlight students in each house this week were:

House Corn Fed Cobra: Kaden Claycamp: For maximum effort this week helping Mrs. Cormier with school photos as well as the constant edits that needed to get done to the sports programs. He did his best to make sure the program was as up to date as possible for the game. Strive for Success, Take Pride

House Gold Rush: Bella Bay For being very supportive of other students. I had reports from three different teachers this week of her positive interactions helping other students. Be Kind

House Snake Kingz: Rylan Rodvelt I watched him after the game Friday night, go over to the benches and clean up the area that was the freshman's responsibility. Everyone else was either off to the locker rooms or on the field walking around, but Rylan was taking care of the job first before celebrating. Integrity First

House Triple G: Ettajo Bourdon For showing the integrity move that most adults wouldn't even do. When she bought something with a five dollar bill from the concession stand during a busy rush, the attendant was in a hurry and gave her change for a twenty. Ettajo immediately noticed the error and gave back the extra money. Integrity First, Be a Good Citizen

I kept count Friday night and I counted 97 7-12 students that were at the game that were just there to watch. That is great! However, not quite all of them in the student section. I will give you the free pass this week. You don't have to be dressed in theme to be in the student section, you just have to be a student and be there to cheer on the team. Don't forget my challenge is for all the home games, so next time let's tighten it up and get everyone in the student section. Not just at the game, but in the student section. I greatly enjoyed listening to the students getting so loud this weekend. Lets keep it up

This Friday was great. Watching Stryker take that ride was awesome Then the littles do their punt, pass, kick with the cheerleaders was a joy, the stands packed with cobra fans cheering was phenomenal, the band was on point, and who would be mad at the team putting another W on the board? However, the highlight of my night was giving my boys a hug before they went home to go to bed as they were wearing green and gold. In this pic Hiccup is telling me that, "It's a great day to be a Cobra!"

It really is

a great day to be a Cobra!!

Email: derek.smith@jhcobras.net

Website: jhcobras.net
Location: 12692 266th Rd Holton, KS 66436
Phone: (785)248-4386
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jackson.Heights.USD335

https://www.citylinktv.com/channel/cobra

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a0QJd_3uUnHcCppNy4KIttr-i_TO_Q1QcxSKC8PZaHo/edit