CHS Newsletter
News You Can Use - April 2018
Clinton High School
Email: jagile@clintonwis.com
Website: http://clinton.k12.wi.us.
Location: 112 Milwaukee Street, Clinton, WI, USA
Phone: (608) 676-2223
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clintoncommunityschooldistrict
Twitter: @clintonwischool
Important Dates!
April 23-May 4: Star 360 Testing
April 21: Prom 8:00 p.m.
May 5: Evening with the Arts 4:00pm - 7:00pm
May 7th-11th: Teacher Appreciation Week
May 7: AP Psych Exam - am
May 9: AP Literature Exam - am
May 11: AP US History Exam - am
May 14: AP Bio Exam - all day
May 15: AP Calculus Exam - am
May 16: AP Language Arts Exam - am
May 17: AP World History Exam - am
May 27: Baccalaureate 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Principal's Shoutout!
Teacher Appreciation Week is May 7th-11th
I have had many discussions with students, alumni, and parents/guardians over the years acknowledging the impact that a teacher has had on them or their child. Sometimes educators get caught up in the planning, grading, teaching, extracurricular grind of work and don’t take the time to step back and see all the good they are doing. This one week a year is not enough, but it is a wonderful time to show our Clinton High School teachers how they may have positively affected your life or the lives of your children.
While there are a plethora of ways to say thank you, this year we are promoting three different ways to show appreciation for the staff at CHS here.
Option 1: If you would like to show appreciation for a teacher who has impacted you, you may go to Word or Phrase of Appreciation Link. Each teacher’s name is listed in the drop-down menu and then you would just type a word or phrase that summarizes the staff member. This form can be submitted as many times as you want. For example, I could choose Mr. Crivello’s name and say “Fancy Dresser” and then choose Mr. Lucas and say “Funny” followed by Mrs. Werfelmann and say “caring”. I’d submit the form and then do another 3 teachers. Think about the teachers you currently have as well as those you’ve had in the past. Each staff member will receive a visual display of the words/phrases submitted.
Option 2: There will be an Appreciation Station set up in the LMC the week of April 30th-May 4th. Students will have access to generic cards, paper templates, colored pens, etc. so they can handwrite a note of thanks to a teacher. The note can tell the staff how much they are appreciated and why. The teachers will receive these letters of appreciation to remind them of the difference they can make.
Option 3: Since parents and guardians don't have easy access to the LMC (although you are welcome to come in), you can also complete a prefilled “card” of appreciation here: Prefilled Card of Appreciation Link You can leave a note for a teacher telling him or her how much you appreciate what he or she has done for you or your children. The teachers will receive these letters of appreciation during Teacher Appreciation week.
Students & Staff of the Month
Cora Laatz
Grant Howard
Jaret Washtock
Jaret is a hard-working student who always does his best and works to improve. He's kind and courteous to other students, never puts down his classmates, and is always willing to help others. Jaret is an outstanding member of the CHS student body.
Brenna Mullooly
Brenna is accountable and always gives effort in everything she involves herself in. Breanna also shows respect to her peers and teachers every day and in every environment. Brenna is the epitome of a leader.
Elisa Shoemaker
Joy Perkins
Terry Johnson
Department & Extracurricular Updates
Ag
Animal Evaluation & Nutrition students are learning more about feed additives, developing a feed ration, and different stages of production in their livestock nutrition unit. They are preparing to create their own feed ration where they will conduct a feed study on poultry in the upcoming weeks. They will develop a feed ration, track data, check weights, and care for the birds for the duration of the lab. It is a great hands on learning opportunity for our students!
Veterinary Science students have been practicing the steps in completing the pet physical exam,checking vital signs for various species, how to perform CPR on a dog, as well as multiple handling and restraint techniques. We are getting ready to begin our Sutures and Injections unit where students will practice surgical knot techniques, demonstrate continuous and non-continuous sutures and identify where and when to use them in veterinary medicine. We will learn more about the injection sites, withdrawal periods, and diagnosing animal health symptoms. Students will be attending the Midwest Horse Fair where they will have the opportunity to learn more about careers in the equine industry, attend a session hosted by an Equine Veterinarian, and evaluate horses.
Ag Leadership students are practicing their soft skills, updating their resumes and cover letters, and will go through a mock-interview in the upcoming weeks with local agribusiness professionals. They are identifying the importance of communication and sharing the message of agriculture. We are excited for some upcoming hands on service opportunities as we work with community and our elementary students.
Pictured below: Ag students at K & W Greenery in Janesville
Art
Graphic Design students are working on “Mood Boards” for a hypothetical company of their own design. This involves getting to know their competition and clientele through research.
3D Art students are busy applying finishes to various clay projects that have been fired and designing their next papier mache project.
Painting students have moved on to watercolor. They are learning and perfecting many techniques through a book creation. They just finished a surrealism study with Acrylic paint.
Advanced Art 1 students are finishing their mask design and beginning a mosaic collage unit.
Advanced Art 2 students have marbleized paper and are starting to put their altered books together.
All art classes are getting pumped up for the 25th annual Evening with art. Please come and join your student in supporting the arts!
Pictured above right: Painting by Kallie Inman
Band
For the 11th time in school history, the Clinton High School Band had a tremendously successful Florida tour where they performed at the Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, Ron Jon’s Surf Shop, and “Give the Kids the World Village.” “Give the Kids the World Village” is a resort for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families and is part of the Make a Wish Foundation. Most of the high school band students agreed that this was their favorite part of the trip. Once again, the Clinton High School Band represented Clinton High School and the Clinton Community with pride and excellence! Congratulations to the CHS BAND on a fantastic tour! Visit the Clinton High School Band facebook page for more pictures and upcoming band events:
Business & Marketing
Richard Kessler, of Kesslers Diamonds, came to Clinton to speak to business and marketing students as well as DECA members. Kesslers Diamonds sponsors DECA and committed to speaking at as many Wisconsin high schools he could this year. We were very lucky to have him. Richard told his inspirational and entertaining story on his secrets of success and the pain of failure. At the age of 26, Richard Kessler moved to Milwaukee with nothing more than $700 that he had borrowed and the desire to be successful at anything. He had never been to Wisconsin before and more importantly he had no experience in the jewelry industry. Since then he started a jewelry business, which is the largest in the state of Wisconsin. Students were amazed by his inspiring story and enjoyed the goodies handed out for asking questions.
Business and Marketing students have been busy this month visiting many companies founded by first-generation millionaires. In addition to the Kessler presentation, our annual WICPA sponsored Accounting Careers field trip featured 2 businesses founded by individuals who started from nothing and built very successful businesses. Our field trip began at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where 27 business and marketing students got a tour of the Babcock Dairy Plant. We learned about the student-run dairy products facility and got to sample their amazing ice cream. The Business Manager gave us insight into how a non-profit, student lead organization functions and what the financial responsibilities are. Students then got a campus tour which included the School of Business. After our time at UW-Madison, we traveled to the Wisconsin Dells where we learned about 2 more Wisconsin first generation millionaires and the business empires they have built. Our first stop was at Kalahari. We began our overnight stay with a presentation by representatives from their marketing, human resource and accounting departments. Students learned about the various careers in hospitality and the role accounting plays in managing a multi-million dollar waterpark resort. Most interesting was the history lesson on Kalahari owner, Todd Nelson, who started with a single bar in the Wisconsin Dells in his early 20’s and built the successful Kalahari Resorts in less than 40 years! Students were impressed with the demonstration of his ambition and commitment to his employees. After the presentation, we went to Buffalo Phil’s for dinner and got a presentation from their financial manager about running a restaurant. Students seemed shocked to learn that, on occasion, even the accountant delivers food when it’s busy! After a fun night at the Kalahari waterpark, we got up the next morning and traveled to Verona to tour the Epic Systems Corporation and learn about the owner, Judy Faulkner. In her 70’s, she still works around 100 hours a week and puts 80% of the company profits back into her employees making the work environment unique and sought after! After our final presentation by their finance manager, we got to tour the facilities. It is safe to say that our students were blown away by the work environment and are inspired to become Epic employees. Thank you WICPA for the grant to provide this amazing opportunity!
The Spring 2018 BiZTank session starts this month. Two Clinton students, Devontae Sisk and Jackson Nelson, will be participating in the 8-week Spring session. After hearing co-founders, Jeff Peterson and Mark Becker speak they decided to apply to the program. Throughout the next 8 weeks, Devontae and Jackson will be exposed to the world of business through the stimulating and interactive program. Guest speakers will explain the drive, hard work, directions their lives have taken, success and failures. Topics such as start-ups, ROI, funding, opportunity recognition, marketing and social media are covered in open forums, case studies, entrepreneurial coaching and field trips. Students also create their own podcast, Kids in the Tank. We cannot thank Geneva Supply enough for providing this opportunity for Clinton students!
Choir
Choir students are working on music for their choir concert. This will be on May 29 starting at 7:00 pm on the CMS stage.
The Honors choir, known as the blenders sang at the School Board Meeting on April 2 and they are singing on Tuesday April 11 for the State’s Superintendent Council on Rural Schools, Libraries and Communities.
English
After spending several months researching and exploring the rhetorical aspects as well as the environmental impacts of chemicals on our environment, the English 10 Honors, AP Literature, and AP Language classes culminated their studies by taking the application of what they learned to the Great World Texts conference at UW Madison. At this conference, the students presented projects related to their studies to nearly 1000 attendees. They participated in discussions and sessions that furthered their studies and gave them an experience congruent with those skills beyond high school.
Family & Consumer Science
Students in Foods class each made their own dough recipe, kneading it by hand. This dough was then divided up to make bread sticks, pizza, and a calzone.
Soon we will be getting the Evening with Arts meal ready. For this meal we will be making barbeques, cheesy potatoes, baked beans, pumpkin bars, lemon bars, chocolate chip bars, and brownies. Come and join us on May 5, 2018!
Child Development students are finishing up with their Baby Project Presentations. Next month’s newsletter will show picture of the dolls the students created.
In Relationships and Beyond students are learning about communication, and they still are a quiet bunch!
Pictured above left: Savannah Skinner & Joanna Waite
FFA
We have lots of upcoming ag-tivities for our FFA members! Our judging teams competed in Janesville and our Ag Sales Team and Dairy Products teams will be heading to the State CDE contest at the end of April. Interviews will be held for the upcoming 2018-2019 FFA Officer team which will be announced at our May Banquet. We have teamed up with the Delavan-Darien FFA Chapter again this year to participate in Food For America to educate youth about the importance of agriculture and food sources. Our annual Thank You Farmers event will be held on May 9th at Culver’s of Beloit from 2:00-8: 00 pm where we will kick off our Spring Plant Sale. This is a huge event for the chapter and we are excited to share our ag knowledge! The FFA Alumni Scholarship is due for seniors on April 18th and will also be announced at the May Banquet. The online entry process is now available for the 2018 Rock County 4-H Fair and confirmation is due to Ms. Jackson by May 31st.
Library
The CHS LMC held a March Madness Tournament of Books! Two twenty-five dollar gift cards for Buffalo Wild Wings were given out to the winners with the top bracket selections. Students and staff were given a choice of 16 books to select from for their favorite book (NCAA basketball bracket style). The favorite book was selected by popular vote on the bracket. Harry Potter won favorite book! There were almost 90 entries, but only one winner having the closest bracket. Sam Carrillo was the winner with only one wrong selection. He won one of the gift cards!
To make things a little more connected to the basketball games, at the sweet sixteen mark one book was assigned to each team in the actual tournament. The winning team, Villanova, was matched with The Fault in Our Stars. Seven entrants selected The Fault in Our Stars and a winner was selected from those seven. Steve Espinoza was the lucky winner of the other twenty-five dollar gift card! I think he was very strategic in his selections. He favored Villanova to win! It was a fun contest to connect into the NCAA basketball tournament and help the dreariness of March pass quickly.
Math
AP Calculus students will be gearing up for their AP test which is coming up on May 15th. Students will be reviewing concepts that have been learned over the past school year. If they do well enough on the test, they may receive math credit in college and also be able to enroll in Calculus II.
PreCalculus students will be learning about Rational Functions, Composition of Functions, and Inverse Functions.
Algebra 2 students will continue their studies on logarithms and their graphs. This will proceed into discovering that logarithmic functions and exponential functions are inverse functions of each other.
Geometry students are finishing up their studies on SOHCAHTOA and will begin lessons on circles in the coordinate plane.
Algebra 1 students are working on solving and graphing quadratic equations.
Students will also be celebrating the spring testing season by participating in the Aspire/Forward test for Freshmen and Sophomores and the Star360 test which is taken by all students grades 9 through 12.
Phy Ed / Health
With the collaboration and owner Mark Peterson, the Clinton Community School District has had the opportunity to offer bowling as a lifetime unit to the high school for many years. Mark also has given students the opportunity to become a member of the bowling club. Here the students are listening to the bowling rules, etiquette, delivery types and helpful aspects to become a successful bowler. Students were required to spend a 2 of their 6 days computing bowling scores by hand. Understanding the value of spares and strikes while computing them on paper.
Gretchen Hahn
Mark Peterson going over a few rules.
Lauren Corral
Health Class Careers
The 9th-grade Health class had the opportunity to have AHEC (Area Health Education Centers) in the classroom. AHEC is a health profession education and outreach program. It is part of a nationwide network of programs for improving accessibility and quality of primary health care partnerships to promote cooperative solutions to local health problems. See photos below:
Vision Lab
Vision lab where students look through classes of what an individual who is visually impaired, glaucoma, or cataracts. Cejay Tallman and Jacob Merimon trying to figure out letters blindfolded.
Forensics Lab
Forensics lab with Evan Mueller, Colin Neisius and Zach DuCharme looking at their own thumbprint to see if they are a loop, whirl, or arch.
Star Experiment
Brenna Lippert, Maribel Rodriguez and Jen Burno are trying to master the star experiment. This career field would resemble mirror image skills needed for dentistry/orthodontics etc.
Science
Teachers often look for opportunities to connect their curriculum to content students are learning in other classes, allowing students to make deeper connections and see the relevance of the material in a different context. Cross-curricular connections have been happening frequently in the science department lately, with examples from biology, chemistry, and physics.
Biology students are just finishing up their genetics unit, in which they were using concepts related to statistics to analyze how traits are passed down from one generation to the next. Models called “punnett squares” are used to predict the traits the offspring will have based on the genetic makeup of their parents. Students had also been using punnett squares in math class recently. Although they were analyzed in a different way, the process in which the punnett squares were completed was very similar. This allowed students to pick up on the information much quicker and see their use in another context.
Chemistry students have been learning about gas laws, and have had to incorporate many of their algebra skills into determining factors such as pressure, volume, and temperature. They utilized the gas law equations to determine unknown values by rearranging equations using skills learned in algebra.
In Physics, the students have been analyzing sound waves and the way in which they travel. They used various tools to study and model the movement of these waves. The physics classes discussed how sound waves are an application of a type of “sine wave,” which students had recently been plotting and learning about in math. Seeing their use in science allows students to understand both topics much more in depth.
The incorporation of math into the science classroom has emphasized the use of Target 2, Modeling, as the math equations are often used as models in which to explain and predict scientific phenomena. This is one of the three targets that are emphasized in the science department, which also include Target 1 (Conducting investigations and analyzing data) and Target 3 (Communication).
Social Studies
In Mr. Manske's class, students will be picking up in April where they left off before Spring Break - China. We'll be exploring the web from China's point of view testing whether students can get around government placed firewalls that filter news and content, listening to live singing bowl music from Tibet, and covering the rise of Megacities. We'll also delve into other hot spot areas in Asia such as India & Kashmir along with North & South Korea. With most of these areas in the news, it's sure to be a topical, and hopefully fun, discussion!
Honors Global Studies students are focusing on critical writing skills necessary for the Document Based Questions (DBQ) Essay. Here, students are practicing writing point of view statements and thesis statements. Practicing these skills is not only preparing students for the transition to AP World History next year but also helping them to become more critical thinkers and better writers.
Student Services
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month:
The 2018 National Child Abuse Prevention Month website holds resources and ways to get involved.
What Are ACEs? Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events occurring before age 18. ACEs include all types of abuse and neglect as well as parental mental illness, substance use, divorce, incarceration, and domestic violence. A landmark study in the 1990s found a significant relationship between the number of ACEs a person experienced and a variety of negative outcomes in adulthood, including poor physical and mental health, substance abuse, and risky behaviors. Read More
Tech Ed
Students throughout the Tech. Ed. department are beginning their last big projects for the year or finishing up projects that lead into their final semester projects. While it may seem like a long ways off the end of the school year is only eight weeks away!
Robotics students are continuing to plug away at there scenarios. As they begin to finish up, they need to program and build a device that simulates backing out of a driveway, navigating through “town”, attending a drive-in movie, and then returning back to the starting location. It is an enjoyable process to watch the kids learn and see how the changes they make at one point in the program affect other segments.
Construction Tech. student are about halfway through their electrical circuits. In this unit, students learned the basics of wiring and tracing electrical pathways for residential circuits. There have been several blown circuits and crossed wires which always adds some excitement to the day! Students have grown to appreciate the systems that make up structures and are beginning to see how complex a house can be.
Our Engineering and Architecture students have come a long way in terms of using 3D modeling software. Many students had very little exposure to our software used in engineering, Autodesk Inventor, and none with the architecture, Autodesk Revit. Now almost all students can navigate the software with ease and only get hung up with tasks that they have not been shown yet because they are working ahead. Our next step for our projects is to begin 3D printing!
Woods and Metals students are applying their skills use by working on summative projects. Students have found that there are many ways that you can form, manipulate, combined, and cut materials but what really matters is what you want the end result to look like and how much time and attention to detail you want to spend on it.
Some of the previously mentioned projects maybe in the upcoming Evening With Arts, May 5th. If you wish to see some examples of our Tech. Students’ work, along with other beautiful art from across the district, be sure to stop by!
Work Based Learning
Twenty Clinton female students represented Clinton Community School District at an event called Today’s Dreamers, Tomorrow’s Leaders held on April 12 at the Eclipse Center. The event was sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club and CareerTek. Companies sponsored tables for the event and then sent two female professional representatives to join the girls for a wonderful dinner and keynote speaker. Kerry Frank co-founder of Comply 365 was this year’s keynote speaker. She has proven how one woman can go about revolutionizing an industry with smarts, courage and tenacity. She played an instrumental role in the FAA’s approval of replacing traditional paper-based flight bags with tablets in the cockpits. Kerry Frank’s passion can be summed up in a quote by Cecil Beaton: “Be daring, be different, be impractical; be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.
Prior to attending the event the girls completed both etiquette and career lessons. The students completed a variety of career lessons in Career Cruising, etiquette lessons in the classroom, and a practice etiquette luncheon the first week in April. Topics included: body language, eye contact, proper hygiene/dress, first impressions, small talk, and table etiquette. The girls completed an activity focused on self-esteem and confidence. Which ‘Nerd’ is better? Are they all the same on the inside? Is one better than the other? The activity ended with the girls writing a list of things they liked and disliked about themselves. Through a Kohl’s grant girls were able to get a dress and shoes, if needed. The girls all enjoyed the event. They had confidence, knew how to shake hands, understood the importance of first impressions, used conversation starters and impressed the leaders with their professional dress!
Students interested in participating in the Work-based Learning Program next year need to get Internship or Youth Apprenticeship applications turned into Mrs. Benisch as soon as possible. Interviews for the program will be held at the end of this month.
As we approach summer students begin to look for summer employment as well as businesses hire more employees for the summer rush. New job postings are added to the website daily. If your son or daughter is looking for employment be sure to check out the jobs listed on the WBL Website.
Students have the opportunity to participate in two new programs/initiatives within our county this summer: Craftsmanship/Craftswomen with Character and Rock Internship Program. Click on each link to learn more about each program. These are two great opportunities you don’t want to miss! If you have questions email labenisch@clintonwis.com.
World Languages
Spanish 1-Hola! In the lower level Spanish courses we have been covering the vocabulary list of family members in the present lesson and discussed how to describe them using the grammar. Students have been introduced to the vocabulary needed to talk about LA FAMILIA/THE FAMILY. In this lesson, we will go a little deeper on this topic so that they are able to describe his/her family in Spanish using the vocabulary and grammar from the chapter.
This is a fun and relevant project incorporating the following components: 1. Basic family member vocabulary. 2. Describing people's physical characteristics 3. Describing people's personalities. 4. Telling where a person lives. The final product will be a family tree diagram of a family labeled in Spanish, as well as a writing section with sentences addressing the descriptions listed above.
Spanish 2-RUTINAS DIARIAS (DAILY ROUTINES)
Every day we all have a set of routines that we automatically do. Students are working on a vocabulary list of daily routines in Spanish. Students will draw images related to the words or phrases that will assist him/her in the learning and memorizing process. They have practiced getting to know you questions/responses and are feeling comfortable Speaking in Spanish. This is another activity that will involve reading, writing, listening and speaking opportunities.