Dickinson High School

MISSION

Our mission is to prepare all learners for life-long success through a safe, collaborative, and innovative learning community.

VISION

Success for all!

DHS ADMIN

• Jeff Brandt, Principal - jbrandt@dpsnd.org
• Randy Cranston, Asst. Principal - rcranston@dpsnd.org
• Holly Schild, Asst. Principal - hschild@dpsnd.org
• Guy Fridley, Athletic Director - gfridley@dpsnd.org

A Note From Principal Jeff Brandt

Hello DHS Families,

It is difficult to believe that we are already at the point of thinking about the holiday season! The school year is going by fast and the fall activity season is starting to wrap-up. Golf, Soccer, Football, and Cross-Country seasons have come and gone. Band and choir concerts, along with music festivals and competitions are in full swing. Soon Volleyball and Swimming will conclude and we will be on to Wrestling, Hockey, Gymnastics, Basketball, Boys Swimming, Music, and Drama productions. While each season brings with it a certain busyness, winter activities seem to ramp up even more. I want to encourage you to continue to support DHS students in their endeavors. We have a lot of students doing a lot of great things!

Speaking of great things, our staff at Dickinson High School and Southwest Area Career and Technical Center (SWACTE) are focusing on a few major goals this school year. Those goals include highlighting positive student behavior, assessing student learning, assisting students in identifying and evaluating credible sources, and facilitating accountability by students tracking their own progress. Hopefully, many of our families have received positive messages home regarding their student(s). We want to continue to encourage our students to be ACCOUNTABLE in all areas of their lives, RESPECTFUL to everyone they encounter, and ENGAGED in everything they do.

Thank you for your continued support of Dickinson High School!

Jeff Brandt,

Dickinson High School Principal

Nov. 1st - No School

Nov. 11th - No School

Nov. 27th-29th - No School

This school year, we are excited to announce that we will include student-written articles in our monthly newsletters! Nareen Trent is a sophomore at Dickinson High School. She enthusiastically came to Principal Brandt with the idea of writing articles for the newsletter, and he was delighted to include her. Nareen is planning on making Journalism her future career, and DHS is happy to have her!

Keep an eye out for her articles throughout the school year!

Every educator and their mothers are concerned about the issues surrounding ChatGPT and the risk it poses for students who plagiarize from generated prompts and scripts… and coming from a student: for good reason. This isn’t just a failure to “get with the times”. The only “gen” thing about generative AI is that it’s genuinely harmful. Now, of course, there is the tired subject of using AI to cheat, but the issue extends far beyond that. With a piece of technology that already knows everything… a student may fail to master one of the most important aspects of not only school but life itself: learning. We never stop learning, and we never stop learning how to learn, which is a skill that is vital for anything we want to do, be it college, the military, or going straight into the workforce.

Another issue comes with AI detection in essays, which is highly faulty and has a tendency to flag anyone who writes above a third-grade level, which is unfair for the students who do not cheat.

Failure to learn is one thing. Misinformation is another. Google AI Labs are in their beta stages and appear in response to search queries as an overview. However convenient it sounds in theory, it proved to be much less so in practice. Even harmful. In February of 2024, Google purchased the data of a website called Reddit, for about $60 million a year to train its AI. Due to this, the answers of Google AI Labs have become skewed to the point of dangerous information. For example, when a user queried about “cheese not sticking on pizza” the AI Overview suggested that they use glue, which came from – you guessed it, Reddit.

In addition to the misinformation spread by text, false images have notoriously been circulated on Facebook (although not exclusively.) This is especially dangerous in the case of fabricating stories and news reports, one example being an AI-generated picture of a girl and her dog sitting in a boat during Hurricane Milton. Many were not able to detect the fact that this picture was not real. This is also risky in the many cases of AI images being created of real people, where they did not consent to have their images used, and the images themselves are typically utilized for unsavory purposes. In the vein of AI-generated images, artists and photographers have been exploited for the AI to train without a cent in compensation. The problem with this lies within the fact that the practice of training AI on real artworks and images is nonconsensual, and most of the time, the people being exploited for this are unaware. AI images have caused people to lose their livelihoods for the sake of convenience on the client’s behalf. AI has the potential to be a useful tool, but looking at the facts, it’s not ready to be placed in the hands of the general public. Until the realm of generative AI is no longer a legal gray area, and there are strict laws put in place to prevent exploitation and the spread of misinformation, we shouldn’t have anything to do with it.

The Dickinson High School National Honor Society held their annual Trunk or Treat on Sunday October 27th at the DHS parking lot. Over 75 juniors and senior NHS members participated in fun costumes to provide a Halloween experience for children in our community in a safe, fun event.

Based on non-scientific data (our 3 senior “hot dogs” and their hot dog treat) we had over 500 trick or treaters in the first 30 minutes of being open and we estimate we had anywhere between 700-800 total. IT WAS A VERY SUCCESSFUL EVENT. I was so busy running candy refills to our students I didn’t get very many pictures.

Thank you again for your support of our students as they truly do make a difference in our community.

The DHS Volleyball team hosted a "Dig-Pink" night during their game on October 16th to raise breast cancer awareness. Many of them honored loved ones who have battled breast cancer.

During that game on the 16th, Cecilia Homiston surpassed 2500 assists as a junior setter. Way to go Cecilia!

The Social Studies Department at Dickinson High School has had an exciting and immersive month, with students getting hands-on experience in and outside the classroom!

Mr. Wanner took his students on an insightful trip to the central administration office of Dickinson Public Schools (DPS), where they explored the inner workings of our district from the administrative perspective. This unique experience allowed students to witness how decisions are made and how the district operates on a broader scale. Additionally, Mr. Wanner’s class visited the North Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT), where they observed firsthand the processes involved in maintaining and managing our state’s infrastructure.

In Mr. Larsen and Mr. Conrad’s World at War classes, students recently wrapped up their World War I unit by presenting dioramas that captured the stark contrasts between the Eastern and Western Fronts. This creative project allowed students to deepen their understanding of the challenges and tactics unique to each front while also honing their presentation skills by sharing their projects with classmates.

We’re proud of the efforts of our students and the efforts they have put forth this month, and we continue to look forward to the future and what it brings this year.

By the time you’re reading this article, Halloween is probably over, which means it’s a perfect time to review its history. As it turns out, St. Patrick’s Day isn’t the only mainstream celebration originating from Ireland. About 2,000 years ago, the Celts celebrated the festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in) on November 1st to mark the end of summer and the beginning of winter, which, 2,000 years ago, was reasonably associated with death. And on Samhain, they believed the ghosts of the dead returned to wreak havoc on the living.

The Roman Empire was also pretty big on Halloween, despite not having access to Snickers bars. The upside, however, was not getting toothbrushes when trick-or-treating. The Roman festivals of Feralia and Pomona were combined with Samhain, introducing the mildly unhygienic practice of bobbing for apples. Another introduction was made after the fall of the Roman Empire, the holiday known as All-Hallowmas, where people wore saint, angel, and devil costumes. Eventually, the holiday turned into All-Hallow’s Eve. An early form of trick or treating also came about at around this time, where beggars would plead for ‘soul cakes’, but this was eventually taken over by children (with minimal difference.)

In America, in about the 1800s, the shift from superstition to community was slowly made, with parties focusing on food and festive activities becoming the norm as opposed to fearing the ghosts of the dead. In the early 20th century, the practice of trick-or-treating was eventually revived as a cost-effective way to celebrate.

No, Halloween was never evil, despite it being rather superstitious. But we’ve since moved away from that in favor of a more secular holiday. Despite this, the spook remains indefinitely and forever, like a stubborn ghost. Happy Belated Halloween.

The Academic Learning Center (ALC) is available all day long to provide students with assistance in subject areas in which they are struggling, or if they are absent and just need assistance with the material they missed. They are also available to monitor tests they missed because of an absence. The students just need to communicate with their teacher so that they know to put the test in the ALC.

The ALC is open daily at 7:40am and during the lunch period. The gates are closed at this time but just let a staff member know that help is needed in the ALC and they will let the student through. They are also open after school until 4:00pm for assistance and make-up testing.

• Call 701-456-0030 and choose option 1 for attendance.
• Give us your student’s name and requested dismissal time.
• PLEASE notify us at least 2 hours before requested dismissal time. We cannot guarantee your student be released on time without sufficient notice.
• Phone calls must be placed by a parent or guardian.
• At the time of dismissal, your student is free to leave campus. Parents do not need to enter the building.
• All medical appointments require medical documentation to be considered excused.

Like our Facebook Pages and follow our Snapchat to stay up to date on upcoming activities!

• https://www.facebook.com/DickinsonHighND/
• https://www.facebook.com/people/Dickinson-High-Activities/100063692525106/
• Snapchat - dhighschool6