Knightly News

Enjoy Your Winter Break!

12/21 - 01/05/25

School Resumes January 6th

As we enter Winter Break, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to each of you for your continued support throughout the first half of the school year. It’s been an exciting few months of growth and learning, and we are proud of all our students have accomplished so far. I am especially proud of the hard work and dedication our students have shown during MAP testing, and I want to thank you for encouraging them every step of the way.

Thank you again for being an important part of our school community and trusting us with your kids. We look forward to returning in the new year, ready to continue supporting your child’s success.

Wishing you a joyful and peaceful holiday season!

Winter weather is here and we want to be sure families are as ready as possible for possible schedule changes or inclement weather cancellations. As of December 5, 2024, the Shawnee Mission School District has updated its inclement weather plans to include Plan C- which includes a 2-hour delay option. This new option aligns us with our neighboring districts in Johnson County and will facilitate common decision-making with regard to inclement weather. Please review the district’s inclement weather procedures on this website: https://www.smsd.org/families/weather

This webpage also includes information about how you can be informed about any inclement weather announcements from the Shawnee Mission School District.

There’s so much to celebrate this week at Hills—it’s impossible to pick just one highlight! Students in Mr. Goodson’s projects class tackled epic egg crashes, while Mr. Miesner’s robotics class wowed us with their automatic machine fair. Over in Mr. White’s class, hovercrafts were put to

the test, and the excitement continued with chemical reaction cars zooming in 7th grade science classes led by Mrs. Hoehn, Ms. Johnson, and Ms. Hudson. To top it all off, Mrs. Thompson’s animation classes hosted a cozy viewing party complete with popcorn and hot cocoa. These are just a few of the incredible moments happening in classrooms across Hills this week!

Wrestling and Girls Basketball both experienced success in their 2024 seasons.

Congratulations to the Indian Hills Knights Girls Basketball team on their undefeated season (10-0) capped off with a district championship!

The team represented Indian Hills very well by playing with great enthusiasm and effort. We are proud of you!

Wrestling had several standout individual performances at the district tournament. Great work by all of our wrestling athletes!

Boys First Place: Benji Rivas, Ben Tabor, Beck Tabor, and Justin Newell.

Girls First Place: Layla Lewis, Cora Lickteig, and Iris Forester

Boys Second Place: Carson Duron and Ben Eisman

Girls Second Place: Lalah Shaw and Susan Chavez Tapia

Thank you to the coaches for their hard work and dedication.

Up Next: Boys Basketball tryouts begin January 6th (first day after break). Please check out the Boys Basketball page for more details.

IHMS Athletics Website

Last week, several of our students participated in the Heartland CTF Cybersecurity Competition through the SMSD Engineering Department. There were 45 high school teams competing in this competition. Out of the 45 teams competing, the team of Miles Muehlbach, Henry Lock, Adam Enslow, and Liam Flurry took 2nd place! The team of Ben Walsh, Ben Siengsukon, Elliot Jaynes, and Walker Cobb took 12th place. The team of Walt Goodvin and Coen Bettenhausen took 14th place. These students were competing with high school teams, and their dedication, persistence, and performance level in this challenging competition was outstanding!

Congratulations to the following Art students who will have work featured in the Quarter 2 District Virtual Art Show! Look for the show to be up early in 2025!

Elliott Bell, Van Curtis, Charlie Douglass, Libby Fitzpatrick, Abraham Girard, Aaron Glueck, Sophia Greig, George Junge, Olivia Knighton, Aubri Knipp, Scarlett Lind, Maddie Murphy, Adam Ragab, Eleni Schlittengardt, Beck Tabor, and Ben Walsh.

Indian Hills Middle School is proud to present Knights of Excellence on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, from 6:30 - 7:30 PM in the Shawnee Mission East Auditorium.

This meaningful event will honor 8th grade students for their outstanding contributions to school involvement, citizenship service, academic excellence and growth, and exhibiting school values. Join us as we celebrate their remarkable achievements!

Eli Janzen – 7th grade

• 2nd Place KeyMaster Marathon – 62 WPM (out of 1,226 entries)
• 2nd Place KeyMaster Triathlon – 66 WPM (out of 1749 entries)
• 3rd Place KeyMaster Sprint – 67 WPM (out of 2,085 entries)
• 4th Place “I am the KeyMaster” – 46 WPM (out of 927 entries)
• 4th Place One Handed Typist – 65 WPM (out of 590 entries)
• 7th Place Touch Typing Master – 67 WPM (out of 559 entries)

Eli Rieper – 8th grade

• 4th Place KeyMaster Sprint – 59 WPM (out of 2,085 entries)
• 4th Place “I am the KeyMaster” – 46 WPM (out of 927 entries)
• 4th Place KeyMaster Relay – 49 WPM (out of 256 entries)
• 7th Place KeyMaster Triathlon – 54 WPM (out of 1749 entries)
• 8th Place One Handed Typist –50 WPM (out of 590 entries)
• 9th Place KeyMaster Marathon – 49 WPM (out of 1,226 entries)