USC High School September News

At USC, we are excited to have welcomed our students back to school for another year of learning and growing. The start of the school year is exciting and sometimes challenging for our students. Students adjust to new schedules, settle into that school-year routine, and find ways to learn in new classes with new classmates. With school being well underway, please take time to check in with your high school and/or middle school student about how their school year is going. We all want them to have a great school year experience at USC. As always, please reach out if you have concerns over your child's adjustment to the school year. We want to work as a team with parents to help students be successful.

We are one week away from Homecoming Week. Homecoming is a fun week for students filled with dress up days and activities. The week will kick off with a Homecoming Coronation Ceremony on Sunday, September 22nd at 6:30 PM in the Auditorium. The rest of the week will bring dress up days and fun events in which students can participate. Tennis and volleyball both have home matches during homecoming week with cross country attending a meet at Prairie Ridge Golf Course in Janesville. The week concludes with the homecoming football game on Friday against the Waterville Elysian Morristown Buccaneers at 7:00 PM.

Wishing you and your child a great start to the school year. Working together, we can make this a great experience for USC students where they grow and learn each day while enjoying their time at school.

Jen Bye

High School Principal

jbye@unitedsouthcentral.org

Mr. Haug joined the USC staff this year as our grade 5-12 band teacher. On Friday night, Mr. Haug led the USC Pep Band in a great performance at the Rebel football home game. Students, fans, and Mr. Haug had a great time playing for the spectators before the game and during half time.

Mr. Haug is thrilled to get to know the students at USC. He taught at Martin County West before joining the USC teaching staff at the beginning of the year. Mr. Haug grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, has moved to Wells, and has fallen in love with the USC communities. He enjoys the small town values and what our communities offer students. When Mr. Haug is not teaching students to play instruments, he enjoys writing music, playing disc golf, gaming, and listening to music. Please welcome Mr. Haug to USC!

Each Wednesday, USC students take extra time to read and learn new strategies to better comprehend the information they are reading. This initiative is part of the Read Act legislation, which has the goal of every student reading above grade level. Reading is a fundamental building block for learning in every class and for every career in which our students will work. Students need skills in reading and reading comprehension to make information accessible to them in our ever changing world.

Teachers are also teaching strategies in each class that will help students be successful in their courses at USC. Teachers show students how to read textbooks, how to analyze articles on websites, as well as teach strategies on how to better understand the information students are reading.

USC Homecoming week is September 22 - 27th. The USC Student Government group has selected dress up days for the week. The festivities begin on Sunday evening at 6:30 PM with the USC Homecoming Coronation ceremony.

Throughout the week students will also participate in various activities during the school day including a boys volleyball match, Family Feud game, tug-of-war, hungry hippos game, and a Friday pep fest. The fall varsity athletes will also be part of an athlete walk in the elementary prior to the start of the pep fest.

Congratulations to our USC Homecoming Court. The queen candidates are Lauren Hansen, Maya Hansen, Karly Koehler, Brylee Neubauer, and Addison Mithun. The king candidates are Dylan Bonsack, Aiden Crabtree, Byron Getchell, Isaiah Gonzalez, Jonathan Hodge. The Master and Mistress of Ceremonies are Emma Heggen and Daniel Hodge.

The Homecoming Royalty will be introduced during the Homecoming Football game against the WEM Buccaneers Friday night which starts at 7:00 PM.

On September 17th, all students in grade 7, along with select students in grades 9-12 will experience welding, carpentry, heavy equipment operation, and explore over 26 different skilled trade careers through the Big Ideas Mobile Learning Lab and virtual reality headsets. These sessions are led by skilled professionals whose goal is to bring the Big Ideas Trailer to students and schools around the state in order to expose all students to skilled trades options after high school.

For more information, please visit: https://bigideasusa.org.

The USC Cheer Squad is in action, leading cheers with our fans at fall sporting events this year. The team has grown again this year and brings enthusiasm as they cheer on the USC Rebels. The squad is lead by Ms. Brandee Meyer, USC science teacher. The energy and fun that the squad brings to games adds to the enjoyment of our events at USC.

Back-to-school photo packets were sent home with students on Friday, September 13th. The payments for selected photos should be returned to the high school office by students or parents. If families choose not to purchase the photos, please return the pictures in the packet to the school. You may pick and choose which photos you keep and pay for in the packet.

Picture retake day is on Monday, October 7th for grades K-12 for any student who missed school picture day or who would like a picture retake. If your student is getting picture retakes, please write "Retake on Oct. 7" on your picture packet when it is returned to the high school office.