JCHS

The first semester is nearly at an end. It's been a fast but exciting fall/winter so far: adapting to the changes in the modified-block schedule, facing the challenges of the 1:1 initiative at all JCSC schools in preparation for e-learning days, along with all of the other things a school year can throw at you. We have had a great start to the Winter sports seasons as well. Last weekend, we honored four new inductees in the Jennings County High School Hall of Fame including our very own Karen Chilman. Next weekend we'll be honoring our boys and girls cross country teams at halftime of Saturday's basketball game against Seymour on their outstanding seasons. Wonderful performances in Christmas concerts from band, choir, and orchestra started the holiday season off right. Finals started this week following a modified-schedule allowing for study time prior to each Final.

Going into Christmas Break, we'd like to remind everyone to treat one another just little kinder, be just a little more giving than normal, enjoy time with family and friends, and be safe.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,

Tom Black

Principal

Jennings County High School

Congratulations to Albert Jackson, Karen Chilman, Ed Biehle, and Mike Biehle

December 17 through January 2

Students return on January 3rd. It will be a BLUE day.

kgraham@jcsc.org

On November 9 and 10, over 170 sophomore students participated in a Mock Job Interview. This job interview followed a project completed in class where students chose a company and position, filled out a job application, created a targeted resume and cover letter, and researched the company they were applying to. A special thank you to the businesses and members of our community who served as our interviewers. Without their participation in this life-skill scenario, these interviews would not be possible.

St. Vincent Jennings Hospital; Michelle Vanosdol

St. Vincent Jennings Hospital; Terri Everage

St. Vincent Jennings Hospital; Cindy Byford

St. Vincent Jennings Hospital; Diana Daeger

St. Vincent Jennings Hospital; Shirley Davisson

St. Vincent Jennings Hospital; Christina Crank

Erlers; Lisa Fleming

First Christian Church; Angee Leeds

First Baptist Church; Allen Flood

IvyTech; LeAna Matern

Exegestics; Jennifer McCalvin

Chelsea Morrison; Cook Pharmica

karenchilman@jcsc.org

Choir news: swildey@jcsc.org

Concert Choir performed at the Holiday Extravaganza at The Lawrenceburg Event Center in November. They sang a set of songs from various genres including "Sweet Caroline" and ending with their infamous "The Lord Bless You and Keep You."

The JCHS Choir Christmas Concert is on Thursday, December 8 at 7:00 PM. Admission to the concert is a non-perishable food donation. All of the choirs will be performing together for the final song which is always a crowd favorite.

Auditions for our JCHS musical will begin in January. The show has not been announced yet however, it will be announced before Christmas vacation.

Visual arts:

Congratulation to Abigail McFall and Ashley Browning for winning the Come to the Table Logo contest. Abby won the high school division award and Ashley took overall honors. Her winning entry will be used as the groups logo.

AP studio students have been working on risk taking and growth in their art.

mpatterson@jcsc.org

The French club took 26 students and 4 chaperones to La Petite France French restaurant in Cincinnati. We were served green salad, French baguette bread, a choice of chicken in cream sauce, fish in butter sauce, beef in a hunter sauce, or quiche all coming with a side of french style vegetables. Students also had a choice of chocolate mousse or creme brulee. The students really enjoyed the atmosphere as well as the food. The restaurant is decorated with a lighted Eiffel Tower 11 feet tall. The owners and waitresses/waiters are French and speak to the students in French. It was a delightful evening.

tkent@jcsc.org

English 9 teachers recently conducted a Cold Case lesson with their students. For the cold case unit, students were given a true cold case from the Indiana State Police website. They were placed into groups of three. Each person in a group received a specific job with specific instructions. The three jobs were the victimologist, criminologist, and visual expert. Before we started the unit, we had Ivory Sandefur (a detective for the city), Earl Taggart (former sheriff, former detective, and former state police), and Jeff Jones (works for the sheriff and is a detective for the county). We also studied "fake" crime scenes before starting. They used numerous skills with this project including deductive reasoning, critical thinking, teamwork, etc.

Students were very engaged and did excellent work. Awesome job goes to our super creative English 9 teachers!

ghackman@jcsc.org

Math XL for JCHS

The Math Department recently acquired a new classroom tool, Math XL for School. Math XL for School is an online assessment, tutorial, and homework system. Math XL for School is a Pearson product and is designed to be used with Pearson e-texts used in Algebra I and Geometry classes at JCHS.

Each student has his or her own account with Math XL and can login at any time to check progress or work assignments. Students receive immediate feedback as they enter answers and are directed to more practice if needed. Once an assessment is taken on Math XL for School, an individualized study plan is generated based on the student’s performance. Students are given tutorial support as they review and practice skills needed to master a standard.

Pearson is also the vendor for the ISTEP+, Indiana’s Statewide Testing for Education Progress-Plus, which all tenth grade students will take as their graduation exam next spring. Math XL for School will provide additional practice, in a similar format, to prepare students for the ISTEP+ exam.

nsnyder@jcsc.org

Miss Lee's Biology classes are building cells as they learn how each part functions individually and as part of the whole system.

Mr. Morrison's Environmental Science classes are learning about community ecology by creating a local food web and energy pyramid.

Mr. Morrison's Genetics classes are learning about Newborn Genetic Testing through project learning.

Mr. Stidham's, Mr. Snyder's, and Mr. Madinger's ICP classes are learning how to write the names and formulas of hundreds of different chemical compounds.

Mr. Snyder's and Mrs. Hill's Chemistry courses are also learning how to write the names and formulas of hundreds of different chemical compounds.

Mr. Snyder's Biomed class is learning all about Diabetes and are preparing to begin the final project of the semester.

cevans@jcsc.org

In social studies this semester, students are involved in a variety of project based work.

In Mr. Lane's Indiana Studies classes, students created their own Jennings County maps. They were asked to locate and draw in townships, towns, cities, highways, railroads, parks and recreations areas, elementary schools, and their homes (see pics). In an age of digital maps and devices, students still need to work on developing a sense of place and these projects reinforce this idea.

In Topics in History this month, students are working to creating their own social movements. After spending more than half the semester studying historical social movements, they selected a current problem they wanted to solve, researched the problem, and then created artifacts to recruit and persuade people to join their movements. Students chose to focus on raising awareness for topics such as mental Health for Teens, Dogs for Depression, Violence Against Women on College Campuses, Acceptance of Muslims, and multiple other timely topics.

apoore@jcsc.org

Students have been hard at work making Christmas gifts as a part of class projects.

PVE students have had a number of guest speakers introducing them to the world of work and job expectations.

adean@jcsc.org

The Construction classes have finished painting and refurbishing the JCHS baseball dugouts. They have also built benches that go on the west side of the high school. They are currently building a play house in the shop.

Manufacturing is working on a crate project as an assembly line activity and just finished up our CNC unit.

Tech Systems has also been working on manufacturing projects making prototype wooden toys and cutting boards.

PLTW courses - POE and EDD - Had a former JCHS student and Cummins Employee come in and discuss career opportunities with the students with a school-to-work program.

Transportation - Students are designing mouse trap cars and testing for speed and distance.

mbroughton@jcsc.org

Email: tblack@jcsc.org
Website: http://jchs.jcsc.org/
Location: 800 West Walnut Street, North Vernon, IN, United States
Phone: 812-346-5588