Vision: De Soto High School ensures all students learn at a high level and have a positive sense of belonging, developing each student to be ready for their future.

Wildcats and Families,

We do not have school on Monday, January 20th in observance of the national holiday recognizing Dr. Martin Luther King Day Jr. We will return to a White Day on Tuesday, January 21st.

Congratulations to DHS Debate! Both the 4-Speaker team of Chloe Yamaashi, El Wilson, Zaiden Celis, Elodie Monroe, and Austin Chase, and the 2-Speaker team of Aurora Straight and Amelia Caylor placed 3rd at the KSHSAA Class 5A State Championships. Nice Job!

Student Wildcats of the Month: Congratulations to the following students for being recognized as the Wildcats of the Month for January. Each department is recognizing the following students for being academically engaged as part of The WildCAT Way.

• Performing and Fine Arts – Savannah Hendry
• CTE – Dylan Roy
• English – Allie Dear
• Math – Isabel Hixson
• Social Studies – Leah Blom
• Science – Emily Morris
• PE – Brieya Henderson
• World Language – Rowan Neighbors

Staff Wildcats of the Month: Congratulations to the DHS Custodians and Sean Riley! Both are our Wildcats of the Month for January. Oue custodians worked hard during our snow days to clear the sidewalks and entryways of DHS. Mr. Riley teaches Newspaper, 21st Century Journalism, and Photo Imaging. We appreciate all that they do for our students.

Career Panel Series Continues: This week's featured Career Panel includes professionals from the field of Government & Public Administration. Students interested in learning more can sign up to attend during seminar on Wednesday, January 22nd, via Minga Flextime. Look for DHS Career Panel - Government & Public Administration.

We are looking for professionals in the areas listed in the Career Panel Series graphic (included below). If you are interested in sharing your career story and contributing to our students' future successes, please complete this link.

Semester 1 grades have been posted in Skyward. Students with an incomplete need to contact their teacher to schedule a time to take the Final Exam. Due to the number of days school has been cancelled, we have extended the deadline to Friday, January 24th.

On Thursday, January 30th our students will have a special opportunity to hear from World War 2 veterans during an assembly in the PAC during seminar. All 11th grade students will attend. Students in other grades may attend by signing up via Minga.

Snowball Week begins Monday, February 3rd. The spirit week includes daily dress-up themes and an all-school assembly taking place during Seminar before Friday night's basketball game against Leavenworth. The dance will take place at DHS on Saturday, February 8th. Spirit day themes can be found on the flyer below.

Future Wildcat Night: Academic and Activity Expo: All students and parents are invited to join us on Wednesday, February 5th, for an exciting evening to explore all that our school has to offer! The event kicks off with an information session for current 8th-grade students and their parents from 6:00 PM to 6:30 PM in the PAC. Following this session, from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM, students and parents in grades 8–11 are invited to meet our teachers and student leaders to learn about academic programs, course pathways, and extracurricular activities. This event is a great opportunity to gather the information you need to make informed decisions about course selection and activity involvement for the upcoming school year.

Future Events:

• Wednesday, January 22nd: Career Panel Series: Government & Public Administration
• Thursday, January 30th: World War II Veterans Assembly
• Wednesday, February 5th: Future Wildcat Night, Academic & Activities Expo
• Saturday, February 8th: Snowball Dance
• Wednesday & Thursday, February 12th - 13th: Spring Parent Teacher Conferences
• Tuesday, February 25th: Junior ACT

Thank you,

Sam Ruff

Principal

De Soto High School

On Saturday, January 11th, the DHS Science Olympiad team competed in the Pembroke Hill invitational tournament at Pembroke Hill Upper School. Twenty-four area high schools competed in 23 events ranging from building and engineering challenges to knowledge and skills testing across the scientific disciplines. Despite the challenges presented by weather and distance, the team came together to take on the Missouri private school crowd and ended up placing in a few events:

Astronomy, 2nd place: Evan Johnsson and Addy Easter

Ecology, 5th place: Braden Hoffman and Chloe Yamaashi

Write it, Do it, 3rd place: Braden Hoffman and Izzy Ohlsen

Please congratulate the following students if you see them; they appreciate your support. 😊

Freshman: Zaiden Celis, Wyatt Lux

Sophomore: Evan Brame, Addy Easter, Braden Hoffman, Gavin Meisch, Chloe Yamaashi,

Juniors: Matthew Barber, Izzy Ohlsen

Seniors: Evan Johnsson, Diego Diaz

Our next competition is the regional tournament at JCCC on Saturday, February 22nd.

DHS had 6 students compete in individual events and all performed wonderfully! You can see the events they participated in and their scores below:

Highest to lowest scoring categories: Superior, Excellent, Good, Fair

Carson Hanley- Solo Musical theatre song- Superior (qualified to compete at International Thespian Festival!)

Savannah Hendry- Solo Musical theatre song- Excellent

Rose Rulifson- Solo Musical theatre song- Excellent

Brooke Mermis, Lily MacDougall, and Mailee Nguyen- Group Acting Scene- Excellent

Additionally, all students that attended the trip participated in a One Act performance, which took 2nd place overall!

Wednesday, February 12th, 5:45pm-8:00pm at Trailridge Middle School in Shawnee Mission School District

Examine the strengths and struggles of ADHD.

· Walk through the dangers of the “Avoidance Cycle” that ADHD, Anxiety & Depression all feed into, including how they can lead to self-harm urges; lack of motivation; and self-abusive intrusive thoughts, including suicidal ideation.

· Overview the BOLD process for making “Wise Mind” decisions that allows both parents and young people to move toward the things that matter most to them, including: identity formation, emotion regulation and motivation.

· Provide concrete next steps as many of the community partners will be offering parent support classes starting within weeks of the event.

Click here to register

Parents can have peace of mind in knowing your student’s search history and time on their device. See your student’s online activity in real-time and catch up with weekly email snapshots by signing up with the Securly app.

Sunflower House is hosting FREE Trainings in February! They will be held in the Sunflower House Training Room (15440 W. 65th St., Shawnee, KS- West Entrance) or via Zoom. This will be indicated in the training descriptions below. These programs are available to the community, so please feel free to share with staff, parents, caregivers, community members, etc. Please see below for information on the topics. Please register at https://sunflowerhouse.org/prevention-training-programs/

School partners- the 2025 Sunflower House Training Calendar (in house) is linked for your reference. Thank you!

2025 Sunflower House Education Trainings Calendar Link

Keeping Kids Safe Online

2/6/25 12-1:30 pm *via Zoom

Learn more about possible dangers of internet usage, practical safety tips & tools and the cyber crime reporting process. Presentation covers electronic safety concepts, including gaming systems, apps, AI, current and local trends and other wireless/internet communication. *Presentation designed/presented by Sunflower House, Overland Park Police Department and FBI Cyber Crime Task Force. This program is hr in length; session appropriate for adults; no clock hours available.

Families, the State of Kansas provided free over-the-counter covid tests, which are located in a basket in the front office. Free to take, no names or sign up required; no need to share the result with the school nurse unless you choose to do so.

This year, the DHS athletics department will be using HUDL (not NFHS) to live stream all home events. To get your subscription, use this link: https://fan.hudl.com/dhswildcatnation

Single game, monthly, or year long subscription options are available.

DHS Counselors and Social Workers

Mrs. Crissy Johns (cjohns@usd232.org): Last name A – D

Ms. Abbey Heller (aheller@usd232.org): Last name E – K

Mrs. Lainee Graham (lgraham@usd232.org): Last name L – Q

Mrs. Kaitlin Morrell (kaitlin.morrell@usd232.org): Last name R - Z

Mr. Joe Kordalski, Social Worker (Rkordalski@usd232.org)

Mrs. Debra Landis, Social Worker (dlandis@usd232.org)

While we plan to continue to allow students to use their mobile devices during passing periods and lunch, we would also ask that parents have a conversation with their students about appropriate use. Taking pictures or videos of other students without their consent and then sharing those pictures/videos or posting them online can be a form of social harassment or bullying, and will be handled as such. Please refer to the information posted on the district website regarding bullying and harassment. Thank you for helping us address this issue with our students.