Northwest Junior High Newsletter

Hello Vikings,

Welcome to third trimester! We have several things to look forward to this trimester from Spring Break, dances, track season and our end of the year NW traditions where students do service projects and have fun. Our PSTO has plans to put on an international night in the spring, so keep an eye out for more information regarding the festivities.

I want to announce that we have a new attendance and sports administrative assistant, Lauren Rios. Lauren previously worked as our administrative assistant for media. Please continue to communicate your student’s attendance needs with her. For those of you planning to have your student take extended days off, please communicate the plans with Mrs. Rios ASAP and she will reach out for administrative approval. Don’t forget that we will break for spring 3/13-3/17. I look forward to a relaxing break with family.

Thanks,

Laura Cottrell, Principal

Lauren Rios is a native Iowan. She lives in North Liberty with her husband and daughter. They have two dogs, five fish, and a gerbil named Junior. This is her sixth year at Northwest. Ms. Rios’s favorite subject in school was English Lit. She enjoys reading and watching movies. We at Northwest are excited to have Lauren as part of our team!

Wednesday, March 8 - 6:00 p.m. Seminar Class' Project in the Little Theatre

Thursday, March 9 - 4:00 p.m. Wrestling Meet @ North Central

March 13-17 - No School (Spring Break)

Monday, March 20 - Track Practice Begins

Tuesday, March 21 - Parent Support Meeting from 4:30-5:30 p.m. in the LIttle Theatre

Tuesday, March 21 - Track Parent Meeting @ 6:00 p.m. in the Little Theatre

Wednesday, March 29 - 11:45 a.m. PSTO meeting

Friday, March 31 - Math Counts State Competition

Thank you to everyone who contributed and helped pack “Feed Your Brain” snack packs for the students. With all the donations, we were able to pack 240 bags, each with a personalized note of encouragement. We also completed 20 Literacy Book kits for the United Way which will be distributed to local elementary school incoming kindergartners.

There was a fabulous turnout for the February PSTO meeting where Molly Abraham, West High Assistant Principal, spoke about higher education credit opportunities that are available at West High. We learned that taking Advanced Placement classes, taking classes through the Kirkwood Regional Center part of the day, and/or at the University of Iowa, can help students earn college credits at a free or reduced price. She also encouraged students to try at least one AP class during their high school career and to take the test at the end. Test fees are usually about $90 and a test score of 3, 4, or 5 can qualify your student for college credit. Each institution may award different levels of credit depending on scores or rules for a major. Several stories were shared about West students who went directly to their sophomore year in college after pursuing these opportunities.

Do you have a topic you’d like to hear about from our school board or administrators? Email Sherri Proud at proudjspm@gmail.com.

Next PSTO meeting is Wednesday, March 29 at 11:45 a.m.

Track Meets:

April 6 - 3:45 p.m. @ City High - SE/NW/NC (SE Home meet)

April 13 - 3:45 p.m. @ West High - NC/NW/SE (NC home meet)

April 18 - 4:30 p.m. @ West High - NW/SE/NC (NW home meet)

April 25 - 4:30 p.m. @ West High (NW Invitational)

April 27 - 3:45 p.m. @ City High (SE Classic)

May 9 - 4:30 p.m. @ West High (NC Invitational)

Practice Times:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday: 4:15 - 5:45 p.m.

Thursday: 3:15 - 4:45 p.m.

Coaches:

7th Grade Girls – Jeff Kuepker

8th Grade Girls – Sue Chelf

7th Grade Boys – Andrew Durham

8th Grade Boys – Kevin Koffron

Boys/Girls Distance – Brian Martz

Boys/ Girls Throws – Genevieve Harnack

Track Parent Meeting

6:00 p.m. on March 21 in the Little Theater

NW Track meets need parent volunteers to help our meets run smoothly!

Please sign up using the link below or email Lauren Rios at rios.lauren@iowacityschools.org.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0d4eafae2aa5f49-track

The annual athletic booster fundraiser pancake breakfast will be held on Saturday, April 8 from 6:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. at West High School.

The Northwest Math Club won the Herbert Hoover Chapter Competition Saturday, February 11, at West High School. The winning team of four were Kevin Lu, Ananth Shyamal, Divya Shyamal, and Reece Yang. Reece was the overall individual champion. The Northwest Club had the top 15 finishers and swept the individual awards. The following students will be moving on to the state competition on March 31: Reece Yang, Ananth Shyamal, Divya Shyamal, Kevin Lu, Bill Chen, Dominic Rutkowski, Sanghyuk Im, Ashley Seo, Nathan Deyak, and Quincy Tate.

Each year, the Old Capitol Sertoma Club and Iowa City Optimists sponsor an essay contest open to all eighth grade students in Johnson County. The essay contest focuses on issues related to our country’s government or national heritage. The topic of this year’s essay was; “Why is a peaceful transition of power important for a democracy?” This year, Katherine Geerdes was selected as the finalist from Northwest Junior High. She attended the awards luncheon on February 22nd, with Ms. Cottrell, Mr. Schroeder and her parents. Congratulations to Katherine and all of the students who participated in this year’s contest!

Dear Northwest Families,

The Eighth-Grade Seminar Teams have been hard at work learning about equity and its possible impact on Northwest Junior High. As concerned students, we have been researching how we can give every student at Northwest the same access to educational success. Specifically, looking into how to benefit those who may want to, but are not able to participate in after school activities because of transportation issues.

In order to achieve this goal, we have collaborated with Joan VandenBerg, the Iowa City Extended Day Learning Coordinator. This trimester we created a website, a petition, created NED talks, which are our Northwest version of TED talks, and wrote a grant to study the effects of equity on cities and to work specifically to get funding for an after school activities bus.

Here’s where you come in. We need more signatures on the petition. All you have to do is go to our website and go to the petition section in our menu https://icequityproject.org/ Click on the menu bar, hit petition, and add your name and email. So far we have 236 signatures but we still need more. You can also see our recent NED talks, video diaries, and our progress throughout this trimester equity project.

Finally, we invite you to come to our event on March 8th. Both Seminar Teams will be showcasing their projects. This event will be from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. in the Northwest Little Theater.

The Seminar teams thank you for your time and help!

My 7th/8th grade science class is learning about water. We spend quite a bit of time learning about diseases and contaminated water. My class has set up a campaign through Charity Water. Please consider looking at the site and possibly donating. My students are always so impressed at how much we actually raise. A couple of years ago we raised $600.00. We set the goal this year at $700.00.

Please take a look…

https://donate.charitywater.org/heather-schmitt-3/schmitt-s-science-class

There is still time to sign your daughter up for Heart & Sole! Go to www.girlsontheruniowa.org to register!

Heart & Sole is the Girls on the Run program for junior high girls. We meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. at NWJH for the next 8 weeks and will run a 5k on May 6th. For more information, visit www.girlsontheruniowa.org.

The deadline to register is March 10th!

Per Iowa law, at the start of the 2017-18 school year there will be two immunizations required for 7th grade entry. These immunizations are Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis/whooping cough) and meningococcal (to prevent meningitis, a bacteria that infects the brain, blood and spinal cord). The meningococcal shot is a new requirement for the 2017-18 school year. The Tdap shot has been required since 2013-14. Some students will have already received these shots during their regular physical exams. Please check your child’s immunization record to find out if they had the Tdap booster and Meningitis shot. Please turn in the documentation to school if the shots were received.

According to the new meningococcal shot state law, students that have not received the immunization will not meet the mandatory immunization requirement and no grace period to catch-up will be given. (There is a short grace period for the Tdap shot however). Students will not be able to come to school on the first day of the 2017-18 school year if parents have not provided documentation that their child received the meningococcal shot. Parents should call their child’s health care provider now to make appointments for these immunizations. Johnson County Public Health also provides the immunizations at no cost to children with or without health insurance. Please call 319-356-6042 to make an appointment.

Feel free to contact the school nurse at your child’s elementary school if you have questions or need assistance getting the required immunizations.

Parents, are you interested in participating in a support group surrounding your junior high student with disciplinary issues? If so, come out for a meet and greet with Mrs. Wells. Grantwood AEA school social worker, Stephanie Watson-Mendoza, will be there to answer questions and provide parents with ideas. The meeting will take place March 21 at 4:30 p.m. in the Little Theater.

It is the policy of the Iowa City Community School District not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability, or socioeconomic status in its educational programs, activities, or employment practices. If you believe you have (or your child has) been discriminated against or treated unjustly at school, please contact the District Equity Director, at 1725 N. Dodge St., Iowa City, IA 52245, 319-688-1000.

Email: rios.lauren@iowacityschools.org
Website: www.iowacityschools.org/northwestjh
Location: 1507 8th Street, Coralville, IA, United States
Phone: 319-688-1060
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/northwestjuniorhighschool/