Explorations in "Nature"

The week of April 2-5^th students in Mrs. Lanphear’s English III were studying American essayists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and the American Transcendentalists of the 1850’s. Although the reading was difficult, students rose to the challenge. Mrs. Lanphear stated, “With great work comes great rewards,” and on Wednesday, April 4^th students were allowed to temporarily leave campus with their instructor for a “nature hike.” The hike lasted approximately 35 minutes. After reaching their destination (the Chadron water tower across the street from the high school), students spread out across the front of the hill, nestled into their seats in nature, and worked silently and separately to complete their “sensory charts”—where they recorded the things they could see, smell, hear, taste, and touch.

The whole adventure was intended to help students connect with Emerson’s thoughts in his essay “Nature.” Once back in the classroom, students used their charts to write a descriptive paragraph chronicling their outdoor experience. The following class period students were required to write a second paragraph where they connected their nature experience to Emerson’s using MLA cited quotes from his text. When asked how Emerson’s belief “that the magnificent American landscape itself” could inspire new American perspectives (a reoccurring theme of this American Literature based class), students concluded that “Chadron looked small” from on top of the hill and that Emerson must have felt small in the natural world too. Finally, after the brief discussion, students headed to the computer lab to meet global and digital learning standards by sharing their ideas with one another on the classroom blog site “Blogging with Mrs. Lanphear.”  

See their work here: http://bloggingwithmrslanphear.blogspot.com/

FBLA Attends State Conference

The Chadron High Future Leaders of America attended the annual State Leadership Conference in Omaha on March 29-31, which was the 50^th Celebration Year of Nebraska FBLA.  While at the conference, students went on a big business tour of the TD Ameritrade Center, listened to the keynote speaker, Keith Hawkins, and attended a variety of workshops.  But most importantly, Chadron students competed amongst all class levels in many different business competitions.  Chadron was represented well by the local FBLA chapter as students took trips across the stage to receive their awards.  Peyton Hinn and Bailea Kerr placed 4^th with their E-Business Project. Chrissy Calamari made it into semi-finals of job interview and received an honorable mention for her achievement. Trevor Hinn made it into the final round of Impromptu Speaking and landed an 8^th place spot.  Caston Stack represented Chadron well with a 7^th place finish in Introduction to Technology Concepts and an honorable mention in Keyboarding Knowledge.  Honors also went to Ashlynne Noble and Kaylee Gaswick for qualifying for the All-State Quality Member and Trevor Hinn was Chadron’s representative for Who’s Who in Nebraska FBLA and received a plaque for that honor.  As a chapter, Chadron received the Sweepstakes Award also earning a plaque. The following is a list of the awards and accomplishments among members in attendance:

·      E-Business – Peyton Hinn and Bailea Kerr – 4^th  Place (out of 4 teams)

·      Impromptu Speaking – Trevor Hinn – 7^th Place (out of 40 students)

·      Job Interview – Chrissy Calamari – Honorable Mention (top 4% of 432 students)

·      Keyboarding Knowledge – Caston Stack – Honorable Mention (top 4% of 359 students)

·      Introduction To Technology Concepts – Caston Stack – 7^th Place (out of 157 students)

·      Web Site Design – Kaylee Gaswick, Taylor Stotheide and Jaycee Housh – 8^th Place (out of 12 teams)

·      All-State Quality Member Award – Ashlynne Noble and Kaylee Gaswick

·      Chapter Sweepstakes Award

·      Who’s Who in Nebaska FBLA Award – Trevor Hinn

CHS Hosts Local Welding Competition

On April 13th, the day of the Chadron State College Scholastic Day Contest, Chadron High School will host a welding contest to promote the Industrial Arts program.

Schools from Crawford, Pine Ridge Job Corps, Chadron, and Gordon-Rushville will bring students to compete in individual and team competion in two divisions: Welding I and Welding II.

In Welding I, each team will be able to have one first-year welding student compete in the Oxy-fuel welding, Mig welding, arc butt & lap welding and finally the tee welds.  Welding I students will also complete a 30 question welding exam.  In the the Welding II competition, teams of two students will complete welds in the vertical up and down tee weld, as well as horizontal and overhead welding. Teams of four students will weld in the cube competition.

Schools were sent designs which list the specific skills and are bringing their own welding rod, metal cut to size and tacked, and safety equipment.

This is the first year that a welding competition has been organized. A special thanks to Chadron High teacher, Jon Cogdill for his efforts in putting this competition together.

2nd Annual Big Buck Contest

 Today after school, Chadron High Students participated in the 2nd Annual Big Buck Contest. This 'contest' is actually an event held to teach students different scoring elements of deer antlers. Any student is welcome to participate by bringing 'cleaned' antlers from deer, typically from last fall's hunting season. Nebraska Game and Parks Wildlife Biologists, Steve Masek and Nick Dobesh, showed students how to properly measure antlers of deer for scoring for Boone & Crockett (rifle season) or Pope & Young (archery season). Students are also taught the differences in scoring between white tail and mule deer breeds as well as the differences in typical and non-typical scoring. Further, our local wildlife biologists share insights to aging a deer by inspecting the teeth of the deer.

This event involves a lot of measuring using scoring sheets and provides an opportunity for students to learn more about topics in wildlife sciences as well as the mathematical elements involved in measuring and working with fractions.

This event was first created last year through discussions with several Chadron Public School teachers: Jon Cogdill, Clete Budler, Jerry Mack, CJ Bach, and Eric Calkins. In our area of the state, many students (and teachers) have an interest in hunting. Connecting educational content with this interest helps open our classroom subjects to the outside world.

A special thanks to the Nebraska Game and Parks for their time and support of this program.

(Updated) No School Tues (March 27th) Due to Wind Damage

No school for high school students March 27th!

Due to a strong gust of wind Monday evening at approximately 5:45pm, major damage was sustained to the high school gymnasium roof. Sections of the roof are completely missing, witnessed blowing as far as Cedar Street.

Roofing contractors will arrive at 7:00am Tuesday morning to assess the damage and safety of the structure. Students and staff at the high school will not have school to give time for a proper evaluation. Loose pieces of roofing are observed hanging over the edges of the gym, causing hazards around the exterior of the school.

All K-12 students are already dismissed from school on Wednesday, March 28th for a district-wide inservice for staff.

(Updated) After the Tuesday morning inspection, it appears that the damage was limited to the roof of the gymnasium. Our current plans are to lock off all entrances to the gym, we'll still have access to the rest of the building, including locker rooms. At this time, the gym will be closed indefinitely to allow for immediate work for contractors.

Inspection shows that at least half of the gym roof separated from existing structures, causing part of the roof to tear apart scattering debris across the roof and nearby grounds.

Aggregate Science Lab

Mr. Lecher's Aggregate Science class has been studying preliminary physics and as part of the unit they learn how machines change change the size or direction of a force.  Pulley systems are used to demonstrate this principle.