Kaden Therkildsen and Kennedy Bradburn were recognized for their leadership by Pinnacle Bank and Midland University. They attended a Leaders Luncheon on Midland University campus along with fifty other juniors from eighteen different schools.
Wow! We have some talented students at Fort Calhoun Elementary. Last Thursday, March 28th, students displayed a variety of talents ranging from singing to magic to archery. It was a fun show for all. Thank you to all who helped put it together especially Mrs. Benoit and the Elementary Student Council. Also, helping out were Miss Bryan with music and Mr. Dave and the 6th graders for set up and clean up. And of course we also need to thank all the supportive parents who helped their children prepare for the event. Great job everyone!
In 1st grade science, the students are learning about tools to measure weather. The students worked together to create a model of a wind vane. They worked in groups to make a plan, build, and test their model. We had perfect windy days to test our models and many were successful!
The Fort Calhoun Science Fair was on Monday, March 18th. The winners at the Junior High level were –
1st – Adriana Hernandez with “Which pet eats more food?”
2nd – Megan Braymen with “Will creamer or milk with coffee stain teeth worse?”
3rd – Raegen Wells with “Removing stains”
The Freshman winners were –
1st – Aaron Swanson and Ethan Shaner with “Donutology”
2nd – Amya Coon and Lucia Perez Valencia with “How does blood spatter effect a crime scene?”
3rd – Eriauna Wolf and Katherine Jabens with “In which liquid do skittles lose their color fastest?”
And the overall winners were –
Morgan Therkildsen and Tessa Skelton with “Battery Grass”
Congratulations to the High School Quiz Bowl team on their first Capitol Conference championship since 2008! Zoe Fickbohm, Ben Haggar, Grant Hansen, Avery McKennan, John McKennan, and Aaron Johnson went undefeated, notching wins against Syracuse, DC West, and two wins against the defending champions, Platteview, to capture the title. The team will represent Fort Calhoun at the ESU 3 tournament on Monday, March 11, with a chance to go to the state Quiz Bowl competition in April. Great job, guys!
Congratulations to the art students who earned awards from this year’s Scholastic State Art competition. On Saturday March 2nd the students attended a ceremony, held annually, at the Omaha Public Schools Teacher Administrative Center building. There were over 3,800 works of art submitted from students across the state of Nebraska, and just over 34% earned awards. Fort Calhoun students earned a total of 29 awards, with multiple students earning multiple awards. All the entries that received awards from across the state will be on display at the Omaha Public Schools Teacher Administrative Center, located at 3215 Cuming St., from February 26 until March 29, 2019.
Award recipients are as follows
Katie Barta, 9 – Two Gold Key for Drawing and Illustration
Cory Underwood, 9 – Honorable Mention, Still life Drawing and Illustration
Cameron Reynolds, 10 – Honorable Mention, Bluejay Painting
Kennedy Bradburn, 11 – Gold Key, October 1, 1994, Printmaking
Bailey Donovan – 11 Silver Key, Who We Are, Mixed Media
Bailey Donovan, 11 – Gold Key, Pick a Spott, Printmaking
Evelyn Holmstedt, 11 – Silver Key Peacock, Printmaking
Alyssa Mitchell, 11 – Silver Key, Kernel Printmaking
Nathan Blizzard, 12 – Honorable Mention Life Short Film
Nathan Blizzard, 12 – Silver Key Earth, Short Film
Nathan Blizzard, 12 – Silver Key, Importance Portfolio
Nathan Blizzard, 12 – Silver Key, Bullying Short Film
Nathan Blizzard, 12 – Gold Key, Fisherman Short Film
Emelia Finke, 12 – Two Honorable Mentions for Painting and Drawing and Illustration
Espen Hervik, 12 – Honorable Mention Mjolnir (Hammer of Thor) Mixed Media
Avery McKennan, 12 – Honorable Mention, Heirlooms, Mixed Media
Avery McKennan, 12 – Silver Key, Oh Brother, Drawing and Illustration
Avery McKennan, 12 – Silver Key, Yes, I Made That, Portfolio
Avery McKennan, 12 – Silver Key, Eagle Sculpture
Avery McKennan, 12 – Gold Key, Chicken Pox, Mixed Media
Avery McKennan, 12 – Gold Key, Grandpa, Drawing/Illustration
Avery McKennan, 12 – Gold Key, What Are You Staring At? Drawing and Illustration
Stephanie Mlynarik, 12 – Two Honorable Mentions for Portfolio and Sculpture
Stephanie Mlynarik, 12 Two Silver Key for Drawing and Illustration and Painting
Nate Premer, 12 – Silver Key, Blue Macaw Printmaking
Nathan Blizzard’s video “Fisherman” won a Gold Kay Award in Short Film
Mrs. Wellman-HighHorse’s English 12 class is reading the memoir “Night”, written by Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel. They attended the “Searching for Humanity” Holocaust exhibit at the SAC Museum. Students had a guided tour of the Holocaust exhibit, participated in an anti-bias and the dangers of being a bystander activity, and listened to a speaker whose mother was a Holocaust survivor. Two students who attended reported that it was very touching and they went through a “roller coaster of emotions.” They said, of course, it was very sad but then hearing stories about how some children were rescued and how second-generation survivors are keeping the memories of their ancestors alive is touching too.
Pictures by Sara Wellman-HighHorse
Congratulations to Landon Miller, Tristan Fuhrman, Jayden Hunter and Brandon Evans who performed very well at the Elkhorn Band Olympics on February 16th. Landon placed 5th with his Bari-Sax, Tristan and Brandon also placed 5th in percussion, and Jayden received gold for with his Alto-Sax. Great Job Boys!
Students at Fort Calhoun Elementary participated in a fun art project recently. The PFE sponsored an Artist in Residence, Julia Noyes from UNL. The program involved the entire school and consisted of a curriculum-based art project developed and conducted by Julia. The students learned about the
Pull out that old trunk or stash of old family photos and see if you can fill one of the gaps! Read on to get the “scoop” on this project.
As some of you know we are in the process of putting together a display system to recognize, and celebrate students past and present. The system is made up of a number of components, the Trophy case, the Wall of Excellence, the Runner-up Wall, the Alumni Center and an electronic records center that will allow us to show case all manner of information about a student’s accomplishments over the years, whether it be an activity, sport, fine art, academics, or whatever it might be.
This in many ways is a huge and daunting task, but as they say “no pain, no gain”. We have a good part of the physical components of system put together but are awaiting a few additional parts that will not come out of production until the middle of March. We are working diligently in every spare moment to add data to the system, there is enough now so you can see the capabilities and what the potential is for the system. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out the next time you are in the building, and if you like what you see, be sure and thank Mr. Wemhoff, as he has taken the lead on the countless hours of work it has taken to get it thus far.
My specific interest and effort are in the historical aspect of the system. Thanks to everyone who searched their closet or storage area to find and loan yearbooks. We are hot on the trail of the last two yearbooks, 1979 and 1975, as soon as we have them in hand, we will be sending all of the yearbooks for the District off to be scanned, which will make them available on the touch screen. What we learned gathering the yearbooks, the first yearbook (as we know them) was produced for the District in 1955, there wasn’t a yearbook for 1956 as the company went bankrupt before it was produced. They did not do yearbooks in 1960, 1961, 1962 or 1963, not sure why.
The next thing we need assistance with are class photographs. The first graduating class for Fort Calhoun Community Schools was 1893. Our goal is to find photographs for every class from 1893 until present day. Since we have yearbooks from 1955 until present day, we have those years with the exception of 1960. For the years from 1940 until 1954, we need these years, 1952, 1946, 1945, 1942 and 1940. For the years from 1893 until 1939 it is easier to list the years we have, they are 1937, 1936, 1935, 1925, 1902, 1901, 1894, and 1893. If you have old photos please look to see if you have one of the missing years. We would greatly appreciate it ifyou would allow us to borrow and scan a photo from a missing year. Thanks to a document produced by students in 1933 (a history of the District) we have the names for each graduating class from 1893 until 1933 already in the system, now we just need photos!
If you have questions you can call or e-mail Jennifer Gepson, 402-468-5591, jgepson@ftcpioneers.org, or if you find a photo you are willing to lend so we can scan, you can drop it of Monday through Friday at the High School office.