ConnectionsNeenah Joint School District

Community and Staff Newsletter - February 2014All of us in Neenah have known for a long time what it means to have “Neenah With Pride.” Now everyone in the state knows after our school earned the state’s Spirit of Excellence Award.

The Spirit of Excellence is an award presented on behalf of several state organizations to a school that best exemplifies school spirit, community service, sportsmanship, and leadership. Neenah is the first district in the northeastern part of the state to win the award and we couldn’t be prouder.

It’s an award we can all share in. Of course, it starts with our students and all their outstand-ing work and achievements. It’s also a credit to our incredible staff at every level. The traits recognized by this award are instilled by our elementary staff, fine-tuned by our middle school instructors, and perfected by our high school staff. In addition, this award is a tribute to our parents and our community. Many of them have gone through Neenah schools themselves and have passed that pride onto their children.

I invite you to take some time to go to our website and check out the nomination packet prepared by our student council (the packet is available within the article about the award). I’m sure you will be astounded by all the activities our stu-dents have done in representing their school. Amazingly, they were limited in how much they could highlight. There were many more that could have been included!

It’s been written in this space over and over that Neenah is a special place and we have schools in which we can all be proud. With this latest recognition our secret is out!

Dr. Mary PfeifferSuperintendent of Schools

Neenah Captures Wisconsin Spirit of Excellence Award

School spirit has been on full display during the past year at Neenah High School and it culminated with the school earning the prestigious Wisconsin Spirit of Excellence Award. Six regional winners of the award are selected with one being named the state winner. The Spirit of Excellence Award is in its seventh year honoring schools for achieving excellence in leadership, displaying sportsmanship, lowering the achievement gap and serving their school and communities. The award was presented at a ceremony on Feb. 17 in Pickard Auditorium. The award is selected by a team of Wisconsin school leaders, including representatives from the Wisconsin Association of School Councils (WASC), Association of Wisconsin School Ad-ministrators (AWSA), Wisconsin Athlet-ic Directors Association (WADA), Ro-tary and the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA). It is the first time Neenah has won the state’s Spirit of Excellence Award.

Neenah was a regional winner in 2011-12 when Adams-Friendship won the state honor for the second time. St. Croix Falls was the state recipient in 2012-13. Other previous winners were Waunakee, Verona and Sussex Hamilton. “This award represents the hard work of our students and staff in building a positive school environment,” Neenah High School Principal Brian Wunder-lich said. “I especially want to credit our student council, which was active in planning many of the activities and co-ordinating this award. This is a tremen-dous honor and we take great pride in the achievements of our school.” Representatives from Neenah will be honored at halftime of a Milwaukee Bucks game on March 16 and through a promotional spot that will air on Fox Sports Wisconsin and will also be high-lighted at the WIAA state basketball tournaments. The school will also be recognized at the WASC state conference in Madison on April 28.

Neenah High School student council members accepted the Wisconsin Spirit of Excellence trophy

at a school assembly on Feb. 17. The award honors schools for achieving excellence in leadership,

displaying sportsmanship, lowering the achievement gap and serving their school and communities.

A nationally-known program that combats bullying and helps inspire compassion and kindness came to Neenah High School on Feb. 13. Rachel’s Challenge, which has motivated high school students throughout the country, was presented to Neenah students during two assemblies. Named after the late Rachel Joy Scott, the first student killed at Col-umbine High School in 1999, Rachel’s Challenge is about igniting a “chain reaction of kindness,” because, as she wrote in her diaries, “people will never know how far a little kindness can go.” It was after reading Rachel’s journals chronicling her acts of kindness and common practice of reaching out to those who were different that her father, Darrell, and stepmother, Sandy, started Rachel’s Challenge. They hoped to spread a legacy of compassion in her honor. It is the first time Neenah has hosted the Rachel’s Challenge program. Throughout the week, teach-ers showed video clips and held pre-assembly dis-cussions. Following the assemblies, students held post-event discussions in their classes and made chain links with how they pledge to make the school community even better. The links will be amassed to-gether and displayed at the school. Students were also invited to sign a banner in accepting the challenge. Rachel’s inspiring story provides a simple, yet power-ful example of how small acts of kindness and accep-tance motivate students to consider their relationships with the people they come in contact with every day.

Around the District

NHS Students Inspired by Rachel’s Challenge

Twenty Neenah High School freshmen took part in the annual Fox Cities Teen

Symposium on Feb. 4 at the Radisson Paper Valley in Appleton. The students

learned skills about building advocacy, teamwork, and leadership skills, while de-

veloping positive values and volunteer opportunities. The event was coordinated

by the United Way Fox Cities Youth Board and the YMCA of the Fox Cities. The

theme was “YOUth be the Change.”

The Neenah students were selected by upperclass students from their Fresh-

man Seminar classes. They were accompanied by teacher Brian Borchardt, guid-

ance counselor Marcy Bauman and Associate Principal Bill Richardson. Students

spent the day doing leadership activities, hearing from motivational speakers and

learning about potential service projects. A resource fair also highlighted volunteer

opportunities throughout the Fox Valley.

At a recent school assembly, Ms. Lori Marzhal and Ms. Anne Cowling intro-

duced the Spring Road Peer Mediation program. The group consists of fourth

and fifth grade students that were selected by their teachers. The mediators

learned how to help their fellow students negotiate a constructive resolution

to their conflicts. The goal of Peer Mediation is to reduce the number of

student conflicts referred to teachers, administrators, and supervisors.

Students in kindergarten classes at various Neenah schools, including Ms.

Terri Beth Wood’s class at Roosevelt Elementary, celebrated the 100th day of

school by dressing like they were 100 years old.

School-by-School The Science Fair at Alliance and Roosevelt was held throughout the day and evening on Feb. 20. Classes had the opportunity to go through the gym to see the projects during the school day and parents visited in the evening. All projects received a certificate of completion as well as an award ribbon to celebrate the accom-plishment.

Clayton fourth graders recently completed a project where they did biographical research on a historical figure and then dressed as that person while giving a short presentation. Students were photographed in cos-tume along with their presentation in order to assemble a video titled, “Clayton’s Wax Museum.” The video is available on SchoolTube.

For a fundraiser, the Coolidge PTA organized a Papa Murphy’s Night on Feb. 6. Coolidge teachers volun-teered to help make pizzas at Papa Murphy’s with a portion of sales going to the PTA. Teachers helped top the pizzas, wrap them, hand out the orders, and pass out free samples. About 150 students showed up with their families. Ms. Debbie Rosera’s kindergarten class had the highest percentage of attendance to earn a pizza party.

Four Neenah High School students have advanced to finalist standing in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Calvin Baumgartner, Thomas Hameister, Laura Rafferty, and Emily Terlap were named semifinal-ists earlier this year and all qualified as finalists. They are competing for 8,200 scholarships which total more than $32 million. Winners will be determined in March and announced later in the spring.

Hoover Principal Debbie Wedding participated in a wellness education day with Hoover students by demonstrating some of the fitness stations for the students. The students enjoyed having their principal as the guest demonstrator. Wedding showed her skills to the students on such activities as the climbing wall, ropes, and balance beam.

Horace Mann was recognized with a Let’s Move! Active Schools Recognition Award. The award was given based on the healthy changes taking place at the school. All honored schools were provided a large indoor banner, a certificate of recognition, an electronic banner for the school’s website, and a congratulatory letter. More information is available at letsmoveschools.org.

Lakeview has 74 fourth and fifth graders participating in a program called Lakeview Laser Laps where students get a morning walk in the gymnasium before school or during lunch. During the first month, students logged over 10,000 laps and the top three monthly walkers each get t-shirts. The program is being coordinated by Ms. Karen Hovie and Ms. Tricia Retzlaff.

Recently, 19 Roosevelt students enjoyed dining at the “Buddy Bistro” while learning table manners, con-versation techniques, and healthy food choices. They then enjoyed breakfast for lunch catered by Papa’s Cafe on Feb. 13. Thanks to Papa’s Cafe, Theda Clark Hospital, Children’s Hospital and an anonymous donor for providing this wonderful celebration dinner.

Shattuck’s fishing club is holding ice fishing outings after school on Feb. 20 and 21. Mr. Chris Jones and Mr. Boyd Chessman are providing the equipment and the instructions. The group is also competing along with the Neenah High School teams and other state high schools at the Wisconsin ice fishing tournament on Feb. 22 on Lake Winnebago south of Oshkosh.

Spring Road students celebrated Digital Learning Day by blogging about their favorite books. Students were asked to bring a familiar book to their Library classes. They wrote blog entries about the books with the help of parent volunteers for the younger grades. Check out the blog entries by logging onto: http://kidblog.org/SpringRoadDigitalLearningDayBlog/

Several Taft Early Childhood, Title 1 Preschool, and Phono students, along with their parents, recently enjoyed a story time day at the Neenah Public Library. During the morning, students were read stories by a library staff member. Afterwards, students browsed through books with their teachers while librarians shared with parents what the library has to offer preschoolers.

Tullar students performed their hula hooping and jump roping skills for the second straight year at the Neenah varsity girls basketball game on Feb. 7 as part of Heart Disease Awareness month and the team’s “Red Out” game. Students performed hula hooping and jump roping activities to music for nearly five minutes to entertain the crowd.

Wilson held its annual Jump Rope For Heart fundraiser on Feb. 7. The event had a record 172 jumpers participate, raising a staggering $9,566.50 for the American Heart Association. The entire Wilson Staff all pitched in their support by buying “Red Out” shirts from Ms. Kim Woodkey. One student, Vinny Jourdan, raised over $1,100 by himself.

What’s HappeningFeb.-March 2014 School Calendar

Feb. 25 .......District Choir Festival (Pickard), 7 p.m.26................Parent/Teacher Conf. (Grades 6-12), 4:30-8:30 p.m.27................Parent/Teacher Conf. (Grades K-12), 12:30-8:30 p.m.27................Early Dismissal - All Levels (Parent/Teacher Conf.)27................NHS Student Council “Coffee House” (Cafeteria), 7 p.m.28................Parent/Teacher Conf. (Grades K-5), 7:45-11:45 a.m.28................No School - All Levels (Parent/Teacher Conf.)Mar. 6 ..........Clayton Spring Concert (Pickard), 6:30 p.m.11 ................Spring Road Spring Concert (Pickard), 6:30 p.m.12................Early Dismissal - All Levels (Professional Learning Day)13-16 ..........Middle School Musical (Shattuck Auditorium)

New boundaries have been approved for Neenah’s elementary schools following a vote by the Board of Education on Feb. 18. The changes were necessitated in December when the Board approved repurposing Taft Elementary to serve students in kin-dergarten through fifth grade beginning in the fall of 2014. The intention of the entire project is to keep elementary class sizes low and allow as many students to attend their neighbor-hood schools as possible. Currently, about 150 Neenah students are not attending their “home” school and 85 kindergarten students have been relocated to Taft. Families will be notified of their school assignment by mail and will continue to have the opportunity to request a transfer.

Elementary Boundaries Set

Neenah Celebrates Career and Technical Education MonthCareer and Technical Education (CTE) was a focus during the month of February as Neenah students engaged in several events to promote their achievements.Top Left: Neenah’s Project Lead the Way program had a booth at the Wisconsin Education Convention in Milwaukee. Neenah students dis-played projects from their classes to administrators and school board members from throughout Wisconsin.Bottom Left: Puzzle Cube Day was held at Neenah High School on Feb. 7 as students invited community members into the classroom to solve puzzles they designed in a manufacturing and engineering assignment.Bottom Right: An open house was held in the Neenah High School weld-ing area on Feb. 10 to show administrators, community members, and school board members the exciting things happening with the school’s newest program. Visitors even had a chance to put on the equipment and experience welding for themselves.