March 7th, 2016

The News of Southwest Middle School

Some Southwest teachers are using competition to get healthier. On February 26th, about 20 teachers signed up for a wellness chal-

lenge. The Teacher Wellness Challenge was started years ago by Bren to motivate herself and her fellow teachers to lose weight and

live healthier. Teachers compete against each other in a set of two separate competitions. The first one is the wellness competition.

Teachers gain points each day if they sleep seven hours, have five servings of fruits and vegetables, take 10,000 steps a day or exercise

30 minutes, read, and drink 64 ounces of water. The teacher with the most points wins a small prize at the end of the first competi-

tion. The second competition lasts until the final day of school. The teachers keep track of the percent-

age of weight they lose at the end of each month and add the totals of all the percentages together at the

end. The teacher with the most percentage lost wins that competition and receives a large prize. Smaller

prizes are given out as well for the most lost each month.

One of the previous competition’s competitors and second place winner, Sara Skillman, said,

“I take part in the competition to set a good example for my students.” Skillman said that her favorite

part about taking part in the Teacher Wellness Competition is “it builds comradery and accountability.

You get to meet new teachers and work towards a goal together.” Skillman, Bren, and 20 others will be

competing in both challenges this year.

By Ocean Eberlein, Avalon Gayton, Wyatt Noonan, and Jaydon Rogers

Southwest Ready to Save Lives By Izzi Arguello, Brendan Flack, Megan Gisi, Tyler Nielson, and Dawson

Segrist

Recently there was a class held at Southwest Middle School for the teachers and staff. Those

who attended learned adult, child, and infant CPR as well as how to respond to a choking vic-

tim. Using an AED (automated external defibrillator) for adults and children was also taught.

There were 17 people at the training held at Southwest. Eighth grade math teacher Crystal

McMachen attended the class. She stated, “CPR is so important that I believe everyone should

learn it. It was a great opportunity to have the class here at Southwest.”

The CPR class was organized and taught by Michael Frost. Frost is college student at the University of South Dakota Sanford

School of Medicine. He is a third year medical student who is working on obtaining his MD. He is also a certified American Heart

Association BLS/CPR instructor. He hopes that through offering CPR classes that all college graduates will be CPR certified. All to-

gether Frost and his classmates have been able to train about 150 staff members in the RCAS district. In total Frost has taught 13 clas-

ses. He has held classes at Stevens and Central High Schools; East, West, and Southwest Middle Schools; South Park, Grandview, Val-

ley View, Pinedale, South Canyon, Robbinsdale, Horace Mann, Knollwood, and Canyon Lake Elementary Schools.

After the staff are trained, Frost and his classmates can help the school staff teach CPR to the students. He said, “The more

individuals in a community that know CPR, the better off a community will be. Time is crucial when a person’s heart stops. The faster

a trained individual can start high quality compressions and use an AED correctly, the better the chance that patient has of surviving.”

P.E. teacher Scott Sebbo said he would like South Dakota lawmakers to pass a law requiring all teachers to be certified for

CPR and sixth through eighth grade student to be taught and certified as well.

Wellness Competition

Page 1

Teacher Spotlight: Nicole Larrabee

Page 2

By Meah Colley, Bella Morton, Ashley Pfister, and Kylan Smith

Lunch is

Served

Festival of Bands By Logan Miller, Terrell Viher, and Taylor Wolff

Monday

Scalloped Potatoes and

Ham or Big Daddy’s

Pizza

Tuesday

Deli Combo Sub and

Baked Beans, or Taco

Burger

Wednesday

Chicken Strips, Mashed

Potatoes, and Gravy or

Gilardi Cheese Pizza

Wedge

Thursday

Corndog on a Stick or

Italian Spaghetti with

Meat Sauce

Friday

BBQ Beef Rib Sandwich

or Mexican Fiesta Potato

Bowl and Churro Bite

Everyday

Baked Potato and Bread-

stick or a Chef Salad

March 7th, 2016

Nicole Larrabee is a sixth grade English teacher at Southwest Middle School. She has been teaching

English for two years now. She was born in Munster, Indiana. When she was five, she and her fam-

ily moved to Nemo, South Dakota. Growing up, she loved reading and math, but she dreaded sci-

ence. She met her husband, Nathan Larrabee, as a sophomore in high school. After they got married, they rescued a choco-

late lab, Jacob, from the Humane Society. They have two kids, Chaucer who is three and a half and Zander who is five

months old. In her free time, she likes to hang out with her boys, read, write, and geocache.

Before she was an English teacher, she was an elementary librarian for five years. She taught library lessons at Stur-

gis, and Douglas. During the summer, Larrabee works in the tourism industry to “help people enjoy the Black Hills”. Larra-

bee said she “is totally in love with literature”. Larrabee is certified to teach middle school and high school in numerous are-

as of English and creative writing. The biggest change in her subject area over her teaching years has been coming from

being around books all the time in a library to moving into a classroom. She says it has been difficult because she is “pretty

attached to books”. Her favorite part of her job is “talking to students about books. I love how excited they get when they

finally find a book that speaks to them. It’s awesome!” If she was not a teacher, she would be a librarian.

Festival of Bands is coming up on Saturday, March 12th.

This is a festival because it’s all of the middle school bands

performing together at the Civic Center. Chan Foresman,

the Director of Bands at Southwest, has been the one pre-

paring the kids from Southwest for the big show. For-

esman stated, “The purpose of Festival of Bands is to com-

bine kids in a large performance, giving them an oppor-

tunity to perform at the Civic Center stage, and to provide a platform for parents to see collaboration,

and musical progress over a course of four years.” The band students will have rehearsals in the morning

of the 12th, and in the evening they will be performing the actual concert. Many students have been part

of Festival of Bands since fifth grade. Matt Carlson, a Southwest Middle School student that plays the

bass clarinet. Carlson stated, “There are two other bass clarinets in the city but no more at Southwest.”

Carlson said that his favorite song to perform is the theme for “Star Wars”. Forseman stated,

“All the music is great, and challenging. I do not have a favorite.” The Festival of Bands started four

years ago, and features all band students in Rapid City, grades five through eight. Approximately 850 kids

will be attending the concert. David Julius, another Southwest student that plays the saxophone in the

eighth grade band said that he would like to see his friends and family in the audience. A guest conductor

that will appear at this year’s show is Jason Riggs, a director and horn player from Sioux Falls. He di-

rected All-State Middle School Band last year, and the kids really enjoyed him. Foresman is looking for-

ward to having him at the Festival of Bands. The concert will have two shows at the Civic Center audito-

rium, one at 5:00 pm and the other will be at 7:30 pm. Tickets cost 5 dollars and seating becomes limited.

Congratulations to sixth grader, Dean Stetson, for winning this week’s South-

west Sleuth. Stetson Correctly guessed that Ms. Tucker’s father was a football

coach, she started her college career in medicine, and lives 20 miles out of town.

Page 3

Did You Know?

By Katya Britton, Izzy Hood, and Renee

Troiani

Eating chocolate can help

improve your math skills.

http://uber-facts.com/category/did-you-know/

Artist Showcase By Sixth Grader Tessa Fredrick

Quote of the Week

By Katya Britton, Izzy Hood, and Renee

Troiani

“Peace begins with a smile.”

- Mother Teresa

Thank you to our editors Katya Britton, Ashley

Elston, Izzy Hood, and Renee Troiani.

Career Corner: Jennifer Tomac By Lexi Baier, Ashley Elston, McKenzie Richardson, and Renee Troiani

March 7th, 2016

In today’s Career Corner, we explore the field of law with Jennifer Tomac, an attorney and

business owner. Tomac specializes in fiduciary law and has been in the field for eight years.

Out of the eight years of being an attorney, four years she spent working for the probate

system. Her and her husband, Jerad Tomac, run and own their own law firm called Tomac

& Tomac which has two locations, one in Rapid City and the other firm located in

Leesburg, Virginia. Although Tomac was born and raised in Rapid, she moved to the east to

study law in Virginia. She said “They have different viewpoints” that she could use to her

advantage. Tomac originally wanted to go into the field of education, but when an attorney

came to her college, she knew that that was the field she wanted to pursue.

Tomac stated “there is no average work day for me”. She said this was actually a good thing since she has four kids. “I can

make a day whatever I want it to be”. She starts the day with the office work, such as drafting documents and/or returning ca lls and

emails, so she can have an easy rest of the day and go home to her family. After she finishes her morning routine, she has a meeting

with her husband and the paralegal to discuss upcoming issues. After spending time with her family, Tomac continues her work once

her kids are put to bed.

Tomac’s education consisted of five years of college at the University of Colorado, and three years of Law school at Regent

University to obtain her Juris doctorate (a law degree). Tomac advises people aspiring to be lawyers to “get out there and talk to

people, don’t do pre-law, and show passion in your work.” She also says that “the law schools look for people who are passionate

about what they do.”