Lots of activities planned as school year nears end
As we just hit the midpoint of our last term, it is hard to believe where our school year has gone. Our days at school seem to fly by and it is hard to imagine that our students will soon be off for their summer vacation.
We have finished our annual cycle of state testing over the past few weeks Although this may not be the most exciting experience for our students, I have no doubt that they all have grown in their knowledge throughout the school year. It will be interesting to see the results and continue to use this data to improve our programming for our students. We will finish the school year with our final snapshot for our students in grades 6–10 as they will complete their end-of-the-year FastBridge screening in math and reading. The nice thing about this data is that we can instantly compare results from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. This will allow us to develop our intervention plans for the upcoming school year.
Over the past few weeks, many of our student organizations had their state qualifying competitions. This includes our FFA, FBLA, FCCLA and Solo and Ensemble. It is great to have so many students involved in these organizations and competing for such recognition. All these events require countless hours of planning and preparation to be ready for state. Many of our students qualified for state competitions and it is great to be able to share.
In FFA the following students are state proficiency finalists: Isaac Jakobi, Tanna Luchterhand and our current state offi cer, Devani Hinkelmann. Also, in FFA the following students qualified for state judging: Aspen Hagen, Paisley Hagen, Andrya Wilke, Tanna Luchterhand, Sam Lathrop, Ella Rand, Alexis Meyer, Skyy Hagen, Halle Aumann, Leah Kayhart, Ashley Schubert, Hannah Smith, Devon Roehl, Parker Smith, Aiden Smrcka and Jarrett Rueth. In FBLA the following students are competing at state: Sam Lathrop, Addysen Wolf, Ryker Littlefield, Jonah Vircks, and Maci Bogdonovich. In FCCLA the following students qualified for state: Sam Lathrop, Summer Smith, Hope Peroshek, Jordynn Corder, Olivia Nikolai, Peyton Tsai, Noelle Teschner and Parker Smith. Hope, Noelle and Parker also qualified for nationals! In Solo and Ensemble, Halle Aumann, Sam Lathrop and Lydia Vircks all qualified for state. As you see, we have quite the list of names. This is amazing for these students, and we all know they will represent our school with the same dedication and pride they have showed throughout their competitions. Good luck to you all!
Our spring sports for middle school and high school have begun. It is always a tough start to the seasons while being indoors for practices. I give our players and coaches a lot of credit for hanging in there for the weather to change and finally being able to get outside for practices. All our spring sports seem to suffer from many postponements and cancellations, which gets very frustrating. Our events also require our students to miss some class periods, which puts extra stress on the student-athletes while trying to stay on top of their studies and at the same time trying to put their best effort into their seasons. Being an athlete is tough and demanding. I am proud of what our students can do and confident they will represent our school proud throughout their seasons. I would also like to thank our parents for their patience with practice schedules and the ongoing changes that come up. We all appreciate the support you give your students and our programs. Without this ongoing support, our programs would not be able to continue. On March 18, our middle school Pathfinders and our high school Trailblazers helped the SOLES committee to put on a spring carnival for our elementary students. These students in our leadership groups have been working throughout the year learning how to become better leaders in our school committee. Students were recommended to these groups by their teachers. Part of this experience are some community service events, with the elementary spring carnival being their first event.
Middle school students Hazel Fitzl, Flynn Hanson, Kennedy Luchterhand, Colter Rueth, Lincoln Smith, Eva Stieglitz, Easton Brock, Ben Heath, Mallory Jakobi, Annika Schley and Payten Wolf all belong to the Pathfinder group. High school students Rogan Ashbeck, Jordynn Corder, Parker Smith, Noelle Teschner, Autumn Zvolena, Leah Kayhart, Aiden Smrcka and Danielle Strey belong to the Trailblazers group. Next up for these students will be planning for a spring community cleanup day prior to the end of the school year. It has been a pleasure working with these students this year and I look forward to more students becoming a part of these groups in future years.
Parent-teacher conferences will be this week on Thursday evening from 3:30 to 7. We encourage all of you to stop in and talk with your child’s teachers as we are halfway through the final term. It is always great to see parents staying in touch with our teachers and keeping the communication bridge connected.
We have many field trips over the next few weeks planned for our students. Please make sure you are asking your child about their trips. From our eighth graders going to the capital at Madison to high school classes visiting tech schools and career development days, there is a lot going on for all our students.
Our seniors are quickly approaching their final moments here at Loyal. The senior banquet is scheduled for Wednesday, May 17, at the American Legion Hall. The senior trip to the Dells will follow on Wednesday, May 24; graduation rehearsal will be Friday, May 26; and then senior graduation will be Saturday, May 27. A lot of huge milestones for our seniors as they press through their final days of school. We have been given a great class of seniors to send off to do some great things in their futures and I am proud to get to be a part of their education.
Lastly, I encourage you all to reach out to us at school if you have any questions or concerns. As the school year ends and the planning for another begins, we are always looking for ways to improve our academic programming, increase student learning and engagement, and develop new instructional strategies to meet the needs of all students. Our commitment is to learning and we will continue to leverage our available resources for continued improvement. Have a great rest of the school year and I hope to see you around at some of our upcoming events.
Take care, Mr. Dieckman
Loyal Middle and High School Principal Doug Dieckman
