Last week was Read Across America Week, a week created in 1998 to promote reading. The week begins each year on March 2, Dr. Seuss's birthday. To kick off the week this year, high school National Honor Society students visited the various elementary schools in the county to read to students. Students, little and big, enjoyed the day! Congratulations to Mrs. Dues and the NHS students on this successful event. (More photos can be seen in additional posts.)
Back in January, students in Mrs. Gelzleichter's Spanish III and IV classes took a quick trip to eat lunch at El Camino. El Camino's Mr. Bravo graciously described ingredients traditionally used in Mexican cooking and explained some of the more common, authentic Mexican dishes. It looks like a good time was had by all! (One additional photo is included in the comments.)
The Senior Academic Team competed in the Eastern Indiana Academic League's conference meet on Monday night. It was a successful night with the English team bringing home the 1st-place plaque. The Math A team and the Science A team both finished in 2nd place, and the Science B team finished in 4th place. The top 5 places received ribbons. Congratulations to the coaches and participants. Way to represent!
Many thanks!
Mrs. Mundt-Davis reports that some Spanish club members recently got together to work with chocolate! Through this activity, the group learned about the history and cultural significance of chocolate as well as the process of chocolate making. The best part was putting together their own chocolates to enjoy. They are also pleased to share their discovery that chocolate-covered Takis are a tasty treat!
Look how lovely these boards are! Mr. Slavik's 8th-grade students recently created beautiful cutting boards as part of their introduction to measuring and using power tools. These boards will surely be cherished by families for years to come. Great job, kids!
Students in Mrs. Dues's level 3 Culinary Arts class recently completed a Food Truck Pitch project. Students were challenged with creating a 3D model of their food truck along with a PowerPoint "pitch" presentation. The presentations included information such as the company logo, mission statement, the 4 Ps of marketing, a menu with prices, and a cost sheet for ingredients. Then they had to make one menu item to serve to the administrators to dine on as they took a look at the students' presentations. One group created a Mongolian beef and rice dish. Another group made chicken quesadillas, and a third group made an American classic--bacon cheeseburger and fries. Lastly, one group pitched a breakfast truck and served a breakfast sandwich and frappe. All of the food was made from scratch by the students (from the homemade fries to the frappe that involved students learning how to steep coffee). Everything was delicious, and we are all very proud of their hard work!
Attention, parents/guardians:
We hope you'll come to enjoy the show and support the students!
Happy Monday! Yesterday we received this wonderful message, and we thought it would be perfect to share this note of positivity to get your Monday started: "I was at the Homestead High School Show Choir Comp this weekend. Several of us moms were passing by and saw your girls lined up and ready to go! We were so excited for the Madeline theme and asked if we could take their picture. They were so sweet & gracious and posed for us. Then, we had to go find a seat to see their show! They did not disappoint either, it was fantastic! Just wanted to share this with you and some of the pictures we took! Love, the Fairfield Moms!" We would like to thank the Fairfield Moms for the compliment and the cute pics. We are proud of these young ladies for their outstanding representation of Jay County Jr.-Sr. High. #PatriotPride
Mr. Bilbrey's students are always busy! In these photos, students from his Advanced Scenic Design 2 class work on the finishing touches of their model-building project for the play The Green Archer.
Jay Schools are on a 2 hour delay, Thursday, February 20, 2025.
Mrs. Shrack's life skills students have had quite a school year thus far. We have had the pleasure of sharing photos of several of their activities from throughout the school year, including trips to the BSU planetarium and the Portland Fire Station. Today's photos feature another awesome adventure! Students were able to hatch and release monarch butterflies thanks to a generous parent donation. The students had a wonderful time with this lesson!
The high school choirs began their competition season on January 18th by hosting the Jay County Spectacular, featuring nine groups from Indiana and Ohio. The following weekend they competed at Northrop where Just Treble placed 2nd runner-up and Patriot Edition was named Grand Champions. This past weekend, the groups competed at Kenton in Ohio. Patriot Edition placed 1st runner-up in their division and also won best show design. Just Treble received the Grand Champion and best vocals awards. The choirs have competitions remaining at Homestead, Huntington North, Churubusco, and Columbia City. On March 10th at 7:00 pm in our auditorium, the choirs will be performing a "Farewell to Competition Season" performance open to the public. The cost is $5.
Jay Schools are now closed today, Monday, February 17, 2025.
A Remote Learning Day will be implemented.
On Monday, students in Mr. Tonner's Junior High Intro to Health Science Careers class spent time reinforcing their learning about the skeletal system. They practiced identifying major bones by using both a model and their own skeletons to build upon their understanding of how the body works.
Jay Schools are now closed today, Thursday, February 13, 2025. A Remote Learning Day will be implemented.
The advanced German classes experienced a typical German school activity on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. In Germany, schools typically hold a sports day twice a year, a "Sommerwandertag" and a "Winterwandertag," where the entire school goes on different field trips to engage in seasonal outdoor sports. Jay County students participated in a "Winterwandertag," a winter sports day, with a skiing excursion at Perfect North Slopes in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. The field trip package included equipment rental, a lift ticket, and a one-hour ski or snowboard lesson. Of the 24 students involved, 16 decided to ski while 8 snowboarded. Much fun was had by all on a beautiful, sunny day!
This past Sunday, the JC Jr-Sr High Music Department hosted its Winter Pops Concert featuring the band and guard. The students and staff did a wonderful job. If you weren't able to attend, you can enjoy the concert here: https://www.youtube.com/live/lWESYjRv-Ws.
Additionally, several band students participated in the ISSMA Solo and Ensemble festival on Saturday. The participating students earned 19 gold ratings and 5 silver ratings. Senior Emma LeMaster qualified for the state contest in March. Congratulations to all!
Mrs. Mundt-Davis's Spanish 2 students practiced verb conjugation with a game called Seis! The game requires each student to fill in their paper with the correct conjugation. As one person writes, the other two roll the dice until someone gets a six. Then that person takes the only pencil and starts to fill in their paper. This process continues until someone has the whole paper filled in correctly. Learning Spanish is fun!
