January 2019

I would like to try to cover a few topics this morning.  

Semester exams went very well and I would like to thank all of parents who encouraged your children to put in the time and effort to review and re-learn topics from throughout the semester.  Many teachers expressed appreciation with the level of effort that their students invested in preparing for exams.  We reinstated semester exams because we became aware from our graduates that they did not feel prepared for the challenges of exam weeks in college or technical school, and the current feedback would suggest that our exam process has been helpful in addressing that need.  Since most of our exams, and our review lessons leading up to the exams, cover the most important topics (learning standards) from the whole semester, when students work hard to do well on exams it is exciting for us because we see their learning advance and deepen.  We saw many students demonstrate that they understood concepts or could apply their learning in ways they could not previously, and that is a great way to end any semester.  So, thank you parents for your support and encouragement as your children reviewed the semester’s learning and worked hard to do well on their exams.  As always, hard work really pays off.  

Our guidance department is processing semester grades and the Infinite Campus portal will have second quarter report cards available on Thursday, January 24th.  

And finally, our freshmen and sophomore mentor groups will be meeting each day next week in preparation for Student Led Conferences on the evenings of February 4th and 5th.  If you have a 9th or 10 grade student, you will get an email soon from your child’s mentor to set up a 20 minute conference.  Generally, we try to set up the Student Led Conference between 4:00 and 6:00, and then have the last hour from 6-7 open in case other parents wish to have conferences with teachers.  Parents, we really feel you can help your child in the career exploration process by being very curious about their interests and preparation in this area.  The best way to be curious is to ask a lot of questions about careers that interest them and literally everything they know about the realities of that line of work.  If you ask them questions that they don’t know the answers to, encourage your children to research further and find those answers.  Encourage them to shadow careers that interest them as well.  We understand that it is not always easy, or maybe even possible, for all of our students to figure out what they want to do with their lives from a work perspective, but we also feel as a school and with the support of parents, we should constantly strive to support students as they struggle with these really important decisions.  We may not always find the answers, but we should not allow our children/students to be lazy about searching for them.  It is simply too important to the futures of our students for parents and teachers not to work together in this area.  Thank you in advance for participating in the Student Led Conferences, and remember–be curious and ask a lot of questions about your children’s career interests.  

Have a great week, Scott

Congratulations to the following Big East All-Conference musicians who were involved in the Honors Band and Choir concert last night at the Capital Civic Center in Manitowoc.  The concert included 86 band members and 107 singers from the 14 Big East Conference schools.  Congratulations on representing Oostburg HS with the best musicians from our conference.  It is amazing what a quality performance can be put together with such a short period of preparation.  
Band Members–Jada Ritterling-flute, Gregory Gallenberger-bassoon, Camryn Lund-bassoon, Hayley Wickesberg-clarinet, Brianna Breunig-tenor sax, Isabel Fuentes de Rehm-trumpet, Madeline Block-french horn, Lorenzo Christian-trombone, Kyle Schinner-trombone, Elizabeth Brill-percussion, and Levi Dulmes-percussion.
Choir Members–Sabryn Bley, Ashlyn Kolste, Leah Otte, Libby Otte, Angie Trekas, Campbell Van Ess, Jacob Oppeneer, Kyle Schinner, TJ Walcott, Lorenzo Christian, Gabe Ludens, and Ethan Wittneben.
I would also like to congratulate our Pep Band on winning the first ever “Battle of the Bands” competition at the boy’s basketball game a couple of weeks ago against Cedar Grove.  While I was impressed that our pep band won the competition, and from my perspective deservedly so, the best part of the evening was that both bands made that event into one of the most spirited and enjoyable games I have attended in as long as I can remember.  I hope that tradition around the Oostburg v. Cedar Grove rivalry continues for a long time.