PLAINFIELD
SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL
COUGAR
NEWSLETTER
Volume 3,
Edition III
March-April, 2004
Important
Dates:
From
the Desk of Tom Hensel:
Ø Parent Conferences March
25-26:
Phone calls to reserve a Parent Conference date and time may be made from March 15-March 22. Conferences will be scheduled from 12:30p.m to 8:00p.m. on Thursday, March 25 and from 7:30a.m. to 11:00a.m. on Friday, March 26. Calls may be made between 8:00a.m. and 3:00p.m. at 815/439-5555.
Ø Mr. Nick Rayola:
Congratulations to PSHS math teacher Mr. Nick Rayola for receiving the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy’s Caring to Challenge 2004 IMSA Award of Excellence.
The award is given annually by the academy in recognition of educators who have most challenged, inspired, and supported an IMSA student’s academic and personal growth prior to their enrollment at IMSA. Former PSHS student Rakesh Gadde nominated Mr. Rayola for this award.
Ø Graduation:
The graduation ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 5, 2004 at 1:00p.m. No tickets will be needed if the ceremony takes place outside in the stadium (weather permitting). The seating is on a first come basis. If the weather forces us inside each graduate will receive 3 tickets.
Ø Youth Council:
Four of our students have
been chosen to participate in the Youth Council of the Workforce Investment
Board of Will County. This is an
exciting opportunity in which youth will be able to help make decisions on
policies and programs that affect youth throughout Will County. They will be meeting with business leaders,
social service agencies, and local government to discuss, plan, and implement
youth services. They will be meeting
monthly or bimonthly. The Plainfield
South High School students
who have been chosen to participate in this Youth Council are: Stephanie
Schultz, Tanya Ortiz, Justin Matula, and Jessica Meiners.
Ø
National Honor Band:
Senior French horn player Caitlyn Smith recently participated in the
Bands of America National Honor Band in Indianapolis. This highly selective ensemble was made up of approximately 100
of the best high school musicians in the country. Caitlyn was selected to this ensemble through a taped audition. In Indianapolis, Caitlyn had to audition
again for chair placement. Of the nine
French horn players there, she was seated second.
Student Services:
Ø Making College Count:
As part of our efforts to prepare seniors for future success, Plainfield South High School is pleased to be able to offer Making College Count to those seniors planning to attend college. The program is scheduled for Thursday, March 18 at 9:15a.m. in the auditorium. Seniors should sign up in Student Services and get a pass.
Making College Count offers perspective to students on how to: set and achieve personal goals, avoid first year pitfalls, manage time and set priorities, achieve academic and career success, choose extracurricular activities to set themselves apart, utilize internships and develop experience that will impress future interviewers and graduate schools.
Parents, please encourage
your senior to sign up for this presentation by Wednesday, March 17.
Ø Local Scholarships:
The Student Services Department is beginning to receive applications for a variety of local scholarships. The applications that we currently have in the college career center are:
o
Lions
Club
o
Masonic
Lodge
o
PTSO
scholarship
o
Athletic
Booster
o
Peterson
Memorial Scholarship
o
NAACP
Joliet chapter scholarships
o
HomeStar
Education Foundation Scholarship Program
These are just a few currently available. Please have your student continue to check out the college career center and listen to announcements for more scholarship opportunities as they arrive in our office.
Also, check out our PSHS
website for more financial aid and scholarship assistance.
Spring is that busy time of the year. Science classes have become very “hands-on” in second semester. Depending upon the course, activities may include cat dissection, building and testing solar homes, fractional distillation, genetics projects, titrations and much more. Many classes will be traveling outside the building to investigate science, including trips to a National University of Health Sciences, Argonne National Lab, Great America’s Physics Day, a conference on genetics, and water analysis of the Aux Sable Creek.
Our department will focus
this semester on PSAE preparation and on creating of a formal laboratory
report. We will be investigating our
curriculum in comparison to State Goals and the PSAE/ACT exams to ensure that
our students will be well prepared.
Also, we will be taking time with our current juniors to discuss the
science portions of these exams. In
addition, every science student will be creating at lease one typed formal lab
report following a departmental format.
The report will help reinforce scientific literacy to support our school
and district literacy goals. Each class
will participate in at least one inquiry based investigation that will serve as
the topic of such a report.
Last, but definitely not least, the science department is proud to have Jenna Mahlberg as a recipient of the Plainfield South Cougar Pride Award. Congratulations Jen!
Instructional Services Team:
For those who might be looking for birthday or other gift ideas – here
is one that would be very useful to all students:
With the increased use of
technology by our students, we find that there are times when the projects that
they create are too large for them to save to a traditional “floppy disk”. Students have access to network space to
save work at school, but often wish to take projects home to work on them.
The newest and most convenient method of transporting data from place
to place is a “thumb drive” (also referred to as “flash drive” or “key chain
drive”). Talk about handy – the Thumb
Drive is compact, lightweight, easy to use and install, yet you can move and
store huge files, including digital audio and video. It’s remarkable for what it doesn’t need: no external power
source, no software, no connection wires and no batteries are required. The USB plug-and-play makes connecting your
Thumb Drive to your desktop or laptop a fuss-free operation. Storage and prices vary according to
capacity. They are uniquely capable of
storing and transferring files – from large PowerPoint presentation files to
huge accounting data or CAD fields.
They are available at Audio/Video chains, such as Circuit City and Best
Buy, wholesalers like Sam’s Club and Costco and on the web.
Athletic Boosters
Scholarships:
List of Available Scholarships:
1. Plainfield South Booster
Club Senior Athlete Scholarship (Male)
2. Plainfield South Booster
Club Senior Athlete Scholarship (Female)
3. Hank Ziber Scholarship
Community Service Scholarship
Eligibility Requirements:
1. A recipient of a scholarship
must be a graduating senior who plans to enroll at a post secondary education institution. This can be a university, college, junior
college, or a vocational/technical school.
2. A recipient must be a PSHS
student who has participated in an IHSA or PSHS sanctioned sporting activity.
A.
Cheerleading
and Poms are considered one sport with two seasons per year.
3. A recipient must be a PSHS senior athlete
who has participated in at least two (2) IHSA or PSHS sanctioned sports and at
least six (6) seasons of IHSA or PSHS sanctioned sports during his/her athletic
career.
4. A recipient must be a PSHS senior athlete who
has demonstrated leadership and sportsmanship while involved in high school
athletics.
5. A recipient must have a high school overall
grade point average of 3.0 or higher.
6.
Hank
Ziber scholarship requires demonstrated involvement in recognized community
Service project either in the community or at school. Recommendation letter from leader of organization must accompany
application.
Basis
of Selection:
1.
Recommendation
from varsity coaches regarding leadership and sportsmanship qualities upon
completion of application.
2.
Demonstrated
participation in athletic program during high school career.
3.
The
recipient of the Hank Ziber scholarship must demonstrate involvement in extra
curricular activities outside of the athletic program. These activities may be associated with PSHS
or the community in general.
4.
Successful
completion of Application process by deadline established.
Application
Procedure:
1.
Application
forms may be obtained from the Student Services office located at PSHS or may
be downloaded from the Athletic Booster Club website.
2.
Completed
applications must be returned to Student Services office prior to deadline. (April
15, 2004)
ScholarshipTimeline:
|
February 1 |
Selection of committee
members |
|
March 1 |
Applications available in
Student Services and on website |
|
April 15 |
Applications returned to
Booster mailbox |
|
April 22 |
Coaches’ evaluation form
distributed to coaches of applicants |
|
May 1 |
Evaluation forms returned
by coaches to Athletic Office |
|
May 7 |
Scholarship committee
meets for selection process |
|
May 20 |
Scholarship recipients
announced at Spring Awards Night |
Computer Science:
Plainfield South High School students, Kristen DeGirolamo, Julia
Drauden, April Montgomery, Megan Monreal, and Samantha Craven designed a
section on the Joliet Park District web site.
It can be found in the link to the Youth Gym. They participated in the University of Illinois Technical
Ambassador’s Competition. These
students first became interested in a competition when women from the
Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois came for a visit
to Plainfield South campus. According
to one of the presenters, enrollment figures for women at the University of
Illinois have been on the decrease.
Many women, she said, are missing out on the high paying positions
available in the Computer Science field.
The University created this competition, which is funded by gifts from
the Microsoft and Boeing Corporations, to increase the interest of women in the
area of Computer science.
The students in the competition made initial contact with the Director
of Marketing for the Joliet Park District.
According to him, the web page for the Youth Gym has been on the back
burner due to other priorities. The
Park District now wanted to update their site to include information on the
Youth Gym. The Plainfield South students
now had the opportunity to do something of value for the Park District, while
the Park District supported the efforts of the students in the competition.
According to Mr. Bob Hillegonds, sponsor of the participants from
Plainfield South, the competition was more than just an application of the
technical skills of the students. The
students had to do everything from making initial contacts with the Joliet Park
District, cooperating with the web designer for the Park District, Webpages by
Mom, down to making appointments with Park District personnel so the students
could take digital pictures of the Park District facilities. The competition has fostered the personal
growth of the students as well as their technical expertise. The Technical Ambassador’s competition is
giving the students a realistic taste of what it is like to work in a technical
field in today’s business world.
Robotics:
Robert Beavis, Earl Bishop, Rudy Jakupovic and Andy Otto represented
Plainfield South in the Joliet Junior College Robotic Engineering Challenge at
the end of January. There were four different
challenges in the competition. In each
challenge a team has to design, build and program a robot. The first challenge was a race in which a
robot must be programmed to utilize a light sensor to follow a black line on a
circular track. In the second
challenge, the robot must make its way through a maze. The third challenge was a robot battle in
which each team’s robot is pitted, in turn, against a robot constructed by JJC
Faculty members. In the fourth
challenge, each team had to design, build, and program a robot to push
ping-pong balls on a pool table into various pockets. The Plainfield South team finished fourth out of the fourteen
teams entered in the competition. The
team’s members were so enthusiastic about their learning experience at JJC that
they asked Mr. Hillegonds if they could continue to design and program robots
each Monday after school. Any
Plainfield South student who is enrolled in the Introduction to Programming
Course can come to the after school robotics meetings.
Band:
Plainfield South High School will be hosting a solo and ensemble
contest for all Plainfield District 202 high school music students on Saturday,
March 13. Please contact Mr. Ruge,
choir director, or Mr. Cook, band director, for further information.
The PSHS Jazz Band performed at the annual CAPE dinner on Thursday,
March 4. Selections included Oclupaca
and Never No Lament by Duke Ellington and Mercy, Mercy, Mercy by Joseph
Zawinful. Featured soloists were Nicole
Lehpamer on alto sax, Eric Thorsen on tenor sax, Jeff Prieboy on trumpet and
Tim Conrad on trombone.
The PSHS Concert and Symphonic Bands will travel to Arlington Heights
on Saturday, April 3 to participate in the Chicagoland Invitational Concert
Band Festival hosted by the John Hersey High School Band.
Industrial Technology:
The month of February held some interesting events for the students in
Introduction to Industrial Technology.
Members of the Joliet Fire Department spoke to the class about the
profession. Students were able to get a
first hand look at what the term “full bunker gear” means for the
department. They were also given a
demonstration of the heart monitor, were connected to the monitor and given a
“tape” or printout of their heart function.
During the presentation students were given insight into the different
skills needed to be a firefighter and were also introduced to issues, such as
character and ethical behavior that are an integral part of the profession.
Mr. Dave Oldham and the students of Introduction to Technology
sincerely thank Captain Brozman and Firefighter Duchene for their outstanding
contributions to our community and Plainfield South High School.
Music and Drama Department:
At the end of March the Plainfield South Music and Drama departments
will combine to present the 2004 Spring Musical, Children of Eden. This newer show is a great addition to
the catalog of Stephen Schwartz, the man who gave us Godspell and Pippin,
and the music from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pocahantas, and Prince
of Egypt. This two-act show follows
the stories of Adam and Eve and Noah and the ark, using their stories to
emphasize themes of family,
personal choices, and consequences.
Children of Eden also boasts a spectacular cornucopia of songs,
ranging in style from calypso to doo-wop to gospel.
Show dates are March 26, 27, and 28 with evening shows on Friday and
Saturday and a matinee on Sunday. Children
of Eden will be presented in the PSHS auditorium by a cast and crew of over
90 students. Tickets are $5.00/$3.00 and
can be purchased through the PSHS main office.
This is one show you won’t want to miss? You will leave the school humming!
Foreign Language Department:
The Foreign Language Department sponsored its third annual Foreign
Language Week, March 1-5. The focus was
on the four languages taught at PSHS: French, German, Spanish and American Sign
Language.
Students enrolled in foreign language classes participated in
activities promoting the study of foreign language throughout the week. On display were student-created posters for
a contest with the theme “Spring brings hope, so does understanding, through
foreign languages”, as well as signs in French, German, Spanish and sign
language labeling common areas of our school building. Students also made locker signs identifying
themselves as foreign language students.
Winners of the poster contest were Brittney Winters, Rachael Kosicek,
and Ashley Pruneau.
Each day of the week promoted one of the languages. Anyone heard speaking or seen demonstrating
that language by a foreign language teacher received a pencil (ASL) or “I am
loved” pin in that language.
All students at PSHS were also able to get involved in the week’s
festivities through an all-school scavenger hunt and special menu items in the
cafeteria. Staff members graciously
displayed items from various foreign countries in their classrooms for the
students to find, while the cafeteria provided the students with ethnic choices
in the hot lunch line.
The week concluded with an assembly for all students enrolled in
foreign language classes put on by members of the three language clubs as well
as students in ASL classes. The French,
German, and Spanish clubs joined together to do a variation of “The Three
Little Pigs”. This skit ended with all
languages congregating in a fourth house that the wolf was unable to blow down,
demonstrating the strength of people sharing their differences and
joining together. Each foreign language
club and students from ASL classes also performed separately.
On Thursday the choir performed songs in foreign languages during all
lunch periods. The week was very well
received. The students enjoyed learning
phrases in other languages. The school
looked great with the different posters and locker tags and the assembly was
once again a huge success!
PSAE:
On April 28th and 29th all juniors will be
participating in the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE). The PSAE is a mandated state exam, which
measures student achievement relative to the Illinois Learning Standards. The PSAE is comprised of the ACT assessment,
Work Keys tests in reading and mathematics and tests in writing, science and
social science. The PSAE will affect
the schedules of all students of Plainfield South High School on April 28th
and 29th. We are now in the
planning stages of scheduling the various activities for freshmen, sophomores
and seniors. As we finalize our plans,
schedules for those days will be posted on our website.
We ask for your support in making these days meaningful for all of our
students, but especially our juniors.