GHS Newsletter

Greetings and welcome to all guardians/parents, students, staff and other supporters within the Germantown High School Community. As noted in our initial edition in September, we have switched to the monthly format and away from the bi-annual format for our parent newsletters. The continued goal of these communications is to recognize accomplishments of our students and staff for academic and/or professional achievements and to do so each month within this newsletter.

We flipped the calendar to 2024 since the last installment of our monthly newsletter. We also had some challenging weather that led to two inclement weather days during that time-frame! Fortunately, we were able to conduct final exams unhindered and therefore, close out semester one of the 2023-24 school year.

In the next few days, important information regarding State Testing: ACT for 11th grade and Pre-ACT for 9th and 10th grade, will be sent out and posted. Please carefully look over that initial document for more information. There will be approximately two more letters or memos sent out regarding these, with testing being on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. We will also share information within our daily announcements as we get closer to that day.

The January version our GHS newsletter is sponsored by the Art Department, Physical Education Department, Health, and our very own School Resource Officer (SRO). We hope you enjoy the information provided by two of our departments and one of our integral staff members, along with the various reminders, important dates and additional information. Our next installment will be sent out on or about February 29, 2024.

Sincerely,

Mr. Joel R. Farren

Principal

• GHS ATHLETICS & ACTIVITIES CALENDAR

• 2023-24 SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR

• 2024-25 SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR

• February 14 - PTA Meeting 7:00-8:00 PM (IMC/Library Room A150)

• February 16 - Teacher In-Service Day (Students no school)
  

• February 29 - Germantown Community Scholarship Fund - 39th Annual Dinner Auction at the Florian (Doors open at 5PM with start of silent auction/raffles)

ANN BAUER DE RUIZ, REBECCA KILLEN, LEZA VAN HYLE

AP art students took a field trip to the Chicago Institute of Art this fall. They were able to see master works of art up close and personal. They viewed the temporary exhibits of Camille Claudel’s sculptures, Picasso drawings & Remedio Varo’s paintings. They also were able to enjoy parts of Millenium Park and the beginnings of holiday lighting.

The photography students went downtown Milwaukee to go on a walking tour while taking photos of historic architecture. Taking these field trips has really given students real world and powerful learning experiences in the realm of photography

Freshmen in Accelerated Art took a glass blowing field trip to the Wauwatosa Studio “Square One Art Glass.” Students created their own unique glass ornament while learning about this ancient technique in a studio that is attached to a collective of artists. While taking a break from glass blowing, they were able to check out the painting studio space where Ms Van Hyle paints with the master painter James Hemple.

This year, the Photo students spent the short week, before the October Inservice, utilizing their Halloween skills for Photography. We carved pumpkins and then took some spooky pictures using colored smoke. The students had a lot of fun planning and staging their pumpkins for just the right shot!

Art educators selected beautiful artwork that will be auctioned off at the Germantown Community Scholarship Fund. Works include enameled jewelry from Art Metals, Greeting Cards from Graphic Design and Paintings from Painting class. These works will be available at the event in February. Proceeds will go to student scholarships.

Students submitted drawings for a chance to be selected and published in the Express News Holiday Coloring Book. Over one hundred drawings were submitted and the following students' works were selected. Congratulations to the published artists!!

Hannah Farrow

Connor Foscato

Ilana Sadowski

Bradley Greg

Kaitlyn Pemberton

Hayden Obenauer

Julia Joseph

Alyson Hulub

The Germantown Chamber of Commerce organizes the Christmas Festival for the Village of Germantown. The festivities include the 5k Candy Cane Run/Walk, Christmas Parade and Christmas in the Park at Fireman's Park. This community event brings together residents, families, and visitors to kick-off the holiday season before everyone gets too busy with other commitments.

The Germantown Chamber relies on many volunteers to help from planning that begins in August all the way to the event in November. Many of their volunteers are students at Germantown High School. Art students are part of the volunteers who submitted logo designs for this year’s 5k race.

The planning committee chose Liam Stefaniak’s design for the 2023 5k race. It incorporated the patriotic theme of the day as well as our “branded” candy canes. In appreciation, they had a T-shirt with his logo for Liam. Way to go Liam!

During the month of March we celebrate Visual Art Programs in K-12 education. Within our art programs students develop skills like: problem solving, creativity, communication and observation. All these skills are necessary for successful future employment. Please join us at the Germantown Community Library for our shows opening on March 4th from 5:30-6:30. Help us celebrate the positive impact the visual arts have and the successes of our talented students!

Students in Intro to Drawing learned about drawing figure and portrait drawing this semester. The culmination of their work was displayed by a final portrait drawing over watercolor. Students learned how to draw the human body, clothing, and shaded portraits.

Students in Accelerated Art were invited to design a logo for a local company “Finding Home.” Congratulations to Alaina Ball for the winning submission. Alaina won a $35 Amazon gift card for her submission.

Artwork was chosen from students in 9th-12th grade. Scholastic Art Competition is a national arts competition that provides opportunities for creative teens to be celebrated. The goal is to recognize students with exceptional artistic talents and submit their work to be judged on a local and national level. Students can win scholarships, and prestigious awards, and have the opportunity of having their work displayed at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Gold Key winners may be selected for national awards presented at Carnegie Hall in New York. We have yet to find out which students have been honored with an award. Please join us for the awards ceremony on March 2nd at MAM to congratulate the talented students. Exhibition runs from February 24th through April 7th.

Wish the following students representing Germantown High School Good Luck.:

Gracie Letourneau

Elizabeth Kroll

CJ Baum

Olivia Fernandez

Ella Jorgensen

Sandesh Dhami

Maddison Krepps

Ellie Ankerson

Adeline Timm

Madison Werner

Rory Bishop

Hayden Obenauer

Grey Bradley

Carson Depies

James Davis, Stephanie Milmoe, Greg Siegert, Marin Siegert, Taylor Wilch, Anne Yarnot

Conditioning and Strength Training is a class that is offered at Germantown High School for students who are coming into fitness from all different levels. The common goal for these students is to all be better at the end of the class and feel positive moving forward in working out. During the 2023-2024 school year, 203 students took or are partaking in this course. This course has now been revamped by a computer program that is called TEAMBUILDR. Prior to using TeamBuildr strength and conditioning software, GHS PE used workout cards for hundreds of athletes. At some point, our program realized we could not continue printing for that many athletes, especially considering many athletes needed modifications that were not reflected on the cards or spreadsheets. We now utilize chromebooks 80% of the class time to implement and capture data for all students. This program allows students to watch embedded videos linked for instructional aids, import personal data and see instant data that can be seen as simple graph type data reports. The team at TEAMBUILDR answers all of our questions instantly and aids in problem solving when asked these questions. We will continue our partnership with TEAMBUILDR and thank them for creating such a wonderful platform as we get better together in our GHS Physical Education journey. We hope you enjoyed reading our content from this course and if you ever have any questions, please feel free to contact Greg Siegert at gsiegert@gsdwi.org for more information about how your student can get involved in this program during the academic school year.

Physical Education added an American Red Cross Lifeguard Training course while the pool was built a few years ago. In the past few years, we have had over 100+ students certified as American Red Cross Lifeguards.

To earn a Lifeguard Certification, students have to complete multiple final exam skill scenarios in the pool. This year, our Assistant Principal, Mr. Rooney was brave enough to jump in the water and be a victim for our scenarios! Shout Out, Mr. Rooney!

On the last day of the semester, students participate in a “Jean Jump.” Students jump in the pool with their clothes on and learn how to use their jeans as flotation devices. Lifeguard Training is a junior or senior course and counts as a Physical Education credit.

At the end of the 1st semester, some members of the Germantown fire department came to the high school to teach all health 9 classes hands only CPR & AED! Sophomore Zoey S. shared about her experience in the GFDs explorers program with the students. Featured are pictures from Mrs. Yarnot’s and Mrs. Wilch’s health classes.

This is School Resource Officer Toni Olson's 13th year as a SRO for the Germantown School District and her 24th year working for the Germantown Police Department. She is primarily responsible for the Germantown High School and MacArthur Elementary School. SRO Kevin Laux is responsible for Kennedy Middle School and County Line School. The Washington County Sheriff’s Deputies cover both Amy Belle and Rockfield Elementary Schools as they are outside of the village.

The 23-24 school year got off to a busy start. During the first semester SRO Olson taught Dare to the 5th grade classes at MacArthur Elementary and conducted classroom presentations in all of the freshman health classes that covered a variety of topics. She is also a part of the school district's safety team who is in charge of planning and overseeing our lockdown drills. This school year there have been safety improvements across the district.

This is the second year the GSD has utilized the Speak Up Speak Out program which is funded and staffed by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. This is a confidential tip line students can use to report a variety of concerns if they do not feel comfortable coming to an adult. This school year the GSD has received 50 SUSO tips. Tips include reports of bullying, possible self-harm, inappropriate conduct, drug related complaints and other school complaints. The SUSO link is downloaded on students' Chromebooks for easy access. They can also download the app onto their cell phones. More information can be found at https://speakup.widoj.gov

Both SRO’s participated in our Shop with a Cop programs in December. These events were hosted by Fleet Farm and Walmart of Germantown. Several students were chosen to participate in shopping for their entire family then enjoyed lunch with officers and volunteers. This is such a rewarding experience and we want to thank our community for their support for this program.

Recently officers, including both SRO’s from the Germantown Police Department participated in several Shop with a Cop events. We were happy to organize and participate in these events and hope that it brought a little joy to the children who shopped and to their families.

It is obvious in the past few weeks that winter has officially arrived. Please make sure your cars are cleared of snow and drivers can see out of all windows. Snow packed on roofs or hoods can become very dangerous if the snow slides off and strikes other vehicles or lands in the roadway. Please click on Wisconsin Department of Transportation for some winter driving tips.

Medication Administration Policy

Administration of Non-Prescription Medication Form
Administration of Prescription Medication Form
Self Administration of Prescription Form

Principal: Joel R. Farren

Assistant Principal (A–L): Andrew Rooney

Assistant Principal (M–Z): David Smith

Dean of Students: Alexzandra Fischer

Activities Director: Sara Unertl

Location: W180N11501 North River Lane, Germantown, WI, USA
Phone: 262-253-3400