BHS Monthly Newsletter

-December 12th - College and career fair at BHS

-December 22nd- January 1st - Christmas Break

-January 2nd - School Resumes

The Idaho LAUNCH grant program aims to prepare Idaho’s students for Idaho’s workforce needs. Idaho LAUNCH provides grants for education and training programs.

The In-Demand Occupations can be found on the Idaho LAUNCH site or browse career cards here. Grants are offered on a first come first served basis and students must have their fafsa completed. Apply sooner than later for launch!

Need ideas on what career is right for you? Click here for Career Cluster, or here for Future Finder. Create an account to save your results.

The Next Steps Idaho Team has also created a great information page on how to use Scholarship Idaho. You can check it out here.

In order for your senior to apply for fafsa, both student and guardians need a fsa id created, allowing at least a week for verification purposes.

You can create a FSA ID at the Parent Teacher Conference.

Counseling office can answer questions and offer assistance.

We are giving the ASVAB on January 24th at 8:30 A.M. The ASVAB measures aptitude and acquired skills which can be used to help predict future academic and occupational success. ASVAB scores thus give students insight into their options and aid them in planning their next step after high school. The military will give the test. However, a student doesn't need to be interested in the military to take the ASVAB. We have 30 spots available. Students can sign up in the counseling department. The test is for 10th-12th graders.

The Blackfoot High School math courses Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 use the Envisions Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra 2 textbooks. The Envisions online program Savvas that goes along with textbooks includes an etext, online assignments, a test generator, and other materials that can help students to learn the required objectives for these courses. The Savvas program has some great aspects but is not always easily editable, and the textbook online assignments or accompanying worksheets sometimes do not give students enough practice on certain concepts. It is also difficult for some students to use the graphing tools in Savvas with their IPads. The BHS Math Department incorporates Kuta worksheets, Edia assignments, Desmos activities, and other materials to supplement these courses as needed. Please reach out to a BHS math teacher if you have questions about Savvas, Kuta, Edia, Desmos, or any other items being utilized to help students learn the required concepts and objectives in these courses.

Dear Music Lovers and in particular Band and Choir Enthusiasts,

The Idaho Music Educators Association, Inc., recently announced the list of students chosen for the 2024 All-State Honor Groups. Top musicians from around the state will meet in Nampa, January 31- February 3, 2024, on the Northwest Nazarene University campus. Students will rehearse with nationally renowned conductors of the All-State Band, Orchestra, Mixed and Treble Choirs, Jazz Choir and Jazz Band. The final Gala Concerts are open to the public both Friday, Feb 2nd and Saturday, Feb. 3rd.

In addition to the Honor Groups, Idaho music educators will participate in professional development workshops in the areas of Elementary General Music, Instrumental/Band, Orchestra, Vocal/Choir, Technology and Inclusion. Educators will also be able to receive continuing education credit through Northwest Nazarene University.

The Idaho Music Educators Association, Inc., is a nonprofit educational organization of current and

former music teachers and administrators across Idaho in public/private schools, universities and colleges, including private studio teachers and music educators living in retirement.

IMEA is a state affiliate of NAfME, the National Association for Music Education, an 85,000-member organization representing music educators across the United States. The Mission of IMEA is to promote and advance Music Education in all Idaho schools, to foster personal and professional growth of music educators, and to standardize and enhance musical opportunities for all students throughout the state.

Congratulations to the following students for selection to their respective Honor Groups;

Students under the direction of Chris Dunbar, Vocal Music Teacher, Blackfoot High School:

Hyrum Arnold – Senior – Mixed Choir

Mekhi Hoge - Junior - Mixed Choir

Ryan Hammond - Junior - Mixed Choir

William Stuart - Sophomore - Mixed Choir

Molly Whyte - Sophomore - Mixed Choir

Emily Gailey - Senior - Treble Choir

Tayvian Hamilton - Freshman - Treble Choir

Lydia McPhie - Senior - Treble Choir

Skylie Simmons - Senior Treble Choir

Audrey Vail - Senior - Treble Choir

Devin Lindsay - Senior- Mixed Choir (1st Alternate)

Students under the direction of Amanda Empey, Instrumental Music Teacher, Blackfoot High School:

Chadd McGee - Sophomore - Band (1st Alternate)

Sincerely,

Chris Dunbar

IMEA Gem State District President

IMEA President - Elect, Robert Wicks

While we mourn the loss of our newspaper class, the ELA department is continuing to expand minds, increase critical thinking, and challenge students to add to what they already know and go beyond. Our freshman ELA students are reading Animal Farm and writing their own allegories that would represent the Russian Revolution as a creative way to connect their lives and ideas to the novel and to history. Our new class “Latinos in Action” is actively working to empower Latino students by helping bridge graduation and opportunity gaps in order to create positive change in the educational system. Our sophomores in English are preparing to change the world through persuasion by studying the writings of persuasive leaders in history, focusing on how small things show leadership and improve the world (they call these small things “lollipop moments”). Our debate classes and teams continue to excel; in fact, we have 2 freshman teams that have only lost one of their eighteen debates! Our juniors are studying American authors and themes, as well as reading independently, in order to better evaluate American writing. Spanish students are also doing “quick writes,” combining their writing and language acquisition skills. ELA seniors are learning about the Hero’s Journey as a way to understand and interact with the real-life and fictional stories. Film Studies is learning how to use analytical lenses like form and authorship to dig deeply into the movies that shape our lives, with an eye toward doing the same thing in their own lives. DE English students this trimester using a plethora of analytical tools to examine the power and strengths, as well as the weaknesses, of real-world and fictional cultures; by the end of the trimester, these students will be taking over class for a day to immerse us in their findings. (If you have a DE student, we’d like to invite you to attend class on the day near the end of the trimester when your child will be teaching, so you can see just how amazing their thinking and analytical skills are). On the whole, the English department and their students continue to fall in love with language, literature, analysis, and critical thinking!

Business Professionals of America had their regional event in November and had great success. The following students were able to compete and place in their events at Regionals. Those placing at regionals will be going to the State event where they will have a chance to compete to be able to travel to the National Leadership Conference in Chicago Illinois.

-Ben Andrew Took 1st place in Economic Research individual

-Daxton Thompson placed 2nd in Financial Math and Analysis

-Abigail Shipley placed 4th in Financial Math and Analysis

-Abigail Shipley Placed 5th in Fundamental Word processing

-Alivia Clapp Placed 3rd in Basic Office Systems

-Darren Harrison Placed 2nd in Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications

-Klaira Barrow placed 3rd in Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications

-Mathew VanOrden Placed 1st in Business Law and Ethics

-Tegan Caudle Placed 3rd in C# programming

-Daxton Thompson Placed 4th in C# programming

-Nicholas Shipley Placed 3rd in C++ programming

-Mathew VanOrden Placed 2nd in C++ programming

-Joshua VanOrden Placed 1st in Java Programming

-Nicholas Shipley Placed 2nd in Java Programming

-James VanOrden placed 4th in Python Programming

-Tyler Hall placed 3rd in Python Programming

-Samuel Nash Placed 1st in Computer Modeling

-The Website Design team placed 1st with the team consisting of: Jeb Adams, Ben Andrew, Tegan Caudle, and Tyler Hall.

-The Returning National qualifying Computer animation team from last year returned this year and

placed 1st in regionals. Team consists of: James VanOrden, Laci Chandler, Olivia Clapp, and Daxton

Thompson.

-Podcast Production Team placed 5th with Natalie Beebe and Samuel Nash as team members.

-Small Business Management Team Placed 1st and the team was Klaira Barrow, Kortlyn Jamieson, and Tia Whitehead.

-Natalie Beebe and Kendalyn Anderson placed 2nd and 3rd in the interview skills interview portion

-Abagail Shipley Placed 3rd in Extemporaneous Speech

-Abagail Shipley placed 1st in Meeting and Event Planning

-Tia Whitehead Placed 5th in Health Administration Procedures

-Ben Andrew Placed 3rd in Meeting and Event Planning

Blackfoot High School’s Business Professional of America’s team this year had one of the best showings at regionals in many years. We are very proud of all the members and the hard work they put in this year for regionals to represent Blackfoot High School. The State Event will take place in February and the preparations to compete at state have already begun.

Our winter sports are all underway! To start the season off both Boys and Girls basketball had some great wins against Boise teams. Wrestling also has had some great wins against some 5A schools already. We are excited to continue watching them compete. The Fillies Dance team and the Cheerleaders will be starting their competition season as well. We will have some very tired girls as they support our teams by cheering and dancing, and as they compete in their own competitions. Good luck ladies!

We had the All Conference teams named for Girls Soccer, Volleyball, and Football last month. Congratulations to Girls Soccer: Skylie Simmons (as a 1st year Goalie) taking Honorable mention as Goalie, Kenna Fransen - 1st team as a forward, and Milly Bartolo - Honorable mention as a midfielder. In Volleyball: Quincy Cronquist - Honorable mention as a setter, Alivia Sherman - Honorable mention as a libero, Shaylee Dahle - 1st team middle blocker, Rylee Dansie - Honorable mention middle blocker, Sela Christiansen - 1st team outside/right side hitter, and Lily Harper - 2nd team outside/right side hitter. Football: Jaiden Rodriguez - 1st team WR, Sergio Burrola - 1st team DL, Kylan Guerra -1st team P, Tyler Johnson - 2nd team DB, Javian Ballesteros - 2nd team K, Kayden Parsons - Honorable Mention WR, Jack Johanson - Honorable mention TE, Landin Gallegos - Honorable mention LB, Weston Layton - Honorable mention LB. We even had our very own Liam Pope named as boy soccer COACH OF THE YEAR! Great Job everyone!

We also had a few college signings happen last month. First we had Shaylee Dahle sign to play volleyball at Salt Lake Community College. Mack Mauger signed to wrestle with the University of Missouri. Daxson Whitney signed to play Baseball with Oregon State.

Great things have been happening here at Blackfoot High School! Thank you for supporting all our athletes and students. Stay tuned for more updates. In the meantime, if you would like to come out and watch a game click on the link below, or follow the district Facebook page, or check out our web page for the schedules.