BHS Monthly Newsletter

• Jan 15th - Senior photos are due for the yearbook. The submission link can be found in the student hub. Supported files for the 2026 Google Classroom are JPEG files only. Please refrain from submitting screenshots.

• Jan 19th - Parent Teacher Conferences 5:00-7:30pm in the New Gym

LOOKING AHEAD:

• Feb 5th - National Honor Society Inductions
• Feb 14th - Sweethearts Dance

Mr. Pettinger: It is dissection season in Human A&P B. Hands-on is always preferred when teaching any Biology topic. We go from looking at pictures in a book to holding the organ in our hands. During the nervous system unit, we dissected a sheep's brain. The first dissection always brings out curiosity and queasy stomachs. Our second dissection will be a sheep eye. Comparing a sheep eye to a human eye truly gives students a deeper appreciation for vision. This is my favorite part of Human A&P and quickly becomes many students' favorite too.

Mrs. Wood is continuing to build a science club in addition to the many clubs offered here at BHS!! Science Club is a way to explore and engage in the world of science! Hands-on experiments and activities based on the interests of our club members. Meeting in Mrs. Wood's room 406 on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month during club time!

Mr. Earley: Physical science students are learning the fundamental principles of the physical world. They recently conducted an egg drop lab, where they built a device to protect an egg from falling. If your student is in this class, please ask them about the egg drop. In DE Chemistry, students are balancing chemical equations to understand conservation of matter. Chemistry students have developed custom projects to deepen their understanding. One student prepared the same flan recipe twice, changing the eggs for egg whites, and observed a significant change in the overall texture and stability of the flan without substantially affecting the taste.

In Zoology B, Mr. Neff's class recently began the unit on sharks. We'll be studying what makes sharks unique, from their skeletal structure to their digestive systems. Our study will culminate in a 2-day dissection lab where we'll dissect a dogfish shark. We'll begin by looking at their fascinating skin structure, followed by muscle groups, and continuing to look at the organ systems in the body cavity. Students are always anxious to see what their sharks ate for their "last meal"!!!

Blackfoot High School’s Business Professionals of America chapter demonstrated exceptional skill, preparation, and professionalism at this year’s regional competition. Students competed across a wide range of business, technology, and leadership events, showcasing the strength of BHS’s career and technical education programs. Their outstanding showing resulted in numerous top placements and a strong group of qualifiers advancing to the State BPA Conference in Boise, March 1–4, 2026. We are incredibly proud of their hard work, professionalism, and dedication!

Blackfoot's BPA students are grateful for the support of the school district administration, who continually encourage student achievement and provide the resources necessary for programs like BPA to thrive. The chapter is grateful for this ongoing support as it plays a key role in helping students reach their fullest potential.

State Qualifiers

Individual Events:
• Addison Smith – 1st, Basic Office Systems & Procedures
• Josie Inskeep – 2nd, Basic Office Systems & Procedures
• Eden Kreger – 2nd, Prepared Speech
• Tyce Jensen – 2nd, Computer Modeling
• Mikayla Jensen – 5th, Medical Coding
• Shelby Bartausky – 4th, Personal Finance Management
• Tia Whitehead – 2nd, Advanced Office Systems
• Alissa Randall – 3rd, Advanced Office Systems
• McKell Chandler – 5th, Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications
• Darren Harrison – 1st, Advanced Spreadsheet Applications
• Klaira Barrow – 2nd, Advanced Spreadsheet Applications
• Mattew VanOrden – 4th, C++ Programming
• Joshua VanOrden – 2nd, Java Programming
• Liam Whitehead – 3rd, Java Programming
• Tyson Satterthwaite – 3rd, Linux Fundamentals
• Briggs Wall – 3rd, Python Programming

Team Events:
• Presentation Team – 1st place
(Alissa Randall, Cloey Bender, McKinlee Stuart, Tia Whitehead)
• Video Production Team – 2nd place
(Klaira Barrow, Shelby Bartausky, Mikayla Jensen, Matthew VanOrden)
• Global Marketing Team – 1st place
(Darren Harrison, Josie Inskeep, Addison Smith)
• Economic Research Team – 3rd place
(Melody Kreger, Sailor Tomazin, Preslie Williams)

Congratulations to all of our BPA competitors!

Blackfoot High School is proud of all BPA participants for their dedication and achievements. We look forward to supporting our state-bound students as they continue to represent our school with excellence in Boise this March.

Winter sports are underway! We have Girls Basketball, Boys Basketball, and Wrestling all doing amazing. Our cheerleaders and Fillies Dance Teams have officially started their competition seasons as well and are doing great! Winterguard has been getting their practices in and getting ready to compete as well.

We had a student sign their letter of intent in December. Dainian Martinez will be continuing his education while playing Football next year at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, Montana. We are proud of him for taking that next step in their career and wish him luck.

January is packed with lots of games, and we love seeing our fans in the crowd cheering on our Broncos. Come out and enjoy the games! Thank you for supporting all of our athletes! If you would like to attend any of our games, click on the link below, follow our district Facebook page, or visit our web page for the schedules.

Esports is beginning in January! We had two teams go to state at the Boise State Esports Arena last year. This year, we have a few more games added to our roster and more students interested in playing for Blackfoot High School. The Idaho Esports League begins in February, and we compete against high schools from all across Idaho, just like any other sport. Every year, the league continues to grow and improve. There are discussions about adding Idaho divisions, where state tournaments will rotate all across the state.

We have formed some strong teams already, but are still looking for some true gamers!

The games we play are Super Smash Bros, Overwatch, Marvel Rivals, Valorant, Fortnite, Mario Kart, and Rocket League.

We will try to bring home another trophy to Blackfoot!

The National Honor Society had the pleasure of serving at the Christmas Tree Fantasy on Dec. 3rd. Below are some pictures of our amazing students participating.

Blackfoot High School Drama Company had another successful showing at both state and district drama competitions!

The Drama Competition is very unique compared to most other IHSAA athletics and activities. There is no 6A, 5A, or 4A etc, to separate classifications at either our state and district competitions.

There were 47 schools and over 1100 entries across the state for the 2025 Drama competition.

Each district is only allowed to send the top ⅓ to the state tournament for each of the 14 different acting/tech categories.

At Districts, we took 36 students who prepared 41 different pieces.

We qualified 19 students for the state tournament.

State Placing Results

Ensemble Serious

Tayvian Hamilton & Ash Ingram

-Top 8 finalist in the state (#1 in 5A)

Original Serious

Molly Whyte

-Top 16 semi-finalist (#3 in 5A)

Tavita Taufui

-Top 16 semi-finalist (#4 in 5A)

Original Humorous

Emma Arnold, Molly Whyte, & Brooklyn Goodworth

-Top 16 semi-finalist (#5 in 5A)

Pantomime

Riley Diaz, Carson Black, Matthew Hone, & Adeline Page

-Top 8 finalist in the state (#3 in 5A)

Costume Design

Makynlee Bishop & Hannah Adams

-Top 16 semi-finalist (#1 in 5A)

Scene Design

Emma Arnold

-Top 16 semi-finalist (#4 in 5A)

State Qualifiers and results at Districts

Costume Design

Kimball Williams (2nd place)

Makynlee Bishop & Hannah Adams

Molly Whyte & Lia Mortensen (Alternates)

Ensemble Humorous

Audrey Baker & Sophia Mecham

Ensemble Musical Theatre

Kaitlyn Hall, Brigham Bitter, Tyce Jensen, & Sophia Mecham.

Audrey Baker, Adeline Page, Matthew Hone, Tyson Corry, & Brooklyn Goodworth (Alternates)

Ensemble Serious

Tayvian Hamilton & Ash Ingram (1st place)

Original Humorous

Emma Arnold, Molly Whyte, & Brooklyn Goodworth

Original Serious

Molly Whyte (1st Place)

Tavita Taufui

Pantomime

Riley Diaz, Carson Black, Matthew Hone, & Adeline Page (1st Place)

Scene Design

Emma Arnold

Solo Musical Theatre

Tyson Corry

Props

Tyce Jensen (Alternate)

Solo Humorous

Lillian Hill (Alternate)

Jason Jensen (Alternate)

Seniors- Launch Grant- If you applied, you may have gotten a contingency offer that you need to accept by Friday, Jan. 9th, or you will lose it. CHECK YOUR EMAIL!

If you have NOT applied for Launch yet, then NOW is the time. Here is the link to the In-demand career list. It is also posted in your 2026 Google Classroom. If there is a career on that list you are interested in, then you should apply on Scholarship Idaho. If you are interested in a different career then apply for the Idaho Opportunity Scholarship.

Local scholarships are posted in your 2026 Google Classroom, apply for ALL of the local scholarships that you qualify for.