The Hornet Buzz

To empower, enrich, and enlighten students to reach their full potential while respecting our past.

Dear St. Elizabeth Families,

As we approach Thanksgiving, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for the incredible students, families, and staff who make our school such a special place. This time of year reminds us to pause, reflect, and appreciate the people and experiences that enrich our lives.

To our students: thank you for your hard work and curiosity. You bring energy and purpose to every hallway, classroom, and activity.

To our families: thank you for your partnership and support. Your involvement—whether through communication, encouragement at home, attending events, or simply showing up for your children—strengthens everything we do.

To our staff: thank you for the dedication and heart you bring to your work each day. Your commitment to helping students grow, succeed, and feel valued truly makes a difference.

As we enjoy this season of gratitude, I hope each of you finds time to rest, connect with loved ones, and recharge.

✅ Celebrations

• Congratulations to our Softball team on being Class 1 State Champions--back to back!

• We had a wonderful turnout for Grandparent's Day!

• We had many Veterans we honored at our Veterans Assembly! Thank you Blaine Luetkemeyer for being our guest speaker!

• We recently named Jordan Hoecker as our superintendent for next school year!

📅 Upcoming Events

• NHS Blood Drive on November 18th

• Field Trip for grades 1-3 on November 21

• No School on November 26-28 for Thanksgiving Break

• Picture retakes and rest of seniors for senior banners on December 10th

• SCOP Movie Night is December 12

• Christmas Concert for grades PK-5 is December 15th at 6:00

• Early out on December 19th

• Christmas break from December 20-January 5

💡 Our Focus: Engagement
This year’s theme is Year of Engagement. We are working to engage every student, every day, in meaningful learning and active participation. A way that you can help at home is to ask them about what they are learning in the classroom. If you ever have any suggestions, questions, or concerns, don't hesitate to reach out to me.

On behalf of our entire school, I wish you a warm, safe, and joyful upcoming Thanksgiving break.

It's a great day to be a Hornet!

Ashley Musick

St. Elizabeth Principal

amusick@ste.k12.mo.us

573-493-2246

November 17: Guest Speaker Jim Marshall for grades 6-12 12:15-1:15

November 18: NHS Blood Drive, Missouri S&T Field Trip for a few students

November 19: Board Meeting

November 20: ASVAB Interpretation 7th Hour

November 21: Hornet Friday with Stuco, Field Trip for Grades 1-3

November 26-28: No School for Thanksgiving Break

December 10: Picture Retakes and rest of seniors for senior banners

December 12: SCOP Movie Night 6:30-8:00 in Cafeteria

December 13: HS Scholar Bowl @ Fatima

December 15: Christmas Concert @ 6:00 for grades PK-5

December 18: 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th hour finals

December 19: 1st-3rd hour finals, Class Meetings, Christmas Parties, Dismissal at 12:09

December 22-January 5: No School-Christmas Break

November 21: Boys & Girls Basketball @ Linn

November 22: Boys Basketball @ Higbee Shootout

November 24: Boys Basketball VS Russellville @ Home

The St. Elizabeth R-IV School Board has recently selected Mr. Jordan Hoecker as the next superintendent, effective July 1, 2026. Mr. Hoecker will be replacing Mr. Doug Kempker, who announced his retirement during the September school board meeting.

Mr. Hoecker is a 2010 graduate of St. Elizabeth R-IV. After high school, he attended the University of Missouri and began his career in education at Jamestown C-I. Jordan is married to fellow educator Amy Hoecker, and together they have 8-year-old triplets—Bentley, Barrett, and Briar.

Throughout his education career, Jordan has served as a special education teacher, business and government teacher, baseball and softball coach, principal, and for the past six years, a superintendent. For the past four years, he has served as superintendent of the Prairie Home R-V School District, where he has been dedicated to fostering student success and cultivating a culture of growth.

When asked what it means to be the next superintendent of St. Elizabeth, he replied. “I am honored to be chosen to lead the St. Elizabeth R-IV School District. My hometown has always been a source of pride for me, and I am excited for the opportunity to give back to the community that helped shape who I am today. I will work to honor the successes of the past while building toward a future that gives our students a strong foundation for life beyond school. Let’s go Hornets!”

Welcome back to the Hornet Family!

At St. Elizabeth, we know that a legacy is built through everyday actions: kindness, dedication, and going the extra mile. Strengthening the Hive, One Hornet at a Time is a new way to recognize St. Elizabeth R-IV employees who are making a difference in the lives of others.

Anyone, including students, families, coworkers, or community members, can submit a nomination for any St. Elizabeth employee, certified or classified, who goes above and beyond what is expected.

Each month, selected recipients will be honored for the positive impact they’re making in our school.

🖤🐝💛

You can select the box with the arrow on the bottom right of form or select the link here.

Here is the link for the Booster Club Store. Orders are due by NOON on Monday, November 24th!

This is the time of year we normally see an increase in sickness! It is important to remember good hygiene practices such as sneezing into arms and washing hands frequently.

On Fridays, student groups and/or teams are signing up to help me greet students in the morning! We use a speaker with pump up music, do some clapping and dancing, and greet students! It has been such a fun way to start a Friday!

We had a great turnout for Grandparent's Day! Thank you all for coming!

Thank you Student Council for all your help for the event!

Two of our students were selected by their teachers at Eldon Career Center to receive the Triple A award for having the best attitude, aptitude and attendance in the first quarter. They are:

Brandon Plassmeyer-Construction and Heavy Equipment

Kameron Wilkerson-Pre-Engineering

We had to say goodbye to our favorite secretary, Liz. After 32 wonderful years, Liz retired at the end of October. Thank you Liz for your many dedicated years to St. Elizabeth School. Thank you to so many of you who contributed to the scrapbook we put together for her! Luckily, we still get to see her around at events or else we would have missed her like crazy!

Halloween Parade, Spookfest, and Halloween Parties

It is always one of my favorite days at school!

Spanish I and II taught 3rd grade all about Día de los Muertos, including pictures of family members and food!

We've had many pictures submitted already, but regular deer season just began! We sure have enjoyed looking at them and so have many of the students and parents too! Continue to send those pictures to Mr. Kempker at doug@ste.k12.mo.us or Mrs. Musick at amusick@ste.k12.mo.us and we will get them printed and hung up and will get a donated Mid America stocking cap to the student!

Good luck and stay safe!

Categories for this year will be:

1. Biggest Buck

2. Best Harvest Picture ( background, setting, animal presentation)

3. Best family/group photo.

Mid America Bank has graciously donated prizes as well as participation prizes for anyone who submits a successful harvest picture. Sergeant Davis from the Army National Guard has also promised prizes for our winners. 🦌

Congratulations to all our students who were on the A and A/B Honor Roll for 1st Quarter! We treated them to an Honor Roll Breakfast to celebrate their achievements and hard work. Thank you Liz and Angela for providing that treat for our students!

Grades 7-9 attended Missouri S & T Stem Day! It was such a great experience for them! We also got to see Alysha O'Neil while we were there and 8th grade got to visit her office where she works!

Big congrats to Josh Doerhoff, Executive Vice President, on being inducted into the University of Missouri’s Civil & Environmental Engineering Academy of Distinguished Alumni!

This honor celebrates Mizzou Engineering alumni who’ve made a real impact in the industry — and if you know Josh, you know that fits him to a T. From taking on complex projects right out of college to leading teams that continue to shape our company’s growth, he’s done it all.

Congratulations to Eli Kemna and Caitlin Kliethermes on being the newest members inducted!

Thank you Hannah Libbert for being the guest speaker!

Have you seen all the Booster Club is doing?

This month, they bought and served an ice cream or popsicle for all students to celebrate the girls winning state softball! They also decorated in front of school before the team headed off to state, provided a breakfast, and provided goodie items for the players. They have so much more planned too for upcoming seasons!

If you happen to see one of the Booster Club members around, be sure to thank them for their time and efforts! They do a lot for our students and athletes behind the scenes that you may not know of!

A way you can support the Booster Club is by thank you's, supporting their fan gear stores, and events they put on for fundraising purposes!

I vividly rembember the conversation in the hotel lobby before the big game where Coach Wieberg made the deal that she would dye her eyebrows purple if they won. The girls remembered too!

This was pretty funny, but the dye sure did fade quickly. I'm also not quite sure any of these seniors should go into the line of work that deals with eyebrows. 🤣

Biology students attended the MU Health Care Expo!

8th grade exploratory Spanish students were learning how to say if they liked or didn't like a food in Spanish!

Junior Fish Fry was a great event! Thank you to all who came out and supported the Junior class!

Thank you to our Junior sponsors, students, and parents who helped put on the great event!

Congratulations to Andrea Holtmeyer on being the winner of the 50/50 drawing and donating $500 back to the Junior Class!

SCOP Fall Fest was a great night and great turnout!

SCOP is so thankful to all who donated to the event!

They have another event on Friday, December 12th in the cafeteria--Movie Night!

The Elks Free Throw contest was held today. Congratulations to the winners:

8-9 year olds:

**1st - G - Evelyn Buechter, B - Bodie Wankum

**2nd - G - Augusta Schanzmeyer, B - Klayton Green

**3rd - G - Hazel Voss, B - Brock Juergensmeyer

10-11 year olds:

**1st - Lydia Kliethermes, B - Rowan Juergensmeyer

**2nd - B - Leo Wieberg

**3rd - B - Beckett O'Neil

4th grade learned about adaptations. Students laid on the floor and everyone closed their eyes with their hands down at their sides. Spiders depend on their other senses because they have poor eyesight. Mrs. Malmberg walked around the room and asked that if they thought she stopped near them to raise a hand. They had to listen and feel the floor to see if she was near instead of using eyesight!

Readers who went above and beyond their 1st Quarter AR goal had their Ice Cream Reward!

Thankful bracelets were created in library class!

National Nacho Day was celebrated in library too!

We had a great turnout for our Veterans Day Assembly! Thank you to the Veterans who attended and we thank you and your families for your service!

It was a great day to celebrate our Veterans and their families! We appreciate your service to our country and our community! It was an honor to host you!

Thank you Blaine Luetkemeyer for being our guest speaker.

Thank you Liz and Angela for the great breakfast you provided for our Veterans and their families.

Thank you American Legion Post 545 for the service at the Veterans Memorial.

Thank you Mrs. Holtmeyer and her Leadership and Service class for setting up and preparing the ceremony.

Thank you Mrs. Voss and art students for all the beautiful artwork displayed.

Thank you 5th grade students for the beautiful song.

Thank you Mrs. Patterson for all the time spent preparing 5th grade for their song.

Thank you Kindergarten students for presenting Veterans with their medals.

Thank you Eli Kemna and Hadley Lane for playing Taps.

Thank you Kai Steinbeck and Betty Johnson for the folding of the flag presentation.

Freshmen are getting acquainted to Excel with some friendly rounds of Excel Battleship.

8th grade visited Eldon Career Center and explored classes they will have an opportunity to take when they are Juniors!

Softball completed their season as the Class 1 State Champs--back to back! We are so proud of the season for the coaches and players!

Basketball season opened up with the canned good scrimmage! We are excited for the season to begin!

The retro uniforms the boys wore were a highlight of the night and brought a good laugh. May have to bring those back out for a game! 🤣

Archery season is getting ready to begin. Practices will begin in December! Competitions begin in January.

Scholar Bowl teams have started practicing. They have competitions coming up soon!

Congratulations to Charli Dummel on signing her Letter of Intent to continue her softball career at Drury University. We are so proud of her and her accomplishments. Good Luck in your future endeavors!

Congratulations to Eli Kemna on signing his Letter of Intent to continue his baseball career at Missouri Southern State in Joplin! We are proud of him and his accomplishments and wish him the best in his future endeavors!

Here are the AR nights for 1st Semester. These are for grades 1-6. Please be sure to send in a note with your child if you plan on them attending an AR night so we know.

Drop off times: Students can't be dropped off before 7:45, unless participating in the Before Care program or an appointment with a teacher. This is to ensure that they are being looked after by staff. Drop off times should be between 7:45 and 8:00 and students will come to the gym during those times instead of main entrance.

Before/After Care for K-5th Grade: Friendly reminder that the end time for After Care for K-5 is 5:00. Please make sure that if your child is here before 7:45, that they are attending Before Care.

Changes to routine: Please make sure to call the office before 2:00 or send a note in if there are changes to your child's routine for dismissal.

Pre-Arranged Absences: Please be sure to let Mrs. Musick and child's teacher(s) know. All work should be gathered before and is due upon return.