Decatur County Community High School
605 E Commercial St, Oberlin, KS 67749
February 2, 2025 (Schedule at the bottom, Skip What You Want)
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Decatur community,
The word was bomb. I will forever remember the word I went out on in the 6th grade Spelling Bee. It's seems so simple, but it was a learning experience that I shared with hundreds of former students over the years.
The pronouncer pronounced the word with the same pronunciation as the word "bum." I even asked, "You mean like a person laying in the street?" She just repeated the word. If I would have only asked for the definition or a sentence. Let's be honest, I probably could have figured it out if she would have given me the sentence..... "The "bum" exploded in the field."
I probably would have thought to myself, "Oh b-o-m-b, bomb. She means bomb." Instead? I said, "Bum, b-u-m bum." Hindsight.
Either way, I lost the Bee, grew from it, and shared the info. with my future students to help them steer clear of similar mistakes.
This year, as her competitors went out on words like cello, solitude, and morose, our DCHS Spelling Bee Champion will forever remember the word astonish, a-s-t-o-n-i-s-h, astonish (The Championship Word). At least her memory will be a pleasant one.
Congratulations to 7th grade student Gemma Louderback for winning the 2025 Decatur County Spelling Bee.
Shoutout to Board President Zach May for helping with the spelling bee. For the 3rd straight year, May was the pronouncer of the words and took the time to be present. May is always willing to make time to participate and help out in any way possible, and it's a trend that I hope continues for many years. It's that type of committment and support any district would hope to have from a board member.
Shoutout to Kansas. This past week was the 164th birthday of our good old home state. As a history teacher, I always did a massive presentation on Kansas each year, highlighting some interesting things. Here are just a few things that I would share out of a presentaion that lasted 55 minutes.
1. Chicago, Illinois may be nicknamed "The Windy City," but with a daily average wind speed of 14 mph, Dodge City, Kansas is actually the windiest city in the U.S.
2. Pizza Hut orginated in Wichita, Kansas. The original first building still resides on the campus of Wichita State University, though it just for show now.
3. If you want to stand in the middle of the US, Smith County, Kansas is where you would do it.
I can go on and on, but we'll leave it at that.
Shoutout to Mr. Jesus Cepeda. Mr. Cepeda has worked this year with our ELL program and our Spanish classes. Mr. Cepeda is a consistent presence at all of the events and is always willing to step up when needed. I look forward to his continued growth here at DCHS.
Shoutout to junior Keely Huff and senior Cameo Counter. Last weekend the two participated in the K-State Band Clinic in Manhattan. In their respective groups, each which numbered over 100, they were nominated and selected for the "Outstanding Musician Award." Only 3-4 students from each group receive this honor.
Shoutout to the boys' basketball team for their resilient win last Friday against Wallace County. In the first round of the NWKL tournament, the boys lost a tough matchup against them. This week, battling illness throughout, the boys came out on top in a revenge matchup. 5 boys played the entire time. The conditioning and discipline that was on display was noteworthy. I can't recall a time when I remember a team playing an entire game with only 5 players that touched the court.
Shoutout to our JH wrestling team. Both the boys and girls performed well this past Thursday evening at our home event. The following wrestlers had winning records:
Aurora Allen: 2-1
Jenna Fuentes: 2-0
Justin Glass: 2-0
Arely Manujuano: 2-0
Braden Ostmeyer: 2-1
Isaac Pattangall: 2-1
Landon Shaw: 2-1
On Saturday, the run of solid performances continued at Hoisington as three boys took first in their division.
Emigh Takes 2nd at Arapahoe
Senior Garrett Emigh continues a successful senior run with a 2nd place showing at Arapahoe.
Sowers Takes 2nd at Amherst
Kyra Sowers Takes 2nd at Amherst and should remain top ranked wrestler in her 110 class in Kansas.
Louderback Wins Second Consecutive Decatur County Spelling Bee, Advances to State
Gemma and fellow 7th grade student Graham Spivey represented the junior high after Gemma had won the school bee last week, with Graham as the runner up.
Along with the the DCHS representatives were Morgan Shaw and Haydend Sutherlan representing OES.
Louderback survived the last round by avoiding the trap of adding only one "r" on the word irrigation which then gave her the opportunity to win the competition by spelling the Championship Word "astonish."
Gemma is now qualified for the State competition in Salina, Kansas at Kansas Wesleyan University in March. The winner of the Sunflower State Spelling Bee moves on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. and gets an all-expense paid trip for themselves and a guest to compete in the competition.
Spivey, just like the school bee the week prior, was the runner up and will be the designated alternate in the event that Gemma cannot attend.
Congratulations, Gemma, and good luck!
Forensics Season Kicks Off
Mrs. Witt and the forensics team kicked off their season in Rexford. The team is loaded with a lot of participants that are experiencing forensics for the first time. It's awesome to see the growth of the team the past few years and the excitement on the faces of the students. Below are some words from Mrs. Witt from the meet.
"Most of the students that competed Saturday are new to forensics, but they did a great job competing.
Haden Allen placed 5th in Extemporaneous.
Cameo Counter and Allyson Simpson placed 5th in IDA.
Maria Rodriguez and Rustin Bailey placed 6th in Duet Acting.
Freshman IDA team, Karlee Mack and Ella Williby, missed the top 6 by half of a point. We are so very proud of them!!!"
Applied Math Students Visit Local Banks
Mrs. Witt took the Applied Math students to local banks this week to experience real life math. You can see some words from her below. I am always so thankful of her committment to providing as many real world experiences as possible for our students.
Mrs. Witt - "The Applied Math 1 class would like to thank our area banks for sitting down and helping them understand their policies on opening a savings account; as well as, opening a checking account. We greatly appreciate you and the time you took to answer questions the students had. Thank you again!!!"
BOYS BASKETBALL Record 7-6
1-0 W 67-33 home vs Atwood
2-0 W 62-43 vs Hitchcock County (McCook Invitational First Round)
2-1 L 33-59 vs Danbury (McCook Invitational Semifinals)
3-1 W 55-42 vs Southwest (McCook Invitational 3rd Place Game)
4-1 W 50-48 home vs Hill City
4-2 L 48-54 home vs WaKeeney
4-3 L 40-25 @ Logan/Palco
4-4 L 46-53 @ Oakley
5-4 W vs Northern Valley
5-5 L 46-73 @ Hoxie
5-6 L 57-60 vs Wallace County (NWKL League Tournament)
6-6 W 56-36 vs St. Francis (NWKL League Tournament)
7-6 W 60-53 vs Ness City (NWKL League Tournament)
8-6 W 55-29 vs St. Francis
vs Wallace County
Girls Basketball Record 8-5
0-1 L 45-54 home vs Atwood
1-1 W VS Hitchcock County (McCook Invitational First Round)
2-1 W 35-25 vs Maywood (McCook Invitational Semifinals)
2-2 L 44-51 vs Southwest (McCook Invitational Championship game)
3-1 W 59-15 home vs Hill City
4-2 W 50-20 home vs WaKeeney
5-2 W 68-20 @ Logan/Palco
5-3 L 41-48 @ Oakley
6-3 W home vs Northern Valley
6-4 L 38-45 @ Hoxie
6-5 L 38-48vs Tribune (NWKL League Tournament)
7-5 W 51-33 vs St. Francis (NWKL League Tournament)
8-5 W 47-25 vs Dighton (NWKL League Tournament)
9-5 W 53-42 vs St. Francis
vs Wallace County
Decatur County Community Junior/Senior High School
Email: jholloway@usd294.org
Website: https://www.usd294.org/vnews/display.v/SEC/DCHS
Location: 605 East Commercial Street, Oberlin, KS, USA
Phone: 785-475-2231
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Decatur-Community-JrSr-High/372347636275932
Twitter: @DCHSREDDEVILS