Go Big Red: DCHS Weekly Message

Week 10: Mr. Lindquist's Test

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Decatur County Community High School

605 E Commercial St, Oberlin, KS 67749

October 23, 2022 (Schedule at the bottom, Skip What You Want)

Follow us on Twitter at @DCHSREDDEVILS or

Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Oberlin294/

Decatur community,

It's conference week. Our students get a three day weekend followed by a 3 day week, followed by a 3 day weekend. Teachers will be busy at it tomorrow finalizing grades and getting everything prepped to meet face to face with the community, while students are enjoying the first of their back to back extended weekends.

For a three day week, there is a lot going on: Two nights of conferences, high stakes testing, and a home football game, all squished into Tuesday through Thursday.

Well, good things come in small packages right, so let's pack as much as we can into it. Besides, small weeks result in big weekends, and who doesn't love a big weekend?

SHOUTOUTS

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Shoutout once again to the Junior High volleyball teams on their performance. Both teams competed and placed at in their League Tournaments this past Tuesday. The A team ended their season with a 3rd place finish at St. Francis, and the B team took first place at Atwood. Tripled with the success of our middle school football and cross country teams, the future of fall sports here in Oberlin is very hopeful. Congratulations, ladies.

Shoutout to all of the students that performed at the Vocal concert this past week and to all of the community members that showed up in support and to participate in the singing.

Shoutout to our Cheer coach Libby Fort and Graphic Design teacher Wendy Scott. Mrs. Fort and her cheerleaders put together a fun Pep Assembly to recognize the senior football players and the senior volleyball players. Ms. Fort's cheer squad did a great job entertaining, and Mrs. Scott's senior football video was enjoyed by all.

Shoutout to Ms. Davis, Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Ketterl, Mr. Persinger, Mr. Reichert, Mrs. Scott, and Mrs. Springer for showing off their amazing(?) cheer talents during the Pep Assembly. (Pictures Below) The cheerleaders deserve a lot of credit for both recruiting and teaching the staff the dance moves to the fight song. These moments make for lasting memories for students. Mr. Reichert's high kick was a thing of beauty. You know, I think his kneecap just may have gently tapped his nose.

Shoutout to the junior and senior students that took the WorkKeys assessment this past week. I was excited by the results, with a large portion of our students earning recognitions and certificates at different levels.

Shout out and thank you to all of the senior students that were recognized for senior night. Thank you for all of the great memories that you have each provided to your fellow students, your staff, and your community.

Shoutout to Mrs. Brenda Breth and math teachers Wendy Scott and Gina Witt for their constant involvement in the KESA process. I will save the description of KESA for a later message, but, in short, it has everything to do with the school district getting accredited. These ladies have spent countless hours, far too many of them during school, doing the work of getting the school accredited. Having been through this process at my former school, I cannot stress enough how essential each of these ladies had been to this process. They have done an amazing job!

Shoutout to junior cross country runner Shakira Cook. Shakira finished the season strong at the regional meet. Cross country is one of the few sports where you truly compete against yourself every time, and Shakira ended the season with a new personal record.

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Cheer Squad

The cheerleaders put on a good show. They look on in support as the seniors speak.

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JH Football Recognized with Plaque

Coach Reichert (we didn't get a picture of the high kick) and his undefeated JH football team were recognized during the assembly.

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Teachers Show off Their Moves

Band teacher Brad Persinger shows that dancing is just another part of music.

Things You Should Know

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Parent Teacher Conferences

Fall Conferences are this week. Please look through this information.

1. The timeframe is listed below:

Tuesday, October 25: 4:00-8:00 PM (Open House Style Conferences)

Thursday, October 27: 4:00-7:00 PM

2. Teachers will be in the cafeteria, and parents will be able to come in to meet with individual teachers as they see fit.

On Thursday, October 27th, conferences will be held until 7:00. There is a scheduled home football game that starts at 6:00. Please note that there will be a handful of teachers that will not be in attendance on Thursday for some or all of the conferences.

3. Grades will be up to date by Monday, October 24th. You should be able to look online through PowerSchool to check your students progress before conferences.

4. Please reach out to your teachers if you have concerns about your child, and feel free to reach out to myself if you need any clarification about conferences.

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ACT (Academic College Testing)

In 1959, the first American College Test (ACT) was given. Created by Everett Franklin Lindquist (pictured ) a college professor from the University of Iowa, it was a test created to challenge the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) which had been around approximately 20 years longer. The biggest difference was that the ACT had the goal of trying to test students on the direct competencies that they were studying in schools.

Today, there are over 2 million high school graduates that take the ACT each year, and Wednesday, several of our students will take the ACT, most for the first time. I have included the standard overview of the ACT, and what it looks like. I also included some sites with tips. For most of our students, they will take the ACT multiple times as they try to improve their scores..

OVERVIEW OF ACT TEST SECTIONS

English

75 multiple–choice questions
45 minutes
Tests grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and rhetorical skills
Learn more about the ACT English Test

Math

60 multiple–choice questions
60 minutes
Algebra I and II, geometry, and some trigonometry
Learn more about the ACT Math Test

Reading

40 multiple–choice questions
35 minutes
Four passages (prose fiction, social studies, humanities, and natural sciences) with 10 questions per passage
Learn more about the ACT Reading Test

Science

40 multiple–choice questions
35 minutes
Questions on science-based passages presented with graphs, charts, tables and research summaries
Learn more about the ACT Science Test

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Fall Concert a success on Many levels

Last Thursday night, the DCHS Choir and DCHS Singers had their Fall Concert. It was the first concert for Vocal teacher Lisa Johnson (pictured) since returning to her old alma mater. There to support was OES music teacher Jenny Tally. I was thoroughly impressed by the whole process.

Aside from the fact that the students and teachers both put forth a ton of effort, I loved the inclusion of the male and female community members for a song. It was a great sight to see so many generations represented on the stage.

The music selection was great, the arrangement kept everything going, the Singers put on a great "show choir" performance, and it really felt like each student had their moment to shine.

It was a lot of fun. Congrats to Mrs. Johnson on a great first performance, and I look forward to the Christmas concert.

Take a look at some of the pictures that Mrs. Breth took. All of them are on our Facebook page that is always linked at the top.

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Mrs. Tally

Mrs. Tally was on the piano and on the drums throughout the concert.

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General Choir

The general choir was the first group to perform their full set of songs.

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DCHS Singers Put on a Show

Emma Holloway, Olivia Williby, Ellie Anderson, and Tony Kuhlman pictured.

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Men's Choir

The men's choir saw generations represented. Board member Zach May (green) shared his talents with the choir.

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Women's Choir

The women's choir saw a great turnout and they had a lot of fun with Shania Twain's Man I Feel Like a Woman. Former graduate and choir teacher Kathryn Tremblay (black and white) returned for the performance.

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Performer Extraordinaires

Josh Juenemann shows that he is not only a good singer and dancer, but he is more than up to the task of holding his buddy Bryant Addleman.

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Halloween Cleanup Around the Corner

The 98th annual Halloween Clean-Up is Friday, Nov. 4. The teachers chose Bryant Addleman, Ellie Anderson, Josh Juenemann, Teague Morford, and Olivia Williby to lead the student-led service project From those five, the student body chose Josh Juenemann as the general.

If you would like your yard raked, please call the high school at 785 475-2231 and leave your name and address.

GO BIG RED

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Not everyone will agree with me, but Conferences were always one of my favorite things each year. I love getting to know the families of my students. As a teacher, I always tried to guess the student for each parent that walked in the door. Many of them I already knew, but there were several I did not. I prided myself in making positive, character building relationships with my students, and it was always important for me to not only put a face to a name, but also to let the parent meet me as well.

I am no longer a teacher, but I am still at conferences, and I am still available if you would like to chat on Tuesday or Thursday night. Getting to know students and their parents never changes.

Until next week (or Tuesday or Thursday night?),

Jeremy Holloway

Go Big Red!