Saturday, January 28, 2017

January Middle School Students-of-the-Month

On the last Friday of the month, Belleville Middle School teachers recognized Students-of-the-Month for January. Students were acknowledged by their nominating teachers in front of their classmates in a Homeroom assembly in the commons. They received a certificate, a Catty Shack (school store) buck, and put their handprints up in the middle school (if they had not previously). Congratulations to this great group of 7th and 8th graders!

From left to right: Emma Erickson, Cecilia Grefsheim, Kenna Edge, Jenna Banfield, Kyla Jerome, Anthony Nolden, Adrix Devoe, Tyler Stampfl, Claire Patrow, Cody Koeppel, Noelle Brummel, Matthew Baxter, and Brynna Winkers

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Building Classroom Libraries

One of our goals this year around literacy is to build our classroom libraries. Through Scholastic funds from this year's book fair, English Language Arts teachers have been able to start to expand the books that students can choose from, with easy access right in their classrooms. Mrs. Jenkins's Advanced Placement Literature and Composition classes are happy to have access to these new books!

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Middle School Spelling Bee

Fourteen middle school student qualifiers (five 7th graders and nine 8th graders) participated in Belleville Middle School's 2017 Spelling Bee this morning (1-24). After more than 10 rounds, Cole Monroe won the competition by correctly spelling the championship word. He will represent Belleville at the regional spelling bee in Stoughton. Christian Hakala was our runner-up.

Thank you to Mrs. Schween for pronouncing the words, Mrs. Schultz for moderating, Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Norton for judging, and Mrs. Maas and Mr. Blasdel for the set-up! Thank you as well to the students who were terrific audience members!


Saturday, January 21, 2017

Science Olympiad at River Falls

The Belleville High School Science Olympiad team placed third out of 31 teams in their division today at the 6th Annual River Falls meet. The Belleville team moved up from 5th at the same competition last year. Congratulations to Coach Smith and the following students: 

1st Place
Ecology - Otto Anson and Joey Sokol

2nd Place
Electric Vehicle - Noah Niesen and Gary Salmela
Remote Sensing - Joey Sokol and Trevor Thole
Robot Arm - Noah Niesen and Connor Theis

3rd Place
Astronomy - Gary Salmela and Joey Sokol
Chemistry Lab - Otto Anson and Riley Medenwald
Materials Science - Hansi Bartle and Connor Theis
WiFi Lab - Hansi Bartle and Gianna Diaz

4th Place
Code Busters - Gianna Diaz, Riley Medenwald, and Trevor Thole
Invasives - Otto Anson and Mikayla Cann
Mystery Design - Hansi Bartle and Trevor Thole
Sustainable Energy - Britney Markhardt and Joey Sokol

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Soles4Souls Shoe Drive

Similar to their efforts the last two year with Teens for Jeans campaigns, Seniors Rachel Uebelacker, Britney Markhardt, and Clarice Loeffelholz are launching a drive to collect 200 pairs of gently used shoes.  Their effort is called Soles4Souls and will run from January 23 through February 24.  They will collect shoes at two specific home basketball games- the girls' game on January 27th vs. Wisconsin Heights and the boys' game on January 31st against Marshall.  Students can also drop off donations at anytime in that month in the main office.  Gift cards will be awarded to top five student donations. Please consider looking through your closets and seeing what you could do without.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Soup Supper

Mr. Ziehr and the Belleville High School Student Council put on the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Soup Supper tonight (1-18) in the high school cafeteria. Mr. Benash and his Ceramics I and II students created custom bowls for the event that the participants were able to keep. Despite the date being moved due to the weather, the turnout was superb, with great community support (well over 100 attendees)!

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Junior & Senior Lock-in

Sixty juniors and seniors attended the 2nd annual Spirit Club lock-in. The night began with food in the cafeteria, and then the games got underway.  The students started with a Barb Funseth-created scavenger hunt around the building. They then transitioned to a much-anticipated game of flashlight tag in the middle school. The remainder of the night was filled with boccerball, table tennis, blind volleyball, human foosball, and movies in the auditorium. They all stayed safe, and hopefully, made some long lasting memories!
Scavenger Hunt Winners

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

High School Students-of-the-Month for December

Nine Belleville High School students were recognized today (1-11) at lunch for the month of December by each department at BHS. Students were treated to Godfather's pizza and Mrs. Schween's brownies, along with a certificate from their teacher and movie coupons donated by Marcus Theaters. For this round, teachers commented how hard the students worked and about their positive character.

Congratulations to the following students!
(Back Row - Dana Zimmerman, Melissa Messer, Skyler Grulke, Holly White
Front Row - Ryan Posthuma, Ogden York, Kalli Westenberger, and Jade Halvensleben)
Not Pictured - Cade Kelley

Saturday, January 7, 2017

DECA District Competition

On Saturday, January 7, a group of 13 students from Belleville High School traveled to Sun Prairie High School to compete at the 2017 DECA District Competition.  Seniors Treise Langhammer and McKenzie O'Connor won two medals apiece, as they worked as a team to tackle tough business issues in their role plays.  Freshman Jasmyne Roberts also won two medals for her role plays as well as a third medal recognizing her as a finalist in her event. Honorable mentions were given to Alex Grignano and Ella Campbell for recording solid performances in their events. Special thanks to Drew Shrader, Ogden York, Ryan Posthuma, Michael Viney, Isaac Brummel, Noah Morrick, Nick Pauli, and Cole Kleiboer for their strong performances. [Submitted by Mr. Farrar]

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Lunch with the Governor

On January 5, 2017, six students from Belleville High School (Joey Sokol, Shea O'Malley, Leah Blask, Adam Gaff, Skylar Butenhoff, and Ryan Posthuma) attended the Wisconsin Economic Forecast luncheon.  The students were able to take part in this experience because of the generous donation from UB & T Bank in Belleville.  Students were able to hear Anthony Chan, Chief Economist with JPMorgan Chase & Co., New York, discuss the positive economic growth as a country.  He predicted that the Federal Reserve would raise the interest rates twice in 2017.  Students then had the privilege to hear Governor Scott Walker speak about the economic condition of Wisconsin.  He mentioned many statistics about how the unemployment rate has been shrinking.  According to the Governor, "Everyone in the State of Wisconsin who has the willingness and ability to have a job, should have a job."  He then went on to say that he wants to focus on career-tracking for students as early as 6th grade.  He wants students on the right track to gain the skills that employers of Wisconsin are looking for.  Senior Joey Sokol was even fortunate enough to ask the Governor a clarifying question.  

The luncheon was MC'ed by Jeff Mayers, President of WisPolitics.com and WisBusiness.com.  Jeff specifically thanked all the students for attending as he ended the day's presentations.  The students commented about how valuable the experience was.  Senior Shea O'Malley said, "It was a very interesting experience, and it was cool to watch Joey interact with the Governor." [Submitted by Mr. Farrar]