Thursday, March 23, 2017

March Middle School Students-of-the-Month

On Thursday, March 23rd, Belleville Middle School teachers acknowledged their Students-of-the-Month for March. Students were recognized in a morning assembly in the Middle School Commons.  Each teacher spoke about the student and presented them with a certificate, along with a Catty Shack (school store) buck and movie passes donated by Marcus Theaters. Students were also able to put their handprints and signatures up on the on the walls of the Commons. A theme for this month's winners was a sense of humor and work ethic. Congratulations to these Wildcats!
Top Row: Madeylyn Winterburn, Callie Smith, Chloe Smith, Alison Erskine, Kennedy Dreger, Zoe Rule, and Risandi Bartle
Bottom Row: Andrew Remy, Ryan Downing, and Carson Heller
Not Pictured: Brooke Everson

Friday, March 17, 2017

District Forensics Results

On Thursday (3-16) night, every member member (29 total) of the Belleville High School Forensics Team who competed at the district competition, hosted here at BHS, qualified for the state meet on April 21st at UW-Madison! Belleville students qualified in 23 different categories. Top scores went to:

Radio
Owen Benash and Joey Sokol

Farrago
Emily Flick and Eliza Woods

Solo Acting
Noah Fahey, Julia McNamar, and Taylor Vesperman

Group Interpretation
Grace Jaramillo-Hoffman, Shea O'Malley, Grace Schulting and Mikaela Steckelis

Prose
Alan Woller

Congratulations to all of our advancing students and to Head Coach Mrs. Alsteens and assistant Coach Mrs. Walejko. It was a great night to be a Wildcat!
Mrs. Alsteens with Ruth Phillips (District 11 Chairperson) & Adam Jacobi (WHSFA State Director)

Science Night

On Monday, March 14th (Pi Day and Einstein's birthday), Belleville High School students hosted their annual Science Night (and Soup Supper to support the Boundary Waters summer trip). Eleven advanced Science students put on demonstrations on the auditorium stage for the audience. Crowd pleasers included "Purple Flame, Purple Flame" and "Elephant Toothpaste." Another 40 projects were also on display in the hallways. These ranged from food preservatives, to ink block psychology, and a rat maze. Staff enjoyed participating in some of the students' experiments leading up to Science Night. Congratulations to Mrs. Smith and Mr. Bussey and their students for a successful night of demonstrating student learning! Thank you to the Treder Family for prize donations! [Photos courtesy of Dana Zimmerman]

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Yahara River Writers Contest Results

The results of this year's Yahara River Writers Project were released on Wednesday (3-15). Belleville Middle School is proud to announce that 8 of our students placed in the competition- the most that we have ever had! All of our winners were 8th graders. They include:

Cartoons:
Cassie Narf
Jaxon Pier

Editorials:
Roxana Grunenwald - 1st Place
Jenna Banfield
Christian Hakula

Poetry:
Cecilia Grefsheim

In addition, for the first time in school history, a cover design of a Belleville student will adorn the cover of the anthology put out by the Greater Dane County Advanced Learner Network. The cover belongs to Josephine Latorre. Way to go Wildcats!

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Quilts of Valor

On Wednesday (March 15) morning, 8th grade students at Belleville Middle School hosted a Quilts of Valor program.  The Quilt of Valor is the highest honor that a civilian can present to a veteran. Vicki Sasso, who represents the Quilts of Valor Foundation, spoke to the students and guests about the history and importance of the program.  The students also explained what they learned during this process.  The learned and blogged about several military campaigns including the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, and Operation Enduring Freedom.  However, they also took away research skills, along with communication and teamwork skills.

The presentation today was completely student-led and was simply amazing!  Most importantly, students were able to honor local veterans. Erica Long presented her dad, Kevin, with a quilt.  Adrianna Herritz presented her father, Josh, with a quilt.  Raina Nicholson was also able to present her grandfather, Bliss, with a Quilt of Valor.

The program today was a culmination of work that began back in November.  It demonstrates the school district's partnerships with the Quilts of Valor Foundation, Belleville Public Library, and Patches & Petals.  Today's program clearly showed why Belleville is a great place to be.  Our students were tremendous.  Thank you so much to Mr. Gentilli and Mrs. Schultz for leading this effort.  They should be very proud of the performance of their students today!

Monday, March 13, 2017

World of Robotics

To begin students' morning of the March 13th Early Release Day, Jack Burrus presented to 7th and 8th graders on the "World of Robotics." All middle school students this year are taking a Design & Modeling course as part of the Gateway curriculum of Project Lead the Way (PLTW). Next year, they will be exposed to Computer Science as part of PLTW. In two years, 7th grade will then transition to a PLTW Robotics course.


Friday, March 10, 2017

Belleville High School's "Brigadoon"

Twenty-three cast members, along with twelve crew members, performed in "Brigadoon" on opening night- Friday, March 10th. This includes 18 seniors participating in their last musical. Congratulations to Director Nicholas Balabuszko, Assistant Director Leah Balabuszko, and musical directors Sara Krueger & Kris Penniston. The show, an adaptation of the famous 1954 Gene Kelly musical featuring the song "Almost Like Being in Love," is a love story involving characters from two different eras in time who meet in the Scottish village of Brigadoon. Congratulations to all those involved with this entertaining production!
































Middle School Happenings

Friday, March 10, was a busy day at Belleville Middle School! Mr. Pamperin wrapped up a unit on Stunts & Challenges in Physical Education that involved climbing, juggling, double-dutch jump ropes, unicycles, and stilts. Take a look at our talented students in the gallery below!
Mr. Gentilli also took a group of 8th grade students, at the request of the public library, to an information gathering session. Our students provided feedback on the design of the new library.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Students-of-the-Month for February

Belleville High School teachers from eight departments nominated Students-of-the-Month for February. These students were recognized with a pizza lunch on Wednesday (3-8). Students also received a certificate from their teachers and movie passes donated by Marcus Theater's Student Motivation Program. A theme about these students took shape while reading their nominations- they are hardworking young people. Keep it up Wildcats!
Left to Right: Evan Reifert, Justin Knoebl, Luke Kelly, Trevor Enloe,
Lexi Helsell, Shea O'Malley, Lio Serrano, and Mili Julian

All-conference Boys Basketball Players

Congratulations to junior Drew Shrader and senior Dan Meier for being named to the All-Capitol Conference South teams. Drew was voted onto the 2nd Team, and Dan was voted in as an Honorable Mention selection. They made Wildcat basketball exciting to watch this year!

State DECA Awards

In the first year of the transition from FBLA to DECA at Belleville High School, the Belleville state DECA participants won two awards at Tuesday's competition in Lake Geneva. Belleville DECA won a first for solid membership and a second for outstanding chapter commitment. Mr. Farrar was proud of the group's accomplishments for the first year of the chapter!
Jasmyne Roberts, Alex Grignano, and Ella Campbell receive a DECA award.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Math 24 Champ!

Coach DuPree took 7th and 8th grade teams to a Math 24 Meet today (3-7) at Union South on the UW-Madison campus. For 7th grade, Matthew Loshaw took 1st place overall, while Zachary Thole took 5th place overall. Jack Nolden had a team-high score for our 8th graders. The 7th grade "deck" focused on fractions & decimals and the 8th grade on Algebra & exponents. Belleville went up against other teams in the South Region including Albany, Argyle, Beloit, Evansville, Lake Mills, McFarland, Monona Grove, New Glarus, Oregon, Parkview, Stoughton, and Waunakee. Congratulations to these Wildcat Mathematicians!

Tech. Ed. Tour

Mr. Neumann and Mrs. Schween took 32 Belleville High School students to four local manufacturers today (3-7). The purpose of the field trip was to expand student exposure to technology, careers, equipment, practices, software, and materials outside of the classroom. The Belleville contingent visited Cate Machine & Welding, Kelsch Machine in Paoli, SK Plastics in Monroe, Faith Engineering in Monticello.
Belleville graduate Steve Cate
School Board member Kevin Spiegel

Capitol Conference Spring Math Meet

The Belleville High School Math Team took 2nd in the Capitol South and fourth overall in last night's (3-6) Capitol Conference Spring Math Meet in Lake Mills. Junior Riley Medenwald placed 8th individually for the varsity, while Gary Salmela placed fourth individually in JV competition. Congratulations to these Mathletes!

Friday, March 3, 2017

Belleville wins the state LifeSmarts competition

Mr. Farrar's Belleville High School LifeSmarts team won today's (3-3) state competition at Edgewood College in Madison. With the victory, each of five students receives a $1,000 scholarship. The team is now eligible for the national competition, hosted in Pittsburgh, PA in April. CBM Credit Education Foundation covers all travel expenses, lodging, and meals. Congratulations to seniors Grace Przybyl, Grace Schulting, and Joey Sokol and juniors Otto Anson and Brock Kelly!

Youth Apprenticeship Day at the Capitol

On Thursday, March 2, Mrs. Gartley brought seven of the 10 Belleville Youth Apprentices to "Youth Apprenticeship Day at the Capitol." Students were able to meet and interact with Dane County School Consortium Director Josh Fassl, State Representative Sondy Pope, and State Senator Jon Erpenbach.  Students had the opportunity to share their work-based experience success stories in an effort to convince legislators to continue to support the program.
(Left to Right) Daniel Meier, Jordan Caputo, Connor Theis, Aiden Pottratz, Mikayla Cann, Grace Pryzbyl, and Tony O'Connor.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

All-Conference Girls' Basketball Players

Three Belleville High School girls' basketball players were recognized with All-Capitol Conference South honors this week. Senior Grace Schulting was a unanimous 1st Team Selection. Sophomore Rachel Heittola joined her on the 1st Team. Senior Krista Diaz was also an Honorable Mention selection. Congratulations to these players and Coach Greenleaf in helping the team reach a 16-8 overall record (7-3 in the South)!

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Congratulations to the 14 new inductees to the Belleville High School National Honor Society who were welcomed into the program at a ceremony in the library tonight (3-1)! Thank you to Mrs. Walejko for her speech to the NHS members and audience. Thank you too to NHS adviser Mrs. Alsteens for all of her work through the application process and for planning and organizing tonight's very classy ceremony. These students epitomize the Wildcat Way!


Exploring Health Care Careers at the Gym

Mrs. Gartley's Health Care Careers Exploration class spent a few hours today with Matthew Hanson, Fitness Director at Pinnacle Health and Fitness Center. Mr. Hanson has a degree in Exercise Science and Kinesiology. He spends his day working with members to design and teach them specialized fitness activities for different muscle groups. Members come to a gym to train for a competition, enhance performance for a sport, or recovery from an injury. Students really enjoyed participating in these activities and learning what each one will do for the human body.