As the month of July begins, the busy schedule of prepping JHS for the coming school year continues. The heavy June rains brought to light a roof leak in the north gym that was recently repaired, just in time to have the north gym floor refinished. The custodial crew has been working diligently with cleaning, waxing, and painting. Future projects include getting the other two modular rooms back in shape since our projected student population will be near 270 for the 2018-19 school year.
There will be a couple of new faces for next year at JHS. Kelsey Voeller will be joining JHS as a new English teacher, Jane Erickson is joining us as the Instructional Coach for the literacy grant, and Mike Moodry has been hired as the new high school principal. I am excited for the new hires to the JHS staff and the new possibilities they bring to the district. I am currently working on filling assistant coaching and paraprofessional positions.
JHS recently submitted the combined GPA’s for all varsity letter winners during the 2017-18 school year to the Montana High School Association for the Northwestern Energy Academic Excellence Award. The GPA submitted for JHS student athletes was 3.428. This number represents the average of 186 students who participated in all sports, band chorus, speech, and cheer. This is quite an accomplishment and all participants should be commended for their commitment to academics while competing in extracurricular activities.
This summer, inquiry has taken place to expand the dual credit offerings at JHS. Helena College has recently confirmed that College Algebra can be taught on the JHS campus for dual credit and I am working with Highlands College in Butte for the possibility of teaching a Computer Coding dual credit course. Also, Carroll College has announced that eligible students in Jefferson County can take up to two college courses on their campus.
In a couple of weeks, Nate Brunett and Hayden Guisti will be representing JHS in the Montana East/West Shrine football game in Great Falls. Also, a handful of JHS students past and present have been busy participating in state trap events. The varsity team finished first in trap and the IA shooters second. Participants include Tristan Edmiston, William Robson, and JP Robson. Congratulations to all participants and keep up the good work.
The literacy teams from both JHS and Boulder Elementary will be participating in workshops on July 18th and 19th in preparation for implementation during the 2018-19 school year. JHS will also be working with Boulder Elementary with the 21rst Century grant that was recently awarded. This grant is one of only 15 awarded this year in Montana. A big thanks to Rochelle Hesford for all her work and effort in writing the grant.
As I begin my sixth year at JHS, I look forward to the continued growth of students and staff at JHS and the continued support of the school board, patrons, and greater Jefferson County community.
