The month of March has ended and a number student activities and competitions have taken place. Winter sports have concluded and a couple of Panthers gained All-Conference recognition for basketball. Aubrey McMaster and Josh Eckmann were named 1st Team All-Conference and All-State. Ellie Evertz received 2nd Team All-Conference recognition. Josh was also named Helena Independent Record player of the year. Also, a number of students were recognized for Academic All-State for winter sports teams. March 12th also signaled the start of spring sports in Montana. The winter weather has delayed competition in all spring sports. Hopefully some warmer weather is on the way to allow competition.
The JHS drama recently presented the play “Almost Maine” and it was well received. The drama department is currently working on casting for a 4th play to be performed at the end of the school year. The students continue to showcase their talents and put on wonderful productions. Keep up the great work.
Mr. Bowman and the music department held another Jazz dinner concert that was well received. Guests this year included a complete Jazz class from Montana State University Billings under the direction of one of Mr. Bowman’s college professors. These opportunities allow collaboration between high schools and colleges that may lead students into the field of music. The music department is busy preparing for the District Music Festival to be held April 12-14th in Anaconda, MT. There are a large number of students participating from group events to solo presentations. Mrs. Smartnick recently had two students qualify for the national Business Professionals of America (BPA) conference in Dallas this May. Samantha DeMartin and Katy Twichel qualified for the national competition. The state FCCLA conference was also recently completed and although there were no national qualifiers, a there were a couple of silver and bronze awardees.
The JHS Skills Competition group again hosted a competition to help prepare for the upcoming state level competition. Competing schools included JHS, Townsend, Helena High, and Butte High. Thanks to all who helped put on this competition and the students who competed. Good luck to all participants in Havre later this spring.
I want to take some time to thank Mr. Smith for his diligence in getting all the policies in order for posting on the website. It has taken considerable time to make sure all changes, dates, and corrections were accurate. Thanks to all faculty, staff, and student representatives that made the recent JHS Night successful. There was a great turnout of current 8th grade students and their parents.
For the fourth year, JHS will not be putting a general levy before the voters. With proper planning and budgeting, the significant increase in student population and funding will be balanced for the 2018-19 school year. The high school population has peaked at 262 students for the 2017-18 school year and early projections have that number increasing.
