Bonduel Elementary School

The Bonduel School District is working toward implementing a growth mindset approach in helping students learn.

According to Mindset Works Inc., “In a growth mindset, people believe their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work – brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all people who have achieved top performance, had these qualities. Research shows people with this view reach higher levels of success than people with fixed mindset beliefs.”

The teachers in the Bonduel School District are being trained in these beliefs and how to implement activities in their classrooms with the help of growth mindset presenter Kris Going. She is an instructional coach in the Shawano School District and has been trained as a growth mindset presenter. We were lucky enough to have her present to the whole Bonduel staff. The Bonduel district is on the right path to improving the mindset of students, teachers and parents.

Kris is also coming to Bonduel Elementary school to present to Title 1 parents on how they can use this mindset in the home. The parents will also have the option to be involved in a book talk on the book, “Mindsets For Parents; Strategies to Encourage Growth Mindsets in Kids” by Mary Ricci.

We are very excited as a district to implement more of this growth mindset into our classrooms to see how our students and teachers grow from these beliefs.

Gresham Community School

Gresham Community School held a class promotion meeting for the eighth-, ninth-, 10th- and 11th-graders. In the meeting they discussed classes that will be available for them to take next school year. This was followed by a class scheduling meeting on Feb. 2 during which the students scheduled their classes for next year.

Friday will be a half day. Students will be released at 11:27 a.m., and high school students will be reporting to classes 1-4.

Shawano Community High School

Despite being short-handed due to a vacancy on board 3, the Shawano Community High School chess team managed victories over Green Bay Catholic-B (19-13), Westfield (26-14) and Waupaca B (22-18) to raise its season record to 8-4. Competing for Shawano on the varsity team were Henry Stuewer, Dylan Mastrodonato and Noah Buss.

“I’m very happy with the wins,” coach Dave Stuewer said, “but it would be nice to not cut things quite so close in terms of numbers. I’d love to have more players, so any Shawano residents interested in having their students participate in chess, please contact me at the high school, or Mr. Chad Bromeisl at the middle school.”

Shawano’s next tournament is at Westfield on Feb. 18.

Bonduel Elementary School

Did you know that a metal and a poisonous gas together give us table salt? At Bonduel Elementary School, the fourth-graders have been exploring the mysteries of “Matter in Science.” We have learned that there are three common forms of matter: solids, liquids, and gases. There is also matter called plasma (the matter in stars) and Bose-Einstein condensate (a special matter formed in laboratory conditions). We have also studied the elements in the Periodic Table and how these elements can be combined as mixtures or by chemical reactions. The students were especially excited by our testing of the pH level of different liquids using litmus paper. We found that bases turn the litmus paper blue and acids turn the litmus paper red. Students were even allowed to take a piece of litmus paper home to test something on their own and report back to class. The students loved learning about matter so much, that they didn’t want the science chapter to end.

Bonduel High School

Bonduel High School and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College recently presented “Using Collaboration to Meet Regional Economic Needs.” Schools from Wisconsin learned how Bonduel and NWTC partner to offer students four pathways to graduation: traditional, early college high school practical nursing, youth apprenticeship and PK-14 dual credit programming.

Every high school graduate needs some college beyond high school to engage in today’s global economy and keep our communities strong. Dual credit students are 2.2 times more likely to enroll in state two- and four-year colleges. Currently, 71 percent of BHS students are enrolled in college courses in high school through our post-secondary partners: NWTC, University of Wisconsin‐Green Bay, Northcentral Technical College and Fox Valley Technical College. This year, Bonduel High School students will earn 1,145 college credits, offering their students a savings of $183,672 in college tuition.

The presentation featured students Ashlie Mastey and Taylor Thiex.

Mastey is a senior studying the health science field. She is a nursing assistant at Atrium Post-Acute Care of Shawano. Upon graduation, she will earn a Level II certification from DWD Youth Apprenticeship Program in health sciences. In addition, as a NWTC/BHS Early College Nursing Program student, she will have completed her certified nursing assistant certification and have one semester remaining to complete her licensed practical nurse degree through NWTC. Ashley will then transfer to Marian University for her Bachelor of Science in nursing.

Thiex is a senior in the youth apprenticeship program in manufacturing processes and machining at Channel Letter Factory (World Wide Signs Systems), Shawano. Upon graduation, she will earn a Level II certification from DWD Youth Apprenticeship Program in manufacturing. Taylor plans to attend UW-Stout to study technology education.

Award-winning artwork of students from around Wisconsin was on display in the student art gallery. The artist’s challenge was to create an original work of art showing their interpretation of how art and science intersect and enhance our world. Bonduel High School students Alexia Folkman, Jarrette Czarapata, Emily Sorenson and Alexis Beschta had their pieces featured as outstanding student artists in Wisconsin. The students are taught by Danielle Piparo.

Erin Timler won the regional spelling bee for the second year in a row Wednesday night at Bonduel High School.

For the second competition in a row, Timler, who is in eighth grade at Bonduel Middle School, faced a tough competitor, and this time, it wasn’t her younger sister.

Timler and Anna Etten, a sixth-grade student from Shawano Community Middle School in her first year of competition, squared off against each other for nearly 20 rounds of the 32-round bee before Timler achieved victory by spelling “woebegone” and “dermatology” correctly.

Timler spelled “woebegone” incorrectly at the Bonduel School District bee in January, but she said she’d been studying hard since then. Timler got that word after Etten misspelled “statuesque.”

The repeat win almost didn’t happen, though.

After more than a dozen rounds of correct words between the two that included two instances of officials skipping ahead to more complicated words, officials halted the bee to confer and determine where in the more advanced words to proceed. Once that happened, Timler and Etten found themselves spelling word after word wrong.

It looked like Etten might upset Timler when she spelled “predominant” correctly, but she spelled “solarium” with an i instead of an o, and the bee continued.

Timler’s regional win advances her to the Badger State Spelling Bee, which will be held at 1 p.m. March 25 at Mitby Theatre at Madison Area Technical College. In 2016, she finished 19th out of about 40 spellers.

Timler was not expecting the competition at the regional bee to be as fierce as when she went toe to toe for 25 rounds with her sixth-grade sister, Abby, at the Bonduel bee.

“I expected people to be good, but I didn’t know it was going to be that long again,” Timler said.

Timler and her sister, who won the regional bee two years ago, have been quizzing each other on spelling words for years, and that quizzing continued as Timler prepared to defend her regional title. It was that continuous studying that helped her to nail down “woebegone,” she said.

This will be Timler’s last chance at state glory, as the spelling bee is for students in the eighth grade and younger. She’s eager to be setting her sights higher this year, and a win at the state bee would be a chance to prove Bonduel’s nickname remains the Spelling Capital of Wisconsin.

“I’m so excited to be going back,” Timler said. “It’s going to be fun, meeting all sorts of new people. It’s pretty cool. I’m both excited and nervous.”

Jen Beaumier, the coordinator for this year’s regional bee, was excited to see that there were nine competitors this year, after only six in the 2016 bee.

“It was hard to find words they couldn’t spell,” Beaumier said. “I was afraid we might have to break out the dictionary and start looking for words.”

The dictionary almost made an appearance at the Bonduel bee, as well, when Timler and her sister finally established who was first and who was second with only three words remaining on the list.

Twenty-nine students from Shawano and Bonduel high schools got a taste Wednesday of decisions made daily by business executives and managers.

The Junior Achievement Business Challenge, held at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College’s Shawano campus, allowed students to put to use what they had learned in business classes. As leaders of fantasy companies for a day, the 10 teams of two or three students each made decisions that could help or hurt their bottom lines in the computerized simulation.

Students on the winning team earned $500 scholarships through Junior Achievement; the runners-up received $250 scholarships. The top two teams advance to the state competition in May in Sheboygan.

Results of the challenge were not available by the Leader’s press time Wednesday.
More important than the scholarships, though, was the opportunity for students to get real world experience and learn what business leaders have to deal with on a regular basis, according to Sandi Ebbinger, director of Wolf River District Junior Achievement.

“It’s a fun day for them, but they also have some stake in succeeding,” Ebbinger said. “They get, as best as we can supply, to understand running a real-world company and seeing the consequences, looking at the research you do and the money you spend.”

Each team of students was assigned a volunteer mentor from a local business.

Students also got the opportunity throughout the day to listen to area business leaders talk about entrepreneurship and what it takes to be successful in today’s business world.

Ebbinger said it was important for students to get a clear idea of what they would need to do if they decided to become the leader of an existing company or to build their own business from the ground up.

“Not everybody fits the qualities of a businessman,” she said.

The business challenge encompasses all three tenets — entrepreneurship, financial literacy and work readiness — of Junior Achievement, Ebbinger said.

Students were having a good time, and although they were eager to win, they were just as eager to learn.

“It’s gone pretty well,” said Jarrett Laatsch, a student at Shawano Community High School. “There were a lot of decisions to be made during the challenge.”

“We had to decide whether to keep our products at the same price or change them based on what the other teams were doing,” said Cole Nelson, Laatsch’s teammate. “We also had to determine what people wanted, so there was some research and development.”

Laatsch, Nelson and teammate Levi Johnson said they were undecided whether they would go on to start their own businesses based on the skills they learned during the challenge, but it gave them some food for thought as they plan their lives after high school.

“This helps us decide if we really want to do this,” Johnson said.

Bonduel Elementary School

To celebrate the 100th day of school in a meaningful way, the students at Bonduel Elementary School participated in the weeklong 100th Day Challenge, which set a goal for each grade level to collect 100 cans of food. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade showed their community spirit by bringing in a variety of donations the week of Feb. 6-10. The 4K students joined in as well, which made this service learning project a complete success!

BES reached its goal by collecting 667 donations and split them among the two local food pantries, St. Martin’s of Tours Parish in Cecil and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Bonduel. Both food pantries were delighted to accept the donations and were impressed by the generosity of the Bonduel Elementary students and their families.

Some classes used the food drive as an opportunity to learn authentic math lessons, including how to tally the collections, how to graph the different food groups represented and how to analyze the data. Lela Schwitzer’s first-graders eagerly helped to organize and load the donations for delivery.

BES would like to thank all the BES families that donated items to support our local food pantries. By participating in the 100th Day Challenge, our students learned that little people can make a big impact when we join together to help others.

Bowler High School

Bowler FFA members Kendra Rickert and Zena Giese were among the nearly 200 high school students who attended the Wisconsin Farm Bureau’s FFA Farm Forum in Wisconsin Rapids on Feb. 17-18.

During the two-day event at Hotel Mead, FFA members attended workshops that covered topics such as post-high school agricultural opportunities, social media, agriculture advocacy and leadership.

Speakers at the event included Jim Holte, Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation president; Mark Holley, Sunrise 7 meteorologist; and Chris and Amy Blakeney, owners of Amazing Grace Family Farm.

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Foundation sponsors the FFA Farm Forum in cooperation with the Wisconsin Association of FFA. This year’s FFA Farm Forum marks the 45th year the Farm Bureau family of affiliates has sponsored the event for Wisconsin youth.

Gresham Community School

On Feb. 14, the Erving Assembly took place at the Northwinds Banquet Hall in Marion. Students from Gresham and nearby schools who are taking Erving classes attended the event. They ate lunch, played games and got to know their teachers and peers from other districts better.

Throughout Valentine’s Day, high school students participated in a Heart Game. Gresham’s Student Council sponsors the game in which opposite genders cannot talk to each other.

Juniors filled out paperwork for the ACT on Feb. 15. ACT prep is being held this week to help the juniors to better understand how to take the tests.

This week is FFA Week. Students are participating in dress-up days and other activities.

Bowler Elementary School

At the beginning of this school year, students from Jody Siahaan’s Panthers Acquiring Knowledge and Skills class were involved in writing an application for a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Instruction.

Many schools from the state wrote applications, and only some schools were chosen. We received a grant for $1,000 and are using the money to help students understand how important it is to treat each other with respect and kindness.

We based it on a book about how to be a “bucket filler” and not a “bucket dipper.” We designed some banners for our walls at school and made T-shirts for our classes.

We are also attending a play at the Grand Theater in Wausau to learn about how Jackie Robinson overcame racial attitudes of people who didn’t always treat him with kindness and respect.

Our next project is to buy buckets for each elementary classroom and also give them some pom-poms. Every time someone from the class receives a compliment or gives one, a pom-pom goes in the bucket. When the bucket is full, they will become true “bucket fillers.”

Shawano Community High School

Brynn Huntington, Kaitlin Pescinski and Sarah Benzinger represented the Shawano FFA Chapter at the Wisconsin Farm Bureau’s FFA Farm Forum in Wisconsin Rapids on Feb. 17-18.

During the two-day event at Hotel Mead in Wisconsin Rapids, nearly 200 FFA members attended workshops that covered topics including post-high school agricultural opportunities, social media, agriculture advocacy and leadership.

Joining Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation President Jim Holte as speakers at the event were Mark Holley, Sunrise 7 meteorologist, and Chris and Amy Blakeney, owners of Amazing Grace Family Farm.

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Foundation sponsors the FFA Farm Forum in cooperation with the Wisconsin Association of FFA. This year’s FFA Farm Forum marks the 45th year the Farm Bureau family of affiliates has sponsored the event for Wisconsin youth.

Students at Hillcrest Primary School and LEADS Charter School aren’t allowed to bring their pets to school, but now they’ll be able to turn to man’s best friend whenever they’re down.

Students at the two schools, which share the same building, were introduced to Grace, a black Labrador now working as the schools’ therapy dog, on Monday. Officials hope Grace will help to improve student behavior and even encourage shy students to read aloud.

Kindergarten students burst into smiles and giggles as Grace walked in and sat quietly. Students took the opportunity to pet her and asked a variety of questions, like what she eats and where she lives when she’s not making the rounds.

Erin Prey, school psychologist, will be utilizing Grace when she makes her once-a-week visits to the building. She plans to work with students one-on-one or in groups and hopes that Grace will be a calming influence, help to curb incidents of bullying and retaliation, and assist students who are dealing with emotional issues.

“My role as a school psychologist is going to be working with individual students who might be having a bad day or have experienced trauma,” Prey said. “Just working with the therapy dog is very comforting to kids who have experienced trauma in the past.”

Grace was already receiving accolades from Prey on Monday when a kindergarten student came in, crying and upset. After 10 minutes of petting Grace, the student left smiling, Prey said.

“It was a situation that was probably not going to be calmed by any human being, but just by petting her, (the student) felt comforted, and you could see her anxiety lifted,” Prey said. “Dogs are non-judgmental and unconditional beings. They love everyone.”

Kris Going, a literacy instructional coach, is eager to see how reading skills will improve with Grace listening as students read out loud to her.

Grace will enable students to practice their reading skills without adults or other students stopping and correcting them, according to Going. She noted that the Shawano City-County Library has been offering monthly sessions for children to read to service dogs.

“We have some students who struggle with reading, and they have a hard time reading with their peers or their teachers,” Going said. “We’re hoping to include some opportunities for kids to read to Grace.”

Grace received her certification with Therapy Dogs International in February with her owner, Curt Preston, an intervention teacher at Hillcrest and LEADS. There was a $10 testing fee, and the district will pay a $40 annual membership fee to keep her in the program.

Part of the certification included basic sitting and staying, dealing with another person with Preston out of the room, interacting with people on crutches and in wheelchairs, and staying still when someone pulled out a treat.

“She was not allowed to eat the treat out of the hand of the person,” Preston said. “In another instance, the treat was tossed on the floor, and she had to walk by without gobbling it up.”

Grace has been with the Preston family for about six years.

“There’s just something about her temperament. She’s very easy going and gets along with everyone,” Preston said. “She’s pretty smart and very easy to train. My son uses her for a 4-H project, and she’s done well at the fair. A lot of people have asked about her training, but there wasn’t any school she went off to.”

The idea of having a therapy dog in school is still fairly new in Wisconsin. In the Menasha School District, school resource officer Jeff Jorgenson brings his police K-9, Geller, to do double duty as a service dog, Going said.

According to Going, schools in Appleton, Kaukauna and Wrightstown are also looking at getting therapy dogs.

“Overall, I just think she’s someone we’re all looking forward to having here,” Going said. “I think she’ll help move the kids and staff.”

Bonduel Elementary School

The kindergartners at Bonduel Elementary had quite a surprise on their 100th day of school. They had a visit from Zero the Hero, who came to hear them count to 100. The kindergartners counted by ones, by twos, by fives, by 10s and by 20s for him. Zero the Hero read them stories about the 100th day of school. He ended his visit with each student telling their name and then he gave them a 100th Day of School sticker.

Clintonville resident Karen Petermann of Rexford-Longfellow Elementary School will be honored as the Midwest District Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year by the Society of Health and Physical Educators at its 132nd National Convention and Expo in Boston this week.

SHAPE America’s Midwest District represents six states from West Virginia to Wisconsin. The award is given in recognition of outstanding teaching performance at the elementary school level and the ability to motivate today’s youth to participate in a lifetime of physical activity.

Petermann, a physical education teacher in the Clintonville School District for more than 29 years, will vie with five other district winners for the distinguished honor of National Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year.

The National Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year award recipient will be announced on Friday at the SHAPE America Hall of Fame Banquet.

“From the first day I met Karen, I was amazed by her commitment to our students, our staff, and our community,” said Kris Strauman, former principal of Rexford-Longfellow. “In the 17 years supervising Karen, there was never a single student who didn’t love physical education.”

Petermann delivers a standards-based curriculum, using modifications and differentiated activities to meet the needs of all students, regardless of skill level, learning style or disability.

“The learning environment in my classroom is nurturing and safe, both physically and emotionally,” Petermann said. “My students develop a sense of pride and confidence that readily extends to the hallway, other classes and the playground. I challenge them to be leaders and role models in all aspects of their day.”

Petermann has helped develop a culture of wellness at her school and in her district by initiating activities that involve the entire staff, student body and even the community. The running club she started began as an elementary school group, but has since grown to include middle school and high school students, as well as parents and community members. Now in its sixth year, the club has more than 120 runners — ranging in age from 5 to 71 — who participate in monthly 5K races.

“Tears and goosebumps are common when proudly watching our kids cross the finish lines, accomplishing something they once thought impossible,” Petermann said. “It’s a joy to witness families adopting healthy lifestyles.”

Petermann’s professional affiliations include SHAPE America and Wisconsin Health and Physical Education. In addition, she has been an American Heart Association Jump Rope For Heart coordinator for 28 years and she is affiliated with and supports the Fuel Up to Play 60 program in her school.

She received her bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and a master’s degree in education with a technology emphasis from Viterbo University.

Gresham Community School

Last week was pretty exciting. We started our annual Pennies for Patients fundraiser. All grades participate, and the class that raises the most money gets a pizza party.

We also had a talent show on Friday. Arthur Boucher, first-place winner for the junior and senior high, sang and played the piano and the cajon. Weston Roe, second-place winner, did magic tricks.

Brett Schreiber, first-place winner for elementary, did gymnastics. Cami Gourley and Olivia Roe, second-place winners, sang to the song “Party in the U.S.A.”

The second- and third-grade classes are going to the Milwaukee Public Museum.

Gnome Games will host family night from 5-7 p.m. March 30.

Shawano County’s reigning two-time spelling bee champion turned in another stellar performance this weekend at the Badger State Spelling Bee.

Erin Timler, an eighth-grader from Bonduel, finished in eighth place out of 46 competitors at the statewide event held at Madison Area Technical College.

It was the second consecutive year that Timler advanced to the state competition after winning the Shawano County regional spelling bee. She finished in 20th place statewide last year.

Timler correctly spelled “diorama,” “détente,” “roodebok,” “jnana” and other words this year before being eliminated for misspelling “colchicum” in the 15th round of competition.

Her younger sister, Abby, now in sixth grade, won the regional spelling bee and competed at state two years ago.

Gresham Community School

We raised $708.72 last week for Pennies for Patients.

On Friday, the culture club had a lock-in at the school from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. The students and teachers who chaperoned had a fun time.

On March 23, the second- and third-grade classes went to the Milwaukee Public Museum.

The Gnome Games family night is from 5-7 p.m. Thursday. Dinner is from 5-5:30 p.m., and games will be played in the library after dinner.

Karen Petermann, of Clintonville, was recently named the National Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year by SHAPE America.

Petermann teaches at Rexford-Longfellow Elementary School in Clintonville.

The award from the Society of Health and Physical Educators was presented at its 132nd national convention in Boston earlier this month.

The award is given in recognition of outstanding teaching performance at the elementary school level and the ability to motivate today’s youth to participate in a lifetime of physical activity.

Petermann, a physical education teacher in the Clintonville School District for more than 29 years, vied with five other district winners for the 28th annual award.

In all, six national Teachers of the Year were selected in the areas of adapted physical education, dance education, school health, elementary physical education, middle school physical education and high school physical education.

“From the first day I met Karen, I was amazed by her commitment to our students, our staff, and our community,” said Kris Strauman, former principal of at the elementary school. “In the 17 years supervising Karen, there was never a single student who didn’t love physical education.”

Petermann delivers a standards-based curriculum, using modifications and differentiated activities to meet the needs of all students, regardless of skill level, learning style or disability.

“The learning environment in my classroom is nurturing and safe, both physically and emotionally,” Petermann said. “My students develop a sense of pride and confidence that readily extends to the hallway, other classes and the playground. I challenge them to be leaders and role models in all aspects of their day.”

Petermann has helped develop a culture of wellness at her school and in her district by initiating activities that involve the entire staff, student body and community.

The running club she started began as an elementary school group, but has since grown to include middle school and high school students, as well as parents and community members. Now in its sixth year, the club has more than 120 runners — ranging in age from 5 to 71 — who participate in monthly 5K races.

“Tears and goosebumps are common when proudly watching our kids cross the finish lines, accomplishing something they once thought impossible,” Petermann said. “It’s a joy to witness families adopting healthy lifestyles.”

Petermann’s professional affiliations include SHAPE America and Wisconsin Health and Physical Education. In addition, she has been an American Heart Association Jump Rope for Heart coordinator for 28 years, and she is affiliated with and supports the Fuel Up to Play 60 program in her school.

She received her bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and a master’s degree in education with a technology emphasis from Viterbo University in La Crosse.

It’s tough enough to be a teenager, even in the 1960s, but when the fate of the world rests on your shoulders, suddenly term papers and algebraic equations seem small in comparison.

Everyday teen girl Jane Doe finds herself drafted into the CIA in the comedy “Spy School,” which Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School is performing next week for its spring production.

The show takes place in 1961, when Jane must infiltrate an American high school to locate a Russian spy who is about to send classified information about the United States’ space program to the Soviet Union. Part of her undercover family are a femme fatale mom, a 40-year-old “younger” brother, and a father who takes narcissism to a whole new level.

Jane finds it difficult to succeed in a time when women were seen as housewives and secretaries and not as intelligent equals, as seen by the sexist curriculum in the high school. Obnoxious students and a prom scene like no other round out the show.

Elaina Landowski stars as Jane, the teen trying to blend in both as a student and a spy. Landowski, a senior, said she liked the role because she likes the parallels between her and her character.

“She’s an interesting character,” Landowski said. “She has very strong opinions about a lot of things, and I’m also very opinionated. She’s not afraid to assert herself and tries to do the right thing. I personally see that in myself and hope other people see that, too.”

Landowski said it appealed to her to play such a strong character in a time when women were not seen as equals and instead were expected to play a role all about making life easier for their husbands.

“My character rejects that, and I just get really angry and say, ‘No. I live for myself,’” Landowski said. “I really think that’s a powerful story to send, especially to little girls and in this day and age.”

Director Jason Fry said that another show, titled “The End of the World (With Prom to Follow),” had originally been slated to go into the spring performance slot, but plans changed when the show attracted little interest from the students.

“This was my fourth play, and we usually do something pretty funny and lighthearted in the spring, just for fun,” Fry said. “That was a little more solid — not dark — just a little more serious. We were having trouble with the casting … and they just weren’t that into it.”

Around the end of January, it became clear that the proposed play was doomed, so Fry and the cast sat in his classroom combing through plays. The students ultimately chose “Spy School,” which took a darker subject like the Cold War and turned it into a romp.

“They just seemed to catch on to it a little more and had more fun with it,” Fry said.

The switch has resulted in some challenges, including less time to learn lines, the director said, but the actors are getting the hang of their roles. He said he hopes the students will take this week, which is spring break, to prepare for next week’s performances.

Fry noted that one of his performers has studied the societal norms of the 1960s, including the fashions of the day and has been a big help. However, the students are getting into their roles, he said, because teenagers are teenagers in any time period.

“The show is a spoof on the classic spy movie, so most of the actors have a frame of reference,” Fry said. “They’ve done pretty well with it.”

Hannah Block plays former Russian spy Natasha Sparrow, a nemesis turned colleague turned nemesis turned — you’ll need to see the show to see which side she ends up on. She noted that her Russian accent was still a work in progress.

“It’s just trying to figure out what way to say certain words, maintaining through long lines,” Block said.

Block, a senior, has been in every musical and play throughout her high school years, and she was eager to be a part of “Spy School” to continue performing with what has become her second family.

“The whole spy thing was really cool, because you get to be really mysterious,” Block said. “You see the whole story play out, and the mystery gets solved. I like that aspect of it.”

Gracie Hensel looked at the pictures of stray dogs and cats in an animal shelter, and she knew she could not turn away and do nothing.

So she thought up a plan to raise funds to help stray animals by rallying support from the people she knows best: her fellow students at Olga Brener Intermediate School in Shawano.

The fourth-grader has joined with classmates in a fundraising drive to support the Shawano County Humane Society so that dogs and cats there are as happy and comfortable as possible.

“I’ve always loved animals,” Gracie said. “It makes me excited just to know that something me and my friends did succeeded.”

Offering a bake sale in the Olga Brener cafeteria, the students raised nearly $200 in the first few days selling cookies and muffins and other treats. They are continuing their drive this week in hopes of delivering a generous show of support to animals at the humane society.

Teacher Karen Braun said it is the first time she has ever seen such young kids launch a community service project without any prodding from parents or others.

“I’m just really proud of them,” Braun said. “I think it’s really neat.”

One of Gracie’s friends, Kendra Strebel, admits that she was a little skeptical at first about the idea, but when she heard Gracie talk about ensuring that dogs and cats have enough to eat and a comfortable place to sleep, Kendra knew she had to get involved.

Kendra also had a sense that other kids at Olga Brener would respond to a bake sale designed to help innocent stray animals.

“I was like, ‘I’ll do my best and try to bake some things,’” she recalled. “I hope it will save quite a few pets.”

It all began when Gracie, 10, saw pictures from an out-of-town animal shelter that seemed to show animals laying on bare concrete floors in cages. She also learned that such facilities sometimes struggle for funding needed to properly care for animals.

In addition to Kendra Strebel, other students helping with the bake sale include fellow fourth-graders Layden Stemper, Kendra Westphal and Rachael Carroll.

They also are selling pens decorated with colored duct tape to look like flowers.

Gracie’s mother, Jennifer Lidbury, said she was not surprised to hear that her daughter was leading such a community service project. Gracie has always been an animal lover and has always shown strong instincts for helping others, Lidbury said.

“It’s something she would do,” Lidbury said. “She’s just always been a good person.”

One day, you’re sitting in second grade getting ready to work on an assignment for your teacher.

The next day, life happens.

That’s the plot in a nutshell for “Among Friends and Clutter,” a one-act play that will hit the stage at Shawano Community High School this week.

The play, written by Lindsay Price, follows seven students in a second-grade classroom. It is a drama-comedy that shifts from childhood scenes to moments from their adult lives, both real and imagined.

The setup for the show is a little different than what has previously been done. Instead of the audience sitting in the auditorium, ticket holders will be on the stage.

The show has two young directors, including a recent SCHS alum. Addison Lewis, who graduated in 2016, helped out as a director’s assistant with “Mary Poppins” and “Frankenstein.”

“It’s really bizarre,” Lewis said about directing a high school show a year after he’d acted in one. “I grew up in the theater here … so it was a culture shock. Even though I could be fine with people I’ve worked here with, others I’ve had to be more of a ‘director’ kind of person.”

Maddi Stuewer, the second director, is a familiar face to patrons of the Wolf River Homeschoolers Performing Arts program, and she helped as assistant director for that group and Box in the Wood Theatre Guild.

“When I read this show, I knew I wanted to be a part of it,” Stuewer said. “It’s a really fun, family-friendly show. There’s something everyone can find that they can relate to.”

Lewis wasn’t sure which show he wanted to go with for the school’s spring production initially, but once he found “Among Friends and Clutter,” he asked Stuewer to help with directing, as he is also a full-time student at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.

“Originally, this is one of the last shows I looked at,” Lewis said. “I was looking at a bunch of shows, and none of them really stuck out for me. My mom showed this to me, and I really liked the story of how people face real life. The other shows were similar to plays we’d done previously.”

Stuewer noted the high school actors playing the seven second-graders have worked on developing different characteristics when they’re the kids than they do when they’re portraying their adult lives. That includes their posture, hairstyle, even voices to an extent, she said.

“We’re careful not to sound annoying (as the kids), because it’d be really easy to do that,” Stuewer said.

The play can be done with a small cast, with seven actors playing all the roles — not just the kids. However, a lot of interest from students who’d never acted in an SCHS production prompted the directors to go with a larger cast, according to Stuewer.

“It’s a nice way to introduce them to theater and not a lot of pressure with smaller roles,” she said.

Lewis noted that the cast and crew is relatively prepared as the first show looms, noting he’s been in some shows where show prep has “literally been a train wreck until that first night.”

Having the show be one act instead of two helps in that regard, he said, and having a modern-day show is easier in terms of set and costuming when compared with a period piece like “Frankenstein.”

“This is more of a real-life play as compared with a fantasy one,” Lewis said.

Wisconsin is known as America’s Dairyland, but much more than milk and cheese is produced here.

Fourth-grade classrooms across Shawano County received a lesson this week on the foods that Wisconsin is famous for growing and producing. Ann O’Leary, the state’s 69th Alice in Dairyland, told students about the variety of crops — as varied as green beans, cherries, trout, wild rice and more — and where those crops thrive.

“It’s a lot of fun,” O’Leary said after visiting with several classes at Gresham Community School. “I love coming to the schools and talking with them. Each classroom is different and seems to have its own knowledge of food and where it comes from.”

O’Leary has been crisscrossing the state for almost a year as the state’s agriculture ambassador through a program instituted by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. By the time O’Leary gives her title to the 70th Alice next month, she will have traveled more than 40,000 miles, which she told classes is longer than driving in a straight line around the world.

“I love to be the first Alice that most of you meet,” O’Leary said to a group of students at Sacred Heart Catholic School. “I’ve been to about 100 different fourth-grade classrooms so far. I also do radio and television interviews, so you might see me on the news at some point in time, and I do public appearances. When I’m traveling, I’m talking about agriculture.”

O’Leary pointed out that agriculture is a key factor in Wisconsin’s economy, generating more than $43.4 billion in economic activity. One in nine jobs in the state, including the techno wizards who calibrate Fitbits for cows to keep an eye on their health, is related to agriculture, she said.

“Agriculture is raising animals, which we call livestock, including your cows and your pigs and your chickens,” O’Leary said. “It’s also growing plants, which we call crops, and includes your corn and your soybeans.”

O’Leary told students that more than 600 different types of cheese are produced in Wisconsin each year, and that the state is the top producer of cheddar cheese in the country.

Wisconsin is also number one in producing cranberries, carrots and green beans, O’Leary said.

O’Leary’s lesson included demonstrating how agriculture stimulates the economy. Using four students as an example, she pointed out that there’s a farmer milking the cow, a cheesemaker turning the milk into cheese, a grocery store selling the cheese and the customer who buys the cheese.

Mary Lou Kugel, a farmer from the town of Waukechon, has taught the state’s Adventures in Dairyland curriculum in local classrooms for 22 years, and this is only the second time she can remember an Alice in Dairyland coming to local schools.

“It’s an introduction to students for them to know where their food comes from, a plant, a source and not just at a grocery store,” Kugel said. “It’s so wonderful for the students to finally meet Alice. They see her on television, but now they get to see her firsthand.”

Gresham Community School

Seniors went on the ad sales trip to Shawano on March 29 to approach businesses for ads for the yearbook.

The National Honor Society banquet was held March 29. The juniors inducted were Kalisa Jones, Kiersten Fischer, Mackenzie Hoffman, Hailey Hoffman, Elizabeth Ketchum, Kaci Wendorff, Drew Haffner and Dani Huntington.

March 30 was the Gnome Games Family Night. People of the Gresham community came to the school and played games and had pizza.

When Kim Pierson began teaching a new class about renewable energies, he used some inexpensive materials he found at a local store to build a small model of a solar thermal water heater that he could use in his laboratory.

The UW-Eau Claire physics professor quickly realized that his model — if built to a much larger scale — actually has a lot of potential for use in the real world.

After a few stops and starts, mostly due to time constraints, last summer Pierson pulled together a team of two students to begin building a larger prototype of his model solar-powered water heater.

Their goal is to develop a low-cost, lightweight solar water heater that can be used to preheat hot water for electric and gas water heaters, and to provide hot water for ground-source heat pumps to heat buildings.

“Our design is theoretically three times more effective than the solar panels on the roof of Davies Center that provide the energy for hot water in that building,” Pierson said of the faculty-student collaborative research project.

In March, Pierson and the students wheeled their creation out of their lab in Phillips Hall and into the early spring sunshine to test it for the first time.

While the test run showed that work remains, it also showed that the team has many reasons to be hopeful.

“It looks very, very promising,” Pierson said of the prototype. “It looks really good. It’s working much better than I’d ever thought it would. Right now, our calculations show that its efficiency is 70-80 percent, which is utterly amazing to me.”

Pierson is working with a team of student researchers that includes Sawyer Buck, a junior materials science and physics major from Shawano; Brendan Kwick, a junior physics and mechanical engineering dual major from Eau Claire; Hunter Hermes, a senior applied physics major from Elk Mound; Jordan Wales a junior physics and engineering dual major from Sugar Camp; and Li Jin, a pre-engineering major from China.

While solar power continues to grow as a source of renewable energy, commercial solar panels are still expensive, Pierson said.

So by using Wisconsin-made polycarbonate panels that cost just a few dollars, they can bring the costs down, making it a much more affordable option for people and businesses, Pierson said.

“I can get these $40 panels from an Eau Claire store,” Pierson said. “They are strong and cheap so that makes the entire project inexpensive and efficient.”

After the testing, the team decided to purchase and install a larger pump to address some issues they identified, Kwick said.

More testing is necessary to determine if the glue they use to secure the thermal panels will hold over time and in varying temperatures, Pierson said.

Still another challenge facing the project team is the size of the prototype. Because they have to be able to get the panel into an elevator and out the doors of Phillips, they are limited in how large they can make it.

If they can continue to test and enhance the prototype, Pierson said his hope is that in two years he can pursue funding to take the project to the next level.

Regardless of where the project ends, the students say they appreciate the opportunity to put to use the skills they mastered in their physics classes.

Equally important, Hermes said, are the troubleshooting, teamwork, planning and documenting skills they learned through the project, all skills that will serve them well in the future.

Buck said that the renewable energy physics course that Pierson teaches, along with his work on the solar project, have helped shape his future goals.

“Mostly due to that class and Dr. Pierson, I now have a strong desire to work and develop green energy technologies after I graduate,” Buck said.

While he appreciates the impact the project has on the students, Pierson is quick to note that they aren’t the only ones who benefit when faculty and students work side by side on research.

“I might come up with an idea, but the students come up with their own ideas that often are better than mine,” Pierson said. “They learn to not only develop the ideas, but also to communicate them to me in a way that convinces me their idea is better. Students bring new perspectives to campus, so they often come up with ideas or questions that nobody has thought of before.”

For students at one Shawano school, being sent to the principal’s office no longer means what it used to.

Olga Brener Intermediate School has carved out a new space — far away from the principal’s office — to try a new approach with students who are struggling to stay focused in the classroom.

It is called The Zone.

Olga Brener students wind up in The Zone not to receive punishment or discipline, but to decompress and recalibrate themselves so they can return to class.

School administrators converted former offices into the specialized space where a trained paraprofessional helps agitated or distracted students with tools that include coloring books, hand toys, music, rocking chairs and even a little calming lavender-scented air freshener.

Officials say the experimental approach introduced earlier this school year has proved so successful that some students go voluntarily when they sense they are losing focus in the classroom.

“Sometimes they just need to get away,” paraprofessional Becky Dillenburg said.

The concept is derived from a premise that students can learn to self-regulate their behavior when they become too angry, upset or distracted to function in the classroom. Once inside The Zone, students are guided through color-coded behavioral patterns until they return themselves to “green,” or the green light to rejoin their classmates.

A typical student visit lasts about 15 or 20 minutes and sometimes requires nothing more than a little extra help with a classroom assignment that had been causing frustration.

Olga Brener Principal Terri Schultz recently briefed Shawano School Board members on the arrangement and reported that students had been to The Zone a combined 276 times between September and December. The alternative approach to discipline not only is helping troubled students better manage their behavior, Schultz said, it is also allowing teachers to remain focused on the rest of the students.

“We have great teachers doing great things with kids,” she said. “But they have to be able to teach.”

Olga Brener serves about 500 students in third, fourth and fifth grades.

In years gone by, students creating a disturbance in class would typically be sent to the principal’s office for a stern lecture or possibly more severe discipline. They might only spend a few minutes sitting alone in the office before being sent back to class.

School board member Marcia Yeager said she could remember times when the principal’s office would become overcrowded with students, making it difficult for staff to manage. Yeager said the new approach with The Zone sounds like an improvement.

“This is a good process,” she said.

Although Dillenburg can accommodate several students at once, the process of assigning students to the alternative space is carefully structured to ensure that each visitor makes the most of the experience.

Mondays are generally pretty busy, as students struggle to readjust to school life following the weekend. Some students pop into The Zone on their own for brief visits, because they know it is a good place to catch their breath, Dillenburg said.

“A lot of time, they just need a break,” she said.

Schultz said other schools have embraced the idea of alternative learning spaces, but she is not aware of another that has dedicated an entire room to put the concept into. Olga Brener parents are notified when their children are sent to The Zone, she said, and the parents have voiced support.

Students also have discovered what the alternative space is all about, and many have learned to recognize when they need to spend time there, Schultz said. Knowing it does not mean they are in trouble, students often are eager to receive a helping hand to achieve the “green light” signal for them to return to class.

“This is a place where kids go to chill and get back to green,” Schultz said. “And they all know it.”