School Notes

Shawano Community Middle School

We had a Veterans Day ceremony at the middle school. The local vets presented the colors, there was the pledge, an invocation, the national anthem, service songs, a presentation of student essays, taps, a gun salute and the retreat of the colors. An American soldier’s white table was displayed for those lost in battle. At the end of the ceremony the vets were thanked by our student body in a receiving line. This was the 12th annual Veterans Day ceremony here at SCMS. The reverence and respect the student body displayed to the veterans was exceptional. Every vet was surprised and pleased by the level of respect shown them during the ceremony.

Gresham Community School

Last week the fourth-graders visited Heritage Hill. “We had a lot of fun and learned a lot. The kids enjoyed reliving history,” teacher Tom Haight said.

Also, the fifth-graders went to the Weidner Center to watch “Toy with Science” by Garry Krinsky. “It was a magical science show about simple machines,” teacher James Mathews stated.

Brenda Hoffman’s parenting class of juniors and seniors received their “babies” Thursday and had them until Monday. They participated in the “Baby Think It Over” program through the Shawano County Child Support Agency. The students participate in a parenting simulation after learning about the challenges of teenage pregnancy and will now learn about pregnancy and child development. The students were relieved to give the babies back. This assignment made them realize the difficulty of being a parent. A student said, “I’m glad I did this assignment because it made me realize that I’m not ready to be a parent anytime soon.”

Gresham’s junior high boys had a game Thursday night against Menominee Indian Middle School. Eighth grade had a victory, while seventh grade took a lost.

We also had a half-day Friday, and the teachers had in-service on our new technology and our one-on-one initiative.

On Oct. 31, Gresham Community School’s Student Council hosted a costume contest for all grades. The winner of each class got a prize. The students also had a parade of their costumes to show the school their creativity. While doing so, they did a little trick-or-treating through the school. Then that night the Gresham Lions hosted their annual Halloween party. The kids all showed up in their costumes and walked around the gym until the winners were chosen. Everyone ended up with something. The winners of the Halloween party for preschool through kindergarten were Gavin Fischer, Joel Surprise, Ateryu Figueroa, Jacob Lassen, Cody Mehlberg, Brock Gourley, Adam Gourley, Teraleigh Cole, Jessa Brei, Malory Brown, Kailyanna Zaitz, Louisa Knaack, Katy Goers, Mykalyanna Huntington and Abby Goers. The first- and second-grade winners were Camille Gourley, Abby Hohensee, Lexi Hoffman, Lily Boivin, Alex Aschenbrenner, Maddy Haffner, Jami Ready, Emily Knope and Olivia Roe. The winners for third- and fourth-graders were Chloe Bohl, Alexi Boivin, Ella Shepard, Caprice Gomeaosh, Braeden Fischer, Weston Roe and Leo Schultz. The winners for fifth- and sixth-graders were Rayna Kupsky, Mimi Barnes and Dani Damveld. All the kids and parents had a great time.

The citizens for the month of September were also named. Each kid got a Gresham Pops T-shirt, candy and a certificate.

The staff of Gresham also had a potluck dinner for the retirement of Shari Arndt on Oct. 29.

Sacred Heart Catholic School

The staff and students of Sacred Heart Catholic School would like to thank all of our parents who came for parent-teacher conferences in October. We had 100 percent participation! Parent involvement is a key component of a child’s education. We appreciate you taking time out of your evening to discuss with the teachers your child’s progress at our school.

On Monday, Father Luke Ferris and the third- through eighth-grade classes attended the Shawano Veterans Day service. We felt very blessed to be able to participate in such a moving dedication to all the military men and women who served and are serving our country. We also hosted our own Veterans Day service on Nov. 12. The students shared their own experiences of patriotism through essay writing and poetry.

Our first basketball games at Sacred Heart Catholic School were fun to watch, but we came up a little short on the scores. The A girls, C girls and A boys all took a loss to Trinity Lutheran. However, our C boys came out on top with a score of 36-12. Be sure to come cheer on our teams Friday as they have another home game starting at 4 p.m.

Reminder that Sacred Heart Parish has liturgy club. It meets every Monday here at the school. It is open to all students in grades 2-8 that are members of the parish. For more information, please contact Susan Kurek at the parish office by calling 715-526-4104. You can join at any time.

Mark your calendars. There has been a change in our school schedule for the week of Thanksgiving. We will have a full day on Monday, Nov. 25, half day on Tuesday, Nov. 26, and no school on Wednesday, Nov. 27.

Our school will be participating in the annual Shawano Christmas parade on Dec. 6.

St. James Lutheran School

Preschool 3’s had their sports party Oct. 30 and 31. The children were asked to dress up in their favorite sports attire. They enjoyed a sports matching game, Nerf basketball, Nerf bowling and a football bean bag toss. The day was topped off with a snack of mac and cheese, which most of the children say is their favorite food.

The annual third-grade dog biscuit bake sale had another successful year. Thanks to Shelly and Dave Dobberstein, Jessica Heling, Kerry Barkley and Sandy Zastrow, biscuits were made and baked. On Saturday, during the PTL Craft Sale, salesmen Andrew Herrmann, Brooklyn Heling, Blake Hartmann and Jace Conradt sold out the inventory. A total of $254.38 was raised to donate to the Shawano County Humane Society.

Thank you to everyone who contributed in any way to this year’s gala. What a blessing to our school and its children. Preliminary totals tell us that we have met our goal of $20,000 again this year! When the funds are distributed, we will let you know the final totals and how they were used.