Friday Focus, October 11

Homecoming

Happy Homecoming Friday, Black Bears! It seems winter has decided to make a small preview, but it sure would be nice if she'd have waited until the milo was ready and homecoming was over. But, if you have allergies or like crisp fall evenings for football, here's your weather.

Our fall sports season is, believe it or not, winding down as Regional Tennis begins today, League XC and VB next week, and football will be down to just two regular season contests after tonight. Our tennis team expects to qualify all six players for the state meet next weekend in Prairie Village, while our cross country team continues to see medalists at each meet and, more importantly, improving times each time out. Volleyball is sitting as the #3 seed and will host Sub-State on October 26, while football is currently in the three spot in District 7, which would mean a week 9 road contest for the first round of playoffs. It's been a great fall season to be a Black Bear!

Food Truck, Anyone?

Food Truck Shopping

Our 7th grade students are currently working on their interdisciplinary unit where they do all of the planning and designing of a food truck. They choose a business name, a logo, design their truck, and develop a menu. This week the focus has been on determining costs. Thanks to our Sterling Dillons, our students have been "shopping" to determine just how much it costs to put together recipes to build a menu. It's an exercise in learning how math really matters, especially fractions. Do you know how many teaspoons are in 1.75 ounces of black pepper? And if that container is $2.77, what's your cost after tax, for a 1/2 teaspoon?

Part of our discussions have centered around cost locally versus what might be a lower cost, but the requirement to travel. What's the break-even point and how much is it worth to do business locally to ensure your store (supplier) remains viable for your business? Can your local supplier provide you with a better price based on volume and frequency or get a special product they don't normally carry?

Our youngsters have been incredibly respectful to the store employees, Dillons shoppers, and one another during this phase of the experience.

IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO ME

Damon West Assembly

These ten words, according to Damon West, "is possibly the most powerful sentence in the English language." Our students were afforded the opportunity to travel to Lyons High School on Wednesday and listen to Damon West, a former Division-I football player, an ex-convict, and a bestselling author. His message centered on the consequence of a single decision, in his case the decision to try Crystal Meth, and the rocky path of his life due to a bad belief system. Our kids learned the story of the carrot, the egg, and the coffee bean and how each responds to a pot of boiling water. When you next encounter one of our JH or HS students, ask them about the coffee bean story. #BeACoffeeBean

Student Voice

We know organizations thrive when the people who are the organization have agency into how the organization works. To that end, we've taken two steps to providing our students with a voice as to how to make SJSHS a better place to learn and work.

6-student panels. Our first opportunity is gathering small groups of students for lunch and having conversations about what is and what could be. We've divided the student body into two-grade bands (7/8, 9/10, 11/12) and invite six of them, at random, to sit down over lunch and engage in a discussion. We've currently visited with two sets of six in each grouping and will be visiting with more in the weeks to come.

Student Council. Empowering our elected student leadership is equally important. We met recently to generate ideas, surface limitations, and expand the scope of possibility. This is an eager bunch of students and we eagerly await their work and its impact on our student body.x

Social Media Challenge (#WeAreSterling)

We've been running a Social Media Challenge for the past three weeks highlighting what makes Sterling Junior/Senior High School AWESOME! At today's Homecoming Pep Rally, we'll announce our overall winners and the prizes will be sweet!

Week Three Winners of a Sterling Sonic Cherry Limeade are:

Facebook: Heidi Linden
Twitter: Garreth Schmalzreid
Instagram: Christy Riffel

Winners can claim their prize from Mr. Bressler at the conclusion of the pep rally.

Week of Oct 14-19 Events

Today/tonight
- Regional Tennis, Conway Springs, 11AM
- Pep Rally, Ora Shields, 2P
- Homecoming Ceremony, Smisor Stadium, 6:40P
- V FB vs. Ellinwood, Smisor Stadium, 7P

Tomorrow
- Regional Tennis, Conway Springs, Day 2
- JV VB @ Ellsworth, 8A
- JH VB (7th grade) @ Pratt, 9A
- Homecoming Dance, South Gym, 8:00 - 10:30

Monday
- JH VB @ Berean, 4:30P
- JV FB @ Ellinwood, 6P
- USD 376 Board of Education Meeting, SHS Library, 7P
- Financial Aid Night, SHS Commons, 7P

Tuesday
- HS VB @ Sedgwick, 4P

Wednesday
- FCCLA Districts, Hesston, 8A
- PSAT Test, 8A

Thursday
- JH League XC @ Trinity, 4P
- HS League XC @ Trinity, 4:30P
- JH VB vs. Ell-Saline, South Gym, 4:30P
- JH FB vs. Ell-Saline, Smisor Stadium, 6P