The month of March celebrates the inclusion of individuals with disabilities at school, at home, at work, and within our communities. OHMS has put up 3 Core Boards to foster an environment of inclusion for all students! #SpartanProud
Spartan Staff spent the morning in various professional development sessions on topics including trauma responsive instruction, restorative practices, special education strategies for students, elementary science instruction, and regulation strategies for students. Thank you to all our presenters!
The 2023 Spartan Retirees were recognized this morning. Congrats to Dr. Jodlowski, Mrs. Deal, Mrs. McDannald, and Mr. Stine. Thank you all for your dedication to our students and families over the years. You will be missed!
The varsity and JV baseball and softball games scheduled for today Monday March 13th have been cancelled.
March 13th is a Teacher Institute Day for Olympia. There is NO SCHOOL for students!
The OHS track teams competed in their 2nd meet of the season yesterday at the U of I Armory. The highly competitive meet boasted 34 class 1A, 2A, and 3A teams from all over the state. The boys' team tallied an impressive 22 season PRs (personal records) throughout the day. Seven freshmen showed glimpses of a bright future for Spartan track & field, posting season-best performances in the following events: CJ Moore in the 800 and 1600, Wyatt Reinhart in the 800 and 400, Evan Petri in the 1600, Tyler Gellner and Bobby Fairbury in the 200, Dylan Nowaskie in the high jump, and Cohen Maness in the shot put. Sophomore Chase Ragar picked right up where he left off at the end of last year with an eye-opening 37'4" leap in the triple jump. Other sophomore PRs came from Cooper Phillips in the 400 and Cohen Alexander in the 60 and the 200(15th out of 65 runners). Top junior performances came from Jacob Lawless(slashing over 8 seconds from his 800 time and over 10 seconds in his 400 time), Caden Clark in the 800 and 1600, Logan Demling in the 400, Rylan Peifer in the 200, Nolan Yeary in the shot put(season-best by over 2 feet and placed 12th out of 77 throwers), and Keagan Uphoff(placed 3rd out of 44 in the 60 hurdles and 2nd out of 41 in the high jump). Senior PRs came from Logan Farquhar in the 400 and Reygan Sitton in the 60 dash(all-time best of 7.31 placing 9th out of 75 runners). Great job guys! We will be back in action on Thursday at the Wesleyan indoor facility and back to the U of I Armory on Saturday. Stay tuned for more great news!
Olympia Student Council is seeking community donations for the 26th Annual Mr. Spartan Contest. The contest will Friday, March 10th donations are needed by Thursday, March 9th. Please contact Mrs. Cooper at brandi.cooper@olympia.org if you would like to donate.
The OHS boys track team had their season-opener at Horton Fieldhouse today. Many great performances makes it look like a great season ahead of us. Topping that list was junior Keagan Uphoff who took 3rd place in the 60 m hurdles (8.90 sec) and 1st place in the high jump(6' 2.75")
Due to hazardous weather conditions, all Olympia after school activities have been cancelled and there will be no shuttle. Please be safe!
Congratulations Logan Farquhar
Varsity baseball practice will be outside today (March 2nd) after school. JV practice will still be at 5:30. Parents meeting also still at 5:30 in the HS cafeteria.
Reminder for HS baseball parents: Parent meeting will be tomorrow, March 2nd, at 5:30 in the HS cafeteria.
OHS Mentors work with our Freshman Advisories by preparing activities that help students collaborate and build community. Lots of smiles and laughter during this activity!
Our brains are great at using past experiences to make quick decisions on the fly, but these shortcuts can also lead to bias. "Confirmation bias" is our brain's tendency to seek out information that confirms things we already think we know. Help your kids learn to recognize this when they encounter news online, as a way to examine competing opinions and ideas and to avoid drawing questionable conclusions.
HS Baseball Reminders: First practice day is Monday, Feb 27 at 5:30pm in the high school gym for all levels. Practice schedules will be passed out Monday. Be sure to have registration and physical info turned into the office. Parent meeting info will be sent out this week.
Just a reminder to get signed up for your high school spring activities. Reregister on 8to18 - https://olympiahs.8to18.com/ Please make sure to have a current physical turned in as well.
Last call for 50th Anniversary Apparel - see the link below - the online store will close on Friday, March 10th.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PnP0bBrK3B4dbMVW8vqfKzmFaJkQ1-Wd/view?fbclid=IwAR22qWeE780Peo5f8VrqphvWeVUzjm9Q3xS0SMcmj-UUwYwwGCFC0TC48Bg
The A9 Diner is a work-like experience for people in Mr. Ketelsen’s life skills class. A life skills classroom helps students with functional living skills such as chores or day-to-day activities like work. The A9 Diner offers people, in the Olympia School, food and drinks which will be delivered right to them. I was able to watch the diner work and talk to Mr. Ketelsen and a student.
In my interview with Mr. Ketelsen, I asked him why he decided to start this program and he responded that he has always wanted to do a program like this even as a student teacher so when he started working at Olympia his goals were to start the A9 Diner and mimic a true work environment for students to engage in work skills. I also asked about the setbacks and positives that this program has faced. He replied that Covid was a major setback considering that some of their food was homemade and they had to pause on the A9 Diner because of the contact. However, that didn’t stop them from finding new ways. Since Covid changed the processes of work this helped the A9 Diner with a new way of creating real-world services. They had to learn how to drop off orders just like in real life.
After my interview with Mr. Ketelsen, I was able to interview one of the students on their experiences with the program. I asked them if they noticed any benefits of the A9 Diner. They responded that they learned how to take orders and make sure it's right. I also asked them if they are enjoying this program to which they replied “Yes it's pretty fun!”
Finally, after finishing my interviews I asked Mr. Ketelson if there was anything else he would like me to know and he said I should add the word “Inclusion”. I think that word sums up what I have seen and what many other people have experienced with this program. One of the main points he hit on when discussing the program was teaching manners and when to say thank you! Thank you, Mr. Ketelsen and the A9 Diner for letting me discover this wonderful program!
Wikipedia.org is where millions of people stop first for information. Tools like it are what make the internet so valuable. But they also teach an important lesson, one you can start teaching your kids now: don’t believe everything you read. Family Tip Sheet: bit.ly/OlyNMFR2
Julia Collins and Michael Bagby ended their IHSA Speech season by competing at IHSA State. Michael competed with two events: Humorous Interpretation and Dramatic Interpretation and Julia competed in Informative. Michael advanced to the finals at state in Dramatic Interpretation, placing 6th overall. Congratulations to these talented students on an amazing end to their IHSA speech season.
