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.
Seventh grade students researched and developed bills they would like to become federal laws through a Mock Congress Simulation. Students wrote their bills, tried to persuade the class to vote, and now they are introducing and debating their bills on the House of Representatives floor. If their bills pass, they will be presented to the President (Mr. Jones) and signed into law.
The Greater Illinois District Qualifier was yesterday and OHS has a National Qualifier in DI - congrats to Michael Bagby! He will compete in June in Arizona!
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
Elementary families, join us fo Spartan @ the Movies. We will be showing Inside Out at 6:00 in the high school auditorium. This event is free! Bring the whole family. Concession provided by West PTO.
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.
Over 40 OMS students/parents participated in the first annual OMS College and Career Night. Various high school class options, future career opportunities, and financial aid topics were covered. It was a great night to discuss our students’ future plans. Thank you to all you attended. Mr. Jones will share the slides and handouts with families in this week’s OMS Spartan News You Can Use.
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!
The last Spartan @ the Movies will be this Friday, March 3rd. We will be showing the movie Inside Out. The event is free! Concessions provided by Oly West PTO.
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.
OMS students and staff participated in their 3rd Quarter PBIS assembly which included relays and competitions. The OMS cheer team kicked off the festivities. Students used their PBIS tickets to choose three staff members to kiss a pig! Our lucky winners were Mr. Ruppert, Mrs. Mehl, and Mrs Stine. Today’s assembly was about celebrating the positive behaviors displayed by our students this past quarter! Our students and staff are awesome at OMS!
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
Elementary Families, are you looking for a fun, free, family event on Sunday? Look no further, showing of the Lego movie at the High School starts at 4:00 PM.
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
