New for the 2015-16 School Year! - Little Chute Area School District

Important Dates
Registration
August 11, from noon—5 pm
August 12, from noon –7 pm
Your registration Packets will
be mailed last week of July
First Day of School
Sept 1, 2015
New for the 2015-16 School Year!
We have teamed up with Smiles 4 Life to provide
our students with oral hygiene services right at
school! Enrollment is open to all students in the
District. On average care is provided two to three
times per school year for participating students.
The Smiles 4 Life program provides:
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Poet Brock G,
2nd Grade
Oral Screenings
Cleanings
Fluoride Varnish (decay prevention)
Dental Sealants (cavity prevention)
To enroll, please click on the enrollment packet to complete a simple one page Enrollment
Form. Copies of the form are also available in every school office. Forms may be returned
to any school office or faxed directly to Smiles 4 Life at 262-347-4449. Smiles 4 Life
accepts the Forward Health (BadgerCare) Card!
Visit them on the web at www.smiles4lifedental.org
Questions? Call Smiles 4 Life at 262-896-9891
Autism Awareness at the Intermediate/Middle School
By Linda Sheffler
Board of Education
Jerry Verhagen, President
Randy Sanders, Vice President
Leon Biesterveld, Treasurer
Joe Roehl, Clerk
Liz Spaeth, Member
Board Meeting Dates
5:30 pm District Board
Room
July 27
August 10
August 24
Taylor Wilson with 6th grader Parker Roseman
Students at Little Chute Intermediate and Middle
Schools learned more about autism during April,
which is Autism Awareness month. A variety of
information was shared with the students each
day. Students participated in activities that
helped them understand what it might feel like to
have a sensory difference similar to a person
with autism. A poster contest was open to all
grade levels. The purpose of the posters was to
promote inclusion. A guest speaker, Taylor
Wilson, spoke to our students. Taylor is a local
young adult who shared her story of living with
Autism. Teachers raised money for autism with
a Jeans Day, while students raised money by
wearing superhero costumes or pajamas.
Little Chute Area School District Summer Newsletter 2015 Page 1
Four Little Chute Students Named Kohl Scholars
By Judy Hebbe, for the Times-Villager
reprinted with permission
inspired to enter mechanical design on a visit to
Amerequip Corporation in Kiel and New Holstein.
“I toured the engineering department and then saw how
their designs were turned into parts in the plant,”
Verbruggen said. “I would like to work on a team that
designs things and takes them through to a finished
product.”
Vanden Heuvel and Sanderfoot will attend the University
of Wisconsin-Madison next fall. She will focus on premedicine, with a path to opthamology, prompted by the
experience of shadowing health professionals in the
health mentoring program. Sanderfoot pursues
secondary education with the intention of returning to
Little Chute High School to teach.
“I’ve told my math teacher that I’m going to come back
and take his job,” he said.
Both students served on student council, participated in
Academic Bowl competion, served as Mustang mentors
and are members of National Honor Society.
Little Chute High School seniors Rachyl Hietpas, Claire
Vanden Heuvel, Thomas Sanderfoot and Ben Verbruggen
will start school next fall with Herb Kohl Scholarships.
Vanden Heuvel also participated in Key Club, basketball,
cross country and track. Sanderfoot is senior class
president, went to Badger Boys State and Catholic Heart
Work Camp in Oklahoma and is a golfer.
In celebration of the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation’s
25th anniversary, the scholarships were tripled to $3,000
per student, rather than the traditional $1,000.
Hietpas will major in biology at University of WisconsinEau Claire with a goal of ultimately working in neurology
because “there is a lot we don’t know about the brain.”
Excellence Scholarships were won by Hietpas, Vanden
Heuvel and Sanderfoot, who demonstrated academic
potential, outstanding leadership, citizenship, community
service, integrity and other special talents. Each had to
write an essay on their academic and future goals.
She is also a member of the National Honor Society,
Key Club and participated in medical mentoring. She
has appeared in school musicals, played in the band
and sang in the choir.
Verbruggen received the foundation’s Initiative
Scholarship. His selection was based upon his
dedication to hard work and the school and the
recommendation of teachers. He was cited for his work
in designing a go-kart and the completion of extra
projects that were related to his Career Pathways
program.
She is confident in her career path, noting that “Little
Chute may be a small town, but the school system
shows you that you can go out and accomplish a lot in
the world.”
“I’m proud to be from Little Chute High School,” said
Sanderfoot. “It is a reflection of the village as a whole
and shows how good a community can be.”
He has been involved in the SkillsUSA and school to
work programs and participated in wrestling and golf.
Verbruggen is heading to Fox Valley Technical College,
where he plans to major in mechanical design. He was
Little Chute Area School District Summer Newsletter 2015 Page 2
Boys and Gir ls Club Awar ds Night
by Amber Stanek
Awards Night at Boys and Girls Club of Little Chute Elementary
School was May 21st from 5-7 pm in the cafeteria of the
Elementary School and was a huge success! There were 250
people in attendance. It was a pot-luck style meal with a
slideshow and pictures reminiscing about the successful and fun
year we’ve had. At 6 pm, the Award presentations started. Each
youth in attendance received an individual awards based on their
unique personality or contributions to the club. Awards ranged anywhere from “Colorful Heart” award, or “Gym AllStar” or “Most Polite” award. Kids spent the days leading up to the celebration guessing which awards they would
be receiving. The eight volunteers the club has had, serving over 460 hours, were also recognized. The final
portions of the night were awards reflective of the priority outcomes: Academic Success, Good Character &
Citizenship, and Healthy Lifestyles, as well as top Service awards and then the Overall Youth of the Year.
Amber Stanek &
Emilie Haessler
Isabella Bleifuss, Chase
Butenhoff, & Rhianna
Amador— having fun
Colin Gast- Male
Youth of the Year
Megan Mrnak & Kiera
Khanna
2 0 1 5 Yo u t h o f t h e Ye a r A w a r d s
Colin Gast: Youth of the Year
Garett Johnson: Academic Success
Mady Hunt: Youth of the Year
Mitchell Kaphingst: Healthy Lifestyles
Keira Khanna: Good Character & Citizenship
Madison Rollins: Healthy Lifestyles
Cory Stancer: Good Character & Citizenship
Rhianna Amador: Service
Megan Mrnak: Academic Success
Issaiah Nowak: Service
Little Chute Area School District Summer Newsletter 2015 Page 3
National Honor Society Takes the Plunge
by Rachyl Hietpas
Volunteering at St. Joe’s Food Pantry
This year, the Little Chute High School National Honor
Society made a SPLASH in the Polar Plunge. And no, I’m
not just talking about the literal splash that 16 of the club’s
members took into the freezing cold waters of Lake
Winnebago in Oshkosh on February 21, 2015. I’m talking
about the $3,460 that they raised to support Special
Olympics of Wisconsin. That is no small sum of money.
The team actually appears on the Oshkosh Polar Plunge
homepage under “Top Fundraising Teams” and was the
23rd highest fundraising team, beating Kaukauna High
School and listed among teams of a much larger size. Our
NHS vastly exceeded the amount required to take the
plunge, $75/person, and raised additional funds to
support this great cause. Their only hope is to have
similar if not better results in future years to those which
were accomplished this year.
Additionally, the Polar Plunge isn’t all that our NHS has been up to. This year National Honor Society has also
volunteered at St. Joe’s Food Pantry, ran in the Warrior Princess Mud Run to support Harbor House, and put on the
annual Senior vs. Faculty Basketball Game. This
dedicated group of volunteers that makes up NHS
works hard at all the events directly supported by the
club as well as other projects in the community. This
year the club was led by Claire VandenHeuvel,
president; Thomas Sanderfoot, vice-president/treasurer;
and Rachyl Hietpas, secretary. It is the goal of NHS to
exemplify its pillars of Character, Scholarship,
Leadership, and Service, and it is our hope that in doing
so we make a positive mark on the world around us. On
that note, NHS is proud to welcome our newly inducted
members into the club: Abbie Botz, Parker Wyngaard,
Alex Mueller, Brianna Evers, Patrick Joosten, Chris
Peeters, Hannah Rambo, Clara Clifford, Troy DeBruin,
Ellie Mueller, Jacob Schmieder, Kendra Schumacher,
and Bryce VanCamp. May they carry on the traditions of
NHS and continue to make the world a better place.
2015-16 LCHS Yearbooks
We are switching over to a new format for ordering the high school yearbook. Jostens offers ordering
directly through their website. Watch for information to come to you yet this summer! Ordering will be
available as soon as high school registration in August. Look for our table to order your book! Updates
will come out as more information becomes available!
Little Chute Area School District Summer Newsletter 2015 Page 4
Flex Academy Students Help Other Kids with
Buddy Bag Program
By Brian Roebke, for the Times -Villager
reprinted with permission
Service learning was practiced by Little Chute’s Flex
Academy on a recent Spring Friday morning at the Heart of
the Valley YMCA.
Students from the charter school stuffed “Buddy Bags” for
other kids that are going through a tough time.
Officers from the Fox Valley Metro Police Department will
have bags with them that include a beanie baby, crayons,
activity book, and reading book with the intent the officer and
volunteer crisis responder will be able to sit with that child and
interact and make a connection with them, according to
teacher Jennifer McDermot.
Those situations include domestic situations, sudden death,
and fires.
The department typically comes across two fire and two
domestic situations a month where the child will get one of
these bags and get to keep it.
Before the project began, students talked to Officer Michael
Lambie about crisis situations and how kids are impacted.
Photo reprinted with permission
Service learning is a big part of the mission of the school, so
they developed this idea to serve the community of children
like themselves.
“It’s an exciting opportunity for our kids to see, but also the
community to see, and having them be involved in this whole
process as well,” Swanson said.
The goal is to sustain the program and continue to collect
items to fill additional bags.
The idea came from teacher Nikol Waters, who found it and
wanted to do this as a service learning project for the Flex
Academy.
There are bags for younger kids and older kids.
People who purchased books to donate have a label inside
the book with their name on it placed inside the book.
Lead teacher Kent Swanson said giving back to the
community is one of the foundations of the school and they
do that through service learning and “having that opportunity
to do what we’re supposed to do.”
Giving back is part of what they want the foundation of the
school to be, and one of their success stories should be how
they’re giving back to the community.
“We have families and we’ve collaborated very well with the
YMCA and other partners to promote that effort as what we’re
doing,” he said.
They partnered with one of their community sponsors, the
Fox Valley Metro, and making an impact with children who
are in a crisis situation.
The school reached out to VF Corporation to get Vans
backpacks that contain the buddy bags. Officers keep one of
the backpacks that were donated by Vans in the trunk of each
of their cars.
Nicolet Bank donated the drawstring bags for the buddy bags,
the YMCA gave them the space to assemble the bags and
give them access to 1,500 or their members on Healthy Kids
Day to make donations.
The stuffed animals, crayons, and books were donated by the
YMCA and community members.
“It’s giving back to the community, it’s helping the Fox Valley
Metro Police,” Swanson said.
A display is on hand at the Heart of the Valley YMCA that tells
of the program and gives information on making donations.
Little Chute Area School District Summer Newsletter 2015 Page 5
Little Chute Ar ea School District
Students Suppor t the Community . . .
Friends of Autism…..
The Little Chute Mustang team Walked-4-Autism on
April 25th, enjoying sunshine, and brisk temperatures.
The team included staff, students and families.
We walked with the many families in our district that
have their own teams honoring family members who
have autism. The Walk-4-Autism is a major fundraiser
for Friends of Autism, which funds events and projects
that increase autism awareness, education, and
research. This was our third year as a team; we look
forward to walking again next year.
Elementary Student Council
Raises Fund for A Very Special
Place
This year the Elementary School Student Council held
a Penny War with the proceeds going to “A Very
Special Place” day care center. Throughout the week,
the student body raised $951.84. The center will use
the money for materials they need to support their
special needs clients.
Elementary Student Council
Little Chute Area School District Summer Newsletter 2015 Page 6
Little Chute Ar ea School District
Students Suppor t the Community . . .
. . . .Seventh Graders Support St. Jude
A very motivated group of seventh graders raised $3,131.80 for the math*a *thon this year at LCMS. This is the
second- highest amount ever raised at LCMS! The money will be sent to St. Jude’s Research Hospital to help
research cures for cancer and other life threatening illnesses. These forty-one dedicated and caring individuals
should be very proud of their accomplishments. Seventh graders involved are as follows:
Lexi Lorbiecki
Isabella Ernst
Cassidy Schroeder
Kristin Huelsbeck
McKenna Lamers
Susuki Vang
Greyson Lambert
Madison Withrow
Leah Behrendt
Alexis Bakken
Makenna Maronek
Kayla Arts
Jordan Lonigro
Jessica Arvizu
Makenna Rasmussen
Kennedy Van Asten
Genna Knudsen
Nathan Murrow
Ashley Zuege
Jordan Mars
Elizabeth Heiman
Kimmy Haima
Chandler Liesse
Christina Yang
Casey Clark
McKenzie Jeffers
Paige Samp
Emily Woldt
DJ Morgan-Bedolla
Sarah Fleming
Jordan Meronek
Brodie Van Handel
Alex Gillis
Cece Schertz
Bailie Baxter
Esther Hammen
Kaitlyn Lewicki
Callie Anderson
Kani Johnson
Tyler Konrad
Halie Konrad
A special recognition to Jordan Mars for raising $505 – the greatest amount for the class! Way to go
seventh grade!
Little Chute Area School District Summer Newsletter 2015 Page 7
Number s and Awards Continue for
L i t t l e C h u t e Destination Imagination
DID YOU KNOW?
State Results
10 – Number of teams in the Little Chute School District this
18 – Number of consecutive years that the LCASD has
competed at the State Finals.
7 – Number of teams that qualified for state by finishing in 1st
or 2nd at Regionals this year.
2 – 2nd place teams.
3 – Instant Challenge winning teams.
1 – Team Spirit of DI Award.
school year.
65 – Number of students involved from 3rd to 12th grade.
15 – Number of volunteer Team Managers.
17 – Number of Financial Sponsors and Donors.
Regional Results
Global Finals
10 – Number of teams that earned awards at the 2015
Regional…
6 – 1st place teams.
1 – 2nd place team.
3 – 3rd place teams.
2 – Instant Challenge winning teams.
1 – Team Spirit of DI Award.
8 – Number of times since 2007 that the LCASD has been
represented at the Global Finals.
2 – Number of teams that qualified for the Global Finals by
finishing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at the State Finals.
1 – LCHS team – 2nd place at State Finals.
1 – Our youngest, Intermediate team (5th graders) – 2nd
place at State Finals.
3 – Number of LCHS Alumni that are volunteering at Global
Finals.
Little Chute Area School District Summer Newsletter 2015 Page 8
Your Future Career Expo
by Eighth Grade Students Carrigan Hurst and Kyra Hietpas
On April 20th, Little Chute Middle School and St. John’s 8th
grade students attended the “Your Future” Career Expo
sponsored by the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce. The
Career Expo was meant to help student plan for their future.
Many of the students, like us, thought they knew what they
wanted to do but this experience gives you an inside look at
so many different careers! It shows you what you could be
doing one day and gets you excited about the possibilities.
There were many interesting careers. I think that we all
really feel much more confident on what we plan on doing in
the future as a result of the Career Expo. Even if we didn’t narrow it down to a specific career, the expo gave us the
right skills and direction for us to continue our search for the exact match. This was truly a great experience!
The Boogie Woogie Book Readers Read Their Way to State!
Little Chute Intermediate School participated in the
Wisconsin State Battle of the Books. Forty six teams of
171 fifth and sixth graders battled to determine who
would represent our school in the state battle. To do this,
teams read from a list of 20 titles and answered
questions that all began, “In which book…” The answers
are always one of the 20 titles. The state contest took
place during the third week of February, with 225 teams
from across the state representing their respective
schools. Our team took 4th place, which is quite an accomplishment! Our top three teams also competed against our
teacher team: ROTTEN (Reading Olympic Teacher Team Enjoying Novels: Mr. Hietpas, Mrs. Peeters, Mrs. Klukas,
Mrs. Kleist, Mrs. Beltz, Mrs. Wiese, Mrs. Gloudemans, Mr. Vanderloop, Mrs. Strasburg, Mrs. Sheffler, Ms. Thomson,
Mrs. Ryan, Mrs. Kaschner, and Mrs. Wenig.
Little Chute Area School District Summer Newsletter 2015 Page 9
Mentor Programs Have a Great Year
by Inge Murphy
I know it sounds cliche, but time really
does fly when you're having fun! It's
been another fascinating year for our
mentor groups. The Mustang Mentors
were 90 plus strong again this year, and
our CAMP group topped out at 21
mentors. It's been a great year!
Our CAMP (Community Action Mentor
Partnership) program had four exciting
gatherings this year, and it seemed as
though everyone had a great time at
each gathering. We started our year off
in October by making Christmas
ornaments and cards for the residents at
Parkside Manor. In December, we took
over the community room at Parkside
Manor and filled the halls with laughter
while playing BINGO with the residents.
At the conclusion of our evening, we
gave out the ornaments and cards, and
our students felt a sense of camaraderie
and fulfillment. Several of our students
mentioned to me that evening they
would like to come back again next year.
I think we've started a tradition.
At the end of February, we spent an
evening painting pottery, making
mosaics and glass fusing at The Fire in
Appleton. It truly is a gift to watch the
creativity flow from our children. I think
they sometimes amaze themselves at
their abilities. We ended our year with a
potluck on May 19. It was a night to
meet a new member of our group, as
well as her mentee, enjoy some pizza
and have a quick game of "name that
group". That's right, we are looking to
rename our group from CAMP to
something a little "jazzier." We have two
names that made the cut, and we will be
voting soon. Watch for the new name in
the Fall edition of the newsletter!
There are big things on the horizon for
our CAMP group. We are working with
ResourceOne in Little Chute to expand
our mentor/mentee relationships, and
we hope this relationship encourages
other local businesses and citizens to
consider mentoring as well. As I've
mentioned in the past, we are ALWAYS
looking for new mentors. We have a
waiting list of about 15 students, and it is
always growing, who would love to find
camaraderie, consistency and stability in
a mentor relationship. Please consider
giving of your time and affection to our
students. I promise you will gain as
much, if not more, from this relationship
as the student. If you're at all interested
in learning more, please give me a
call at 788-7605 ext: 3108, or you can
email me at
[email protected].
The Mustang Mentors had another
fabulous year. We matched about 90 of
our younger students with our high
school mentors. In January, we took our
group to the Resch Center to cheer on
the Green Bay Phoenix Basketball team.
We were able to get two of our young
students out on the basketball floor
between quarters, and it was so fun to
watch the kids on the floor, but just as
importantly, the kids in the stands
rooting on their classmates/friends. We
were not able to watch the final minutes
of the one point win against Valparaiso,
but it was an exciting evening
nonetheless.
Our end of the year bash took place on
May 27 at Village Lanes in Little Chute.
We inundated Village Lanes for two
hours that afternoon while enjoying
some bowling and lots of pizza. The kids
were patient, gracious and some were a
bit sad to say good-bye to their senior
mentors. It's always an emotional
reminder to our mentors of the impact
they have on our younger students.
amazing programs. It's an honor to work
with the fine students of the Little Chute
Area School District as well as the staff.
Our teachers are always so supportive
and patient with our Mustang Mentor
program. They encourage their students
to participate even when it means a
slight disruption in their day or activity.
Without the encouragement and support
of the teachers, these programs would
be far less successful. In addition to the
teachers, we have the counselors and
psychologists in the buildings that
provide so much insight, guidance and
support. I can't thank them all enough
for their time, thoughts and
encouragement throughout the year.
Undeniably the backbone to our mentor
programs are our mentors, to whom I
say "thank you." Thank you for your
commitment. Thank you for your time,
affection and selflessness. Without you,
we would have no mentor programs,
and we would not be able to witness the
growth in our mentees. Keep up the
great work!!
It's been a great year. Thank you for
allowing me the opportunity to work with
such a fun and active group of people.
We truly have a blast in all that we do,
and I would encourage anyone who is
thinking about mentoring to please give
me a call. There will be no commitment
in a phone call; rather, a time to learn
more and chat about the rewards.
I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable
summer. To our graduating seniors,
thank you for a fantastic year. You will
all do great things. Hold your head high
and march on, Mustangs!!!
As with every year, I've learned several
things along the way, and I hope to keep
providing value and worth to these two
Little Chute Area School District Summer Newsletter 2015 Page 10