Bobcats Making Headlines

The Marshalltown High School math team placed third at the Greater Plains Math League meet held at Johnston on January 12. Pictured from left are MHS junior Trevor Ketcham, Coach Rob Griffin and MHS junior Zach Swartz.

The Marshalltown High School math team placed third at the Greater Plains Math League meet held at Johnston High School on January 12.

MHS junior Zach Swartz placed first in the sprint round and target round among all juniors competing and his combined score placed him second overall among all competitors. MHS junior Trevor Ketcham placed second in the target round and third in the sprint round.

The team is coached by Rob Griffin from MHS. The team’s next meet will be held on February 16 at Waverly-Shell Rock High School.

Marshalltown High School cheerleading and band alumni are welcome to the home basketball games on Friday, January 25 vs. West Des Moines Valley to take part in the festivities at the Roundhouse, and play some music and cheer. The girls varsity game begins at 6:15 p.m. with the boys varsity game having a 7:45 p.m. start.

Cheerleading alumni
We will be in our own reserved section and perform the Bobcat fight song during halftime of the boys game alongside the band. We encourage you to wear red, white and blue clothing or your favorite Bobcat attire.

Band alumni
Bring your instrument and jersey or Bobcat apparel to play with current band students. Rehearsal starts at 5:15 p.m. in the main band room and the first song for the crowd is at 6 p.m. Come when you can and have some fun.

The Marshalltown High School boys swim team donated $600 each to three Marshalltown elementary schools to help families affected by the tornado. Pictured from left are Ryne Downey donating to Nicki Boliver and Susan Eggleston representing Rogers Elementary School, Samantha Slocum representing Franklin Elementary School accepting the donation from Caleb Summers and Heidi Williams of Woodbury Elementary School accepting the donation from David Wahl.

Three elementary schools receive $600 each

The Marshalltown High School boys swim team donated a total of $1,800 to three Marshalltown elementary schools to help families affected by the July 19 tornado.

Swimmers donated $600 each to  Franklin, Rogers and Woodbury elementary schools, which had many families in the area affected by the storm.

Coach Mike Loupee said this was a service project led by the team this year as they raised money by placing a “Marshalltown Strong” phrase on the sleeve of the team shirts for an additional donation, collected change in the annual Change for Charity effort and worked a team fundraising evening at Pizza Ranch.

This was separate from a recent team fundraiser for pool deck chairs and deck coats for the team.

Marshalltown High School seniors Emily Miller, left, and Jane Ragland were selected as Know Your Constitution finalists.

Marshalltown High School seniors Emily Miller and Jane Ragland were among 100 finalists in the state of Iowa to be honored in the Iowa State Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division Know Your Constitution contest.

The two were selected out of more than 1,000 students in the state after their performance on a  quiz and were honored at a luncheon in West Des Moines on January 11. They were able to meet the Honorable Justice Susan Christensen of the Iowa Supreme Court at the event.

The Know Your Constitution Project is designed to enrich students’ understanding and appreciation of the Constitution.  The students participating in the project were required to familiarize themselves with Constitution related issues. A quiz was completed by each participating student.  An essay question accompanied the quiz in case of a tie. This year’s essay topic involved Constitutional questions centered on Presidential Pardon power and protection of Special Counsel investigations.

The three Employee of the Quarter winners for the second quarter from Marshalltown Schools include, from left, Gary Mertens from Marshalltown High School, Bruce Lawrence from Lenihan Intermediate School and Heidi Williams from Woodbury Elementary School.

Three employees of the Marshalltown Community School District received Employee of the Quarter awards for the second quarter of the school year recently.

Bruce Lawrence

Recipient Bruce Lawrence is the teacher librarian at Lenihan Intermediate School.“Bruce continually communicates with staff regarding technology updates and best practices,” said Lenihan teacher Joan Furjanic, who nominated Lawrence for the award as did fellow teacher Deb Moore. “Whether he is assisting a student with a Chromebook issue or helping find an interesting book, Bruce is always available and approachable to students.”

Gary Mertens

Recipient Gary Mertens works in the Academic Support Center at MHS and was nominated for the award by Eric Weeden.
“Gary always has the best interest of the students he works with,” Weeden said. “Gary has exceptional passion for his position and has worked with many challenging students that have had success because of his commitment.”

Heidi Williams

Recipient Heidi Williams is counselor at Woodbury Elementary School. She is extremely dedicated to her students and was nominated for the award by teacher Katie Hilby.
“Heidi puts students’ needs at the forefront of every single thing that she does,” Hilby said. “She has a great way of turning almost any situation into something positive, which has a huge impact on the culture of our school.”

Pictured are the top finishers in the Miller Middle School spelling bee held on January 11. At center is first place winner Locke Bloomquist. Tying for runner up were Kaiden McWilliams, left, and Juan Morales, right.

Miller Middle School eighth grader Locke Bloomquist won the school’s 2019 spelling bee after six rounds of competition on January 11. Bloomquist topped the field of 20 finalists and the championship round word he spelled correctly was astonishment.

Tying for runner up were Juan Morales and Kaiden McWilliams.

Bloomquist advances to the regional spelling bee to be held March 2 at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. The winner of the regional bee will receive an expenses-paid trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.

Hosting the bee was Miller teacher Lucas Johnson and Instructional Coach Jen O’Neal while judges were Miller teachers Sarah Benscoter, Shea Hill and Rebecca Callahan.

View more photos from this event on the school district Facebook page.

Jeff Barry is a retired area school principal who serves as a substitute teacher in Marshalltown Schools.

Retired school administrator Jeff Barry can be seen throughout the year in Marshalltown Schools still active in what he loves – being around kids.

Barry is a substitute teacher in the district and has served at many different grade levels and school buildings in the past two years. He retired after 20 years as principal of West Marshall Middle School in 2017, but couldn’t stay away from the classroom.

“I just love kids, that’s why I went into this business,” Barry said.

Barry said he enjoys being around the students in the Marshalltown Community School District.

“They are friendly, they are trying hard and they are respectful,” Barry said.

He is equally appreciative of the teachers and other staff in Marshalltown Schools, who have helped him immensely as a substitute.

“The staff is awesome here,” Barry said. “They are friendly and very helpful. Everybody always says ‘thank you for being here.’”

Barry would encourage others thinking about becoming a substitute to give it a try.

“If you like kids and like being around people it’s a great part time job or as full time as you want it to be,” Barry said.

For more information on becoming a substitute teacher, call the Marshalltown Community School District Human Resources office at 641-754-1000.

Ann Jackson

Miller Middle School Extended Learning Program teacher Ann Jackson has been selected to venture to Europe to learn more about World War I.

Jackson is one of 18 educators from across America who were selected for Memorializing the Fallen — a teacher professional development program from National History Day. Sponsored by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum and Library, the program takes educators on the journey of a lifetime to rediscover the history of World War I and invigorate its teaching in America’s classrooms.

“It’s exciting to have the opportunity to travel to France, but even more so knowing that I will be traveling with fellow educators after having spent a semester learning together about the sacrifices of our World War I veterans,” Jackson said.

In June 2019, the educators will venture to Europe where they will walk in the footsteps of history, making stops at Somme American Cemetery, St. Mihiel American Cemetery, Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, Suresnes American Cemetery, Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, and battle sites and monuments at Belleau Wood, Verdun and Meuse Argonne.

Throughout the program, teachers attend virtual lectures, participate in discussions, and research a service member who never returned home (Silent Hero).

The goal for the Memorializing the Fallen program is to reinvigorate the teaching and learning of World War I in classrooms as we mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the war.  This highly competitive program pays for travel to these locations as well as lodging, meals, books and more.

The teachers are developing in-depth lesson plans to focus on the legacy of the conflict. Both the lesson plan and the fallen hero profile will be released during the 2019-2020 academic year.

“I know that collaborating with other teachers will strengthen my instruction,” Jackson said. “Additionally, through the content teaching of this course, I am learning a great deal about the nuance of World War I.  I’m certain this new learning will help my future National History Day contestants.”

Jackson’s Silent Hero she is researching will be Private Frederick Eckstrom.

“I’m also extremely excited to learn about and give honor to my chosen Silent Hero, Private Frederick Eckstrom who is buried at Meuse-Argonne Cemetery,” Jackson said. “Private Eckstrom was an immigrant from Sweden who had only lived in the United States for 5 years when he decided to serve the United States in World War I.  I chose Mr. Eckstrom as my Silent Hero as a way to honor Marshalltown’s immigrant community. Just as Mr. Eckstrom showed the strength of his community during World War I, I believe our immigrants, especially Marshalltown’s immigrant students, show the strength of our community today.”

Jackson was selected as one of 18 out of 334 applicants for the program and the only educator from Iowa selected. She submitted a resume and essay as part of her application.

Click here for the Times-Republican story on Mrs. Jackson.

The following teachers have been chosen for the program.

Marshalltown High School swimmer Caleb Summers cuts Coach Mike Loupee’s hair on January 1 after a successful team fundraiser.

A successful fundraiser from the Marshalltown High School boys swim team meant their head coach Mike Loupee got a new cut for the new year.

The boys team raised $7,215 for new deck chairs for the MHS pool and new decks coats for the team, well past the goal Coach Loupee set at $3,000 to be able to cut his hair.

The money was raised in several different ways including working school concession stands, Pizza Ranch tip night, collecting change and donations from current Bobcat parents and former swimmers. Loupee had been growing out his hair for three years.

“It’s humbling that whenever there has been a need the Bobcat swimming family has always been supportive,” Loupee said.

Click here for a video of the cut.

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