Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
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Thermopolis FFA was named the reserve champion in the Agriculture Issues Forum at the 91st annual State Convention in Cheyenne April 18-21. Team members include Mary Ryan, Jeffery VanAntwerp, Josi Thurgood, Lauren Reed, Tyne Vilapando, Kaitlyn Schmuck and Hannah Hurley. In a fun pre-session game, VanAntwerp was crowned Mr. FFA. Regarding the chapter's title in the Agriculture Issues Forum, VanAntwerp said the team worked hard to prepare for the event, going over the script and their talking...
Hot Springs County School District’s Board of Trustees met on Tuesday evening for their April meeting, addressing several items of interest. One of those items was staffing recommendations for the coming year. The board accepted a resignation notice from Jill Strenger as a special education teacher at the end of this year and the resignation of Holly Mickelson as an elementary teacher. Jerry Bowman has tendered his resignation as Transportation Director, effective June 30. Justin Smith and A...
Mass shootings, school shootings in particular, seem to have become an almost weekly occurrence in the United States. Parents and citizens are calling out for more security in our schools and the school districts are doing all they can, as quickly as they can, to provide that additional level of security. Hot Springs County School District is currently working on a single point of entry system in all three schools that includes a ‘buzz in-buzz out’ area at each main entrance. According to Sup...
Several coaching positions are coming open for the 2018-2019 school year at Hot Springs County High School. The district will be searching for a new head golf coach, head girls basketball coach, head boys basketball coach, head wrestling coach and head track and field coach. As these are personnel matters, the school district is not releasing much information on the openings, however, some are due to coaches moving to other districts and resignations from coaching positions although some will retain their teaching positions. Activities...
The change in leadership and structure at Hot Springs County High School has been a bit confusing and sometimes frustrating for students and parents, however, those changes have created some excellent outcomes. The most dramatic changes have come in the form of student grades. During the first semester of the 2016-2017 school year, 41% of the student body had D or F grades. That amounted to 211 D and F grades among students. During the first semester of this year, 2017-208, that number has dropp...
The Wyoming FFA Association has announced the recipients of the 2018 Wyoming State FFA Degree, the highest award the state can bestow on its members. A total of 194 members representing 45 Wyoming FFA chapters earned the degree. These members will receive their degrees on April 19, as part of the Wyoming FFA Convention, held in Cheyenne each year. Among those from Thermopolis earning their degrees are Strite Daniels, Kaitlyn Schmuck and Tyne Vialpando. “The State FFA Degree is awarded to FFA members who have demonstrated the highest level of c...
There will be a few changes at Hot Springs County High School next year with a move to six periods of 60 minutes each rather than the seven periods of 55 minutes they are experiencing now. At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, principal Breez Daniels said not only are they looking at a period change, but a change in the schedules for Fridays as well. “We want to keep everything,” she said, “just concentrate it down more.” Another issue that has arisen is possible damage taking online cl...
Thermopolis Middle School was recently selected as one of three finalists for the prestigious DuFour Award, presented by Solution Tree during the Summit on Professional Learning Community At Work™ in Phoenix Feb. 20-22. Though TMS was not selected as the recipient, 5-12 principal Breez Longwell Daniels noted the school’s representatives, which included herself, Eric Kay, Cassie Hetzel and Jacob Strenger, were able to meet with representatives of the other nominated schools and discuss what the...
For the past few years, students at Thermopolis Middle School have been kept up with the happenings at their building through the TMS Gazette. Hayden Mayne explained the origins of the publication, which began when he was in fifth grade with copies he drew up and wrote. “Mainly because I was bored,” he said, “I just wanted to have something to do on my own time.” In sixth and seventh grade, he started making print copies online, using his cell phone for pictures. It originally began as the Tea...
The Hot Springs County High School Board of Trustees received their annual audit report at their Feb. 20 meeting, courtesy of Michel, Wright and Associates. Michael Wright informed the board there were no problems with compliance with the exception of some minor issues. Compliance audits focus on federal grants. Wright indicated the district needs to work on keeping track of documentation. If there is no documentation on where grant funds were spent, the grantor assumes the money has not been...
This past weekend saw the two Thermopolis teams — Fistful of Axles and Aluminati — at the Wyoming State Championship in Casper, with Aluminati bringing home the Motivate Award. The team had previously won the Think Award at the Montana State Championships. The Motivate Award, teacher London Jenks explained, is presented to the team representing the essence of the FIRST Tech challenge competition through team building, team spirit, showing enthusiasm and connections with the school and com...
Emmy Hergert addresses students at Thermopolis Middle School, after being named the third Champion for Children for the school year....
Wednesday, May 7 was National Signing Day, and at Hot Springs County High School Noah Schwalbe and family members were on hand to witness Noah signing to play for the Eagles at Chadron State College (CSC) in Nebraska. As for his decision to go to CSC, Schwalbe said he went to the campus and it just felt right to him. Having not made any verbal commitment to a school at the time, he didn't say yes to CSC's offer right away but did so after a walk around the campus. Schwalbe will attend on a...
Hot on the heels of Thermopolis Middle School teacher Shannon Hill's receiving the prestigious Milken Educator Award, the middle school has been named one of three finalists for the Solution Tree third annual DuFour Award. The award honors one high-performing school that is recognized as a Professional Learning Community At Work™ model school. Established in 2015, the award is named in honor of the late Dr. Richard DuFour. An award-winning educator and best-selling author, Dr. DuFour was r...
Named to the Hot Springs County High School Honor Rolls for the first semester are: Superintendent, 4.0: McKenna Bomengen, Ashley Brawley, KyAnn Calhoun, Stormy Cox, Brianna DeVries, Kaylee DeVries, Kolby George, Hannah Hu, Tahja Hunt, Tyler Kay, Barbara Kissel, McKayla Layman, Dakota Leonhardt, Daniel Leonhardt, Haley McDermott, Ashley McPhie, Tyson Medina, Breeze Petty, Lane Randall, Lauren Reed, Hyrum Rich, Alexandra Russell, Mary Ryan, Reagan Severance, Madeline Stam, Jeffery VanAntwerp, Tyne Vialpando, Elisa Weber, Olivia Weyer and...
Thermopolis Middle School recently released the lists of students achieving straight A’s and having perfect attendance for the first two quarters of the school year. Straight A’s Quarter 1 Fifth Grade — Maddison Andreen, Christian Arends, Kaylee Bazzle, Gage Bowman, Aspen Brooks, Brendan Butler, Sophia Conrad, Brailee DeVries, Timber Eckley, Hannah Hill, Tera Kraushaar, Zoey Larson, Rylee McConkie, Hayden Overfield, Sydney Peterson, Brody Potter, Brooke Richter, Austin Slagle, Brody Sorenson, Zane Stam, Ben Weaver and Rosalie Willson Sixth Grad...
The 2018 HSCHS Athletics Hall of Fame is taking nominations through May 1 for this year’s class of inductees. The categories for hall of fame members are Male Athlete, Female Athlete, Coach/Administrator, and Special Contributor Nomination. Forms are available at Owl Creek Graphics at 527 Broadway Street or can be requested via email at markw@rtconnect.net. Completed forms can be returned via email or mailed to: Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 1326, Thermopolis, WY 82443. The awards ceremony date this year is Friday, July 13, to tie in with reunion w...
At the start of the school year, staff at Ralph Witters Elementary (RWE) set a few goals and are well on their way to meeting those goals for the 2017-18 school year. The library went under a bit of renovation to create a special space for books dedicated to a reading leveling system. At the beginning of the year each student was assessed as to their placement within that reading system. Once their benchmark was set in the Fountas and Pinnell system, each student worked toward improving where...
Friday morning at Thermopolis Middle School, seventh and eighth grade Health/Physical Education teacher, Shannon Hill, received quite a surprise as she was announced as a recipient of the Milken Educator Award and $25,000. The Milken Educator Awards, created by the Milken Family Foundation in 1987, recognizes teaching excellence publicly not only to inspire educators, but students and entire communities about the importance of joining the teaching profession. The prestigious honor, to be...
As you can imagine, discipline within the school system has changed enormously, going from corporal punishment (spanking) to a more meaningful removal of privileges (no activities) and opportunities to bring grades up. Along with absenteeism, grades can make or break a high schooler’s career and chances of acceptance into college. At Hot Springs County High School, the warning list for grades includes those students carrying a D or F. A student that finds themselves on the warning list can be i...
Studies have shown student absences have a detrimental effect on overall learning and grades. Students who miss a large number of classes are sometimes not able to catch up with their studies, and on a high school level, this can lead to higher drop out rates. At the December meeting of the Hot Springs County School District #1 Board of Directors, data was presented that indicates a generally much lower absentee rate so far this year as compared to last year. Dean of Students Catelyn Deromedi... Full story
The Hot Springs County High School Drama Club had an amazing weekend at State Drama in Casper last week. "They worked so hard and I received so many comments about how talented, respectful, compassionate, and responsible my students were," said Drama coach Mary McGillivray. The one act play "Flowers for Algernon" took first place in the Proscenium category over all schools in the category. With that honor, the Bobcats were featured on KTWO-TV, with interviews with McGillivray and Tyler Kay over... Full story
Educators from Hot Springs County School District #1 reported to the school board last week regarding their attendance at the first Wyoming Autism Summit held in Jackson. Autism is the largest growing population of Special Education (SPED) in schools across the state, and right here in Hot Springs County, we have autistic students in all three schools. Autism covers a wide range of issues in both children and adults and they discussed a number of types of autism within the spectrum and how to...
The Wyoming Department of Education recently released their school performance report for 2016-17, listing math, reading and science proficiency for each district based on PAWS and WY-ALT tests. Third and fourth graders at Ralph Witters Elementary took the PAWS tests with the following results: Third grade math: 15.22 percent below basic, 26.09 percent basic, 41.30 percent proficient and 17.39 percent advanced. Totals are 41.30 percent doing math at basic or below basic and 58.70 percent are doing math in a proficient or advanced level. Third...
Sometimes, our young people just need a little help to get them on their way to success. Heather Pebbles knows this, so she has started Copper Mountain Tutoring featuring one on one instruction for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. She can give homework support, diagnose reading and math difficulties, provide homeschool relief and support and improve your student’s study skills. With a double Bachelor’s Degree in education through sixth grade and special education through 12th grade, she has over 18 years of quality teaching and...
