Sweeter's Tiger Tracks

Who Needs Rosetta Stone Anyway

Our Spanish students recently did extremely well on the National Spanish Exam.  The kicker is we dominated while competing against schools from Rapid City and Sioux Falls. 

Spanish I State NSE Rank:

1st place $50 check- Gaby Tinglund

2nd place- Eric Milbrandt

4th place- Halle Dohman

5th place- Derek Taylor

 

Spanish II State NSE Rank:

 2nd place- Erin Sternhagen

3rd place- Austin Fordham

4th place- Spenser Kavanaugh

6th place- Kyla Larsen

7th place- Greyson Cutler

8th place- Kelsie Lemmon

This is their placement in the state, but they also all received honors certificates from the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese(AATSP).  The certificates are given to the top 50th percentile of contestants on the national level (140,000+ contestants), however most of ours were in the 60-75th percentile range.

Way to go!!!

More Math Domination

Twenty-five eighth through twelfth graders from Groton Area Junior/Senior High School participated in the 58th Annual NSU Mathematics Contest held Wednesday, April 13, 2011, on the campus of Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota.  They were among 680 students representing 34 schools in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota, who participated in the event and tested in four divisions:  Elementary Algebra, Geometry, Advanced Algebra, and Senior Math.  Out of the 158 students taking the Algebra I test, Caitlyn Fluke was awarded the second place trophy and Alyssa Sippel received a certificate of honorable mention. 

 

As a school, Groton received honorable mention in the Class AA/A division.  To determine school rank, the highest score from each school in each of the four divisions was taken to compute the sum of each school's four results. 

"That a Boy/Girl"

 

Congratulations to Erin Sternhagen, Austin Fordham, and Seth Duncan for being selected to the 2011 Honors Choir!  They are selected based on a written test, a prepared solo, tonal memory, and sight-singing.  Josey Helmer is the first alternate for the alto section.  So, if someone can't go to the week long camp, Josey will also be a member of the Honors Choir.  Way to go!!

Science Domination!!!

It's official - eCybermission just posted state winners in their online science fair.  Each first place winner receive a $1000 Savings Bond and each second place team member receives a $500 Savings Bond.  (They're now being judged Regionally. The northern US region goes from Wisconsin/Illinois to Washington/Oregon. If they were to win the northern region, they would each receive an additional $2000 Savings Bond & a trip to D.C.)  That means there will be $12,000 in US Savings Bonds coming to students!!!!

 

Congrats to:

 

8th Grade Winners

1st Place: Nicholas Dalchow, Matthew Knecht, Jacob Milbrandt, Dylan Vogel

2nd Place:  Rachel Blackmun, Maddie Colestock, Taylor Gustafson, Amanda Koens

9th Grade Winners

1st Place:  Skyler Bonn, Reilly Ell, Caitlyn Fluke, Kasey Kurtz

2nd Place:  Halle Dohman, Alec Oleson, Cheyenne Schaller, Camille Sippel

FCCLA All Staters

 

State FCCLA:

Top Superior Gold: Ellie Harms, Bailee Thompson

 Gold: Andee Geist, Hailey Donovan, Jordyn Opsahl

 Silver: Marah Smith, Jenna LaMee, Nikki Koehler, Madison Profeta, Regan Lewandowski

 Silver: Allerie Loeschke, Shanna Geist

Great Job Ladies!!!

JH Oral Interp

The following oral interp students placed at the Florence meet:

Superior Plus

Katie Groeblinghoff and Luke Smith (duet)

Kaitlin O'Neill and Jocelyn Peterson (duet) All girls golfers should meet in Mr. Kjellsen's room after school

Amber Schuster and Allison Weber (duet)

Katie LaMee (poetry)

 Superior

Dakota Gonzales and Mikaela Blumhardt (duet)

8th Grade Reader's Theatre--Kennedy Clark, Alyssa Sippel, Danielle Schinkel, Jocelyn Peterson and Katie LaMee

8th Grade poetry -- Shannon Hjermstad 

WAY TO GO!!!

FFA Horse Play +

 

Congratulations to the following teams and individuals for placing at the State FFA Convention.
1st place Horse Team, National Qualifier - Taylor Leonhardt, Cheyenne Leonhardt, Heather Westby, & Joellen Gonsoir
   Taylor Leonhardt - 18th Place - Gold
   Heather Westby - Silver
   Cheyenne Leonhardt - Silver
   Joellen Gonsoir - Bronze

4th place Livestock Team - Jordan Miller, Braden Miller, Baily Ringgenberg, Nathan Wright
   Jordan Miller - 7th Place - Gold
   Braden Miller - Silver
   Baily Ringgenberg - Silver
   Nathan Wright - Bronze
  
Cody Wright - Bronze award - Ag Mechanics Contest
Stephen Simon - Bronze award - Crops Contest

Cody Wright received his State FFA Degree.

Zoom Zoom!!!

Despite a limited track team due to the Pops Concert dress rehearsal.  Our tracksters performed quite well against many AA school at last Friday's meet in Huron.  The highlight of the day had to be when Stephanie Fey qualified for state in the shot put with her first throw out of the gate.  Wow!!!  Some of the other highlights were:

Boys: 

1. 800m Relay (2^nd)
2. 100m -- Tony Waage -- (5^th)

Girls: 

1. 300m Hurdles -- Schyler Sattler -- (4^th)
2. Discus -- Stephanie Fey – (2^nd)

Way to go!!!  Keep up the good work.

Jazztastic

Erin Sternhagen Selected to All-State Jazz Band

Junior trumpet player Erin Sternhagen has been selected through a statewide audition to the 2011 South Dakota All-State Jazz Band.  This is her third selection in as many years.  The event is held at NSU in Aberdeen May 5^th-7^th.  About 70 students from across the state are divided into three big bands and one jazz combo.  They rehearse together under the direction of some of the top jazz players, composers, arrangers, and educators in the nation and give a final performance on Saturday, May 7^th, at 7:30 in the Johnson Fine Arts Center.  This year’s guest conductors are University of Central Florida and Yamaha Performing Artist Jeff Rupert, Marshall University’s Sean Parsons and Bismarck native Scott Prebys.

Jazz Band Domination

Great Year for Groton Jazz Band

The jazz band wrapped up their competitive season on Thursday, April 7^th with a phenomenal day in Brookings at the 6^th annual SDSU Brookings Optimist Jazz Festival.  Not only was the band named Class B Champions, but they were also named “Outstanding Band” among the nine bands that played in one of two competition centers throughout the day!  Additional awards included “Outstanding Saxophone Section”, “Outstanding Trombone Section”, and an “Outstanding Soloist” award given to Erin Sternhagen.  Because the band was named “Outstanding Band”, they were invited to perform two numbers on the final concert that evening which also featured the other outstanding band, Aberdeen Central Jazz I.  SDSU Jazz I along with four guest artists headlined the evening’s performance.

Back on January 27^th, Groton won the Class A competition at Northern State University’s Jazz Festival in their first competition of the year.  In their second competition in Adrian, Minnesota on March 21^st the band finished 2^nd among 7 bands and was awarded “Outstanding Saxophone Section.”