2019-20 Harrison Holiday Tournament

January 3rd and 4th, 2020
Sioux County High School

Sioux County, Crawford, Morrill, Hay Springs

Sioux County would like to thank you for your participation in the Holiday Tournament. We are looking forward to hosting all of you on January 3rd and 4th. Please review the enclosed bracket.

The officials for the games are provided by Darren Duncan and Rob Stack. A hospitality room will be provided for coaches, administrators, and officials. There will also be a full concession stand and potato bar each day for your fans and athletes.

Each school is allowed 14 passes for your tournament roster players and 6 coach/administrator passes for administrators, bus drivers, and bookkeepers. Please fax or email me the attachment for these individuals so there is no confusion on Friday. Conference passes will not be accepted.

The top team on the bracket will be the home team and will provide the official book.

Games will start at their scheduled times, no earlier.

Admission: Bring a nonperishable food item and get into the games free. If not the cost is $4 for adults and $3 for students. Conference passes will not be accepted.

Sincerely,
Barry Swisher
Principal/AD
Sioux County Schools

2019-20_Harrison_Holiday_Tournament_Bracket

PanCo Junior High Girls Basketball Tournament

1. Tournament will begin at 9:00 on Monday, December 16, 2019. We will be using a bracket format tournament. Once you lose, you are out.

2. Ticket prices will be $5 for adults and $4. The admission is good for the whole tournament. Players, Coaches, Managers, and Bus Drivers will be stamped upon arrival.

3. Please return a tournament roster to pcyza@saa.school.

4. Locker rooms will be assigned. Each team will be responsible for their own valuables as multiple teams will share a lockeroom.

5. Officials for the tournament will be provided by St. Agnes.

6. The team on the top bracket will be considered the home team. Home team will be the official book.

girls_bracket_2019

Patriot’s Pen

Every year the Veterans of Foreign Wars sponsors an essay contest titled, “Patriot’s Pen.” The contest is open to middle school students nationwide. Each year the students are given a writing prompt and are required to write 200-300 words to qualify for the contest. This year’s prompt was titled, “What makes America great?” It is up to each writer to interpret and write what the prompt means to them.

This year Hay Springs 8th grader Ava McKillip was chosen to be the local VFW winner. From there, her essay was entered into the District competition. Again, Ava’s essay placed first. Her essay is currently being considered in the Nebraska state competition. If Ava’s essay receives first prize again she will be entered into the national completion. Ava would also receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington D.C.

I think everyone associated with Hay Springs can be proud of the accomplishments of Ava. We are blessed to live in the United States and Ava’s essay demonstrates how our young people do not take that gift for granted. Good luck Ava! Hay Springs is proud of you! — Mr. Bounous

Here is the text of Ava’s essay:

What Makes America Great?

“What makes America great?” is a question all of us Americans should ask ourselves. We have the freedom to study whatever religion we please, we have the right to vote on the leaders of our nation, and freedom to express ourselves.

For one thing, America gives people the privilege to study and practice the religion of their choice. People come to America specifically to exercise their religions without being persecuted. In some countries, people are lead to believe solely in one religion and one religion only. If they choose not to follow that religion or speak against it, they can suffer persecution. Being able to practice our religion is a gift we shouldn’t take for granted.

Another reason for our country’s greatness is that we have the right to express our opinion through voting for our country’s leaders and policies. Firstly, voting for our leaders gives us a voice on whom we think should lead our country. We can choose a candidate who represents our opinions and beliefs. As citizens of America we can vote on different policies affecting us locally, at a state level, and nationally. Several examples are county property taxes, doing away with daylight savings time, gun control, and health care.

The freedom to express ourselves is another aspect of making our country so great. Some other places in the world don’t allow people to have their own social media account, let alone put their opinion about leaders or current topics. Also, we can write articles in newspapers and magazines expressing our opinions, speak on TV, as well as post opinions on our social media pages. These are all different ways to convey our opinions to the public.

People immigrate to the United States of America to be able to freely study and practice a religion of their choice without persecution. They come to America to be able to vote for their leaders and freely express themselves and their opinions. People come to America because it is the BEST place ever!!! I am proud to be an AMERICAN!!!!

Superintendent’s Notes

I have to start my December note to remind us all at this time of the year, how truly blessed we are to live in this great country, the state of Nebraska, Sheridan County, and the Hay Springs community. We are blessed to have such a caring community and school where our staff has great care and concern for our students and for each other. I would like to take a moment at Thanksgiving to let our staff know how grateful I am to work with such dedicated and caring individuals. There have been several changes over the past three years, and the entire staff of Hay Springs School have continued to support each other and work towards providing the highest quality of education for our students. I am also very grateful for the Board of Education who has supported the addition of administrative staff that allow us to better support our teachers and students. This addition has also allowed me the time to begin an Agricultural Science program and an FFA chapter. The parents and patrons of our district are also a reason to be thankful. Small rural communities are the best place in America to raise a family and provide the opportunities for our youth to learn how to work, develop relationships and develop their God-given talents. The support of the Hay Springs community and staff of Hay Springs make me extremely proud to be your superintendent. As I list the things I am extremely thankful for I certainly have to include our students. We are extremely blessed with students who work hard, are involved in school activities, respect our teachers and care about each other. I also need to mention the blessing of family and friends. The family and friends support of my family during the death of my mother in February was greatly appreciated. I am so blessed with the support of my wife and family both with my work in Hay Springs and keeping things under control in Boyd County. All of these things would make you believe that life is perfect. As I reflect on our many blessings, I am also aware and mindful of the many challenges of our country, and community and pray that God will continue to guide the leaders of our country, state, county and community and myself and our school leadership team as we continue to move forward in the pursuit of excellence. I hope as we enter the holiday season that each of you will take time to relax and enjoy those that are most important in your life and reflect of the many blessings we have.

As we concluded successful athletic seasons again this year I am grateful for the time, effort and dedication of our student athletes and coaches. Success is not always measured by championships or perfect seasons but more importantly by the personal growth and team improvement that takes place during the season. Regardless of the win/loss records our teams have, on several occasions this fall, made us extremely proud to be fans of the Hawks.

As important as inter and extracurricular activities are for the development of our youth the number one reason we are here is for the academic growth of our students. In an effort to enhance academic performance and our school improvement process I had the opportunity to attend the Nebraska Association of School Boards and the Nebraska Association of School Administrators Joint Annual State Educational Conference in Omaha this past week. Sessions I attend included: superintendent evaluation and goal setting with school improvement in mind, Social media concerns in education, new transportation regulations, quality board retreats and strategic planning, as well as several very motivational keynote speakers. This conference provides tremendous opportunities to share knowledge with other board members and administrators and learn from some excellent presentations.

As I look at the calendar we have only three weeks until the end of the quarter and the end of the first semester. I know it doesn’t seem possible that we are that close to the end of the semester. As the semester ends I want to remind parents and students that the student’s semester grades will be a part of your student’s academic transcript. For students with high GPAs these grades will be part of your Senior GPA scholarship, financial aid, senior awards and class rank. For struggling students these semester grades will determine if you will need to be taking some classes over in the future. When students fail a course that is required for graduation for the semester, it not only complicates their future scheduling of classes but in most cases it requires extra time in school to meet the requirements for graduation. Please visit with your students about the value in finishing the semester strong. Encourage them to utilize the additional support we make available through Friday school and to request additional assistance from staff members to accomplish that end. Parent and guardian support for your child’s academic success is one of the most important ingredients you can provide to assist your child’s academics success. If students fail to attend Friday School, they will be expected to make arrangement to make up a minimum of equal time and possibly additional time if deemed necessary for their success.

As the seasons change we are in full swing this week with basketball and wrestling competition beginning this weekend. Our One-Act play performers displayed their talents and abilities twice locally this week and are competing at district one-act competition on Wednesday December 4th. I would like to thank them for their time and effort and wish them luck as they compete for the opportunity to compete at state.
Also as the seasons change we need to be more aware of the weather conditions and school cancelations, late start and early outs. I will always make school cancellations decisions based on my assessment of safety and conditions for getting your children to and from school safely. If at any time you are not comfortable sending your children out on the road based on weather and road conditions in your area, please know that you always have that option. If you decide not to send your children to school when we are holding school, please call the school and let us know that they are not coming or that you will be sending them later in the day. If the decision is made to cancel school notice will be given on Hawk Alert – “Remind”, posted on the school website (www.hshawks.com), and the Hay Springs Facebook page as well as area radio stations. If you have not already signed up for the “Remind” please contact the school office to get signed up to be sure you get the notices.

School improvement is and must be a continuous process in which you really never arrive, because as we strive to improve educational learning opportunities for our students we continually look for areas in our educational process where we can improve. It is with this in mind that I will again remind all of you of the mission, and vision of Hay Springs Public School.

Mission Statement
The Mission of Hay Springs Schools in cooperation with families and community, is to empower students within an emotionally supportive and physically safe environment with the academic, social, physical and technological skills to achieve success as responsible, self-disciplined citizens of a global society.

Vision Statement
“Empower Students to Achieve Lifelong Success.”

Providing a quality education is truly a cooperative effort and the cooperation of staff, students, parents, Board of Education, patrons and the community is alive and well in Hay Springs. Through continued cooperative efforts within our educational system we will continue to provide high quality education and learning opportunities for our Hay Springs students.
Thanks to all, for your continued support, and I want to wish each of you a blessed holiday season.

Family Movie Night

Family Movie Night – Hay Springs Auditorium on Friday, December 6th, 2019 at 6:00 PM.  Please come join us as we show The Lion King (2019)!

PBIS team will be having a free will donation Christmas Ornament Decorating Party in the cafeteria before the movie from 5:00 – 6:00 pm and also free will donation snacks during the movie. Please RSVP to kyli.heiting@hshawks or adriene.kelly@hshawks.com so we know how many crafts and snacks to have on hand! Hope to see you there!

Parents Make The Difference Dec. 2019 Newsletter

Parents make the difference! is a four-page, evidence-based newsletter that provides practical, proven information for parents, on a comprehensive array of school success topics, in a format that is best for you and your school.

Please click the link below to check out this month’s newsletter:

Parents make the difference! December 2019 newsletter

Parents make the difference! December 2019 calendar

Building Readers Dec. 2019 Newsletter

Building Readers provides the guidance, steps to take, specific direction and concrete recommendations that parents need to help their kids learn to read, and to read more proficiently. Click the links below to read the December newsletter and extras!

Building Readers Elementary Newsletter(12/2019)
Building Readers Elementary Booklist
Building Readers Extras

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