We did a project on windmills and transferred wind energy to mechanical energy. Creating these windmills taught us little things make a big difference in spinning in windmills. Pitch of the blades helps the windmills generate more energy. The materials also made a difference. Our class had a wide variety of materials for the wind vanes. Some of the materials used were paper, metal, straws, Legos, and cardboard.  We each created two windmills to determine the different that make a windmill spin. Thanks to our parents for aiding us in our science project.—Nathan, Chris, Garrett,Drew

We created windmills for a science project to see which windmill worked best. We learned that we have to bend the wind vanes to catch the wind. We used a fan as the wind source and some of the vanes worked, but some didn’t work at all. The pinwheel design worked the best. We also learned that little changes in the vanes make a big difference in how they spin. We thank our families that helped us make our windmills.—Sydney, Alexis, Tanna, Kristen

John Baylor ACT Prep will be offered the first week of June for those students taking the June 8th test.  Sessions will be Monday through Thursday from 8:30 to approximately 1:00 pm.  Please contact Mrs. Marx to register or for questions.

Students in Mrs. Efta’s Personal Finance class listened to a presentation by Karen Kollars, Western Tourism Consultant for the Nebraska Tourism Commission. Ms. Kollars shared the mission of the Nebraska Tourism Commission, which is “to expand Nebraska’s dynamic and diverse travel industry, making it more viable by creating awareness and attracting increased visitors, which results in greater tourism revenue and economic gain throughout the state.” Travelers spent almost $4.0 billion in Nebraska in 2010, which means more business and jobs in our communities.

Ms. Kollars shared her personal career path with the students. They learned that even by volunteering, as Ms. Kollars did for the Junior Chamber of Commerce when her children were in school, they are beginning to develop skills that can lead to a career. Tourism is a very diverse career field, with jobs that include administration, planning, management, journalism/marketing, accounting, agriculture, science, and culinary arts. It’s a career field that’s open to people from many different educational and experiential backgrounds.

Ms. Kollars’ presentation met Nebraska Standards for Career Ready Practice. Standard 10. Manages personal career development. a.) Identifies opportunities in one or more career pathways that align with personal interests and aptitudes. Students took notes on the presentation for classroom discussion and viewed a virtual tour of the VisitNebraska.com web site. Ms. Kollars provided every student with a bag of current Tourism publications and a copy of her PowerPoint presentation for the class. Her great photos of people having fun in western Nebraska’s natural environment made everyone want to get out and enjoy summer soon!