Tied to Helping Students Prepare for Post-Secondary Education

For the last few days I have been attending a conference that has had me focus on what parts of the program I work with at Kellogg Middle School I feel would be worth sustaining, and creating a plan to do this.

All these have to do with preparing students to prepare to stay in high school, graduate, and go on to some kind of post-secondary education.

First, I would like all 8th graders from now on to have the opportunity to visit a college campus.

I would also like them to go through the Dependable Strengths process, that helps them identify their strengths, and their good experiences, which can help them in the process of identifying a subject for their senior project.

I would also like them to take a test that helps them prepare for their ACT test they have to take as a junior in order to graduate from high school.

And I would like them to have access to a program called eCIS, that gives them and their parents an abundant amount of information on colleges, careers and financial aid options.

I would also like to start a "Parent Academy" program that has parents teaching other parents about information about how to get their students prepared to get a post-secondary education.

So now it is time to write a plan, and get it done!!

Trip To My Alma Mater with 72 Sophomores

Here are all the sophomores in the Kibbie Dome.

Yesterday, I took 72 Kellogg High School sophomores on a field trip to the University of Idaho in Moscow. It couldn't have been a more perfect day to show off my alma mater to these students. As part of the Gear Up program I coordinate, I am required to take sophomores on a campus visit, so I decided to take them to the University of Idaho. So myself and three other WONDERFUL chaperones loaded on the bus with the students at 5:45 a.m., and headed to Moscow.

It was wonderful hearing their comments about the school, and many commenting that they would like to attend the U of I.

Here are a few highlights of our day.

Our UI tour guide Juliette gave us a tour of Hays Hall in the Wallace Complex.
Here are the girls checking out the rec room.
They also visited French Hall in The Towers.
Lunch in the Kibbie Dome.
Taking a campus tour. (I found out the first tour guide in the
long blonde hair was in my sister-in-law's LR's English class at Timberline High School...small world!!)
Enjoying the beautiful weather on the UI campus.
The UI Library.
Heading into one of the newer buildings on campus...The Idaho Commons.
There is the "I" Tower in the background.
Here is our group outside the Ad Building, with the new U of I President, M. Duane Nellis, walking by in the background.
Walking into the Ad Building.
Standing on Greek Row, getting ready for a tour of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, for the girls, and the Sigma Nu fraternity, for the boys.
The girls were very impressed with the sorority.
Touring the Student Rec Center.
The tallest rock climbing wall in North America, at 55 feet.
Toward the end of the day, we ran into Kori, a KHS grad,
who lives where I used to live on campus, the Tri Delta sorority.

Gearing Up With 8th Graders Today

Today I accompanied over 100 8th graders from Kellogg Middle School to North Idaho College for a campus visit. We arrived at the college, had a welcome session, went to a class, had an outdoor activity and campus tour.

I had a group of girls interested in Nursing. The girls had fun with all the mannequins in the Nursing Lab, especially the newest mannequin, a state of the art mannequin called G3.

Traveling to the U.S. all the way from Norway, this state of the art mannequin is the only one of its kind in the country. Costing a mere $80,000, it is about as human is it can be, with the ability to blink, pupils dilate, listens, talks, it has all bodily functions, has seizures, throws up.....pretty amazing.

Here are some of the 8th grade girls with G3.

After lunch we went out for an outdoor activity. Looks pretty nice at the moment. Within 10 minutes, the rain started pouring, then we were pelted with hail. Gotta love North Idaho weather.

B-I-N-G-O

Tonight was Family Bingo and Game Night at Kellogg Middle School. My Gear Up program teamed up with the after school KEY program to put on this event.

We grilled hot dogs, had chips and cookies and drinks. It was no cost to those who came to eat have have some family fun. Stein's Family Foods gave us incredible deal on the food. (Thanks, Joe!!)

There were over 20 prizes to win during BINGO, and you could also spin the wheel in the gym to win prizes, too.

While JM read off Bingo numbers, he shared something about preparing your student for college.

We had a great turn out for a spring event, with over 100 people there.

It is nice to be able to do things for the families of the students in our schools.

We also had Career Dress Up Day at school today. There were some very creative outfits and careers the students focused on today.

So, it has been a long, but good day today. But it must come to an end.

Good Night!!

Kids Serving The Community

My job as Gear Up Site Coordinator consists of working with seventh, eighth and ninth grade students, using early intervention strategies for students and families, to help prepare them for life after high school. One of the things I provide for the ninth graders this year is a service learning opportunity, a way to volunteer in the community and help others. Above is my freshmen crew and I after they earned some service learning time today. What a great group of kids, and they did a great job.

Today I took six freshman from KHS to the Shoshone County Mining and Smelting Museum (more commonly known as the Staff House Museum), and they raked and bagged leaves that covered the museum lawn. Here TC and AS take a break in a pile of leaves.

I am on the board at this museum, and the majority of the board members are retired, and have a hard time doing yard work these days. This is a way for these students to help the museum board members, as well as beautifying the town's only museum. Here CM and JL bag up the leaves they just raked up.Board President Bob Dunsmore helps DH bag up a pile of leaves. The weather couldn't have been better for this project. This morning the wind was blowing really hard, so I was a bit worried. But the weather was perfect for raking leaves, and it didn't start raining until we returned back to KHS.

VN is raking up some leaves near the entrance to the museum. To find out more about this museum, go here. It is closed for the season, but will be opening again in May. It is a wonderful way to learn about the history of Kellogg, and the mines in the area.