Thursday, April 30, 2015

Necedah Students Compete in 2015 Wisconsin Junior Duck Stamp Contest

One First Place and Four Honorable Mentions Given to NHS Students' Work

Logan Plantz placed first and was given
a certificate and a duck figurine.
-photo courtesy Megan Sluyter.
by Amber Zander

Logan Plantz’s entry in the 2015 Wisconsin Junior Duck Stamp contest earned a first place

recognition.

The Junior Duck Stamp contest is an annual event sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Four Necedah students also received honorable mentions: Therese Arbanas, Abagail Deguire, Lacey Winters, and Lindsey Murphy.  Each student received a certificate and ribbon for placing.  As part of his first place award, Logan Plantz also received a 3D wooden duck from Ducks Unlimited.

This year there was 393 students from 25 different schools that participated in the contest this year.  To participate in this event, students must draw, paint, or color a duck of their choice.

They were then be put into four groups according to grade level: K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. In each category three first place winners will be chosen, three second place, three third place and 16 honorable mentions.  The “Best in Show” will move on to the next round.
Logan Plantz's first place duck drawing.
-photo courtesy Megan Sluyter

The WI Junior Duck Stamp Reception will be held during the Horicon Marsh Bird Festival, May 8-11th 2015.  This event is open to the public.

The awards reception will be held Saturday, May 9, 2015, 4:15 - 5:00 pm.  They ask you to RSVP. It will be held at: W4279 Headquarters Road, Mayville, 3.5 miles south of HWY 49 on Cty Z.  Phone: 920-387-2658. There will be additional activities including Avian Art from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Necedah Sends 16 Competitors to State Forensics Contest

NHS Seniors Take Away Two Gold Medals and One Silver Medal

by Loralee Arbanas

The Wisconsin High School Forensic Association organizes
yearly contests in speech, theater, and debate throughout the
state of Wisconsin.  find out more at:  http://www.whsfa.org/  
On the evening of April 17, 2015, 16 students from Necedah High School traveled to UW-Madison to compete at State Forensics.

Loralee Arbanas and Amber Zander both scored a perfect 25 on their performances. In addition to that, they were two of the three seniors on the team, so it was a great way for them to end their
Forensics career. Olivia Nokovic, the other senior member of the team, also ended on a good note with a score of 24, earning her a silver medal.

The competition began at 7 P.M. that night. The students only had to present their pieces once, unlike previous meets-Subdistrict and District-where they had three rounds of presenting to go through at each.

Scoring stayed the same though. The scoring went by a scale of 1-25 points. 25 meant a perfect score and resulted in a gold medal; 24 & 23, silver; 20-22, bronze; and 19 & below, small bronze.

The group of students included Loralee Arbanas, Jamie Bistodeau, Kristin Darnell, Anastasia Knapinski, Rhiannon Mach, Sean McNally, Jessica Murphy, Logan Myhre, Olivia Nokovic, Miles Saylor, Elyssa Sheley, Cheynne Sterbenz, Helena Teumer, Colin Wesolek, Kayden Yoss, and Amber Zander.

The students arrived at the UW-Madison campus ready to present their pieces; or in the case of Sean McNally, ready to put together his speech on site as required by the extemporaneous speech rules. Student presentations consisted of several different genres including Prose, Group Interp, Farrago, Public Address, and Extemporaneous.

The meet came to a close that night around 10 P.M., and so did the season.

One of the sophomores on the team, Helena Teumer, spoke about her experience this year: “Forensics was wonderful and very indulging. I think everyone should do Forensics at least once. I am definitely doing it again next year and hopefully the following!”

Friday, April 24, 2015

Butterfly Garden at NHS Dedicated on Earth Day

Doug Staller, Refuge Manager of the Necedah National
Wildlife Refuge, spoke about the benefits of the
butterfly garden as a habitat for endangered insects.

Mark Becker, Necedah Middle/High School principal,
acted as emcee for the groundbreaking event.

One student each from grades five through 12 and a
representative from the refuge board took part in
the groundbreaking.  

Necedah High School and Middle School Students Clean Up the Community On Earth Day

by Carney Lentz

Monty Brink, assistant forest administrator, gave students
directions before turning them lose to clean up at
Juneau County Wilderness Park.  -photo by Carney Lentz
On April 22 Necedah Middle and High School marked Earth Day by putting in an afternoon of community service.  High school students were divided between Castle Rock State Park, Wilderness State Park, and The Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, while the middle school picked up garbage in the Village of Necedah.

High school students were able to work at a variety of jobs including raking, placing campfire rings, stacking wood, picking up garbage, gathering twigs and branches knocked down by the wind, clearing around playground equipment, and sweeping.

One of many tasks students helped with was raking the leaves
around campsites at various state parks.
-photo by Carney Lentz
The middle school students walked through town and gathered up all of the litter they could see and reach.  By the end of the day they had two truck loads of garbage.

Mark Becker, Necedah Middle/High School principal, said that he had received several phone calls from community members pleased with the students’ efforts.


Zach Saunders, John Olson, and Isaiah Dutscheck were part of
the crew that stacked firewood at Juneau County Wilderness
Park.  -photo by Carney Lentz

County park workers, students, and teachers worked together
to help tidy up the area.  -photo by Carney Lentz

All of the beautiful shore lines in our
county parks also needed some
attention to address the litter
left behind.  -photo by Carney Lentz

In addition to clearing the leaves from around the campsites,
there were a lot of stick, twigs, and branches that needed to
be picked up.  -photo by Carney Lentz

Eli Zavala rakes leaves at Wilderness County Park.
-photo by Carney Lentz

Monday, April 20, 2015

Necedah Students Attend Reality Fair

Annual Event Forces Students To Confront Real-Life, Financial Situations

by Ashley Pochowski

Necedah's senior class attended a reality fair in Mauston.
-photo courtesy Clarissa Malecha-Freitag
On April 14, Necedah’s senior class took a trip to Mauston High School to participate in The Reality Fair. The Reality Fair is a simulation where students are given a monthly income according to their post-secondary plans and must purchase a vehicle with auto insurance, rent or own a home, provide child care, and donate to a charity among other responsibilities.

At some points during the simulation students might run into difficulties and have to rethink their choices to reprioritize needs vs. wants.

The Reality Fair relies solely on business donations and the efforts of 100+ volunteers every year. Students from Necedah, Mauston, New Lisbon, Juneau County Charter School, Royal, and Wonewoc also participate in the simulation.

Taylor Stout was one of the NHS students learning about
real world financial problems.
-photo courtesy Clarissa Malecha-Freitag
“Every year Necedah takes all Seniors to this experience and I think that it is really valuable to students and their success with personal finance,” Mrs. Malecha said.

"I expected it to be a lot harder, but I found out it was actually really easy. I was surprised with all of the expenses that are needed in adult life. I had a lot of fun," said Taylor Stout.

Not everything was such an easy ride. When talking to Loralee Arbanas she said, "When starting the simulation I was unaware of getting child care. So before I even got child care I focused on other necessities. Once I reached the child care table I did not have enough money to pay for it. With that, it caused me to get a second job."

Loralee also talked about how she lost more money at the Fate Table. "My first stop at the Fate Table I crashed into a possum. The second time I ripped my contact which costed me $80."

Deven Felber, James Polack, and Samuel Paulik also
completed the Reality Fair.
-photo courtesy Clarissa Malecha-Freitag
Trent Mueller had some difficult times during the simulation as well. "I had to pay child support, which I believe was very unrealistic. The child support was very expensive. After I paid it, I never had enough money to pay for other needed things."

Friday, April 17, 2015

Necedah Baseball Beats New Lisbon 8-1

NHS Softball Suffers Loss 

by Destiny Smith

The Necedah High School Varsity baseball team won a home game against New Lisbon on Thursday, April 16. Necedah topped New Lisbon 8-1.

Pitching for Necedah was Matt Brown, Ashton Knutson, and Noah Herried. The three gave up only one of four hits and recorded eight strikeouts.

On offense, the team was able to put the ball in play up and down the Lineup. The leading Hitters for this game were Matt Brown (with a homerun and two RBI’s), Miles Saylor (with 2 hits), Charlie Huschka (with 2 hits), and Noah Boissonneault (with 2 RBI’s).

New Lisbon was only allowed one run. No earned runs were given up by Necedah’s pitchers.  Necedah has four games next week.

The same afternoon, The Necedah Cardinal softball team was dealt against New Lisbon at home. The score was 12-3 in a well played game! 

Isabell Negaard was pitching and pitched 5 strikeouts, gave up 12 hits, and 7 walks. Jamie Bistodeau and Sam Hernandez were 2 for 3.  Sam had one double and one RBI. 

The Cardinal girls face Brookwood, Weston, and Bangor next week.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Necedah Softball and Baseball Take On New Lisbon Tonight

Necedah's number fours, Vanessa Zipperer and Maxwell Winters, are ready
to take on New Lisbon at 5:00pm this evening.  -photo by Carney Lentz

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Necedah Varsity Girls Win National Title

Necedah Well Represented With 24 Competing At National Contest

By Angel Pintarro

The Necedah Varsity Girls took home the National Championship Title!  They have held this title for 5 years in a row! Necedah Girls racked up 80 points, stealing the title from Alexandria Senior High School (ASH) with 69 points.
24 members of Necedah's 2015 powerlifting team.  Traveled
to Milwaukee on March 27-29 to compete in the USAPL
High School Nationals.     -file photo of full team

Necedah High School sent 24 lifters in total to the 2015 United States of America Powerlifting (USAPL) High School Nationals.  Necedah had several lifters place in their weight classes.

Necedah’s Freshman/Sophomore divisions results were as follows: Tessa Wertjes (Second); Samantha Kristian (Tenth); Remington Trewyn (Fifth); Lexy Daniels (Eighth); Crystal Schnapp (Seventh); Abbi Saunders (Seventh); Kendra Bartels (Seventh); Melanie Hess (Sixth); Dalton Staller (Third); Shan Bloomer (Fourth) and Tanner Hutchins (Fifth).

The  Necedah Junior Varsity Boys Team sent only 3 lifters: Tanner Hutchins, Dalton Staller, and Shan Bloomer Jr.  Tanner Hutchins placed 5th with a total at 492.5.  Dalton Staller placed 3rd with a total of 470.0.  Shan Bloomer Jr. placed 4th with a total of 502.5.

The Necedah Junior Varsity Girls Team sent 5 lifters:  Lexy Daniels, Kendra Bartels, Abbi Saunders, Tessa Wertjes, and Crystal Schnapp.  Lexy Daniels placed 8th with a total of 265. Kendra Bartels placed 7th with a total of 260.  Abbi Saunders placed 7th with a total 292.5. Tessa Wertjes placed 2nd with a total of 355.  Crystal Schnapp placed 7th with a total of 290.

The Necedah Girls Junior Varsity Team took 3rd with a total of 37 points, falling underneath Whitehall High School with 41 points and Horlick High School with 45.

The Varsity Girls Team sent twelve lifters: Stephanie Rattunde, Stephanie Lavoy, Tristyn Hutchins, Alena Trinidad, Megan Plantz, Rhiannon Mach, Amanda Zielinski, Morgan DeGuire, Oni Knapinski, Hailee Ruskowsky, Lacey Winters, Kaitlynn Hernandez.

At 97 lbs Necedah was represented by Stephanie Rattunde and Stephanie Lavoy. Rattunde is a two time National Champion, with a total of 302.5 and Lavoy placed 3rd with a total of 265.

Alena Trinidad placed 2nd at 105 lbs with a total of 300. Tristyn Hutchins is also a two time National Champion, at 114 lbs with a total of 407.5. Megan Plantz and Rhiannon Mach were both at 123. Megan Plantz placed 4th with a total of 342.5 and Rhiannon Mach placed 7th with a total of 320.

At 132 lbs Necedah had Amanda Zielinski and Morgan DeGuire. Amanda Zielinski placed 2nd with a total of 385, only 10 or so pounds from taking 1st. Morgan DeGuire placed 4th with a total of 357.5. At 165 lbs Necedah had Oni Knapinski and Hailee Ruskowsky. Knapinski placed 7th with a total of 365 and Ruskowsky placed 9th with a total of 347.5.

At 195lbs Necedah had Lacey Winters and Kaitlynn Hernandez. Lacey Winters started off on Sunday and sealed the Championship with a total of 447.5. Kaitlynn Hernandez placed 7th with a total of 362.5.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

JCST Covers NHS Powerlifting National Results

David Paradise writes: "Necedah had a contingent of 23 lifters compete at the USAPL High School Powerlifting Championships in Milwaukee this past weekend and the girls varsity team captured their fifth straight national title."

Read the full article here:  http://www.wiscnews.com/juneaucountystartimes/sports/high-school/article_a4613deb-78aa-54c5-8ea0-b57d7d08d9e3.html

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

WRJC Reports on Necedah Girls Team Win at Powerlifting Nationals

WRJC reports:  "For the fifth year in a row and for the seventh time in eight years, the Necedah girls are the National High School champions in powerlifting after adding to their list of accomplishments over the weekend in Milwaukee. Despite being the smallest school in the team competition, Necedah takes home first place again by edging out Alexandria High School from Louisiana."

Read the full report here:  http://www.wrjc.com/sports/necedah-girls-powerlifting-club-adds-another-national-title-to-their-list/