Weekender
A Newsletter from the Youth Initiative High School Waldorf Initiative
Viroqua, Wisconsin, USA Friday February 16, 2007 Editor: Conrad Rehbach
Calendar
Every Wednesday
3:15 PM Administration Group Meeting
Feb 19—23
NO SCHOOL
Monday Feb 19
10:00 AM—3:00 PM Faculty In-Service
Tuesday Feb 20
9 AM—5 PM Parent Teacher Conferences
Wednesday Feb 21
3 PM—8 PM Parent Teacher Conferences
Tuesday Feb 20
9 AM—5 PM Parent Teacher Conferences
Feb 21—Mar 17
2007 Guatemala Trip
Needs List
1. Seats for 15 passenger shuttle bus
2. Flat panel LCD computer monitors
3. Laptop computers
4. Video projectors
5. Curtains or shades for all rooms
6. Beautification of an area of your choice at school
7. Cleaning services
8. Someone to make and install a door with a lock for the costume room
9. Someone to fix/caulk leaking sky lights
10. Couches and Easy Chairs in good and sturdy condition
11. Someone to install energy saving plastic sheets on windows
12. Letter size heavy duty 4 drawer filing cabinet
13. Video Projector
14. Computers in working condition
“Served with a smile, half smile, or smirk” … YIHS seniors Daniel Kennedy, Gaelan Treacy and Emily Valentine-Grimm showing off their cooking skills—Nutrition Class for grade 12. Instructor: Jane Siemon
YIHS Finds New Forum. Lately I have received numerous request to forward information to the school community via my amazing email list, while some people have come to my office and declared that their love for YIHS will be over, if they receive one more lengthy email with or without a funny picture from YIHS, and that they will not attend the YIHS Valentine’s Dinner (Saturday February 17 at 7:00 PM) because of mentioned loss of love … therefore I am pleased to announce the creation of the YIHS FORUM as part of the YIHS ARCHIVES where you can find articles, policy proposals, by-laws change proposals, newsletters, etc. Simply click on the FORUM link (don’t try with the print edition) and then check out the YIHS FORUM submissions including the new conflict resolution proposal. Hopefully this will help us all in being able to access the necessary information without having our email inboxes overflowing. Short announcements will continue to find their way into the Weekender. Weekender deadline is Thursday Noon for the Friday edition.
YIHS is now Approved by the US Department of Homeland Security. The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) has reviewed and approved the YIHS Form I-17 petition for certification and enrollment in the Student and Exchange Visitor System (SEVIS). The YIHS has now the possibility to host non-immigrant students from Canada, Kazakhstan, and other foreign lands either as guest students or as exchange students via F-1 visas. This is a major development for our school and calls for celebration and possibly the founding of a SEVIS/SEVP committee.
Thank You! Thank you Sheila Andersen for donating the perfect meeting room table and chairs. Thank you David Banner for giving us a gift subscription to YES! Magazine. Thank you Brian Wickert for taking on the YIHS schoolbus project.
Karmic Questions? Seek the answer within ... or at the Midwest Anthroposophy Conference in March in Viroqua. Info at facingkarma.com
YIHS Parent Evening Scheduled. Thursday evening, 22 March at 7pm at the YIHS: All present and prospective YIHS parents are warmly invited to an evening lecture and discussion on "The Emerging 'I': A Journey through the Waldorf High School Curriculum" with YIHS teacher and parent, Donna Simmons. Donna will give an overview of the purpose and flow of the Waldorf high school curriculum with special consideration given to its special forms and challenges here at the YIHS. Donna has been a Waldorf student (kindergarten through 12th grade), teacher, early years educator, youth worker, consultant and parent educator and enjoys sharing her experience of and enthusiasm for Waldorf education with others! Any questions? Contact morningglory@frontiernet.net
PRWS Parent Council presents a series of Conflict Resolution Workshops. March 3 - Intro to Conflict Transformation: Focuses on learning to transform conflict within the individual, between adults and with our children. Includes study of nonviolent communication, the blessing of conflict, strategies for conflict resolution and bringing the soul into conflict processes. March 10 - Powerful Conflict, Powerful Healing: Focuses on developing and deepening skill to transform conflict within the broader community. Includes study and application of the Four Stage Process, use of talking pieces, creating sacred space, spiritual leadership and nonviolent communication methods. Extension: After completing both workshops, individuals interested in offering mediation and conflict transformation services to the broader community will explore possibilities for creating and promoting a local mediation group. Registration at PRWS office. Workshops held at PRWS. $5. each session, please pay at time of registration. Call Nannete at 689-2281 or Kimberly at 637-7616 with questions or for further information.
Driftless Folk School Update. The Driftless Folk School would like to announce that the registration is still open for the following classes: Feb 17: Homebrewing; Feb 24 Flatbreads; Mar 3: Owling; Mar 17: Egg Breads; Mar 24: Inkle Weaving; Mar 31: Blacksmithing. Multi-session courses: Beginning Fiddle: Feb 24 – Mar 10; Enameling: Feb 10 – Mar 4. Please call us at 608-637-3550 for more information or to register.
Sweet Sweet Spring in Norskedalen. The Driftless Folk School and the Norskedalen would like to invite you to the “Sweet Sweet Spring” event on March 10, from 9 AM to 4 PM, featuring Driftless Folk School workshop demonstrations and pancake breakfast. No registration is necessary. Bring your family and friends! Questions? Call 608-637-3550.
Health Club Membership Special. First month free. Join the Landmark Center Health Club! Special: $17/month. Call Nancy Rhodes at 608-637-3306
Invitation to All Vernon County Schools and students. Dear Educators: March is National Women in History Month and the Vernon Area Business and Professional Women are again sponsoring an essay competition for all high school age students in Vernon County, both in public, private and home school environments, to help students recognize the importance of women in history. Following are the names of interesting women of distinction who have varied backgrounds in history. These are women that students would benefit from learning of their accomplishments. The Vernon Area BPW has chosen the following list of women for students to write essays about:
Margaret Anderson, Editor, adventurer
Harriot Stanton Blatch, Suffragist
Mary Cassatt, Artist
Dickey Chappell, Photojournalist
Toni Frissell, Photographer
Martha Graham, Dancer
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Labor activist
Patricia Roberts Harris, Lawyer
Beryl Markham, Aviator
Mary Hays McCauley. Revolutionary heroine
Essays should be no less than 200 words, no more than 500 words with double-spacing, and typewritten compositions on white paper. Students should provide 3 copies of their essays, and include their name, address, phone number, and school or home school at the bottom of the essay. Essays should include why the woman in history was chosen, why their contributions were important to the advancement of women and how their contributions influence the students' goals in life beyond high school and perhaps college. Essays will be judged on the following criteria: up to 5 points for content; up to 3 points for style; up to 2 points for grammar/spelling, for a possible total of 10 points for the winning essay. Awards will be given for 1st and 2nd place, with winners to be announced on March 23 2007. The first and second place winners will be asked to be the guest of Vernon Area BPW at the May 8 2007 meeting and present their essays as the program for that meeting. Judges for the essay contest are still being determined. The deadline for this essay contest is March 2th and should be mailed or dropped off to Maridene Olson, Bonnie's Wedding Center, 113 S Main Street, Viroqua, WI or to Roseanne Boyette, Trillium Bed & Breakfast, E10596 E Salem Ridge Rd, LaFarge, 54639 by that date. We hope to have a great response to this essay contest and look forward to seeing what our young historians of tomorrow find out about these fine women in history. Sincerely, Roseanne Boyette and Maridene Olson, Co-Chair Women in History Essay Contact Committee
Dear Friends, The Christian Community will meet for a Lay Service on Sunday, March 4th at 11:00 am in PRWS' Old Main Building. Special activities for children will be offered. After the service we will gather at the Whited-Ford home for a potluck lunch. All are warmly welcome. The gospel reading for the month of March is, Matthew 17: 1-13. Please call Sarah Kamin 637-6826 with questions. I have also attached our Spring Program please take a moment to read it over. Be sure to make note of the following events:
Easter Events: Palm Sunday Walk April 1 (11am)
Good Friday Gathering April 6 (3pm)
Easter Lay Service April 8 (11am)
Weekend with the Priest April 28-29
More information will be sent out closer to the events. Sincerely, Kelly
YIHS Board Policies:
Acceptable email use
Email should be viewed as a public forum. A rule of thumb to remember is, if you wouldn’t want to see it on the front page of the Broadcaster, don’t send it email. The appropriate use of email by the YIHS Board is to distribute meeting minutes, agendas and proposals. These items are to be discussed at the officially scheduled Board meeting, not on email. Please ensure that all email communication regarding YIHS business is accurate, appropriate and lawful. Email may be used by small groups that are developing proposals for future consideration by the board; however it should only be sent to those who have requested that information.
Unacceptable email use
The Board has an obligation to keep certain kinds of information (care groups, firing, expulsion, suspension, personnel issues) confidential. Unauthorized disclosure of private information may lead to lawsuits and is damaging to school morale.
1. Communication regarding confidential information will not be communicated via email. Responses to emails received by Board members that communicate confidential information should be in non-email forms.
2. Communications that may be misinterpreted, that may cast other parties in an unfavorable light, or those that express personal grievances.
3. Distributing or disseminating images, text or materials that might be considered offensive or abusive, in that the context is a personal attack, sexist or racist.
4. Broadcasting unsolicited personal views on social, political, religious or other non-school related matters.
Distributing "junk" mail, such as chain letters, advertisements, or unauthorized solicitations.
College Acceptance Update: Congratulations to Adam Cox, Fran Knapp, and Helen Beutler on their acceptance to Earlham College. Congratulations to Anna Chotzen on her acceptance to Hampshire College.
ACT/SAT Test Dates and Deadlines. The SAT will be administered on the following dates:
Test Date/Registration Deadline:
May 5 March 29
June 2 April 27
Register online at www.collegeboard.com or by mail with forms available in the YIHS office. Tests take place in Madison or in La Crosse.
The ACT will be administered on the following dates:
Test Date/Registration Deadline:
April 14 March 9
June 9 May 4
Register online at www.actstudent.org. Tests administered in Madison and La Crosse.
College Trip Thank Yous!!! A big “Thank You!” to following people for making the 2007 Junior College Tour a big success:
--Rich Grams and Joann McNall for lending their vehicles.
--Adam Cox for driving and chaperoning.
--Hanna Lewicki, for introducing us to Knox College
--Max Vanderhyden, for introducing us to Grinnell College
--John and Emily Pfitsch, for housing us in Grinnell
--Andrea Brennen for working on accommodation arrangements
--Dawn Hundt and Brian Wickert for working on vehicle logistics
and above all:
--Thank to the Winningham family for hosting and feeding us for two nights!
To all: Thank you! It couldn’t happen without you!
Ancient History/Art History Thank Yous!!
--Thank you to Julia Hundt for teaching drawing in the 10th Grade Ancient History main lesson!
--Thank you to David Whited-Ford and Organic Valley for lending their digital projector!
--Thank you to everyone who worked to try to make the Chicago Art Institute trip happen.
Introducing: The Youth Initiative Film Society. YIHS is pleased to announce the creation of the Youth Initiative Film Society (YIFS). During the spring season, this new student/faculty collaborative organization will present seven of the greatest works of film history for the enjoyment and education of the entire community. The Spring Film Series will begin on Friday, March 2 at 7 pm, with a screening of the 1964 Cold War classic “Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,” directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers. Anyone can join the YIFS by paying a $15 membership fee, entitling them to attend all seven films at no additional cost. There will be a $5 suggested minimum donation at the door for non-members. All proceeds from concessions, membership fees, and donations at the door will go to support YIHS as a student fundraiser.
What: Youth Initiative Film Society, Spring 2007 Film Series
Where: YIHS Student Lounge, Room 305, Landmark Center 3rd Floor.
When: 7 pm, every other Friday evening, March 2-May 25, 2007
Cost: Free for members of YIFS. Membership fee for spring season: $15. -or- $5 suggested donation at the door.
Spring 2007 YIFS Film Series
March 2: “Dr. Strangelove” (1964, Director: Stanley Kubrick, Starring Peter Sellers)
March 16: “Some Like It Hot” (1959, Director: Billy Wilder, Starring Marilyn Monroe)
March 30: “Rashomon” (1950, Director: Akira Kurosawa)
April 13: “Psycho” (1960, Director: Alfred Hitchcock)
April 27: “Taxi Driver” (1976, Director: Martin Scorsese, Starring: Robert DeNiro)
May 11: “High Noon” (1952, Director: Fred Zinnemann, Starring Gary Cooper)
May 25: “The Third Man” (1949, Director: Carol Reed, Starring Orson Welles)
Presented by: The Youth Initiative Film Society, est. 2007.
Officers:
President: Robert Carey
Treasurer: Patrick Kouba
Secretary: Madeleine Pitsch
Faculty Advisor: Jacob Hundt
Please contact a YIFS officer to become a member, or become a member at the door.
Bread
& Puppet Theater is coming to Viroqua to teach and perform!
People in Viroqua are building big puppets!! You can be involved!!! *Wow*
Bread & Puppet Theater, based in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, will be
riding into town in a painted bus March 30th-April 1st for a weekend of
puppet making, bread baking, and performance for young and old alike. At
the same time, there is a "bourgeoning underground" of puppet performers
locally building big puppets and dreaming up fantastical puppet-worlds!
**Wham** ...These two forces will soon collide... We are calling out to
all those interested in helping to organize B&P's stay in town, in
learning more about puppetry, and/or in building puppets for future
festivals. Details: Puppet Meeting from 5 pm – 6 pm with general
conversation to follow on Friday March 2nd, 2007 at Driftless Café 118 W
Court St, Viroqua. Questions? Please contact Marjorie at 637-3913 or Shawn
634-2214.