Falls High Newsletter
February 27 - March 3
8th Graders Sew in Life Skills Class
8th Graders Sew in Life Skills Class
8th Graders Sew in Life Skills Class
FHS Speech Team Places High at Mesabi Meet
The I-Falls speech team competed in Bemidji (Mesabi East) on Saturday, February 25th. Eve Hemstad and Chloe Hufnagle competed in duo and got second place with a score of 2, 2, 1. Hannah Mcgonigle and Alaina Gates also competed in duo and got 4th place with a score of 4, 3, 5. Mitch Erickson, Joe Sullivan and Kourtney Talley all competed in humorous. Mitchel Erickson got 1st with a score of 1, 1, 1, Joe Sullivan got 3rd with a score of 1, 2, 2, and Kourtney Talley got 6th place with a score of 3, 3, 3. Linnea Yount and Leah Boe both competed in Pros, Linnea Yount placed 8th with a score of 4, 3, 5 and Leah Boe got 9th place with a score of 4, 5, 4.
Boys Basketball Ends Home Season With Senior Night vs. LBF
Knowledge Bowl Team 2 Moves on to Regions!
Students Bring GPA Discussion to ISD 361 School Board
Students Ellen Windels (Sr.), Mitchel Erickson (Jr.), Adley Deedrick (Jr.), and Emma Saxton (Sr.) sat down with principal Tim Everson several weeks ago to have a conversation about how the weighted grades were calculated. The students had noticed that the more classes you take, the lower your weighted GPA will be. Students who have taken the hardest classes the school offers plus extra elective classes will have a lower grade point average than those who take only the necessary weighted classes without electives. This changes students' class rank, and could affect them while applying to college or for scholarships. Students could potentially be missing out on thousands of dollars in scholarships given to students at the top of the class.
Grade point average is calculated by giving a 4.50 GPA to weighted courses and a 4.00 GPA to unweighted courses. If a student were to take three weighted courses and two unweighted courses and received A’s in all classes, their GPA would be calculated by taking 4.5 multiplied by three for the number of weighted courses and adding it to 4.00 multiplied by two for the number of unweighted courses. You would then take this quantity and divide it by five, the total number of classes taken, to come up with the student’s final GPA. This example student would end up with a GPA of 4.30. The unfortunate thing is that some of these student’s peers may be taking only these weighted courses, and would end up with a 4.5 if they got A’s in their courses.
This way of calculating GPA is essentially rewarding students for taking as few classes as possible and punishing those who are truly challenging themselves. Students Mitchell Erickson and Emma Saxton have said that they would have taken no electives and would have instead continued to go to classes such as band and journalism without receiving the credit.
Ellen Windels, Emma Saxton, and Mitchell Erickson went and spoke on this topic at the February school board meeting. Principal Tim Everson and Superintendent Kevin Grover have been talking with Skyward and are further investigating the issue. Student Ellen Windels has suggested giving a GPA to study halls, but this could cause students to wrongly have their GPAs raised. One way around this would be to give the student’s average normal GPA as the GPA they receive for study hall, but this would be difficult to implement using our current technology. A solution will hopefully be implemented as soon as possible.
FHS Band Students Compete in Competition
It's 6am in the morning on Feburary 28th, and the FHS Band students are on a bus heading down to compete in the section 7 A band competition at Eveleth high school. Students have been working hard over the past 2 months, on solos, duets, and small ensembles for this year's competition.
Mrs. Boelk mentioned that overall, the students did very well and she was proud of all the kids. There were a total of 8 solos and small ensembles at the contest for band. The two highest ratings you can get are excellent and superior. The 8 soloists and ensembles earned a total of 3 excellents and 5 superiors, a job well done by the students. The full band performance earned 1 superior rating along with 2 excellents from the 3 judges. Another great showing by the FHS Band this year!
FHS Yearbook Class is Hard at Work to Meet Deadlines
The FHS yearbook class has been hard at work creating the yearbook for students and staff. This class is an elective that is offered for 9-12 grader students. The teacher of this class is Mr.Anderson. This year they only have 6 students in the class, those students are Adley Deedrick, Mason Hay, Lorali Ford, Kelby Anderson, and Alina Hartzler. If there are not enough kids that take the class in the future, the class will be cut and the yearbooks will not be as personalized. If you or your student is interested in purchasing a 2023 FHS yearbook, the only way to guarantee that you will get one is to pre order one by going to Jostens.com. The current price of the 9-12 grade year book is $70.00. The price will increase soon, so order your yearbook as soon as possible. Ordered yearbooks will be distributed the week of May 31st. There will be a few extras but those are first come first serve.
Seniors Excited for Upcoming Graduation
Seniors- graduation is approaching quickly! Watch your emails in April for important information. The location of graduation is currently being decided upon and will be announced soon. We will share the information of the official time and location as soon as it is finalized by the School Board.
Mr. Everson will be sending out information on important voting. Students will need to vote on which photographer will be chosen for the senior picture as well as graduation day pictures. Students will also vote on a faculty speaker for graduation. At the time of voting, Mr. Everson will also ask for any students who are interested in speaking at graduation to submit their names. If there are any questions on what this entails, please see Mr. Everson in the next couple of weeks and he will provide some insight into the graduation speeches.
So keep an eye on the announcements and your emails for important graduation information coming soon!
Foods Classes Create King Cakes for Mardi Gras
Students in the foods classes created king cakes in the spirit of Mardi Gras. King cakes are ring-shaped pastries covered with icing, then topped with different colored sprinkles and glitter. The cake traditionally has a small plastic baby inside that represents good luck for whoever finds it in their slice. The cake is made with a yeasted dough, rolled in cinnamon sugar filling, then twisted into a ring. It is mainly covered with yellow, purple, and green edible glitter. They took three days for the students to make and everyone enjoyed them.
SCHOOL ACTIVITIES/EVENTS MARCH
March 1st
FHS Parent/Teacher Conferences
March 7th
11th Grade ACT Testing
March 16th-17th
SPRING BREAK NO SCHOOL
March 20th
School Board Meeting
March 22nd-23rd
FES Pastries with Pals
March 23rd
FES Book Fair
March 28th
11th Grade Make up ACT Testing
End of 3rd Quarter
February 23rd
Boys Swimming and Diving Sectional Prelims @Hibbing High School
February 24th
Boys Varsity Basketball @Deer River
February 25th
Boys Swimming and Diving Sectional Finals @Hibbing High School
March 2nd
Boys Varsity Basketball VS Littlefork Big Falls @FHS High School
Marcy 3rd
Boys Varsity Basketball @Roseau High School
March 4th
Varsity Speech Meet @Cherry
March 11th
Varsity Speech Meet @Rock Ridge
March 18th
Varsity Speech Meet @Blackduck
March 26th
Varsity Speech Meet @Grand Rapids
Falls High Ink
Email: fallshighink@isd361.org
Website: isd361.k12.mn.us
Location: 1515 11th Street, International Falls, MN, USA
Phone: (218) 283-2571