DuneNews
Duneland School news for parents, students and teachers
March 21, 2024 Vol. 58 No. 30
3rd Grading Period Report Cards
The third nine weeks grading period student report cards will be available at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 22.
Spring Break - March 25-29
There will be no school for all Duneland School students on March 25-29 to observe Spring break. Classes will resume on Monday, April 1.
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS
Yost Young Citizenship Award
The Duneland Exchange Club (DEC) recently presented Yost Elementary School fourth grade student Anna Camel, center, with the Young Citizenship award. This award is given to a student who is an all-around good citizen. The club presents this award to one fourth grade student at each of the five Duneland elementary schools, at the sixth grade level at each of the intermediate schools and at the eighth grade level at Chesterton Middle School.
Above, front center, sister Nora Camel and Young Citizen award recipient Anna Camel. Back row, DEC presenter Bob Capehart, her teacher Zoe Spain, grandparents Scott and Wynne Ton, parents Sarah and Eric Camel, Principal Josh Huwig, and DEC presenter Maria Bachuchin.
February Student of the Month
The Chesterton-Porter Rotary recognized Sophie Rhyne as its Student of the Month for February. “Sophie has taken (and excelled in) almost every course that the Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) department offers,” says her FACS teacher, Mrs. Fortney. “She has spent the last two years working with students at Yost Elementary School as part of the Education Pathways program, and is always willing to help classmates that are struggling…She plans to become an elementary school teacher and we could not be prouder of her.”
Pictured are, left to right, Sophie and Bonnie Hawksworth, director of youth services for Chesterton-Porter Rotary.
Academic Super Bowl places at DAC
Chesterton High School Academic Super Bowl teams participated in the Duneland Academic Conference hosted at Valparaiso High School this past Saturday, March 16. The Math team placed first, Fine Arts team placed second and English team placed third.
First Place in Math
Junior Sam Macker, senior Nick Van Wagner, and junior Luke Sparks earned first place in Math at the DAC tournament.
Second Place Fine Arts
Seniors Adrian Dooley and Nick Van Wagner earned second in Fine Arts at the DAC tournament.
Third Place in English
Sophomore Sophia Sylvester and senior Adrian Dooley earned third place in English at the DAC tournament.
CHS Show Choirs Wrap Up a Successful Season
CHS Sandpipers performing
The CHS Show Choir 2024 competition season has wrapped up with another fantastic weekend for the groups!
The program traveled to Herscher, IL for the final competition of the season, the Herscher Swing & Sing. The Drifters, and their band, The Business, were the First Runners-Up in the Large Treble Division. The Sandpipers and The Business were the First Runners-Up of the Large Mixed Division, and went on to win the First Runners-Up of the entire competition. The Business earned the Best Band Award. Karleigh Pawlyszyn was named Best Treble Soloist in a show, and Luke Housman was named Best Male Solo in a show in addition to being named the Bass Voice solo competition winner. Luke has won these awards at every competition he was eligible at this season; a first in CHS Show Choir program history.
This has been a terrific season for the Chesterton Show Choirs. The Final Talley stands with the Sandpipers winning the Grand Championships twice, and being the First Runners-Up three times. The Drifters ended the season as the three-time Champions of their Division, as well as being two-time Division First Runner-Ups. In addition, the Drifters earned a performance in finals three times. The Business earned the Best Band Award four times this season because of their incredible musicianship. The past two years have been the most successful in the program’s history. This season culminated in a total of 19 performances in competition by the CHS Show Choir groups over the course of five competitions.
The CHS Show Choirs would like to thank everyone who has made this season possible. “We have an incredible support system of fans, chaperones, stage Do-Dads, and a creative team that continue to pour into these kids and this program and allow us to keep achieving continued success. "I am forever thankful to everyone who allows us to have these opportunities to grow, perform and shine,” said CHS Choral Director Kristin Morris.
If you haven't seen these award winning shows performed by these award-winning students yet, the final time to see them will be at the CHS Choir Departments annual Spring Revue on May 17. Tickets to Spring Revue will be available May 1 at 3:00 PM online at www.showtix4u.com.
Winter Guard takes Top Honors
Above, Winter Guard members, left to right, Katie Radliff, Danica Sessions, Haley Martinez and Emma Comfort. Back row, Lucy Rutkowski, Vanessa Godinez, Caprie Wilson, Alina Summer, Abby Krueger, Bri Manning and Addie Mason.
Once again, the Chesterton High School Winter Guard took top honors this past Saturday at a competition sponsored by the Midwest Color Guard Circuit at Minooka High School in the Chicago suburb of Channahon. CHS group earned a score of 79.38 winning them top honors.
The competition included classes for middle school, high school, college, and independent level groups from both Illinois and Indiana, with a total of 50 guards and three percussion ensembles competing for top honors. Five specialists adjudicate each group’s performance based on the curriculum in four captions. The captions include the demands and execution of their equipment work, the content and performance level of their body movement, and any dance challenges in their production, the overall design and presentation of the routine, and the general effect of the design and the team’s performance.
Members of the CHS Winter Color Guard include Emma Comfort, Vanessa Godinez, Abigail Krueger, Bri Manning, Haley Martinez, Addie Mason, Katie Radliff, Lucy Rutkowski, Danica Sessions, Alina Summer, and Caprie Wilson. The CHS Winter Guard is under the direction of Mrs. Kylene Mitchell and Mrs. Lisa Scheiber.
CHS Science Olympiad Team to compete at State on Saturday
The CHS Science Olympiad team will compete at the state Science Olympiad competition this Saturday, March 23 at Purdue Northwest in Hammond. The team qualified for state with fourth place overall at the Indiana University Northwest regional on February 17.
Science Olympiad competitions feature 23 events focusing on a variety of topics related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. The topics are rotated to reflect the wide variety of disciplines within STEM. The emphasis in Science Olympiad is placed on active, hands-on, group participation in events that ask students to build, research, design, and test their knowledge in a variety of set topics.
At the regional competition, team members earned first place in Dynamic Planet, Ecology, Forestry, Flight, and Scrambler. Team members earned second place in Detector Building and Air Trajectory. The team earned third place in Anatomy and Physiology, Experimental Design, and Forensics. The team earned fourth place in Disease Detectives, Wind Power, Robot Tour, and the trial event, Engineering CAD. The team had a good showing in the remaining ten events.
The CHS Science Olympiad team consists of Izdel Berruecos Huerta, Olivia Callaway, Nicholas Carpentier, Piotr Chmura, Giacomo DePasquale, Ira Kashyap, Alaina McGrogan, Rosalie Salentine, Ross Saunders, Logan Snyder, Sophia Sylvester, Callum Webb, Taryn Wellensiek, Oliver Wood, Lauren Yarosz, Jany Zhang, and Sophia Zhang. Coach is Katie Mueller along with assistant coaches Stephanie Nichols, Cassie Wallace, and Amy Henderlong.
ONWARD TROJANS!
Eight CMS Robotics teams advance to State
Congratulations to the eight Chesterton Middle School Robotics teams who will advance to the 2024 Indiana Robotics State Championship on March 23 all vying to qualify for the VRC MS Worlds to be hosted in Dallas Texas on April 28-30.
After a hard-fought competition season, the following teams have qualified for the
2024 Indiana Robotics State Championship:
Team D (Noah Hyde, Rosemary Hundt, Eva Solmos and Aiden Scobey) qualified for State when they won the Excellence Award on Feb. 24 at the Duneland Winter VRC Blended Over Under Tournament #2.
The remaining seven teams qualified based on the Autonomous and Driver skill
competitions:
Team C (Nolan Marin, Grace Klaiber, Matzen Finck) with a combined skills score of 217.
Team F (Michael Ward, Bryce Allen, Matthew Balhoff, Liam Crum) with a combined skills score of 210.
Team B (Victoria Manning, Elise Engels, Eva Capodice) with a combined skills score of 199.
Team E (Kaiden Roy, Calvin Rossi, Aaron Pieters, Jacob Fryer) with a combined skills score of 198.
Team J (Eli Haas, Jacob Anderson, Colton Beckwith) with a combined skills score of 196
Team A (Joshua Lahaie, Dominic Sylvester, Evan Parizo) with a combined skills score of 169
Team G (Johnny Dodds, Lydon Dybell) with a combined skills score of 157
INSPIRE | ENGAGE | EMPOWER
2024-2025 IMMUNIZATION REQUIREMENTS
FOR STUDENTS ENTERING GRADES 6 & 12
Students entering 6th grade require additional immunizations by the State of Indiana. Required immunizations are as follows:
Tdap: Tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis vaccine
MCV4: Meningococcal conjugate vaccine
A student that is 11 years old is eligible to receive these vaccines.
Students entering 12th grade are required to have an additional immunization by the State of Indiana. Required immunization is as follows:
MCV4: Meningococcal Vaccine
A student that is 16 years old is eligible to receive the meningococcal vaccination (2nd dose)
Porter County Health Department: 219-759-8239 (Portage office) or 219-465-3525 (Valparaiso office). Please contact the health department or doctor’s office to schedule.
Any questions? please contact the school nurse at your student’s respective school.
Last Chance to vote is March 24!
VOTE EVERY DAY for CHS as Best Public High School!
Help VOTE Chesterton High School 'Best Public High School' for the 2nd year in a row. Voting opens today. Participants may vote one time daily in each category today through March 24. Click on the image below of this link to vote: https://nwitimes.com/.../best-of-the-region-ballot-2024/…
Registration is now open for 2024 Duneland Summer School. Duneland is continuing to provide programming at the K-7 level in the areas of reading and math as well as supporting programs for identified high ability students. Students currently in grades 8-12 may enroll in several course options provided at CHS to accelerate credit attainment or address needs to stay on track for graduation.
Due to renovations, all K-12 summer schools will be housed at Chesterton High School. A schedule of summer school programming is provided with K-12 in Session 1 and 8-12 only in Session 2. Duneland will also be offering KinderCamp for incoming Kindergarten students through a separate invitation process. All K-12 students will have access to meals at CHS as well as limited transportation.
Families are asked to complete appropriate online registration for each student interested in participating in the 2024 DSC Summer School Programs. Please follow the links below to register.
Mark Your Calendar...
COMMUNITY RESOURCE FAIR - April 24
Incoming 7th Grade Parent & Student Night
Choral Recruitment!
Attention all current Duneland School 5th, 6th and 7th graders! Do you love to sing? Do you want to be a part of a community of singers to grow your voice, develop lasting friendships and just have fun? You belong in choir! Registration for next year's 6th, 7th and 8th grade choirs is happening now! Click on the following link (must use a valid Duneland student account to access) to register to be a part of these amazing groups: http://tinyurl.com/3uffxu77.
Duneland Early Learning HUB
This Week at the HUB
This was our last transportation vehicles Music and Motion. We sang Drive My Car, Green Light Red Light, Rocketship Run, Pop the Bubbles and Silly and Calm. Kiddos played a variety of instruments and learned about many different modes of transportation this month. Music and Motion is on Monday’s at 9:30, 10:30 and 12:00. We also have a Tiny Trojan Music and Motion class on Monday’s at 8:45.
Trojan Tykes was LOADS of fun listening to a non-fiction and fiction construction book. We sang and danced to a couple construction site songs and read two books. Our families took part in our centers and played together in our multipurpose room.Trojan Tykes is a family story time and centers on Tuesday’s at 9:00, 10:00 and 12:00.
At Mini-Movers Wednesday morning, the children visited stations in the gym and participated in an obstacle course.The centers focused on the following gross motor skills, throwing, balancing, jumping and climbing.The kiddos also participated in a cool down activity. Centers are similar or the same for the month of March. Mini-Movers is on Wednesdays from 9:00-9:30 in the HUB gym.
Kinder Kids participated in calendar, we read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and were engaged in centers covering art, phonics, math and writing. Kinder Kids is for 4-5 year olds that will attend Kindergarten during the 2024-2025 school year. Come join us from 9:00-10:30 on Thursdays, if you have a 4-5 year old.
At Young Explorers, we read There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Clover! and finished a page in our journal by finding colors in nature. We discussed how winter is almost over and spring will bring more colors to our community. Young Explorers is every Thursday from 11:00-11:30 outside at the Chesterton Park shelter. We always have our nature based class as long as it FEELS like 25 degrees or more.
During PALS we had Jill Stricker from Parents As Teachers speak to families about milestones with children 0-5 yrs old. Our next PALS will be on Thursday, April 11 from 12:30-1:30 over Picky Eaters with NorthShore Health Centers.
This Friday, we have Trojan Time here in our classroom and multipurpose room. Families can visit and play from 11:00-1:00, get a tour or receive resources from our staff.
Do not forget that most mornings and afternoons, we have Open Gym from 9:00-10:00 and 12:30-1:30.
Next week, the HUB will be closed due to Spring Break in the Duneland Schools. We will see everyone again on Monday, April 1 for Music and Motion.
If you have children ages 0-5, come join in the fun M-F at the HUB. Check us out at our DSC website.
IMPORTANT PARENT RESOURCES
INCLEMENT WEATHER INFORMATION 2023-2024 Procedures for Delaying/Closing Schools
Please review the DSC Procedures for Delaying/Closing Schools in case of inclement weather.
eLearning Guidelines
Guidelines for Students 2023-2024 School Year
Follow the links below by grade level to find the appropriate Unplanned (Virtual - Synchronous) eLearning Day Plan for your student.
Please note the update to the 5-6 Synchronous Plan for Liberty Intermediate School only.
Nutrislice App / MENUS
The DSC Child Nutrition Department is now utilizing NutriSlice as its new menus program. This app is available for iphone and android through your mobile app store. Parents can also access the full website for Duneland Schools on a computer via this NutriSlice link.
This app will allow parents and students to view the menus as well as the nutritional info for each items at any of the Duneland Schools. This program will be developed further incorporating images of food items being served at each of the schools.
NEW! DSC 2024-2025 Calendar
The new 2024-2025 Duneland School Corporation Calendar has been adopted by the Duneland School Board of Trustees. Click the link above to see all the date for next school year.
2024-2025 School Start & End Times
The new daily schedule for the 2024-2025 school year will be:
- Elementary (K-4) 7:30 a.m. – 2:20 p.m.
- High School (9-12) 8:10 a.m. – 3:10 p.m.
- Intermediate/Middle (5-8) 8:50 a.m. – 3:50 p.m.
DSC 2023-2024 Calendar
The Revised 2023-2024 Duneland School Corporation Calendar is available on our website. Click on the link above to open or visit our website at Resources > Documents and Forms
CHS Maroon & Gold Calendar/Bell Schedules
Parent Observer Account
Parents are encouraged to set up their Canvas observer accounts to monitor their students' progress. Parents can click this link to view how to set up their Parent Observer Account
Link to the Canvas Log In
CONTACTING IT SUPPORT
Contact the Duneland School Corporation IT department via one of these methods:
- Open a IncidentIQ ticket by sending an email to: helpdesk@duneland.k12.in.us
- Log into IncidentIQ and submit a request duneland.incidentIQ.com
CHS Athletic Tickets 2023-2024
ACTIVITY OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS
The goal of the Duneland School Corporation district school newsletters is to inform students, parents and the school community about school-related information.
The Duneland Schools share information that pertains to opportunities our students may be interested in and outside of school on a special page on our website. These available opportunities are offered by not-for-profit partnerships and organizations within our school district boundaries and local communities. Follow this link to Community Opportunities.
Want your event/activity/camp posted on this page? Submit a request by email with the flyer/information to the Duneland Schools Administrative Center to ahicks@duneland.k12.in.us and bmartinson@duneland.k12.in.us.
DSC SCHOOL FUNDRAISERS / CAMPS / ACTIVITIES
For more information on ALL the current Camps being offered at CHS visit Athletic Camps/Events on the CHS Athletics webpage.
District Art Show
Representative artwork from students in grades K-8 will be on display at the Corporation's annual exhibit at the Chesterton Art Center, 115 S. 4th Street in Chesterton. The exhibits will be open to the public without cost during Gallery hours (weekdays 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m.).
The K-8 exhibit on March 16 - 30 will feature the artwork of students in grades K-8.
2024 Graduation Pre-order Merch
Click the image below to order...
Chesterton Football Camps 2024
MS Athlete Development Camp
Click the image below to register.
CHS Alumni Association
Upcoming Fundraiser for CHS Student Scholarships...
Help the CHS Alumni Association's special event to raise money for the student scholarship program. Breakfast is $10/per person and is available for dine-in or carry-out. Purchase tickets in advance online at: https://swipesimple.com/links/lnk_a2b6cf07
If you are unable to join us on Saturday, April 6, please consider a donation to the scholarship fund:
CLASS of 1974 - 50 year Reunion
The CHS Class of 1974 will host a 50-year reunion on Friday, June 21 beginning at 5 p.m. at Gelsosomos Pizzeria, 371 Indian Boundary #8, Chesterton. A second event will be hosted on Saturday, June 22 beginning at 6 p.m. at the SPA (reservations and prepayment required), 333 N Mineral Spring Rd., Porter, IN.
Members of the Class of 1974 can follow this LINK to update their information and RSVP for this event.
'SAY SOMETHING' Tip Line for Grades 5-12
The Duneland School Corporation has adopted the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System for all grade 5-12 schools this year. The link to the Say Something Tip Line can be found on the DSC website, on the middle and high school websites, and on the DSC Safety and Security page located under Programs and Services.
Tip Line for Grades K-4
The established Anonymous Safe Schools Tip Line for students in grades K-4 will remain the same. The link to this tip line for Grade 5-12 can be found on the DSC website, each DSC elementary school website, and on the DSC Safety and Security page located under Programs and Services.
DuneNews
The district newsletter, DuneNews, is published each Thursday afternoon throughout the school year. Each weekly issue can be found on our website at www.duneland.k12.in.us/dune-news along with archived issues for review.
Not receiving school communications?
The district and schools send out weekly communications. Parents that are not receiving weekly communications should contact their respective school Main Office or email Bridget Martinson at bmartinson@duneland.k12.in.us
LONG-TERM CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS
Yost Campus
Bailly Campus
Brummitt Campus
Jackson Campus
Liberty Elem. Campus
LIS Campus
WIS Campus
At the DSC School Board meeting on Monday, March 4, school board members and the public were updated by Chris Muvceski of The Skillman Corporation on the work that has been completed in the last four weeks at each of the current worksites, as well as what will be happening in the upcoming weeks.
The most current information regarding the DSC Long-Term Capital Improvement projects, such as current concept drawings, information and preliminary timelines, are available on the DSC website. The information on the website will be continuously updated as we move forward with the process.
Community members may review the current Long-Term Capital Improvements information that will be continuously updated on the DSC website.
Did you know that Duneland Schools has an online Spirit Wear Store where you can buy your Duneland all school spirit wear? Apparel for all ages, stadium seats, accessories and more. CHECK IT OUT!
NorthShore Clinic for All DSC Students
Duneland School Corporation
Email: bmartinson@duneland.k12.in.us
Website: www.duneland.k12.in.us
Location: 601 West Morgan Avenue, Chesterton, IN, USA
Phone: 219-983-3600
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dunelandschools/
Twitter: @dunelandk12