Campus News

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7th Grade Winners

 

Winners Announced in MS Math Contest
By Bennett Reinhardt, 9th Grade

On Friday, April 22nd, all 7th and 8th grade students competed in the Prairie School Math Meet. This event, organized and hosted by Math Club, had a goal of generating an interest in recreational mathematics through both individual and team contests. Math Club led every aspect of the competition, including the organization of problems, proctoring, grading, and announcing the winners at an awards ceremony the following Monday.

At the 7th grade level (Level Prairie), Sydney Peterson was the winner, Grace Semrau placed 2nd, and Jack Lofquist placed 3rd.  At the 8th grade level (Level Hawks), Tyler Robinson was the winner, Alec Minkevych placed 2nd, and Flynn Baker placed 3rd.  In the team contest, a group from Mrs. Benes’ and Mr. Paulsen’s homeroom comprised of Caitlyn Ruud, Jack Millin, Sonya Babu, and Isa Spino came out on top.

Congratulations to all the students who competed! 

Caption: 7th graders Jack Lofquist (bronze), Grace Semrau (silver) and Sydney Peterson (gold) show off their Math Meet hardware.

 

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Science Olympiad – State 2016

At the end of Spring Break, Prairie’s Science Olympiad team traveled to UW-Stout in Menomonie for the state competition among 44 schools of all sizes.  Participating in 23 events, Prairie proudly came home with 9 medals and took 5th place as a team, one place better than 2015.

  • 6th place in Disease Detectives:  Sara Wagers and Gitika Chalasani
  • 6th place in Food Science: Ellie Plachinski and JohnMark Goeke
  • 5th place in Hydrogeology: Laia Aguilar and Rachel Brown
  • 4th place in Forensics:  Ellie Plachinski and JohnMark Goeke
  • 4th place in Fossils:  Dhanya Attipetty and Kirat Kaur
  • 3rd place in Mystery Design: Ellie Plachinski and JohnMark Goeke
  • 3rd place in Chemistry Lab: Ellie Plachinski and JohnMark Goeke
  • 3rd place in It’s About Time: Maya Nepos and Kirat Kaur
  • 1st place in Invasives: Dhanya Attipetty and Rachel Brown

Finishing just short of a medal in Wright Stuff were sophomores Eli Vass and Adam Heaps.  In this contest, students build a 10 g glider powered by a rubber band and are scored on how long it stays in flight.  At the end of February, Eli’s glider stayed aloft barely 10 seconds.  With some help from Eric Wirtz, Prairie 2015 grad and last year’s Wright Stuff state champion, and many hours of work, Eli and Adam got their glider to elegantly spiral up to the ceiling and back down to the ground for a total of 77 seconds — a tremendous improvement in just a few weeks.

Scored much like a track meet, a team’s place in each event is their score; the scores in 23 events are added up and low score wins.  With a point total of 230, Prairie averaged 10th place in each event.  Thus, while each of Prairie’s team members did not come home with a medal in their events, each person made a very valuable contribution to the overall team finish and the team trophy.  (other members of the team:  Daniel Latyshev, Scott Isaacson, Ricky Granger, Zach Higgs, Andrew Liu)

 

1040719_10153904425848971_3666269841496099567_o(March 9) The Upper School Jazz Combo 1 attended the WSMA Jazz Clinic at Horlick HS — their first time participating in this event. Performing “St. Thomas” by Sonny Rollins and “Mr. PC” by John Coltrane, the group earned a 1* rating in the Class A Division. This is the highest rating you can attain in the most difficult class!

Seniors Alex Rehorst (trumpet), Rachel Brown (alto sax), Kyler Krenzke (trombone), Josh Birndorf (guitar), Joey Casteneda (bass)

Kurt Ringwalt (drums) and junior Felipe Ramos (piano) performed under the direction of adjunct professor Jim VanDeusen.

We are so proud of our musicians! Congratulations!

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(March 12) Our Upper School singers had quite a day at the WSMA District Festival on Saturday. Performing for both an adjudicator and an audience, singers needed a 1* rating on their solos to advance. We’re excited to share that 16 soloists and the US Jazz Combo advanced in 22 different events! They will next perform at the State Festival in May.

Congratulations to Michael Andreucci, Angela Arnold (2 events), Rachel Brown (2), Michael Caballero, Camille Cruise, Matthew Drake, Zeli Frantz, Kyler Krenzke (2), Mckinley Leinweber (8th grade), Benjamin Nelson (2), Laura Panthofer (2), Kallia Reske, Elena Ruffo, Evan Schlicht, Sara Wagers, Sophie Zogg, and the Upper School Jazz Combo!

US Students Impress at State Level Spanish Pronunciation Contest

(March 5) The following students participated at the State Level in the Spanish Pronunciation Contest: Pranav Bajaj, Joshua Birndorf, Rachel Brown, Sydney Chen, Camille Cruise, Alyssa Curty, Vincent Guardiola, Adam Heaps, Henry Hua, Kirat Kaur, Anna Milonas, Jason Lewis, Jordanne Orlowski, Neel Patel, Sarah Pettinger, Bennett Reinhardt, Julia Reynoso, Emilija Schmidt, Trinity Schmidt and Madeline Yde.

Students selected to participate in one of the following categories: conversing with a judge, reciting a memorized poem, reciting a memorized narration or reading a paragraph five minutes after receiving it.

Judges evaluated based on pronunciation and we are very proud to say the group came home with 15 perfect scores.  The Prairie School community celebrates their dedication and achievement!