Jefferson High School Calendar - Alexandria, Minnesota School ...

1401 Jefferson Street
Alexandria, MN 56308
Residents of the Jefferson High School Community
Volume VII, Edition II January/February 2011
Jefferson High School Calendar
Friday, Jan 21 End of 2 nd Quarter
Wednesday, Feb 2 Two Hour Late Start
Saturday, Feb 5 JHS Mid-Winter Dance 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, Feb 10 Section 8AA One Act Play
Saturday, Feb 12 ACT Testing JHS – 8:00 a.m.
Monday, Feb 14 College Credit Opportunities Parent Information Meeting - JHS Cafeteria
5:00 p.m.
Monday, Feb 21 No School PreK-12/President’s Day
Friday, Feb 25 No School K-12
Thursday, Mar 3 Grades 10-12 Registration JHS 4:00-8:00 p.m.
Monday, Mar 7 Grades 10-12 Registration JHS 4:00-8:00 p.m.
Monday, Mar 7 Kiwanis Concert. Band, Orchestra & Choir Perform JHS Gym – 7:30 p.m.
March 14 – 18 Spring Break – No School PreK-12
Wednesday, Mar 23 Two Hour Late Start
Thursday, Mar 31 End of 3 rd Quarter
COMMUNITY PRESENTATIONS – PROPOSED NEW HIGH SCHOOL
School District 206 has planned a series of community presentations to provide residents with information
on the proposed 9-12 new high school project. Community members are invited to attend a presentation
and/or tour to learn more about the project planning and timeline.
The schedule is as follows:
• Tuesday, March 1, 7:30AM Presentation Garfield Elementary Music/Art Room
• Tuesday, March 1, 5:00PM Presentation/Tour Jefferson High School Media Center
• Wednesday, March 2, 5:00PM Presentation/Tour Jefferson High School Media Center
• Friday, March 4, 5:00PM Presentation/Tour Jefferson High School Media Center
• Wednesday, March 9, 5:00PM Presentation/Tour Jefferson High School Media Center
Additional meetings at other district school/community locations will be finalized and announced in the near
future through school newsletters and on the district website.

From the Desk of Mr. Duwenhoegger:
Greetings!
We have already passed the mid-year point of the school year! The cold weather and snow gives one the
impression that we have lots of school left this year. However, in a couple of weeks, we will be giving your
child a registration booklet and asking him/her to begin deciding what courses he/she will take next year.
Junior and Sophomore Parents - I encourage you to take time to review the registration booklet with your
son or daughter. We are fortunate that we have the ability to offer many courses at JHS for your child. The
work world is getting more competitive and students need to be prepared for postsecondary options. Taking
courses at JHS for college credit has many advantages as college credits earned in high school are free and
better prepare young adults to be successful in college. Also, college courses taken at JHS provide a unique
support system by including you as a parent and JHS as your student’s school. For students looking to earn
college credit while attending high school, I recommend that parents attend an informational meeting on
February 14 th in the JHS Cafeteria. This presentation will begin at 5:00 p.m. and conclude with questions by
5:45 p.m. We also look forward to seeing you at registration night on either March 3 rd or March 7 th .
Senior Parents - I want to inform you of a great opportunity for your child. Last year, JHS started a program
called May Term. May Term allows seniors to go outside the JHS building for two weeks in May to either
complete a service learning project in the community or to job shadow in a local business for the two weeks.
This opportunity allows students to use the skills that they have gained as a student and to explore a career
area that they may be considering before declaring a major in college. The students who participated last
year spoke highly of the experience and in a couple of cases were able to narrow their focus of study for
college. We will soon be putting detailed information regarding May Term on our school website and will
offer informational meetings for students. If you have any questions, please contact me at school.
Chad Duwenhoegger
Principal

Mr. Nelson
says…
February is here! The days are getting longer and
soon the snow will be melting. Jefferson students
are digging into their second semester courses.
Mid-Winter Dance tickets are selling like hotcakes.
As always, there is a sense of electricity and
excitement in the air here at Jefferson.
I would like to take this opportunity to present a
new tool that will be offered to students and
parents to help you plan and prepare for
Registration Night. Don’t forget to mark your
calendars. Registration for 2011-12 sophomores,
juniors and seniors will take place on Thursday,
March 3 rd and Monday, March 7 th from 4:00-8:00
p.m. at Jefferson High School.
On the Jefferson High School website, under
Student Experience, the StudentVUE account will
allow students and parents to pre-register online
for courses before meeting with advisors on
Registration Night. The adding and deleting of
courses can only be done on StudentVUE.
ParentVUE will allow users to view the courses
selected, but will NOT allow access to selecting
courses or making changes. This is why it is very
important for you as a parent/guardian to sit down
with your student and work through this process
together. This tool will also allow you access to
personal transcripts, which will indicate if there are
any credit deficiencies toward Jefferson’s
graduation requirements. Your son/daughter will
be working with their EXCEL advisor on February
16 th and 23 rd to go over the registration process,
graduation requirements, and how to choose
appropriate classes. Look for more specific
directions with how to pre-register online from your
son/daughter after the February 16 th EXCEL
meeting.
12 selected course requests are not finalized until
advisors review and validate them on Registration
Night. It is very important for you and your student
to attend Registration Night. Access to the
Genesis course pre-registration tool will be
available from Wednesday, February 16 th until
Monday, March 7 th .
I wish you all a happy spring!
Brent Nelson
Assistant Principal
INFO FROM JHS PARKING/SECURITY
Keep in mind that during the winter it
will be difficult to see parking lot
numbers and lines. Do your best to park
in your assigned spot and always park
in your row, even if it might not be your
spot. Also, the speed limit in the
parking lot is 10 mph.
I want to emphasize that completing this online
pre-registration is not mandatory and that it does
not take the place of meeting with an advisor
on Registration Night. This is only an optional
tool to help students and parents plan. The 2011-

Winter 2011 Newsletter Activities Update:
The cold winds in recent days remind us that we
live in Minnesota and winter is right around the
corner. At this point of the school year we see the
conclusion of fall and the start of winter activities.
Our Cardinal teams and activities enjoyed another
outstanding season. Several students and
coaches/advisors received recognition and our
school year is off to a great start.
Alexandria continues to host a number of major
events during the winter season that include the
annual Girls Holiday Basketball Tournament on
December 29 th -30 th , a 28 school Dance Team
Invitational on January 8 th and the CLC Jazz
Competition on Friday, December 17 th , a Nordic
Ski invite on January 22 nd , the Big Ole Wrestling
tournament on February 5 th and One Act Play
section competition at Discovery on Thursday,
February 3 rd .
The future of the Central Lakes Conference has
been a hot topic in central Minnesota in recent
weeks. The CLC has been in existence since
1977 and is one of the top out-state conferences
in Minnesota. It not only sponsors athletic
championships in 25 sports, it also conducts
competition in Speech, Knowledge Bowl and Math
Team. The CLC sponsors a Fall Jazz Festival and
an outstanding Music Festival featuring Band,
Choir and Orchestra in the spring. Each fall CLC
schools send 25 students to one site where they
are encouraged to promote sportsmanship and
learn leadership skills they can take back to their
schools.
Conferences are formed by similar sized schools
to provide competition for similar sized programs.
Little Falls recently asked to leave the Central
Lakes Conference because of decreasing
enrollment and an inability to provide the levels of
programs other schools in the conference offer.
They didn’t feel they could compete and wanted to
play smaller schools with more similar programs.
The conference unanimously voted to allow Little
Falls to leave even though they did not meet the
deadline for notification. Little Falls left the
conference to form a new conference Granite
Ridge, which invited two or three teams from the
Mississippi Eight Conference, and several from
the West Central Conference.
These changes have caused the St. Cloud Metro
schools to look at moving to the Mississippi Eight
to avoid transportation costs to Moorhead and
Bemidji.
Also, clouding the water is the placement of Grand
Rapids in the CLC for varsity football only, for the
2012-13 school year, by the MSHSL. The MSHSL
also placed Duluth East and Denfeld in the
Mississippi Eight Conference for the 2012-13
school year.
Conferences are changing throughout the state
and it appears football scheduling is the main
reason. The MSHSL is investigating removing
football from conferences and arranging section
football or football conferences which would
alleviate the problem. Many are hopeful this can
happen by the 2012-13 school year.
Alexandria has great programs that are lead by
quality people who work with great kids. We will
be a welcome addition to several conferences. If
the Central Lakes is disbanded the MSHSL will be
forced by law to place us in a conference. We will
have a place to compete and our kids will flourish
where ever that is. The Central Lakes Conference
has set a meeting of the Governance Board to
examine the future of the conference. The Central
Lakes will exist for the 2011-12 school year, but
after that there is uncertainty. We will keep you
informed.
Dr. David Hartmann
Activities Director

used vs. plastic Did you know that each food
tray costs $7 Many are lost, taken, or thrown
away. How can these costs be eliminated
GREEN TEAM
The students from Mr. Esbjornsson’s
Environmental Science class have been working
in “Green Teams” on how to more effectively
reduce waste in our environment. Some of the
teams are as follows:
T-Shirt Team: T-shirts were designed and sold to
raise environmental awareness.
Recycle Team: This team raised awareness of
the need to recycle items. Our school district
earns 5 cents for each pound recycled.
Window Shade Team: Tests were conducted to
show how by just pulling down a window shade
can save on heating costs for the school. In
December 2009, the district paid an average of
$16,920/month in heating bills. By pulling a
shade, it can save $40/day or $1,200/month.
Overall, the schools can save approximately
$9,600/year.
The News Team: This team promoted the
“Recycling Christmas Lights” program through
news releases and radio broadcasts and
organized drop-off sites at all of the District 206
schools. As of January 13 th , over 600 pounds of
lights had been collected!
Poster Team: This team coordinated the design
and make-up of posters for all Green Team
projects. The finished posters were then hung
around the schools to bring awareness.
Cell Phone Team: This team promoted the
recycling of old cell phones. A drop off box was
located in the office and the response was
overwhelming! These phones will now be turned
over to “Someplace Safe” for crisis victims to use
in critical situations.
Light/Heat/Learning with Layers Team: Upon
doing research on how much electricity is used
each day, it learned that JHS spends $300/day.
The team discussed putting energy savers on all
vending machines so they would not run during off
times. By promoting that everyone dress in layers,
the heat could be turned down in every classroom.
Awareness Team: Did you know that we need
trees not only for lumber, but also to survive
Trees create the oxygen we breathe. Cutting
down too many is not a good thing!
Presentation Teams: These teams went out into
the community and presented information on how
to better save energy and help the environment.
Games were played to help students better
understand this information.
Winter Band Concert
The JHS Bands gave a concert on Monday,
January 24 th at 7:00 p.m. in the JHS Gym. The
concert featured five ensembles including Jazz II,
Jazz I, the Concert Band, the Symphonic Band
and the Wind Ensemble. A variety of big band,
fusion, overtures and marches were presented by
the bands. Senior Saxophonist Rachel Astrup
was featured with the Wind Ensemble on a
classical Rondo.
Lunch Team: This team worked with Food
Service on how food waste could be reduced.
Questions were raised such as: Why are there
food requirements Can regular silverware be

Help Them Get There!
Be a Mentor!
Foods & Nutrition Class helps
Community Christmas Dinner
The Foods and Nutrition class at Jefferson Senior
High School had the opportunity to volunteer their
time and talents to the Alexandria community.
The students began the process by writing a grant
to request funds from the “Youth as Resources”
organization. The grant money was used to
purchase supplies. Once the grant was approved,
students researched and selected recipes to
prepare. The goal was to prepare 25 dozen
cookies to be served at the Community Christmas
Dinner on Christmas Day. “Making cookies for the
First Congregational Church was a very interesting
process” said one student. 16 students were
involved with the process of making the cookies.
On Thursday, December 23rd the students visited
the church experiencing how the Community
Christmas Dinner was coordinated and carried
out. The students benefited as they were able to
use a variety of skills throughout the project and
also noted that they felt a sense of pride in
knowing that they “did a good thing to help
community members celebrate the holidays with
family and friends”. Many volunteers were
involved in serving 300 meals and making the
Community Christmas Dinner a success.
January was National Mentor month. It is a
time where we salute and thank our current
mentors and encourage others to volunteer to
be a mentor. Governor Mark Dayton issued
a call to all Minnesotans to volunteer. He
said…, "I ask you to remember that our state’s
success is also your responsibility. I invite you
to get involved in the betterment of your
communities." Mentoring was included as
one important service opportunity.
We salute and thank these 84 students who
are mentors and tutors in District 206.
Thank you for making a difference!
Aaron Marciniak
Ariaine Larion
Carolyn Graybear
Courtney Thoennes
Dominique Mueller
Hannah Hanson
Jenna Hedstrom
Kaci McCoy
Katelyn Wold-Clough
Katlin Kortie
Kayla Schmitt
Kiersten Telste
Krista Jennissen
Kristen Sjostrand
Lauren Lussenhop
Lisa Klinkner
McKinsey Gruber
Mikaela Faust
Rachel Astrup
Sari Gaugert
Will Sieling
Rachel Thompson
Cross-Age Tutors
Allie Batcher
Brittney Torgrimson
Chad Peterson
Destiny Bartolomeo
Ellen Johnson
Jacqueline Mueller
Jenna Larson
Kaitlin Becker
Katie Simonson
Kayla Parent
Kelsey Halbur
Kirsten Lusty
Krista Saxton
Laurel Thompson
Lauren Olson
Lucas Dolan
Melissa Brede
Natalie Molloy
Sarah Lanman
Theresa Nelson
Zack McKay

Alex Blaser
Lacey Harp
Lauren Trumm
Leah Stinson
Lisa Klinkner
Logan Serum
Madison Groettum
Maxine Carlson
McKinsey Gruber
Molly Minnerath
Morgan Hinzmann
Nathaniel Hartokolis
Quinn Kragenbring
Rachael Finley
Sarah Johnson
Sarah Lanman
Spencer Brand
Stephanie Wilde
Tara Terhark
Whitney Gesell
Zoe Weltzin
Student Match
Amanda Schmidt
Anne Desautels
Ben Roers
Brock Wood
Carissa Koudela
Caroline Roers
Chessa Burgau
Cody Larson
Dan Myers
Emily Peck
Gretchen Brase
Hunter Schultz
Jenna Seward
Julia Ziegler
Kasey Chock
Katie Lovrien
Katie Wilts
Kaitlin Becker
Kelly Nellermoe
Kristen Schmidt
Alumni
PARENTS
If you are an Alumni parent of a Jefferson
Senior in the Class of 2011 then you represent
a District 206 legacy family. A profile of
Legacy Families will be featured in the first
issue of the Alexandria Alumni Magazine
coming out in April. Please contact Jill
Johnson at 762-2141 ext 4202 or email:
jjohnson@alexandria.k12.mn.us to be sure
your family is recognized.
Class of 2011