Today we had a pep rally recognizing all of the successes and accolades our students have accomplished recently followed by a State send-off for our volleyball team. This was an opportunity to recognize the successes from as early as late spring to now regarding sports, fine arts, CTE programs, and the academic success. There were many highlights shared by Mr. DeJong and coaches and I had the privilege of recognizing the academic ones.

Two major accomplishments I highlighted for the school were:

1. The Iowa State Department of Education recently gave us the category label of a High Performing School! This is actually for all 3 buildings in the district. This is the second year in a row that we have received the High Performing School category. There are 6 different levels of performance and Being a High performing School is the 2nd best. It’s not easy to be a High Performing School. They look at the state exam scores in relation to proficiency and overall growth. They also look at graduation rates, college readiness, and Conditions for Learning survey results. This is a big deal and if I were to compare it to sports, this label would be like reaching the Regional Finals. It’s really impressive, yet there’s room to improve. The best part is we are continuing to improve our scores the last few years and if we continue on this trend, we would accomplish the highest rating of Exceptional, in the next 1-3 years.

2. The 2nd major accomplishment I want to highlight is that the US News and World Report recently recognized Hinton High School as a Silver level ranking, which is really good. Better yet, we have moved up to being ranked the 87th best school in Iowa! From what I have found, this is the best ranking Hinton has ever received and I’m confident we will move up in state ranking because they use the previous year’s data.

I'm very proud of all of the students and staff for all of these academic and extra-curricular successes acknowledged today at the pep rally. It’s all about the extra time and effort in studying, training, and mastering those skills that will keep blessing our students and school district with success and good fortune.

Here are some of this month's students and staff shoutouts:

Missy Conley- always doing what is best for her students and doing way more than expected of her. She is great for them and they respect her as a result. She is a huge asset to our success. She even created space for her students to have a quieter testing/working area.

Coach Hardersen- puts his heart and soul into football and we appreciate his extra efforts for putting in 40-50 hours per week for the football team/program.

Katherine Hunter- successful homecoming last week! Thanks for the hard work and planning!

Shaunghnessy Sutton- for being willing to help with whatever comes up and always having a positive attitude.

Ian Hertenstein- for going above and beyond as a manager. Baking muffins and cookies as well as taking times for Cross Country.

Julie Clausen-has been able to build stronger relationships with students that has helped to keep our students feel safe. She is a superior 7-12th grade counselor and she does so well with our students, it just needs to be said more often. :)

Rachael McGaffey- for being willing to jump in and take team pics for yearbook with just a moments notice.

Caitlin Hollinrake and Kyle Wiese for consistently running the Blackhawk Board, being dependable, creative, and hard working.

Sandi Kounkel and Chelsey VanRoekel-have been amazing working with our kids.

Alex Black- is a wonderful teacher- he does so much for his students and it shows!

Kayla Fay and Jennifer Jacobs-List- these teachers are always rocking it. They have great rapport with the kids and are great teachers for our students. Jennifer is always there for the kids and she is a fantastic teacher! Always there to help out as well!

Eva Van Acker for jumping into a new school and becoming a member of the volleyball team and a great role model!

Rylie Hermelbracht- Is such a talented artist! Her landscape paintings are absolutely phenomenal and she works really hard at achieving this stunning aesthetic.

Linda Larsen - providing her room to double as my classroom in the morning when it has been cold. Great collaboration.

Craig Hoffman- for always getting students excited for Shop-a-palooza! What a great way to get students excited for all things "shop!"

Jenny Clabaugh- for rocking it at the iTAG conference!

Yearbooks, Get Your Yearbooks!!

The 2023 Yearbook staff is hard at work creating the 2022-2023 yearbook.

You can purchase them by contacting Mrs. Clabaugh or by using the following link:

https://yearbookforever.com/schools/hinton_high_school_buy_yearbook_3570/rKqi0hX48xYtO3j4892yP2vL

Don’t miss out on the memories, purchase your 2023 Yearbook today!

Time for Talented and Gifted

On October 10th, Mrs. Clabaugh attended the annual ITAG conference in West Des Moines, IA. She learned a lot and came back with ideas and strategies to use with the TAG program and students. While at the conference, she had the honor of speaking with a group of newer Talented and Gifted teachers about how she navigated her first year in the program. It was a packed room with some great discussion.

This year, Hinton has a newly designed High School TAG program that meets once a week. So far this year, there have been some great discussions about navigating the first few weeks as a Freshman and Sophomore student, SMART goal settings and reflections, and plans for the future.

The Middle School TAG students are in the midst of creating their MS Museum exhibits. The students looked at a few online museum exhibits before having a guest speaker from the Sioux City Public Museum come in to talk about exhibits. She brought a few very interesting artifacts in sharing the story and significance of each item. Each student is creating their own exhibit based on their interests and what they have learned about creating exhibits. The final products are sure to be unique and informative!!

Control your Controllables

If your son or daughter has ever had class with me, or if your daughter has ever been coached by me, chances are they have heard me use the phrase “Control your Controllables”. I first heard this phrase from my college softball coach who was using it in reference to how we should react when an ump makes a questionable call. At the time I remember thinking that this comment made zero sense to me, however after beginning my coaching career the following summer, it suddenly made so much more sense to me. I started to use the same phrase with my athletes and helping them understand that controlling your controllables means to accept what you cannot control and by doing so, you are controlling your responses. In sports you can only control your attitude and effort as an athlete. You cannot control the temperature, the location, umpires, calls made on the field, opponents, teammates, or your coaches. The only things you can control are your responses, how you react to what is going on around you. If you choose to fixate on what happened, a call that was missed, or the way an opponent treated you, you give up your control of yourself, your mindset, and therefore your success.

Oddly enough this phrase which once meant so little to me, now has almost become a mantra in my life. Life is so full of twists and turns, but if we choose to accept those things we can control, do our best with them, and let the rest of the uncontrollables go, how much happier and successful one can be. As I watch my athletes and students come, grow, graduate, and move on to college and beyond, I hope this is the lesson they take to heart and perhaps one that can help you as you go along your path in life as well. Best wishes to all as the holiday season comes closer and as always, Go Blackhawks!

The FAFSA application has been open since October 1. Each school has a separate FAFSA deadline, so please check with each admissions office for that information. This is the gateway to most scholarships, loans, and grants. There are even some private scholarships that will inquire about your FAFSA EFC number which is the "Estimated Family Contribution" that appears at the very end of the form. This number will give you an estimate of what you will be expected to pay out-of-pocket for post-secondary education.

For example, if your EFC number is $15,000, a public or private school will put together an award letter that is filled with scholarships, loans, or grants that will leave you with an ending balance of $15,000. There are always exceptions to this, and you can definitely take 2 offers and negotiate with financial aid offices to get your student the best deal.

Student loans are often on each award letter and will not exceed $5500 which is the maximum number a student can borrow through the federal loan program for their freshman year. If you need to borrow more than the $5500 for tuition, then the family works with private lenders or parents can use the federal Parent Plus Loan.

The financial aid office at each post-secondary school is the best place to call with specific financial questions.

For the first time since 2018 we had a runner qualify for the state cross country meet which was held on Friday, October 28th at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Senior Zach Sypersma earned this honor by finishing 9th place at the state qualifying meet on October 20th with a time of 17:47.28. Zach's qualifying time was the second best time of his career heading into the state meet. Learn more about Zach Sypersma below and some of his accomplishments as a four year runner with the cross country team.