The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The La Harpe School Board held a regular meeting Thursday night, March 23rd, in the school district library. School board members in attendance were Barbara Cox, Dan Horton, Ricky Johnson, Mark Irish, Cindy Wear, Nancy Butler, and R.D. Trout.
Also present were Supt. Jo Campbell, Secretary Pat Deitrich, John Quigle, Jeff and Tracey McDowell, and Sam Sudhakar from Carl Sandburg College.
Mr. Sudhaker passed out the March Edition of the Envoy and mentioned several articles of interest to the board. He also answered questions from the board regarding the EduNet system.
The board
Junior High/High School Principal Lila McKeown sent her report to the board.
Bryant Fernetti qualified for state in the 3-point shootout sponsored by Country Companies.
Mrs. Holtsclaw took students to the John Wood Business Contest on February 24th.
Zack Lotz placed 3rd in Accounting II and Justin Zimmerman placed 3rd in Computer Concepts.
Mrs. Mencel took students to the IHSA Music Contest on March 4th.
Jessica Boyle received a 1st-piano solo,
Willo Shutwell-1st saxophone solo,
Lindsey Pollock-1st vocal solo,
Nikki Cecil-1st vocal solo,
Mariah Myers-2nd piano solo,
Jessica Boyle-2nd clarinet solo, and Tom Pflasterer-2nd clarinet solo.
The music students have been working to raise money for their trip to St. Louis. They had a very successful pork chop fund raiser on March 18th.
Brad Seats placed 3rd in the engineering graphics portion of the WYSE sectional competition at Knox College on March 13th.
The Cyclone Winter Sports Awards program was held in the La Harpe gym on March 15th. Cheerleading and boys and girls basketball members received their letters and awards.
Mrs. Stevenson organized the West Central Conference Art Show. It was held in the high school gym on March 16-18th. La Harpe received 12 firsts, 7 seconds, and 1 third. That was the best out of all the schools.
The annual FFA Banquet was held on March 22nd. As always, Mr. Mealiff did an excellent job organizing the event.
Our seniors interested in dual credit courses for next year have taken their placement tests at Carl Sandburg College.
Baseball and softball games are starting and the track team has had several meets canceled due to weather conditions.
Michael Lafferty was the top speller in the annual Junior High Spelling Bee held on February 16th and Connor Beals placed 2nd.
Michael attended the Hancock County Spelling Bee in Carthage on February 23rd.
There are 56 students out for junior high track.
Junior High Honors Group Induction was held on March 3rd. Mrs. Bartlett is in charge of the group. There are 23 8th graders and 17 7th graders involved.
The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association has named Coach Brandon Gooding as the IBCA Junior High Boys Coach of the Year in District #16.
The IBCA named Coach Jason Finch as the IBCA Girls Junior High Co-coach of the Year in District #16.
ISAT tests were given March 14-17th.
The Book Fair is set up in the elementary gym. Mrs. Dittmer is in charge of the book fair this year.
The 8th graders have recently completed a fund raiser to cover the cost of the bus for their field trip to Chicago.
Barbara Cox read the ag report prepared by Paul Mealiff. There were approximately 220 people in attendance at the FFA Banquet on March 21st which makes it the largest since Mr. Mealiff started teaching in La Harpe 15 years ago.
Mr. Mealiff wanted to thank the board and the La Harpe community for the great support of the Ag program and FFA chapter activities.
The Section XI Public Speaking and FFA Creed Speaking CDE was held at W.I.U. on February 23rd. Jazmyn Passmore participated in the Creed division and placed 5th.
On February 25th, Justin Sparrow, Lacey Pence, and Megan Poulter interviewed well at the State FFA Degree competition. Only 2 percent of the Illinois FFA Membership can receive this degree each year.
At the District FFA Proficiency Awards held in Jacksonville, on March 8th, Megan Poulter placed 2nd in Dairy Placement and Jennifer Siegworth placed 4th in Home and/or Community Development. The competition was strong in both of these areas.
Livestock judges, Mariah Myers, Jazmyn Passmore, Tanieka Rodeffer, Dillon McKeown, Alex Bundy, Dillon Pollock, Kaela Covert, Lindsey Pollock, Megan Poulter, and Skyler Pence competed in the Section XI Livestock Judging CDE on March 18 at Bushnell-Prairie City High School.
The freshman team placed 5th in the section while the upper class team placed 4th in the swine division.
The Ag Business Management CDE, Ag Science Fair, and Ag Mechanics CDE will be held at W.I.U. on April 12th.
The State Livestock and Dairy Judging CDE will be held at the U. of I. on April 25th.
Chapter FFA officer elections for 2006-07 will be held at the April meeting.
Mark Irish and Nancy Butler had toured the Building Trades house. They reported that the house looks very nice. It will take another year to finish since class size is low.
Alfred Huston submitted the low bid for the furnace and installation.