Mission & Vision

To educate and empower each student for success in a global society.

District Goals

Goal 1: All Students at Tea Area are future Titan Graduates

Goal 2: Future Titan Graduates are articulate, fluent, and analytical readers at or above

grade level who are ready to apply skills in the real world.

Goal 3: Future Titan Graduates can apply mathematics and scientific thinking in real life

situations through effective communication and collaboration at or above grade level.

Goal 4: Future Titan Graduates are civic leaders engaged in the community through ac-

tion and service.

Upcoming Dates: November 4th: TAHS Blood Drive

November 7th: Fall Choral Show-

case—7 p.m.

November 10th: Veteran’s Day Pro-

gram—10 a.m.

November 11th: No School

November 21st: 3 Hour Early Out

November 21st: Parent-Teacher Con-

ferences — 1-9 p.m.

November 23-25: No School

December 2nd: Junior Achievement

Ethics Classes at TAHS

December 7th: 2nd Quarter Midterm

December 8th: HS Band/Choir Con-

cert — 7:30 p.m.

December 23rd to January 2nd: No

School

January 13th: 3 Hour Early Out

January 13th: End of 2nd Quarter/1st

Semester

January 16th: No School

September 2016 Volume 1, Issue 1

Check us out online! Click Below

Welcome to the TAHS Titan Times. Volume 1, Issue I addresses all areas of the district

goals as listed below. Please notice on the right side of this page, Upcoming Dates.

Feel free to view the online social media pages by clicking on the Facebook, Twitter, or

Cube linked logos on the bottom right. We hope you enjoy reading the issue and look

forward to bringing additional issues throughout the year. Below is a brief overview of

the articles covered in the issue.

In this issue of the initial Tea Area High School Titan Times:

Pg. 2: A Highlight on Special Education

Pg. 3: Boys Golf and SADD/Student Council Calendars

Pg. 4: Library and Chorus Updates

Pg. 5: Curricula and Counselor Updates

Pg. 6: Spanish Courses/Senior Spotlights

Attendance Matters:

Students should miss no more

than 9 days of school each

year to stay engaged, success-

ful and on track to graduate.

Help keep your teen engaged!

Page 2 Tea Area High School

“To educate and empower each student for success in a global society.”

Resource Room Info

It is an exciting year for the HS Sped Department this school year. There are two

new paraprofessionals who have been added to our resource room staff this year: Jeff

Walder and Jordan Bakken. We also have the privilege of keeping on the following

paraprofessionals: Lora Clark and Jodi Rausch. Along with the new paraprofession-

als, the HS Sped Department has a new Resource Room teacher, Mrs. Christian-

sen. She is coming to the Tea Area School District with 10 years of experience and

we are proud to add her to our Titan staff.

The HS Sped Department is now offering more Transitional Pathway classes for up-

per level students to take; such as Self-Advocacy and Employability classes. It will be

a great year!

Life Skills Info

When you enter the high school Life Skill’s classroom, you will see a sign that states, “Amazing Things Happen

Here”, and that is indeed what is happening. The Life Skills program is excited to have moved into two larger class-

rooms inside the building. The Life Skills classroom is where our alternate curriculum is delivered during the morn-

ing hours. In the afternoon, our students move next door into our brand new Life Skills Apartment/Job Lab. This

setting provides our students an opportunity to learn real life skills in a real-

istic setting. Our students are taught every skill needed to live as inde-

pendently as possible. The students also have a chance to increase their job

skills by “working” in our “Titan Grocery Store”. On the days where our

students are not in the Apartment/Job Lab, they are out on community out-

ings learning the skills necessary to maintain an apartment/house, shop for

groceries/clothes/household items, restaurant skills, and social skills. The

Life Skills program is also teaming with Project Skills for the second year in

a row to provide our older students an opportunity to gain more job skills,

while interning at a local business. The program is a collaboration between

the state vocational rehabilitation agencies and local school districts. Our

students are able to complete up to 250 hours at the job setting, while being paid minimum wage through Vocation-

al Rehabilitation services. We would like to thank all of Tea’s amazing businesses for opening their doors to provide

our students a real-life work experience.

We are honored to have our Life Skills staff returning this school year. Gina Coley, Life Skills Special Education

Teacher, is beginning her 7th year in the Tea Area School District. The Life Skills program also consists of two

paraprofessionals, Katy Boyles

and Bryan Paulson. Katy has

been with us for 4 years and

Bryan Paulson has been with us

for 3 years. Our students and

staff are proud of the new

changes that have been imple-

mented this school year. Go

Titans!!!

TAHS Special Education….

The Tea Boys golf team came into the season with a lot of confidence after winning the region

championship in 2015. Leading the way was senior Brian Finn and Cody Peterson, junior Kol-

by Newborg and sophomore Brock Murphy. Kolby Newborg placed 4th, 3rd, and 1st. Brock

Murphy placed 2nd, 5th, and 3rd to get the season under way. After the first three meets it was

one for the record books. Brock Murphy set a school record with tournament low 2 under par

70 in Vermillion. Also in Vermillion Brian Finn and Kolby Newborg placed 3rd and 4th, the

team shot a school record 313 that day as well. The boys won regions again with a 333, win-

ning by 2 strokes. State was held in Rapid City at Hart Ranch golf course, which was no easy

task but the boys prepped all summer and fall for this moment. Leading the way after day one

was Brock Murphy with a 76, Kolby Newborg and Brian Finn came in with an 81 and Cody

Peterson came in with a 98 rounding out the team was 8th grader Cooper Leslie shooting a 122.

The boys were in the lead after day 1. At the end of day 2 Bran Finn came in with low round

of the day 75, which placed him T-3rd. Kolby Newborg came in with a 79 placing him in 5th

place, and Brock Murphy shot an 86 putting him T-

8th. Cody Peterson came in with a 94 and Cooper

Leslie came in with a 119. Your Tea Area Boys Golf

team will be raising a State Championship banner.

Season Awards

Newcomer of the year – Eric Munson

Lowest Scoring Average – Brock Murphy

MVP – Brock Murphy

Most improved – Brock Murphy

Round of the year - Brian Finn

Greens hit in regulation – Kolby Newborg

Fairways hit – Eric Munson

Lowest Putts - Brock Murphy

Page 3 Volume 1, Issue 1

Boys Golf = State Champions!

Picture L to R::

Coach Sudenga,

Brock Murphy,

Kolby Newborg,

Brian Finn, Co-

dy Peterson,

Cooper Leslie

TAHS Student Council plans events for the year and the schedule/calendar is highlighted below.

October-Regional Workshop

November-Blood Drive

December- Animal Shelter Angel

Tree/Life Skill Kids

January-Positive New Year's Reso-

lutions for TAHS students

February- Activity Night

March- Bean Bag Tournament

April- Blood Drive

May- New Council Elections

TAHS Students Against Destructive De-cisions plans events for the year and the schedule/calendar is highlighted below:

September- Ideas for students to

study better

October-Red Ribbon Week Dress

Up Days

November-Great American Smoke

Out -Tobacco

December- Pass it Forward Week

January-Perception Week

February- Eating Disorders Aware-

ness

March- Kick Butts (Electronic In-

halants)

April- White Face Day

May- Teacher Appreciation Week

Activity Calendars

Page 4 Tea Area High School

“To educate and empower each student for success in a global society.” “To educate and empower each student for success in a global society.”

National Teen Read week was held Oct 9-14. Trivia questions were read each day to give the students a chance to win

prizes. Friday was dress up as your favorite book character for a chance for students and teachers to win. There were

quite a few who participated and it was great to see all the book character costumes. The Barnes and Noble gift cards

winners are pictured below.

The South Dakota State Library web page has many on-line resources to help high school students prepare for college.

Learning Express Library has many prep tests for kids to practice and prepare them for the actual tests. ACT, SAT,

PSAT and AP exams are available. You will also find a computer skills site, a career center and if your student is plan-

ning on joining the military they can take a practice ASVAB exam. Many great useful tools on this site. If you need to

know how to get there, go to http://library.sd.gov/ click on online resources, scroll down to complete listing and click

on the L. There is a lot of great information and helpful stuff.

This year marks the 255th anniversary of the Bill of

Rights. The state has 35 exhibits that they have of-

fered to libraries in the state. I am so pleased to say,

we will host one of these displays in the high

school library. The pop-up unit comes with digital

educational and press materials with it. The size of

the display is 66 1/2” high and 32” wide, so it is

quite a substantial display. The history and social

studies teachers are pretty excited to use it for their

classes. The display will arrive Dec 15th and will be

available for public viewing until Feb 28th. So if you

are a history buff or would like to see the display,

please feel free to come to the high school library

to see this amazing exhibit.

Pictured from left to right are: Katherine Campbell, Mr. Ehrisman. Aspyn Taylor. Miss

Garry and Delaney Krogh.

Attached picture – Freeman All-State Extravaganza Back row (L to R) – Mason Schlunsen, Dylan Schu-macher, Max Warwick, Max Peterson, Ben Brenholt Front row (L to R) – Brooke Piper, Heather LaFave, Adrianna Haack, Grace Hayworth, Karlie Heidinger

Library Happenings

All-State Chorus

The SDHSAA’s yearly event, All-State Chorus & Orchestra, will be held on

Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29 at the Denny Sanford Prem-

ier Center in Sioux Falls. Students to represent Tea Area at All-State Cho-

rus are: Heather LaFave, Karlie Heidinger, Max Peterson, Dylan Schu-

macher, Brooke Piper, Grace Hayworth, Mason Schlunsen, and Max War-

wick. Tea Area’s All-State Chorus members and alternates attended the

Freeman All-State Extravaganza on October 20th in preparation for this

year’s event.

Fall Choral Showcase

Choir students in grades 7 – 12 have been busy preparing for the upcoming

2nd Annual Fall Choral Showcase. This year’s theme is “Dancing to the

Decades”, featuring songs from the 1920s – present. The showcase will be

held on Monday, November 7th at 7 pm in the HS gym. The audience will

be delighted with songs from Pentatonix, Aerosmith, Wilson Phillips,

Kansas, The Beach Boys, and many more!

TAHS Chorus Update

Information about college representatives in the building, scholarships, ACT information, etc… will be emailed to

students via their school email, posted on Tea Area High School Counseling Department on Facebook and posted on TAHS Counseling Dept on Twitter. Below is a highlight of what is going on per grade level. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions or concerns. Class of 2017: Get your college and technical school applications in now! Don’t know which one to

attend? Apply to several. Evaluate their degrees and programs by looking at their

website and talking to their reps that visit the school. Schedule campus visits and talk

to professors.

Complete FAFSA. Opened October 1, 2016 for the 2017-2018 school year. Families

will use their 2015 taxes to apply. Financial aid is based on first come, first serve.

Apply for scholarships. A list is available on the counselor website.

Class of 2018:

Visit college reps that visit and ask questions about their programs. Familiarize yourself with schools that inter-

est you. In the spring (March & April), plan on visiting a couple of them.

Prepare to take the ACT in February or April of 2017, if you’re planning on attending a 4-year college or uni-

versity after high school.

Continue working hard in your classes. To have open campus as a senior, you need a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or

higher. To get into most SD colleges, you need a GPA of 2.6 or higher.

Class of 2019 and Class of 2020:

Take time with SDMyLife evaluating what careers you’re interested in.

Work hard on your classes. Don’t accept zeros for assignments! Your GPA starts accumulating your freshman

year. It’s not unusual for me to hear a senior say, “I wish I would have taken my freshman year seriously.”

Page 5 Volume 1, Issue 1

Class Accounts

Each TAHS Class has a trust and

agency account, and monitored by

Class Officers. These accounts

fund various needs including,

homecoming, prom, and gradua-

tion. Money is gained in these

accounts through class dues as

freshmen, taco feed as sopho-

mores, and magazines sales as well

as prom as juniors. The goal is to

typically have a fund balance of

around $3500 by the junior year,

as that will cover the cost of prom

and graduation. Seniors families

will still be responsible for paying

for cap and gown. Funds balance

as of 10-26-16:

Class of 2020: $756

Class of 2019: $454

Class of 2018: $1844

Class of 2017: $2913

Counselor Corner IMPORTANT DATES: November 8 - ASVAB

(Military and career as-sessment)

November 21 - Finan-cial Aid Night, 6:30-7:30 PM

December 10 - ACT (Register online by No-vember 4)

December 22 - Dual Credit Registration Due

TAHS is a quarter into a new program of offering honors courses. These courses

challenge students academically at a more rigorous, in-depth, and faster pace. The

goal within an honors course is to help students develop more effective written

and oral communication skills as well as become more independent thinkers. Al-

so, within an honors course students will develop their ability to analyze and syn-

thesize a range of material and formulate critical thinking skills. Honors courses

are designed to help better prepare our students for success in a college setting.

Students are challenged to acquire the skills, knowledge, and study habits neces-

sary for success at the college level. Within an honors course setting students co-

operate with an academic peer group with focused goals, in an intellectually rich

community.

TAHS is also implementing a new program called Measure of Academic Progress

(MAP). Students in grades 9-12 take tests in Math, ELA, Reading and Science

(Grades 9-10 only). These tests identify students’ instructional level. These as-

sessments are given three times throughout the year. The results give staff an ad-

ditional tool to differentiate instruction within the classroom as well as a diagnos-

tic tool for leveling of students’ abilities. This test is also includes a projected pro-

ficiency summary predicting ACT college readiness beginning in 5th grade. Re-

ports will be distributed at Parent Teacher Conferences on November 21st.

TAHS Programs

Volume 1, Issue 1

Lunch Reminders:

Account balances can be

monitored by registering free

at myschoolbucks.com.

Student ID numbers are

necessary and can be

requested from the office.

Low account balance

reminders can be emailed/

texted to you via

myschoolbucks.comwhen the

student’s account reaches a

set amount.

Payments may be made via

online at myschoolbucks.com;

these payments do incur a

small processing fee.

Cash/check payments brought

to the office must be turned in

prior to 8:45am to be posted

by lunch.

Free lunch account programs

do NOT cover any extra items

a student takes (i.e. chips,

cookies, extra entrée, fruit,

Sidney Clayberg

What is your greatest memory of high school?

I have many great memories from high school, but one of the ones I will always

remember was the band and choir trip. It was probably one of the best trips I

have been on. I made so many new friends and my relationships with others be-

came stronger. The band and the choir did amazing. Listening to the choir almost

made me cry, and when they were awarded with the opportunity to perform at

Carnegie Hall, I was in awe. That is such an amazing honor. Pikes Peak and Gar-

den of the Gods were amazing sights and I will never forget them.

Who was your favorite teacher and why?

Miss Bertram - Her class may be hard and speech was definitely not my favorite class, but she always

pushed you to be the best you can be. She sees the best in everyone and holds you to a high stand-

ard. Things may not be easy, but when the class is over, you will be not only a better student, but a

better person as well.

If you could turn back the clock and do one thing differently in high school, what would it be? If I were to change something about high school, I would make the most of everything. I would fo-cus on the present and love every minute. I would not stress as much about my classes or all of my homework. Time flies, so don't stress about the future. Have fun while you can and remember all of the fun times you had in high school.

Jeremiah Makahununiu

What is your greatest memory of high school?

My greatest memory of high school is play-

ing home games on Friday nights.

What is your best advice for your under-classmen?

Take as many dual credits as you can as soon

as possible if you plan on going on to college. Save that $$$.

If you could turn back the clock and do one thing differently in high school, what would it be? One thing I would do different is take more classes that interested me personally.

TAHS Senior Spotlight

Tea Fire Department Youth Cadets Pancake Feed

Pancakes and French Toast When: Sunday, November 6th

Time: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Tea Fire Station

Cost: Free Will Donation

This fundraiser helps support the Tea Cadet program

Clases De Espańol Spanish courses have been working on various

projects and units in class! Spanish III has been

working on the past tenses in Spanish and

translating a Harry Potter every day. Spanish I

has been working on how to describe clothes

and the weather. Spanish II recently had a big

project. They created a Spanish fashion show!

Spanish II had to create the dialogue in Span-

ish, find background music and coordinate

outfits with their chosen themes. Themes in-

cluded High school stereotypes, decades and

sports. They did an amazing job!