Hoxie Community Schools USD 412

This is Hoxie's fourth year to enter the Lions International Peace Poster Contest. The contest was sponsored by Hoxie Hot Rodders Lions Club. Middle school art students at the Hoxie Jr./Sr. High School were able to participate in the contest.

As an art project, the class had to follow the contest rules and guidelines to complete a poster that showed originality, artistic merit, and expression of the theme. This year's theme was "Journey of Peace." It is an international contest for students to show how they imagine peace with others.

Board members from the Hot Rodders Lions Club voted on the posters. Kailyn Follis was selected as the winner and Hilde Heskett placed second. Kailyn's poster will be forwarded and judged at an international level.

Diercks, Bretz Place at State Cross Country Meet

By Tom Friess

We traveled to Wamego on Saturday, Nov. 2 for the State Cross Country Meet where junior Emily Diercks and freshman Drew Bretz looked to put an exclamation point on what was already a very successful season. Both had survived the elimination race at a very competitive regional and now had the opportunity to run the hilly course at the Wamego Country Club. With their teammates along for support, they prepared themselves all week for that task.

Emily was first up on the line as she toed the mark with 95 other competitors. This was by far the biggest field that Emily has run in all year and we had worked on getting her away at the start so she wouldn’t be swallowed up in the sea of humanity. Her strategy was to climb the hill at the start and look to pass groups on the first downhill and then position herself on the switchback hills right before the mile mark. She executed this pretty well as she came off the first turn in the middle of the pack, passed several opponents on the downhill and found herself in the top 20 going into the hills. She ran a nice set of up-hills to further advance herself into 10th place. Now it was a race of guts and mind over matter. She was able to complete the course in her new best time of 20:27 for the course at Wamego. This was 29 seconds faster than her previous best and her 9th place finish earned her a third consecutive trip to the podium. This feat matches both Madi Niblock and Luke Friess for the most medalist honors for Hoxie HighSchool with an opportunity to be a four-time medalist.

Drew made his state XC debut as part of the last race of the day. He started in a field of 104 runners and his strategy was very similar to Emily’s except he was in a starting gate right in the middle of the field so he was going to have to pick his way through the pack. He raced his way into the top 10 as he came out of the switchback hills and then looked to hold off the competition and secure a medal. Drew not only answered every challenge that the course threw at him, but he also answered every challenge from his competitors. However, most importantly overcame every challenge from the little voice inside him which is constantly trying to persuade a runner to seek comfort. He lost a few places over the last ¾ mile or so but ran 17:46 which broke his previous personal best 5K record by a whopping 24 seconds. This on what is arguably the most challenging course and the biggest stage that a high school runner can compete on. This was quite a day for this young man who entered with high hopes of placing and was not disappointed. KC Giancola, son of Chris and Tenille Giancola, raced to a 19th place finish for the Syracuse Bulldogs in the 2A boys’ race wrapping up a great XC career with for the three-time qualifier and two-time medalist at state.

It was a cool day but pretty calm and I really was convinced as race after race went off that this would be a great opportunity. It was just an awesome day and a great end to the season. Our t-shirts bore the Latin motto, “Venimus, Vidimus, Deus Vicit.” (We came, we saw God conquered.) With Emily bringing experience and even with Drew being inexperienced they both managed to do what our team has always strived to do ... glorify God by using our talents better than we ever did before. Thus, we put a wrap on our season and what a season it was. We had a team that set personal best after personal best and earned some hardware at races from the middle school division to the high school junior varsity to varsity. Each practice and each race helped to form these kids into a better version of themselves as they learned to share in each other’s pain as well as joy. They survived the “Trials of the Miles” presented on the long runs as well as the mental pounding of doing 12 repeat 400’s or 6 repeat 800’s. Everything I threw at them they tried their best to complete and autograph it with excellence. I can’t put into words how proud I am of this group and look forward to being with them all in the future as they were all underclassmen. So, until next year we will put away the hurdles, take down the practice schedules and rack the medicine balls, but we will get to keep in our hearts the memories of one exceptionally fine season.

Welcome to KAY

Kansas Association for Youth has taken on their first of many community projects.  They have started cleaning the Rec Center and plan to continue and eventually paint it.

Mrs. Campbell attended Colby Community College (Associate) and Fort Hays State University (2 Bachelors).

She has a Bachelor in Fine Arts in Art Education and a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education (grades k-9).

 She does some gardening, reading, art, and likes visiting family.

 Her favorite music is Country and some pop music.

 Her favorite food is Mexican.

She does like to travel,  She's been to Jamaica and Mexico where it is warm, but someday she would like to do an Alaskan cruise.

1st hour - Jr. High Art

2nd hour - High School Art

3rd hour - Plan

4th hour - Jr. High Art

5th hour - High School Art

6th hour - High School Art

7th hour - Jr. High Woods/Crafts

8th hour - High School Art

Ms. Jessica Reeves attended Kansas State University where she majored in Agricultural Education. She is almost finished with her Masters in Educational Leadership. Outside of school, she likes to watch football, camp, fish, and hunt. 

                1st-Hour Study Skills

                2nd Hour Plan 

                3rd-Hour Animal Science

                4th Hour Agriculture Mechanics 

                5th Hour Horticulture 

                6th Hour Agriscience 

                7th Hour 8th Grade Ag. Exploration 

                Seminar

                8th Hour Ag Welding I & II                       

Hoxie entered the sub-state volleyball tournament ranked #4. They defeated Plainville in 3 sets, 20-25, 25-19, and 13-25. Hoxie Lady Indians ended their 2019 season with a loss to a tough Smith Center team, 18-25 and 21-25, in the second round of sub-state play.  Great Job Ladies!!

The elementary students received spirit shirts courtesy of  STUCO and the Indian Pride Booster Club. They were super excited to get shirts and appreciate the generosity of the STUCO and Booster Club.

Regional Saturday finally arrived on October 26th and the Hoxie harriers made the trip to Great Bend for their last "guaranteed" meet. This race was one where they would seek new personal bests as well as a qualifying position for the 2A state championship @ Wamego. Hopes were high, temps were low and that one moment of opportunity was about to collide with an entire season of preparation which is a mixture that, if done right, can make the impossible become the incredible.

All About Me!

Mrs.  Megan Bieker

                Mrs. Bieker attended K-State majoring in Elementary Education.  At the moment she is working towards her masters!  Her family consists of 3 older sisters and one older brother.  She is married to BJ Bieker (former history teacher) and has a fur baby named Marvin (Boston Terrier).  One of her favorite classes to teach is English I because of the stories they read.  She believes they are very engaging.  Her hobbies out of school includes working out, reading, and refurnishing furniture.  One of her favorite past times is being a “home body” and spending time with her family.  She likes all kinds of music and her favorite food is Mexican or Italian.  Mrs. Bieker loves to travel and would like to go to Europe or travel across America.  One of her favorite stories EVER is during her first year of teaching.  At the time she was teaching 6^th grade (Class of 2021) and they thought that she should date the new history teacher at the high school (Mr. Bieker).  They wouldn’t drop it!  Everyday was a constant topic of getting her to date him.  Little did they know, she was already dating him!

Schedule

1ST    Jr. Study Skills

2^ND    8^th Grade English

3^RD     7^th Grade English

4^TH     English I

5^TH     8th Grade English

6^TH     7th Grade English

7^TH      English I

8^TH     Planning