Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Sorted by date Results 251 - 275 of 278
Hot Springs County School District #1 Board of Trustees held a special meeting last week to accept resignations and offer initial contracts to incoming teachers. Resignations included Megan Kraushaar as the TMS Lights On site coordinator and Jessica Morris as special education paraprofessional. The board also accepted the resignation of high school English teacher, Alex McLean. Initial teaching contracts were offered to Noni Weber and Katie Decker, both of whom will be teaching high school English. Special Education teaching contracts were...
Hot Springs County High School's FFA program recently attended their State event in Cheyenne. One of the highlights of the trip was the "booth contest" which the team won through a combination of excellent presentation and a little help from hand-held technology. FFA member Jeffrey VanAntwerp created a Wyoming trivia quiz with an interactive program that was then plugged into a TV in the booth. Those passing by could access the program via their smart phones and play along. Strite Daniels,... Full story
Parents, students and boosters have been very concerned about the future status of various activities at both the middle school and high school. A meeting last Wednesday afternoon with the entire coaching staff from both schools, activities director Brandon Deromedi and superintendent Dustin Hunt outlined cuts that will go into effect for the coming school year. Five coaching positions have been eliminated including freshman volleyball, freshman boys and girls basketball, an assistant cheer... Full story
A number of parents and students were in attendance at the Tuesday night meeting of the Hot Springs County School District’s Board of Directors, having heard rumors that certain programs were going to be eliminated for the upcoming school year. Before opening the floor to public comment, board chair Nichole Weyer read a statement from the board asking people to understand that no assumptions should be made about certain programs based on whether or not a teacher is retained or let go. Weyer said... Full story
The Bobcat Speech and Debate team finished their season strong last weekend at the National Qualifying meet at Casper College. Coach Cindy Glasson said the team’s finish fits perfectly with what usually happens – bad State Tournament, good National Qualifiers. Although they didn’t have anyone qualify for Nationals in Birmingham, Ala. this summer, Tyler Kay and Katie Burrows did place fifth, making them the third runners-up for Nationals. “Tyler (Kay) and Katie (Burrows) did an amazing job,” Glasson said. “They were the only freshman te...
Spencer Axtell, left, placed fifth out of 11 at the FFA district speaking contest, and Jason Clouse placed third and will move onto the regional contest Tuesday March 14 at 3 p.m. at the auditorium. During the contest, students have to recite the FFA creed, and answer questions from judges. Thermopolis FFA members Logan Bartholomew, Ryan Bleak, Taylor Nuttall, Jessi Pennoyer and Dreama Thorpe are 2017 Wyoming state degree recipients....
Mary McGillivray, music educator at Ralph Witters Elementary (RWE) and high school drama director, was recently awarded the Outstanding Young Music Educator for the North Big Horn Basin. Nominated by her colleagues, McGillivray has spent a lifetime in music and theatre, attending Casper College where she was deeply involved in the music and theatre departments before moving on to Black Hills State University where she received a Bachelors in Vocal Music Performance, a Bachelors in Music Educatio...
At their January 17 meeting the Hot Springs County School District Board of Trustees held a lengthy discussion on whether or not to move to a four-day school week for the upcoming 2017-18 school year. Six years ago, when the board decided to move to the 4 1/2 day week, it wasn’t a financial decision, but one based on student absenteeism and a better way to combat it, especially on the high school level. At the time, the majority of missed school days were on Fridays with students p...
The start of the school year means many new things - new teachers and classes, new activities, even new friends. For Silvia Hernandez Diez-Ochoa, these were all rolled into one. Originally from Madrid, Spain, Diez-Ochoa is currently a sophomore at Hot Springs County High School as part of the student exchange program. Host parent Michelle Westman explained when the host parents and students are being connected through the exchange program, the parents can decide to host a student for a semester...
Last month, Hot Springs County High School was named champion in the 2016 Battle of the Belts, a competition that pitted them against Worland to see which community's drivers showed most improvement when it comes to wearing seatbelts. But, there's much more to driving safely than buckling up, and during Homecoming Week members of the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association spoke about distracted driving. Frank Chapman said distracted driving is not just a problem with teens, as he sees many adults dri...
Fifth-grade teacher, Katie DeSpain comes to Thermopolis Middle School from Montana, where she was born and raised. DeSpain grew up in Laurel, Mont. and attended college at the University of Montana Western in Dillon before getting her bachelor's degree in elementary education. Her first assignment as a teacher was a combination classroom in Rapelje, Mont. where she taught fifth and sixth grade in one room. DeSpain married her husband, Dean, in May, and the pair decided they wanted to be...
A fascination with social studies and history has brought seventh grade social studies teacher, Shane Corpening, to Thermopolis. After growing up in Kemmerer, Corpening attended Rocky Mountain College in Billings for his teaching degree. So what does he think of his first teaching job? "It's been enjoyable so far," he said. "Thermopolis is an awesome place. When I was looking at places to teach, I thought this would be perfect. I love to fish and the Big Horns are right here." Corpening said he...
Growing up in a small town, most teenagers can hardly wait to leave, but then there are many who return to their hometown and third grade teacher; Stephanie Boren is one of those "kids". Born and raised in Thermopolis, Boren has spent the last nine years teaching in Sheridan County. She and her husband, Sean, decided Thermopolis was going to be the best place to raise their children ages four, five and seven, so they made the move home. "I've wanted to be a teacher since Mrs. Cordingly in first...
The results are in, and Injury Prevention Resources was the first to congratulate Hot Springs County High School on being this year’s Battle of the Belts champions. The Battle was renewed by IPR, pitting HSC High School against Worland High School. The challenge focuses on making communities safer places to live, not just for students but also staff and everyone on the road. Much as high school sports teams have rivalries, the Battle of the Belts can be thought of as two schools going for the c...
One of the new faces you'll see at Ralph Witters Elementary belongs to Ashlee Burton, one of the trio of new first grade teachers for the district. Burton comes to Thermopolis from Basin along with her husband Gerry, who is the new band director. After completing college, Burton began raising her family. With seven children, she was kept busy, but added a home pre school to the mix, which she ran for 10 years. "It was the perfect solution," she said. "I was able to be home with my kids." Once th...
Enrollment numbers for the Hot Springs County School District have remained fairly steady from last year, gaining 15 students since the end of classes this spring. First grade, fourth grade and sixth grade have each gained one student since last spring, while the seventh grade, eighth grade and junior class at the high school have each lost a single student. The biggest jumps in student enrollment are seen in the kindergarten with seven new students, third grade gained five, as did the freshman class. Second and fifth grades each gained three...
Hot Springs County School District No. 1 held their monthly meeting for September on Tuesday, the 20th, discussing a variety of items, including the Jump Start program and major maintenance items that were completed over the summer. Thermopolis Middle School instructor Tom Olsen, reported to the board on the effectiveness of the Jump Start program, formerly known as summer school. "We sit down and collaborate when it comes to who we think should be included in the Jump Start program," Olsen...
Among all the new faces at Ralph Witters Elementary, you may have noticed the woman with her finger on the pulse of the building, new principal, Laurie Graves. Graves comes to Thermopolis from the Sheridan School District, having grown up in Miles City, Mont. She attended Montana State University, gaining her degree in elementary education. She spent a year in an educational exchange program with the University of Georgia before starting her teaching career. She has spent 22 years teaching...
The new band director for the Hot Springs County School District comes to us from Basin where he taught fifth through eighth grade band and high school band and choir. Originally from Green River and Star Valley, Gerry Burton received his Bachelors Degree in Music Education and his Masters Degree in Counseling Education from the University of Wyoming. Burton began his teaching career at a 5A school in Kansas teaching both elementary and high school vocal music. He then took a sabbatical from...
Head Bobcat football coach and P.E. teacher Matt McPhie comes to Thermopolis from Sioux Falls, S.D. where he had been coaching at Augustana University. An Augustana alumnus, McPhie played college football and did some coaching before leaving the game to pursue some business opportunities, get married and start his family. McPhie spent 12 years in Boise, Idaho, as well as some time in Phoenix, Ariz. where he took a turn at professional golf. He and his wife decided it was time to complete his...
Hot Springs County School District #1 has made some changes to the food service program for the 2016-17 school year. The changes include a structural change moving from one food service director to three head cooks as well as using more recipes that are built from scratch to avoid feeding students processed food. The district has also removed considerable paperwork from the duties of the cooks to ensure more of their time is devoted to quality meals for students. Superintendent Dustin Hunt shared the importance of the meal program, “We have t...
Thermopolis Middle School held a ceremony Friday to recognize students for their performance on the Proficiency Assessments for Wyoming Students (PAWS) tests taken in March of 2016. TMS ranked in the top ten for all Wyoming schools in the following: Eighth grade math students - 1st in Wyoming Sixth grade math students - 2nd in Wyoming Eighth grade science students - 6th (tie) in Wyoming Sixth grade reading students - 7th in Wyoming Seventh grade math students - 10th in Wyoming The current high...
Through the school week, students have access to meal programs. However, when the weekend comes around some do not have the food they need to see them through those couple days. Judy Carswell, a coordinator for the People to People Backpack program which provides food for students in need, explained a couple years back there was some leftover money given through another program, and the schools were approached about creating a Backpack program. Though a federally funded program was initially loo...
The Spring 2016 statewide testing results were released last week by the Wyoming Department of Education. The results show each grade level’s proficiency in math, reading and science in comparison to 2015 scores. In the Hot Springs County School District, Ralph Witters Elementary and Thermopolis Middle School have taken the PAWS test. In grade 3, 9.43 percent of students performed below basic in math and 16.98 percent in reading. Students performing basic occurred in 30.19 percent in math and 3...
Thank you all for coming today to support the Class of 2016. And to my class, we did it. I’m going to be 100 percent honest with everyone here. I had no idea what to say on this stage today. I wracked my brain for weeks trying to come up with a meaningful and inspirational string of words that would touch all of your hearts and maybe make you laugh a little too. I mean, this is the most important speech I’ll ever give in my life, right? So I kept putting off writing this speech because I wanted to wait for that one special moment of ins...
