Bluffton Schools principal reports, December 2022

At the Monday, December 12 meeting of the Bluffton Board of Education, all items on the agenda were approved and the following reports were made by the elementary, middle, and high school principals.

Bluffton Elementary report by Elementary Principal Ben Thiel (a.k.a. Mr. T):

• Parent/Teacher Conferences: Parents were able to sign up for their own time slot which was a huge time saver for staff and community. 
• Christmas Concert: 4th and 5th grade strings held their annual concert on December 5.
• S.O.S. Tutoring program kicked off on December 8 with fourth grade students. Funded by Ford B. Cauffiel. 
• Christmas activities:
  • Service Project - Cans and Coins for the Community
  • Incentive - Mr. T will dress up like Buddy the Elf and sing Christmas Grams!
  • Dress Up Days are December 19-21 

Bluffton Middle School report by Josh Kauffman, BMS Principal/Transportation Supervisor:

• Career Cluster Highlights 
  • Utendorf - Students are learning about the stock market and have gotten fake money to buy and trade stocks. They have been learning about credit and debit cards, pros and cons of each and where the money is coming from, and completing basic budgeting. 
  • Ault - Students are learning how to deal with stress/anxiety through physical activity (touch and stretching), music therapy, art therapy, breathing exercises, gratitude journaling, doing random acts of kindness, and have been working on a thankful jar. 
  • Boblitt - Students have been researching the education field and making presentations on it. They have been working with 1st grade students for hands-on experience to help them with reading, writing, and spelling.
  • Bracy - Students have been setting up a blueprint for the electrical layout of a new house. They look at each room to determine the need for amps. and wattage. Breakers and outlets are all discussed and reviewed. 8th grade will be using 2X4 structures to create a real wall inside a house with electrical, insulation, lights with switches, and tools used for all of it. 
• Strings Orchestra Winter Tour - 7th and 8th grade students in strings recently went on their holiday tour around Allen County. Students played for daycares, nursing homes, visited the Allen County Museum Christmas Tree Festival, and finished their day at Bluffton's Mennonite Memorial Home. 
• Special thanks to kitchen staff - November birthdays were celebrated on the 30th with Cake in the Cafe! Teachers also got a special prime rib lunch compliments of the kitchen staff.
• Transportation News - New cameras were installed on school buses. 

High School Report by Principal Mike Minnig

Academics:

• Annual College Credit Plus meeting will be held Wednesday in a virtual meeting. A recording of the meeting will be located on our school website. 
• Make-up state testing was given last week. 
• The First National Bank sponsors a Junior Board of Directors Program which meets monthly on how to build a corporation, handle investments, control a budget, and create a company in conjunction with other area schools. Six students are a part of this group: Izzy Stechschulte, Riley Greer, Jessica Boop, Shylee Kaufman, Macie Nieman and Jacob Lehman. 
• The Renaissance program will be holding one of their main quarterly incentives Thursday afternoon as students will head over to the Shannon Theatre. 
• The Music Department will be holding concerts on Monday, December 12 for the Choir groups and Monday, December 19 for the Instrumental groups. 

Athletics: 

• The boys basketball team will be playing in the McDonald's Holiday Tournament over the Christmas Break on Dec 29 and 30. 

Other: 

• The staff and students did a Toys for Tots campaign and sock drive for the homeless. 
• On December 2 motivational speaker Keith Davis talked to students about making good decisions and persevering. Davis formerly played for the New York Giants and the University of Southern California. His partner was a member of the Seattle Seahawks. 
• Mr. Rackley is holding a free crash course ACT prep class in January in the mornings over a 3 week period where each day is focused on a particular area of the test. 
• Mrs. Diller will be holding another aluminum can drive Thursday morning, December 15.