Teutopolis Junior High School

TJHS is very proud of the generosity of our students, parents, and families! Seventh and eighth grade students collected 1,024 cans and $1,870 to donate to Catholic Charities. These donations give Catholic Charities the resources they need to help people enjoy their holiday seasons.

8th grade art students recently celebrated The Day of the Dead by creating sugar skulls, a traditional Mexican folk art. Students packed a sugar mixture into the molds and then decorated them with icing after the skulls had hardened. A big thanks to Ms. Jill Spour and her THS students for creating 4 skull molds with their 3D printers!

Students in Mrs. Yagow's class made cards or wrote letters to 8th grade parents who have served in the military. The goal was to show these veterans our appreciation in a personal way for their service and sacrifice. Thank you veterans!

TJHS PE classes walked to the American Legion Memorial today in remembrance of all of our local veterans. Mike Funneman and Roy Weber graciously donated their time to explain how the memorial came about. Thank you Mike, Roy, and thanks to all of our veterans!

What a great (and spooky) Halloween surprise the students on Roch Westendorf's bus got last Friday! Thanks for being a part of the Teutopolis Unit 50 bus driving crew!

Yesterday afternoon, TJHS had a guest speaker in the building. His name is Brad Hurtig. Brad grew up as a typical student-athlete in a small town in Ohio. Only days after finishing his sophomore year of high school, a devastating accident resulted in the amputation of BOTH of Brad’s hands. Through hard work and determination Brad soon rejoined his high school football team. Brad's inspirational story has been featured in the national news media including ESPN and The New York Times. Brad was also featured as a TEDx speaker and is now taking his life-changing message to schools across the nation. Thanks Brad for coming to TJHS to talk to our students about overcoming the many obstacles that we will encounter in our lives and how to overcome them and persevere.

On Thursday, October 10, Karolyn Orr from the Illinois Attorney General's Office talked to all TJHS students about the importance of digital safety. This is such an important topic these days! Thank you Karolyn!

A few weeks ago, two high school teachers and two junior high teachers attended a workshop about using AI in education. Not only did the workshop show how this tool can help educators enhance lesson plans, it also taught the importance of embracing this change and teaching our students how to use AI the right way. Mrs. Gaddis introduced the 7th graders to Magic School, an AI tool with students and teachers in mind. Throughout the year, a variety of AI tools will be used in the classrooms, starting with writing feedback for a descriptive essay.

Bikes, bikes and more bikes! Today was the annual "Bike to School" event at Teutopolis Junior High School. Staff and students enjoyed a great ride this morning by starting out on the east side of town and riding to school. Students also had the opportunity to ride their bike up to Wessels or Caseys to get a drink and snack during their PE class.

Led by her student teacher Miss Brumleve, eighth grade students in Mrs. Deters's Communications classes are working through a narrative unit. As part of the writing process, students interviewed an adult in their lives about a specific story that they would like to retell. This week, students engaged in a 'Concentric Circles' activity to practice telling their story to classmates, and they started working on their rough drafts yesterday while enjoying the beautiful weather.

In Mrs. Oseland's math class, students worked together by thinking as a whole group. Students raced to figure out a pattern to get from 1 to 100 first.

Over the past few days, Mr. Pals' eighth grade science classes learned how to fly drones. They first learned about safety and the recreational flying guidelines. After watching a few short videos on how to code the drones, students used school iPads to code their movements for flight through an obstacle course. They had to navigate the course and successfully land their drone on a small landing area. Students also learned how to manually fly their drone without the use of coding. A huge "THANK YOU" to the Teutopolis Education Foundation for funding these drones! TJHS students loved this activity!

Bikes, bikes and more bikes! The last "Bike to School" event was held today. Thanks to all the students who participated! It was a great time!

Each year our 7th grade students participate in an Americanism Essay Contest. This year's theme was "Why Am I Proud to be an American?" Our students write a 500 words or less essay about this topic which are then judged by our local American Legion Post 924 members. First place went to Lillian Miller. Her essay went on to the district level where it received 3rd place. Second place went to Bennett Schumacher, and third place was Molly Manuel.

The Teutopolis High School Softball Team paid a visit to the junior high this morning for "High Five Friday." Thanks for helping us start the day off with some excitement!

Congratulations to the following 8th grade students for winning awards at the Effingham Art Guild Children's Art Show. 3rd Place: Carly Witges Honorable Mentions: Alexis Bloemer, Addison Meyer, Ozzie Pals, Bo Kreke, Abigail Zane, Isabella Niemerg, Sam Wente, and Blake Young. Not Pictured: Elle Ruholl.

It's that time of the year.... frog dissection time! Students in Mr. Niemerg's science classes are spending the next several days opening up the cavity of a frog and learning about all of it's organs.

These students received a first rating at IESA Solo and Ensemble contest on Saturday, March 16th at St. Anthony Grade School. Audrey Runde & Maddie Repking-Vocal Duet, Jackson Meyer-Saxophone solo, Jack Hartke-Trombone solo, Taylor Hoene-Clarinet solo, Vincent McLellan & Anderson Goeckner-Brass duet. Congratulations for your accomplishment!

Teutopolis Junior High School selected Jack Hartke & CeCe Passalacqua as the January & February "Kids Have Talent" award winners for excellence in band sponsored by Tingley Insurance. Pictured with Jack and CeCe is Chris Tingley who presented the awards. Congratulations Jack and CeCe!! A great award for great musicians!

Two more students were chosen for this month's "kindness initiative" at TJHS. Alexis Bloemer genuinely cares about other students and staff members. Jackson Meyer is always very polite and is very patient during the lunch line. Both were treated to Subway during lunch with two of their friends. Way to go you two! We are extremely proud of both of you!