The Health Science Academy
All Academy News:
Upcoming Important DATES:
 Oct 6: HSA BOARD Meeting 8:30 am
 October 7: Open House @ Big Sky High 6:00pm-7:30pm
 October 20: TB clinic conducted for HSA juniors at Big Sky High in
preparation for job shadows
 November 17-18: Freshman Field Trip to The University of Montana
Hello and welcome back to another school year!
We want to take this time to thank you for all your support the past year and look forward
to a productive school year in 2015-16. A special welcome to our incoming parents and
freshman students joining the Health Science Academy! It is an especially exciting year as
this fall marks the beginning of the fourth year of the Health Science Academy, and we will
celebrate our first cohort of graduates next spring.
The Academy has taken on a new look with the addition of one faculty member. Taking
over in the Social Studies department for retired teacher Janice Bishop is new hire Nicole
Sarrazin-Strong. Nicole comes to us most recently from Fairbanks, Alaska where she
taught middle school Social Studies for two years. Prior to her time in the Arctic, she was
in Hawaii where she taught Social Studies at Waianae High School for four years. She is
already proving to be an exceptional addition to the Academy team.
Also new this year is the addition of the fourth Biomedical Science class in the 4 year
sequence. Academy teachers Maree Mitchel and Kate Lindner are splitting the duties of
teaching Biomedical Innovations (BI) and are excited to reconnect with the Academy
students they have taught in the past.
St. Patrick Hospital Supports Health Science
Academy with 110K Donation!
Governor Bullock and Jeff Fee (CEO of Providence Health Care) celebrate with academy students.
The Health Science Academy received a generous donation from St. Patrick Hospital
in the amount of 110 thousand dollars over the next three years. Governor Bullock
and Providence CEO Jeff Fee were on hand to celebrate the partnership. The money
will make it possible to offer industry certifications to the students enrolled in the
program. Students could choose to become certified phlebotomists, CNAs or EMTs
before they graduate. Click on the link to the Missoulian to read more about this
exciting news!
http://missoulian.com/mis-nws-science-academy/image_4bcbcd25-d0e1520a-8f2f-3e5f0df34433.html
Academy Handbooks: Each academy student has received an academy handbook.
Parents are requested to sign the handbook on the last page. Students make sure you
show your PLTW teacher (Maree Mitchell, Kate Lindner, Jessica Tuberty, Tom
Andres) your signed handbook.
Academy Shirts:

All freshmen will receive an academy shirt that will be worn when they are out
in the community. Maree Mitchell (PBS teacher) will be distributing the shirts.
Please look for those to make their way home. When cleaning them, please wash
the shirts in cold water.

Academy students in other grade levels: If you need to replace your lost or
outgrown shirt, please order a new one with Maureen Thomas (P’nut). The cost
to replace your academy shirt is $20.00
Field Trip Forms: Please turn in the school field trip consent forms if you haven’t
already done so!
Brown Bag Lunches. This fall we experimented with an all-academy brown bag lunch in
the library. The goal was to welcome students back to school, improve comradery among the
students and offer opportunities to develop student led academic support systems. The academy
provided dessert for the students who attended. Approximately 75 students attended and a show
of hands signified that the students would like to continue the event on a monthly basis. Brown
bag luncheons will continue and are scheduled the first Friday of every month. A number of
FABULOUS HSA parents have volunteered to provide desserts for the remainder of the
luncheons.
NEW Look: HSA School Web Page. The Health Science Academy school web page is
currently in the process of being updated. From the Big Sky web page, scroll down the
ACADEMICS header to the Health Science Academy. You will find news, a photo gallery, a
calendar of events and more. It is just another way of staying informed of all the great things we
are doing in the academy. Follow this link to take a look; HEALTH SCIENCE ACADEMY
WEBPAGE
9th Grade NEWS:
Principles of Biomedical Science:
Students are in the thick of the investigation into Anna Garcia’s death. They have visited the crime
scene, taken photos and notes, and attempted to identify pills, blood and hair at the scene. Over the next few
weeks we will examine fingerprints, DNA, and blood spatters and try to determine cause of death. Two class
periods also got to go to the Ag center and witness a blood draw from some of our goats. Two of our PBS
students actually drew the blood! Thanks to Tom Andres and the Veterinary students for this
opportunity. (The blood will be used during our blood spatter experiments.) Maree Mitchell
English:
In the first quarter, students will be focusing primarily on close reading of text (textual analysis).
This may be a departure for many students whose primary interaction with text has been working
towards summary and comprehension. We will focus on depth of understanding rather than breadth and as
such, students will be reading a myriad of genres and will work with different textual mediums as well. Many
text will be interdisciplinary in nature and will cross-pollinate with other HSA classes. Additionally, students
are working on open-form essays which seek to address creative expression through formal essay writing.
Nancy Thibo
Science: Students enrolled in IESPS are beginning the year learning and reviewing foundational
science skills such as graph design and analysis, and the formulation of quality research
questions. Soon we will begin including concepts related to Earth Systems which will lead into a
project that will challenge students to design and conduct an investigation of the Earth System which includes
the Bitterroot River. We will conclude the Earth Systems unit by investigating the impacts of pollution
released into the Bitterroot River at the Bunkhouse Bridge Outflow and engineering water filters that can
physically and chemically treat water. Bob Ellenbecker [email protected]
Emilee Maplethorpe, Alli Mocabee,
and Zach Harvey are measuring the
diameter of a cottonwood tree and its
distance from the Bitterroot
River. These data were used to assess
their graphing and graphical analysis
skills.
Health Enhancement 1:
The freshman health enhancement students are up
and running, literally. We have been discussing heart
rates and how they can change with aerobic fitness. Starting
September 14th , we will be assessing personal fitness levels by
using Fitness Gram which is required by our district. We are
analyzing how behaviors can impact health maintenance and
disease prevention. There has also been discussion of family
history and chronic diseases that can be affected through training
aerobically. Hopefully, you have been asked to provide some
history information! Discussion will follow on the anatomy of the
heart and blood circulation.
Edie VanBuskirk
Health Enhancement students are
estimating their maximum heart rate
during class using heart rate monitors
World Geography:
Nicole Sarrazin-Strong
Students in World Geography have been working on understanding the foundations of geography and society
while making cross curricular connections to other classes. Students will be taking their summative
assessment next week over the foundations and then we will begin our unit on the Americas. Thank you so
much for supporting our program!
Math: Algebra 1
Students are learning about the number system in Algebra 1 and how to perform operations on
real numbers, which includes rational and irrational numbers. The picture shows Algebra 1
students brainstorming words that could mean different operations in an equation.
Geometry: Students are working on logic and reasoning in Geometry. This includes inductive and deductive
reasoning. They will get a chance to determine who committed the crime, discover patterns and learn how to
write if-then statements and create proofs. Abby Gree
10th Grade NEWS:
Human Body Systems:
The sophomores are off to a fast and furious start in Human Body Systems! We reviewed all 11
body systems and then jumped right into body regions and body directions. Ask your student to
show you their popliteal region or to touch your olecranal region. They should be able to tell you what is
distal to your axillary region as well. After learning a bit about the four main tissue types, epithelial,
connective, nervous, and muscular we are now working on our Manikens! Yes, your student is now a proud
parent and will learn from this model over the entire year. Please come and meet these new creatures during
OPEN HOUSE on October 7th! Soon we will all become anthropologists and solve a mystery by looking at
bones! Ask your student to keep you posted!
Emily Wurm and Alex Mintalya
pose with their Manikens
English: Nancy Thibo
With the help of a MSU Student Teacher, Kevin Ebert, our sophomore academy English students
created individual Big Sky e-portfolios. I encourage parents to ask their student to show them their eportfolio, which is locate on Google Sites, as it highlights the academic accomplishments from the 2014-2015
school year. Throughout the year, students will store significant works from their sophomore year along with
engaging personalized reflection. The first read of the year began with David Quammen's nonfiction book
Spillover. Students compared and contrasted this reading to Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death," James
Welch's Fools Crow excerpt on small pox, and a poem. As the final assessment to this short unit on viruses,
students created a narrative writing which demonstrated their abilities to use literary devices, organize a
story, and provide logical, descriptive, and cohesive details. Writing workshops have been provided for
revision and editing opportunities. In the upcoming weeks, students read Animal Farm. We will do some
research, source analysis, and eventually create an Audacity radio program. We wish for a wonderful year and
a chance to share our passion for literature.
Science:
In Biology students are
looking at the factors that affect
landscapes by touring different sites at
Fort Missoula. Those factors include
disturbances like fires and
windstorms! We are looking forward
to our September 30th trip to the
Flathead Lake Biological Station which
will give us the opportunity to study
aquatic ecology. Kathleen Kennedy
Health Enhancement 2
Sophomore health enhancement students are starting the school year reviewing fitness concepts
related to the FITT formula and the 5 health related components of fitness. The students are also
in the process of determining baseline fitness levels. This quarter students will also learn about the game of
golf or tennis (depending on their assigned teacher) and will start to develop and analyze their skills using
video capturing techniques. Interwoven in the unit will be an introduction to basic muscular and skeletal
anatomy and movement patterns. Students will not only become good at golf but will understand the
anatomy behind their movement!
Maureen Thomas and Michela Anderson
Math:
Algebra 2: We started off the year with presentations. Students were assigned groups,
presented a lesson from chapter 2. These presentations helped us wrap up chapters 1 and 2.
We have just completed transformations and will be working on scatter plots. We are going to
work on two sets of data for scatter plots, one set will come from the field trip and the other will come from a
health science topic. Students will be making posters and present their findings.
Geometry: Students just finished chapter 1. Students learned how to properly write and describe lines, rays,
segments, polygons, and angles. Students also completed their first rounds of constructions. Students learned
how to copy a line and bisect both lines and angles. We are now moving into proof writing,
inductive/deductive reasoning, and conditional statements. We will be reviewing a published article and use
inductive and deductive reasoning to dissect the article.
Please feel free to contact me via email: [email protected] or phone: ext. 8638
11th Grade NEWS:
Medical Interventions: The year is off to a great start! We have been following students in a
fictitious outbreak on a college campus. The students began their investigation by organizing
patient symptoms, risk factors, and connections through a contact web. We then used
bioinformatics to identify the disease in one of the patients. Most recently, we have completed the ELISA lab
which is a technique commonly used to test for infectious diseases. The students have spent the last couple of
days researching infectious diseases, treatment, and outbreak containment and control. Junior Health Science
Academy students start with their job shadows in January 2016 and we are already working toward getting
them ready. They have given me their top 3 choices for job shadows and we are organizing TB skin testing and
flu shots for the students to have here at Big Sky (if desired) to prepare for going out into healthcare settings
in the new year. Jessica Tuberty
12th Grade NEWS:
Biomedical Innovations.
Our first class of seniors started the year by applying what they have learned over the last
three. First they had to diagnose 4 patients. Then they had completed a fetal pig autopsy
to determine cause of death. Currently, they are combining all this to create their own cause of death scenario
which includes a medical history, hospital reports, images and an autopsy. All of this work is our way of jump
starting the students as they identify their research question that will lead to their culminating project in the
Academy.
Each senior has three paths to take for their project. They can complete a research study, attempt to solve a
problem, or create a model or prototype. We have started discussions to help each student identify areas of
interest. Over the next month we will be completing more class activities as well as listening to several guest
speakers that should aid them in their selection of a project.
We are all looking forward to a great year! Please contact us if you have questions or
thoughts. The Health Science Academy is developing year after year. We would love
to hear any thought you might have to help guide the process. All the teachers email
addresses can be found on the BSHS staff page.