CREST USD 479
603 E. Broad St., PO Box 305, Colony KS 66015
Phone: 620-852-3540 Fax: 620-852-3542
From the Desk of Mr. Chuck Mahon,
Superintendent of Schools
Our first month school has come and gone
and fall is here. Football and volleyball are coming
to a close and we had our first set of parent teacher
conferences. As I reflect on what is already a fast
moving year, it’s important to look at what each
individual student can do to better themselves. One
of my favorite sayings is “It’s not what happens to
you in life; it’s how you react to it that matters.”
When working with students I try to emphasize that
they control three things when it comes to school
and extra-curricular activities; effort, attitude and
enthusiasm. How hard a student works, what kind
of attitude they have and how much enjoyment they
get out of something that they control. How they
learn to approach work or life itself with these three
factors is something that they will use long after
they graduate high school. With this being said, I
encourage students do their very best by working
hard, having a great attitude and most importantly
have fun. When they do those three things with all
they have to give, they will be better equipped to
deal with challenges that life brings us specifically
dealing with circumstances that did not go their
way. In essence they are being proactive so they
can react in positive and mature whey. To repeat
what I said earlier, “It’s not what happens to you in
life; it’s how you react to it that matters.” So why
not control as many things as possible and be
prepared to react by giving 100% effort, with a
great attitude, and doing it with great enthusiasm.
Life will be more enjoyable if we all did
this. – Mr. Chuck Mahon
Educational quote of the month:
“There are two kinds education. One should
teach us how to make a living and the other one
how to live”- John Adams
From the Desk of Mr. Travis Hermreck,
PreK-8 Principal
I recently read an article that has some
wonderful information for parents regarding their
children’s reading experiences. I would encourage
all parents to visit the website, as it relays researchbased suggestions for children of all ages. It is in
PDF form and quite lengthy, so my best advice
would be to skip around article until you find the
age/grade applicable for your needs.
It was
prepared by the Beach Park School District in
Beach Park, IL and may be accessed at
www.bpd3.org/km/readingnight.pdf.
Whether a
student is having difficulties reading or is excelling
beyond grade level, it is important that we as
parents remain active in their progress. There are
many activities that can enhance the reading
experience of students at all levels.
A recent statistic shared by the Reading Is
Fundamental group claims that the average
kindergartener spends more time in front of the
television than it takes to earn a bachelor’s degree.
That is a very powerful and humbling statistic.
Crest HS Football
by Miranda Golden
The Crest High School football team is 3-3.
They started the season with a bang, beating
Pleasanton 64-14 at home on Thursday the 4th of
September. The following Friday, Moran came to
our home field but that game had a different
outcome. It was a tough loss for the players and
coaches. The following two weeks did not go as
well for the team as they had hoped. The team took
two more losses in a row after Moran: Uniontown
and St. Paul.
The Lancers never gave up and came back
with a vengeance, beating Hartford 56-46 on
October 9. The team stayed proud and excited, and
worked hard for another win against Chetopa Friday
the 16th. The beginning of the game did not look
good for the Lancers; however, after letting
themselves get 20
points behind, the
Lancers came back
and pulled off a 5046 win. The final
home game was
held on October
23rd
and
the
Lancers dominated SCC 56-20. The Lancers have
one regular season game left on October 30 before
hosting the Bi-District playoff game on November
3. Coach Mahon said, “The season has be a little of
a roller coaster with some highs and lows. We are
starting to gel as a team and if we can get
everybody healthy we could be a tough team to
beat. It all comes down to fundamentals and we
need to be great at blocking and tackling and
playing until the whistle blows. The thing I am
most proud of is the team has learned how to win
and no game is ever over until it is over. I am very
excited about the remainder of the season and very
lucky to be able to coach such a great bunch of
boys.”
Crest Student Wins Contest
by Shelby Ramsey
Trevor Church, Crest 5th grader, was
selected as one of 7 winners for this year’s Young
People’s Concert Writing Challenge! This is the
Kansas City Symphony’s 4 Annual Writing
Challenge. We invited students to listen to a piece
of music and create characters, setting, and plot
based on what they heard. Over 2,000 students
participated in the competition.
His story, The Rolling Cheese Chase, was
selected to be read during the concert on Thursday,
October 15. He was
recognized on stage
during the concert as
well.
The Kansas City Symphony will perform for
over 11,000 students this week through our Young
People’s Concerts. These concerts have cross
curricular ties to music and English/Language Arts.
Music Department Finds Its Beat
by Steve Wilson
It’s been a busy school year so far, with
three weeks of band camp before school started and
four home football games already completed!
Thank you to
all of the
band parents
for helping
with the band
camp party
and
other
little things
this year. The kids look great and are starting to
show a lot of improvement!
Here is some information you need to
know. The Crest Band will be marching in the
Colony Christmas Parade on December 5 , 2015,
plus playing at home varsity football/basketball
games.
The 2015 Winter/Christmas Concert for K12 Music students will be on Wednesday,
December 16 at 7:00 p.m. in the Crest High School
Gym. Middle school and high school students
should already know their dress expectations; K-5
will be taking a note home in the next couple of
weeks. This year, I have plans for K-5 to do a set of
‘Silly Christmas Songs.’ High School Choir just
received a few of our songs like “You’re a Mean
One, Mr. Grinch,” and “Hot Chocolate” from Polar
Express. The bands are mainly focused on football
season right now, but soon they will also be in the
Yuletide Spirit.
th
th
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Unfinished Business
by Lupita Rodriguez
The Crest Middle School volleyball teams
had a
good
season this year,
despite a losing
record for the Ateam. The team
was coached by Bailey Myers. She would like to
thank Mrs. Hermreck for all the help and advice on
coaching. “I believe my strength as a coach was to
encourage them and telling them not to get down on
themselves and a weakness was working with the
girls for such a limited time during the day,” says
Coach Myers.
The girls shared some of their favorite
memories of this year with the coach. Kim
Lansdown’s favorite memory with Coach Myers is
“doing the whip in practice with the whole team”
and her advice to the upcoming players is to “listen
and try.” Summer Starr’s favorite drill is when they
served, followed their ball and, if they missed their
serves, they had to do pushups. Her least favorite
moment is setting because “I wasn't the greatest
setter.” Although Ms. Myers is proud of the team
this year, she plans to work more on serving and
setting next year.
Ready, Set, FCCLA
by Ashley Geary
FCCLA is the only in-school student
organization with the family as its central focus. It
is a vocational student organization that functions as
an integral part of the Family and Consumer
Sciences education curriculum, operates within the
school system, and provides opportunities for active
student participation at local, state, and national
levels.
FCCLA is available to any student enrolled
in a FACS class. Students in the organization learn
leadership, how to work as a team, and how to
strengthen families. Members also have fun while
learning these lessons and many travel all over the
state with their sponsor. FCCLA has many
important things coming up. The members of Crest
FCCLA are working hard to make their posters for
district and state.
Members of Crest and the community show
their support of FCCLA and welcome them with
open arms to help students in any way possible to
succeed in helping the community.
Fall Drama Production
by Laurel Godderz
For the last few weeks, the Crest Drama Club has
been working on their fall play, called A School
Like Ours, written by Joe Cherubino.
The new kid in town, Chris (played by Austin
Hendrix), is starting to get on with his life from a
traumatic shooting at his old school. He meets new
friends: the girl with big heart, Alison (played by
Camryn Strickler); the most popular kid in school,
Trent (played by C.J. Ward); and the “odd” kid,
Randy (played by Bryce Atzbach). A School Like
Ours is about the individual lives of students and
their personal issues, mixed with problems between
each other.
The play was chosen by the students because it is
set in the teenage world, with no adults, to relate
more to high school life. The Drama Club is
excited about putting on this show which
demonstrates typical high school life, including
relationships, self-image, the need to belong, and
violence. Karlee Hammond says, “I am really
excited about this play. It is very realistic and
inspiring.”
The play will be on November 15th at 2:00pm,
with an approximate run time of 90 minutes, at
Crest High School. Others involved in the play are
Kaden Strickler, Ashley Geary, Karlee Hammond,
Breyanna Benjamin, Caleb Stephens, and Maya
Piper. Lupita Rodriguez is the Student Director,
who is in charge of costumes, props, and helping
direct backstage. The backstage crew is in charge
of sound, light, and set design: Preston Utley, John
Hartman, Travis Wilson, Nate Berry, Kadyn Utley,
and Hayden Seabolt.
Page 3
Learning to Do
by Taryn Covey
The Crest FFA Chapter got off to a rough
start at their first Career Development Event. The
Land Judging competition was held at Prairie View,
Kansas on September 23rd, 2015. Crest placed 15th
as a team, out of 28 teams. Top scorers were
Preston Utley in 50th place, Shelby Ramsey in 58th
place, and Nate Berry who received 67th place. The
following week Crest set out to Garnett KS for the
regional Land Judging CDE on September 30th, in
hopes of placing in the top five as a team. Placing in
the top five would send them to Oklahoma City to
compete on the
national
level,
representing
the
Sunflower State.
Crest fell short. As
a team,
Crest
placed 19th out of
68 teams. Their
top scores on the
individual level were lead by Berry placing 50th,
Preston Utley who placed 67th, followed by Emily
Webber, who was in 77th place. Brett Brownback,
Crest FFA advisor said, “I was pretty happy with
how we did; we competed well; we made extremely
long strides with our 1 week difference.” Pictured is
the Crest FFA chapter members who participated in
the Prairie View CDE.
bubble and if skittles dissolve quicker in hot or cold
water. We then moved onto different types of
energy. We also had very exciting rollercoaster
projects that were related to kinetic and potential
energy.
We also discovered different simple
machines that are found in compound machines.
We will soon be going into circuits and matter. In
writing, we have been working on narrative pieces.
When we are finished with our narratives, my
students will be learning about limerick poems. We
have covered many different genres already in
reading. The most exciting part of this for the
students was when they echoed me in reading a
narrative poem.
Smart Start!
by Ms. Kristen Farnsworth
I have really been enjoying being a teacher
at Crest and getting to know my students! In math,
we have been learning about shapes and their
angles, parallel lines, rays, and line segments. We
have done circle constructions with compasses. In
the newest unit, we have been investigating
different numbers and breaking numbers apart. We
have been going on a “World Tour” during math to
investigate the different numbers. In social studies,
we are learning about our Government and the
world. We presented a poster to the mayor. It was
about a service we thought our local government
should provide. The students also wrote journal
entries as if they were a scientist. Their task was to
come up with a mission for either the space station
or Antarctica. They had to write the challenges and
benefits to working with a team, all being from
different countries. In science we have learned
about the scientific method. We have had two
different experiments during this unit.
We
discovered what type of gum produces the biggest
Page 4
Practice Hard, Play Hard
by Emily Webber
Since the first practice of the season the high
school volleyball team has grown considerably.
They have become faster, tougher, and better than
they were in the beginning. With a 5-25 win/loss
ratio, the Lady Lancers have taken their share of
hits, but the taste of victory leads them still. Going
to state is a dream of many athletes, from all
different sports. However, not all achieve it.
The sub-state tournament for Crest High School
Volleyball will be October 24 at Altoona-Midway.
“We are working hard toward our goal of winning
Sub-State. We are very capable of winning if we
pull together and play as a team. I am excited for
this opportunity for the girls,” said Mrs. Hermreck.
The winners of Sub-State will continue to play in
Hays, Kansas at the state tournament. The
volleyball season ended for Crest with a win over
Altoona-Midway and a loss to Elyria Christian at
Sub-State.
Bentley: playing with rhinos
Lukas: Play-doh
Evan: playing with the toys
Noah: play outside on the slide
Easton: play dinosaurs
Danielle: play cupcakes with my friends
Brailey: play with my friends outside
Carly: play with Play-doh and when we play toys
Braylee: I like to paint.
Violet: play outside
Hannah: play at recess time
Jemma: play at recess
Sunny: play with the toys
Chloe: I like to paint.
Trustin: read books and play computer
Jazzmyn: playing with toys inside, eating snack
and breakfast at school
Tatum: I really like to play in school and do
everything in school.
In This Together
Clockwise from top: Breyanna Benjamin [in red],
Makayla Jones, Camryn Strickler, coach Abby
Hermreck, Laurel Godderz, Karlee Hammond, Lupita
Rodriguez, Regan Godderz, Jewel Armstrong, Miranda
Golden, & Cassie Bowen.
A Bright Beginning
by Abigail Hermreck
We are moving right along in preschool and
having fun as we go!
Play is a common theme among the kids'
answers. There are several different types of play
and they are all an essential part of a child's
development and important in the learning process.
Play is crucial to physical, intellectual, social, and
emotional development at all ages. Children learn
cognitive skills such as creativity, problem solving,
language, and math. They learn how to get along
with others, regulate emotions, and gain control of
their own behaviors. Children also strengthen small
and large muscles though fine and gross motor play;
such as squeezing Play-doh or climbing at recess.
Children need to have the opportunity to play for
the many benefits and for the fun of it!
I asked the students the question "What do
you like to do at school?" and here are the responses
I got on that day:
Remington: playing with Play-doh
Page 5
Starting From Scratch
by Breyanna Benjamin
Middle school football is the beginning point to
most, if not all, football careers. It is the basic
training which teaches young athletes the values
and discipline the game implies. Middle school
football is the first step to kids falling in love with
the game; a feeling that, hopefully, lasts a lifetime.
There were 13 boys on the team this year, with a
record of 0-7.
“They worked
hard
and
listened
well,
and that is all
you can ask
for,” says head
coach
Zach
Mason,
emphasizing that winning is not always the goal; the
goal is to show up and prove you care, which the
boys did. “Middle school football teaches you a lot
of the fundamentals and it helps prepare the boys
for high school.” finished Mason.
“The positive effects of participation in
interscholastic sports at the middle school level
have been reported in multiple studies over the last
several decades. Students participating in one or
more interscholastic sports had an average grade
point average of 3.151, while non-athletes had an
average of 2.4,” according to a study of
interscholastic sports participation published in the
NASSP Bulletin, proving that being in sports at the
middle school level does more for a child than just
teaching them good lessons, it also increases their
brain activity, creating long term benefits.
“The beginning is the most important part of
the work.” - Plato
April 3-5: State STAR Events
Competition
CREST Dates to Remember
11/2: Host MS Basketball @ 5:00 pm 11/3: Host
Bi-District Football @ 7:00 pm
11/10 [IF CHS wins on 11/2]: Host Regional
Football (time to be determined)
11/10: Host MS Basketball @ 5:00 pm
11/13: Sub-State Football
11/15: CHS Fall Play @ 2:00 pm
11/16: MS Parents’ Grammar Night @ 6:30 in Ms.
JuAire’s room
11/19: Host MS Basketball @ 5: 00 pm
11/20: FCA Game Night in Kincaid 6:30 pm – 9:30
pm
11/21: State Football
11/25-11/29: Thanksgiving Break
Due to an unknown glitch in the conversion
process, the .pdf of this newsletter alters the spacing
of the text and pictures. There is no way to fix this
once the PDF is created. Please understand that the
page numbers, pictures, & articles are all based on
the printed, hard-copy version of the newsletter. We
apologize for any trouble you have reading the
online version because of these problems.
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FCCLA Dates to Remember
November 4: District H Fall Leadership
Conference, Burlington
December 7-11: Canned Food Drive
February 2: Fundraiser
February 7-13: FCCLA Week
February 10: District H Elections and STAR
Events, Yates Center; PTO/FCCLA Carnival
March 1: Scholarships Due
March 26: Colony Easter Egg Hunt