The Health Science Academy
February 2015
All Academy News:
Upcoming Important DATES:
 Ongoing in February: Registration for next year’s classes
 February 9th: Sophomore Academy, Avalanche Awareness Field Trip, Lolo Pass (all day)
 February 24th: Academy Advisory Board Meeting
 February 25th: MCTM Math Competition, UM
 March 4th: Freshman Academy, Capital Visit, Helena (all day)
 April 22nd: Job Shadow day #2, Junior Academy students
Semester Ends, HSA Students Regroup!
The semester recently came to an end and the teachers in the academy want to congratulate all of the
academy students on their success in the classroom! As a reminder, students can continue to improve
their grades by attending all their classes, all of the time. It is important students get to class on time as
well. Some of the most important classroom instruction takes place in the first few minutes of class! In
addition, grades can always be improved when students do homework and turn it in. Remind students if
they are struggling academically in a class to go speak individually with the teacher. Keep up the good
work students!
11th Grade Job Shadows:
On January 14th, 70 plus junior Health Science Academy students met in the cafeteria in their academy
shirts ready to embark on their first job shadowing experience. The students went to over 20 different job
sites to shadow professionals. Opportunities for the students ranged from shadowing an optometrist,
physical therapist, research assistant, nurse, and health information technologist. The feedback from
both the students and the professionals was very positive. Students will get another opportunity to job
shadow again in April.
Big Sky HSA Represented at the Health Summit:
The Health Science Academy was represented at the Missoula Chamber of
Commerce Health Summit on January 25th, at the University of Montana.
Students handed out information about the academy and answered
questions about the program. Thank you to Ms. Lindner and students
Kendall Mooney, Max Riedl, Cherrokee Sands, Tyler Butler, Samantha
Mathis, Tessa VanOstrand and Danielle Buchanan for working on a
Saturday morning promoting the academy.
Academy students speak to Chamber of Commerce Task Force Development Committee and
MCPS School Board Teaching and Learning Committee.
In the past two weeks Junior Health Science Academy Ambassadors Nate Jourdonnais, Tyler Butler,
Cherrokee Sands, Kennedy Bahm, Corbin Witt, Kendal Mooney and Tessa VanOstrand have been very
busy speaking at various engagements. The students spoke at both a Chamber of Commerce and School
Board meeting about their experiences in the academy. The students emphasized the connectedness they
feel with other students and teachers and how the academy is preparing them for a career in the health
field. Students also talked about “the soft skills” they are learning that will help them land a job in the
future. Each of the students finished their presentation by telling the committees about their job shadow
experiences. Both committees were very impressed by the students! Their speaking engagements are not
finished yet, as they have been invited to speak at the upcoming Principals Advisory Committee meeting
next week!
9th Grade NEWS
English: Aaron Fortner
The freshmen in Health Science Academy are presently engaged in the exploration of various
writing genres including the short story, the essay, and the poem. There will be a ton of
writing for the next two progress marks and the unit will culminate with the students delivering
oratory to their peers. Feel free to coach them up at home and listen to their great voices! Go English!
World Geography: Janice Bishop
Happy semester two! In World Geography we are finishing our unit on East Asia. To celebrate the end of
our unit and the beginning of our semester, we tried chopsticks and rice on Wednesday. Using the daily
news from BBC, we have been following the Ebola outbreak in Africa and Measles at Disneyland along with the many
other stories from our regions of study. Our next unit includes Russia and Europe. We will be doing a map of Europe.
Science: Bob Ellenbecker
We will begin the second semester, in IESPS, by studying factors that affect climate. During this unit
students will learn why cherries are grown on the east side of Flathead Lake, how/why quantities of solar radiation vary
with location on the globe, and how/why the composition of the atmosphere changes. Towards the end of the unit
students will research the effects of a changing climate on communities in Southeast Asia. Finally, we would like to
welcome Lindsay Manzo into the classroom. Lindsay is a pre-service teacher from UM and will be with us for the next five
weeks before she heads to Costa Rica for the second half of her internship.
Mackenzie Morrison and Keri Peterson modeling temperature
inversion like those that occur in Missoula Valley. Mackenzie and
Keri's understanding of temperature inversions was used to
develop a deeper understanding of air quality issues in Missoula.
Health Enhancement 1: Edie VanBuskirk
We finished out the semester in activity playing Pickleball. During this activity portion of the class,
students kept track of their steps, distance walked, and calories burned using digiwalkers. It hopefully
motivated them to move as much as possible in the 1 ½ hour class. We worked on
understanding the FITT formula, health components, and the training principles for
cardiovascular endurance. A “common assessment” of the material was taken at the
end of the semester that checked student understanding of the material. In addition,
the health enhancement HSA classes took advantage of some programs in the area and
experienced a PiYo class at the YMCA.
Currently students are back in the health classroom. Students are finishing up the
nutrition portion of the class and analyzing their food intake using an online program.
The remainder of the time in the health class will be focused on building healthy
relationships.
Math: Abby Green
Algebra 1
Students are working on writing equations of lines. We just finished up a real world application of slope and yintercept. Students created graphs comparing services offered by different companies in Missoula. Some students
researched the price of gym memberships, taxi fare, internet and cable services, cell phone service, and many more,
while making the connection between slope and y-intercept. We will continue to work on equations of lines for the next
few classes and then we will move on to Properties of Exponents.
Geometry/Honors Geometry
Students came back from break and created posters with all the properties of triangle congruence explained. Now they
are discovering properties of similarity and we will cover more information about fractals. In the next section we will
start working on trigonometry, which includes the Pythagorean theorem, special right triangles, the trigonometric
functions, and the Law of Sines and Cosines.
10th Grade NEWS:
Human Body Systems:
Kate Lindner
In Human Body Systems we have learned the basics about the brain and now we are on to learning how the
nervous system functions. Everyone produced a beautiful poster outlining the anatomy of a neuron and
successfully completed the first semester final. As we continue our study of the nervous system we will run
independent experiments using computer probes to investigate the difference in timeframe between a reaction and a
reflex. To tie up this unit we will dive into the eye and see what we can learn!
Outside the classroom, students have been helping us show what a great program the HSA is by volunteering to host an
informational table at the Health Summit at the University of Montana as well as talking to the Missoula Chamber of
Commerce and several School Board members. It’s been a busy month!
English:
Sophomore HSA students just read a Peter Stark story called "The Cold Hug of the White Sphinx:
Avalanche" to preview the avalanche training. In this article students read about snow conditions, heart
rates, and blood oxygen saturations. This beautifully written story is about Dougie who gets buried alive by an
avalanche and how he contributes to his survival by knowing how his body works. His friends rescue him using their
beacons. Students enjoyed this story and compared it to the story of the Missoula avalanche that happened last year.
Science: Kathleen Kennedy
In biology we are revisiting a subject students were introduced to last year in Principles of Biomedical
Science: DNA. Because students have a solid foundation already, this is freeing us up to take our learning to a higher
level. We will be looking at actual gene sequences for important proteins like insulin and cytochrome c. We will then
use this information to better understand human evolution, mutations, and disease. I am incredibly impressed by what
HSA sophomores have retained from last year! To assist any students who might need some additional review, there are
many web-based tutorials and animations that I have linked to my calendar page. Of course I am happy to work with
students outside of class as well.
Health Enhancement 2 Maureen Thomas and Michela Anderson
The sophomore health enhancement classes finished off the semester learning
about sport nutrition. Students chose an activity they participate in (recreationally or
competitively) and developed a timeline describing the energy systems in use during critical
times of their event. Students calculated their individual needs for both carbohydrates and
protein so they can train at their optimal potential. The information learned in this class will
come in handy when Ms. Lindner teaches about the body’s response to exercise later in the
semester in the PLTW class.
The start of the new semester has us climbing to new heights as well! We are reviewing
equipment, safety procedures and all the skills needed to climb on the indoor climbing wall; Big
Sky Rocks. Students will be harnessing up and challenging themselves to the six different
climbing routes.
In addition, this week we will have avalanche awareness experts teaching in our classroom. The
students are also preparing to try snow shoeing on Lolo pass as a part of the avalanche
awareness field day.
Math: Ariel Cornelius
First semester has come to a close! Students have worked diligently and they have grown so much. I
am so proud of all of them! For those who want to see improvement during the second semester, I do
have several pieces of advice. Coming to class and being on time probably the number one thing
students can do to be more successful in any classroom. During this time, students should also be attentive, be actively
involved, take notes, and ask questions. Lastly, completing homework before class begins. This would provide them the
opportunity to ask questions and be ready for the next lesson.
Second semester is going to be a lot of fun! We have already started exploring rational exponents and radical functions.
We will then move into exponential and logarithmic functions. During this time, I plan to have a banker come to class.
We have a lot to look forward to. Please feel free to contact me anytime.
VET Science: Tom Andres, Richey Farrar
In the Vet class students are busy caring for the baby livestock. Spring is near! We have baby
goats, lambs, piglets, and soon our calves will hit the ground. We will be getting a shipment of
baby chicks as well. The veterinary students are responsible for the wellbeing of all these animals. They bottle feed the
runts, vaccinate, treat the sick, notch and ear tag the babies, keep records on growth and production, manage the
mothers, and learn how to castrate the males. The real world, hands-on, medical experience will serve these students
well regardless whether they choose veterinary medicine or human medicine. After all, a baby piglet with pneumonia
shows the same symptoms and requires the same treatments as a human baby. Students will also be preparing for the
state FFA Veterinary Science competition, March 14th. There, students will compete against each other as they perform
the same animal handling and clinical procedures that a veterinarian performs daily. Here are a few examples of the
practicums that may be in the contest: restrain a cat for cephalic venipuncture, administer a subcutaneous injection,
sexing a rabbit, suture removal, prescription filling, surgical preparation, gram stain for bacteria. Students will also take
a written test, identify breeds, parasites, and veterinary tools and conduct a team activity just as a veterinary team
might conduct a procedure in the clinic. The competition is designed to prepare students for the veterinary medical
profession.
11th Grade NEWS:
Medical Interventions: Jessica Tuberty
In Medical Interventions this month, we have been exploring transplant medicine and all of the different
factors that come into play when deciding who the recipient of an organ is. This includes federal policy
guidelines, blood type, and tissue type. The students had the opportunity to practice suturing, simulate laparoscopic
surgery, and learn about members of the transplant team who help make sure the procedure is a success. This month
also included a large amount of preparation for job shadows. We had resume experts visit from Job Corps, got TB skin
test, and prepared for the visits by going over expectations and logistics. Overall, the students had an amazing
experience visiting one of nineteen different health care related sites around the city for their job shadows. We will be
doing it again in April after Spring Break! Our next unit launched, and we are diving into genetic counseling and learning
about various genetic disorders and genetic testing. Our next lab is coming up and we are going to test our own genes.