Thursday, March 31, 2016

Bob Sullivan Appointed Head Wrestling Coach

Bob Sullivan
Mount Michael Athletic Director Jon Borer recently announced that Bob Sullivan will be the wrestling coach for the 2016-2017 school year.  Coach Sullivan was a high school wrestler himself at Mitchell High School in Mitchell, SD  and played baseball in college at the University of South Dakota, where he earned his Bachelor of Sciences in PE/Health and Master of Arts in Athletic Administration.  He coached wrestling and baseball in Pierre, South Dakota.  Coach Sullivan has been at Mount Michael for four years and currently serves as the school’s PE/Health teacher and Asst. Baseball Coach.


Go KNIGHTS!!!

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Embassy of Spain Awards Scholarship

Mr. Chad Schuttler one of Mount Michael’s Spanish teachers was recently awarded an AATSP Scholarship and travel stipend by the Embassy of Spain for their Study Abroad Program.  He will be recognized for this award at the 2016 AATSP Awards Banquet and Conference in Miami, Florida. 

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

2016 S.A.M.E. Teams Earn Mulitple Medals

Mount Michael's SAME teams won 9 medals in the 2016 annual competition. There were six categories they were judged on Applied Science, Innovation, Research, Sustainability, Teamwork and Technology.  The seniors received a total of 5 silver medals and 2 gold medals.  The juniors received 2 silver medals.

Back Row: Coach, Aaron Meyers, Kalle Haines, Alex Miklas, Coach
Front Row: Walt Wear, J.T. Hudson, Matt Amao, Jacob Ramaekers, Mrs. Theis
The senior team designed a Tree Top Teaching center for Shramm Park
Exterior Design View of "Roof Top Teaching"
Interior Design View of "Roof Top Teaching"
The Junior team members were: Michael Ecker, Sam Clements, Nate Carpenter, Joseph Coldiron, dylan Herrmann, Peyton Hottovy, Ryan Riddle, Jack Straka.

The Junior Team designed a new development building in close proximity to the school and dorms.
Site Plan for New Development Office
Congratulations to both teams on the success of their year long projects!

SAME - Society of American Military Engineers

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Students Prepare for Slam Poetry Contest

Jack Avilla | Guest Writer for "THE MOUNT"

Competitions are a regular occurrence in the life of most high school students, especially in a small school. One upcoming competition is the Louder than a Bomb contest that the slam poetry team is set to compete in with two preliminary rounds on March 23 and March 30.

The competition, which runs for two weeks, showcases the work of poets from over thirty schools. The competitions will take place in several locations around the city including a newer movie theater complex called “The Alamo” near the Embassy Suites in La Vista.

The groups that score the highest will continue on to the semi-finals and finals. Last year the all-rookie group made it to the semi-finals, which they hope to repeat this year, but at least for this team it is about more than the competition. 

Junior Nash Kelly practices performing his piece while the rest
of the team listens critically, preparing to give him feedback.
Team members have been meeting since mid-October
“I would love if the team made it to the semi-finals again this year,” proctor Gina Fosco said. “But mostly I hope our poets are inspired by what they hear, and have come to know their own truth a little more.”

For one poet, sophomore Joey Recker, poetry has had a profound effect on his experience as a whole.

“It is truly an accessible art form for anyone that has a cool culture surrounding it,” Recker said. One of the unique things for club member is they have the opportunity to attend poetry events outside of the club meetings and the competitions.

Recently Recker attended a slam competition at the Omaha Healing Arts Center in the old market. The event is hosted on the first Saturday of every month. At these slams anyone can come and read their poetry in an open mic time period. Following the open mic the slam competition begins. The slam itself is very competitive.

The scoring system is unique because it is solely based on audience member’s reactions. At the beginning of a slam, the master of ceremonies (M.C.) asks for volunteers who have no connection to the poets reading. They are then given a whiteboard to write their score for the poem on a ten point scale.

“I had the opportunity to be a judge and I got to experience the love and hate from the crowd as I gave my scores,” sophomore Jack Blaser said.

The scoring and response to the scoring is another way attendees of the slam get to express themselves. Everyone said what was on their mind at the time. Everyone was themselves. The atmosphere was a very vital part of the slam.

“The people there were very diverse with a variety of different opinions and thoughts,which I liked,” said sophomore Jacob Idra, who also attended the event.

Practice in the Park
For some people, public speaking is not an easy task. Especially when the poem you are reading is very personal to you which impressed Idra.

“The amount of effort and courage to go and talk in front of a crowd like Joey did, with the comfort that he had, shows what kind of guy he is,” Idra said.

It is exactly this courage that makes a poetry slam such a unique event. According to Recker, the poetry is not just for entertainment, “it’s inspiring and has a lot of substance.”

Knights On Mission 2016

Picture
One of the homes built in Mexico by the Mount Michael Mission Group during their spring break.

Read the Mission Blog - More Pictures from the Blog 

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Knights' Robotics Team Repeats as Regional/State Champions

At the Heartland Invitational robotic competition the Mount Michael robotics team, 1970K (Knight Shift) won their second straight Iowa/Nebraska Regional/State Championship as part of the wining alliance consisting of teams from Omaha North & Abraham Lincoln. Team 1970K consists of Nick and Nolan Huetter, sons of Kurt & Liz Huetter, Nolan Gottsch, son of Kathleen Gottsch of Arlington and Mickey Gottsch of Elkhorn, and Lukas Williams, son of Mark & Jennifer Williams of Omaha.

The team will now move on to the U.S. Open Robotics Tournament April 7th-9th and the VEX World Championships to be held in Louisville, Kentucky from April 20th-23rd

Nick Huetter, Nolan Gottsch, Nolan Huetter, Lukas Williams 

Go Knights!