Had you stopped by the FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) room and kitchen on May 24 you might have thought you had walked onto the set of your favorite food network show.  Students frantically raced to complete and plate dishes, judges sat at a long table tasting food and giving feedback such as "the use of sun dried tomatoes and parsley really bring color to dish", and plates were served and cleared by students.  It was, alas, not the food network but rather Mrs. McNeil's Advanced Nutrition and Wellness class participating in the annual Pasta Cook-Off. These students had worked to create and prepare their very own recipes. Seven judges attended this event to critique each of the 6 pasta entries. Judges included local chefs, former chefs, and several other "foodies". 
The results were close but the winners of the cook-off are as follows:

The Plymouth FFA was awarded as an Indiana "Top 30 Chapter" and Model of Innovation Chapter in the Community division.  We will be recognized at the State Convention this June.
Not only have the chapter's accomplishments earned them these prestigious awards, but they were selected as 1 of 18 chapters to compete at the National FFA level!  If selected as a top chapter in the nation, they will be recognized at National Convention in October.

A little information about the awards:
-The National Chapter Awards program seeks to recognize the finest FFA chapters in Indiana and the nation. Chapters have the opportunity to showcase their top activities in the areas of "student", "chapter", and "community".
-In order to qualify for a state or national award, a chapter must complete at least 15 activities: one for each of the five quality standards in each of the three divisions.
-The National Chapter Award program recognizes FFA chapters that successfully complete an annual Program of Activities (PoA) which includes a series of activities designed to encourage its members to grow as individuals, to work as part of a team, and to serve others.

The staff of the Plymouth Basketball program has announced the dates for the 2012 Summer Basketball Camp.  Camp will run from June 12-June 15 and will meet at the following times based on the student's 2011-2012 grade level.
Grades 4 - 7:  8:00am 10:00am
Grades K – 3: 10:30am 12:00pm
Cost for the camp is $40 and includes a camp t-shirt.  


When asked about the goals of the camp Coach Bales said, “Our coaching staff and players look forward to another year of basketball camp.  We will offer boys of all ages the opportunity to learn from some quality coaches and players that are a major part of our Plymouth PilgrimBasketball Program.  Our camp is designed to provide you with outstanding instruction while playing gamesand competitions daily.  We will stress teamwork, sportsmanship, and having fun.  This is an exciting time to bea Pilgrim Basketball player and we hope that you will join us for this camp.  We had over 150 boys last year sohopefully we can build off of last year's numbers and make the camp a great experience for our participants.”

To Register Online Click Here  

For Information Click Here

Plymouth High School's literary e-journal Pilgrimage is finally here! 

24 authors, 6 photographers, 36 poems, and 7 short stories. All this adds up to a whopping 11,380 word masterpiece that was created for your reading pleasure. 

Please be sure to check out this gallery of student creativity.  Click here to download. 

On Friday, May 18, the Class of 2012 was honored for their accomplishments during the annual Senior Awards Convocation.  Seniors were honored for their accomplishments in athletics, academics, and the arts as well as for scholarships that they have received to pursue their future college and career choices.  In total over 2.7 million dollars was awarded at the ceremony from local, collegiate, and national scholarships and foundations.  Congratulations to our graduating seniors, and good luck in your future endeavors.

On Thursday, May 17 Laurie Sutter and Nadine Oliver from Tri Kappa came to PHS to present Plymouth Art Students with their awards from the 2012 Tri Kappa Plymouth High School Art Show.  Students were recognized for finishing in the Top 5 in one of 6 Categories: Black & White Drawing, 3-D, Color Drawing, Digital Design, Painting, and Multi Media/Other.  Additionally, Stephanie Rosas was chosen Best in Show by the judges.
Winners are listed by category below

On Thursday, May 10th, the Plymouth Boys Basketball Program hosted its 1st annual Father/Son Clinic under Coach Bales which included over 100 participants.  The clinic was used as an opportunity for several children in grades K-8 to spend an evening with their father, family member, or friend developing their skills as a basketball player while having a fun time with them as well.  During the first half of the clinic the Plymouth boys basketball coaching staff and high school players took the participants through a round of stations that included passing, shooting, dribbling, and defensive drills.  The purpose of this was to not only assist the younger players in how to play the game, but also instruct the adults on how we want the drills taught. 

Once the stations were complete, the adults and youth players split up to hear some guest speakers.  Ryan McNeil, former Plymouth basketball player from this past season, and Winston Yergler, a former North Judson-San Pierre Bluejay player under Coach Bales, spoke to the players for several minutes on the importance of doing your best, having a good attitude, and also what it takes to be a great player.  The players also demonstrated some shooting and ballhandling drills for the younger Pilgrim players.  While this was taking place in the gym, the adults had the opportunity to listen to a couple of guest speakers as well.  Todd Gongwer, author of the book "Lead for God's Sake", took time out of his schedule to talk to the father's and other adults on the topic of leadership.  Being a father and husband himself, he used some of his own life experiences as examples of times of influence for his family and others.  The book, "Lead For God's Sake", has been endorsed by former Irish football coach Lou Holtz and current Ohio State Buckeye coach Urban Meyer.  The other speaker was former Notre Dame Fighting Irish great and current San Antonio Spurs D-League player Luke Zeller.  Although Luke does not have children yet, he was able to touch on how his father positively impacted his life growing up on and off the court.  The evening concluded with a game of dodgeball for the younger Pilgrim players and high school players.  Overall, it was a great evening of learning basketball and life skills in the gymnasium.  

Coach Bales commented, "This is one of the greatest camps or clinics we do because it allows the opportunity for dad's and their children to spend an evening together.  It is neat to see the dad's assisting in drills, rebounding for their son, and encouraging them along the way.  I think it is another great example of how parents can have such a positive impact on their child.  It was a very beneficial night because parents also get to see how we teach certain drills and also got to hear some outstanding speakers, but the highlight of this night is giving kids an opportunity to hang out with the person they look up to and allowing adults a chance to have some fun with their child.  It was even more special to me this year because I was able to participate alongside my two older boys Nolan and Mason.  I thought our players and coaching staff did an outstanding job of interracting with the adults and kids and working to help improve our program".

The Plymouth Boys Basketball Program will be hosting its fundamental and skills camp on June 12-15.  Information will be coming soon.  

Over the last two weeks I have had the privilege to see two very unique lessons in PHS classrooms.  To be honest, this is not unusual, as I see something every day that I am in classes that is interesting or approaches a topic in a unique way.  These two events though really stood out.  

The first was last Friday, when I stopped through the library on my way to a meeting.  As I walked through I saw a large number of our yearbook and journalism students engaged in a seminar being lead by members of Ball State's journalism school.  According to Amy Schmeltz, yearbook instructor, the seminar was made possible by our yearbook students winning it last year at Ball State's J-Day via a twitter contest.  During the day, members of the journalism school worked with our students and helped them to create a new layout for the Pilgrim Perspective.

The second event, was today in Mrs. Steiner's AP Calculus class.  Students in this class were using visual measurements, and rulers, to find the volume of a Hershey's Kiss and then verifying the accuracy of their measurements using water displacement.  While I don't understand the math, I enjoyed the precision needed to find the answer.  

Pictures of both occurrences are below.

Tricia Sloma of WNDU visited Plymouth High School on Friday to interview PHS teacher Suzie Clevenger, her students, Guidance Counselor Stacy Scheetz, and Mrs. Flynn.  Mrs. Clevenger, who works with students in Plymouth's Alternative High School setting, was nominated by her students Mrs. Scheetz, and Mrs. Flynn to be one of WNDU's Outstanding Educators for 2011-2012.  In their letters, the students cited Mrs. Clevenger for her dedication to her students, her passion for getting them to learn, and for her never letting them quit and helping them to believe that they could make it. Her story will run on Wednesday May 9 at around 6:45am and again at 5:30pm