This Week at South Vol. 22

Good Morning South Students, Parents, Staff, and Community Members,

Please find the Weekly Bulletin for February 18th to 22nd (Also Attached) 

Part I: The News

 Senior Parent Committee in Need of Volunteers:

A Senior Parent Committee is being formed to help with the end of year Senior Class events. Our first meeting is Wednesday, February 19 at 6:30pm at South in the commons. 

Please join us!  For more information, contact Kate Matheson at: shptsovp@gmail.com.

Family Engagement Survey Now Open:

Please use the link and code below to take the Family Engagement Survey, which will provide us with important feedback about how well our programs are meeting the needs of our families and community. The feedback will be used to improve how we work with and support South families in the future.  

Link: https://surveys.panoramaed.com/aasb/login

Code: southfamily

Make It Eight State Titles: National Ocean Science Bowl Team Takes State

South won the Alaska State National Ocean Sciences Bowl competition in Seward this weekend. The team went 6-1 against other schools, with one loss to Ketchikan on day one. The team then met and beat Ketchikan in the championship match on Sunday. 

The NOSB Team will travel  to Biloxi Mississippi on April 16-19 for the National Competition. As part of their championship, the team received a $700 prize from the National Park Service to use toward classroom materials.

The team consists of: Alys Korosei, Dylan Bailly, Emma Ulrich, and Landon Shults

South Students Stand Out on 2020 National German Exam:

A total of 28 students from South High School have been recognized based on their results on the National German Exam. Below are the students who received distinction. Gold is for scores in the the 90th percentiles, silver for the 80th percentiles, and bronze for the 70th percentiles.  E Chythlook was a stand out, and will be competing for a study trip to Germany. Congratulations to all!

Gold Medal:

E Chythlook, German 2

Amalia Choudhury, German 3

Brooklyn Johnson, German 3

Alison Michael, German 3

Silver Medal: 

Emilie Bieshelt, German 2

Chloe Manderson, German 2

Karl Schubauer, German 2

Lily Latta, German 3

Owen Williams, German 4

Bronze Medal:

Logan Kaniut, German 2

Ben Page, German 2

Anika Syren, German 2

Mackenzie Moore, German 3

Clara Unger, German 3

Achievement Awards:

German 2: Abby Brandt, Ellie Dietrich, Hanna Henrie, Sakina Kurani, and London Taylor

German 3: Chloe Hebert, Brian Hernandez, Dakota Holland, Adil Khan, Isabel Lukes, Rachel Nielsen, Malia Reeg, Eric Woodall and Arianna Wyanski

Anchorage Youth Symphony Winter Concert to Include South Students:

The Anchorage Youth Symphony winter concert is scheduled for Tuesday, March 3 at 7:00 pm. South students Abby Webster (horn) and Heather Kim (piano), who are both concerto competition winners, will be playing with the symphony! Please see the following poster for more information.

Cross Country Ski Through Regions & Relays and onto State:

Several skiers turned in strong performances at Regions last weekend, and will be going to State, which will be held at Kincaid from February 20th to 22nd. Our Boys team also earned the Region IV Academic Award by maintaining the highest GPA in the district.  

This weekend the team participated in the Mixed Relays, which included full costumes as well as the races. Here are a few photos, including a crew dressed as an Uno deck and a crew of medics and patients. 

Congratulations to the following South skiers who will be competing in state this weekend:

Girls Team: 

Lucy Young, Robyn Miller, Ali Ulrich, Ava Earl, Maggie Keffalos, & Maura Blac 

Boys Team: 

Ben Fischer, Kyle Fischer, Brady Burrough, Owen Young, Nolan Miller, & Wesley Slaughter

Alternates: 

Elizabeth Kilby & James Peot

South High Student to Compete in 2020 Junior National Ski Jumping:

SAHS freshman Charlie Martinez is on Team Alaska’s 2020 Junior National Ski Jumping Team.  In mid-March a team of seven ski jumping and nordic combined athletes will head to Steamboat Springs, Co and compete against the best U16 and U20 athletes in the nation. Best of luck to all Alaska athletes headed to Colorado!

Boys Hockey Finishes the Season as State Runner Up:

The Boys Hockey Team beat Homer and Colony to take on West High School in the State Hockey Championship on Saturday night at the Menard Center in Wasilla. It was a hard fought game with West scoring in the second overtime to clinch the victory. Three South players were nominated and placed on the All Tournament Team. 

South Boys Basketball goes 2-1 on the Week:

South Boys Basketball took a big win over Service on Wednesday night, 45-41, and followed with a victory over Chugiak on Friday night 58-46, followed by a highly contested game and loss to Bartlett on Saturday, 52-54. The boys will play Eagle River at South tonight at 7:30 pm.

South Girls Basketball:

The Girls Basketball team experienced losses to Chugiak on Friday, and Bartlett on Saturday, but will return to action tomorrow against Eagle River at South 6:00 pm. 

Part II: Big Ideas & Their Application

Last week a colleague gave me a copy of Trevor Moawad’s book, It Takes What It Takes. Moawad is best known for being Russell Wilson’s mindset coach as well as for working with elite college football programs to make sure players are mentally sharp. Many of the ideas in Moawad’s book apply equally well to non-athletic pursuits. 

Although I’m not too far into the book yet, chapters two and three contain ideas that can be applied to our collective work at South, whether we are students, teachers, parents or administrators. 

The first idea is about being present, and not focusing on the past as a determiner of future action. It is what the author calls neutral thinking. 

To illustrate this concept Moawad writes, 

• We elevate the past. We give it too much importance. We serve the past when we should be giving it a wide berth. What happened (in the past) happened. What happens next has nothing to do with that. Today’s behavior influences tomorrow’s outcomes. Start now (p. 43, parenthetical information mine).

In other words, don’t let memories of past failure influence what you are doing to pursue your goals in the present. Focusing on what we can do in the present to influence the future and attain our goals leads to the content of chapter 3, which involves planning.

In chapter 3, It Takes a Plan, the author suggests defining our objectives by identifying  the next 2-3 actions needed to get closer to them, rather than attempting to visualize the entire path to the goal. This helps accumulate small wins, and makes it more likely we will be able to face and overcome unanticipated obstacles along the way to our goal. On this subject, the author writes:

• It’s what you do, not how you feel, that gets things done. We can do our way to feeling the way we need to. It’s hard to feel our way into achieving anything (p. 65, italics mine). 

Collectively, Moawad’s ideas challenge us all to stay present, to not allow the past to influence our present decision-making, and to focus on the next actions aligned to our goals. Doing so will mean we remain action-oriented, and do not lose sight of what we want to achieve as individuals and as a part of the greater South community.

Marshall Goldsmith, author of What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, sums this idea up nicely when he observes that:

• If you want to succeed at goal setting, you have to face the reality of the effort and the payoff before you begin (p. 185).

Have a Great Week South!