December Highlights from the Wolfpack!
CHEMISTRY—ADOPT AN ELEMENT
Chemistry class recently completed a project known as “Adopt an Element.” Each student selects an element to research. They find out all about its qualities, who it hangs out with, what it does in its free time, and they even created a catchy phrase to convince the world that their element is, indeed, critical to our world. Students also created models of their element depicting the proper number of subatomic particles (protons, neu-trons, and electrons) all in their proper position within the atom. Submitted by Cindy Soehner, Chemistry Teacher
DONATE A LIFE FOR CHRISTMAS
On December 10, the American Red Cross with Wray Community District Hospital hosted a blood drive at the Grassroots in Joes. It was an opportunity to donate blood if you were interested. With extreme joy, we can say that a lot of Idalia High School’s students took part to this event. Most of the sophomores, juniors and seniors decided to help people by donating their blood. Although it may seem of little value, in reality it is very significant. Donating blood can save a life.
Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood. Every day, roughly 36,000 units of red blood cells are needed in the U.S., according to the Red Cross reports. Simply put, that’s a lot of blood. Patients with sickle cell diseases or cancer need blood transfusions throughout their treatments, and a single-car accident victim can require up to 100 pints of blood. For this reason, and since blood can’t be made, patients’ lives depend on blood donors.
You probably don’t know how many health benefits donating blood has, especially if you donate blood regularly. In fact, donating blood can reduce risks of coronary heart disease, which can lead to a heart attack; it lowers cholesterol; it accelerates the wound-healing processes; it helps prevents liver damage, which is important to role in the blood purification and detoxification.
As you can see, donating blood has a lot of health benefits, but of course, the most important part of the process is helping to save lives. Donating blood is good for you, and it’s even better for all the people who desperately need the help. So, our school is proud of all the students who decided to help someone this Christmas, giving them the gift of life. Submitted by Vanessa Venturi, Senior
FBLA FLEECE BLANKET PROJECT
The Idalia High School FBLA Chapter has spent time together making fleece blankets for donation in surrounding communities. For the last three years, our chapter has had each member make a blanket to donate. These blankets are usually distributed among the nursing homes to put a smile on the residents’ faces. Each high school member buys four yards of fleece to cut and tie into a soft blanket. This year, our chapter met after school on December 9. Each blanket is created uniquely so no two are alike. We made a total of 27 blankets to give, and we look forward to future community service projects for the FBLA members to participate in. Submitted by Kylie Wingfield, InDesign Student
HIGH SCHOOL HEROES
Several (20!) high school students recently donated (or tried to donate) blood at a nearby blood drive. Yet another consequence of Covid-19 is the lack of blood donors that has led to a critical blood shortage in our state. We can be proud that so many of our students stepped up to fill this crucial need. Once the blood is processed, the students will be able to find out their blood type, Covid-19 antibody status (find out if they have had Covid and maybe didn’t know it), as well as various other health indicators. (Lunch from the food truck in Kirk was merely coincidental and had nothing to do with our students’ benevolent intentions.)
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IYCS ADOPTING A GRANDPARENT
During times like these it can be very hard for many people. I personally feel that some of the people struggling the most would be people in the nursing home. They are locked in and are unable to see family. Some allow window visits but it’s definitely not the same.
Several students at Idalia--Tara Hubbard, Porscha Jacobs, Kye Towns, and Eduardo Estrada—have partnered up in starting this program. The mission is to make sure the elders in our communities still know they are loved. During Covid, many know how hard it is to be forced to stay away from loved ones. This team is planning on spreading some joy to those who are unable to see their family during the holidays. The first project with this program is put-ting together small Christmas gifts for the elderly community members. Submitted by Tara Hubbard, Publications Student
IYCS GINGER BREAD HOUSES
Idalia Youth Community Service (IYCS) sponsored an activity to assemble and decorate gingerbread houses for high school students. Each participant brought candy to share and decorate their houses with Mrs. Amber Soehner provided the gingerbread house kits and made the frosting for the houses. The students decorated their houses for about an hour and half after school on December 10. Submitted by Porscha Jacobs, InDesign Student
NON-STOP NOVEMBER
The past few years the Idalia FBLA Chapter has participated in Non-Stop November which is a chapter challenge. The chapters must complete a total of 10 activities that are focused on American Enterprise, Prematurity Awareness, and Community Service. Three of these activities are required, and seven are chosen from a list of optional activities. We had the whole month of November doing these activities. This challenge was perfect to get the member involved in FBLA as much as possible. The Idalia FBLA Chapter has a total of 27 members. We had committees for each task that needed to be completed. By completing the challenge, the chapter gets listed on the FBLA-PBL social media and the national websites. The delegates in attendance get a special ribbon at the National Leadership Conference.
There are so much the members learn from these activities from as little as working with one another to learning responsibility and leadership. This also helps teacher time management since there was a deadline for their activities. Along with that members had to be prepared with their equipment needed for the activity they were assigned. Submitted by Priscilla Cordova, Idalia FBLA
SEASON B SPORTS DELAYED
On Monday, December 7, 2020, the Colorado High School Activities Association delayed Season B sports once again. Due to the season being delayed, Seasons C and D have also been delayed. Originally, the first official date Season B sports were allowed to have official practice was January 4. The first practice is now not to be started until February 1 at the earliest.
In Idalia, the student-athletes have been attending open gyms since November 16, expecting to begin playing after Christmas break, but due to COVID-19 in Colorado, student athletes participating in Season B sports are no longer allowed to play until a month later. It’s an emotional roller coaster not only for our student-athletes, but parents and coaches as well. Submitted by Rylann Brigham, Publica-tions Student
