Renaissance Rally

By Daisy G.

Every quarter at West Jefferson High School, the Renaissance Club gathers all the students up into the cafeteria for a Renaissance rally. Every Renaissance rally has interactive games for all students and teachers to join in and have some fun. There is a poster with tally marks including all grades 9-12 and the staff. Whoever wins the activity or gets the most awards such as the highest percentages for perfect attendance or Highest exam honor roll students get a tally mark.

The first activity the rally started off with was with TikToks. Some of the teachers practiced and made TikToks for the rally and they were shown on the big screen. It was very funny seeing some of the teachers who have not shown much of their personality dance and make Tiktoks.

After the TikToks were shown the Renaissance Club acknowledged Miss Simmons for winning the Staffulty of the Month. This was her first time to win this honor and the first 2020 teacher of the month award. She was noticed for adjusting well to her first year at West Jefferson Highschool.

The Renaissance Club then started to recognize students for awards. All of the students that got all A’s and B’s on their midterm exam received an award. There were 59 total that got this award and it was leading with 29 sophomores with the most students in their class to get honor roll on their midterm exam then following with 11 freshmen and Seniors and only 8 juniors. The sophomores gained a tally mark for having the most students out of the high school to get honor roll on the midterms.

Then moving on with perfect attendance. Leading with the class that had the most students with perfect attendance were the sophomores with 17 students and then 13 freshmen, 9 juniors and 7 seniors. That gave the sophomores another tally point for this 9 weeks.

The next award recognized the winter sports team academic awards. With a total of four winter teams, all of the averages were above a 3.0 GPA. The girl’s basketball team came in first place and received a team award and also got a 1st place ribbon for their lockers. The cheerleaders came in 2nd place, then in 3rd fell the boy’s basketball team and then in 4th, the wrestling team.

Then teachers acknowledged students for different achievements in their classrooms. Starting off with Mr. Diehl who recognized 18 students for excellence in academics in his classes.

Then Dr. Haidet recognized four freshmen who achieved 99.9% in Geometry last quarter.

Then Señor Listen acknowledged eight freshmen students who had creative writing abilities, strong aptitude in the global language and for showing leadership in the classroom.

Then Mr. Hammer wanted to recognize 4 sophomore students in this class for helping out in the classroom.

Mrs. Bogenrife also wanted to recognize 7 of her freshmen students for reaching 100% of their Aleks goal for the 2nd quarter and Camryn Justus was noticed for completing all of her Algebra Aleks topics and also a junior, Isabel Swindall for completing 100% of her Aleks second-quarter goal in Pre-Calc.

Mr. Harkleroad granted four sophomores for doing the best in their class on the Biology midterm. Mckayle Woodford was noticed for scoring the highest in her class and was the top scorer for the Biology midterm. Then for Mr. Harkleroad’s anatomy class, he recognized Sydney Fling and Addlyn Stanley for the top grades for the midterm and Addlyn had the best overall score. He also acknowledged Chris Arteaga and Elijah Smith for their contributions toward their 3D models.

Mr. Pickler noticed Peyton Filby for always knowing when to ask questions and coming up with good jokes for the classroom.

Mrs. Jenkins proudly recognized five students for great participation and improvement in Spanish 2.

Mr. Ruane acknowledged 11 students for being good students and participants in the classroom.

Mrs. Haskins noticed 4 students for winning the VFW voice of democracy competition. Tyler masters onto the regional competition and was awarded $1,500.

Mrs. Gravlin gave out art awards to 15 of her students.

Mr. Boettner outstanding awards for the 1st semester go to 13 students who have moved on to Algebra 2 topics in ALEKS

Mr. Neely recognized 18 of his freshmen students for improving their grade from the 1st 9 weeks. Also he recognized Cory Hart and Erica Lewis for being the most efficient toothpick bridge winner.

Mrs. Simmons noticed 9 students in different classes for actively participating in class, helping others, and being the voice of reason and calmness to the yearbook class.

Since all of these awards came out, especially for the honor roll exams, I think the students in West Jefferson High School will try harder to be better and strive for excellence for this next semester. The Renaissance rally really brings everyone together and makes everyone feel honored and also it brings a lot of fun and joy into the school.