ONE ACT PLAY PERFORMANCE

The Lester Prairie Drama Club performed ‘A Memory of Harold’, a drama, for the One Act Play this year. They took it to competition in Annandale and achieved fourth place. The play illustrates the unintended consequences of bullying.

1 in 4 high school students are bullied on a regular basis. Nearly 4.5 thousand teenagers commit suicide every year. For every suicide, there are 100 attempts. 17% of all high school students have considered suicide.

Bullying is not “just a part of being a kid”, and it is not okay to let it continue. Bully victims are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide. Almost 30% of students are either bullies or victims of bullying. 160,000 teenagers stay home from school every day because of fear of bullying.

The main hope of the cast is to make people think twice before choosing to bully. This includes in person, behind someones’ back, and over the internet. The Lester Prairie School is promoting a program called OLWEUS, which condemns bullying and promotes positive interactions between students. We want to make school a safe place for everyone, and without bullying, it can be.  

Written by: Jamie DeBruyckere

 

 

ELEMENTARY OLWEUS BULLYING PREVENTION KICKOFF

The Lester Prairie Elementary School celebrated the elementary kickoff for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program on Friday, January 10th.  Students in grades K-5 were brought into the gym for a large group presentation by LP Principal Jeremy Schmidt.  He discussed the four anti-bullying rules and also described how bullying can affect someone.  The students and staff then were in stations that included drawing a picture depicting one of the four anti-bullying rules, creating a cheer about being positive or standing up to bullies, and a re-enactment of the bullying circle. Schmidt discussed the process of planning a large scale K-5 event stating, "the members of the PBIS/Olweus team worked extremely hard to pull this off.  It also involved many high school students from the NHS and REACH Programs to provide support and supervision.  It really was a wonderful event for our entire school and turned out very well." 

The bullying circle station provided students with a perspective that the more students who stand up to a bully, the more difficult it can be to bully.  This station was presented by staff members who participated in a two day training with Jean Johnson from McLeod County who is a certified Olweus trainer and has worked with multiple schools in McLeod County.  The staff members included Jan Smith, Jen Brandel, Melinda Anderberg, Principal Schmidt, Ryan James, Christine Mattson, Sarah Wojcichowski and LP School Board Chair, and Police Chief, Robert Carlson.  

When asked about the days festivities, student responses were very positive.  "I liked when we did the cheers and learned how to stand up against bullying," one student responded.  Schmidt indicated the program will continue with the students throughout the school and the kick off for the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade will take place during school on January 28th.  Chief Carlson stated "this is a great opportunity for the students to remain positive," adding that, "students can use the approaches learned today as skills both in school and in the community, it is a great way for the school and community to increase their strong relationship, and students to feel safe and welcome throughout Lester Prairie."  Carlson summed up the learning process by saying, "it really comes down to treating other people the way you want to be treated," which is something some of the students discussed and learned about in the DARE program at school.  For more information on the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program please check out the school website, monthly school newsletters, or contact the school directly.

 

 

2014 SNOFEST CORONATION

Princess - Grace Jeurissen, Queen - Taylor Ziermann, King - Jesse Walter, Prince - Tyler Scheevel

Queen and King Candidates - Jack Fiecke, Kiersten Hinze, Brandon Duffy, Taylor Ziermann, Jesse Walter, Genevieve Jeurissen,  MC's - Aaron Millerbernd and Courtney Scoblic

Prince & Princess Candidates - Parker Bayerl, Jerika Ziermann, Tyler Scheevel, Grace Jeurissen, Logan Groff, Sophie Klitzke

Lester PE classes in grades 6, 7, 8, and 9 go Skiing at Buck Hill

The Lester Prairie PE classes in grades 6, 7, 8 and 9 went skiing at Buck Hill in Burnsville on Thursday, Jan. 19. 

There was plenty of apprehension, especially among the 6 and 7th grade students who had never skied before, as the busses arrived at the hill.  We looked at the hills and headed into the chalet where an instructor explained about skiing etiquette, how to attach a lift ticket to a wicket, how the boots work, how to attach skis to boots and how a helmet fits.  

Next it was off to the rental building.  Rental personell and chaparones quickly got everyone into boots and helmets, then technicians handed out and skis according to height, weight and skiing ability and adjusted bindings.

Then it was outside on to the learning stations.  Instructors taught students how to; walk in boots, how put on skis and how to fall and get up with skis, and basics such as walking, gliding, turning, and stopping on skis.  The final station was riding the magic carpet to the testing station where the instructors guided students through a slalom course to determine if they had enough control to ride the chair lifts and ski the big hill.

When students had passed all stations they were free to ski the hills they thought they had the ability to handle.
There was a variety of hills to ski and too many obstacles in the terrain parks, but that is just one opinion. 
The day was perfect and the chalet was warm with plenty of food available, in short a great day for skiing.

Lester Prairie Elementary Celebrates Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Kickoff

The Lester Prairie Elementary students were able to kickoff their Olweus program for students.  To view videos of the kickoff, go to youtube.com, in the youtube search type or copy the following:  by jeremy schmidt Olweus. 

High School Student Chosen for Page Program

Congratulations to Becca Roush who submitted an application for the High School Page Program at the Minnesota Capitol and was chosen to represent our house district! This is an immense honor and will involve her spending a week in early April as a page for legislators in the House of Representatives. Way to go Becca, what a great learning experience.