Hello Maize South and welcome to the Holiday Season. Hard to believe we are at the end of the first semester. We have had a great first semester to the 2013-14 school year. Mavericks have been successful both in the classroom and on the athletics and activities scene.

From Dec. 2-13 the MSHS student body participated in a food drive for the Kansas Food Bank, and MSHS students and staff donated 6,708 items during the two-week competition. Mr. Pfeifer's encor class won the competition, and each member of his EnCor will receive a pair of Oakley sunglasses from Oakley and Specs. Thank you to Oakley and Specs for the opportunity you provided to MSHS to support our character education initiative of generosity and the Kansas Food Bank.

We are currently organizing our state assessment testing schedule for second semester. The testing window opens up March 10 and closes on May 2. Testing this year will be in English Language Arts, mathematics and science courses.

I would like to thank our teaching staff at MSHS for their professional work ethic and ability to make MSHS a highly collaborative environment. I have high expectations for myself, our administrative team, and our teaching staff. Teaching and learning are our two biggest priorities. If you have any concerns please do not hesitate to contact your son's or daughter's teachers, or any of the counselors or administrators for help.

Congratulations to the Maize South HS 2013 yearbook staff for receiving a Gold Medalist award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, and for receiving an All American award from the National Scholastic Press Association, with four marks of distinction. Editors for the 2013 yearbook were Madie Loomis, Emily Steenbock, and Jaden Hilgers. Shelly Walston is the faculty sponsor for the MSHS yearbook.

Congratulations to MSHS soccer player Yobani Delgado for being named to the Wichita Eagle all-metro soccer team. MSHS senior football player Josh Lewis was also named to the Eagle's all-metro football team. Senior cross-country athlete Maddie Nestor was named the Go Run cross-country female athlete of the year.

Winter competitions are under way with our wrestling team winning the El Dorado tournament and our boys' basketball team getting three big wins to start the season. The boys team is currently ranked 6th in Class 5A. The girls' varsity team took the Andover Trojans to the wire and lost by a single point but responded with a victory over Goddard HS. The girls team is currently ranked 9th in Class 5A. The MSHS boys' swim team finished in 2nd place out of 10 teams in the Maize High Invitational tournament on Dec. 7 and in 2nd place at the Campus meet on Dec. 16. Our bowling team has started practices but they have not had any competitions yet. Great job Mavericks! You can keep abreast of league activities at www.avctl.org.

I would like thank our MSHS cheerleaders, dance team members and coaches for supporting our athletic teams. Great job everyone!

Please make plans to see our fine arts students in action this week. The vocal department held their winter concert on Monday night and delivered an outstanding show. Our band concert is tonight, Dec. 19 at 7pm.

Our winter homecoming game will be on Friday, Feb. 7 and the dance will be on Saturday, Feb. 8 from 8-11pm in the MSHS commons.

Second semester will begin on Tuesday, January 7.

Happy Holiday from MSHS!

Dave Hickerson

Principal

With KFDI'S Brian and Kellie, MSHS Swimmers give back by making, filling and packing Christmas Boxes for deployed military men and women.

Pictured left to right Gabe Cole, John Cole, Anthony Vitale, Caleb Peterson, and Brandon Beam. 

Cole Peterson and Anthony Vitale

Brandon Beam & Caleb Peterson

 Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.-- Nelson Mandela

Class Change Policy

All class change requests (within the bounds of our school policy) for the second semester need to be made from December 3rd through December 14th. Changes will only be made prior to the winter break. Once classes begin on January 7th NO changes will take place.

Class changes will be made for the following reasons ONLY:

1. There is a mistake on the schedule
2. The student wants to take a more advanced class
3. A class was failed and needs to be re-taken
4. Prerequisites for the class have not been met 

Enrollment

Following the holiday break, the counseling department will be administering the Career Cruising interest inventory to all freshmen and sophomore students before they begin the enrollment process. Our intent is to help students understand how the assessment can aide them in class selection and career planning.

The enrollment process will be electronic again, allowing students to enter their own enrollment into Skyward. The curriculum guide book is in the final stages of modification; our goal is to make it user friendly for students and parents to obtain information regarding class choices. We would like students to become more engaged in the enrollment process and fully understand the requirements for courses prior to making the selection. It is important that students are involved in choosing their classes and entering their enrollment.

Please encourage your student to read the course description in the curriculum guide and to talk with staff members if they have questions.  Course descriptions include important information regarding prerequisite classes, membership fees, extra-curricular requirements, etc. Students will be encouraged to make informed decisions when selecting classes as well as, alternate class selections.

What's Happening Now

• ACT Prep Class- There will be a spring ACT prep class at Maize South! The class is put on by PowerPrep and will cost $85. With the registration fee, students will receive "The Real ACT Prep Guide," a test taking strategies book, and three, 2 � hour review sessions in the Maize South Lecture Hall. Class dates are still being confirmed, but will run from 6:00 pm-8:30 pm and will start in the week of March 12th and run through the week of April 2nd, with an additional week before the April 12th Saturday test date. This allows for a make-up date should the weather be an issue.  

• THE ACT TEST WILL BE GIVEN AT MSHS ON FEBRUARY 8th AND APRIL 12th  
• Students can register for the ACT test by going to www.ACT.org.
• Our School Code is 173-197.              
• The Test Center Code number is 231680.
• We are listed under Wichita, KS 

Important Links and Resources (click any of the following links to be redirected to that page)

The Counselor's Corner- portal to our webpage, which has information regarding scholarships, colleges, academic assistance, contact information, etc.

scholarship links and info

the counseling Twitter account

Parchment transcript delivery service

This is the Varisty Scholars' Bowl team that placed 3rd at the Hesston Invitational Tournament on November 14th.     Left to right: Luke Donaldson, Idan Reed, John Donaldson, Katie Williams, and Tyler Van.

Seniors Emerson Romero, Alex Green, and Yobani Delgado reenact the death of Old King Hamlet from Act III of Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet.

Maize South BPA's 4th Annual Jingle All the Way raised over $6000 for families in our Maize School District that need extra help over the holidays!  A special thank you to Craig Porter from Modern Woodmen for their matching grant of $2500, and to Abuelos for donating all of the food that was served.  Thank you to all of the parents, faculty, students and community members who once again supported this wonderful event.

Mrs. Christensen's 1st grade class at Vermillion exploring science lessons taught by Katie Williams & Tyler Van, MSHS seniors, as part of their Science Seminar class.

On November 5, Mr. Huber took 14 MSHS juniors and seniors to tour McPherson college to see their CTE department. Students got to tour the Campus, and see what McPherson College has to offer.  The picture shows students of the group in the Auto Restoration facility.