Mr. Dwyer's Board Report
Board Report- March
The following winter sports’ athletes were selected for all conference teams in the TRAC:
For boys’ basketball: Andrew Meloan (sophomore- 2nd team), Gabe Willems (senior- honorable mention).
For girls’ basketball: Sydney Garrett (senior- 1st team), Molly Sharp (junior- 1st team), Shae Hanrahan (junior- 1st team), Brooke Smeltzly (senior- 2nd team), Lauren Lodico (junior- honorable mention), and Katelyn Oleson (junior- honorable mention).
For wrestling: Collin Altensey (freshman 106- 1st team), Brock Smith (freshman 113- 1st team), Alex Watson (freshman 120- honorable mention), Eli Hinde (freshman 126- 2nd team), Colton Reiman (senior 160- 1st team), Tristan Altensey (senior 170- 1st team), T Bryan Caves (Junior 220- 1st team),
For scholastic bowl: Ely Pettit (senior- 1st team), Tommy Murray (freshman- 1st team), Jack Kelley (junior, 2nd team), Nick Sidor (senior, 2nd team).
*Congrats to all these student athletes/competitors on outstanding seasons!
Graduation credits- I have researched our credit requirements with various area schools, and I looked at the history of Riverdale’s schedule transformation and noticed a glaring issue for our kids. At one point in time- Riverdale had an 8-period day. In that scenario- students can receive 32 credits if they max out classes. We currently are on a 7-period day which means students can max out at 28. We require 24 to graduate. When I looked at other schools, I found our requirements are more stringent than any other schools. The majority keep and average gap of -6 regarding max amount and requirements (as an example: if you have 7 periods, your requirements should be 22 (28 possible= -6). In addition, when you don’t have this as an option- you severely limit the students who fail a class and can no longer take a study hall because of it (which, ironically, are the students who usually need study hall the most). In order to keep up with graduating seniors on time (a measurement to rate schools at 50% your score), we will need to begin investing in a credit-recovery program if we do not look at lowering the amount of credits required. By doing so, it also frees up scheduling and allows students more choice in classes they are interested in taking. My recommendation is to cut 1 credit of science (which still keeps us at the 2 credit State requirement) and 1 credit of electives. Our credits required would still be at 22 which is 5 more than required by the State. I do not see this having a negative impact on students and firmly believe our 4-year college bound students will still take the classes we steer them into for college placement and preparation purposes.
The spring play, The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon, was a big success! We had a great turnout and lots of positive comments from parents and community members as they left the theater. Special thanks to Tammy Vaughan and Liza Mueller for all their work on the costumes and set pieces, Susie Nichol for her work as the assistant director, Andy Francis for building our larger set pieces, and both the Sowder and Wheelan families for allowing us to use their toddler beds during the show. Graduating seniors in this show were Madi Bier, Devin Gephart, Sydney Grau, Hannah Herrman, Marina Hinde, Makenzie Jones, Haley Kline, Ely Pettit, Josie Scovel, Max Schneider, Nick Sidor, Sophia Swift, Jason Smith, Geneva Stuart, and Grace Wainwright. They will be very missed, but we wish them luck in their future endeavors.
I want to recognize seniors Carson Ebenroth and Lauren Anderson for being chosen by our staff as the Daughter and Son of American Revolution award winners. This is a prestigious award that will officially be given at our annual senior award night in May.
The IEP vocational program working in the community is going very well! The Kids and staff are enjoying our time learning skills both at Ram’s River house and the River Valley Library in Port Byron. Beyond that, shopping at Walmart has been quite the experience shopping for ourselves and the food class! Kids are in charge of organizing the lists, finding the items, and keeping track of the amounts/items needed.
NHS just completed the Bethany for Children and Families Hygiene Drive. We raised over $300 and had over 700 items collected for items for the week.
Our JV Scholastic Bowl ended their season on February 29th earning 1st place in the prestigious Mercer County Invitational beating Mercer County, United Township( by 4 points), Kewanee, and Monmouth-Roseville. A great end to a phenomenal season! JV ended the season with 21 wins and 7 losses.
Riverdale FFA had two students compete at Section 3 Proficiency Record Book awards Kelsey Doty in Equine Science and Nathalie Zabramba in Veterinary Medicine. Kelsey did a great job two years in a row but did not advance past section. Nathalie Zabramba won both sections and then moved on and won district proficiency record books held March 4th at Geneseo High School. She will now move on to State Record books March 21st at the University of Illinois.
Riverdale FFA also celebrated National FFA Week the week of Feb 24-28th. During the week they had dress up days, played ag Olympics, had a cookout for members, met with the rotary club, and hosted the annual Teachers appreciation breakfast. This allowed all members to participate and everyone had a fun week.
Riverdale FFA had two students attend the Women Changing the Face of Agriculture conference held Friday March 6th at Richland Community College in Decatur. Kelsey Doty and Nathalie Zabramba both attended to hear from keynote speakers, go to workshops, attend the career fair, and got to network with a lot of women that work in the agriculture industry. Both of these students have plans to pursue a career in the Agriculture field and it was a very beneficial day for both.
Riverdale FFA competed in the Section 3 Dairy Cattle Evaluation contest held at Bureau Valley High School March 10th. Riverdale Had 11 students attend the contest. Team members were Cole Jennings, Caleb Jennings, Reece Richmond, Kye Smetzly, Nathalie Zabramba, Kelsey Doty, Shane Ohaver, Isiaha Galindo, Trevor Ingram, Jacob Scholz,Emma Dunbar. The team finished 1st place overall out of 13 teams in section 3. We had a good night with a lot of top individuals. Individual rankings overall Kye Smetzly 1st, Caleb Jennings 3rd, Cole Jennings 4th, Reece Richmond 5th, Nathalie Zabramba 6th, Isaiah Gallindo 7th and Kelsey Doty 8th