Decatur Community Schools

CATTLE TRAIL INVITATIONAL BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

December 8, 11 & 12, 2020  ~    McCook Senior High, 600 West 7th

Graff Event Center at McCook Community College

DCHS will be playing in the McCook basketball tournament December 8-12.  Parents and siblings may attend the games, BUT this is limited to the household only. Each team will need to provide a household list.  ONLY household members are allowed, and they will only be admitted if they are on the list.   Masks are also required to be worn correctly at all times.

The DCHS girls will play at the college Tuesday at 3:30 and Friday at 6:30. Location will depend on Tuesday's results.  The boys will play at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday at the high school and at 5:00 p.m. on Friday.

Adults  $5.00 Students $3.00 

*Live Stream  -  All contests will be live streamed for fan viewing at www.mccinidians.com

MCC Athletic Department Safety Protocols & Guidelines
Game Day Procedures for Visiting Teams, Spectators, Staff, Media, & Officials

The following protocols and guidelines have been put in place to minimize the amount of risk and exposure for all participants at athletic events hosted by McCook Community College.  We appreciate your diligence in following these protocols and taking the necessary steps to keep you and everyone around you safe.

Thank you for your cooperation!

Fans/Spectators/Media:

*Please note that the decision to allow spectators may be changed at any time during the athletic season.

Indoor Sports

1. Household family members of players, coaches and school personnel ONLY can attend contests (max of 8 household members). The number of fans/spectators cannot exceed the allowed capacity of the facility per the local directed health measures. 

2. ALL fans/spectators/media WILL be required to wear mask and adhere to current social distancing requirements.

3. Upon discretion of the Athletic Director, fans/spectators/media may be temperature checked at before entering the building.  Temperature over 100.4 will not be allowed to enter.

4. NO gathering on the floor or in the building with friends and family following the end of the contests.

5. All guests MUST exit the facility immediately following the end of the contests.

6. NO seating should be allowed in bottom 2-3 rows of bleachers to avoid spectator/athlete interactions during the contests.

7. Seating will be adjusted and communicated as needed.

8. NO outside food/meals are allowed in the facility before, during or after the contests.

Participating Schools: Arapahoe, Decatur Community Schools, Dundy County, Wauneta Palisade, Hitchcock County, Maywood-Hayes Center, Medicine Valley, and Southwest.

Oberlin students came oh so close to meeting their goal of 1,000 items for our local food drive. But after counting everything twice, the students brought in 993 items.

The seniors won the class competition with 312 items for 1,030 points.  Student Council sponsor Brenda Breth called the food pantry to see what items they needed.  Based on those needs, Stuco came up with a point system. 

Needed items, such as canned tuna and chicken, peanut butter, salad dressings, and mayonnaise were worth five points. Items they are always in need of, such as canned fruits and vegetables, toilet paper, and soup were worth 3 points.  All other items were worth 1 point.

The sophomore came in second place with 298 items for 964 points. The freshmen brought in 203 items for 748 points.

The eighth graders brought in 89 items for 222 points, seventh graders – 51 for 127 points, and the juniors – 40 items for 162 points.

“Even though we didn’t quite reach our goal, I am proud of our students,” said Mrs. Breth. “It’s a great thing that they have done for our community.”

New opportunities present new challenges for the 8th grade English students and their teacher Ladd Wendelin, but with the arrival of the Summit Learning platform this year, the students are discovering new ways of exploring language and telling stories visually.

In September, the 8th graders began exploring the graphic novel format, which is similar to the comic book format, but the themes are often larger than life and more in-depth than the standard superhero comic book. After reading a graphic novel, “American Born Chinese” by Gene Luen Yang and the Marvel Comics superhero Miss Marvel, students were given the challenge to create their own graphic novel, and according to Mr. Wendelin, they have risen to the occasion in interesting ways. 

One of the first requirements was that the students had to choose a relevant social issue to inspire the events and characters used in their graphic novel. Issues students could pick from included homelessness, bullying, immigration and civil rights, among others. 

“I felt like I made a statement, and I could change someone's opinion about animal rights,” Michaela Wasson said. “My favorite part was putting in the pictures and designing the format for pages. It took time, but it came out great in the end.”

"This gave students a unique opportunity to explore current events surrounding their social issue," Mr. Wendelin said. "They've worked really hard to translate the requirements of the project into a graphic novel that speaks to them and, best of all, incorporates their friends in the project, too." 

While some students opted to draw or select images from Google to tell their story, other students have made the effort to cast themselves and their classmates as characters in their graphic novels, Mr. Wendelin said. 

“Writing a graphic novel was a long and slow process,” said Weston Barnes. “It took a lot of revisions and re-dos. However, the long process was worth it because of the end result. I really liked helping other people by being their characters.” 

“My topic was about homeless and bullying,” said Arika Marshall. “All people should be treated the same, no matter if they’re living on the streets or wherever they might live.” 

“The most challenging part of the project was adding the animations,” said Jordon Ruzicka, who added moving pictures to some pages of his graphic novel on immigration. “The most rewarding part was taking the ideas in my head and making them into a graphic novel format.” 

"That's the beauty of Summit," Mr. Wendelin said. "It gives students unique challenges and then puts them in a position where they have to use their critical thinking skills and imagination to accomplish their goals with each project." 

“I enjoyed doing this project because it let us use our creativity. It put us in the shoes of an author, and it was fun writing our own story,” said Sophia Davis. 

Click on the links below to read some of the novels:

Jenna Fortin - "Be Nice or Be Out"

"My Hero" by Arika Marshall

"Rebellion" by Weston Barnes

"The Refuge" by Michael Wasson

"Nimue's Story" by Raelyn Bailey

Eleven Oberlin students have been selected for District KMEA Choir.

This includes Sarah Abernathy, Bryant Addleman, Emma Anderson, Ellie Anderson, Alana Bishop, Malia Bishop, Josh Juenemann, Logan Koger, McKayla Sievert, Olivia Williby, and Taite Woolsey.

The Kansas Music Educators’ Association mini conventions and concerts have been canceled, so the students had to submit their auditions online this year.