Students who spelled their nine words perfectly were Yaniv Smukler and Erin Van Wesenbeeck.  Raleigh Daniel, James Knight, Melissa Riggio, Sam Smith and Zeke Willey were near perfect spellers, missing only one word.  The other members of the team were Kelaiah Awoyemi, Varu Musunuri, Serena Nayee, McKenzie Records, Dan Spall and Lily Wolf.

FHS Spell Bowl Team – (Front row) Lily Wolf, Raleigh Daniel, Melissa Riggio, McKenzie Records, James Knight, Serena Nayee, Varu Musunuri, (Row 2) Yaniv Shumkler, Sam Smith, Zeke Willey, Kelaiah Awoyemi and Erin Van Wesenbeeck.

The team is coached by Deborah Hejl and John Drozd, with much appreciated assistance from parents Mary Willey and Ellen Spall. “Since more than half of these students are underclassmen, we expect to be very competitive next year,” said Coach Hejl. FHS is undefeated in Conference or Area competition for the past four years.  “Congratulations to these fine students, who put in many long hours to study the 2,700+ difficult words on the list.” For more information, contact Hejl at (317) 915-4290 or email her at dhejl@hse.k12.in.us

“Look what I found” signals Scott Loller while taking part in an archeological dig activity.

Durbin hosted a Family Fun Night with a “discovering Egypt” theme. Students heard a read-aloud, made cartouches, constructed stained glass windows and went on an archeological dig for bones and jewels. While the students had an adventure, parents worked on reading strategies to help their children with reading at home.

Jeremiah Best, Alex Aldridge, Kyle Gabbard, Collin Denham, and James Castro.

On September 18, Harrison Parkway second graders boarded the train on 141st St. near school and rode it to Fishers’ Town Center. There they discussed the purpose of each of the community buildings including town hall, police department, fire department, license branch, post office, library and train station. Conductor Ralph Bell explained how Fishers’ name had changed over the years. He said it was originally called Mudsock, later Fishers Switch and finally Fishers.

Teacher Susan Tysen said the trip supported state standards where children are asked to ‘differentiate between events that happened in the past and recently, recognize examples of continuity and change in local and regional communities and consider ways that people and events of the past and present influence their lives.” As the train passed through Noblesville, they also talked about the town buildings, the county buildings and purposes that they serve.

Students visited The Indiana Transportation Museum in Forest Park in Noblesville. There they learned that refrigeration cars were once cooled by ice chopped out of and transported from northern lakes. They also talked about related modes of transportation such as a trolley car and mule pulled cars. Conductor Bell made sure that the students understood how and why the modes of transportation have changed over the years to best serve the needs of the people in the area. For more information, contact Tysen at (317) 915-4210 or email her at stysen@hse.k12.in.us

The run/walk will be at Heritage Park on Eller Road in Fishers. Parking is limited with a drop-off area for families at the park and additional parking and a shuttle bus at Riverside Intermediate School. Handicapped accessible parking will be available. The course is approximately 0.5 miles.

This walk-a-thon will help raise money for the students at Fishers Elementary School. All donations will go to the PTO, which directly provides funding for school activities. Registration will be available on site and through Fishers Elementary. The fee is $10 per person and a maximum of $50 for a family.

Additional questions can be directed to Kristina Riley at 1x3y@sbcglobal.net. Please come out to support our students at Fishers Elementary!

With over $815,000 raised, opportunities are still available for companies and individuals to contribute to the campaign with recognition opportunities ranging from scoreboard signs to metal plaques or engraved bricks on a donor wall. The campaign goal is to cover as much as possible of the estimated $1.7 million cost with donations. An updated donor form is also available on the district web site (www.hse.k12.in.us) with a link under “Hot Topics.” Companies interested in corporate sponsorship options should contact one of the athletic director offices at FHS (915-4296) or HSEHS (594-4196).

Dedication of Clarian Health Field and Reynolds Tigers Stadium will be this Friday evening before Fishers High School’s first home game that begins at 7 p.m.

The FAST Tigers are one one of the fastest growing and most improved swimming teams in the midwest!  In just two short years, the Tigers are the 7th ranked club in Indiana (Age Group State & IMX Rankings).

The FAST Tigers offer a program for all ages and ability levels and the stroke evaluation/group placement nights are simply for evaluation and group placement purposes.  Almost everyone that attends one of the stroke evaluation dates is accepted for membership onto the team provided they can swim 25 yards of freestyle and backstroke.  If you cannot attend one of the stroke evaluation/open house dates, please call or email the office and we would be glad to arrange for a private stroke evaluation at a time that is convenient to your schedule.  Also, swimmers may start at any time during the season. Each child that participates in the stroke evaluation will receive a goody bag with gifts!

For more information, or to arrange a private confidential stroke evaluation, please call or email the FAST Tigers coaching staff (info@fasttigers.com) or 317-570-SWIM (7946).

The Royals Baseball program hosted a camp for boys in grades 9-12 last week. This camp was designed to not only allow the opportunity to meet the Royals’ new coach, but also to allow Coach Johnson to implement some of the physical and mental demands of the game that will be expected by the Varsity, Junior Varsity and Freshmen teams next spring.

“Now guys, we need to shave 75 more seconds off the time it takes to remove the tarps and prep our field. Every second counts. This may not seem like a lot of time to you, but it is to me,” says Johnson, who comes from Angola, Ind. (northeast corner of the state).

Johnson coached at Angola High School for 14 years, 13 of which were Varsity. He brings a record of 227 and 146. He won three consecutive championships, three sectionals and one regional during his tenure.

Johnson’s coaching style appears to be layered. Like a hard shell on the outside, Johnson resembles a drill sergeant taking total command of his troops. But on the inside, there’s a resilient mixture including the science of teaching baseball, the art of building confidence and the craft of getting the kids to truly want to listen to him.

“My main goal for the future of Southeastern Baseball is to make sure we play the game the right way. This means doing the ‘little things’ correctly, from wearing the hat properly to hustling on and off the field to showing respect for the game, our team family and the opponents,” says Johnson, who will teach freshmen English at HSE. Johnson strives to set a good example for his students and players. His Christian beliefs influence the way he teaches and coaches. “Without my Lord’s guidance, I wouldn’t have made the move to HSE. Now I’m excited about the possibilities!”

His emotion is contagious. Next spring, the excitement will hover once again over HSE High School as three teams (Varsity, JV and Freshmen) show up in uniform with respect and a genuine work ethic, bringing their batting bags and an eagerness to listen, learn, hustle, and oh yes, “play ball.”

The Chicago tournament started with 46 teams from across the United States. Each team played six matches in the first two days, and those winning at least four continued to finals. Coach John Drozd said Indiana has a reputation as one of the strongest states with Lafayette Harrison High School winning and both Hamilton Southeastern and Fishers high schools reaching finals last year.

FHS sent two teams this year coached by Drozd and Deb Hejl: Team Mango – Patrick Axon, Rachel Cooke, Matthew Hartley, Zeke Willey, Robert Wiesler and Alexander Smith. Team Habanera – Parth Patel, Zach Willey, Ian Goller, Christina Koenig, Yuji Xie and Christopher Womble. HSEHS’s team coached by Ashley Rightsell included the following: Denny Allman, Justin Kingsolver, Tom Zhang, Sawyer Morgan, Mike Wildnauer and Mark Mace.

FHS teams were 1-1 after the day one, both losing their first matches in “heartbreaking style” on the last questions of the matches according to Coach Drozd. Team Habanera played schools ranked second, third and sixth and bowed out of the competition on the second day. Team Mango came back to win two morning matches, then lost an afternoon contest before beating it’s final opponent Sunday to qualify for Monday’s finals. HSEHS’s team won two and lost four in preliminary matches and did not continue.

In its first match of the Monday finals, the number-fifteenth-ranked Fishers Team Habanera faced third-ranked Wilmington Charter. The squads were tied in the first round of the match, but Fishers lost in round two. Reaching the finals does qualify the team for next year’s tournament.

Part of championship weekend included a “Who wants to be a game show host?” competition where seniors auditioned to be readers in next year’s competition. Fishers seniors Zach Willey and Rachel Cooke were selected as finalists from 20 competitors. Willey was the eventual winner. In addition, Fishers Coaches Drozd and Deb Hejl were members of the winning squad in the four-team coaches’ tournament.

For more information, contact Drozd by email at jdrozd@hse.k12.in.us or Rightsell at arightsell@hse.k12.in.us

Above: Fishers High School’s Team Habanera qualified for the finals round at the National Academic Championship in Chicago last weekend. Members include Zach Willey, Christina Koenig, Yuji Xie, Parth Patel, Chris Womble and Ian Goller.

Fishers High School Senior Zach Willey (with contest official Ernie Anderson) won a “game show host” competition and will return to the national competition next year as a reader.