Olympia High School

Congratulations to Science teacher, Bill Coyle, who is a Teaching Fellow in the third cohort of the Illinois Physics and Secondary Schools partnership program with the University of Illinois. Mr. Coyle has been an asset to this partnership. He has eagerly adapted instructional materials from the course offerings at Illinois Physics to his high school classroom. Over the course of the semester, he has collaborated with other teachers across the state to plan engaging lessons for his students that implement research-based problem-solving pedagogies and lab activities using the iOLab device.

Check out this list of trustworthy resources to help you learn what's true (and what is not!) on the web. You can even use one of them to look back in time and what was on a website in the past!

Congratulations to Dr. Jodlowski for being awarded the John M. Hires Distinguished Service Award this past weekend at the IHSA State Speech Meet. Thank you Dr. J for all the support you have provided to our students and the speech program over the years! #SpartanPride

Tip #5: Choose a Variety of Sources Show your children how you get news and information from different places, and explain how you make your choices. Use words like "credible," "trustworthy," "respected," and "fair." Ask them where they get their information, and if they think about those same words when choosing. As kids get older, introduce the ideas of bias, satire, and clickbait.

If a picture's worth a thousand words, do the words always tell a true story? One way to find out is through a reverse image search. Search with an image instead of a keyword and see what you discover!

In observance of Presidents' Day, Olympia will not have school on Monday, February 20, 2023.

Yesterday Olympia hosted a pathway day to show the students different careers and colleges! A Pathway day is an opportunity Olympia has given students to help them with their college and career choices. The speakers were split into two sections to give students two opportunities to see careers or colleges they may be interested in. There were about 22 speakers in total who spoke over a variety of topics. Some of the Career speakers included Central Il Ag, Loeffler Farms, Bioenergy Research/USDA, Stanford and Logan County First Responders, and Eastland Dental Center. The day consisted of many different careers but also many different Colleges. Some of the colleges included; Eastern Illinois University, Heartland Community College, Eureka College, and Midwest Tech Institute. This pathway day also had US Marines and Air Force speakers for students who want to go into the military. Among the speakers were many Olympia alumni who came back to discuss their job fields. This day has given students a vast variety of choices for their future and also more information on their dream careers or college.

Tip #4: Play "Should You Share?" Talk through the kind of content you and your tween or teen pass along to friends online. What types of things do you like to share? Do you always check to make sure something is true before you share it? How do emotions factor into your decisions to share things? Have you ever shared something and later found out it wasn't true?

Olympia High School would like to welcome Head Coach Chelsea Williams and Assistant Coach Randi Krehbiel to the high school girls' track program.

Our OHS Stem Club participated in the academic competition hosted by EIU. Tests included Mathematics, English, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, and Engineering Graphics.

In Mrs. Langley’s Career Skill’s Class, student’s learn a wide variety of information about multiple career paths. One such path is Trades. Olympia Senior, Andrew Carroll, is headed down that path as an Electrician upon graduation. He will be entering into an apprenticeship. He stopped into Mrs. Langley’s class to discuss this fantastic career opportunity where he will finish with a successful job and zero student loan debt. The students were interested in learning about trade jobs and this trade path. There is expected to be a significant shortage of trade jobs over the next 10 years. Let’s help our students go down the right path to success. Thank you Andrew for sharing your future path to success!!!

Tip #3: Explore Different Sides of a Story! Use real-life examples to help kids understand how people can view the same situation with totally different perspectives. One child might experience a game on the playground as fun, while another might feel like the rules are unfair. Sibling conflict can be a great example of how two people can have wildly different opinions about the same event. With older children, talk through controversial subjects and take turns arguing for different sides to help kids understand various viewpoints.

LAST CALL for bids for STATE BANNERS - Deadline - 7:00 PM tonight, Feb. 10, 2023. Winning bid notified on Monday, February 13th. Email michelle.olson@olympia.org with your bid. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DE9IDn1pYv3FIaM-kr15wlyyBf2bo3cECmxZW-9nWQs/edit?usp=sharing

Fake News has been around for a long time. Track its history from 63 B.C. through present day in this infographic. Where do you see Fake News today? How does it impact your life? Does it impact the type of media you consume, or where you consume it?

Do you want to save money while also helping the Olympia Business Club raise money to go to a leadership conference?

https://youtu.be/mh1dLvGe06Y - BBC When we get news from our social media feeds, it often only tells us part of the story. Our friends -- and the website's algorithms -- tend to feed us perspectives we already agree with. Check out these ways to escape the filter bubble and make sure your ideas about the world are being challenged.

Thankful for our Counselors this week and every other week of the school year!

Last Saturday the Olympia Speech Team competed in the IHSA Speech Regionals hosted at Olympia. This Saturday the team will be sending 10 events to sectionals held in Belleville. Here’s How the Team did overall: 3rd in Team Sweeps 1st in HI - Michael Bagby - Will be moving on to sectionals 1st SOS - Julia Collins - Will be moving on to sectionals 5th PR - Grace Birkey 3rd OC - Reid Kelly - Will be moving on to sectionals 3rd HDA - Isabelle Stivers and Mason Newton - Will be moving on to sectionals 2nd DI - Michael Bagby - Will be moving on to sectionals 4th OO - Brooke Rycyzyn - Will be moving on to sectionals 5th EXTEMP - Mabry Lynn 4th Info - Julia Collins - Will be moving on to sectionals 6th RS - Gabrielle Elless 3rd DDA - Ainsley Mahoney and Ava Crebo - Will be moving on to sectionals 4th IMP - Mabry Lynn - Will be moving on to sectionals 4th DEC - Brooke Rycyzyn - Will be moving on to sectionals

Tip #2: Play Spot The Ad When you see advertising on TV or on a billboard, ask your children to figure out what the ad is selling. Sometimes it's obvious, and sometimes it's not. Help them explore why certain pictures, sounds, or words are used to sell certain products.

Well-crafted headlines benefit everyone. They help readers digest information and publishers sell news stories. But what if the headline is misleading? What if it's crafted just to get clicks and not to inform? "Clickbait" headlines may benefit advertisers and publishers (think $$$), but they don't benefit readers. And when they go viral, they can badly misinform the public. This week, look for clickbait headlines in the media that you consume and discuss them with your family. How many can you find before Sunday rolls around!?