January 29 Commendations
Great Work, Dragons!
It was another weekend of outstanding student accomplishments in Dragon Nation. If you have group or individual commendations, please send them to Laura Sprague, JCSD Director of Communications. The following commendations and photos were submitted by parents and/or coaches.
JHS Science Bowl
The Johnston High School Science Bowl Team won the Iowa Regional Science Bowl, facing 38 other teams from around the state. They team will go on to represent Iowa at the National Science Bowl Competition in April, which is sponsored by the US Department of Energy (with all expenses paid). Congratulations to students Chris Yao, William Julstrom, Paul Shang, and Aditya Somisetty, along with coaches Kyla Burns, Sara Kate Howe, and Stephanie Buckingham.
JHS Competition Cheer Team
The Johnston High School Competition Cheer Team traveled to Dallas, Texas January 26-28 for the NCA High School Nationals (cheer competition). The Lady Dragons placed 2nd in the nation in the “Advanced Small High Schools” category. Congratulations to these accomplished student-athletes and their coaches on an outstanding season and national placement!
JHS Academic Decathlon Team
Johnston High School three-peated as the Regional Ac Dec champion over the weekend. Team A edged out Dowling Catholic to earn top honors on Friday, March 26. A total of 43 individual event ribbons and five of the ten overall titles went to Johnston students. The next step for the team is the State Tournament on March 2-3 in Fort Dodge, IA. The Academic Decathlon team is coached by Sue Cline. Another congratulations to these talented students!
The State team will be comprised of the following students, who were the top performers at the Regional contest:
HONORS: Aditi Jithendra, Chris Yao, Kevin Dial, Alt: Matthew Ding
SCHOLASTIC: Sarah Martin, Casey Hodson, Marianne Aldrich, Alt: Katelyn Kempkes
VARSITY: Avery Swizdor, Ethan Page, Mac Jackson, Alt: Bradlee Beierle
JCSD STEMATICS Robotics Team
Congratulations to the district’s FIRST Tech Challenge robotics team, The STEMATICS, for a fantastic League Championship this past weekend at Nevada High School. The team finished their preliminary robotic rounds ranked third out of 16 teams and advanced to the finals as Second Alliance Team Captains. With such a strong showing, The STEMATICS were chosen as one of eight teams to advance on to the Super Regional event to be held Saturday, Feb. 3 at John Deere Financial. The STEMATICS are coached by Andrew McCormick.
JMS/JHS students on The STEMATICS: Teja Jetty, Tarun Srikaran, Nora McCormick, Kayla Reents, Fanuel Akakpo, Nitin Gupta, Abigail Coon, Jake Paustian, Ian Ehredt, Roba Abbajabal, Grant Idleman, Michael Watkins, Andrew Lee, Grace Wigen, and Aaron Piotraschke.
