The Fergus Falls Daily Journal

By Jerry Ness

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Superintendent’s Column: Graduation

Published 6:40am Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Congratulations to the 197 Fergus Falls High School seniors who will participate in the 2009 graduation ceremonies scheduled for this week. Students will be graduating from the High School, Area Learning Center and the new iQ Academy Minnesota online school. The ALC ceremony is at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 28, at A Center for the Arts, and the High School graduation is at 7 p.m. Friday, May 29, in the High School gym.

This class has excelled in academics, fine arts and athletics. Of the 197, 102 have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher. The Class of 2009 is filled with positive leaders who have made the 2008-09 school year enjoyable and rewarding for all who have had the pleasure of working with them.

The class motto is “Faith is taking the first steps even when you can’t see the whole staircase,” a quotation from the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Class colors are maroon and gold, the class flower is the tiger lily and the class song selected by the seniors is “Yesterday” by Atmosphere.

A special congratulations goes to the 14 students who earned a GPA of 3.9 or higher on a 4. 0 scale: Phillip Bakken, Brandon Demuth, Carli Ewert, Kara Fisher, Erika Magnusson, Sarah Monk, Hannah Rausch, Jordan Ringquist, Susan Schoeneck, Kyle Sorkness, Karena Stowman, Erika Sutor, Karla Thole and Dacia Walkup.

Green Team

District 544 is starting a Green School task force to promote green living and reduce the district’s carbon footprint. Students, teachers, support staff and administrators are developing a plan to implement recycling, save energy and reduce waste. Please contact my office at 218.998.0544 x 1010 if you are interested in serving on this team.

We met once in May with a representative from ReDirect for Schools and will start meeting regularly in September. Our district is serving as a pilot project for ReDirect at no cost to the district. Over the summer, committee members are urged to gather green articles and ideas for implementation next fall. We will first concentrate on some very doable projects, probably no more than two or three initial no-cost projects. We will measure our success and report to parents and the community.

Energy Saving Ideas

The following is a list of ideas for energy savings that we will be working on in school and that you could use in your home or business.

Turn off lights when leaving classroom at end of the day, when leaving classroom for more than 10-15 minutes and when leaving any conference room. Turn off TV and overhead projectors when not in use. Keep windows closed, shut window shades/blinds at the end of the day during the heating season, shut window shades during very cloudy days during the heating season and keep shades open on sunny days.

In the kitchen, turn on exhaust hoods after the ovens/cook tops begin to warm up. Turn off exhaust hoods as soon as practical at the end of the day and consolidate cooler/freezer contents at the end of the school year into one cooler/freezer unit.

Consolidate the number of vending machines that need to operate during the summer months and, if possible, during extended school breaks. Shut off copy machines and all other office systems at the end of the day and post signs as practical to provide reminders.