Old Town High School

Congratulations to Kylee Murray, September's OTHS Cadet of the Month! Kylee is the "Voice of the Coyotes" each morning bringing our campus community the daily highlights. She has helped the Coyote Battalion to get off to a quick start this school year with her planning and executing of the Red Cross Blood Drive. Kylee is also a member of our competitive Drill Team. In addition to JROTC, she is a member of the Equity Committee, Track Team, and Pep Band. Congratulations, Kylee!

On Wednesday, our Honors and Humanities Diploma students participated in a seminar presented by Dr. Brian Jansen, Humanities Specialist for the Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center at the University of Maine. Students learned about the Humanities field and the work of the McGillicuddy Humanities Center. Dr. Jansen also led the student in a poetry writing activity to get them thinking about language.

The OTHS Math Team traveled to Brewer High School on Wednesday for the second math meet of the year. The meet's categories were Arithmetic with Ratios and Proportions, Series and Sequences, Counting Principles and Binomial Theorem, Polynomials, and Areas and Volumes. Students had 12 minutes in each round to solve 3 problems. During the team round students worked together to solve 10 problems across all the categories. #CoyotePride

Last night, the JROTC Drill Team represented the Coyote Battalion at the Bangor HS JROTC Drill Competition. The team won second place in four of the six competition events. Kevin Murray won a second place medal in the Armed Individual Drill event. Isaac Lankist took fourth place in both the Armed and Without Ams Individual Drill Events. This is especially impressive, because this is Isaac’s first drill season and only his second competition. #CoyotePride

Meet some of the faces you'll see on stage at Coyote Theatre's fall show this weekend: Murder at the Banquet by John LaVohn. In this short murder mystery, anyone and everyone is a suspect when a cherished host and association President suddenly drops dead! Could it be the Vice President, hungry for power? Or perhaps the aged mystery writer looking for a juicy plot?Perhaps we should look at the young descendant of Sherlock Holmes or his competition, the descendant of Dr. Watson! Shows are Thursday, Friday & Saturday..... Doors open at 6pm. Showtime is 6:30pm. Seats are limited... Get your tickets today to solve the mystery with us at: https://otcoyotetheatre.ludus.com/index.php

Our very own MacKenzie Gymnasium was transformed into bowling lanes yesterday afternoon. Mrs. Libbey's "Individual Sports Physical Education class learned about not only the history of bowling, but also step-by-step instructions on how to knock down those pins. Each student got lots of repetition and it was fun to watch students improve in this lifelong activity in just a short period of time!

In light of the spooky chill in the air, Mr. Wright's theatre class dabbled in some special effects makeup today. They practiced making bruises of different varieties and gnarly cuts, scrapes, and gashes using fake blood and synthetic wax!

TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS! On Saturday, OTHS Robotics  brought 3 teams to the VEX Robotics Competition at John Bapst Memorial High School. In these competitions, 4 robots compete in alliance pairs to score as many points as possible in 2 minute matches. After competing against 23 other teams in 59 qualification matches, our teams ranked 2nd, 4th, and 10th. Our Teams formed alliances with other schools to compete in the finals bracket. Team 20734A was eliminated in the quarterfinals. The two remaining teams advanced to the finals match on opposing alliances and team 20734C won the Tournament Championship by a narrow margin over team 20723B. Both teams have now qualified for the Maine State Championship tournament in March. Team 20734A, Kaegan Y, has 2 more tournaments to qualify! Congratulations to Ian D, Landon H, Noah N on their championship and to Martie L, Sidney S, and Livia L on being finalists. #CoyotePride

On Wednesday night, the OTHS JROTC hosted the first Drill Competition of the Northern New England Drill League season. They competed against JROTC Drill Teams from Bangor High School and Nokomis Regional High School. Of the six competition events, the Coyote Battalion took first place in one event and second place in two other events. Additionally, the Old Town Veterans of Foreign Wars Post Auxiliary presented the Coyote Battalion Commander ( Norah Sanborn) with a donation earned through a fundraising collaboration with the VFW Auxiliary. Overall, it was a great night for the Coyote Battalion and we look forward to next week’s competition at Bangor High School on November 1st, at 3:30.

Keystone Species play a critical role in maintaining the ecosystem they reside in. Students in Mr. Gilbert’s biology and honors biology classes picked a keystone species of interest and created some fabulous informational fliers. In general biology, students theorized what would happen if their species disappeared from the planet and made missing posters.  In honors biology, students made informational pamphlets showcasing their species, their role in the ecosystems, habitat, threats, and conservation efforts. All of this amazing work can be seen right outside Mr. Gilbert’s room in our science wing.

Old Town High School's "Coyote Theater" is hard at work to bring a murder mystery show to our very own Coyote Cafe! This group of thespians has been honing their acting and building a set of props to bring you an evening of entertainment with this classic whodunnit. Shows will run on November 2, 3 and 4, all starting at 6:00pm. Get your tickets today at https://otcoyotetheatre.ludus.com/index.php ** Please note, this is the first time we have used this ticketing website, so if there are any ordering issues, please contact Dakota Wright - Dakota.wright@rsu34.org

On Thursday of last week, Mrs. Gardner and Mrs. Stone held the first of two sessions this month for our Honors Diploma seniors. This session discussed the Capstone project in detail and students were shown some resources to make their research a bit easier. Next meeting is Thursday, October 26th during Coyote Time.

On Thursday, our JMG students took a trip to the Old Town Fire Department to learn about careers in Firefighting, EMT/Paramedics, and Public Safety. Students got a tour of the station, the trucks and ambulances, participated in Fire Extinguisher Training, and finished the trip with a Q & A session over pizza. Thank you OTFD for hosting our students and taking the time to talk to them about the opportunities that exist within Public Safety! Also, just a reminder that October is Fire Prevention Month! Make sure to change the batteries in your smoke detector and remember that cooking safety starts with YOU!! Go Coyotes

Mr. May's & Ms. Davis' Humanities Seminar class took a field trip to the Hudson Museum on Wednesday to meet with their collections staff to connect classroom learning with the outside world. The Humanities class has been learning about NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act), an act that allows federal agencies and museums that receive federal funds a path to repatriate items from their collections back to the Native American tribes from which they were taken. The students spent the morning learning more about the Tlingit Frog Clan helmet, seeing the helmet next to the replica (they look exactly the same) and then meeting the Registrar of the Museum who is responsible for the collections and NAGPRA requests. The Humanities students asked excellent questions, and the Museum staff was very impressed with their knowledge, curiosity and, attention. #CoyotePride

Shout Out to Joey Porter, who preformed with the University of Maine Symphonic Band this past Sunday at the Collins Center at the University of Maine. 🎶 Great Job Joey! #CoyotePride

Back on September 27th our JROTC battalion hosted a blood drive in MacKenzie Gymnasium. Caroline King, the Executive Director of Northern and Eastern Maine Red Cross was so impressed with the leadership shown by our very own Kylee Murray, she asked to return and present her with a certificate. Kylee's response revealed exactly the type of leader that she is as she identified a group of her cadets who were instrumental in making the blood drive run smoothly. Thanks to Caroline King and the Red Cross folks for returning to OTHS. Congratulations Kylee and Congratulations again to our OTHS JROTC!

Let's rewind the clock back to September 20th - to a day when I visited Mr. Curtis' classroom while students were just beginning to make coil pots from recycled clay. We have some pictures of final products! Most of the pictures here have been designed as vases for flowers. Mr. Curtis suggested that these might make an excellent present for someone! :)

Students in Mr. Gilbert’s Honors Biology have been learning about keystone species, habitats and niches. To further explore the topic, they were tasked with doing a pollinator niche study. Using different colored bowls to simulate types of flowers, students will be measuring the diversity of pollinators in different habitats and bowl colors to better understand our local keystone species! Students set out and collected their own traps. Once in the classroom, students worked on their insect ID and microscope skills.

I had the pleasure of joining Madame Ocana's French classroom this morning. What a fun, engaging and energetic lesson! Students were on-task with lots of smiles, laughter and cooperative learning. Tres bien!

Look who presented the colors at last night's UMaine ice hockey home opener at Alfond Arena!! The word on the street is that they will be there again tonight. @MaineBlackBears The Coyote Battalion Color Guard - Kevin Murray, Kylee Murray, Jesse Bouchard and Norah Sanborn. #CoyotePride