Old Town High School

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!

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.

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! :)

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

OTHS Alternative Education assisted with the Caring Community Cupboard’s food delivery on Wednesday.  In addition to helping with the monthly delivery, Alt Ed students assist with the weekly food distribution.  Alt Ed has been involved with supporting the Cupboard’s mission since the beginning of last school year, contributing to nearly 150 hours of service. Shout out to Linda Bryant, co-founder of Caring Community Cupboard. In one of our pics, she gives OTHS Alt Ed students an overview of the importance of the volunteer hours they, and many others, provide to help keep the Cupboard running well and supporting the community. We appreciate you Linda & all you do for our community! Great Job OTHS students and staff members - Bryan Murphy & Max Hase. #CoyotePride

In recognition of National School Lunch Week, A Big Shout Out & Thank You to all of the ladies that make it happen each day all year long in the Coyote Cafe. Kim Barnes, Ann Richard, Kristen York, Marion Hallowell & Patrice Belyeu RSU 34 Food Service Director, Stephanie Salley & Kim Hayward Thank You all for keeping OTHS fueled to learn each day! #CoyotePride

“Over the past couple of classes, Mr. Gilbert’s wildlife biology classes have been doing forest structure surveys. Students have been measuring various aspects of the forest system from the ground layer all the way up to the canopy. Other measurements have included the heights of trees and their diameter. With about a week to go in their study, students will then move into data analysis. I can't wait to see what this group of students finds out about our OTHS Forest!” #CoyotePride

OTHS Staff after school on Tuesday learning about and discussing diversity, equity inclusion & belonging with the help of Rebecca Buchanan from the University of Maine. This was the first of three in-person sessions. In addition, there will be eight online (three this fall and five in the spring) learning opportunities for OT staff in our partnership with U-Maine. Shout out to Rebecca for joining us and guiding us through this really important first session. Thank you, Rebecca! We appreciate you!

Coyote Nation - time to refocus after the long weekend. White day schedule tomorrow. See you soon!

Woody Allen once said, "90% of success is just showing up." We've been in school for a little over a month, so it's a good time to remind families that a day or two here and there can really add up over the course of the school year. Attendance is really important to school success! Be in school and be on time. Go Coyotes.

Mrs. Turner is getting so much hands on training for our students upcoming trip to London, Normandy, and Paris. She is touring Berlin with EF Tours and learing how everything will work for our students. April 2024. Amazing. Go Coyotes.

Today at our Teacher In-Service day, we took advantage of some resident experts to learn more about - NWEA's, Chapter 104, Vocabulary in the Classroom, Gamification, Camera composition & alternative education, just to name a few of the sessions. Teachers also had time in the afternoon for departments and other groups/teacher teams to meet. #LifelongLearning Go Coyotes.

On Monday of this week, Geometry classes in Mrs. Blanchard's room were practicing using the Distance and Midpoint Formulas by completing two Math Libs. (Think Mad Libs, but the stories are sillier.) They were prepping for a quiz later in the week. Students will be able to check their stories online when they are done to check their accuracy. Each card has a problem and multiple choice answers, with the answer choices building a silly story featuring an OTHS staff member! Go Coyotes.

We hosted our first math meet this year and in a little bit of a twist, the excitement happened at the Old Town Elementary School. There were teams from Bangor High School, Brewer High School, John Bapst, Orono, MCI, Nokomis & of course our Coyotes. A BIG SHOUT OUT & Thank You to Dr. Tuell, David Mahan & OTES staff members for making sure the event was first class. Also, thank you to the OTES K-Kids for the snacks & the adorable messages. You are Awesome. Thanks to OTHS math teachers - team coach Cynthia Blanchard & OTHS math teachers Kristen Thompson, Christina Doore and Eric Smith as well as Brenda Gardner & Amy Ketch. If I forgot someone, I apologize. An event like this does not happen without the help of an entire village. This is proof that our village is INCREDIBLE. #Believe Go Coyotes.

Today in Mrs. Stevens' biology class, we find students hunting for pillbugs to use in choice chambers. What are "choice chambers" you ask, well, let me tell you. Choice chambers are containers that the bugs will live in for a couple weeks. Students designed their own experiments to give pillbugs a choice of 2 environments, or 2 substrates, to see which side is preferable. What are the two environments, I asked Mrs. Stevens. Students picked any 2: pine needles, soil, leaf litter, grass, red, green paper, bark, punky wood, sand, maple leaves, or anything else they could come up with! I am told searching for and catching were the highlights! Science can be fun. Go Coyotes.

The Coyote Battalion hosted their 4th Annual Mogadishu Mile this morning. There were 38 participants from the Coyote Battalion, Bangor JROTC, UMaine ROTC, the OTHS student body, and faculty. Today marked the 30th anniversary of Operation Gothic Serpent, immortalized in the book "Blackhawk Down". It was an opportunity for those involved to challenge themselves physically, but also reflect on the sacrifice made by the 21 US service members who gave their lives that day; including Medal of Honor recipients Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart. Hanna Francis Class of 2024 was the first to cross the line this morning. Alexis Blue of Bangor JROTC was the first female finisher. Go Coyotes.

Yesterday in Mr. Gilbert’s Honors Environmental Science class, students got to learn about riverine ecosystems up close and personal with a canoe trip on Pushaw Stream at Hirundo Wildlife Refuge. Big thanks to Dr. Doty for helping with student transportation! Awesome! Go Coyotes.