THE CLIPPER CONNECTION Sturgeon Bay Newsletter
Volume 1 Issue 4
STURGEON BAY HIGH SCHOOL SBHS Named a 2024-2025 WIAA Award of Excellence Recipient Sturgeon Bay High School has officially been named a 2024-25 WIAA Award of Excellence recipient! The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association honored just 39 schools statewide for demonstrating excellence in sportsmanship, ethics, integrity, leadership, character, and administrative accomplishment — and we're proud to say Sturgeon Bay made the list! This is Sturgeon Bay High School’s first time receiving this prestigious award! Athletic Director Jon Dupuis shared his
thanks, saying: “I’d like to thank all the coaches, studentathletes, school district staff, and community members who contributed to earning this award. This is a great achievement for our athletic department, district, and community. Go Clippers!” This recognition reflects the dedication of everyone involved in Clipper athletics, from the field to the stands and everywhere in between. Let’s keep raising the standard for what it means to be a Clipper!
DISTRICT ITEMS Sailing into Retirement 11 staff members retire and celebrate 231 combined years of service. Thank you to the following staff for your dedication to the students and families of our district. See the full article on our school website: https://www.sturbay.k12. wi.us/district/district-newsletter.cfm Stacy Cihlar - 35 years Julie Doucette - 34 years Lola DeVillers - 32 years Rob Tess - 31 years Cliff Wind - 31 years Carla Maccoux - 25 years Beth Hubbard - 13 years Kim Gordon - 12 years John Mayberry - 9 years Theresa Hrubecky - 6 years Kelly Vannoy - 3 years
The Newest Classes at Sturgeon Bay High School ASHLY RUIZ, JOURNALISM STUDENT Sturgeon Bay High School has announced new classes for next year’s school year 2025-2026. These classes will give students more ideas and opportunities to see what they are interested in for their future. Students from Sturgeon Bay High School have chosen their classes for next year, realizing some are brand new. Mrs. O’Handley, the counselor at the high school, told us about the new classes, those being a part two to Journalism being taught by Ms. Augustson, History of Baseball taught by Mr. Blahnik and Graphic Design taught by Mrs. Herbst then asked her if she thinks students will enjoy these classes, to which she responded with, ¨I love journalism, that we are getting more into that, it’s a need in our world and graphic design I think is the way of the world as far as art goes, as more digital and at last history of baseball is very very popular a lot of kids are excited about it.¨ As shown Mrs. O’handley is very excited for these new classes to start. Now let’s see what the students think about it. Makale Lucas is one of the students that will be taking history of baseball with Mr. Blahnik and Alex Mellen is
taking journalism two. Journalism two is a class that wants to, in the future, make their own news articles each week of the school events, and information to keep people updated and in communication. Alex is already taking journalism one so she knows about the techniques and how to write a true journalistic article making her perfect for journalism two to experience the real journalistic job. Onto asking Alex if she is excited about journalism two, her response being, ¨Yes I think it will be fun¨ and ¨It will really inspire people to join if they want to get into a real journalism career.¨ Which is hopefully what these classes do, give experience and ideas for students’ futures. Such as Alex taking a new class, Makale is taking history of baseball which he is very excited about. ¨I am excited because we get to learn about how baseball became a thing and what it takes to make a good team and baseball is one of favorite sports¨ Just like the teacher teaching it and who created the class Mr. Blahnik, baseball is their favorite sport shown by his national baseball hall of fame. Mr. Blahnik is a really passionate teacher and is always talking about baseball
Incoming & Retiring Teachers at SBHS ANNA HAGMAN, JOURNALISM STUDENT At the end of the 2025 school year, the graduating seniors are taking with them two beloved teachers, Mr. Wind and Mr. Tess. Mr. Wind and Mr. Tess have each worked at Sturgeon Bay High School for 31 years. They have each graced the highschools halls with their individual personalities, from being able to hear Mr. Wind teaching through the concrete walls to watching Mr. Leroy finally convince Mr. Tess to go on a rollercoaster at Physics Day in Six Flags. Mr. Wind will be succeeded by Mr. Joly, who comes from a family of teachers and is originally from Seymour, Wisconsin. He is also a graduate of Beloit with a Bachelor’s degree and is a soon to be graduate of the University of Iowa with a Masters degree of Science in Statistics. Mr Joly is also currently working as a Teachers Assistant in the Statistics Department and was even nominated for Lead TA for Statistics in Business. Mr. Wind wants him to know that being a new teacher at a new school will come with some growing pains, and that Mr. Joly should “make sure that [he] starts out with high standards” and expectations for the students abilities. After retiring, Mr. Wind plans to spend his days traveling more often, spending more time with his family, and making improvements on his pickleball skills. Mr. Tess is excited and anxious at the same time for his retirement but he feels confident in Ms. Incha’s abilities as a teacher and tells her to “teach what you know and enjoy the students.” Tess is retiring to spend more time with his family and relax, but he also is excited to get outside more and to golf, spend time on his boat, and snowmobile.
INSIDE:
Mrs. Kiekhaefer, a fellow math teacher at the high school, who was taught by Mr. Wind back when he was a new teacher, views his retirement as bittersweet, as “He has been a staple of our math department for so many years.” She claims his humor, smarts, and dedication to the students will be greatly missed. Mrs. Kiekhaefer also recognizes that having a new math teacher, after so many years with Mr. Wind, will be a big adjustment, not just for the students but for the faculty as well. However, she has no qualms about Mr. Joly joining the team, adding that “the hope, of course, is that he will create a supportive classroom environment that encourages higher-level thinking.” Mr. Leroy is one of the three science teachers at the high school, he has worked with Mr. Tess for 28 years. Joining the school 3 years after Tess, he was quickly taken under his wing and throughout the 28 years Mr. Leroy has been at Sturgeon Bay he has modeled his teaching style after what he learned from him. Leroy believes that Ms. Incha will be able to fit in quite nicely with the faculty, and while touring the school it was clear that she would get along well with the students. Mr. Leroy has no doubt that Ms. Incha is qualified enough because she has experience with teaching as a long term substitute teacher, and she has (Mr. Tess’ empty classroom) even worked at NASA, solidifying her expansive knowledge.
especially his favorite team Milwaukee Brewers so students will have so much fun with him learning more about baseball. Unfortunately there wasn’t anyone to be found taking graphic design but it is still important to recognize because this class will give students a more of a visual on what the future may look like in the art world which is good. Just like Mrs. O’Handley said before, the art world will be turning to more digital and online work so this class will be giving good observational and hands-on learning for the students. As Sturgeon Bay High School offers these new classes it is in hopes that it will inspire students and hopefully give them ideas for their future. The new classes will be helping students in some way for their future, preparing them for what is coming up. Giving them the knowledge and the experience. Whether in art or journalism and even in history of baseball they should be able to see opportunities and learn new real world skills for their future selves. Also in hopes that the school will add more classes the year after that to give students even more ideas on what to do for their futures.
Sturgeon Bay High School sees Outstanding Academic Achievement The class of 2025 just graduated at the end of May. The newest alumni of Sturgeon Bay High School will be missed and have left a lasting legacy at SBHS. The class graduated 87 students with 17 students graduating with honors (3.66 - 3.99 GPA) and another 9 students graduating with high honors (4.0 or above). 30% of Sturgeon Bay graduates earned honors or high honors recognition. Three students were recognized with highest honors. Tre Wienke was named Sturgeon Bay Class of 2025 Salutatorian! He earned this distinction through tremendous hard work, dedication, and his focus to strive for excellence. We congratulate Tre for all he has accomplished.
The teachers sound very confident, but not all that confidence is shared within the student body. A Junior, named Sid Forest, has Mr Tess for chemistry and shares that they are sad about the loss of two very experienced teachers who knew how to effectively teach kids about very important subjects and classes. They also shared their worries about new teachers, having experienced quite a few within the last couple of years, “I’ve just noticed in young teachers’ first years that it can be a struggle to figure out [a] teaching style that works for them and is effective.” But despite these worries, Sid is still excited for new faces among the teachers and is sure that Mr. Joly and Ms. Incha will do great after their first years.
SUNRISE ELEMENTARY PAGE 2 SAWYER ELEMENTARY PAGE 3 TJ WALKER MIDDLE SCHOOL PAGE 4
In addition, we had two students who earned the title of Valedictorian. After 7 semesters of hard work, these two students tied for the highest grade point average of their class. Congratulations to Julia Michalski and Luke Selle for being recognized with the highest GPA of the class of 2025! Both students were outstanding representatives of what it means to be a Clipper! We wish all of our recent graduates all the best as they move forward in their next steps.
Upcoming Calendar Dates REGISTRATION FOR THE 25-26 YEAR ONGOING AND CAN BE ACCESSED VIA THE SCHOOL DISTRICT WEBSITE. FIRST DAY OF THE 2025-2026 SCHOOL YEAR SEPTEMBER 2, 2025 SBHS HOMECOMING WEEK OCTOBER 13-18, 2025 NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS DUE TO PROFESSIONAL STAFF INSERVICE DAY OCTOBER 24, 2025