What's the meaning of mise en place? This was a culinary term used by guest speaker, Anna Gill as she spoke to the students of the new culinary arts class offered this year. Anna is a culinary student at Metro Community College in Omaha. She demonstrated various knife skills and talked about the culinary area of study. The meaning of mise en place is to :put in place" or to have ingredients prepared for a particular dish. The Friend students were able to learn more about food preparation which will be very helpful during the school year.

 

Thank You, Anna!

FPS will be landscaping the front of the school sometime in the near future. FPS will be purchasing the plantings, and creating the design. Once everything is ready, we would like patrons, employees, and students to join in planting; the date will be publicized. So be ready to bring your trowels, shovels and gardening gloves to the school to create a beautiful front entrance.

Welcome Back to School

The old adage, “Time Flies When You’re Having Fun” becomes part of the memories for the district, as we finish up our major building project.  The time, between actual groundbreaking in September of 2009 to August of 2010, has been very productive and rewarding.  So much time was put into the design, implementation, and monitoring of the building project by our School Board Members on the Design Team; actual man-hours become nearly countless. The service of Board Members Rich Dickinson, Jack Stutzman, and Brian Himmelberg has been very instrumental in the whole building project. Their involvement has made the difference in the quality of design, work, and program completion. Their wise direction of the bond-funding has touched the improvements of our old schoolhouse and the new addition in many areas.
 
The safety and educational needs for our children have always been their focus and lead their decisions. Nearly all areas and classrooms were renovated, plus the district actually “doubled square footage” with the new building addition. Part of the renovation included a new fire alarm system and sprinkler system throughout all parts of the school (new and old); this safety feature was very much needed.  The building also updated its electrical and data system to meet the demands and needs of educational expectations for all students. The new building is well built and will serve the needs of students today and students for the many years to come.  I can’t wait for the patrons of the community to see their new school!

As part of the Design Team, I found the involvement in the building project to be fun and rewarding, but I’m ready to bring my focus of time back to the “educational needs” of our kids! Our school staff have really stepped it up this past year, as we asked more from them than ever before. Our concerns last year were the safety of children always (during the building project) and the quality of instruction and education in the classrooms daily.  Sometimes, I was committed to representing the district at meetings for the building project and was not able to be available to staff; their compromising and accommodating attitudes were impeccable.  They carried that “I Can Do Attitude” always and with smiles on their faces; knowing that it will make a difference and the end results of a wonderful new learning environment will be worth it! 

Reflecting on the past year, I appreciate and thank the Friend School Board Members, especially Mr. Dickinson, Mr. Stutzman, and Mr. Himmelberg for their unselfishness of time commitment (and also to their families for giving up their family time) and to the school staff. A strong community is often represented in the “school staff/family”, as they reflect the beliefs, expectations, and practices of their neighbors and friends.  The staff has gone that extra mile and believes in the school district’s reason for existence!  Much thanks to everyone.

During these few weeks before the first day of school, August 20^th, the final clean-up stages and room preparations are taking place. We will be planning an Open House, slated to be after Labor Day Weekend.  This will allow the staff and students to get settled into their new learning environments and establish a learning routine. We think it will be a great time for families to meet your child’s teachers and check out our new building!

In closing, I hope everyone is looking forward to starting a new and truly exciting school year. The ENERGY in the school house is contagious--- please plan to “catch the ENERGY fever”! Come visit and be a part of the school; you’re always welcome!

Yours in Education,

Beth Johnsen

Friend Public Schools Superintendent

Athletes in grades 7-12 are required to pay a $30 participation fee. This participation fee will help offset the rising costs of operating the activities budget. The higher cost of fuel has made the transportation much more expensive, along with the increasing cost of uniforms, and officials fees. Each students will pay the $30 fee just once (i.e. if a student is out for more than one activity they only pay the participation fee once). The athlete will receive an activities pass, that will allow them free entrance into all regular season home contests for every sport all year. No family will pay more that $100. Athletes will not be allowed to participate in their activity until they have paid. Please pay in the school office.

Take a drive by and see how beautiful everything is looking.

We are for the first time offering Ag Science classes. We will be offering Animal Science I & II, Plant Science I, and Horticulture. We are very excited to be offering these Ag classes because it allows us to start our new FFA (Future Farmers of America) program. We feel this is an important program of studies to offer based on our rural agriculture setting.

The first semester will look at animal production in the areas of swine and beef.  Feeds will be studied along with health and equipment.  The objective of the course is to visually see livestock management through video tapes and field trips, after classroom knowledge is developed. 

         This second semester course will look at large animal production in the areas of sheep, horses and dairy. A unit on meat production, a unit on artificial insemination, and a small animal unit will also be covered.

Students will identify plants and seeds, learn about plant growth, diseases, insects, and fertilizer use.  Crop production looks at land preparation, planting, harvesting, storage, marketing, and chemical use.  The area of corn production will be used extensively as an example for computer use in records and simulation.

         This course will cover horticulture practices of landscaping, turf, and gardening practices.   Horticulture careers and plant growth will be covered in class.  Areas to be studies are plant propagation, greenhouse management, trees and shrubs, house plant care, and bedding plants.

 

Anatomy/Physiology 

This course is designed to present the concepts needed to develop an understanding of the human body and the way it functions.  In order to develop the concepts, a detailed analysis of the different structures of the body is incorporated into the class.  The structures are then analyzed to find each one's precise function.  These structures are not only looked at individually, but also how they work together in making up the systems of the human body.

 

ProStart/Culinary Arts

 

ProStart is a yearlong food preparation/culinary arts program for high school juniors and seniors. The curriculum was developed by the National Restaurant Association and provides opportunity for on-the-job training, professional mentoring, and a comprehensive curriculum. Students will study from texts and learn from lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on projects. This program focuses on culinary cooking, food preparation, accounting, cost control, sanitation, and work safety. Students will compete in state competition in a knowledge bowl, knife skills, plate presentation, salads, and tapas. Chef jackets for students will be provided by the Nebraska Restaurant Association. Students who pass a national certified exam and complete ProStart can receive college-level credit at UNL, UNO, SCC and Metro Community College.