Congratulations to the Bruin Brigade for placing 7^th in Finals Competition at the OBA State Marching Band Championships held at UCO in Edmond on Saturday, October 31.

 

Fifty-four students from the Bartlesville Public School District are scheduled to perform on Tuesday, Nov. 3 during the 2009-10 Northeast Oklahoma Choral Directors All-District Choir Concert in Tulsa. The concert, which is free and open to the public, will take place at the First United Methodist Church in Tulsa and is due to begin at 7:30 p.m. Students from throughout the northeastern portion of Oklahoma auditioned for all-district choir honors.

Twenty-four Bruins made the high school all-district choir while 30 were chosen for the junior high all-district choir.

Qualifying for high school all-district choir honors from Bartlesville High School and the Bartlesville Mid-High School were John Allen, D.J. Bailey, Edward Bass (alternate), Deanna Boone, Leah Clark, Carissa Cole (alternate), Amelia Decker, Zach Doe, Kylan Durant, Kimberly Gray, Annie Grisham, Taylor Holman, Taft Lard, Austin LaRue (alternate), Austin Lynch, Anne Reburn (alternate), Aaron Rogers (alternate), Taylor Rogers, Chris Sanders, Sadie Schaffner, Skye Singleton, JoBeth Wasicek, Ashley Wilkinson and Jamie Young.

For more information, please contact the Washington County Health Department at 335-3005.

The fine times will continue on Friday, Oct. 23 when the Bartlesville Public School District plays host to a special open house event for the new Bruin Activity Center. A spacious facility – it measures 125 by 125 feet and reaches as high as 42 feet at the loftiest point of the ceiling – it will offer a perfect area for our athletic programs to practice during inclement weather. The BAC will feature dropdown batting cages, protective netting on all four walls, two restrooms, storage areas and heating. The floor will be completely covered in artificial turf, the same brand (Hellas) which is found at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

The open house for the new BAC is set to take place from 6-7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23. On hand will be architectural and construction representatives as well as those from the Bartlesville Public School District. Anyone who would like to do so will be able to walk around the facility and take in all of its features. They can ask questions as well. The open house is due to conclude just 30 minutes before the Bruins play host to Jenks in a critical District

6A-3 varsity football matchup at Custer Stadium. So, I’d like to personally invite everyone to attend the open house on the evening of Oct. 23 and then make the short walk from the BAC to Custer to take in the game, which will kick off at 7:30 p.m.

We envision the BAC getting plenty of use from the football, baseball, softball and soccer programs. The cheerleading and pom squads as well as the band will be able to utilize it, also. It should prove especially useful for those teams which play in the spring, such as baseball and soccer. Since their preseason practices are held in the winter, Mother Nature isn’t always accommodating. But thanks to the BAC, practices will be able to be moved inside whenever the weather dictates such a maneuver. The protective netting which hangs in the BAC means there will be no issues with balls being hit or kicked around in it. Though there is no air-conditioning in the facility, there are huge doors in it which can be opened to provide plenty of ventilation. Should we need to expand the facility in the future, that can easily be done, adding another 50 feet to the south end.

A product of the $29.95 million school bond issue which voters passed in 2007, the BAC is a metal building which features a stylish look thanks to a stucco-like finish. It has an ash-colored base which is topped by a Bruin blue stripe which runs horizontally around it. The upper portion of the structure is white. The BAC is located on the BHS campus, just south of the Bruin Field House and the Fine Arts Center. Thus, it can easy share parking with those facilities.

"We’re excited about this new facility," says Tim Bart, the BHS varsity boys basketball coach and assistant athletic director. "It will be a great addition to our campus and we’re so appreciative to the community for making it possible."

We have seen several improvements in our athletic facilities in recent years, most of them made possible as part of the 2007 bond issue as well as the $30.5 school bond issue which voters passed in 2001. A tremendous home to our basketball and volleyball programs, the Bruin Field House made its debut in December of 2006. Last year saw the opening of the new Bruin Softball Field, a fantastic facility. The Custer Renovation Committee assisted in securing donations for the new turf and an impressive video scoreboard which were added at Custer Stadium in 2008. This year, in addition to the BAC, the new Bruin Locker Room Facility opened in August, just in time for the 2009 football campaign. Created for the varsity program, it features a spacious locker area for the players as well as video and coaches rooms.

Custer Stadium, which was built in 1954, has received several updates as well. Those include a remodeled visitors’ locker room, renovated restrooms, a sealed seating area, new third-fl oor lighting and fresh tiling. In addition, the track which circles E.H. "Ted" Lyon Field at Custer Stadium, has been resealed.

While we always stress academics within the Bartlesville Public School District, we are certainly proud of our athletic programs as well as the stellar facilities which support them. On Oct. 23, I sincerely hope everyone comes out as we unveil our newest one – the Bruin Activity Center. I have no doubt that it will prove quite worthy of our Bruin pride.

-Dr. Gary Quinn

Funeral services have been scheduled for Monday, October 12 at the First Baptist Church in Bartlesville for Tyler Teague, a Bartlesville High School junior who passed away Thursday evening.

The services are set to begin at 10 a.m. and will be held in conjunction with the Stumpff
Funeral Home in Bartlesville.  Parents of students who will be attending the funeral are asked to call the attendance office on Monday at (918) 336-0387 so they may be excused from classes.

On Friday district counselors were available in the school library for grieving students, and will be there again on Monday.

The Bartlesville High School varsity volleyball team won a four-team Class 6A regional playoff tournament Thursday to earn a berth in next week’s state tourney.

The Bruins knocked off Bixby in the regional championship, 25-7, 25-17 and 25-21 to advance to the state competition, which is set to be held in Sapulpa. Bartlesville played
host to the regional, a fourteam, single-elimination competition, which was held at the
BHS Fieldhouse.  The Bruins opened regional play with a 25-5, 25-8, 25-12 triumph against Enid.  Bixby defeated Ponca City in the first round of regional play to earn a shot at  Bartlesville and a possible Class 6A state berth.

The Bruins are due to open state tournament play on Friday, Oct. 16 with a noon matchup against Tulsa Union.

The Caring Van is due to make several stops within the Bartlesville Public School District in November.  It will be at BHS on Thursday, November 19 from 1 pm to 3 pm, being able to serve up to 55 students and 25 staff members.  Sign up today with the school nurse, Nurse Julie, for the limited number of slots that are available.

A product of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the Caring Van is set to visit all 12 schools within the district.  It is expected to offer free vaccinations to students and staff members for the seasonal flu, though no vaccine for the H1N1 strain – better known as the “Swine Flu” – is likely to be on hand.

Though they are free, there are a limited number of flu vaccinations available through the Caring Van at each stop it makes. Thus, those who are interested in a vaccination – available in mist or shot form – need to obtain a permission form through their respective site and return it to the school nurse.

Students and parents can also consult local media, such as the Examiner-Enterprise newspaper, for information about free flu shots offered by the county health department.

Two seniors at Bartlesville High School – Adriann Anderson and Anthony Gaskill – have recently been named commended students in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Anderson is the daughter of James and Marilyn Anderson. Gaskill is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Gaskill.  A letter of commendation from Bartlesville High School and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which conducts the program, will be presented by the BHS principal Teri Brant to the two scholastically talented students.

Approximately 34,000 commended students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise in this year’s program. Although they will not continue in the 2010 competition for Merit Scholarship awards, commended students placed among the top five percent of more than one million students who entered the 2010 competition by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

“Recognition of academically talented students and of the key role played by schools in their development is essential to the pursuit of educational excellence in our nation,” said a National Merit Scholarship Corporation spokesperson.  “The young people being named commended students have demonstrated outstanding academic potential by their strong performance in this highly competitive program.  We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and that they will continue to pursue scholastic excellence and to develop their abilities to the fullest. These young people represent a very valuable national resource.”