2023-24 Weekly Post

April 22, 2024

We wanted to thank all of our parents and students for their efforts on State Testing Day.  We were able to test 97% of the students needing to test on either the ACT or WYTOPP test this past Tuesday.  In addition, we were able to get about 300 referrals done to ensure our students are getting proficient on the standards that all students need to know and be able to do.   Thanks for your help in these efforts.   

Congratulations to our Band and Choir who earned Superior ratings at this weeks Big Horn South Music Festival that was hosted right here at LVHS.   We are still awaiting final results from State FFA and Art and will relay those once I get them.  

Our ladies soccer team on Tuesday defeated the third ranked Green River Wolves, finishing a three game undefeated stand where they faced the top three teams in the state.  They went to Powell on Friday, where they fell short after beating Powell at home a week earlier.  The boys lost a close one to Green River on Tuesday in a shootout, but were able to rebound in Powell with a victory after falling to them the week previous.  Soccer is home Tuesday and Thursday while track is on the road again.   

On Wednesday we will be on a modified schedule so that we can expose our students to over 50 different careers/professionals during our 2nd Annual Career Day.  Students will also have the opportunity to hear from former LVHS graduate and professional speaker Trevor Ragan, who will speak to them about the power of a growth mindset.  Here is the schedule for this Wednesday: 

8-9 1st Hour

9:05-10:05 3rd Hour

10:10-11:10 5th Hour

LUNCH /ADVISORY

12:20-12:25 5th Hour

Career Fair 12:25-2:30  

Just a reminder that this Tuesday, April 16th is our State Testing Day. All  9th,10th, and 11th graders will need to be here promptly at 7:45 so that we can be sure their computers are ready and we can begin this state-required testing on time.  Students will need to bring their fully-charged chromebooks as well as chargers with them to school that day.  9th and 10th graders will be taking the WYTOPP while the ACT will be given to all juniors.  

In addition to state testing day, we also use that day as a Special Referral Day. Those referrals began two weeks ago and you will see them in your email inbox.  We did not mail those home, so please check your email for notices about your students. The subject line will be “APRIL 16th SPECIAL REFERRAL DAY '' to distinguish it from the normal referrals you already receive.  If you get one of those referrals this is what it means:

Seniors: There is no state test for seniors, seniors only have to report to school if they have a referral.  Seniors with referrals must report to school at 8:30 am and plan to be here until 3:30 or until referrals are complete.   

All other Students:  Students will take the WYTOPP (9-10), or ACT (11th) and after the completion of those tests students WITHOUT referrals are welcome to leave school for the day.  Buses still run on a normal schedule, but students without referrals are excused after the successful completion of their test.  Students with referrals must remain in school (we will serve a pizza lunch for all students) before redirecting students to their referrals and students are expected to stay until 3:30 or until all referrals are complete. 

Congratulations to the LVHS Girls Soccer Team who defeated both the number #1 and #2 team in the state this week with a big win over two-time defending state champions Cody and followed it with a Saturday morning thriller over Powell.  The victory against Cody was the first for any team in the last 39 attempts.   Great job ladies!  The boys fell in a close 0-1 battle on Friday but rebounded on Saturday.  After going down 0-2, the Tigers rallied back to tie the game late in the second before Senior Colton Laird was able to find the back of the net with just 19 seconds left to give the Tigers the win!  

As a result of not following our traditional schedule on Tuesday, we will have that schedule on Friday...thus students will go to periods 2,4,6, & 7 on Friday. 

Congratulations to our LVHS track team who continues to improve weekly, this past week we had many great performances at our Lander Twilight meet on Tuesday before they headed off to the Natrona County Invite yesterday.  There seemed to be some issues with results on that meet but I will try to update you in weeks to come on the growth and success of our tracksters.  

Saturday night the Junior Class hosted Masquerade Prom 2024 at the Lander Community Center.  It was a great success with a large number of students showing.     

We cordially invite you all to our Spring Concert, tonight,  Monday, April 15th at 7pm in the LVHS Auditorium.  According to Director of Instrumental Music, Garth Moline they will be playing an interesting mix of music that is “ the most challenging it's been since I began teaching here in 2020. You'll find our students have risen to the occasion! Songs to pique your curiosity and imagination will come from pieces titled "Phasing Thunder," "Swamp Rabbit Stomp," and more!

This is also the last chance to say goodbye to our Band Senior Class and celebrate the work they and the rest of the band students have put in this year ranging from our state marching performance, numerous pep band games, regional and state honor ensembles, and our community outreach concerts. We hope to see you there!

 We look forward to hearing about the results of our students who competed at the state FFA competition this past week, I got early indications of a 3rd place finish in Veterinary Science but will update when more results are available.  

Good Luck to our Art Students who have artwork entered in the WHSAA State Art Symposium this coming weekend.  If you have never been to this event in the Ford Wyoming Center, I highly encourage you to go and see the great work that is submitted by our own local students as well as the incredible work from students all around the state.   To say it is impressive is truly an understatement and the display runs April 17th-19th.  

Hello Tigers, 

Just a reminder that next Tuesday, April 16th is our State Testing Day. This is a day where all current 9th-11th grades will need to be here promptly at 7:45 so that we can be sure their computers are ready and we can begin this state-required testing on time.  Students will need to bring their fully-charged chromebooks as well as chargers with them to school that day.  9th and 10th graders will be taking the WYTOPP while the ACT will be given to all juniors.  

In addition to state testing day, we also use that day as a Special Referral Day. Those referrals began this week and you will see them in your email inbox.  This time we will not be mailing those home so please check your email for notices about your students  subject will be “APRIL 16th SPECIAL REFERRAL DAY '' to distinguish it from the normal referrals you already receive.  If you get one of those referrals this is what it means:

Seniors: There is no state test for seniors, seniors only have to report to school if they have a referral.  Seniors with referrals must report to school at 8:30 am and plan to be here until 3:30 or until referrals are complete.   

All other Students:  Students will take the WYTOPP (9-10), or ACT (11th) and after the completion of those tests students WITHOUT referrals are welcome to leave school for the day.  Buses still run on a normal schedule, but students without referrals are excused after the successful completion of their test.  Students with referrals must remain in school (we will serve a pizza lunch for all students) before redirecting students to their referrals and students are expected to stay until 3:30 or until all referrals are complete.  

Congratulations to the entire cast and crew of The LVHS production of The Westing Game this weekend.  They have worked for months on this murder mystery and was once again an incredibly well-done production.  Special thanks to Angela Pettibone who directed the production and all of the staff and community volunteers it takes to create such a great opportunity for our students and community.  Special thanks to our seniors who have been such a huge part of these productions for years, you will be missed but we are thankful for the laughs and entertainment you have all provided throughout the years.   

Congratulations to our girls and boys soccer teams who both had big home wins over Lyman this past week.  They will travel to Pinedale this week before hosting Cody on Friday and Powell on Saturday.  

LVHS Prom will be this Saturday from 8-11pm and we will open the doors at 7:30pm.  The theme for this year is a Masquerade and we look forward to another incredible evening with our students.  To ensure safety at our prom we have increased our safety and screening protocols for this event and thus we will be opening the doors early to make sure we can get everyone in without too much of a delay.  We will be screening all students with a metal detector scan to ensure vapes and weapons are not at the dance.  School Resource Officer Conilgue along with a Drug Recognition Expert from the Lander Police Department will be at the event.  We will also have uv light technology along with PBT breath test technology available if needed to ensure a sober safe environment for all students.  We have had very little issues at these events but with the recent increase in availability of vapes, especially dab pens which contain thc or thc derivatives we want to make sure that we are doing what is necessary to keep this a safe and sober event for all students.    

Due to this recent rise in availability,  Officer Conilogue has done some research which included taking a trip to our local vape shop to investigate the products that are immediately available in our community.  Interestingly enough, many of the psychoactive products that are available in Lander and Wyoming are actually not even legal in states that are either recreational or medical marijuana states.  It is important for parents to be aware that even though marijuana is not legal, products that are derivatives of thc which can have the same or in many cases an even more profound effect are currently available in local shops.  All of these products are illegal for students and all will test positive on tests we use to check for the presence of narcotics and thus all will be treated accordingly and students will be suspended and recommended for expulsion if found with any of these products.  A great thanks to Officer Conilogue for putting together this slide show as a resource to parents. Please don’t hesitate to call the school or email Officer Conilogue jconilogue@landerschools.org if you have further questions or want more information about this.   

Finally on Friday morning we will host the U.S. Army Band who will perform for the entire school.  In order to host such an event, we will be following this modified schedule for Friday.  

U.S. Army Band – FRIDAY, April 12, 2024

  Period 1     8:00 – 8:45 am

               Period 2     8:50 – 9:35 am      

                   Period 3     9:40 – 10:25 am

                 ASSEMBLY in Auditorium 10:35 –  11:25pm

                   Lunch        11:25-12:10 

                  Period 4     12:15 – 1:00 pm

Period 5     1:05 – 1:50 pm                                                

                  Period 6         1:55 – 2:40pm

                  Period 7     2:45 – 3:30 pm

Congratulations to our Speech and Debate students who competed well last weekend at their WHSAA State Meet in Cheyenne.  Here are the results: 

3A State champion in Oratory (placing 6th in the state overall)-Myriah Haratyk

Award for best Congress legislation-Felicity Olsson

Making it to Super Congress:

Aquinas Lasnoski

Felicity Olsson

Miriam Washut

This weekend our Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) students competed in their State Competition.  Congrats to our state champions listed below and our many other state placers.   

Mia Jubber 1st Place in Client Services and Intro to Public Speaking

Brianna Ong 1st Place Intro to Business Presentation

Zoe Szymanski 1st Place in Business Communications

Ella Giesmann, Cira Hampton, and Callie Morey 1st Place Digital Animation 

Please remember that LVHS Parent Teacher Conferences will be held this Tuesday (4-7pm) and Wednesday (3:30-5:30pm) in the LVHS Auxiliary Gym.  We hope that we will see you one of those nights to be able to make sure that we are meeting the needs of every student, every day! At this conference, our School Resource Officer, Jake Conilogue will be there to show you current vapes and dab pens and will glady answer questions and help parents better understand the current drug trends.   

Please remember that students are off this Friday, March 22nd-March 29th for spring break. We will return to class on April 1st.  April 4-6th at 7pm each night, LVHS will be putting on their  production of The Westing Game.  This is the final production for this amazing crew and cast for the year and we hope you will find a night to come and be entertained! 

Speaking of spring break….We are proud to send 14 LVHS students to Washington DC next week to take part in Close Up. Close Up was established in 1971 as a non-partisan civic education program  that offers programming to educate and encourage young people to participate in their civic affairs and government.  LVHS Social Studies Teacher Mrs. Morgan Hahn revived the organization at LVHS just this year and will be leading our students to D.C.  We can’t wait to hear about their incredible experience and how well they represented us in our nation’s capital.  

We are proudly celebrating the announcement that came out last week that LVHS was named a School of Excellence by ACT’s American College Application Campaign. This honor includes just 27 high schools nationally and recognizes the efforts of our school, led by Mrs. Stacey Stanbury to minimize barriers for students to apply to college.  “These communities have shown a path forward as we work to ensure that all students, including first-generation college-goers and high school seniors from low-income backgrounds, consider college. It begins with demystifying the complex process of applying. By meeting students where they are — in school, during the school day — the winning schools are removing many of the common obstacles students face in applying to college” said ACT CEO Janet Godwin.  Mrs. Stanbury has started both the College Application Day in the fall and College Signing Day in the Spring at LVHS in recent years.  These two events are very large and important book ends to a long post-secondary planning process that has been highly successful at Lander Valley High School.  We are grateful for the recognition and so proud of the effort of all of our staff, students, and especially parents who help us to ensure that we have a great post-secondary plan for all students.     

We hope that you can come visit us tomorrow night (Tuesday, March 12) as our junior U.S. History classes put on another annual LVHS Night at the Museum.  A tradition of LVHS, the entire junior class has been working hard on their own family history and tying that to US/World History.  The variety of history and incredible artifacts always leave people waiting for next year and we invite the entire community from 5:30-7:30pm in the LVHS Auxiliary Gym.   

 Spring sports competition begins this week with our soccer teams heading to Jackson.  Good Luck to both teams.

I have not received results yet from this weekend, but our LVHS Speech and Debate team competed at their WHSAA State Meet this past weekend in Cheyenne.  This concludes another successful season for our Speech and Debate team.  

Please remember that LVHS Parent Teacher Conferences will be held next Tuesday (4-7pm) and Wednesday (3:30-5:30pm) in the LVHS Auxiliary Gym.  We hope that we will see you one of those nights to be able to make sure that we are meeting the needs of every student, every day!   

Senior parents, last Thursday we mailed home a letter and bulletin that outlines all of the details for our graduation festivities in May.  In case you have not seen that yet, I am linking it here, but you can also call the LVHS Office and we will get one coming your way ASAP.  

Please remember that students are off next Friday, March 22nd-March 29th for spring break. We will return to class on April 1st.  April 4-6th at 7pm LVHS will be putting on their production of The Westing Game.  This is the final production for this amazing crew and cast for the year and we hope you will find a night to come and be entertained!  

Looking ahead,  Prom will be at the Lander Community Center on the night of April 13th from 8-11pm.  More details to follow but wanted to make sure you were all aware.  

Hope you all have a great week ahead!   

Today is the official start of the spring sports season with both our boys and girls falling just short of a berth to the state basketball tournament this weekend.  We are proud of both our boys and girls programs and look forward to seeing them next season.   

The indoor track team competed well this weekend in Gillette at their state meet with many athletes from both the boys and girls team reaching the podium.  State champions included Reed McFadden who won three of four of his events including gold in the 55m hurdles, 200m, and the 400m  Avery Crane finished atop the standings for the girls in the Pole Vault!  These athletes will quickly transition to the outdoor event and we look forward to seeing them compete in the sunshine!   

Just a quick reminder that our spring parent teacher conferences are quickly approaching as we will host them on Tuesday, March 19th (4-7pm), and Wednesday, March 20th (3:30-5:30pm).  Please note the earlier end time on Wednesday night and plan accordingly!   There will be no PIE meeting this month, but will announce later this week some informational items we hope to provide at PT conferences.    

Please also keep in mind that our State Testing Day is also quickly approaching and will happen on Tuesday, April 16th.  This is a day where all current 9th-11th grades will need to be here promptly at 7:45 so that we can be sure their computers are ready and we can begin this state-required testing on time.  Students who do not have academic referrals will be allowed to leave following the testing which will be around noon.   More details and information to follow, just want to encourage all parents to have students here on this date to minimize the need for further disruptions to their education with make-up testing.  

Our LVHS Social Studies Department and all current juniors will take part in our annual Night at the Museum on Tuesday, March 12th.  That event begins at 6pm and is one that you will not want to miss with over 100 students sharing family artifacts and history with our Lander Community.  We encourage all community members to come and check out this incredible event, you will not be disappointed!

We are in full swing of our scheduling for our 2024-25 classes and will be creating our master schedule based on our students' schedule choices later this month.  We will keep you updated on that progress.  Our counselors have been working closely with all students currently in 8-11th grade to make sure we have the best schedule in place for them.   

2/26

Hello Tigers,

Congratulations to the Lady Tiger Nordic Ski Team who captured their second consecutive WHSAA State Championship this weekend in Casper.  The girls took all but gold in the top five of the 10k classic race on Saturday with Ameya Eddy (2nd) Annika Wilmot (3rd), Twyla Beason (4th), and  Emily Anderson (5th), all claiming those honors.  On Friday, Anderson led the Tigers finishing second, Eddy took fifth, Beason 6th and Wilmot in 8th in the 5k freestyle.  We will have our March of Champions today (Monday) beginning at 1:40.  

The boys finished second with Bennett Hutchison claiming the individual title in the 5K on Friday night with teammate Diego Lobatos claiming silver.  During the 10k classic race on Saturday Hutchison finished second with Lobatos in third.  

Congratulations to Coaltyn Laird and Hunter Smith-Velarde who both took second place at their state tournament in Casper.   On the girls side both Teagen Pickerd and Jordan Nielsen claimed medals, both taking the 5th spot on the podium in their respective weight classes.  

Good luck to the boys and girls basketball teams who will head to Thermopolis for the 3A Regional tournament  this weekend to compete for a berth to the state tournament next weekend.   The boys finished as a second seed and the girls a fourth seed heading into the Regional Tournament.   Action begins on Thursday afternoon!

Good luck to the indoor track team who will be competing in their state meet this weekend in Gillette.   

Good luck to the LVHS Culinary Arts team who left Sunday morning for Cheyenne to compete in their state competition.   

2/19/24

Lots of great things to celebrate this week!  

LVHS received incredible news earlier this week when we were notified that we had SIX Wyoming Trustees’ Scholar Award Winners.  This is the highest honor bestowed upon the state's top graduates who plan to attend the University of Wyoming.  This year's group had an average ACT score of 32 and an average GPA of 3.97.  We are so grateful to have 6 of the 100 honorees be LVHS Tigers!   Congratulations to these incredible young men and women and their families!  

•             Emily Anderson 

•             Matt Gray 

•             Benjamin Kulow 

•             Reed McFadden 

•             Ella Stanbury

•             Randall Wise

We were also honored this week to receive notification that Emily Anderson was named finalist for the National Merit Scholarship.  This is a huge honor that recognizes the top students in the nation and we are so proud of Emily for this incredible accomplishment!  Students are only named after meeting the criteria of a rigorous process that includes top scores on both their PSAT and SAT tests along with many other factors.  

Congratulations to the Boys Swim team who captured their 28th Straight WHSAA State Championship on Saturday in Laramie.  Special Congratulations to Coach Morgan who was named the 3A Coach of the Year, Finn Richards, named 3A Athlete of the Meet (4 gold medals), and Benny Kulow named 3A Athlete of the Year (4 gold medals).  We will do our traditional March of Champions on Tuesday at 3:15 pm.  Parents are welcome to join for this quick celebration!  LVHS won 8/12 events and Individual Champions included: 

Reed McFadden –100 Butterfly 200 Individual Medley, 200 Medley Relay

Benny Kulow – 100 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Freestyle Relay

Finn Richards – 50 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke, 400 Freestyle Relay, 200 Medley Relay

Shane Cunningham – 400 Freestyle Relay

Sequeil Lozier – 400 Freestyle Relay

Colby Blackburn – 200 Medley Relay

Good luck to the Wrestling and Nordic teams who will both head to Casper this weekend to compete in their respective State Meets.  Wrestlers qualified 9 total, with 5 of them placing in the top 6 at the regional meet this weekend in Riverton.  Special Congratulations to Senior Hunter Velarde who captured the 3A West Regional Championship at 150lbs.   

Indoor track will have one last chance to qualify athletes for their state meet which will happen next weekend in Gillette. Unfortunately weather over South Pass made their bus trip not possible so they were unable to compete at the Simplot Games.   

This week we will focus on LVHS Big Four Expectations #2, Complete Assignments on Time and Complete Make up work from absences in a timely manner.  We remind parents to continue to monitor their email as we have several notices that are automated to let parents know where their students are in the process.  

Catch -up Lunch (CUL) – A student receives this referral and is required to report to the auditorium for the first half of lunch.  Teachers use this referral when they believe the student has skill/ability needed to complete, but they have still not received the evidence needed from student.  

Student Responsibility Block (SRB) – A student receives this referral and is required to attend the appropriate SRB time listed below.  Teachers use this referral when they believe the student requires assistance from them or needs materials that are only available in the classroom.  

ELA – Monday 2-2:45

Science – Monday 2:45-3:30

Math – Wednesday 2-2:30

Social Studies/Spanish – 3-3:30

All Other electives – whenever they don’t have above referrals

Since this semester seems to be flying by, I think it is time to make sure that you all save the data of April 16th on your calendars as State Testing Day.  All juniors will take the ACT that day, and all freshmen and sophomores will take the Wy-Topp as both are required as part of the state of Wyoming accountability process.  We take these tests very seriously at LVHS as they give us a lot of information to help us improve our learning outcomes for students, but the ACT also opens lots of opportunities for our students in their post-secondary plans.   Seniors will only come this day if they have an academic referral from one of their classes.   All 9-11th grade students will need to plan on being here promptly at 7:45 that day so that we can begin our testing procedures on time.   

Just a reminder that with no school on Monday (2/19), we will follow our traditional Monday schedule this Friday, February 23rd.  

We hope that you all have a great week!   

This week we will be focusing on LVHS Expectation #1 “Be in Class & on Time”  We know that the flu and cold season has hit our state, community, and school hard recently.  We definitely encourage good healthy habits of staying home when you are sick but also want to stress the importance of good school attendance when we are feeling well.   We have made great strides this year to improve our attendance and most of our students do very well with this. Please note that chronic absenteeism is defined by missing more than 10% of the school year.  That averages to about 10 days per semester…..if your student is missing more than that, please work to improve that and if you need assistance please don’t hesitate to reach out to us for resources and support.   

We are  excited to host our Freshmen Parent/Student Transition night for current eighth grade students who plan on attending LVHS next fall.  The event will begin promptly at 6pm in the LVHS Auditorium this Monday, February 12.  It will conclude in the LVHS Auxiliary Gym around 7:30 where all the departments, clubs, and activities will have booths set up for you to check out as you please.  This is the key to the event as it allows our incoming students to understand the wide range of classes and activities they will be able to participate in while at LVHS.  We look forward to having you here that night if you have an incoming freshmen student.   

Please keep in mind that there is no school on Friday, February 16th (no school for students or staff) nor on Monday, February 19th (no school for students, certified staff will be doing an inservice day).  We hope this is a good break for our students and allows us all to get healthy and ready to move forward in the spring semester.  

Good luck to the LVHS Swim Team who will be heading to state with 23 swimmers and divers poised to capture their 28th consecutive WHSAA State Swim Championship this weekend in Laramie.  

Good luck to the LVHS Wrestling Team who will be at their regional tournament this weekend as well to qualify for the WHSAA State Tournament that will be held in Casper next weekend.   

Our indoor track team will be heading to Pocatello this weekend for one of the nation’s premier high school events.  Good luck to all of our track athletes.

Congratulations to our Girls Basketball team who earned a victory over fourth-ranked Mountain View on the road Thursday after an earlier loss to the tough Buffalo squad.  The boys also captured a big win this week, defeating the fourth-ranked Wranglers of Pinedale 70-68 in an exciting home game on Saturday.  Basketball is on the road this week in Jackson and Worland.  

Congratulations to Bennett Hutchison who won the Lander Invite on Friday with teammate Diego Lobatos (4th) also earning a top 10 finish for the boys.  On Saturday, Hutchison placed 2nd, with teammate Lobatos earning 5th in the classic.

Ameya Eddy captured gold for the Tigers on the girls side with Emily Anderson (3rd)  Twyla Beason (6th), and Annika Wilmot (10th) all earning top 10 finishes for the girls.  Eddy also won the classic on Saturday, with Wilmot just seconds behind her in second, Beason finishing 6th and Anderson in 10th to conclude the top 10 in the classic race.   The Nordic team will finish their season this weekend in Cody, before heading to their state meet in Casper next weekend.    

This week we will be focusing on LVHS Expectation #4 “Seek Assistance/Use Resources when Needed.” Our teachers are always willing to help and have office hours to be able to take care of students with needs that may exist outside of class.  We also have a great counseling department, nurse, and many other resources for students to seek the assistance and resources that they need.  Please make sure you let us know what we can do to make sure you or your student needs to be successful and most importantly help us by encouraging them to advocate those needs for themselves.   

We are excited to host the LVHS Nordic Ski Invite this weekend at Beaver Creek, the event will be taking place on Friday and Saturday, if you have never been I encourage you to take the voyage and cheer on our incredible Nordic Ski Racers.  

Congratulations to our LVHS Boy’s Swim team for winning the 3A Western Regional Swim Meet at Pinedale this past weekend.  They qualified another swimmer in the process, making 23 swimmers and divers who have qualified for the State Championships Feb 16-17 in Laramie.  They will conclude their regular season this week with the last chance qualifier. 

The Indoor Track team was away this weekend at Salt Lake City running at the Olympic Oval, this week they will head to Natrona High School before heading to Holt Arena in Pocatello for one of the largest indoor meets in the country, The Simplot Games February 15-17th.

The boys and girls basketball team had a busy week of home games this past week and will be home again on Saturday hosting PInedale.   The boys went 1-2 on the week, but lost a thriller against 3rd ranked Lovell by just one point at home on Saturday after being up for a large part of the fourth quarter.  The girls went 2-1, including a great win again third-ranked Powell on Friday night, 54-47.

Wrestling had an exciting weekend at Greybull with our girls claiming the team trophy and the boys finishing fourth.  Jordan Nielsen and Addie Weston  won the girls championships at their respective weights, while teammates Teagan Pickerd and Addi Burton finished second.  On the boys side, Sawyer Nachazel and Hunter Velarde claimed gold,  and Colin McWilliams took the third place spot.  

Early reminder about some calendar days ahead.  Please keep in mind that their is no school on Friday, February 16th (no school for students or staff) nor on Monday, February 19th (no school for students, certified staff will be doing an inservice day).  We hope you have a nice four day weekend with your students. 

We are also excited to host our Freshmen Parent/Student Transition night for current eighth grade students who plan on attending LVHS next fall.  The event will begin promptly at 6pm in the LVHS Auditorium on Monday, February 12.  It will conclude in the LVHS Auxiliary Gym around 7:30 where all the departments, clubs, and activities will have booths set up for you to check out as you please.  This is the key to the event as it allows our incoming students to understand the wide range of classes and activities they will be able to participate in while at LVHS.  We look forward to having you here that night if you have an incoming freshmen student.   

There will be no PIE meeting this month.  We will catch up in March.  

It is hard to believe but we are beginning our Student Course Selection Kick-Off this Monday, January 29th in the auditorium during our SRB time. We will go over course selection for the 2024-25 school year, graduation/Hathaway requirements, and many other topics.

We will meet with all students in the auditorium following this schedule.  All current students 9-11 are required to attend: 

• Grade 11 -- 2-2:20 pm

• Grade 10 -- 2:20-2:40 pm

• Grade 9 -- 2:40-3 pm

Here is a link to the LVHS 24-25 Enrollment Guide to look at courses.  

Students will have the ability to select courses for the 24-25 school year Monday after the presentation.  They will go to their advisory on Tuesday to select courses and show their advisory teacher that you've done so.  Once you have, you will be dismissed for lunch.  Parents, we encourage you to have conversations with your students about their course selections for next year and let us know if you have any questions.  

This week we will be focusing on LVHS Expectation #3 “Actively Participate in Classroom Activities.”  This is a big step to make sure our students are meeting the high-level academic and career ready standards that will ensure their success in the future. Thanks in advance for encouraging your students to participate in these activities and let us know if we can do anything to help you in this process.   

We were so grateful to celebrate our students' success last week and were especially thrilled to recognize 26 students of this year's graduating class of 2024 who have received the LVHS Academic Letter six consecutive times (the most a student is eligible to receive).  This is a record for any class at LVHS and speaks to the growing caliber of our students as we continue to work to push our students to new levels of excellence.  In addition we were able to celebrate:

• Anne Butler – Former FCSD #1 Board of Trustees Student Representative

• Willow Wells – Performed an incredible song on the Marimba which she composed herself, titled “The Tower.” 

• Emily Anderson – National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalist

• Bennett Hutchison – accepted to Harvard on Early Action 

• Emily Anderson and Bennett Hutchison – Wendy’s High School Heisman

• Emily Anderson, Matt Gray, Benny Kulow, Reed McFadden, Ella Stanbury, Randall Wise – Named Wyoming Trustee’s Finalist

• Ella Stanbury – Named the Peter R. Marsh Silent Servant Scholarship Award winner

• Daegan Reinhardt and Madalyn Nicely – Chosen as HOBY Wyoming Participants for summer 2024

• Kadance Kummer and Heidi Shade – 4th in the nation at National FFA

• Shanti Junker – FFA Reserve National Champion

•  70 different students who have received the Tiger Award for demonstrating high levels of safety, respect, or responsibility.  

• 20 Spanish students for their great work in Spanish class

• 8 students in Math and Science for contributions to their learning environment

• Kaden Finley – named an Academic Warrior

• Jesse Foutz and John Ortega – Placed 2nd and 4th respectively in the Special Olympic Bowling competition last weekend

• Sam Bush, Grace Butler Finn Gebhardt, MIley Harrison, Brett Pettibone, David Susanka, Zoe Szymanski, Elizabeth Whiting, Emiliy Anderson, Jacob Neely, and Felicity Olsson – Named by the Wyoming Music Educators Association as  All State Musicians

•  Sam Bush, Grace Butler, Mello Darr, Miley Harrison, Oaklee Lawrence, Mena Olsson, Loukia Savino, David Susanka – Named All-Northwest by the Northwest Region of the the American Choral Directors Association. 

• Brett Pettibone, Grace Butler, Finn Gebhart, Eden Law, David Susanka, Seth Hoyt, Sam Bush, Myriah Haratyk, Olivia Barney, Brinleigh Hoyt, James Susanka, Loukia Savino, Philomena Olsson – Named All State Drama

• Megan Jones, Avrie Haase - Named All State Dance

The last one listed above was All-State Dance, and we just got back from the State Competition where the LVHS Dance Team finished 4th in the state in Hip Hop and 5th in Jazz.  Congratulations to their team for all of their hard work and special thanks to coach Dani Ward for her efforts to rebuild this program at LVHS!   

Also listed above is our group of All-Northwest singers who just spent this past weekend in Spokane singing with some of the best talent and choral directors in the Northwest.  They will return this weekend after an incredible experience.  Special thanks to their director, Dr. Vollbrecht who has ensured our students have exposure to these great opportunities!  

At press time, I know that Teagan Pickerd and Jordan Nielsen were the two LVHS wrestlers that advanced to the semi-finals at the Ron Thon where 44 teams and over 2,000 wrestlers are currently competing for the all-class championships that it awards! 

We just got news that our LVHS Swim team just won the Laramie Invite which contained mostly 4A opponents and also added another state qualifier, making their total 22 swimmers currently in position to help the Tigers swim for their 28th consecutive state championship in Laramie in 3 weeks!  

Wrestling will have their third straight home dual this week, hosting Rawlins on Thursday with varsity action beginning at 6pm.  On Friday and Saturday you can catch the basketball teams playing host to Powell and Lovell.  They also host Mountain View on Tuesday night as a makeup for a previous cancellation.  Congrats to the Lady Tigers who were able to bring the Gold back home after defeating Riverton at home in the Keeper of the Gold Game! 

 We are excited to celebrate our students this Monday as we host our Celebrations Assembly.  We will be honoring many students and also giving out some incredible prizes for those who have earned their way into the drawing through their behavior and attendance.   We have also sent letters home to parents of our seniors who have earned the academic letter each time they are eligible, specially inviting them to the celebration where their students will be recognized.  All parents are welcome and invited to attend.  Here is the special schedule for Monday, January 22nd.  

1st 8-9:30

Celebration 9:40-10:20

3rd 10:30 12:00

Advisor 12:10-12:40

5th 1:10 -2:40

SRB 2:50-3:30

The second semester is in full swing and schedule changes are complete, now it is time for our students to settle into their second semester courses and have a great semester.  

Last week we focused on  LVHS Big Expectation #1, “Be in Class and On Time.”  This week we transition to LVHS Big Expectation #2, “Complete Assignments on Time and Make up work from Absences in a Timely Manner.” Coming to school and doing your work is about as simple as it gets but when this happens we are pretty much 100% successful with our students.  We need our parents' help and support to accomplish this.  Please support us by checking your emails and when students have been referred to Catch-up lunch you know they are not doing their work as expected.  Also in ICampus missing work is clearly marked with an M.  Please make sure that your students are taking care of these expectations in a timely manner and if not, help us by setting consequences at home until such missing work is resolved.   Finally, we have made revisions to our Responsibility grade and now each of the four big expectations will count as 25% of the overall responsibility grade.  Those four components will be averaged together to comprise the entire responsibility grade so that parents and students can see exactly how their students are doing in regards to their own responsibility and accountability.  Please keep in mind that this grade has NO impact on their overall grade, which is entirely composed of  their level of proficiency towards the academic standards of each course.   

It has been a while, but our basketball teams will be back in action at home next week with our county rivalry game against Riverton on Tuesday night. Girls varsity begins at 6pm followed by the boys, hope to see you there!  The wrestling team will be back in action this week after an exciting dual victory over Mountain View last week.  They wrestle at home this week on Thursday night against Wind River.  The boys swim team continues to excel and will be pushed next week against mostly 4A schools at the Laramie Invite after a successful weekend in the pool during the Bruce Gresly Invite.  

Hope you all have a great weekend!   

Hello Tigers, 

Welcome back to the 2nd semester of the 2023-24 school year.  Friday marked the official last day of our semester.  Right after Christmas break we started with a 85% of our total course enrollments on track and not referred.  This is the best number that we have had at LVHS and quickly we were able to trim that number to 91%  when we started our Referral Day on Friday.   We ended Friday with 96% of the 4032 (576 students w/ 7 classes each) total class enrollments completed.  This is incredible for our students and we are so proud of the work that they do.  For the small fraction of courses that are still not complete, teachers are writing Individual Learning Plan’s ( ILP’s) and we will begin to get those completed right away.  Those left incomplete at the end of the 2nd semester will be required to come to Summer School, which runs from June 3rd through June June 20th this year.  

Don’t forget that because we did not have school today (Monday) we will follow our traditional Monday schedule on Friday, January 19th.  Next Monday we will also have a modified schedule as we build time in to celebrate our students achievements over the past semester.  Here is the schedule for Monday, January 22nd.  

1st 8-9:30

Celebration 9:40-10:20

3rd 10:30 12:00

Advisor 12:10-12:40

5th 1:10 -2:40

SRB 2:50-3:30

Wrestling will host its home-opener this Thursday in the Bob Carey Memorial Fieldhouse with varsity action slated to start at 6pm.  They will follow this dual with Mountain View by hosting the Lander Classic on Friday and Saturday.  Come out and support our Tiger Wrestlers.   

The boys swim team is also at home this weekend, hosting a dual with Cheyenne South on Friday before hosting the Bruce Gresly Invite on Saturday.   Swimmers are just a couple weekends from their conference meet so come out and support this incredible group of boys and program.  

We begin the 2nd semester with our LVHS Big Expectation #1, “Be in Class and On Time.”  If you were to look at our students' success rate, so much of it is tied to student attendance.  Although we understand that there will be times where students have to miss, we encourage you and them to practice the proactive attendance habits that we all want to see in our work, school, and other activities.    

Happy New Year TIgers!

On Friday we mailed out referrals for students who still have areas that they need to provide evidence towards proficiency to guarantee that all of our students have met all of our rigorous standards.  For some this means they are missing some work, for others they just have not yet demonstrated their proficiency towards a standard(s).  If you have received an email and/or letter indicating this then please have your student work immediately with the teacher.  Many of these can be taken care of prior to our referral day this Friday, January 12th.  Students with referrals not completed prior to that date will be REQUIRED to come to school on Friday, January 12th to complete that.  Referrals that are not completed by end of the day Friday will become an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) and will be required to complete during the SRB period 2nd semester and summer school if needed.  Students with NO referrals are NOT required to come on that day, but many students will elect to come to increase their level of proficiency and raise their grade.  We know there are lots of moving parts to all of this, so please don’t hesitate to call the office as they can quickly look up your student and see any referrals.   

This week's emphasis on our Big 4 will be “Being in Class and On Time.”  As we complete our first semester it is important to have all students in attendance to make sure they have everything they need for the successful completion of the course. Across the country, schools are really struggling with attendance issues, although we have made some improvement from last year, we still have much work to do and encourage all parents and students to ensure they are doing to maximize attendance to ensure success.  A great percentage of referrals and most F’s given are a result of attendance issues.  We understand that everyone will miss, just encouraging attendance whenever possible.   

Please remember that students are not required to attend on Monday, January 15th as this is a Teacher Work Day.  We will begin the 2nd semester on Tuesday, January 16th.  Please remember that because we will not have a Monday that week, we will follow a traditional Monday schedule on Friday, January 19th.  We will also have an alternative schedule on Monday, January 22nd, so that we can take some time to celebrate all of our students' successes this past semester.   I will include that schedule in next weeks post…..  

This week we have our first chance to watch our Tiger Wrestling team when they host Worland Thursday night in the Bob Carey Memorial Fieldhouse.  Friday night the boys and girls basketball teams will host Mountain View. Before you head off to the game on Friday, come out and support freshman Jordan Officer and his family as friends and community members have come together to host a Chili Cook Off on Friday, January 12th in the LVHS Commons.   All proceeds will go to help Jordan and his family offset the expenses due to his injuries.  

Have a great week Tigers and a Happy New Year!

Hello Tigers,

We had a great LVHS/LMS/Community Choir Christmas Concert this past Monday that drew a full-house for the incredible vocal talent of our students and community.  

Don’t forget to check out our LVHS Band in action at one of two community events.  The first opportunity is tomorrow (Saturday) where they will be playing at the Old Fashioned Christmas in the Pioneer Village from 6-8pm.  This event will also feature cookies prepared by our Pro-Start students as well as fun hosted by our students volunteering as part of the National Honor Society.  The second opportunity to see our band will be on Thursday at the Holiday Open House at the Lander Library from 5-6:30pm.  

Last week our focus for student responsibility  was on Actively Participating in Classroom Activities.  This week we encourage our students to seek out assistance and use resources when necessary.  A big part of this is utilizing our catch-up lunch, SRB, and Office Hour times to get the help from our highly trained and professional staff who love to help but do not always know that help is needed.  Please work with your students to continue to build those self-advocacy skills in your students.   It is natural as students begin high school to lean on their parents for these interactions, but as they progress into upperclassmen, we encourage as much of this as possible being handled by our students as that is what they will be doing soon in college, career, or military.   

This is the last post that you will receive until January 8th as our Holiday Break begins on Friday, December 22 and runs through January 2nd.  All students return to action on Wednesday, January 3rd.  As we return our teachers will begin making end of the semester referrals for students who still have missing work or are lacking proficiency on all standards.   Those referrals are CRITICAL and we encourage students to begin working with their teachers immediately to resolve those issues.  Students who still have referrals will be required to come on Friday, January 12th.  Students who do not have any referrals are not required to come that day but can improve grades etc.   Parents will receive an email for any end of semester referrals and we will also be mailing home notices on January 5th. Any unresolved referrals after the referral day on January 12th will become an ILP, which means no credit will be issued for the course until that ILP is completed.  This means that if not taken care of prior to the end of the year summer school will be required to resolve the ILP.  Summer School dates are June 3rd through June 20th. 

We hope that you have a safe and happy holiday season with friends and family and can’t wait to continue our journey together in 2024! 

Hello Tigers!  

The Lander Valley High School Drama Club had the pleasure of competing at the Wyoming State Thespian Festival this past weekend.  The students worked hard the past three months to plan and prepare for a variety of events including acting, singing, and dancing pieces as well as technical events dealing with makeup, sound, and lighting.  Several students also participated in a one act arena style performance of Radium Girls.  Through three days of intense competition, we held our own coming away with many all state winners, several honorable mentions and a wealth of experience!  The results are as follows:

Brett Pettibone-All State winner in solo acting and musical solo

Grace Butler-All State winner in musical solo

Eden Law-All State winner in makeup design

Olivia Barney, Brinleigh Hoyt, Philomena Olsson, Loukia Savino, and James Susanka-All State winners in Small Group Acting

Grace Butler, Finn Gebhart, and Myriah Haratyk-All State recommendation for one act arena

Felanie Kelson and Eden Law-Honorable Mention for duet acting

Sam Bush, David Susanka, and Seth Hoyt-Honorable Mention in Small Group Musical

Loukia Savino and Brinleigh Hoyt-2nd place in tech olympics

Radium Girls arena one act-2nd place in 3A

This past week we focused on our Big Four Expectation #2, Completing Assignments on Time and Make-up work from Absences in a Timely Manner.  This week our focus will be on Actively Participating in Classroom Activities.  Our teachers do an incredible job of engaging our students and have been highly trained in cooperative learning through Kagan.  Each teacher goes through a five-day training on engaging students in class and this year we added a couple additional days of training around better utilizing those strategies for classroom management. We know the value and have invested a lot of time and resources to ensure we are doing our best to engage our students and get them to actively participate in the classroom learning and we are grateful for your help at home to continue to encourage your students to do their best each day.   

Congratulations to our girls basketball team who opened their season with two big wins over Powell and Star Valley in the Strannigan Classic this weekend under their new head coach Drew Powell.  The boys were not able to get a win in this high caliber tournament that pitted them against two 4A teams and one of the top rated teams in 3A but look forward to a great season ahead for both teams.  

The boys swim team began their march towards 28 consecutive state championships this weekend, opening in Buffalo on Friday and then Rawlins on Saturday.  The Tigers have already qualified 15 swimmers in 23 events for the state meet which will happen in Laramie in February.  They also claimed 5 of the top 10 spots in the Rawlins Pentathlon.    

The Speech and Debate team competed in the largest tournament thus far in Green River this weekend, where they were able to bring home the sweepstakes trophy for 3rd place in 3A!  

The LVHS Nordic Team graciously hosted the meet originally scheduled for Laramie this weekend since we were the lucky community to be blessed with a couple feet of snow early on.  Friday on the boys side the Tigers were led by Owen Firth with a seventh place finish in the classic race and an 8th place finish for Diego Lobatos.  The Lady Tigers dominated their Friday Classic race with 5 of the top 10 wearing the Tiger suit led by Emily Anderson who took the runner-up spot.  Freshman Twyla Beason (4th), Ameya Eddy (5th), Shanti Junker (7th) and Annika Wilmot (8th) all rallied behind Anderson to finish in the top 10. Anderson also finished 2nd on Saturday during the freestyle race followed in third by Eddy with Beason cleaning up the 5th spot.  Wilmot closed out the girls top 10 with the 8th place finish in the freestyle.  The boys Saturday’s Freestyle Race Champion was LVHS Senior Bennet Hutchinson with Lobatos claiming a 4th place finish behind his teammate.  

The LVHS Wrestling team also opened their season at Powell this weekend placing 8th overall as a team.  The following inviduals also left with hardware Addi Burton 2nd, Jordan Nielsen & Teagen Pickerd 3rd, Landon Jones & Hunter Velarde 4th. 

JV: Wyatt Holloway 1st, Kolton Boneberger 3rd, Juan Rivera 4th 

On Monday you all have a chance to get yourself in the full Christmas spirit by attending our LVHS/LMS/Community choir concert that will take place at 7pm in the LVHS Auditorium at 7pm.  THis is an incredible group of musicians included many All-State and All-Northwest singers who will leave you impressed.  

We had originally scheduled an LVHS Band Concert for this Tuesday as well, except the students have decided to do some community outreach performances.  You can catch them at these two showings…..

An Old Fashioned Christmas in the Pioneer Village

The Lander Pioneer Museum. 

Saturday, Dec. 16th from 6-8:00pm

Holiday Open House

The Lander Library

Thursday, Dec. 21st from 5-6:30pm

Sadly, this post ends with some information that one of our own students was critically injured in a car accident this weekend.  The student is stable but remains in critical condition.   We know that many students have already been impacted by this news and we have an incredible counseling team who are prepared and ready to help our students deal with this terrible news.  Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have about your student so that we can be sure to check in on them.  Please let your student know that the guidance office is open for anything they may need to help them.   Please keep the LVHS Tiger Family and this student and their family in your thoughts during this difficult time.  

Hello Tigers, 

I hope that everyone had an incredible Thanksgiving Break with family and friend, we are back at it here at LVHS and have had another great week.  Most of our winter sports are in full stride with practices in preparation for their upcoming seasons, with most having competitions next week.  Indoor track is our only sport not quite in motion, but soon will be after we return from Holiday Break.

This past week we focused on our Big Four Expectation #1, Be in Class and On Time.  This week our focus will be on Completing Assignments on Time and Make up Work from Absences in a Timely Manner.   

Over the weekend our  incredible actors and actresses are in Capser at the Wyoming High School Activities Association State Drama Competition.  We are excited to hear the results of this grueling three-day competition as we are pretty certain we have some incredible talent in that mix!  

We were excited to host our annual Winter Formal this past Friday and had great attendance from our student body.  We would like to thank the Student Council for their efforts to create this additional opportunities for our students.   

The Wyoming Music Educators Association hosted the All-State Honore Ensemble auditions 

just before Thanksgiving. The students recorded an audition in early November at CWC where they got just one chance to record (for better or worse) a very challenging set of audition excerpts. Their auditions were then submitted to an adjudicator who rigorously critiqued each note they performed against students from across the state in ALL 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A schools.  After that process, these students from LVHS were named all state and truly are the best of the best:

Choir: (name, voice part)

1. Sam Bush, Bass 2

2. Grace Butler, Alto 2

3. Finn Gebhart, Tenor 2

4. Miley Harrison, Soprano 1

5. Brett Pettibone, Bass 2

6. David Susanka, Bass 2

7. Zoe Szymanski, Soprano 2

8. Elizabeth Whiting, Soprano 1

Band: (name, ensemble, and part assignment)

1. Emily Anderson, Orchestra, Clarinet 2

2. Jacob Neely, Band, Alto Saxophone 2

3. Felicity Olsson, Band, Clarinet 3

Congratulations to all for this incredible musical achievement!

This Thursday-Saturday we will be hosting part of the Strannigan Classic Basketball Tournament. On Friday, both our boys (11:30am)  and girls varsity (10am) will play on Friday morning. Students will need to get teacher permission to attend those games.  We will communicate that process to students this week and will get advance permission from teachers to attend.  If a student does not obtain permission from the teacher it is because the student needs to be in class.  We would appreciate in advance your support in this decision.  Of course you can always check your own students out of school, but please note that students not excused by the teacher will only be welcome at the game if accompanied by parent.  I know this can be confusing but we are trying to balance academics and extracurriculars.  We are going to allow eligible students to go, but if a teacher needs students in class we need to make sure that happens.  When students are checked out by their parents this means they are now in the care and control of the parent, thus will not be allowed into the game unless with that parent.    

We apologize for any miscommunication that may have happened in any of your students' math classes.  In trying to ensure we are helping our students meet our Big 4 expectations we communicated to students and parents some timelines for improving grades and becoming proficient.  Those deadlines exist, but nowhere we will tell our students NO to additional learning.  The deadline may have passed, but we will always support our students to continually strive for excellence and enhance their learning.   If your student is trying to raise their grade in math or any subject, please know that option is still available to them and they need to work with their teacher immediately to create a plan to do that.   

Just a reminder that we will be hosting our Parents in Education meeting this Tuesday, December 5 at 12pm in the LVHS Popo Agie Room.  We will not have a January meeting as the first Tuesday is actually part of the Holiday break, so our next meeting after this week will be Tuesday, February 6th.  

Hello Tigers,

Had a busy and super successful week at LVHS.  Last weekend, after my post had already been sent, the Lady Tiger Swim Team was able to capture the Runner-up trophy at the WHSAA State Swim Meet.  They were led by a couple of individual champions including senior Lara Robertson (200free, 500free, 400 free relay), Katy Anderson (100 back, 400 free relay), Josey Johnson (400 free relay), and Daegan Reinhardt (400 free relay).  Congratulations to the entire team and especially all the state placers.  This team, as does the boys swim team, puts in an incredible amount of time, usually conducting two practices a day for most of the season.  Their effort has obviously paid off and we are continually impressed by the great work ethic, pride and responsibility we see from our swim teams!

We were proud to send our FFA qualifiers to the National FFA Event in Indianapolis last week, where they demonstrated that they are not only some of the top students in the state, but also in the nation.  Kadance Kummer and Heidi Shade finished 4th overall in the Nation with their Food Products project and Shanti Junker came home as Reserve National Champion in Environmental Service Systems. These students put in an immense amount of time to get to represent LVHS at this level and we are so proud of them.  

On Monday, our seniors were given the opportunity to chat with college and military representatives about their postsecondary plans and to begin or finalize the application process at our Annual College Application Day. Here is the stats from this incredibly impactful day:

• 91 seniors attended 

• 16 students identified as First Generation

• 72 LVHS students have submitted at least 1 college application

• A total of 225 college applications completed, 159 prior to our College Application Day and 66 on College Application Day (self-reported by the students)

• Teffany Fegler from the Education Opportunity Center had 69 students complete her paperwork and 26 created their FSA ID on Monday

• 8 Wyoming colleges sent reps to attend (Casper College, CWC, LCCC, Sheridan, Northwest College, Western WY CC, UW, and NOLS)

• 2 branches of the military were in attendance (the Marine Corp and the US Army)

• 43 community colleges applications have been submitted (total LVHS students)

• 220 4-year college applications have been submitted (total LVHS students)

• Wyoming Apps.: Casper -8, CWC - 10, EWC - 1, LCCC - 5, Gillette - 1, NWC -- 7, Sheridan - 7, Western - 2, UW - 37

On Tuesday, College Application Day was followed by a trip to the University of Wyoming where 36 students attended and  had a chance to meet multiple campus representatives and get a full tour of the campus.  We want to reassure you that we are here for you and your student through this sometimes confusing and difficult process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our guidance office for any questions or concerns that you may have.  

We sent over about 70 students from the AP English Language classes to present their “Buddy Books” to their 1st grade buddy at Gannett Peak Elementary.  This is such a great project, which helps our students understand literacy at a different level, but most importantly connects them to young students in our district! This week, our Spanish 3 classes will also head to Gannett Peak to begin a new program our students have named Los Tigritos, which is Little Tigers!  They will be spending a little time with second graders each month at GPE where they will be teaching them an introduction to Spanish.  Don’t worry we are not neglecting Baldwin Creek Elementary, as they will come over this week and take part in a simulation conducted by our FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) in American Enterprise. 

We also have begun preparations for our FBLA Annual Thanksgiving Meal Deliveries, where last week members of our FBLA and FFA went out to conduct a canned food drive.  We will continue those efforts with a canned food drive contest amongst classes this week and all of this will conclude with our students carefully packaging over 100 full Thanksgiving meals with all the fixings for members of our local community.  Now you have been warned if your student asks you for canned food. If you would like to contribute to this project, we also take financial donations to buy the turkeys and anything else we may be short of. All baskets will be delivered by FCSD#1 staff members on Tuesday.   

The final showing of The Addams Family Musical concluded last night at the LVHS Auditorium.  This group practiced for the last several months to be able to put on these three fabulous nights of entertainment.  I want to thank everyone who was able to come and watch this production as it was close to a full house every night.  This production embodies an entire community team effort and we are so grateful for the continued support we get. I found myself in awe realizing that all the background music was being played backstage by members of our student body, staff, members of the Fremont County Orchestra and others who donated their time to ensure we had a great production.  The stage was also set with the best background and props and so much of this comes from volunteers with a special interest and skill to make this happen. Despite some electrical issues with our lighting from a previous power outage, our light and sound team (again students, staff, and other volunteers) was able to make sure that the theatrical experience was great for our audiences each night.  The costumes and makeup also enlisted members of our community to sacrifice time away from their own businesses to make sure our students were ready for the stage, and boy were they ready.  The singing and acting was second to none and I can’t tell everyone just how proud I am of this entire cast and crew.  

On Friday, our school came together to honor the local Veterans and current service members and their families who sacrifice so much so we can enjoy the freedoms we have.  Our Student Council, FFA, and Choir put on an incredible Veteran’s Day Celebration that was well-attended and appreciated by all.  The only people to take the podium were students and as a spouse of one of our Veterans stated “they completely restored my faith in humanity and this generation.”  We have great kids and these events help to demonstrate how incredible they are. If you have not attended before, please mark your calendars and try to make it next year.   

Just a reminder that this week we will be focusing on LVHS Big Four Expectation #4 which is Seek Assistance/Use Resources When Needed.  This is one of the big changes we made when we switched to our current block schedule.  We purposely embedded times in the schedule that allow students to go and seek assistance/resources during the school day. All of our core academic content teachers make themselves available twice a week for “office hours.” These hours vary by department but all of them are posted in the hallways of our respective departments.  Similar to being on a college campus, we encourage students to use these times to drop by and ask questions, get help, seek guidance etc during these times. Obviously we control the times when it is no longer their option (SRB Referrals), but we highly encourage our students to begin to advocate for themselves and seek out the assistance or resources they need.  

Remember that next week we will have school on Monday and Tuesday only, as we will be off on Thanksgiving Break, November 22nd-November 24.  WIth a short week and not a lot taking place this week I will not be sending out a post next weekend.  The next post is not scheduled until December 4th.  I hope that you all have a great Thanksgiving with family, friends, and your amazing children!  We are so proud of our students and hope you know how much gratitude we have for all of you and all that you do to help LVHS be the number one high school in the state of Wyoming!    

It is an exciting week at LVHS, Thursday, November 9th at 7pm we will pull the curtain for the first showing of the LVHS Musical performance of The Addams Family.  The show will continue Friday and Saturday at 7pm each night.  This group has been going strong all school year to get ready for this incredible show, so please don’t miss this special event.  

We are so excited to host our traditional Veteran’s Day Celebration this Friday, November 10th at 1pm in the LVHS Fieldhouse.  This event has been attended by local, state, and national leaders in the past and all of them have commented about the very high quality of our program.  The event is completely orchestrated by our LVHS Student Council under the direction of Mrs. Morgan Hahn and if you have not attended, I challenge you to come show your support and respect to the American Heroes we celebrate on this occassion!  Here is the school schedule for that day:

Veterans Day – FRIDAY, November 10, 2023

  Period 1      8:00 – 8:47 am

               Period 2     8:51 – 9:38 am      

              Period 3     9:42 – 10:25 am

               Period 4     10:29– 11:16 am

               Lunch        11:16-11:51 am

               Period 5     11:55 – 12:42 pm

               Period 6     12:46 – 12:55 pm

               ASSEMBLY in Fieldhouse 1:00 –  1:50pm

               Period 6     1:55 – 2:39pm

               Period 7     2:43 – 3:30 pm

This week we are going to focus on our LVHS Big 4 Expectation #3 which is students actively participating in classroom activities.  This is one of the main keys when we are observing classrooms as we know that highly engaged students lead to the ultimate learning experience and so we will continue to work with both our students and teachers to encourage this high level and high energy participation.  

Last week the ACT released the final data for the graduating class of 2023.  We are so excited that despite a historic downturn in national ACT scores, LVHS is bucking that trend and have some of the highest scores that we have ever received.  Our focus on our priority standards and guaranteeing that every student learns at high levels is separating us from our counterparts in this state and across the country. Each year ACT releases this information which details how all states and their most recent graduates fare on the ACT.  Included in this release is the percentage of class that each state tests.  Wyoming is amongst just 8 states who test 100% of students and amongst an additional 7 who test at least 90% of their students.  

The overall national average ACT score is 19.5. The average composite score for the 15 states that test 90% or more of their students  is 18.5, and the average composite for those 8 states testing 100% is 18.  With a 19 composite average, Wyoming is 1st out of the 8 testing 100% and 4th out of the 15 testing 90%.  LVHS scored 20.4, thus outpacing the overall national average, the cohort of 15 states who test 90%+ of their students, and the group of 8 who test 100% of students.  We also have the highest percentage of students meeting the college/career readiness benchmarks set by ACT in English, Reading, and Science and 2nd overall in Math when compared to the same groups.  

Speaking of ACT, I reported earlier that we were proud of nearly 60 students in the Class of 2024 who just retook the ACT.  We are still calculating overall growth from April to now, but I can happily report that in April we had 5 students who scored a 30+ on the ACT. After this October date we now have 13 students who have scored at least a 30 on the ACT out of a max score of 36.  We believe this is an all-time high for the number of students from a single class that have scored a 30 or higher on the ACT.  We have been fortunate to have years of success with our students scoring well enough to land them in the most highly-ranked colleges and universities in the country and it looks like we will have plenty more in the future. We currently have former students at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Stanford and just last year had students graduate with great success from the Naval Academy and the University of Penn.    

With all of this exciting news to celebrate, it is also LVHS College Application Day for ALL Seniors on Monday (11/6)!  Representatives from all Wyoming Community Colleges and the University of Wyoming will be here to help students apply to college and answer any questions and this event will happen during students' English class.  Students can apply to college, meet with admission representatives, get help with the FAFSA, get help with institutional scholarships, pick up fee waivers for the college application fees or ACT as needed and request official transcripts.  

We just received news that eight students from the LVHS Choir program have been selected to sing in the Northwest American Choral Directors Association Honor Choir in Spokane, WA on January 24-27.  These students competed against other singers from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and of course Wyoming.  Congratulations to Miley Harrison,   Oaklee Lawrence, Sam Bush, David Susanka, Grace Butler, Mello Darr, Mena Olssen, and Loukia Sauvino on this incredible achievement.  

On Thursday,  26 members of our choir and band also auditioned for the Wyoming All-State Band and Choirs and we can’t wait to hear those results.  I will keep you posted once we get them back.   

Good luck to our Speech and Debate team who travels to Rock Springs this weekend for their first competition of the year.  

Have a great weekend and don’t remember to set those clocks back one hour on Sunday.  

Hello Tigers,

Thanks to all parents who were able to attend our Parent Teacher Conferences this past week.  We had great attendance and really enjoyed our time together.  Please remember that we are always here for you so please don’t wait until spring conferences if there is something that we can do to better help serve you or your student.  Please don’t hesitate to contact any of your student’s teachers so that we are all on the same page and moving in a positive direction.  

One of the greatest impacts of ensuring all students graduate is having them involved in at least one activity.  Our gifted counseling team used that to their advantage this past Friday when they combined the National Mix-it-up at Lunch Event with a club expo where students were able to walk around and visit about all the different clubs and activities that we have here at LVHS.  Please let our guidance team know if you have any questions or need our help connecting your students to those positive activities that make it fun to be in school and lead our students to success.  

This past week we returned our focus to the Big Four Expectations and focused again on our first one– Be in Class and on Time.  Due to this focus, some increased accountability, and your help we have seen a great increase in our attendance comparing the first quarter of the last three years to each other.   Below we compare the last three school years from the beginning of school until the end of 1st quarter.  We have seen a jump of 2%  since last year and 5% from two years ago in overall attendance percentage.  Then check out the number of students on average who are unexcused absent, just 14 per day currently (too high, but working on it) but compare that to three years ago when we had nearly three times that amount!  We thank our parents for continuing to ensure your students are in seat and can’t wait to see this number continue to increase as the year progresses!   

SCHOOL YEAR     PERCENT IN ATTENDANCE         AVG UNEXCUSED ABSENCES PER DAY

2023-24                                  91%                                                               14

2022-23                                  89%                                                               27

2021-22                                  86%                                                                47

This week we will highlight our second one – Complete Assignments on time and Make up work from absences in a timely manner.  I just want to remind you that we have several systems in place to help you keep up with this.  First in the grade book, anytime you see a M (missing) in an assignment grade, you know that a student has missed that work and the teacher is still waiting for it.  This will also cause the overall grade to switch to an I (Incomplete) and student will not receive a grade nor credit until that work is resolved.  The quicker you can get your student to take care of this work the better for both him/her and our ability to serve them.  This also triggers a weekly email that is autosent on Monday letting you know that your student has missing work.  Again, the sooner the better on getting this resolved.  If not resolved ASAP, you will then get emails of Catch-up Lunch (WILL) or SRB (SKILL) Referrals so that we can get it resolved asap.  We appreciate your attention to any M’s or I’s in the gradebook and working with your students and/or teachers to resolve these as quickly as possible.  

We were able to host the 3A Western Regional Volleyball tournament this weekend and despite a great win early on Saturday the LVHS Volleyball team ended their season.  Special thanks to the seniors who have spent so much time representing the Tigers in a highly positive manner and to the coaches for all their work this season.   

Congratulations are in order for Ameya Eddy and Diego Lobatos who were both recognized for their top five finishes at the State Cross Country Meet last weekend and this week they were both named to the All-State Cross Country team!  Congratulations to both of them.  

Good luck to the LVHS Girls Swim and Dive Team who will travel to the Campbell County Aquatics Center in Gillette for this weekend’s WHSAA State Swimming and Diving Championships.  

Please don’t forget that the LVHS Choirs will be performing tomorrow (Monday) night at 7pm in the LVHS Auditorium and you will not want to miss this great performance by all members of the LVHS Choir and even a few brave staff members!  

November 9th at 7pm we will pull the curtain for the first showing of the LVHS Musical performance of The Addams Family.  The show will happen November 9-11 at 7pm each night.  This group has been going strong all school year to get ready for this incredible show, so please don’t miss this special event.  

Next Friday, November 10th LVHS will again host its traditional Veteran’s Day Celebration at 1pm in the LVHS Fieldhouse.  This event has been attended by local, state, and national leaders in the past and all of them have commented about the very high quality of our program.  The event is completed orchestrated by our LVHS Student Council under the direction of Mrs. Morgan Hahn and if you have not attended, I challenge you to come show your support and respect to the American Heroes we celebrate on this occassion!  

With Halloween on Tuesday we wanted to let you know that students are allowed to dress up for school, however their faces have to be easily recognizable and no full face masks or head covering are allowed, nor are costumes deemed inappropriate for school.  Thank you for your help in managing that before they leave the house.  

Hello Tigers, 

Our quarter finished up on Thursday and we will be doing Parent Teacher Conferences Tuesday, October 24th (4-7pm) and Wednesday, October 25th (3:30-7pm).  These are designed to be student-led conferences so please feel free to bring your student along, or if they are busy with extracurriculars, please don’t hesitate to stop by on your own. We will have report cards printed and will hand them out at the conferences, for those not attending we will mail them later in the week.  We sure hope to see you all at one of the two nights of conferences.  

Congratulations to Ameya Eddy who finished her junior season as the Runner-up at the state Cross Country Championships in Cheyenne this weekend.  Senior Diego Lobatos led the boys with a fifth place finish overall.  Congratulations to all our cross country runners on a great season.  

The football season came to an end on Friday night with a loss over Douglas.  Nine seniors were honored for their commitment to the Tiger football program over the years and we thank them and all of our players and coaches for the Friday night lights!  

Lander Valley will play host to the 3A Western Regional Volleyball Tournament this Friday and Saturday with the hope of earning a berth to the state volleyball tournament in Casper next week.  The bracket was still not final on the WHSAA Site when I last checked in so stay turned for when the Lady Tigers will take the court. 

The Tiger Swim Team will head to the Last Chance meet on Thursday in Riverton to try and get a few more swimmers/divers qualified for their state meet in Gillette next weekend. Currently the Tigers have 15 who have punched their ticket.  Good luck!  

We are just one week away from the October 30th debut of the Lander Valley Choir under the direction of Dr. Susan Vollbrecht.  They have been working incredibly hard and I think this is a show you will not want to miss.  See you at 7pm in the LVHS Auditorium.  

November 9th at 7pm we will pull the curtain for the first showing of the LVHS Musical performance of The Addams Family.  The show will happen November 9-11 at 7pm each night.  This group has been going strong all school year to get ready for this incredible show, so please don’t miss this special event.  

Please remember that since there is no school tomorrow (Monday, October 23rd) we will be following a Monday class schedule on Friday.  

Hope you all had a great weekend.  

Just a reminder that our Parent Teacher Conferences are next week, we will host them on Tuesday, October 24th (4-7pm) and Wednesday, October 25th (3:30-7pm).  These are designed to be student-led conferences so please feel free to bring your student along, or if they are busy with extracurriculars, please don’t hesitate to stop by on your own.  Essentially, we want to meet with as many parents as possible, so we hope to see you on one of the two nights.    

Please also keep in mind that there is no school for FCSD #1 this Friday, October 20th, nor Monday, October 23rd.  Due to this, Friday October 27th will be a traditional Monday schedule (students will attend periods 1,3,5 and SRB)

Congratulations to our LVHS Marching Band who represented us well this weekend in the Ford Wyoming Center. A special thanks to their director Garth Moline and their Color Guard director Jen McClung for all of their hard work in preparing our students for this great event.  

Good luck to our Cross Country team who will head to their state meet this weekend in Cheyenne. Our swim team continues to ramp up their team for the state meet in November and will be at the conference meet in Green River this weekend.  Volleyball will compete for the Gold against Riverton on Tuesday in the newly remodeled Bob Carey Fieldhouse Gym.  The Tiger Volleyball team will host the regional tournament next week .  Football will host its final game of the season against Douglas at 6pm on Friday.  

A couple of upcoming events that you will not want to miss.... come listen to our Choirs at their first concert of the year on Monday, October 30th at 7pm and the showing of the musical The Addams Family will take place November 9-11th in the LVHS Auditorium. 

Hope you all have a great week!

Good Morning Tigers,

Hope you all had a great weekend.  

Just a reminder that our Parent Teacher Conferences are quickly approaching, we will host them on Tuesday, October 24th (4-7pm) and Wednesday, October 25th (3:30-7pm).  These are designed to be student-led conferences so please feel free to bring your student along, or if they are busy with extracurriculars, please don’t hesitate to stop by on your own.  Essentially, we want to meet with as many students as possible, so we hope to see you on one of the two nights.    

Please also keep in mind that there is no school for FCSD #1 on Friday, October 20th, nor Monday, October 23rd.  Due to this, Friday October 27th will be a traditional Monday schedule (students will attend periods 1,3,5 and SRB)

On Tuesday, October 17th LVHS will host an ACT day specifically for seniors to have another chance at the test that they all took last April.  This timing is perfect for those looking to raise their scores before submitting applications.  Students should check in with counseling ASAP to see if we still have a spot for them if they choose to retake the test on this date. 

Speaking of submitting college applications, we will be hosting our annual College Application Day on Monday, November 6th.  During their English classes, seniors will come to the auxilliary gym where we will have college and military personnel available to help them with their post-secondary plans.  This is a great resource and time for students to be able to check some things off the list in regards to their future plans.  As always if you have any questions during this whole process please don’t hesitate to reach out to our guidance counselor, Mrs. Stacey Stanbury who can help guide you in the right direction.   

Volleyball will host a home match against Lyman on Thursday.  Plan as of right now is to host it in the freshly remodeled Bob Carey Memorial Fieldhouse.  This has been a great project and we can’t wait to show it off to all of you.  Volleyball will also be home on Saturday, hopefully we will see you on one of those dates cheering on our girls.   The Cross Country team will remain in the county, heading to their conference meet in Riverton on Friday as they make finals preparations for their state meet the following weekend in Cheyenne.  

Good luck to Mr. Garth Moline and the LVHS Tiger Marching Band who will head to the WHSAA State Marching Band Competition on Saturday for what is always an incredible day in the Wyoming Ford Center.   

Have a great week everyone.  

Hello Tigers,

We had an incredible week full of school spirit, camaraderie, and fun during our Homecoming Week.  Congratulations to the Senior Class of 2024 for earning a close victory over the Class of 2025!  Also congratulations to our Homecoming King Ty Martin and Queen Kassidy Lane!

Please don’t forget that Lifetouch will be here to do picture retakes today (Oct 2) but please note that they will only be here from 7:45am until 9am.  

Early heads up that Parent Teacher Conferences are on their way, we will host them on Tuesday, October 24th (4-7pm) and Wednesday, October 25th (3:30-7pm).  These are designed to be student-led conferences so please feel free to bring your student along, or if they are busy with extracurriculars, please don’t hesitate to stop by on your own.  Essentially we want to meet with as many students as possible, so we hope to see you on one of the two nights.    

Please also keep in mind that there is no school for FCSD #1 on Friday, October 20th, nor Monday, October 23rd.  Due to this, Friday October 27th will be a traditional Monday schedule (students will attend periods 1,3,5 and SRB)

Our first Parents in Education Meeting will be tomorrow (Tuesday) at 12pm in the Popo Agie Room. 

We hope you all have a great week!  

Hello Tigers, 

Homecoming Week is upon us and we are so excited to go Back to the Future on our Time Machine.  The Homecoming Dance will be held after the Homecoming Football Game on Friday night from 9ish to 12pm.  Any high school aged non-LVHS students must be invited and approved guests of an LVHS Student.  Approval forms are available at LVHS.  Here is the theme and dress up days: 

Back to the Future: Time Machine

Monday: Y2K (2000s)

Tuesday: Socs vs Greasers (1950s) 

Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday (3000s, future) 

Thursday: Pirates (1700s) 

Friday: Bleed Green 

On Friday, September 29th  we will run a special bell schedule due to our Homecoming Festivities, here is that schedule:

Period 1 8:00 – 8:33 (33)

Period 2 8:38 – 9:11 (33)

Period 3 9:16 – 9:49 (33)

Period 4 9:54 – 10:26(32)

Period 5 10:31 – 11:03(32)

Period 6 11:08 – 11:40 (32)

LUNCH  11:40 – 12:15 (35)

Period 7 12:20 – 12:50 (30)

Pep Assembly 1:00: – 1:40

Parade             2:00 -- 3:00 (All LVHS students are dismissed for the day following the Pep Assembly to attend the parade, buses will run on their normal schedule)  

Events during homecoming week include the Volleyball match on Thursday night and the Girls Swimming quad in Lander on Friday and of course the football game against Riverton at 6pm on Friday night!  In addition we will also be hosting a Dodgeball Tournament for points towards the Homecoming Competition on Monday night in the LVHS Auxiliary Gym beginning at 6:30.  Please don't forget that we also do a Spirit Stick competition where each day a clue is given to find the Spirit Stick that is hidden within city limits.  The class who finds the stick wins the points.  

We are excited to again be able to offer our incredibly popular Challenge Day to our students this Monday, September 25th.  If your student was selected for this opportunity you and them should have received an email permission form from Shannon Waggoner.  Please remember that those are due in the office by Tuesday, September 19th so that we can determine if we need to invite more students.  

Safety is our highest priority everyday and Suicide Prevention is something that we are constantly working on.  Please remember the resources we have in this school and community in addition to national resources that you can access 24/7 (attached).  Mrs.Stanbury, Mrs. Waggoner, and Mrs. Wallingford are your school counseling resources and you can always reach out to a teacher or any staff member here if you are worried about someone else or yourself.  We have also attached a Lander School and Community Resource LIst for your quick reference in the Parent Portal Message that gave you the link to this post.  This is also a link that is being added to our https://www.landerschools.org/Lander-Valley-HS website and will be linked under the parent/community/student quick links.

Here's a short video about what to do if someone you know is displaying suicidal ideation:

BeThe1To Know the Steps

Also, Fremont County School District #1 and the SAMHSA grant have partnered with Care Solace, a service that navigates the mental health care system to find available providers matched to specific needs – so you don’t have to.  You can look into this partner by calling (888)515-0595 or got to caresolace.com/site/fcsd1.   They are also being linked to our school’s website https://www.landerschools.org/Lander-Valley-HS and should be available under the Parent/Student/Community/Staff Quick Links by the end of today or by Monday morning.  

At lunch today, we handed out Pura Vida Suicide Prevention Month bracelets, courtesy of our SAMHSA grant.  This is a great conversation starter in families to talk about suicide prevention everyday.  Asking someone can save a life. 

Please remember that if you are not happy with/or you did not receive school photos from Lifetouch, they will be here on Monday, October 2nd for retakes.  

We will be having our first PIE meeting of the year in the LVHS Popo Agie Room at 12pm on Tuesday, October 3rd.  For a couple years following COVID, I did make these available online as well as in person and rarely was anyone online.  We have discontinued that this year and meetings will only be available in person.  Remember these meetings are whole picture about the happenings of the school.  If you have specific questions or concerns about your student, you will need to set up a meeting with me directly.  You can always book a meeting with me by using the link at the bottom of my email tag line or it is included here for your convenience: https://brad-neuendorf.youcanbook.me/

Hello Tigers,

Senior Parent night will be this Monday, September 18th at 6pm in the LVHS Auditorium.  Earlier I reported that this would happen at 5pm, but I confirmed it is scheduled for 6pm in the Auditorium to better accommodate the work schedules of our parents.  Please don’t miss this important event which will put you on the correct path as your student prepares for their post-secondary options.   Teffany Fegler will be there who is a resource you absolutely do not want to be without as you prepare your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) which is required to determine your eligibility for college-related financial assistance and most scholarships now require this completed before becoming eligible for consideration.  

On Thursday (9/21) we will be conducting a Student Behavioral Health Survey during our advisory class for all students in 9th and 11th grade. This letter explains this more thoroughly.  We are using a passive consent, which means that if we do not hear from you, we will assume you are allowing your student to take this confidential survey.  If you are not ok with this please send this  form  to the office.  All students 9-12 will also take the DESSA Survey.  It assesses their social and emotional competencies.  For most students, it will take about 5 minutes.  If a student's self ratings are elevated, it will bump them to answer some additional questions, which will take a few more minutes.  We will use this data to support and guide our social/emotional learning program and interventions.

If you do not want your student to take the DESSA and or Student Behavioral Health Survey, please call our front office and tell them to please opt your student out of this survey.  The phone number for the front office is (307)332-4433.

We are excited to again be able to offer our incredibly popular Challenge Day to our students on Monday, September 25th.  If your student was selected for this opportunity you and them should have received an email permission form from Shannon Waggoner.  Please remember that those are due in the office by Tuesday, September 19th so that we can determine if we need to invite more students.  

Here are some other important dates and happenings from the Guidance Office:

Sept. 15 -- Daniels Fund Scholarship Open https://www.danielsfund.org/Scholarships/Daniels-Scholarship-Program/Overview

Sept. 18 -- Sr. Parent Night @ 6 p.m (Stacey presents to senior parents and gives them NACAC Guide to the College Admissions Process for senior year planning)

Sept. 22 – Registration deadline for the Oct. 28 ACT.  Register at ACT Registration

Sept. 25 -- LVHS Challenge Day https://www.challengeday.org/

Sept. 25 -- WAO College Fair @ CWC in Riverton – seniors can sign up to attend

Oct. 2 -- Mrs. Stanbury starts individual senior meetings (through Dec.) to help students with college applications, financial aid, and scholarships.  Also, we do a credit check for graduation.
Oct. 2 -- pre registration for students taking the Optional for Seniors ACT in the LVHS Commons

Oct. 4 -- PSAT Test Administration
Oct. 5 -- Teacher Appreciation for #WorldTeachersDay.  

September is Suicide Prevention Month and Sept. 11-15 is Suicide Prevention Week. Each day, our teachers read information to students about suicide prevention, *988 Crisis Line, available to anyone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the students watched 2 short videos about Suicide Prevention and help for students in crisis. We reminded students that the counselors in the LVHS Counseling Office are here to help them if they or anyone they know is feeling suicidal.  If students are worried about reporting to them or it’s after school hours, they can always make a report to Safe to Tell anytime, day or night.  The most important thing is that they get help.  All of our senior mentors received QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) training and there was an optional QPR training for all students during Tiger Time on Friday.  The counselors sat at a table at lunch every day of Suicide Prevention Week to hand out suicide prevention bracelets, lifesavers ("be a lifesaver"), and information on the *988 crisis line and suicide prevention. 

Each year we publish the LVHS Profile, which gives information about our graduating class and our school overall to colleges, universities, and scholarship providers.  Here is the direct link to that profile which is always available on our website.

A special thank you to Dr. Vollbrecht and the LVHS Valley Singers who were able to take part in the special 9/11 Memorial at the LVHS Fire Department this past Monday.  They were invited to sing the national anthem at this moving ceremony and did an incredible job on short notice to get ready for such a large event!  Thank you!  

An early heads-up, Homecoming Week is fastly approaching and will run the week of September 25-29th.  Homecoming Dance will be held after the Homecoming Football Game on Friday night.  Any high school aged non-LVHS students must be invited and approved guests of an LVHS Student.  Approval forms are available at LVHS.  Here is the theme and dress up days: 

Back to the Future: Time Machine

Monday: Y2K (2000s)

Tuesday: Socs vs Greasers (1950s) 

Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday (3000s, future) 

Thursday: Pirates (1700s) 

Friday: Bleed Green 

On Friday, September 29th  we will run a special bell schedule due to our Homecoming Festivities, here is that schedule:

Period 1 8:00 – 8:33 (33)

Period 2 8:38 – 9:11 (33)

Period 3 9:16 – 9:49 (33)

Period 4 9:54 – 10:26(32)

Period 5 10:31 – 11:03(32)

Period 6 11:08 – 11:40 (32)

LUNCH  11:40 – 12:15 (35)

Period 7 12:20 – 12:50 (30)

Pep Assembly 1:00: – 1:40

Parade    2:00 -- 3:00 (All LVHS students are dismissed for the day following the Pep Assembly to attend the parade)  

Hello Tigers,

September is National Suicide Prevention Month and thus LVHS will dedicate this week to Suicide Prevention. We will be doing announcements and small educational activities all week around this important topic. We want to make sure that parents and students are aware of the resources available as we approach this difficult topic.  

Suicide Warning Signs for Adults

*Risk is greater if a behavior is new or has increased, and if it seems related to a painful event, loss, or change

• Talking about or making plans for suicide.

• Acting anxious or agitated; behaving recklessly.

• Talking about being a burden to others.

• Talking about feeling trapped or in unbearable pain.

• Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs.

• Talking about feeling hopeless or having no reason to live

• Sleeping too little or too much.

• Withdrawing or feeling isolated.

• Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge.

• Displaying extreme mood swings.

Suicide Warning Signs for Youth

It's time to take action if you notice these signs in family or friends:

• Talking about or making plans for suicide.

• Expressing hopelessness about the future.

• Displaying severe/overwhelming emotional pain or distress.

• Showing worrisome changes in behavior, particularly in combination with the warning signs above, including significant:

• Withdrawal from or changing social connections/situations.

• Changes in sleep (increased or decreased).

• Anger or hostility that seems out of character or out of context.

• Recent increased agitation or irritability.

Help for You

Talking with someone about your thoughts and feelings can save your life. There are steps you can take to keep yourself safe through a crisis. Call or text 988 any time or chat online with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline to get support also find resources on:

• Finding a therapist/support group

• Building and using a support network

• Making a safety plan for yourself

Help for Someone You Know

Learn how to recognize the warning signs when someone’s at risk—and what action steps you can take. If you believe someone may be in danger of suicide:

• Call 911, if danger for self-harm seems imminent.

• Call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline to talk to a caring professional.

• Ask them if they are thinking about killing themselves. This will not put the idea into their head or make it more likely that they will attempt suicide.

• Listen without judging and show you care.

• Stay with the person or make sure the person is in a private, secure place with another caring person until you can get further help.

• Remove any objects that could be used in a suicide attempt.

• Call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline to talk to their professionals and follow their guidance.

The counselors in the LVHS Counseling Office are here to help you if you or anyone you know is feeling suicidal.  If you are worried about reporting to them or it’s after school hours, you can always make a report to Safe to Tell anytime, day or night.  The most important thing is that you get help. 

I wanted to congratulate our students, parents, and staff who should be celebrated.  Recently, the Wyoming Department of Education released the spring ACT scores and LVHS ranks 6th out of 76 high schools in the state on the composite ACT average with just Sheridan and Cody ranking higher than LVHS out of all 3A and 4A schools. Our composite of 20.7 is also 1.9 points above the state average, the second time we have had that degree of separation from our counterparts around the state.  For context, from 2012 through 2018 LVHS averaged  .5 points above the state ACT composite average.  Since 2018 LVHS has more than tripled that number, averaging 1.75 points above the state average. 

In other state accountability news, LVHS was also celebrated for meeting its Growth and Equity targets on the Wyoming State Accountability Matrix.  LVHS saw incredible gains in all but one subgroup in the past year which led us to meeting those targets which were the essence of our school improvement goals for the year.  We were also celebrated for having 100 percent of our students demonstrating college, career and/or military readiness.  We always have plenty of work to do, but we also want to stop and celebrate the incredible things that are happening here at LVHS!  Thank you for all you do to help make this school continually push to be the #1 high school in the state!   

We are finishing our third accountability priority of ensuring that students actively participate in classes and have had a great week of students demonstrating their ability and willingness to do so.  Our final priority will begin on Wednesday, and that is to seek assistance and use resources when necessary.  One of the ways we really want students to utilize this priority is be ensuring that they are going to teachers office hours to get assistance.  Our core teachers have set office hours during our SRB time (end of the day on Mon, Wed, and Fri) and we encourage our students to use this college model to proactively seek the assistance they need to be successful in their classes.  All of the departments have different schedules that are highlighted in their hallways for these office hours.  Please work with your students to ensure they know these times and encourage them to use them when necessary.   As we begin our fourth priority I want to remind students and parents of our emphasis on all of the big four as we move through the school year and here they are again for a reminder: 

1. Be in class and on time

2. Complete assignments on time and make up work form absences in timely manner 

3. Actively participate in classroom activities

4. Seek assistance/use resources when needed

Good luck to our Tiger Golf teams as they head to Worland this week for the WHSAA State Championship Tournament.  The boys captured 2nd place and the girls 4th place this past weekend at the Conference Championships in Green River.  

Volleyball will be at home this Thursday, against PInedale in the LVHS Auxiliary Gym.  All other teams are on the road this week.  

An early heads-up, Homecoming Week is fastly approaching and will run the week of September 25-29th.  Homecoming Dance will be held after the Homecoming Football Game on Friday night.  Any high school aged non-LVHS students must be invited and approved guests of an LVHS Student.  Approval forms are available at LVHS.  Here is the theme and dress up days: 

Back to the Future: Time Machine

Monday: Y2K (2000s)

Tuesday: Socs vs Greasers (1950s) 

Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday (3000s, future) 

Thursday: Pirates (1700s) 

Friday: Bleed Green 

Hello Tigers, 

We continue to see a very dramatic increase to our students' attendance and punctuality to class and thank you all so much for your support and encouragement to ensure our students have that life skill as they prepare for their future.  Last week, we transitioned to our second point of emphasis and have worked with our students to ensure they understand the importance of meeting deadlines and making up work when they are absent.  That emphasis will continue through tomorrow and then on Wednesday we will begin discussing our third point of emphasis: Actively Participate in Classroom Activities.  

We have worked with our teachers, district-wide, extensively on equipping them with tools to ensure that active engagement is happening with the students in the classroom.  Research confirms, and we all know, the ones doing the work are the ones doing the learning.  In order for us to guarantee high levels of learning for all students every day, we must have students actively participating in classroom activities.  Trust me, our teachers are using best practice and when they ask students to participate, they need it to allow students to learn or reinforce a skill or standard, to assess students current ability levels, and to make adjustments based on that assessment to how to change their instruction and intervene with students as appropriate.  Thank you in advance for encouraging and reinforcing the importance of your students' active participation in classroom activities.   

I had the pleasure to meet with each class last week to discuss other areas of respect, responsibility, and safety to ensure we have the best school year.  Some key points were made to students to ensure they understand that with privileges comes responsibility and reinforced what they need to keep the privileges they enjoy.  We also discussed the vital importance of keeping a drug and weapon free school.  Students were reminded that violations of this will result in a long term suspension with the possibility for expulsion.  I promise to all of you that your students can come to school free from the exposure to drugs and weapons and violations of this are taken VERY seriously in order to maintain a safe learning environment for all.  We also discussed the importance of treating others with respect, kindness and empathy.  Bullying and harassment of any kind are also strictly prohibited at LVHS and will be dealt with promptly and seriously.  Please work with your students to report any issues to a school staff member, safe2tell, or to law enforcement when necessary.   We are blessed to have such a wonderful group of students and we thank you in advance for continuing to have these conversations with your children to ensure a safe, happy environment for all!  

To celebrate our students' success in these accountability efforts we will have giant chocolate chip cookies for our students on Thursday after school.  Thank you again for your support through all of our changes this year!  

Mrs. Stanbury also met with all seniors last week and more information will be forthcoming for senior parents soon.  Please visit with your senior about their meeting about post-secondary planning.  Please remember the Senior Parent Meeting, which is a wealth of information about starting post-secondary planning is scheduled for Monday, September 18th at 5pm in the LVHS Auditorium.  

Thanks to all of our parents who were able to come to our Open House last Tuesday night.  We are always happy to work with our parents and want to remind you that we will always make ourselves available, so if you were not able to make it or have other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to let us know. 

Our students came out in true Tiger fashion to support our football team in their home-opener on Friday night, a game which came down to the final seconds.  Unfortunately, our Tigers were on the losing end of that battle, but will be home again on Friday night against Powell at 6pm.  Our Volleyball team secured a win in the Border War this weekend against Mile City, but dropped the final two matches.  They will take on county rival Riverton on Thursday night in Riverton before heading to the Rawlins Invitational for the weekend. Congratulations to our Cross Country team who hosted and competed well at the Lander Invitational this past week, they too will be in Riverton on Thursday.  Hopefully, we can turn Riverton green that night with some fan support and love for the TIgers.  The Lady Tiger Swim Team continues to add to their qualifiers for the state tournament and will be at home on Friday (Green River Dual) and on Saturday (Jackson Dual).  Hope you can get out and see this incredible team compete, you won’t be disappointed! 

Please do not forget that on Friday, we will follow a traditional Monday, so students will go to periods, 1,3,5 and SRB.  

Have a great week everyone! 

Hello Tigers, 

I am so excited to welcome you all back for the 2023-24 school year here at Lander Valley High School.  For all of our new students and freshmen I welcome you to the Tiger Family.  This is my weekly blog which I generally send out on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning depending on the week.  I include any updates, pertinent details, and upcoming scheduling items to make sure that everyone is on the same page.  I try to keep them short and to the point but from time to time they will be a little lengthier, like this one!  

We are excited to see everyone on our 1st day of school, this Wednesday, August 23.  Doors are open at 7am, breakfast opens at 7:30, and school begins promptly at 8am.  Please make sure that you make sure you are here a bit early so that you can be in your seat and ready at 8am.  It will be a normal Wednesday, which means you will be excused at 2:30 and the buses will run accordingly.  When you arrive you will go to your advisor, you can find your advisor at the bottom of your schedule on Icampus or we will have them listed for you in the commons. Advisors are still being figured out for some student so please check on Tuesday morning for the most accurate representation.   You will go there just for 5 minutes to check in and grab the most current schedule and then will proceed to your 1st hour class. For most students your schedule is probably accurate on ICampus, but we always print them on Tuesday afternoon to make sure everyone has the most current schedule after all changes and adjustments have been made.  

Thanks to all who have turned in the forms that were mailed to you earlier this month.  Those forms are required and we must have them back for all of our students.  Please if you have not already done so, please bring them in Monday or Tuesday, or send them with your student to hand into the front office on Wednesday.  Some of those forms are what allow privileges and thus those privileges will not be allowed until the forms are turned in.  

I would like to introduce our new staff members 

Mo Decker from Indiana will become the newest member of the ELA Department.

Jim Burton joins our Science team  and is also the Head Football Coach, he was most recently in Evanston in the same roles.

Jacob Lamm was hired to become a third member of the LVHS PE/Health Department.  Mr. Lamm just completed his student teaching this past fall and we are proud to welcome him to the profession!

Darlene Jensen and Justin Alexandre  are both special education teachers.  Mr. Alexandre was most recently working  as a para in the middle school this past year as he finished his coursework in Special Education and Mrs. Jensen recently completed her student teaching at GPE. 

Dr. Susan Vollbrecht returns to Wyoming after a stint in Minnesota where she takes over as our Choir teacher.

Coulson Rich, former Rock Springs spanish teacher,  joins our Spanish Department.

Kristy Nelson transferred from Gannett Peak to take over the same role here as our Instructional Facilitator.   

Russ Stuttle will transfer back to the LVHS Library where he started many years ago before moving to the middle school.  

Drew Powell will move into the role of Learning Center Coordinator.

Mandy Ritchie will leave the behavior room to take over as our In-School Suspension Monitor.  

Crystal Comesrunningbuck will move from our Extended Resource Room to become the new Job Training Facilitator.

Jen Gregorcy will be our new Attendance Secretary after spending many days subbing in that position as well as many others throughout the district.

I am sure that these staff members are a great fit to join our incredibly dedicated and hard-working staff that pushes our students to achieve greatness in many areas, while also maintaining a very compassionate relationship that truly values the best interest of each individual.

This year we will be teaching, reinforcing and holding students accountable to the  Big Four Expectations:

1. Be in class and  on time

2. Complete assignments on time and make up work form absences in timely manner 

3. Actively participate in classroom activities

4. Seek assistance/use resources when needed

Parents we greatly appreciate your help on our first focus point: Being in class and on time.  One of the most important things you can do for your student is to ensure that they are in school and on time.  We have seen a dramatic increase in attendance issues since the pandemic and we hope to get back to a more consistent attendance pattern with our students.  We also understand that students will miss and just ask that you are proactive in your communication with the front office so that we can ensure the safety of all of our students.  

Parents of all Advanced Placement (AP) students will be receiving letters in the mail soon congratulating them for their students choice of taking these rigorous college-level courses and some of the increased expectations that we will be holding those students to so that we can sure our teachers are able to deliver the depth and breadth of rigor these courses require for their successful completion.  Please take time to read that letter and contact us if you have any questions or concerns.  We want to continue to improve our incredibly successful AP program by increasing the number of students enrolled and the percentage who successfully complete the course as measured by a 3 or better on the corresponding and required AP exam.  We are always willing to intervene for academic skill issues but will be taking a more proactive approach to the will, or lack thereof,  issues that we see occasionally in these courses.  

Our first Parents in Education (PIE) Meeting will be on Tuesday, October 3rd at noon. For new high school parents these meetings are unlike most of the PIE meetings you may be used to.  Our group does no fundraising, rather it is a chance for parents to hear directly from me about the happenings of the school.  In addition, each month we get updates from our Student Council and a department chairperson.  I love these meetings as it is a way to create a dialogue to improve our schools. This group in the last few years have helped us in many areas refine our processes so that we can better serve our students.  I encourage you to consider coming to these meetings which are held in-person at LVHS and we also are on live zoom as well.  I will send out the link as the time approaches. 

Upcoming schedule includes: 

Lifetouch Photo Day – Monday, August 28th 8am-11am.  All students will get picture for required ID card and yearbook.  Parents wishing to purchase photo can get a packet at the LVHS office or go to mylifetouch.com with your Picture Day ID: EVTP2QRB6

LVHS Open House – Tuesday, August 29th 6-7:30 All parents and students are welcome to come and talk to one or all of their students teachers.  Come anytime as we will not follow any schedule, you will be able to move about the building as needed and leave when you would like.  

September 4th – Labor Day No school for students or staff

Good luck to our golf, football, cross country, girl's swim, and volleyball teams as they begin their fall season.  Golf has already competed in a couple events and the boys team have won both of them!  

In closing I just want to celebrate the many accomplishments of LVHS, its students and staff over the past few years.  We are so fortunate to have such an incredible learning community and these things would not be possible without the complete team effort:

• One of just six high school Model Professional Learning Communities in the State and just one of 64 in the nation.

• Recognized as one of the top three Professional Learning Communities in the Nation in 2019.

• Named three consecutive years as a US News and World Reports Best School and was top 3A school in State and fourth overall this past year. (The release of this data is delayed this year but we expect to make this four years in a row when it is released later this fall!)

• Graduation rate average of  89% the past 6 years compared to 82.5% for the five years previous

• Record Advanced Placement enrollments, including Tier III and Special Education students

• Prior to making every student in an Advanced Placement (AP) class taking the test we had an average of 25% of our students successful on those tests, since making all take the test we have increased our success rate to 45%

• In the past 8 years we have gone from having less than 1% of our graduating class receive a 3 or better on an AP exam to over 32% of the class of 2023 earned that honor!

• Set another record crushing last year by 7 total scholars with 13 AP Scholars/7 AP Scholars w/Honors & 3 AP Scholars w/Distinction or 23 total scholars which is a new record for LVHS! 

• Since 2018-19 we have averaged 1.9 points above the state average composite ACT score compared to the .5 we were averaging in the six years prior.  

• Although official ACT results have not been released, we expect to have the second highest ACT scores in the past 10 years.  

• Nationally, there are just 18 states who test at least 80% of their students on the ACT, Wyoming tests 100% and ranks 7th out of that 18 in test scores.  LVHS scores a full point above the leader of that cohort and also scores a point higher than the national average ACT score with only approximately 36% of the nation's students taking it.  

• LVHS was recognized in 2021 as a Ellbogen Meritorious School for the percentage of teachers who hold a National Board Certification!

• Won 3 state championships (Girls Swimming, Boys Swimming, Girls Nordic)

I look forward to serving you and your students and hope that you will reach me directly if you have any concerns or questions that I can help you with so that we can meet the needs of Every Student, Every Day as we strive to be the #1 high school in the state of Wyoming!