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Ada-Borup High School
MAY 8, 2015
NEWSLETTER
Greetings!
I hope you have had time to get outside and enjoy the wonderful weather! I would really like to see more rain showers in the forecast,
but not having to deal with all of the mud has been a bonus!
The conclusion of the 2014-15 school year is only a few weeks away and I cannot tell you where the time went! This has been the fastest
school year I have experienced in my twenty-six years as an educator! We have had to face a few challenges throughout the year, but the
positives experiences and successes of our students have been much more abundant!
Please take a little time to review the following information and feel free to call or e-mail me with any questions or concerns!

The MCA and ACT testing window is just about completed and I would like to thank the students and staff for all of their efforts!
The months of April and May put a great deal of stress on them and they have handled it well!

The ABHS Music Department has been very busy in recent weeks.
○ Both the ABHS Band and Choir scored very well at large group contests and large number of our students participated in
the Honor Concert in Fosston on April 24th. It was a great show!!
○ The ABHS Band Concert was held on May 6th and all of the groups performed very well! It was super!
○ The ABHS Choir Concert will be held at 7:30 PM and May 12th. Please come and enjoy the show!
○ Mr. Tuttle, Mrs. Kemper and all of the students should be congratulated on their efforts!!

Congratulations to Mr. Purrington and the FFA on their performance at the State Convention!! Forty-nine ABHS members
participated in the event and we are looking forward to hearing the results!

Congratulations to Mrs. Spilde and the FCCLA on their performance at State! Thirty ABHS students participated in the event and
all of the groups did very well! Mrs. Spilde also received recognition for being an FCCLA advisor for twenty-five years. Great job!!

.Mrs. Ruebke and several ABHS art students participated in the Region 8A Visual Arts Competition in April and their work received
high marks! Great job artists!!

The Norman County Wildcat athletic teams have been very successful this spring and we are looking forward to tournament time!!
Keep up the good work coaches and athletes!!

The building project is getting started and before we know it, this place will be a mess. It is going to take a little time, but I am
looking forward to seeing how things look in August! It should be exciting!

School districts across the state are continuing to experience budget issues due to the uncertainty on state funding currently being
discussed in St. Paul. We are working hard to run a balanced budget and not reduce any programming for our students. It is taking
some time, but we are making good progress in reaching the goals. A little help from the Capitol will go a long ways! Please contact
our legislators and ask them to make sure they are taking care of our schools. THANKS!

Here are a couple of reminders for parents about the end of the 2014-15 school year.
○ Ada-Borup Elementary students will be done with school on Wednesday, May 27th. The staff will be working to clear their
rooms and wrapping up school work on May 28 & 29.
○ Ada-Borup High School students will be done on Thursday, May 28th. Semester tests will be administered to grades 7-11 on
May 27 & 28.

ABHS is hosting the Section 8A Track Meet on Saturday, May 30th. If you would like to help out, please contact Kelly Anderson.

CONGRATULATIONS to the members of the ABHS Class of 2015 who will be graduating at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 24th.
You have been a great class and will be missed by many!! BEST OF LUCK!!

I would like to thank everyone for all of your efforts during the school year!! It has been a good one!!
Thank again!!
Mike Kolness
Supt of Schools/ HS Principal
Ada-Borup ISD #2854
Page 2
Auto Technology Class – Spring 2015
The main goal of the Auto Tech class this spring has been engine
rebuilding projects – we currently are assembling GM Ecotec 2.2 L , GM 5.3
L V8 , Jaguar 2.5L V-6 and Ford 3.0L V-6. It is amazing how many parts get
spread out over the workbenches with 4 complete engines disassembled!
The students have been reminded to keep their parts organized and
separated – who knows what those engine parts do at night when they are
left to themselves – I am convinced that the small unusual parts and
fasteners roam around , and play hide and seek , and other mischievous
activities. How else can you explain the missing parts or excess
parts/fasteners (extra parts) at the end of a project? The other activity that
Mason Kitchell and Michael Moen have been involved with is preparing for
the Minnesota State Finals of the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills contest.
They qualified for this event by taking an online test back in February and they will be joining 9
other teams of 2 on May 6 to see which team is the best at troubleshooting problems with 10
identically prepared 2015 Ford Fiestas. We have had a similar vehicle loaned to our class from
Muscatell-Burns Ford in Hawley for the last week. Mason and Michael have been familiarizing
themselves with the component locations , troubleshooting techniques , and use of a scan tool to
retrieve trouble codes from the various modules (computers) on the vehicle.
I am very proud of my class of 13 boys and 5 girls – they have been a great bunch of young men
and ladies and I will always have good memories of my last auto tech class. I am retiring this
spring after 34 years of teaching Auto Mechanics, I have seen lots of changes in vehicle technology
and in the attitudes and personalities of young people but one thing has remained constant. When
a young person realizes that they can take something broken and make it better it is a feeling like
no other! When you realize that you have that power within your body and mind you want to do it
again and again. It also never gets old – this is what keeps technicians doing the difficult job that
they have chosen to do for an occupation. Thanks for all the great memories Ada-Borup staff and
students – past and present!
John Rikhus, Auto Technology Instructor
Page 3
NEWS FROM THE BAND DEPARTMENT:
It’s been an action packed spring for the band department at Ada-Borup. Here is a breakdown of what
we’ve been doing:
Tuesday, February 24: Composer, Rick Hirsch Skyped with High School Jazz Band
Monday, March 9: Ensemble Contest @ NCE (13 ensembles / 49 students / 1 perfect / 2 excellent /
5 superior / 5 good)
Tuesday, March 10: GBB Section 6A Semifinals @ Concordia
Wednesday, March 11: MSUM Professor of Guitar Studies, Michael J. Krajewski talked with Middle and
High School music students about the music industry and musical improvisation
Friday, March 13: GBB Section 6A Final @ Concordia
Saturday, March 14: Franky Anderson, Ada-Borup Alumni, donated an electric upright bass to our music
department.
Wednesday, March 18: Svetlana Stoen submitted an All State Band Audition on her bass clarinet
Thursday, March 19: Pep Band Performed at the GBB State Tournament
Monday, March 30: Junior High Honor Band (16 students)
Friday, April 10: Thea Devos completed Stage 36 on her second instrument
Friday, April 24: 19 High School Band Students chosen for the Honor Band @ Fosston; Yakety Sax
Ensemble selected to perform at the Honor Concert @ Fosston; and High School Band will compete in
the Large Group Music Contest @ Fosston
Wednesday, May 6: 5 - 12 Spring Band Concert
Upcoming Events:
Wednesday, May 13: 6 - 8 band members to perform at Benedictine Living Community 11:00 a.m. and
1 of 6 tour payment due for band members going to Disney in the summer of 2018
Sunday, May 24: 6 - 12 band members perform at Commencement 2:00 p.m.
Monday, May 25: 5 - 12 band members perform at Memorial Day 10:00 a.m.
Thanks to my students for their hard work this year. Thanks to parents, community members, and the
Ada-Borup Staff for their support of instrumental music at our school. Developing and maintaining a quality
band program is definitely a team effort.
Mr. Tuttle
Page 4
NEWS FROM MR. LINDELL’S CLASSROOM……
LIFE SCIENCE: The 7th graders are extremely busy at this
time of year. We are currently studying the Vertebrates…fish,
amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. After this unit, we
will have time to study Ecology and go outside to put it into
action. Students will also complete five Spring IPad
Projects…..the final one being an outdoor photo shoot locating
and identifying as many organisms as possible. These
organisms will cover four, of the six, biological kingdoms.
Hopefully the weather will cooperate! We have been
dissecting various animals as well. This lab activity is
always a student favorite. Life Science Rules!!!
BIOLOGY: After an intense year-long study of the basic science
standards, the sophomores are currently reviewing for the MCA
Science Exam. This review process is very important as it brings
back topics from the beginning of the school
year, leading up to where we just finished. There
is a vast amount of information and it appears
students are focused and working to do their
best. It is extremely important that each student works in and out of
class preparing themselves for success. The goal is to have all
sophomores pass the exam. Keep it going Super Soph’s!!!
GENERAL SCIENCE: The primary activity in second semester is a unit on Pheasant
Taxidermy. Students worked alone or with a partner and experienced the entire process.
Jason Roquet has been volunteering his time for many years as the
instructor. If you see Jason, thank him for this! The students all
did a great job and the final products look terrific! We also covered
topics on Fresh Water and Mineral Resources (Mining). The final
project for GenSci students is “Muir Valley”…where students will
incorporate all of the ecological and environmental topics we have
discussed into a visual model. In addition, we are hoping to take a
field trip to Fargo’s Water and Sewage Treatment Plants and get out and clean our “Adopta-Highway” ditches east of Ada. GenSci Rocks!!!!
ADVANCED BIOLOGY: We are ending the Advanced Biology year with a unit in
Vertebrate Biology. Students will complete various dissections and
construct PowerPoint presentations. Prior to this unit, students
completed work on the major invertebrate phyla. Much of the work
in this class covers topics that are not included on the MCA exam
these junior and senior students took during their sophomore year.
As a result, this class has been exposed to a huge range of biological
topics. They most certainly, now, have a very good base of
knowledge to bring with them to any postsecondary experience. We would still like to
travel to UMC for a day of college labs. This time of year is very busy…hopefully we can get
this field trip in. Way to go Advanced Biology!!!!!
Page 5
NEWS FROM MRS. HAYDEN
10th Grade Health
The 10th graders had ‘hands on’ experience to do CPR on the “Annie’s”. They also covered infant and child CPR.
They learned about how to handle choking, how to use the AED, how to correctly do chest compressions and
breathing if someone needs CPR. We have now been covering the leading causes of death in the US which are #1
heart diseases, #2 cancer and also talking about diabetes, asthma, allergies, and BSE & TSE exams. They have
been learning about the signs but also how to prevent these diseases from happening. We still need to cover
through the April and May Current Health magazines. We will finish with STI’s and how to protect yourself from
getting these infections and also how to prevent yourself from being at high risk to these infections.
7th Grade Health
We have covered through the February, March, and April Current Health magazines. Some of the top articles
discussed were different eating disorders, Apps of Hate and the cruelty of cyberbullying, the debate is “Selfie
Culture” out of control? E-cigarettes can they kill you? Talking about teen traumas and their incredible comebacks
not giving up, discussed the importance of personal hygiene, the dangers lurking in just one drink and kids and
binge drinking. Remember your brain on alcohol becomes a dumber, less responsible, more unpredictable version of
itself. We discussed an injury epidemic is spreading through high schools and youth leagues nationwide. The high
price to play one sport causes common overuse injuries. We talked about ways to protect yourself from injuries: be
diverse, use proper technique, limit practice hours, add intensity gradually, and speak up.
In the nutrition world we talked about how to make healthier food choices and apply the My Plate method. We
need to cut back on sugars and fats. We need to increase our supply of fresh fruits and vegetables along with
grains, good protein supply, and dairy products. We will finish talking about tobacco use, alcohol use, and illegal
drugs. We stress the importance of making good wise decisions on all of these issues.
8th Grade Health
We have learned about the male and female reproductive system. This lead us into the unit of pregnancy and
childbirth. We stress the importance of abstinence and how important it is to make smart choices when it comes to
sex issues. Most young people have received many messages about sex but know very little about sexuality. We
try to give the students factual information on all issues and hopefully give them an awareness of all the different
sexuality issues. Hopefully they can apply the information to make responsible decisions. We are now covering
STI’s infections that spread from person to person through sexual contact. There are about 20 million people who
contract one or more STI’s in the United States each year. About 50% of these new cases involve those between 15
and 24. We talk about what things put you at a higher risk and how you can avoid those risks. The students know
choosing to practice abstinence is a healthy, responsible, and mature decision for teens. We will finish our year
talking about teenage pregnancies. In the United States, approximately 750,000 teens become pregnant each year.
Most of these pregnancies are unplanned. Factors such as lack of correct information, belief of incorrect
information, alcohol and drug use, negative peer pressure, and portrayals of risk-free sex in the media all contribute
to this serious but preventable problem. We have discussed various forms of contraceptives but we always go back
to the only 100% effective method for preventing pregnancy is abstinence from sexual activity.
In closing, clearly no knowledge is more crucial than knowledge about health. Without it no other life goal can be
successfully achieved.
9th Grade Phy. Ed.
We have done a wide variety of activities and we are getting ready to get outdoors and enjoy the spring weather.
Activities which we have covered: Badminton, basketball, weightlifting, phiso-ball activities, whiffle ball games,
mat kickball games, trench ball, dumbbell/weighted bar activities, and floor hockey. We also have done individual
testings for the PEP Grant: Pacer test, 1 mile run, curl-ups, trunk extensions, push-ups, modified pull-ups, sit and
reach, along with doing heights and weights. We are looking forward to getting outside and playing softball,
kickball, soccer, football, track & field events, and Frisbees. We stress the importance of physical activity
throughout your life and getting along and working with everyone. We want physical activity to be fun and
hopefully for our students to have active lifestyles as adults.
Page 6
NEWS FROM MR. SMART…...
Civics 9
Civics class has been busy studying the history of our government, the
constitution, and the amendments. Our focus lately has been on the law and
we were fortunate enough to get two lawyers (prosecuting and defense) to
come in and talk about how court cases work. At this time we are heavily
involved with discussions on Crime and Punishment. All of this will tie into
our next court case simulation. Each class has already held one court case
and hopefully we will take what we learned in that and apply it to
the second one. We have talked about and viewed some material on the
lack of reliability of eye witnesses. I think it was very eye opening to the
kids on how tough it is to actually remember things that happen in a
stressful situation and then have to describe those things to the police. It
is certainly not as easy as it seems. We have also talked about the
different types of crime, why crimes are committed and capital
punishment. There have been many interesting days in civics class and I’m sure there will be
many more! One thing is for sure, there are no shortages of opinions in these kids!
History 7
My seventh grade history students have been busy studying about the advances
in technology as we steadily make our way to the Civil War. They have found out
that what was once considered cutting edge technology in the 1800’s is now
something that isn’t even thought about much anymore. We have seen the
development of the steamboat, the invention of the cotton gin, the telegraph, the
expansion of the railroads and a collection of other advancements that totally
changed the environment of the U.S. and in many ways sped the
advancement of the Civil War. We also took time out to develop our
own inventions and the kids came up with some interesting ideas. We did one with
the limitations of technology and one with no limitations. There were numerous
bizarre and interesting ideas! The teleporter was a popular invention along with
numerous time saving ideas (the homework helper, smart pill, smart spray) and
these kids will have no problem getting around if they decide not to use the
teleporter as a variety of new age vehicles (hover car, flying car, aqua car, hover
tank et al) were also displayed. Watch out world!
Current Events 10-12
Current Events is a class every student would benefit from taking. As our students have
discovered there is a lot of things going on in the world if you take notice! As I am sure most
people know we have a large amount of the population that really does not pay
much attention to what is happening in the world. My students were really no
exception to this until now! They have discovered that there is a lot going on other
than sports and entertainment (even though those two might be their favorites). We
have used our iPads to scour the internet for the latest news. Many have used the
Flipboard app which is very good for keeping current. For many looking at a
newspaper seems like a thing of the past! Understanding that not all the news we
get is unbiased allows the reader to search out more than one side to a story. They have also
learned that the more sensationalistic the story the more press it gets!
We have also started playing fantasy geopolitics, this is an activity not unlike fantasy football but
instead of players you have countries! It has proven to be very interesting as the teams work on
trying to find a county that has the most news “hits” over the course of the nine weeks. It has also
made some students delve a little deeper into their countries and to anticipate when a country
might find themselves in the news.
Page 7
News from Mr. Smart (continued)...
World History 11
My juniors are busy learning about the various cultures of the ancient world. A lot of
what we study is difficult because historians have sometimes had to make “educated
guesses” about some civilizations because of the lack of written records. We have
studied the Egyptians and now are in the middle of studying the Greeks. We continue
to see and read about some amazing things! Some of the areas we concentrated on
this last nine weeks included: the sack of Troy, separating myth
from fact, the invasion of the Persians, the great philosophers, Greek
architecture, the beginnings of democracy and Alexander the Great. We will
soon be working on presenting a “live newscast” from Ancient Greece or
Rome. It is going to take some imagination but I’m sure the kids will have a
lot of creative ideas about what to do with this so their finished product should prove to be quite
interesting!
2015 Norman County Track & Field News
The boys and girls have all been working very hard. There are
35 girls out for track & field (23 in grades 9-12 & 12 in grades 7
& 8) and 51 boys out for track & field (32 in grades 9-12 & 19 in
grades 7 & 8) for a total of 86 athletes.
The Jr. High hosted a meet on Monday, May 4, and the Varsity
will host a meet on Thursday, May 14, in Ada. Come out and see the Norman County
athletes! We will also be hosting Sections on Saturday, May 30, with around 24 schools
participating!
2015 HONOR CONCERT
The annual Subsection 30 Honor Concert was held on Friday, April 24, at the Fosston High School.
The Honor concert has been a tradition in our subsection for over 75 years. Nominated students
from the Ada-Borup, Fertile-Beltrami, Norman County East, Norman County West, Waubun,
Mahnomen, Win E Mac and Fosston High Schools came together to create the Honor Choir and
Honor Band. The Honor Band began the concert with "The Star Spangled Banner" as arranged by
ABHS Band Director Richard Tuttle. The Honor Choir followed performing four selections: "Ave
Maria", "Who Can Sail Without the Wind", "Cry Me a River" and "Elijah Rock".
Honor Choir was conducted by Dr. P. Bradley Logan of Bemidji State University
and accompanied by Mary Hanson. Various outstanding events from solo and
ensemble contests performed in the middle section of the concert. One of the
featured performing groups was the Ada Borup saxophone ensemble playing
"Yackety Sax." The Honor Band was conducted by Scott Guidry of Bemidji
State University. They concluded the concert with three selections: "Eiger",
"Scholastics March", and "Caravan." Next year's Subsection 30 Honor Concert
is scheduled for April 15 at the Mahnomen High School.
Page 8
NEWS FROM MR. GULLINGSRUD…...
American History:
The students in American History have had a busy year as they started the school year
covering the Civil War and they will be wrapping up their discussion on World War II very
soon. In the last month of the school year, the class will cover the Cold War, Korean War,
Vietnam War and many of the well know events in recent American History.
Economics
The seniors in Economics just finished a chapter that explains the positives and negatives
of the different forms of business. Students took time to interview a business of their
choice and they did a great job of finding the positives and the difficulties of businesses in
our area. Some students included the history of the business and others had many
personal connections as they interviewed a family owned business. We will be finishing
our school year with topics that include labor, wages, unemployment and investment
options.
Senior High Geography
The junior class has finished recent discussions on Northern Europe, including
Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. Currently the class is discussing western Europe
with a focus on France. It has been mentioned many times that we wish we could take a
trip and see the beautiful sites that we talk about each day in class!
Geography 8
Eighth grade students have had a busy year in the world geography class, as we have
covered Oceania, the Middle East, Central Asia, and SE Asia. The content covered in class
includes physical geography, cultural differences, important sites in each country and the
history of the country/region. In the last month of the school year, we hope to cover some
of the highlights of Africa and Europe.
NORMAN COUNTY WILDCATS BASEBALL
The Norman County Wildcats baseball team is off to a great start this season as they
currently have a 8-4 record at the midway point. The team has had excellent
pitching all season long and the team has played in many close and exciting games!
Currently the team is in second place for the Pine-to-Prairie Conference and third
place in the Northwest Diamond Conference.
The team will begin playoffs on May 26 at a site TBD, with the Section 8A playoffs
continuing in Greenbush on May 28 and Northland Community College during the first
week of June.
Team members include Ryan Olson, David Skari, Dalton Jorgensen, Jonathan
Markley, Austin Robb, Dustin Olson, Michael Kolness, Lucas Lindell, Dylan Johnson,
Dustin Beliles, Tanner Somers, Jordan Crompton, Robertin Whiting, Luke Nelson,
Miguel Garcia, and Drake Solseng.
Page 9
NEWS FROM MRS. KOLNESS:
Accounting
Accounting has been busy learning depreciation, accrued
expenses and accrued revenue. They also just completed
an automated simulation. The students are currently
working on financial statements for a corporation. As you
can see by the smiles on their faces – they are still loving
accounting!!!!
Computer 9
The Computer 9 class has finished 4 units in Microsoft Word, 4
units in Microsoft Excel and is currently in the 2nd unit in
Microsoft PowerPoint. Along with learning the Microsoft
package, the students have been utilizing their iPads by taking
tests on-line.
Senior Video
Taija Turpin has been busy creating the Senior Video for
graduation. It isn’t an easy process but Taija accepted the
challenge and is doing a fabulous job. To see the final product,
attend the graduation ceremony on May 24!
Webpage II
This class is geared towards the web page design aspect of
computers. During this semester the students have been
creating new websites for the elementary and high school
teachers. The students also have been learning Expression
Blend 3 and Expression Design. In this picture, my students
are doing a project called Emoji Face Creations. They are
responsible for creating different emoji’s from scratch. It has been a challenge,
but they are up for it!
Business Marketing/Video Productions
My students recently found out that creating commercials isn’t all it’s cracked
up to be. Each student had to create a Snicker Commercial on an app called
iMovie. There is a lot of planning that goes into creating one and my students
found out that creating storyboards for the commercials aren’t really fun! But
the end products were worth it!! They all did a great job and it was exciting to
see their creativity shine through their commercials.
Page 10
Girls Basketball
This season proved to be a history making one at Ada-Borup! We came into the
season having to replace four starters off of last year’s state tournament team so
expectations for many were that we might struggle. Fortunately that was not the
feeling we had! We knew things would be difficult but the kids really put in their time
in the off season and it really paid off. We improved more and more as the year went
on and by the time playoffs arrived we seemed to be poised to make a run. Morgan
Miller was out for an extended period of time but we were able to get some huge
minutes from others to help make up for her absence and when she returned shortly
before the playoffs we were that much stronger. We had some hard fought battles in the early going
but
managed to come out ahead and won our eighth section title in the last ten years and advanced onto state. For the second year Class A teams were seeded and we were lucky enough to get
the number two seed. I am no fan of seeding, I think it is too difficult in Class A, but getting the #2
seed was actually a surprise. When they started reading the seed numbers and they went by #5, #4
and #3 without calling our name we really thought we might end of as one of the random draw teams
but then we heard Ada-Borup at #2!
We started off with Springfield, a team we beat back in 2007, and a very tough first round matchup.
We struggled at times and held a small lead at halftime but came out very strong after the half and
built a solid lead en route to a 71-53 win. Morgan Miller came out and played one of the best games
of her career and showed no after effects of any injury as she ran the floor and finished with a variety
of different shots.
Round two had us up against a private school Lyle-Austin Pacelli. This game was one of the closest
games that we have ever played in at the state tournament. L-AP was stacked at guard and forward.
They had great shooters, their big girls could really board well, attack the basket, and finish. This
was a very challenging and nerve wracking game! The game was very close throughout the first half
and only a buzzer beater put L-AP up at halftime.
The second half we played a little sporadically, we did not seem to be able to get into any kind of
rhythm. We actually trailed by 10 points at about the 8 minute mark and at the time didn't seem to
have many answers. But then we got things going, Miki and Haley hit back to back buckets, one off a
Poehler steal, Lexi Merkens hit 1-2 technical FT's, then Haley hit back to back three pointers and all
of a sudden we had a 2 point lead. L-AP came right back and hit their own 3 pointer and then a 2
pointer and regained the lead 52-49. That would be the last time they scored. Lexi Merkens tied it
with a clutch 3 pointer, then we got a huge defensive stop with about 45 seconds to play. We ran the
clock down under ten seconds then Morgan Miller hit Miki Lee inside for a post-up and we had a 2
point lead with 7 seconds to play!
L-AP almost had a run out on the inbounds but Haley Poehler forced the girl to give up the ball. The
L-AP guard got a pretty good look at a three pointer but it fell a few feet short and Ada-Borup wins!!!
Bench scoring was the difference in this game L-AP bench 0 points, A-B bench 2 points (Tianna
Hilde) Not always pretty but very exciting and some huge clutch plays at the end (on both ends).
We now found ourselves back in the championship game for the first time since 2013. We had to face
a Maranatha Christian Academy team that had seemingly dominated its competition up to this
point. It was said on the radio that no one can run with MCA and hold them down and their pressure
makes most teams crumble. Well someone forgot to tell the girls because they came out and basically
dominated from start to finish! We were able to handle their pressure for the most part and also able
to transition our way to some easy layups. We dominated inside and outrebounded them 51-37. We
had three girls finish with double doubles Haley Poehler 10 pts-18 rebounds, Lexi Merkens 17 pts-11
rebounds and Elizabeth Birkemeyer 20 points -10 rebounds. Lexi Nelson played one for the best
defensive games of the tournament on their best overall player! Morgan Miller played some terrific
minutes and again showed some great moves around the basket and made some nice defensive
plays. Miki Lee benefited from our breaking the press and was able to score some easy transition
buckets but also took it to some of the girls that tried to guard her down low. They never put a post
on her and she made them pay for that mistake!
Another great team effort, much like our season, we always seem to have different girls step up at
different times. A common theme in our teams that have gone to state (and some that haven’t) is that
no one cares who scores as long as everyone plays defense and we win!! GO COUGARS!!
Page 11
Art Department News!
Congratulations to all these talented students who competed at the MSHSL Region 8A
Visual Arts Contest in Fosston Wednesday, March 25! It was a great day spent attending
art workshops, getting to see what other area students are creating and for students to
talk one-on-one with the professional art judges.
Here are the results:
Elizabeth Petrik received superior blue medals in both Sculpture and 2D Mixed Media
Paige Bryon received superior blue medals in both Painting and 2D Mixed Media
Taija Turpin received a superior blue medal in Drawing and an excellent rating in Painting
Brooklyn Gonzales received a superior blue medal in 2D Mixed Media
Alison Stene received an excellent rating in Painting and Sculpture
Teresa Suarez received an excellent rating in Drawing
Art 8
The 3rd trimester 8th grade art students have been learning and implementing the
Elements and Principles of Art as they have been creating their various art projects
which include a still life drawing of shoes, designing and drawing a 2-pt.
perspective drawing of a building, learning about color theory, hand building clay
pottery and an op art design painting!
Art 9
These freshman art students have been using art skills they’ve learned in junior high to create art that
explores various art movements and artists, developing their creativity and using new art materials. So far
their projects have included a surrealistic drawing (an art style that is based on fantasy,
dreams or memory), a realistic acrylic painting, and a large linoleum relief print. They are
currently working on their final project in which they are to create a mixed media artwork that
conveys a message, uses a variety of art materials and incorporates at least 5 symbols.
They have some great ideas and it’s going to fun to see the final results!
Advanced Art Students (grades 10-12) T
These amazing student artists have been stretching their artistic and creative skills
as they’ve been working on a mandala drawing (an image incorporating a circle),
mosaics and a final independent project!
Art 2 - Senior High Students
This semester these students have been creating beautiful art as they been using and exploring various
color media: a “color switch” colored pencil drawing; 2 watercolor paintings- 1 realistic, the 2nd using nontraditional techniques; an oil pastel drawing that abstracts or changes the nature inspired image; an acrylic
painting and if we have time...just for fun- tie dyeing!
All the artwork will on display at the spring band
concert, Wednesday, May 6! Mrs. Ruebke
Page 12
Ada-Borup FCCLA State Conference Results:
Two advance to nationals,
two others on the runners up list
Event 44 Fashion Construction-Miki Lee, gold; she was a national advancer with her
Retro Romper project! Miki created a romper to fit her body type and highlighted at
least eight skills during construction.
Event 39 National Programs in Action-Evan Purrington, gold; Evan advanced to
nationals; this was his first STAR event competition, fantastic job! Evan’s project
was the community garden, from production to how the produce was donated to various
groups in the community to increase fresh and healthy eating. The national program
Evan tied his presentation to was Student Body, utilizing the eat right module.
Event 30 Life Event Planning-Lexi Merkens and Anjana Gwin, silver; for their project they
made caramel filled chocolates to fundraise for their state trip. Utilizing these skills they
could earn extra money at a future point in their lives as well. Anjana and Lexi placed
third and were runners up for nationals.
Event 32 Parliamentary Procedure: Lexi Merkens - President, Anjana Gwin - Secretary,
Mason Kitchell, David Visser, Zach Holweger, Patrick Sherman, Dustin Olson, Luke
Heitman earned silver. This was a first year team and they were 4th at the state
competition, congratulations!
Event 3 Laws of Life Essay-Blade Sargent, gold; Blade’s topic was on courage.
Event 6 Show Me-Shawnae Hilde & Cassie Wills, silver; their project was
Project Linus and they made 10 fleece blankets and donated them as
well as showing how to make them.
Event 26 Focus on Children- Ella Rockstad, Brooke Ruebke and Ethan
Holtslander earned gold; their project focused on several activities for chapter members
and junior high students to do so they can eat right and be fit! They showed the junior
high students how to make green smoothies and homemade granola for a couple of
healthy snacks.
Event 34 Advocacy-Patrick Sherman & Nash Jacobson, silver; their project focused on
obesity and inactivity of children in the United States with their solution being to
advocate for a natural play space for children in Ada.
Page 13
Ada-Borup FCCLA State Conference Results (Continued):
Renae Knoell, Jenny Mortenson & Julia Tennihill did a great job at the Talent Showcase
as they performed “Hanging Tree”.
Others in attendance judging or room consulting were Jordan Avery, Nathan Brown, Pavla
Kinclova, Dusty DuChene, Elizabeth Birkemeyer.
*A special thanks to Carol Gwin as chaperone and Karen Smith as our bus driver!
The students heard several dynamic speakers, their favorites included:

Eddie Slowiskowski, a former All American in Track & Cross Country who made us
laugh, cry, dance and learn- all in one speech.

Morris Morrison, through his adverse situations as a child, used motivation to fuel his
dream to help others succeed.

Matt Logan, spoke as a father and advocate for all people to not to text or drive
distracted. His life was forever changed when his daughter chose to text and drive and
lost her life as a result.

Al Newman, two-time World Series Champion with the Minnesota Twins spoke about
keeping a positive attitude and working hard to achieve your dreams.

Holly Hoffman, was the last remaining member of the Espade Tribe and the last woman
standing on Season 21 of the CBS hit reality show “Survivor Nicaragua”. She had
many themes running through her story of her adventures on the show,
“You can’t change the past, but you can change your attitude”;
“Be thankful each day”;
“It’s not about winning, but about what you learn along the way”;
“The best gift you can give anyone is the gift of your time”;
“Everyone fails if we don’t get back up”.
Ada-Borup Speech
The six members of this year’s speech team, Katelyn Vilmo, Patrick Sherman, Brittany
Roesch, Thea DeVos, Renae Knoell, and Julia Nelson, competed in five invitational meets
as well as the sub-section meet where
sophomore Brittany Roesch placed first in the
category dramatic interpretation advancing to
the sectional meet. We encourage all those
interested in competitive speech to consider
joining us next year.
Page 14
Ada-Borup FFA
The 86 members of the Ada-Borup FFA have had another extremely busy and successful
year. Through the past school year, the FFA members competed in numerous Career
Development Events on the region level. Eleven teams and 56 members earned trips to
state competitions with their excellent performance. The State FFA Convention was held
on April 26th-28th at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul and Minneapolis. During this
convention, three members were awarded the State FFA Degree, which is the highest
degree awarded by the state association. Those three earning this degree included Megan
Vesledahl, Mason Kitchell, and Evan Purrington. Evan Purrington won a State Gold
Award for his proficiency in Agricultural Sales Entrepreneurship, in addition to earning
1st place regional honors in this area. Also during the convention, the officer team
competed in the State Parliamentary Procedure competition. The team performed
extremely well, advancing out of a pool of 18 teams. The officers ended up placing 4th in
state. Officers include: Evan Purrington, President; Dalton Harris, Vice President; Alyson
Erickson, Secretary; Megan Vesledahl, Treasurer; Mason Kitchell, Reporter; Tyler Hoven,
Sentinel; Emma McCollum, Officer-at-Large; and David Visser, Student Council Rep. Also
during the state convention, the Ada-Borup FFA Chapter received the National Superior
Chapter award, a Membership Growth award, a Land of Service award, and were
recognized for 50 years of continuous giving to True Friends/Camp Courage. The FFA
members were also very busy in many other events throughout the year. They are
currently helping with planting the crop and test plots on the chapter farm, and are
working on getting the FFA Community Garden planted. Many of the plants going into the
garden were started by the students in the school greenhouse. The produce raised is
donated to the local food shelf and the school lunch program. FFA members are also
making summer plans which will include summer leadership camps, officer training
retreats, recreational activities, SAE projects, county fair activities, parliamentary
procedure practices, and several others. Follow the FFA throughout the year by friending
them on Facebook (Ada-Borup FFA) or following them on Twitter (@AdaBorupFFA).
State FFA Degree recipients from Ada-Borup included Mason Kitchell,
Megan Vesledahl and Evan Purrington
Ada-Borup FFA State Convention participants 2015
Page 15
Trickle‘s Tidbits
It’s surprising how quickly this semester has gone. We are just weeks from summer vacation! All
English classes have been busy reading, writing, and interpreting. After an extensive writing unit,
the freshmen are finishing the year by reading the hilarious novel, Cheaper by the Dozen. It’s been
fun comparing the uniqueness of our individual family lives with those chronicled by the Gilbreths
in a story based on their real-life experiences. The sophomores are enjoying Edmond Rostand’s
timeless classic, Cyrano de Bergerac. This play is filled with relevant themes concerning how we
treat one another as well as aspects of truth and deception. The seniors enjoyed a myriad of poems
in a recent unit of poetry and like the sophomores, are finishing the year with a classic play,
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. This story focuses on the infamous character of Willy Loman
and his struggles to attain the illusive American Dream. The students in College English 1205
have begun research for their final essay, a multi-source critical analysis of a poem. So, although
the end of the school-year is fast approaching, there is still so much to read, write and interpret.
Lenora Johnson Speech Scholarship
The annual Lenora Johnson speech scholarship contest will be held in the Ada-Borup
High School auditorium at 6:30, Monday evening, May 18, 2015. Local seniors will
compete for approximately $7,000 scholarship dollars. Former Ada resident, Rodger J.
Johnston, established this fund in honor of his beloved high school English teacher and
speech coach, Lenora Johnson. In its fifth year, the contest is becoming more and more
popular with students who are required to write and deliver a ten-to-fifteen minute
speech. A panel of three judges assesses and ranks the speakers based on the following
categories: choice of topic, quality of content, and quality of delivery. Rodger Johnston,
who currently resides in Long Prairie, MN, is expected to attend, and the general public
is encouraged to attend this evening of quality speaking from our local student body.
Page 16
Newsletter from Mrs. Spilde
FACS 8
The students spent time learning the parts of the sewing machine and sergers, construction
techniques, then selected a pattern and fabric to construct their unique pants or shorts. The
students learned how to improve their diets utilizing MyPlate for a personalized approach to
healthy eating and exercise. They cover food safety and sanitation, measuring and cooking
equipment as they master food labs on breakfast foods like pancakes, waffles & French toast.
They will be making quick breads and cookies, fruits and vegetables and casseroles.
Careers
Careers is a semester long course that meets every other day for freshman. They complete several
career assessments, students explore various careers, create an interest, skills and abilities
brochure, explore the 6 career clusters and skills needed in each cluster, plan for your career, job
hunting skills, job interviews, first day on the job, what to expect from your employer, what your
employer expects from you. They then contact a job shadow host site, complete a job shadow of
their choice, and write a paper about the experience, including how much education it would
take, where they could obtain the education and the costs involved.
Life Smarts
LifeSmarts is a semester long course immersing students with current issues each person faces
as they venture out on their own. Decision making, values, spending plans, budgets, paycheck
analysis, saving, investing, banking options, checking accounts, credit pros and cons, credit
cards, renting apartments, purchasing vs. leasing vehicles and all types of insurance. It also
contains realistic simulations for 25 people at different stages of their lives for the students to
assume and provide financial decisions and guidance for a 5 day period of time.
Intro to Foods
A senior high elective, intro to foods gets students acclimated to basic cooking skills and
techniques, curious about the why of culinary experiences, covering cereals or grains, fruits,
vegetables, dairy. The students also created their own healthy snack utilizing the food innovation
project. They created or modified a healthy snack decreasing the fat, sugar or sodium content.
They also created a company name and logo, named their product, completed the nutritional
analysis, created a food nutrient fact label and packaged their product. They will finish the year
with semi-home made foods for quick and easy options for lunch or supper.
Foods II
Another elective for the students the second half of the year is regional and foreign foods. The
students learn about the regions in the US, prepare a group project highlighting the economy,
culture, history, places to go etc. with a Power Point presentation and brochure and then create
meals for each of the regions. They also will be exposed to about 10-12 different
countries, their customs and cultures and create food from each of them. We are
fortunate to have Pavla Kinclova, a foreign exchange student from the Czech
Republic in this class to bring authenticity to our projects as she has traveled in
Europe quite a bit. The skills they acquire are life long and provide an
opportunity so they could create meals independently.
Page 17
MR. STOEN’S WEIGHTLIFTING 905 CLASS
Bigger, Faster, Stronger and Beachbody Challean are the strength training programs
students have been following this school year. The BFS program places Emphasis on
the six core lifts: bench press, incline press, parallel squats, dead lift, hip sled and
power cleans plus a choice of upper and lower body supplemental curls. Beachbody
Challean puts students through a myriad of multi-joint upper and lower body exercises
with emphasis on technique, range of motion and reps. This year students have also
made periodic use of iPads for researching their own workouts from various fitness
sources. Finally, on four separate Wednesdays, the class downloaded and performed the
body weight Max Capacity Training regimen, a series of 4 exercises for 1-minute each
multiplied by 4 cycles. What each student does is 50-seconds of each exercise followed
by 10-seconds of rest before advancing to the next exercise.
Pictured are seniors Danielle Yost and Jonathan Markley performing the lateral
Pulldown and bent-over pectoral flies, respectively.
NEWS FROM MR. RIKHUS…..
Congratulations to Mason Kitchell and Michael Moen for placing 6th in the Minnesota State Finals of the
Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Contest on Wednesday, May 6. They faced some stiff competition against
other teams from Moorhead, Burnsville, Osseo, Chisago Lakes, Fairmont, Anoka, Warren and Faribault
(Faribault won again - as usual! ) Mason and Michael’s car was the 3rd vehicle running and drive-able but
they fell back a few places because of a few demerits based on completing all repairs and a couple quality
check items. Faribault's car finished first, it was a perfect score (no demerits) and their team deserves a lot
of credit for their effort. Mr. Rikhus is very proud of Mason and Michael's effort and their dedication to
preparing for the contest. We had a great time at the event, met lots of wonderful people and it will be some
good memories for everyone involved. Pictures of the contest can be found at
www.facebook.com/HennepinTechFordAsset Also check out this video about the AutoMotorPlex in
Chanhassen where the contest was held https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuUOaP6MUWY
PS: For those of you that may remember Frank Gigler (Ada HS grad from 1979?) he is doing quite well as
Dept. Chair of Accounting at the Carlson School of Management - University of Minnesota. A great guy!