Cross Country Team Fares Well at State Meet

This past weekend (Oct. 14th and 15th), Bloomington Jr. High was well represented at the state Jr. High Cross Country meet. 7th Grader Sarah Schneider placed 51st overall in a time of 12:59 to represent the girl’s team. The girls as a team also placed 5th in the Franklin invitational and sixth in the IESA sectional on October 7th. Sectional Qualifiers for the girls included Leah Mullenix, Sarah Schneider, Lyndsey Byers, Shelby Wiist, Meg Fitzgerald, Mellanie Olson, Kelsey Emmert, Rikka Skillrood, Kelsey Henderson, and Kathryn Livengood.
The boys’ team also had a successful season. The boys placed 2nd in the Champaign Invitational, 2nd in the East Peoria Invitational, 3rd in the Parkside Invitational, 3rd in the Franklin Invitational, 2nd in the East Peoria Invitational, 2nd in the Delevan Invitational and 2nd in the IESA sectional, qualifying the team for state. Those running at state were James Clay who finished 10th and Luc Dinkins who finished 23rd. Both Luc and James earned all state honors. Kyle O’Daniel finished in 34th place, and Joe Rig finished in 42nd place. Ryan Strange was the 74th overall finisher, Coleman Mullenix finished in 145th and Kylor Sorenson came in 165th out of over 200 runners. Other state qualifiers included Curtis Yount, Joseph Clay, Nick Von Holten and manager Aaron Schneider.
The boys finished their season with a fourth place finish in the state, and only four points out of third. This is also the first boys’ state cross country trophy in the history of BJHS.
Congratulations to all of our cross country team, for a job well done this season!

BJHS Begins a New Wildlife Habitat in the Courtyard

Bloomington Jr. High’s courtyard is getting a new look! In early October, a pondless waterfall was added to the courtyard as the first step in a renovation that will be completed over the next 18 months. The school’s Jr. Master Gardeners club is working towards having the courtyard certified as a Schoolyard Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation. The waterfall will provide a water source for birds and other animals.

The funds for this project were donated by the Central Illinois Water Gardeners, who also provided guidance and much of the labor in the building of the waterfall. Generous donations from Wendell Niepagen Greenhouses, Growing Grounds, and Acme Roofing helped keep the costs down and left plenty of funds to buy plants to help finish the landscaping portion of the project.

The Master Gardeners of McLean County also provided some of the labor in building the waterfall and will be helping the students in the club plant bulbs. We plan to have over 200 tulips and daffodils in the ground yet this fall. While much of the actual planting will have to wait until spring, the students in Jr. Master Gardeners will spend this winter planning each section of the garden. When completed, the courtyard will have five different “themed” gardens, each of which will be used to teach different aspects of gardening in Illinois.

To view photos and a PowerPoint of the project, go to:
http://www.district87.org/bjhs/gardens.htm

BJHS Students Receive Illinois Music Education Association Awards

On Monday, October 9th, the following BJHS students auditioned and were accepted in to their respective musical organizations for the IMEA (Illinois Music Educator’s Association) District #3 Festival Junior Band, Junior Orchestra, Junior Chorus and Junior Jazz Band. The IMEA Band, Orchestra, and Choral groups will be performing on Saturday, November 18th at Braden Auditorium. The Jazz Band will be performing on Saturday, November 4th at Illinois Wesleyan. Congratulations to these students!

IMEA District #3 Band
Miranda Henson, Maggie Langlois, Brenna Martin - Flute, Catie Comella - Bb Clarinet, Michael White - Bass Clarinet, Emily Schultz - Alto Sax, Katie Tjaden - Baritone Sax, Nick Hebert and Beth White -
Trumpet, Ricky Zamudio - Trombone, Dustin Dehart - Percussion

IMEA District #3 Chorus
Mallory Hudson, Sherice Satterfeal, Burgandi Shutt - Soprano, Taylor Haeffele, Lauren Gentry, Garrett Medlock, Dacia Melton, Alexa Tyle and Maggie Hatten - Alto, James Love, Joshua Rittenhouse, and Rory Tomas - Tenor, Michael Nelson, Ryan Strange, and Dallas Thornton - Bass

IMEA District #3 Jazz Band
Liz Hebert - Alto Sax, Nick Hebert - Trumpet

IMEA District #3 Orchestra
Elizabeth Lindenmeier, Leah Mullenix, Jonathan Bauer, and Ariana Miller - Violin,
Kyle O'Daniel and Megan Riley - Viola, Megan Delong, Molly Stevenson, and Matthew Varney - Cello