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NCHS builds success on tradition
Natrona County High School is a pillar of tradition.
It’s impossible to enter the school without hearing about – or witnessing – a piece of history. The building itself is listed on the National Historic Register. The library is built on the site of the original Casper High School. Senior art students have traced the past on the walls of the cafeteria – and now into the basement hallways – with annual murals.
But it’s not tradition for tradition’s sake, says new Principal Dean Kelly. It’s a foundation for new evolution at the school.
“I see NC being a place where every student who walks through the door and enrolls is one of ours,” Kelly said. “I see a rigorous and relevant curriculum for students, delivered by caring staff who develop relationships with kids and at the same time keep high expectations. I see NCHS becoming a model that all other schools want to emulate.”NCHS has taken some important steps, he said. In the recent release of PAWS results, the school showed improvement leaps and bounds above the state’s average growth. Reading scores improved by 31 percent in 2007, writing by 29 percent and math by 16 percent, bringing the school above the state average in every subject.Kelly attributes those successes to an incredible teaching and support staff.
“One of the things that impresses me is the high level of instruction and learning that goes on, whether its robotics, ag, language arts, science or math,” added Assistant Principal Randy Larson. “There’s an opportunity for any kid to excel.”
The school offers dozens of programs – academic, technical and cocurricular – to meet the needs of its diverse student population.
Cindy Clair, a senior at the school, said she first came to NCHS because it was the high school closest to her home. Now, she says, she appreciates the diversity of opportunities available.
“They offer lots of things you can do,” she said from the basement studio where she was preparing for the year’s first broadcast of NCTV.
Students can learn broadcasting through a series of classes taught by Lance Madzey, culminating in NCTV, where students make weekly news and magazine shows, produce their own short films, and many even work for local TV news stations.Like all high schools in the district, NCHS offers courses through BOCES that provide students with dual high school and college credit. But the school also features the International Baccalaurate program, which allows students an honors track for college preparation and credits. In that program, students participate in worldwide standardized college-prep programs in a humanities-based course of study. In addition to classes a nd exams, students in the program also participate in 150 hours of community service, physical activity and creative activity during
their junior and senior years, said coordinator Margo Nokes.
NCHS doesn’t limit students to what might be called traditional “academic” paths, either. In the vocational building, students can learn wood and construction technology and actually help build houses in the community with Habitat for Humanity.
Students also can take a series of agriculture classes, where they learn about the “cows and plows,” as well as all the marketing, science, social studies, math and business skills that surround the industry, said teacher Brock Burch. NCHS students also have earned national recognition through FFA. The meat evaluation team, for example, placed third in the national competition last year and won the international competition in Scotland.Students looking for a creative outlet have vast opportunities in NCHS’s nationally renowned art department.“When I was a kid, I said I wanted to be an artist, and my teachers would say, ‘No, you want to be an architect, or go into drafting,’” said art teacher Brad Cool. “They did everything they could to
talk me out of being an artist. So I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a school where a kid could say they wanted to be an artist and we would do everything we can to help them?’”Meanwhile, students looking for a little more structure can find it in the ROTC program. Wyoming was one of the first states in the nation to have ROTC in its high schools, and today, NCHS has one of the few left in the region. The program is about more than military preparation, said Mack Riggs, it’s about building citizenship skills for the future. About 108 students from all over the district participate in ROTC through NCHS, and these same students participate in activities, such as a summer camp, a living history club, an athletic team and the varsity drill team. The rifle team has won the state championship three years running.
“I tell kids, ‘When you graduate from high school, you can be anything you want to be, except a bum,” Riggs said.
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