Belle Plaine Teen Judges Possible Career
Nanci Young, Workplace Learning Connection

Connor Roth, Belle Plaine High School student, spent part of her day on November 3, 2010, at the United States District Court House.  She wasn’t there to defend herself, nor to be on trial.  Instead, she chose to learn about and explore a variety of careers within the legal system.  Connor, along with 11 other students from 9 area high schools, participated in Legal Day, a group job shadow experience coordinated by the Workplace Learning Connection in partnership with legal professionals and schools within the Grant Wood AEA 10.

The day started off with the Clerk of Court welcoming the students and orienting them to the courthouse.  They also spent time with a Chief Probation Officer, a Court Reporter, a Judge, an Attorney and a Paralegal.  While many teens may be intrigued by a career in law, most do not have a clear picture of the scope of careers within the legal system and the training, education and background you must have to pursue a career within a given field.  By receiving a well-rounded perspective of the variety of careers within a courthouse, Connor is now prepared make more precise plans for her post-high school years.

Roth had this to say about her experience, “My favorite part was definitely when the lawyer who came to speak to us was a prosecutor. I have wanted to become a prosecutor for a while now and she certainly re-enforced that. I got a feel for what the job will really be like. It was very interesting and extremely helpful.”

The Belle Plaine Community School District partners with Workplace Learning Connection to provide career exploration experiences such as Legal Day to their students.  The goal is to equip today’s students for tomorrow’s careers by teaching 21^st century skills such as job preparedness.  An event such as Legal Day does not happen in a classroom.  Ms. Lisa Daily at the BPHS Guidance office encourages BP students to take part in work-based learning activities like job shadows.  To learn more about an opportunity to explore a career field, contact Ms. Daily or log on to www.workplace-learning.org.

Mr. Allen and the Belle Plaine High School Concert Band

Belle Plaine High School hosted the SICL Conference Honor Band Tuesday, November 16, 2010.

The dedicated students and directors started preparing for the evening’s entertainment approximately 3 weeks ago when they first received the music selected for this event.  Tuesday, the day of the event, students and directors from the seven participating schools arrived at Belle Plaine High School at 12:30 p.m. to practice as a combined group with a different director for each of the four musical selections, the concert than began at 6:30 p.m.

Flute Duet by Danielle Kunz & Chelsea Pierce of HLV

Mr. Allen directed the Belle Plaine Concert Band as they performed two music pieces.  He also directed the Honor Band as they performed Celtic Ritual.  Nile Dusdieker (English Valley) and Brad Redington (Iowa Valley) also directed a selected piece.

The audience experienced a rare treat as they listened to the world premier of Elephant Hill written and directed by Scott Stanton, band director of Montezuma.  The Honor Band students from Belle Plaine, English Valley, HLV, Iowa Valley, Lynnville-Sully, Montezuma, and Tri County worked well together to make the evening memorable.

BPHS Senior, Reed Peterson Giving Help to Freshman, Jacob Reineke With His Tie

Fifteen Belle Plaine students were selected for Honor Band, they include:  Andrea Lohf, Behre Bartlett, Dani Coover, Emily Coover, Jessie Simpson, Mason Stull, Matt O’Brien, Matthew Mengler, Meghan Miller, Molly O’Brien, Nicole Thys, Reed Peterson, Stephan Muench, Sydney Walther, and Zack Bartlett.