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Verona Press The
Thursday, May 30, 2019 • Vol. 55, No. 2 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
Verona Area School District
110 years
SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Ve r o n a A r e a H i g h School teacher Jennifer Wolfe got a card in the mail recently with three signatures. Two were from her former students in French class at VAHS, congratulating her on her upcoming retirement. “They signed it with their two names and the name of their 2 year old,” Wolfe said. “It was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you guys ended up getting married and you had a child.’ They were in French class together. “Those moments, I wouldn’t trade away for anything.” Getting to know students and celebrating their growth was a joy shared by each of the four teachers retiring from the high school this year. They leave with a combined 110 years of experience in the district, four of the nine
Retirees Certified staff VAHS: Richard Engen, Faye Hoban, Mark Kryka, Jennifer Wolfe Stoner Prairie: Jill Thronson, Lori Enzenroth Glacier Edge: Cinda Quinn Badger Ridge: Kenneth McCluskey Country View: Lisa Seibold-Zorr Support staff VAHS: Deb Szarka, Sue Evans Badger Ridge: Karen Erickson Stoner Prairie: Diane Hager, Susan Dillespie Central Office: Patti Fenske
certified staff retirees this school year. Mark Kryka, the athletic director and a former elementary school phy ed teacher, leads the group
Turn to Retirement/Page 8
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Photo by Scott Girard
Verona Area High School junior Olivia Otremba talks with teacher Andrew Larson about how music styles developed from the 1950s to the 2010s through a map inspired by the movie “School of Rock.” The map was her final project for the Rock and Roll Society and American Culture class this year.
Classic Rock VAHS class blends love of music, history
SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Until recently, Verona Area High School junior Olivia Otremba would have had a tough time connecting 1950s doo wop music with ‘90s rap. Now, she’s got a map to show what the two genres have in common – along with how they relate to dozens of other musical styles over the years. Last week, she used that map in her Rock and Roll Society and American Culture to help explain how punk rock influenced progressive rock. “They sort of became big because they didn’t like what the punks were doing, it was sort of anti-punk,” she
said. “And punk was anti-everything else.” “I can’t believe what you did,” teacher Andrew Larson interjected as Otremba continued to expand on the musical connections. “This is really cool.” The music map (inspired by Jack Black’s character in the movie “School of Rock”) is Otremba’s final project for her class, which began in the 2016-17 school year. The class is taught by Larson, who is a DJ, plays bass for the German Art Students and has always loved music. “I think a lot of people around the school think it’s that class where you can goof off, because it’s rock
and roll, but we actually learn a lot,” Otremba said. “Mr. Larson tells a lot of really good stories.” The class allows him to show students how music evolved over decades, while at the same time connecting how historical events like the Vietnam War, various presidencies and movies were reflected in the music of the time. Each class period starts out with a few songs of different styles from whichever decade they’re working on. “Then they get to analyze and say, ‘That song’s really about the Cold War,’ or, ‘That song’s really about
Turn to Rock/Page 16
Personalized learning company ending services
Press
Epiphany hosts student plans, which will need to migrate
D i s t r i c t ’s p e r s o n a l i z e d learning effort is discontinuing most its services. Epiphany Learning, the vendor selected in 2015 to house student personSCOTT GIRARD alized learning plans, has “no intentions of replacing Unified Newspaper Group it with successor services,” The software compa- according to a May 23 ny playing a key role in email to parents from VASD the Verona Area School director of technology and
VAHS tennis, track, golf athletes qualify for state Pages 9, 12
The
Verona Press
personalized learning Amy Arbogash. Personalized learning plans will continue, Arbogash wrote, just on a different platform. She called the transition to a new software service an “opportunity” to “better accommodate our needs for student PLPs and align to other district initiatives.”
“It’s important to note that Epiphany Learning was only a software support for our student PLPs,” Arbogash wrote. “Personalized learning in our district was not defined by Epiphany Learning nor will it be defined by any other technology software.”
Turn to Epiphany/Page 5
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Four teachers retiring from VAHS remember time here fondly