Bureau Valley

Poetry, leadership and a brighter future at Bureau Valley

Leadership Class

In 2018, BVHS implemented a leadership class into its curriculum that can be taken by any student, freshman through senior. While the course includes a study of different leaders and leadership theories, its foundation is built upon providing students with opportunities to design and engage in a variety of service projects. Students have taken on a wide range of projects that work to benefit our school and surrounding communities over the years. In the last year alone, leadership students have created an annual holiday gift drive in conjunction with the local food pantry, hosted a BV student and staff tailgate, established relationships with local nursing home residents, and raised money to support an area teen center.

Our students do a tremendous job of not only identifying areas of need around us, but also of creating and executing plans that produce really terrific outcomes. Each semester students seem to raise the bar for what they wish to accomplish, and it’s been really exciting to witness this type of growth as the course continues to evolve.

Poetry Out Loud

Since 2005, Poetry Out Loud has grown to reach more than 4.1 million students and 68,000 teachers from 17,000 schools and organizations in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa.

Poetry Out Loud encourages students to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure that starts at the classroom level. Students advance to a school-wide competition, to a regional contest, to State Finals, and ultimately to the National Finals. Bureau Valley High School has participated in Poetry Out Loud at the local, regional, and national level the past three years. In 2019, Regan Cook and Paige Twidell won first and second in the Northern Regional, respectively, qualifying them for the state competition. In 2020, Regan Cook and Hailey Tranchita represented Bureau Valley in the Western regional competition. Regan earned first place and advanced to the state competition. In 2021, the contest was held virtually. Regan and Paige both advanced to the western regional competition where Paige placed first and Regan placed second. They advanced to the state competition as well.

BVHS Drama

The BVHS Drama Department embraced the challenges of the last year and a half to make our program even better. Performing our last live show on March 14, 2020, we were thankful that all the work we had put into “Hunchback of Notre Dame” got to have a last live audience before the world of live entertainment shut down.

Without being in the same room after that final bow, we had to strengthen our purpose of bringing people together no matter the circumstance or distance. In the fall of 2020, students created a series of original radio variety shows we called “Top of the Valley.” All from our own homes, we wrote, rehearsed, recorded, and edited five shows that brought our voices together in shows we were so proud of.

Our 2021 spring musical, “Hello! My Baby,” streamed online after countless hours of rehearsal, audio recording, lip syncing in front of green screens, and video editing. You would believe students were standing together on stage! In our hearts, we were. This year, we return to the stage with our own student-written adaptation of “A Christmas Carol.” This story invites us to learn from the past, appreciate the present, and work toward a brighter future together!