Seniors Ethan Valentine and Rebecca Scott recently shared their France '08 travel experiences with students in grades 6, 7 and 8 during the monthly "Hot Topic" program.

Ethan and Rebecca, who traveled to France through the high school's sponsored trip, created a presentation of their favorite monuments and museums in Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Arc de Triomphe, Louvre and Versailles, as well as the chateaux of Chambord and Amboise.

They were also able to answer students' questions on their travel experiences and converse in French, demonstrating their third-year language skills. As an added treat, students sampled pain au chocolat, a typical French snack.

Academic Challenge Happenings

There continues to be many Academic Challenge activities for students in grades 6-8. Twenty eight students are currently involved with math league. At Eisenhower, students diligently pratice once a week at the sixth grade level and are coached by volunteers: Rachel Bosl, Sam Herzog and Garyt Haagenson, all students at M State, Fergus Falls.

At the 7th and 8th gr level, students are presently meeting twice a week working on Mathcounts problems in preparation for the February 10th competition which takes place at MSU-M, Moorhead, MN. They have the privilege of being coached by Fergus Falls alumni, Bill Cox, an excellent mathematician and volunteer. Practice sessions continue to take place over their lunch hours and they look forward to upcoming competitions.

Our Knowledge Master Open competition placed our 7th and 8th gr students at  high level of results compared to others their age nationally.

Music composition and guitar lessons had great enrollment and was once again taught by Barb Huffman, co-owner of Harmony Studios.

The Winter Reading Challenge encouraged students to read every day for two weeks prior to their holliday break in order to be awarded by their efforts.

Each month, there's a "Hot Topic" event. In December, we held Games Galore wherein the students were presented a variety of board games in keeping with the holiday spirit over lunch breaks. Many learned new strategy skills with games never before played such as Dominos, Risk, Scrabble, etc. For the month of January, Hot Topics hosted a presentation by Deb Sutor's French students, Ethan Valentine and Rebecca Scott, who traveled to France in 2008. Younger students heard stories of places traveled, listened to the presenters converse in the French language and explain to them the importance of pursuing a new language, exploring college options as well as traveling opportunites.

Another Academic Challenge activiity that is well underway is History Day! Sutdents in 7-12 grade have been busy researching a specific innovation or event and developing a thesis that exxplains their topic's legacy. Students will be taking a research trip to the University of MN on Friday, February 5. The History Day Open House will take place at the Otter Tail Historical Museum on March 8, Monday after school. Margie Eerdmans continues to be the local History Day Advisor.

A 7th grade book club led by volunteer, Jen Perersen also continues to be successfully underway with the third book in the series of the "The Enchanted Forest Chronicles," by Patricia Wrede (author who visited us last fall). Kathy Wagnild will lead the 6th and 8th gr book clubs starting in February with "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," by C.S. Lewis and "People of the Book," by Geraldine Brooks, respectively.

Our classroom Geography Bee was won by Connor Danielson; it was an impressive competition with state qualifiers to be announced in March. Qualifiers from the 6-8 gr classrooms have been chosen to participate in the middle school's spelling bee on February 2 at Eisenhower's choir room, at 9am. The public is welcome to attend in support of these awesome students.

We continue on with the 6th gr Lego League and 3-C-Game Day (chess, cribbage and chinese checkers).

For more information on Academic Challenges, please contact Vera Carlson, Academic Challenge Coordinator, at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 998-0544 (ext 5653) A current Academic Challenge Calendar can be found on the district website.

Congratulations to John Makielski and Connor Danielson for reaching the Championship round of the FFMS Geography Bee.   After an extended session of difficult tie-breaker questions, Connor Danielson earned the title of champion.

Good luck to Connor when he competes in the regional competition next week!