Viking ConnnectionSpring 2018

Northside High School

Principal, Dominick McKee

Goings-On and Who’s Who of the Viking Community

Ms. Austin, NHS’ Testing Coordinator

BEHIND THE SOLs: Kim Austin,

Testing Coordinator Kim Austin started her time at Northside

back in 1997 and spent the first part of

those 21 years as a special education

teacher, co-teaching in English. This

year is her sixth year as Testing

Coordinator. Her favorite part of this job

is seeing students achieve their goals.

She loves telling a student they passed

a test that had been giving them trouble.

As far as during the school year, she

loves the fall– a fresh start to a new

school year – and May – when the main

part of testing is finally happening. The

greatest surprise of this job? Just how

much work is involved! There are so

many different aspects and things going

on at once, and not just the tests

themselves.

In her spare time, she spends time with

her family and enjoys going to estate

sales with her husband. They also enjoy

traveling – to Oak Island, mainly – but

this summer, they are off to Maine!

What one thing do you wish parents knew about the SOLs?

Colleges don’t look at the SOLs; they look at a student’s class load, GPA, SAT/ACT

scores, community involvement, etc. Never SOLs!

STAFF PROFILE:

Kelsey Huffman

Kelsey Huffman is Northside’s

Instructional Technology Resource

Teacher. This is her first year in this

position and her first year at Northside.

Previously, she taught math for six

years.

Her love of math and encouraging use

of technology in the classroom has

made a huge impact on the students

this year. Throughout the school year,

Ms. Huffman kept a blog of new and

exciting instructional tools she

discovered. For weeks after a new blog

posting, teachers across the school

would sign on to the newly discovered

online tool , create a lesson or two and

“Students raced around the room,

solving mysteries with graphing

paper, reviewing formulas, and

using their collective knowledge to

race a clock and open the “big” box.

set to work trying the tools out in

classes. Some of the new tools

were liked, some weren’t, but

most teachers were willing to try.

And, the students loved it!

Classes were no longer the

same; they were interesting and

exciting – the students were

learning and playing. Kahoots,

Quizizz, Quizlet, and FlipGrid

became the most asked for

lessons.

Her newest love is Breakout

Boxes, which are like mini, self-

contained Escape Rooms. In the

final weeks of school this year,

she held numerous review

sessions for math and business

classes in the library. Groups of

students raced around the room,

solving mysteries with graphing

paper, reviewing formulas, and

using their collective knowledge

to race a clock and open the “big”

box to find the surprise! Talk

about fun!

Ms. Huffman earned her

Bachelor’s in Science, with a

minor in Mathematics and

Computer Science, and her

Master’s in Education from

Virginia Tech. In 2017, she won

the Red Apple Teaching

Excellence Award.

In her spare time, she watches

football, cheering on her favorites

– the Steelers and Hokies – and

knits. In fact, she’s been knitting

since she was seven years old.

TEACHER PROFILE: Jake PaysourA collaborative teaching class between

Algebra I and Culinary Arts? Jake

Paysour did just that this year. Called

“Brownie Porportions,” he asked

students to scale up and down a simple

recipe for the perfect brownie. Based

on the porportions of ingredients in the

recipe, students were encouraged to

use their math skills to make sure the

recipe stayed just as perfect if doubled,

tripled, or halved. Not too much oil or

too little baking powder. Once students

worked the math out, the culinary class

used the recipe to bake the brownies.

Guess what? Those brownies were

indeed perfect, and the students had a

blast eating their math solutions.

This year was Jake’s second year in

teaching, but he had coached boys’

basketball for five years at Northside

before teaching here. He earned a

Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

and a Master of Theological Studies from

Wesley Theological Seminary. In addition,

he is a dissertation away from a Doctorate

in Public Administration and Policy from

Virginia Tech.

He loves basketball, especially

UNC’s Tarheels! He has spent a

week at a monastery in Vermont.

He’s also shaken the hand of a

sitting President of the United

States. Jake believes the people

– the teachers, peers, and staff –

are what makes a good school,

great!

What makes a great school?

“The teachers, peers, and

staff make a good school,

a great school.”

DESSERT WITH THE ARTSA night of art, music, and dessert with the talented students of Northside High School.

For the previous week, art students and teachers dedicated any and all of their

extra time to set up the Art Show in the front lobby. Student classes then walked

through the show, admired the artwork, took notes on the works they liked and

why, as well as voted on their favorites. The night’s desserts were prepared by the

Culinary Arts students and the NHS FFCLA.

MEET YOUR COACH: Coach PopeWhen Northside’s Bill Pope started his first season as

a head coach of a varsity basketball program back in

1983 at Powhatan High School, his career did not

exactly get off on the right foot.

To begin with, Powhatan’s athletic department did not

even have enough basketballs to equip Pope’s first

practice. One of his players had never played before!

At the conclusion of his inaugural campaign, his team

finished winless with a woeful 0-20 record.

That’s right. Zero wins in 20 contests.

Fast forward 34 years, when Coach

Pope’s 32nd season as the Vikings’ leader

was anything but woeful as his most

recent squad completed the 2017-18

season with a school-best 28-1 record

and a No. 2 ranking in the state. The

season’s many highlights included

championships in five invitational

tournaments, Blue Ridge District and

Region III titles, a fourth consecutive

berth in the State Final Four, and lop-

sided victories against several talented

teams.

Also among the notable

accomplishments was a milestone

achieved on the evening of January 26,

when Coach Pope earned his 500th

coaching victory after the Vikings

defeated William Fleming in a 68-39

thumping of the Colonels.

“The 500th win was very special

because it happened on our home

court against a very good program,”

Coach Pope said. “Many former

players were able to attend the game

and share the moment. Also, many

supporters of our program from the

1980s to today were at the game and

afterwards came up and said hello and

offered congratulations. That was

memorable.

“Coach Mark Eubank, our AD, and

former players in our program did such

a great job making it a memorable

evening,” Coach Pope added.

Coach Pope earns 500th career win

during Vikings’ record-setting season

COACH POPE’S 500th WIN! Continued from the previous page.

“Finally, it was nice being able to share

that win with my current team and my

coaching staff – Coach [Ed] Culicerto,

who has been with me all 32 years [at

NHS] and Coach [Jim] Wolfe, who has

been with me 31 years.”

This season’s top performers included

junior Julien Wooden, the team’s leader in

points scored (568), field goal percentage

(61%), free throw percentage (73%),

three-point accuracy (45%), and

rebounding (244), along with senior Nick

Price, who led the Vikings in assists (166),

steals (78), and blocked shots (18). Also

contributing regularly to Northside’s

success were senior Cameron O’Connor,

juniors Kasey Draper and Devon Russell,

and sophomore Jordan Wooden.

The aforementioned players were each

recognized with post-season honors.

Even though this past season ended

with a disappointing overtime loss to

Western Albemarle in a state semifinal

game at the Salem Civic Center, the

future for Northside basketball remains

encouraging. The team returns several

high-quality performers from this past

season, as well as the talent from a

successful junior varsity program that

finished 18-2. For the record, Coach

Pope will begin his 39th basketball

season later this year with 511

coaching victories.

And an ample supply of basketballs.

MARCH FOR OUR LIVES

On March 14th, from 10-10:17, approximately 350 Northside students gathered in the auxiliary gym to

show support for the 17 students who lost their lives during the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman

Douglas High School in Florida. Students’ reasons for “walking out” ranged from solidarity with friends

in Florida, to protesting “weak” gun control, to encouraging the government to enact better safety

measures and laws to protect schools from these types of events. Also in attendance were two

students who were protesting gun control measures. All the students present were respectful of each

other and the students who lost their lives.

Ashley earned her

Bachelor of Science in

Marketing Education

and Bachelor of

Science in Business

Education from

Virginia Tech.

Her favorite high

school memory was

winning first place at

the DECA District

Leadership

Conference and then

going on to the State

Leadership

Conference.

Beyond teaching, in

her spare time, she

spends time pet

sitting, walking on the

Roanoke Greenway,

traveling, cooking, and

in November 2016,

she completed the

Richmond Half

Marathon.

TEACHER PROFILE:

Ashley Spradlin

Ashley Spradlin isn’t a one-hit wonder kind of

teacher. She teaches and has taught a variety of

courses over her 15 years in education. She has

taught Business Law, Microsoft Office Applications,

and Economics and Personal Finance. Of those 15

years, she has taught 13 of them at Northside High

School. In order to best prepare herself and her

students for the topics she teaches, she has just as

many varied qualifications: certified as a Microsoft

Office Specialist in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel,

as well as earning her W!SE Financial Literacy

Certification. In addition to teaching, she sponsors

the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Future

Business Leaders of America organizations.