Category Archives: Schools

February 27, 2013 · 9:23 pm

South Milwaukee Sports Update: Alumni News, Girls’ Basketball Team Opens Postseason Play Friday

Got this email from Ante Udovicic today … go Rockets!

The good alumni reports keep on rolling in. Here are our latest bits of great news. 

Katie Kitzke – 2009 grad

Katie Kitzke capped off a fantastic season and tremendous career at UW Oshkosh by being named to the First-Team All-Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Conference for Women’s Basketball. Katie ended up as the 10th leading scorer in school history with 1156 points and finished 3rd in school history with 147 three-pointers made in her career. She averaged 12.2 pts and 2.5 rebounds per game and scored a career high of 25 pts in a game twice this year. You have been a source of pride for South Milwaukee High School for 8 years Katie. Fantastic job!!!!

http://www.uwoshkoshtitans.com/sports/wbkb/2012-13/releases/20130226ntekia

Austin Stueck – 2012 grad

Austin was not only named to the All-Freshman Team for the Northern Athletic Conference, he was named NAC Freshman of the Year, and most impressively, he was named to the overall First Team All Northern Athletic Conference!! If you look at the link, you will see that the other members of the first team include 2 juniors and 2 seniors. Way to go Austin!

http://www.northernac.org/sports/mbkb/2012-13/all-conference 

ROCKET GIRLS BASKETBALL

This Friday, the Rockets take on the Whitnall Falcons at 7:00pm at home. All tickets are $4, no passes or ID’s are accepted. Let’s get a big crowd to cheer loudly for the Rockets. We split the season series with the Falcons, but this time it’s our turn to win and move on to the Regional Final on Saturday Night (most likely at 7:00pm at NB Eisenhower). 

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February 22, 2013 · 10:39 pm

Season Over For South Milwaukee Boys’ Basketball Team

Waukesha Catholic Memorial rolled past South Milwaukee, 71-53, in a WIAA regional contest on Friday.

The seventh-seeded Rockets finished 10-14.

March Madness, meanwhile, continues for the Rocket girls, who are coming off their first conference title in 18 years. They play next Friday in South Milwaukee.

Learn more in my previous post.

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February 22, 2013 · 6:24 am

South Milwaukee Sports Update: Girls’ Basketball Team Wins First Conference Title In 18 Years

Congratulations to the South Milwaukee girls’ basketball team, which secured its first conference title since 1995 with a win over Greendale. Next up is the WIAA Tournament on Friday.

South Milwaukee Athletics and Activities Director Ante Udovicic has more details in the following update …

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Congratulations to Coach Derek Hoff and Coach Carl Bauhs and the Rocket Girls’s Basketball team on winning their first conference championship since 1995!!! Their 49-40 defeat of Greendale on Wednesday night cemented sole possession of 1st place for the Rockets (see attached team photo after the win). Ellie Pusheck led the way with 16 pts and 12 reb, while Brittany Bruck hit 5 straight free throws late and finished with 10 pts while Emily Pusheck chipped in with 12 pts. 

The Rockets earned the #4 seed in the Sectional and await the winner of Tuesday’s Regional opener between #5 seeded Whitnall and #12 seeded Milw. Ronald Reagan. The Rockets will play the winner on Friday, March 1st in South Milwaukee HS’s Sullivan Gymnasium at 7:00pm (all adult & student tickets will be $4 and doors open at 6:00pm). This will be a great game, so please come on out and support the girls and cheer as LOUD as you can, but please make sure it is positive for our girls and not negative against the refs and opponents!

WRESTLING

Congratulations again to Tom Mitchell on qualifying for State Wrestling, but he lost his opening match at state 2-1 yesterday finishing the season with a fantastic 39-6 record. Hope to see you in Madison again next year!

CHEER

Good luck Saturday at State!

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

Good luck tonight to the Rocket Boys’ Basketball team as they face Catholic Memorial at 7:00pm. Let’s see if some more people can sign up for the fan bus, especially with the snowy conditions we are having.

As of now, we only have 8 people signed up for the fan bus. If we don’t at least approach 30 people, we will end up cancelling the bus by 3:00pm today. Call/text 414-531-2362 if you need to know if the bus is cancelled.

Catholic Memorial HS – 601 E. College Ave in Waukesha

DIRECTIONS TO CATHOLIC MEMORIAL FROM SMHS

  • Take I-94 W to 894 W
  • Take exit 4 to merge onto I-43 S toward Beloit
  • Take exit 54 for Racine Ave.
  • Stay straight to go onto Racine Ave. (the school is about 6 miles from I-43)
  • Turn left onto College Ave. (school will be on your left)

SIGNING DAY

As some of you might have seen a few weeks ago, college football’s national signing day was held. Well, other sports had signing days as well, and so far, I have 2 SM signings to report (with photos of the signings and links to the college teams and info on their recruits). Congratulations ladies!!!

Micaela Creighton – signed her letter of intent to go to school and compete on the women’s track and field team on a scholarship for Auburn University (currently ranked #25 in the nation).

http://www.auburntigers.com/sports/c-track/spec-rel/020813aad.html

Kaylyn Markiewicz – signed her letter of intent to go to school and golf on a scholarship for Adams State University (in Colorado).

 http://www.asugrizzlies.com/article.asp?articleID=6551

 

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February 18, 2013 · 9:08 pm

Good Hearts: South Milwaukee Students, Others Raise $5,000+ For American Heart Association

Here is a heartwarming story — and yet another example of South Milwaukeeans stepping up to support a good cause.

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February 12, 2013 · 9:55 pm

The Madness Approaches: South Milwaukee Gets A State Tournament Home Game

I love March Madness (or February Madness, such as it is with our high schools) … and it’s almost here!

The WIAA released its boys’ basketball pairing this week, and South Milwaukee has a home game in round one. The seventh-seeded Rockets (8-9 after a win over St. Francis on Tuesday) host 10th-seeded Indian Trail High School of Kenosha next Tuesday, Feb. 19.

Waiting in the second round of the regionals is second-seeded Catholic Memorial.

Check out the full Division 2 bracket here.

I’ll keep you posted when girls’ tournament brackets are announced.

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February 4, 2013 · 8:52 pm

Be Like Mike, Buy A Cool T-Shirt And Help Out A Middle Schooler With Leukemia

Just got this email from South Milwaukee School District …

Attached you will find a t-shirt design for a t-shirt we are selling now ($10 per shirt – payable to SMHS) for an 8th grade student at the South Milwaukee Middle School named Michael Christensen.

The deadline for ordering the shirts is this Wednesday at noon. Read below for more info.

MIDDLE SCHOOL STAFF & STUDENTS – please contact guidance counselor Kelly Hruz for ordering them. She will also be selling orange & white wristbands soon for $2.00 with the words “Be Like Mike” and “#nevergiveup” on them as well (due in at the end of the week).

OTHER RECIPIENTS OF THIS EMAIL – please email me if you would like to order a shirt with size(s). I will be picking the shirts up on Wednesday, 2/13/13 and will have them in the athletic office for pickup or at the Boys’ Basketball games on 2/14/13.

SHIRT & WRISTBAND SALES – We will have a t-shirt order form available at the Rocket Girls’ Basketball games tomorrow (freshman at 4:15pm, JV at 5:45pm & Varsity at7:30pm) and will be selling wristbands at the basketball games next week.

ROCKET BOYS’ BB – THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14th

Show your heart on Valentine’s Day by purchasing a Be Like Mike shirt and wearing it to the Rocket Boys’ Basketball games on Thursday, February 14th against Brown Deer.

Here is the background information on why we are selling these shirts and wristbands.

BACKGROUND INFO

in the fall of 2010, the SM Boys Volleyball team did a fundraiser for the MACC Fund on behalf of Michael Christensen, the younger brother of Richard, a freshman volleyball player. As some of you know, Michael is now an 8th grader here at the South Milwaukee Middle School. 

Here is some information passed along by Middle School Counselor Kelly Hruz about Michael’s situation.

Michael is a wonderful person with an amazing spirit.   Michael was diagnosed with ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic  Leukemia) when he was 3. Michael received treatment and his cancer  went into remission.  In 2010, the Leukemia came back and after a long fight he was clear of cancer earlier this year.  He stopped his last chemo treatment in August.   Unfortunately, Michael found out last week that his Leukemia has come back. It is devastating to Michael and his family for the cancer to come back so quickly.  Michael has already started chemo treatments 2 weeks ago and his family will have the consultation with doctors next week.

Even though Michael has not been a student here for a long time, he has made an impact on those who have met him.  

If you are interested in following Michael’s progress, the family has asked that you visit the following site:   www.caringbridge.org .  Once there, type in michaelchristensen (all lower case, all one word). 

Thanks,

Ante Udovicic & Kelly Hruz

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January 30, 2013 · 10:01 pm

Lots Happening With Local Sports Teams

Update: Changes day of “Red Out” game and Teff dedication to Friday. Sorry about that.

Here’s an update from Ante Udovicic, athletics and activities director for the South Milwaukee School District, which includes details on Friday’s “Red Out” basketball game and next Friday’s Teff Gymnasium dedication …

With a ton of things happening in the next few weeks, I wanted to send a brief recap of the upcoming events so you have it handy.

  • Fri. February 1 – Red Out Basketball Game (Whitnall @ SM – 5:45pm JV & 7:30pm Varsity) – Sullivan Gymnasium. Wear red, meet Bango (6:15pm-6:45pm), fight heart disease and have a chance to win an iPad mini!
  • Sat. February 2 – Woodland Conference Varsity Wrestling Tournament at Pewaukee HS (9:00am)
  • Sat. February 2 – Woodland Conference Varsity & JV Boys Swim Meet at Greenfield HS (9:30am diving & 1:15pm swimming)
  • Tue. February 5 – Shorewood at SM Girls’ Basketball (4:15pm Frosh 5:45pm JV & 7:30pm Varsity) – Sullivan Gymnasium
  • Wed. February 6 – Woodland Conference JV Tournament in the SM Middle School Gym (4:00pm)
  • Fri. February 8 – Teff Gymnasium Dedication – Middle School Gym (approx. 7:10pm)
  • Fri. February 8 – Cudahy @ SM Boys’ Basketball in the Teff Gym (4:15pm Frosh 5:45pm JV & 7:30pm Varsity)
  • Fri. February 8 – Wrestling Casino Night at Knights of Columbus (contacts – jshilling@sdsm.k12.wi.us & lwawrzyniak@sdsm.k12.wi.us)
  • Sat. February 9 – WIAA Swim Sectionals at Greenfield HS (1:00pm start)
  • Sat. February 9 – WIAA Wrestling Regionals at Marquette Univ. HS (9:30am start)
  • Mon. February 11 – Cousins Sub Donation Day to benefit Rocket Basketball program (9:00am-10:00pm)

 

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January 23, 2013 · 5:55 pm

Teff Gymnasium: Honoring A Local Legend

Here is some really good news from the South Milwaukee School District …

South Milwaukee is renaming the middle school gymnasium after longtime athletic director, coach and physical education teacher Jim Teff, who passed away last fall.

Check out the press release from the district here. From it:

Jim Teff was a legend. He had a tremendous impact on thousands of student athletes. By naming this gym after him, current and future Rocket coaches and teachers will be able to use Jim as a shining example of what hard work, dedication and integrity mean for thousands more.

The naming ceremony will take place on Friday, Feb. 8, as the South Milwaukee boys’ basketball team takes on rival Cudahy … at the middle school. The ceremony starts after the junior varsity game, around 7:10 p.m. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

What do you think of the honor? Did you know Coach Teff? What are your memories of him? Post your comments below!

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January 8, 2013 · 4:55 pm

1,000 Points: Milestone For Former South Milwaukee Basketball Player Katie Kitzke

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh senior — and South Milwaukee’s own — Katie Kitzke scored the 1,000th point of her collegiate career earlier this month.

Check out the story here, and here are her stats. Katie was also named WIAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week on Dec. 18 after pouring in a career-high 25 points in a victory over UW-Platteville.

Congratulations, Katie!

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January 7, 2013 · 5:26 pm

Got Milk? South Milwaukee Schools Do

Update: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a photo of milk being delivered to Rawson Elementary in its story.

In light of the closure of the Golden Guerney dairy, I posed that question to South Milwaukee Superintendent Rita Olson, and here is how she responded …

The milk we use is produced by Golden Guernsey. Our supplier is Mapleton Dairy, and they were able to supply us with Kemps milk today and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.  A few nutrition breaks were unable to use milk today because the shipment arrived a little later in the morning than usual. They used juice instead, but we had milk in time for lunches. The differences:

  • No strawberry. 
  • Milk will not come in the chug plastic bottle, but will instead be in the traditional cartons currently used at the middle and high schools.

Thanks to Dr. Olson for the information.

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December 7, 2012 · 10:10 pm

Reminder: Christmas Market Is Saturday!

More than 70 vendors selling arts, crafts, organics, baked goods and much, much more. Live, local entertainment, including two hours of performances by student musicians. And Gypsy Geoff.

That’s just some of what you can find at Saturday’s South Milwaukee Christmas Market at South Milwaukee High School. Hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Enter off Oak Creek Parkway, door nine.

Learn more here, and see you there!

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December 6, 2012 · 9:40 pm

Look Closely: South Milwaukee Is All Over The New Aaron Rodgers-Ford Commercials

This is really, really cool …

So, there are three new Aaron Rodgers-Ford television spots being released, and they have a distinctly local feel — as in, large parts of them were shot in South Milwaukee.

See the story and ads here.

And I’ll let Ante Udovicic, athletics and activities director for the South Milwaukee School District, take it from there …

“If you watch the commercial shown at the top and 2 others down below on the website page, you will see commercials featuring  Aaron Rodgers. What is most interesting about these commercials is the location for parts of this shoot that was shot on a Sunday in July. If you look closely, you will see the following areas from the South Milwaukee 6-12 campus:

COMMERCIAL #1

  • Rawson Woods – Opening scene shows Rodgers running through Rawson Woods…really, that’s Rawson Woods!
  • Middle School Weight Room – Rodgers is lifting weights & then using our boys track team’s heavy ropes
  • Practice Field east of Spaltholz Field – Rodgers is pulling a tire on our east practice field
  • Spaltholz Field – Rodgers is running tires on our football field (you can see the visiting team benches in the background and then you can catch a glimpse of the SM water tower too)

COMMERCIAL #2 (labeled http://www.cutters.com/q?id=3940)

  • Football/Wrestling Locker Room – As Rodgers puts his jersey on, you can catch a glimpse of the lockers and the small square tile floor in the locker room that our FB & Wrestling teams use in the middle school)
  • Hallway by Door #40 – Rodgers runs through the hallway nearest the middle school weight room leading to the area between the HS & MS that leads to the Door #34 entrance.

COMMERCIAL #3 (labeled http://www.cutters.com/q?id=3944)

  • You will see 3 passes thrown to actors. Those passes were not actually thrown by Rodgers, they were thrown by 2012 SM grad, former SM QB, and current football player at Concordia University, Pat Berg!

COMMERCIAL #4 (labeled http://www.cutters.com/q?id=3952)

  • This is more of a “making of” clip and not a commerciall actually. And it is true, it only took Rodgers 2 takes to make the throw. This was shot at a farm in Muskego and is a pretty cool clip to see.

While it is not immediately obvious that these scenes from the 3 Ford commercials were shot on the SM 6-12 campus, this explanation hopefully will help you notice it next time you see one of these commercials on TV.”

I told you this was cool 🙂 Ante, thanks for sharing.

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December 2, 2012 · 5:03 pm

Calling Out An Innovative Education Solution

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a great story on the Connects Learning Center, an innovative partnership between the South Milwaukee, Cudahy and Oak Creek-Franklin school districts aimed at helping struggling students.

Learn more about the charter school here. From the article:

Connects is a charter school run by multiple districts that work together to provide a cost-efficient alternative path for students.

Last year, Kazmierski and a few other students commuted to Connects from Franklin High School; others came from Cudahy, South Milwaukee and Oak Creek-Franklin school districts.

Three of those districts – Cudahy, South Milwaukee and Oak Creek-Franklin – share responsibility for running Connects and a fourth – Franklin – pays for student seats.

The districts say it’s a successful example of offering services better by acting together than by going it alone.

Students say Connects helps them accelerate their path to graduation and improve their chances of success.

“You work at your own pace,” Kazmierski explained. “You don’t have to move with 30 other kids, and if you don’t understand something you can still stay on that same topic and work with the teachers here.”

And check out my previous post on Connects here.

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October 23, 2012 · 12:35 pm

Grading South Milwaukee Schools: State Issues New School Report Cards

The Wisconsin Department of Instruction is out with a new take on school report cards.

Check out the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story here, and here is the DPI site showing how South Milwaukee schools performed.

So, how did we do? Well, there are a number of different measures presented in the report card, but here are the overall scores for each school:

So, mixed results. But there is some explaining to do.

The South Milwaukee School District provides its own context for the report cards here. It includes an action plan for improving student achievement in reading and math and ways it is driving toward better “post-secondary readiness.”

My take: I have mixed feelings on report cards like this. I always welcome common metrics to judge performance, and I see their effectiveness every day in my day job.

But it’s also clear that metrics like this don’t tell the whole story when it comes to rating schools. So many factors outside of a district or school’s control drive performance and achievement – especially income levels and other demographics – that it’s difficult to get a fair comparison across districts and even schools within a district.

Forget apples to apples, or even apples to oranges. Data sets like this can be apples to tomatoes – in other words, an OK comparison, at best.

Instead of a “one-size-fits-all” report card, I prefer the eye test … what I see when I see my 4- and 7-year-old come home from Rawson Elementary every day. And that’s two young people who love learning and love their school, two kids who are gaining knowledge every minute thanks to strong school and district leadership, teachers, staff, facilities and curriculum.

Based on that daily “report card” – not the ones released Monday — I’m excited for what the future holds for our kids in South Milwaukee schools.

With all due respect to the DPI, my expectations have been exceeded, and they’re exceeded every day.

Of course, I’d like to know what you think. Post your comments below!

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October 16, 2012 · 9:40 pm

South Milwaukee Looks Good In Pink

Pink delivered some green at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, as students from South Milwaukee schools presented checks totaling more than $11,000 to representatives from the Susan G. Komen Foundation during a brief ceremony.

Here is the tally:

  • South Milwaukee High School: $9,748
  • Rawson Elementary: $510
  • Lakeview: $325.52
  • Blakewood: $213

Congratulations to everyone on their fundraising efforts, from the DECA students at the high school to Police Chief Ann Wellens’ work in uniting the community — including city officials — around this wonderfully worthwhile cause.

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