Greetings Northwest family,

It’s hard to believe the first quarter of school is in the books!  We have had a fabulous start to the year and hope to keep it going strong!  I want to thank all of the parents/guardians that were able to make it to parent/teacher conferences in September.  I know our teachers always look forward to visiting with you in person.  If you weren’t able to make conferences, that is okay.  You can always reach our teachers via email or by phone if you would like to! 

Mrs. Merritt and Mrs. Smith have some information they would like to share with you from the counseling office.  Please click on this link to access it: Counselor’s Corner.  We are blessed to have such wonderful counselors.  They take students on college tours, have a website full of scholarship opportunities, help our students build their 4 year plan, and are always there to help our students through tough times.  

We have had a great fall season so far.  I want to use the rest of this time to share with you how well we have been doing so far this year! 

We COOP in tennis with GICC and had a couple of individuals qualify for state.  Alec Menagh qualified in doubles and made it all the way to the finals.  Alec and his teammate, JT Rein, finished as state runner up!  Austin Staab qualified in #1 singles and earned 7th place.  Congrats to both Austin and Alec on a great season.  

Our girls golf team had a great year!  They qualified for state as a team and three individuals also qualified on their own.  Jenna Hudnall, Macy Mendoza, Gabriella Jenneman, Jaci Wattier, and Elizabeth Johnson were on the state qualifying team.  Hudnall, Mendoza and Jenneman qualified as individuals.  Although we didn’t bring home any medals, the girls competed hard out in Scottsbluff, which is a very tough course.  

Our football team is currently 5-3 on the year.  The final regular season game is this Friday against York at home!  They will qualify for the playoffs, but we won’t know who we will play or where until after the game on Friday.  

The volleyball team finished the regular season with a 19-12 record.  They will host sub districts on October 24-25.  Assuming things go as planned they will then play in a district final, with the winner going to state.  Good luck girls! 

The cross country teams had a fabulous season and all they have left is state this Friday, October 20.  Class B girls run at noon and Class B boys run at 1 PM.  They run at Kearney Country Club.  Olivia Chapman qualified for state on the girls side and our boys team qualified for state as a unit.  Running for the boys are: Ethan Smith, Christian Mendoza Amaya, Keith Krolikowski, Caden Sheffield, Joseph Sutherland, and Ethan Gydesen.  Ethan Smith and Christian Mendoza Amaya qualified individually as well.  Good luck to our runners!   

Marching season is in full swing and the best band in the land continues to take home parade awards as well as Division 1 superiors in field competition.  They will finish their marching season this weekend at the state marching competition, which is held at Kearney High School.  Our band will perform at 7 PM!  Mr. Pfanstiel and company are simply awesome to watch and listen to.  Good luck to our band!  

The eSports team is currently in their fall season as well.  They recently got back from a successful trip to Scottsbluff.  Mr Hinkel has done a tremendous job of building a great team at Northwest.  

Unified bowling season starts soon and we look to have a very strong team again this year.  Good luck to our unified bowling team.  

Our softball season wrapped up on Monday and our girls returned home Monday night with a state championship trophy in tote.  What a remarkable run they had at state.  They lost the first game of the tournament, only to come back and win 5 straight games to become back to back state champions.  The finals were held at UNO on Monday and the atmosphere was electric.  Our girls rose to the occasion!  Congratulations to our coaches and our girls on one remarkable run, one in which we won’t forget for a while.  

Finally I want to give a shout out to our band, cheerleaders, dance team, and the Shipyard (our student section).  They have been nothing short of amazing throughout our fall sports season.  It’s been so fun watching them support our teams throughout the year.  Our school spirit is at a high right now!  

It’s homecoming week this week and our students are off to a great start.  We will have a pep rally today at 3:00 to celebrate our many accomplishments and will announce our homecoming candidates at that time as well.  We will announce the king and queen on Friday night at the stadium right after the game is over.  We are choosing to do it this way as we want all of our fans and students to be there for this crowning.  The dance will take place right after the crowning.  

I have said it many times before, but I am blessed to serve as the principal at Northwest.  We have remarkable teachers and students.  Together they make an awesome team.  I want to thank all of you for your support and belief in our school.  It’s a great day to be a Viking!  

Sincerely, 

PJ Smith, Principal