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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.