Sep 20, 2016
At the Thursday, September 15 School Board meeting, the board approved a revised calendar to recapture instructional minutes lost to the flood days. In addition, please note that beginning September 26, the school start and end times will be adjusted as follows:
Elementary schools begin at 8:20 a.m. and end at 3:31 p.m.
Middle and high schools begin at 7:05 a.m. and end at 2:31 p.m.
The revised calendar eliminates all first semester early dismissal days, including the ones planned for September 21 and December 16, 19 & 20. It also eliminates the Elementary Conference/Professional Development Day scheduled for October 7 and Fall Break scheduled for October 10. The calendar will make use of the contingency day on December 21 with students and employees scheduled to attend.
To see the revised 2016-2017 East Baton Rouge Parish School System calendar, please click here.
Sep 19, 2016
A wet race course usually equals a slow race. But don’t tell that to the 2016 Panther Cross Country team.
Saturday, at a very soggy Highland Road Park, the boys and girls competed in the LSU Invitational Cross Country meet. It was a huge day for Woodlawn as Senior Khidhr Al-Mustafa finished 10th overall and improved his three mile best this season to 17:50 on his way to a 5K finish of 18:20. It was an impressive run for Al-Mustafa as he mounted a major assault on the field climbing his way from 18th after the first mile to tenth at the finish.
Khidhr Al-Mustafa on the podium after the LSU Invitational.
Al-Mustafa kept this week’s success in perspective when he said, “I feel good about the result, but my expectation is to be better each week than I was the week before.” If he continues to improve each week, Coach Wallace believes that he will be the school record holder by season’s end.
Brandon Williams was the second Woodlawn runner across the line as he cracked the top 40, finishing 39th, and was the second Panther this season to run three miles under 20 minutes with a time of 19:36.
Senior Darmar Galvan was the third Panther across the line with a three mile time of 20:23.
Darmar commented that, “I feel like I did well this meet, a lot better than last week. We have improved a lot as a team this season and I believe will we see even more improvement in the future.”
Joshua Stephens, a junior, continues to look great and was able to push himself to a Personal best for the second week in a row.
To complete this task on a wet course is typically unheard of, thus proving what Coach Wallace says in practice, “There is no such thing as weather. There is no hot or cold. There is no rain or humidity. There is only hard work.” Joshua and his Panther teammates have stepped up to every challenge in their path so far and show no signs of slowing down now.
The Lady Panthers had some fun of their own as they tore up the turf with two team members finishing in the top 50. Junior Melissa Grant set a new personal record and was the first Panther to cross the line in a time of 25:18, followed three seconds later by training partner and school record holder Alexis Martin.
When asked about her PR run, Grant quickly brought up her junior teammate, saying, “I feel that I accomplished a goal just by keeping up with Alexis. And I know that I, and the team, will do a lot better as we keep getting better with every practice.”
Coach Wallace explained, “It is great to have two runners that can train and race together and it has been a joy to watch Lexie and Melissa encourage and motivate each other every day in practice. With these two out front and the determined youngsters we have chasing them, this is gonna be a fun season to watch.”
The Lady Panthers did not qualify for a team place as only three runners competed, but the girls are extremely excited about the upcoming meet at Port Hudson State Historic site. The girl’s varsity team will feature a full squad thanks to the emergence of sophomore Kelli Oubre, who will make her first varsity appearance, and the return of senior captain Shelby Sanchez, who has been out with an injury.
Sep 16, 2016
by Madisyn McAlister, Staff Reporter, ’18
In the aftermath of the tragic flood, Woodlawn High School rose up to provide support to victims of the flood.
Woodlawn High School faculty and students came together to help students, teachers, and the community affected by the flood.
“I instantly offered help,” says Heidi Fendlason, junior at Woodlawn, when asked about her experience with the assistance offered by the school. This assistance included offers of clothing, food, and gutting her house. The faculty even collaborated to create a check-in Google doc to assess need amongst faculty and students.
Morgan Watkins and Johnasia Smith help distribute food.
Starting the Tuesday after the flood, Woodlawn High School began handing out food to flood victims and quickly started collecting donations to hand out school materials, cleaning supplies, and basic necessities. At least 1,500 meals were donated by City Pork, The Chimes East, Cast Iron Kitchen, and Tramonte’s. Woodlawn’s own Mrs. Pearl and Mrs. Switzer also helped by cooking spaghetti. Donors of other food and supplies include the Stevens family, The Screen Shop, LSU History Department, the Jett family, Pelican House, University United Methodist Church, Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University, Peak Performance Fitness, Spectrum, Woodlawn Middle School, Kelly Slate, and Pam Brown. The school has received over $2,990.00 in total monetary donations. A large donation of $1,025.00 and cartloads of school supplies came from Jacksonville State University. A small go fund me account was also created to raise money to go towards supplies and collected donations from people around the country; this effort raised $1,965.00. The school has also partnered with local churches for assistance in handing out supplies.
Though every faculty member helped out any way they could, Ms. Heyer commented, “I reached out to Ms. Miller and Ms. Smoo on a daily basis” when talking about assistance regarding organization of the donations and making sure every student and teacher had access to anything they needed. This also included a ‘Panther Pop-up Shop’ set up here at school. This temporary clothing store provided high quality professional wear for the Woodlawn faculty who lost clothing in the flood.
Many clubs, teams, and other organizations within the school were heavily involved in flood relief efforts. Woodlawn High School’s football team spent many hours helping flood victims clean out their damaged homes. Panthrobotics accepted donations from other robotics teams throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas at their annual Red Stick Rumble event, as well as helped teammates clean out their homes. The school’s cheer team, Pantherettes, Beta Club, National Honors Society, and Youth Legislature sorted out the many donations and often helped pass out food to victims.
Although on-campus efforts ended August 19th, Woodlawn and the Old Jefferson community continued to provide meals on the weekends and supplies as needed.
Sep 15, 2016
The Lady Panthers volleyball team was back in action twice during the week of September 12th. The Lady Panthers were able to achieve a 1-1 record during the week. On Monday, Woodlawn was scheduled to travel to Southern Lab, but due to scheduling conflicts, the game was moved to Woodlawn. The Lady Panthers took full advantage of the move to familiar turf, defeating Southern Lab by the score of three sets to zero.
After two days of practice, Woodlawn traveled to Zachary on Thursday for a match up with the Broncos. The Lady Panthers were not able to come up with the victory, as they fell to host Zachary one set to three.
Senior Kerri Williams led the Lady Panthers to a 1-1 record this week.
Senior Kerri Williams led the Lady Panthers with a great week. Williams recorded 27 kills, 16 assists, 8 digs, and 3 aces in the two matches. Senior Maya Johnson led the team with 25 assists during the week, and junior Kennedi Barnes led Woodlawn with 6 blocks.
The Lady Panthers return to action this weekend in the 2016 Tara Volleyball Classic. Woodlawn has been placed in Pool 4 along with Baker, Madison Prep, and Scotlandville. The Lady Panthers open the tournament Friday at 3:30 pm vs. Madison Prep on Court 2. On Saturday, Woodlawn will face Scotlandville at 8:45 am and Baker at 11:45 am, both on Court 2, before moving to play-offs at 2 pm.
Sep 13, 2016
Last week it was announced that Katie Vining would take over as the Women’s Soccer Coach at Woodlawn High. Members of the school newspaper were able to interview Coach Vining recently about her new position.
Panther Post: What is your soccer background?
Coach Vining: I’ve played soccer since I was five years old, at all areas except collegiate (recreational, school, and select). I was the head coach at Gulfport Central Middle School.
PP: What are your coaching philosophies?
CV: I think great coaching involves taking what you believe in and getting the players to believe in it. Setting the players up for success. I cannot score a goal for them but I can prepare them to make good judgement in all situations. Every experience is an opportunity for learning. Building a team that is a family on and off the field is important to having success.
PP: How long have you been at Woodlawn?
CV: This is my second year at Woodlawn. I began teaching here August 2015.
PP: What drew you to Woodlawn?
CV: I have a gifted certification and a secondary certification, however schools in Mississippi do not have a high school gifted program.
PP: What drew you to the soccer position?
CV: My love for the game.
PP: What are your goals for this season?
CV: Provide opportunities for personal growth and life lessons, involving players in identifying individual, personal goals for themselves. Emphasize the importance of academics, time management, and a balanced life. Create a safe learning environment for my players, both physically and emotionally. But most importantly, teach the girls the importance of enjoying the game.
PP: What are your long term goals?
CV: Let’s make it through the season first and then we will talk long term.
PP: When do you plan on beginning conditioning and practice?
CV: Conditioning will begin Thursday, September 15, and the first practice will be Monday October 24.
