students who are the targets of cyberbullying and sex-ting, as well as attempting to seek out and confront those who are the cause of the bullying.

In the near future, NPHS administrators and counsel-ors will announce a work-shop for parents and stu-dents on the negative impact of cyberbulling and sexting. Stay tuned for more infor-mation.

Alan Zerkel

Dear Parents,

Please consider joining Mr. Chew and me at the next Principal/Parent Dis-cussion on February 22nd at 6:30 in the NPHS media center. Mr. Chew and I want to hear your thoughts on the anti-bullying program (Olweus), foreign lan-guages, upgrading high school academic areas, the new alternative school, and other programs in which you may have a specific interest. We hope you will decide to join us on the 22nd.

I am also asking you to review page 3 of this news-letter very carefully. More and more members of our community are being vic-timized by others through technology to bully, harass, intimidate, and cause embar-rassment. The victims of these actions through cyber-bullying and sexting often feel angry, hurt, and humili-ated. They feel there is no place to turn for help.

More and more adminis-trative and counselor time is being devoted to assist our

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Jessica Wolfe, North Putnam High School senior, led a school wide effort recently to collect as many new or gently used pairs of jeans as possible for the Teens for Jeans program. Teens for Jeans is designed to help provide jeans for homeless teens. During the four year life of this program, dosomething.org and Aeropostale have collected and given nearly 1.5 million pairs of jeans to homeless teens across America. According to recent statistics, one of every three homeless individuals is a teen. With Jessica’s leadership, North Putnam students and staff donated and col-

lected 250 pairs of jeans. These jeans will be donated to Aeropostale for distri-bution to the home-less teens in our state. Congratulations Jessica on showing tremendous leader-ship in this campaign. We encourage all students to find a cause they believe in and help create posi-tive change within our school community.

NORTH PUTNAM H IGH SCHOOL FEBRUARY 2012

COUGAR TAILS

Principal Mr. Alan Zerkel

Assistant Principal Mr. Jason Chew

Athletic Director Mr. Rich Bagienski

Guidance Counselor Mr. Tyler Egli

Guidance Counselor Mrs. Lauren Alspaugh

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE 1

TEENS FOR JEANS 1

SUPER BASKETS 2

CYBER BULLYING 3

SPECIAL RECOGNITION 5

ISSMA Contests 4

North Putnam High School #1 Cougar Drive

8869 N. C.R. 250 East Roachdale, IN 46172

STUDENT LEADS TEENS FOR JEANS EFFORT

Under the direction of Mrs. Brenda Anderson, North Putnam’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes had the opportu-nity to be apart of the Super Bowl week’s activities. Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Egli and several students helped put to-gether nearly 5,000 Super Baskets of Hope on January 30 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. While working they also got the opportunity to meet former Colt’s head coach Tony Dungy. The students all commented that it was neat to be involved in a program so large and that does so much good for so many people. The students also had the opportunity to tour the Super Bowl Village before returning to NPHS.

NORTH PUTNAM STUDENTS AND SUPER BASKETS OF HOPE

PAGE 2 COUGAR TAILS

www.onguardonline.gov

Cyberbullying

Help Prevent Cyberbullying Talk to your kids about bullying.

Tell your kids that they can't hide behind the words they type and the images they post. Bullying is a lose-lose situation. Hurtful messages not only make the target feel bad, but also make the sender look bad. Often they can bring scorn from peers and punishment from authorities.

Ask your kids to let you know if an online message or image makes them feel threatened or hurt. If you fear for your child's safety, contact the police.

Read the comments. Cyberbullying often involves mean-spirited comments. Check out your kid's page from time to time to see what you find.

Recognize the signs of a cyberbully. Could your kid be the bully? Look for signs of bullying behavior, such as creating mean images of another kid. Keep in mind that you are a model for your children. Kids learn from adults' gossip and other behavior.

Help stop cyberbullying. Most kids don't bully, and there's no reason for anyone to put up with it. If your child sees cyberbullying happening to someone else, encourage him or her to try to stop it by telling the bully to stop and by not engaging or forwarding anything. Researchers say that bullying usually stops pretty quickly when peers intervene on behalf of the victim. One way to help stop bullying online is to report it to the site or network where you see it.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT A CYBERBULLY Don't react to the bully.

If your child is targeted by a cyberbully, keep a cool head. Remind your child that most people realize bullying is wrong. Tell your child not to re-spond in kind. Instead, encourage him or her to work with you to save the evidence and talk to you about it. If the bullying persists, share the re-cord with school officials or local law enforcement.

Protect your child's profile. If your child finds a profile that was created or altered without his or her permission, contact the site to have it taken down.

Block or delete the bully. If the bullying involves instant messaging or another online service that requires a "friend" or "buddy" list, delete the bully from the lists or block their user name or email address.

www.onguardonline.gov

Cyberbullying is bullying or harassment that happens online. It can happen in an email, a text message, a game, or on a social networking site. It might involve spreading rumors or images posted on someone's profile or passed around for others to see, or creating a group or page to make a person feel left out.

On Saturday, January 28th, Avon High School hosted the Indiana State School Music Association Vocal Solo and Ensemble Contest. North Putnam left with 25 gold medalists and 9 silver medalists. Three high school students earned the privilege of advancing to the state contest which will be held February 18 at Perry Meridian High School.

Earning a gold - Sierra Witty, Natalie McFadden, Logan Grim, Emma Holsap-ple, Gwen Mazur, Brody Downey, Ottinger ensemble (Dawson Ottinger, Brittany

Garo, Lauren Freije and Kayla Sarr), Alanna Nunez, Saman-tha Jarboe, Foltz ensemble (Andi Foltz, Mirdana Miliken, Rachael Lubinksi, Jenny Zehner), Brownyn Spencer, Centeno ensemble (Chasity Centeno, Jeriac Bean, Taylor Styers, Gwen Mazur), Alan Skillern, Baylee Bowling, Ali Elmore, Taylor Styers, Jacob Buchanan, Tirzah Freije, Emily Harrington, Sarah Zehner, Jerica Bean, Kara Phillips, Cheyanna Strube, Jenna Olson, Samantha Flan-nelly

Earning a silver - Alex Valdes, Alexis Sims, Amy

Olson, Callan ensemble (Corinne Callan, Miranda Milliken, Jenny Zehner), Ol-son ensemble (Jenna Olson, Samantha Flannelly, Rachael Lubinski, Andi Foltz, Eliza-beth Alford, Morgan Smith), Jasmyne Reed, Charity Teck-enbrock, Corinne Callan, Skillern ensemble (Ellese Cox, Jerica Bean, Glen Schmick, Alan Skillern)

Advancing to state - Baylee Bowling, Jacob Bu-chanan, Alan Skillern

Congratulations to all of these students!!

STATE VOCAL SOLO AND ENSEMBLE CONTEST

STATE INSTRUMENTAL SOLO AND ENSEMBLE CONTEST Callan, Sara Kippert, Chris Poore, Eli Klein, both Wood-wind Trios.

Earning a silver– Rachael Campbell, Kyle Cun-ningham, Bret Huber, Kayla Clodfelter, Cheyenne Elliott, Savannah Rambis, Megan Cochran, Rebekah Thomas, Brass Trio, Woodwind Trio.

Advancing to state - Lance Clodfelter—Horn and Haley Hourihan—Trumpet

Congratulations to these

outstanding musicians and good luck Lance and Haley as you advance to state.

On Saturday, February 11th, Avon High School hosted the Indiana School Music Association Instrumen-tal Solo and Ensemble Con-test. North Putnam left with 11 gold medals and 11 silver medals. Two high school students earned the privilege of advancing to the state con-test which will be on Febru-ary 25.

Earning a gold - Lance Clodfelter, Haley Hourihan, Savannah Rambis, Corinne

PAGE 4 COUGAR TAILS

SAVE THE DATE

North Putnam’s production of Once Upon a Mattress will be coming to the stage on April 13th and 14th. This musical is a spin off of the fairy tale classic “Princess and the Pea”. We invite all North Putnam com-munity members to see this production in mid-April.

Tyler Shorter , NPHS senior, is the 2012 Hardcourt Home-coming King. During the homecoming game, Tyler was escorted by his brother Jacob. Tyler is the son of Fred and Shorter.

The Junior class Prince is Kylar Badten he was escorted by Katie Rooker.

The Sophomore class Prince is Shane Beaman he was escorted by Haley Hensley.

The Freshman class Prince is Aaron Green he was escorted by Samantha Flannely.

HARDCOURT HOMECOMING

COUGAR TAILS PAGE 5

CONGRATULATIONS NPHS BOYS ’ SWIM TEAM On Thursday, February 9, North Putnam’s Boys’ Swim Team competed in the Putnam County Swim Meet. For the first time in program history the Boys’ won the event.

Earning all county honors were Tyler Shorter, Nick Kaufman, Jared James, Hunter Logan, Trevor Troyer and Dane Gray. Dane Gray set new school records in the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke.

Pictured are some of the swim team with the trophy following the meet.

Congratulations Tari Straziscar

Tari Straziscar, NPHS senior and the daughter of Sean and Kristina Straziscar, recently won the Greencastle Rotary Club’s Annual Speech Con-test. As the representative of North Putnam, Tari beat out eight other candidates from across the county to win. Tari will compete in the dis-trict Rotary Speech Contest later in February. Tari’s speech was on service and literacy.

Great Job Tari!