Volume 14: Last Edition for the Year!

Project Showcase Recap

There were 22 projects featured at the project showcase and almost 100 people were in attendance. The two seniors presented all they have done in their high school careers, their challenges, and their growth. The students in the Costa Rica Group presented their inquiry projects. The Tiny Home group presented their tiny home model, the model even had working lights!

Project Highlights of the Year

All the students were asked to reflect on their projects this year and submit their highlights. Some of the responses were:

-“The thing I enjoyed most about my projects this year is that I got to explore more stuff that I like and that I was interested in instead of just doing any normal project that a teacher gives me.” 

-“My highlight was working hard on staying on top of my work even though I got in a slump from January to March this year. The end and start of the year were really good for me.” 

-“I enjoyed going to Pack of Pups as part of my project.” 

-“My highlight was getting all the walls of the tiny home model built.” 

Favorite Excursion of the Year

• The students were asked what their favorite excursions this year were. Some of the responses are:

-”I think the Dell’s trip was my favorite excursion. I chose this one because I really enjoyed the activities as well as the time that it gave us to build more connections with peers and advisors. I especially enjoyed our last night there when all three advisors played Uno with the students. That was really enjoyable to get to sit down and spend time and build a connection with the advisors.”

– “Odyssey was my favorite excursion because it was challenging and a super fun experience.”

– “The Dells. Overnight trips are always my favorite ones! I had fun at Devil’s Lake too!”

– “Cabin camping in the fall was the best trip this year.”

– “Tundra Lodge.”

Favorite Memory of the Year

The students were asked what their favorite memories from this year were and they said:

• “My favorite memory was helping people with their math, specifically Berkley. I enjoyed growing a stronger connection with her and helping her learn and grow.”
• “My favorite memory this year was hanging out with Bree and making friends with new AVA students.”
• “My favorite memory of this year was learning how to pole vault.”
• “The camping trip when they scared me at night with masks.”

What are they looking forward to next year?

The students were asked what their looking forward to next year and their responses were as follows, 

• “I am looking forward to doing more events with Auggie and Poe (the emotional support cats).”
• “Making the actual tiny home, not just the model”
• “I am looking forward to the Costa Rica trip.”
• “I’m going to be in Rising Phoenix.”

Graduation

• After School Movie @ the Algoma Public Library May 31, 2024 3:00 PM
• First Friday art in Algoma Jun 7, 2024 5-8 pm
• 2024 Kewaunee County Breakfast on the Farm at Heim’s Hillcrest Dairy Jun 16, 2024 8 am-12 pm
• 2024 Algoma Concerts in Heritage Park  Thursdays from Jun 27, 2024- Aug 15, 2024 @ 6-9 pm
• Fourth of July 
• First Friday art in Algoma Jul 5, 2024 5-8 pm
• Kewaunee County Fair 2024 Jul 11, 2024- Jul 14, 2024
• Algoma, WI 2024 Citywide Yard Sale Jul 12, 2024-Jul 13, 2024 8 am- 4 pm
• Outdoor Movie @ Legion Park Jul 19, 2024 7 pm-9 pm
• Algoma Night Out @ Algoma Community Wellness Center Parking Lot Jul 23, 2024 6:00 pm- 8:00 pm 
• First Friday art in Algoma Aug 2, 2024 5-8pm
• Shanty Days 2024 Aug 9, 2024- Aug 11, 2024
• Soar on the Shore Kite & Beach Festival 2024 Aug 17, 2024 11 am-4 pm

Student Spot

This volume’s featured student is…Joey Cabino 

Joey has been in AVA since the beginning and is a sophomore this year. He has grown tremendously throughout the last three years in his confidence and project-based learning skills. This summer, he is starting a job with First Class Power to learn about being an electrician. He is also looking at continuing with this job as his internship for next school year. We are very proud of Joey and are excited to see all that he accomplishes over the next two years!

World News

Australian scientists discover ancient ‘echidnapus’

Written by: BBC on Sunday, May 26, 2024

Scientists have discovered a bizarre creature dubbed the “echidnapus” which they believe roamed Australia in prehistoric times.

Fossilised pieces of the animal’s jaw bone were found in opal fields in northern New South Wales, alongside evidence of several other ancient and now extinct monotreme species.

Officially named Opalios splendens, the new species has been nicknamed after its resemblance to the platypus and echidna – which are the only egg-laying mammals in the world today.

The team behind the research say it indicates that Australia once had an “age of monotremes” – in which the incredibly rare order of animals were abundant and dominant.

“It’s like discovering a whole new civilisation,” lead author Professor Tim Flannery said.

The array of fossils were found about 25 years ago by palaeontologist Elizabeth Smith and her daughter Clytie while they were going through the discards of an opal mine.

They donated the specimens – estimated to be about 100 million years old – to the Australian Museum, where they sat forgotten in a drawer until about two years ago.

Prof Flannery, a mammalogist, says he stumbled across them and immediately knew they were from ancient monotremes.

Some of the bones belonged to the already-discovered Steropodon galmani, a shorter, stumpier and toothier ancestor of the platypus.

But the other fragments were unfamiliar. From them, Dr Flannery and his team discovered evidence of three species previously unknown to science, findings which were published in Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology on Monday.

The critters had combinations of features never seen before – in living or fossil monotremes, said Director of the Australian Museum Research Institute Professor Kris Helgen, who also worked on the paper.

“[The Opalios splendens’s] overall anatomy is probably quite like the platypus, but with features of the jaw and snout a bit more like an echidna,” Prof Helgen said.

All opal fossils are rare – monotreme ones even more so – but these specimens are “a revelation”, says Ms Smith.

They take the total number of monotreme species known to have once lived at Lightning Ridge – which was in ancient times a cold, wet forest bordering a vast inland sea – to six.

“They show the world that long before Australia became the land of pouched mammals, marsupials, this was a land of furry egg-layers – monotremes,” Ms Smith says.

“It seems that 100 million years ago, there were more monotremes at Lightning Ridge than anywhere else on earth, past or present.”

Other experts say it is too early to say whether Australia once hosted a multitude of monotremes and that further exploration is needed.

“It may have been at least as diverse as the later Australian marsupial fauna… but I would need more evidence,” Flinders University palaeontologist Rod Wells told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The study’s authors hope their paper will encourage more funding for more targeted digs in the region, to support their findings.