Bethy's allegiances

A couple weeks ago I explained the local high school's symbol to Bethy (you see it on cars a lot).

The Irmo Yellow Jackets . Stylized. Sorta' ugly. Hard to figure out for a first grader. Anyway, she asked.

Yesterday, on the way to church, she saw one of their logos and asked if they had a football team and if we liked them. I said yes they had a football team and they're probably our favorite high school team. I didn't point out that we've never cared enough to go see them play.

Well, Christine was frustrated by this (though, in the interest of full disclosure, she was already on the verge of crabby ;-). We both agree that Bethy has enough 'pert opinions' as it is. Christine wondered why I was contributing to that. We obviously don't see eye-to-eye on athletic partiality, but I didn't really say much.

Still, I thought about it some more. And after a little while, I told Bethy, 'You know, Iowa City West is probably actually our favorite favorite high school, and Irmo's second.'

Christine didn't say anything.

Go Trojans! ;-)

And I see in Iowa City news that the Northwest Junior High Knowledge Master Team:

> claimed its third-straight first-place finish in Iowa and a fourth-place finish out of 776 middle schools that competed

And my 7th grade Language Arts teacher, Rhonda Marshall is advising them. Go Vikings!

Footnote: I have to add West's stats because it's such an amazing school:

• West High teachers average 16 years of experience.
• More than 70 percent of West High faculty hold advanced degrees.
• West High annually leads Iowa in National Merit Scholars.
• Ninety percent of students completing AP exams earn college credit
• Jazz Band has won Iowa State Jazz Band Championship.
• Math Club has won Iowa State Math Championship.
• Iowa State Athletic Championships have been won by many athletic teams.
• West High annually achieves large numbers of All-State Musicians in Orchestra and Jazz Band.
• Graduation rate is over 98 percent.
• Average daily student attendance rate is over 96 percent.
• Overall 65 percent of seniors completed the ACT scoring at an average of over 24.0; Iowa state ACT average is 21.0.