Thursday, May 23, 2013
The parents of a 15-year-old Whitnall High School freshmen who died over the weekend, donated their daughter's organs. The Barnstables have a long, sad history of organ donation.
At the very same time the Whitnall High School student body, faculty and staff were joined by Brittany Barnstable’s parents and grandfather for a photo on Falcon Field on Monday to celebrate the life of the 15-year-old freshman, Brittany’s organs were being transported to recipients in need of transplants. As family, friends and classmates gathered to remember Brittany, as many as eight other lives were on the verge of receiving a second chance. Brittany died Sunday as result of head injuries suffered when the bicycle she was riding was struck by an SUV a day earlier on Sunnyslope Road in New Berlin. Her parents, Brian and Michelle, decided to donate their daughter’s organs. “To me, there wasn’t much choice,” Brian Barnstable said. “There …
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The district proposed a remodeling of the current main entrance configuration, one that would funnel all those who come into the building into one location.
The Whitnall School District is prepared to spend more than $100,000 to improve school safety at Whitnall High School. That’s the price tag to make the main entrance to the school far more secure than it is now. Currently, someone wishing to enter the building must be buzzed in, but once inside the school, that person can head in many different directions. “Right now, you do have to get buzzed in through the outer doors, but you don’t know what the person wants and why they’re there,” Whitnall Superintendent Lowell Holtz said. “Once they are in, they can go through as many as six to eight different doors without even talking to someone in the high school office. “This funnels them into the sign-in room. It’s very important.” The current …
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Brittany Barnstable, a 15-year-old Whitnall High School freshman, died Sunday from injuries sustained in an accident over the weekend.
Brittany Barnstable was a talented artist and a soccer player with a rambunctious side that made her stand out in a crowd. Her teachers say she pushed the limits with her creativity and that she had a bright future. But on Sunday, Brittany died of injuries sustained when the bicycle she was riding in Saturday was struck by an SUV as the 15-year-old Whitnall High School freshman crossed Sunnyslope Road in New Berlin. Students and staff wore red shirts in honor of Brittany on Monday, and Monday evening, her soccer teammates wore her number “15” on their shin guards during the junior varsity and varsity games at South Milwaukee. The Whitnall community also took to social media to show their support for the Barnstable family. On Twitter, …
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Brittany Barnstable, a Whitnell High School student, died as a result of her injuries Sunday.
Updated 10:17 a.m. Monday A 15-year-old Greenfield girl, who was riding her bicycle in New Berlin, has died as a result of injuries suffered when she was struck by an SUV on Saturday, according to Patch's media partners WISN 12. Brittany Barnstable, a Whitnall High School freshman, was riding her bike on the New Berlin Recreation Trail Saturday afternoon when she was hit by the SUV, sources confirm. Officials at Whitnall High School shared the news of the girl's death with the student body on Monday morning. They wore red shirts in her honor and after school they took a photo in her memory. Brittany played on the school's soccer team and was honored by her teammates and schoolmates before Monday's road match at South Milwaukee. The …
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Elertson was a high school associate principal and handled the school's athletics for nearly two years. He and his family are moving to Colorado.
In his two years as the Whitnall High School athletic director and associate principal, Rick Elertson has seen the opening of state-of-the-art Falcon Field and helped the school launch seven new clubs, all while Whitnall has remained near the top of the heap academically. And while he’s quick to point out he’s not necessarily directly responsible for any of those things, he’s happy to have been a part of them. “There’s a sense of pride at Whitnall,” Elertson said. “There’s a stadium we can be proud of, the community has rallied around athletics and the district’s academics. Things tend to snowball from there in a positive way. “It’s a big deal for me to feel like I’ve been a part of that renewal.” To see what happens next, however, …
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Magazine's latest list of best schools in the U.S. lists Whitnall High School as 1,290th, the 30th-best ranking in Wisconsin.
On mobile? You can see interactive map here. Newsweek magazine has ranked Whitnall High School as the 1,290th top high school in the country. Among the 55 Wisconsin high schools that made Newsweek's list, Whitnall had the 30th-highest ranking in the state. Nicolet High School was ranked 628th in the nation, while Whitefish Bay was ranked 417th. For its rankings, Newsweek sent out a survey to more than 5,000 high schools in the U.S., with about 2,500 schools responding in 2013. You can see the details about Whitnall's ranking, and every other ranked high school in the Milwaukee area by clicking on the markers in the interactive map above. The survey scores were then weighted and calculated using several criteria including on-time graduation…
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Athletic directors and coaches have been scrambling all spring to get in matches, games and tournaments. The same can be said for Greenfield's park and rec department.
Scott Otto has the The Weather Channel’s website bookmarked on his desktop and checks it repeatedly throughout the day. The Greenfield High School athletic director and assistant principal has got the district’s grounds keeper, the city’s Park and Recreation Department, and the district’s facilities coordinator Stuart Wilke on speed-dial. And Otto has been in constant contact with his high school spring coaches and other athletic directors, all of whom, thanks to this spring’s persistence rainfall, have been forced to coordinate and orchestrate a complex schedule-juggling performance unlike many others. “It’s been a nightmare,” Otto said. “I’ve talked to other ADs in the conference and coaches that have coached 25 or 30 years and none of …
Monday, April 22, 2013
The Falcons had just one outdoor practice before a doubleheader in Poynette over the weekend.
Getting outside for just the second time since the season started March 11, the Whitnall softball team settled for a split of games at Poynette High School on Saturday. In their season debut, the Falcons battered Stratford, 16-0, behind returning first-team all-conference third baseman Liz Thon. The sophomore had three hits and five RBIs. The team’s new shortstop, junior Sydney Opdahl, added three hits and five RBIs as well, as six Falcons had two or more hits and combined for seven doubles. Freshman Sarah Bauer was one of the six with multiple hits and also pitched four innings of one-hit ball with five strikeouts for her first high school win. Later that afternoon, the Falcons fell to 2012 Division 4 state semifinalist Thorp, 12-11, in …
Friday, March 29, 2013
The high school junior is one of a few select students to be invited to participate in the USNA's Summer Seminar, a six-day session that gives students a glimpse of life at the academy.
There’s a good chance Rachel Boushon will trump most of her classmates when someone asks her next fall, “What did you do during your summer vacation?” The 16-year-old Whitnall High School junior has been invited to attend the 2013 U.S. Naval Academy Summer Seminar program in Annapolis, MD, this summer. She is one of approximately 2,550 select students from around the country and abroad invited to participate in the fast-paced leadership program designed to educate, motivate and prepare selected students who are considering applying for admission to the USNA. The six-day session gives students a glimpse of USNA life. Academics, athletics and professional training are stressed to the prospective applicants. Students will attend eight 90-…
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
For the third consecutive semester, teacher Taylor Townsend’s class has partnered with Greenfield Patch to provided students real-world news, feature and blog writing experience.
From prom preparations to powerlifting and golf to Godspell, students in Whitnall High School’s broadcast journalism class have been busy letting the community know about all the happenings in and around the school. And the stories are coming right from the students’ mouths, or in this case, their fingertips. For the third consecutive semester, teacher Taylor Townsend’s class has partnered with Greenfield Patch to provided students real-world news, feature and blog writing and publishing experience. Students have been writing about things that are important to them and their fellow classmates. They choose a topic, do research, interview other students and teachers and write short stories that are turned in to and edited by Townsend. The …
Steve Rogers
5:53 pm on Wednesday, May 22, 2013
we grieve with the Barnstable family - there has been much prayer and concern from our church family at elim - these are great people and very deserving of our communities support. Brittany was a part of a very loving & strong beautiful family - we will continue to pray for great strength to carry the family through these very difficult times... slr more ›