This fall, Applied Wellness Program Director Joanna McQuide, DSHA ’93, became a nationally board-certified health and wellness coach. She is formally equipped to support others in activating internal strengths and external resources to make sustainable and healthy lifestyle behavior changes. DSHA is now one of the only high schools in the country with a nationally board-certified health and wellness coach directing a student wellness program. The Applied Wellness Program at DSHA mimics how individuals achieve whole-person wellness beyond high school: through reflection, contemplation, planning, and action. McQuide provides students with the framework and a variety of opportunities to practice and internalize this process so that wellness becomes more than a requirement—it becomes a way of life. 

In October, Science Department Chair Stacey Strandberg was published in the Volume 84, No. 8 October 2022 edition of The American Biology Teacher Journal. Her article entitled Autopolyploidy & Allopolyploidy Card Sort: Investigating Chromosomal Errors That Lead to Sympatric Speciation helps students in AP Biology learn how new species evolve in the same area. After over a year and a half of research, Strandberg created a card game that allows students to understand speciation on a wider level. She has received numerous emails from professors and teachers nation-wide who applaud her for her insight and method of teaching speciation.

Click here to read Strandberg’s full article from The American Biology Teacher Journal.  

In December, DSHA Athletic Director Peggy Seegers-Braun was awarded the National Federation of State High School Associations (NHFS) Citation Award by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAA) in Nashville, TN. This prestigious career-highlight award is presented to athletic administrators from across the country for their long-time contributions to interscholastic athletics at the state, local, and/or national level. She is now only the 11th person and 2nd woman from the state of Wisconsin to receive this national citation award since its inception in 1971. This award comes just two years after receiving national recognition from the NIAA in the Bruce D. Whitehead Distinguished Service Award. 

Click here to learn more about the 35 years of accomplishments of Seegers-Braun, and watch her accept her award (29:49 – 33:58 in the video).