Traverse City East Middle School
Points of Pride
March 2008
Each month we recognize the outstanding achievements our students and staff have achieved including academic, community, and athletic accomplishments. Below is a complete list for the 2007-2008 school year. New additions to the list are highlighted in bold. Please join us in celebrating TC East Middle School's Points of Pride.
ACADEMICS / STUDENTS
· TC EJH Students honored with an Award of Excellence at the June 2007 Herff Jones Yearbook Workshop held at MSU: Rebecca Guajardo, Katrina Samuel, and Chloe Seymore.
· TC EJH Yearbook earned the Spartan Award for their outstanding 2006-2007 school year product, competing with high school yearbooks.
· EJH eighth graders scored at or above district average on the ACT-EXPLORE test.
· Forty-two EJH 8th and 9th graders spent two days in Chicago and went to the stage production of "Wicked."
· EJH welcomed 35 ninth graders and 87 eighth Graders into National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) on November 1, 2007.
· EJH Chamber Choir and EJH Symphonic Ladies Choir were selected to perform at the Michigan Music Conference in January 2008.
· Mackenzie Soverign's poem, Canoe Trip, will be published in the Traverse Area District Library's Poet's Night Out chapbook and Mack has been invited to take part in a poetry workshop on Sunday, November 18, and read his poem Sunday evening at the City Opera House.
· Sixth/Seventh Grade Wing Students brought in over 2,000 books for the EJH Craft Show Book Sale which benefited the school’s LMC.
· Eighth Grade Wing Students brought in over 2,000 books for the EJH Craft Show Book Sale which benefited the school’s LMC.
· About 1850 middle & high school students from Michigan auditioned for the All-State bands and orchestras. Eighth grader Chris Cooke was one of only five middle school tuba players selected to participate; AND he is seated in the second chair. Chris is ranked 2nd middle school tuba in the state!
· Ten eighth grade student essays were entered/submitted in the Farm Bureau’s “America and Me” state wide eighth grade essay competition. State results will be released in March. Thirty-five eighth grade students participated in the contest, only ten entries were allowed to be submitted per school.
· Eighth grade students brought in over $150 in donations and supplies for the Teens Helping Teens fundraiser.
· Eighty-seven percent of EJH 9th Graders tested on the Degree of Reading Power (DRP) test were ranked “Proficient” as readers. Forty-three percent were ranked “Greater Than Proficient.”
· Winners of the LMC Don' t Miss These Authors...-reading incentive for Nov/Dec were: Kassidy Yarnell and Alaina Chela.
· In January, over 500 East Junior High 6th, 7th, and 8th grader students participated in the school level competition of the National Geographic Bee. Eighteen students progressed through the preliminary rounds with eight students advancing to the final competition which was held on January 14, 2008. The eight finalists were Keanen Armour, Joe Banish, Greg Faller, Brandan MacKendrick, Josh Mazure, Anthony Miller, Alec Przedwojewski, and Keegan Sprague. After the final round, Brandan MacKendrick placed third. Joe Banish and Greg Faller advanced to the Championship Round with Joe placing second and Greg becoming the East Junior High National Geographic Bee Champion for 2008. GOOD JOB TO ALL, and CONGRATULATIONS to Greg!
· Sophie Kelly is the winner of this year's East Junior High Spelling Bee! The other finalists who will be advancing to the County Spelling Bee in February are:
Michael Payne, First Runner-Up
Kalvis Hornburg
Meghan Brown
Joseph Banish
Clark Belanger
Alex Gill, Alternate
· "Mackenzie Soverign's poem, Canoe Trip, will be published in the TADL Poet's Night Out chapbook and Mack was invited to take part in a poetry workshop on Sunday, November 18 and read his poem Sunday evening at the City Opera House." Leah Jodoin's poem was published in TADL's Poet's Night Out chapbook and she read her poem to a stellar group of poets at the City Opera House on November 18, 2007. Leah also took part in a Poet's Workshop on Nov. 17, 2008.
· Winter Reading Promotion Winners: Taylor Ayres, Nikki Schweitzer, Craig Mackin, Megan Esckelson
· Over 120 EJH students competed for a spot on the EJH Math Counts Team. The winners of round one were as follows:
o Winners:
1st Place: Leah Jodoin - 8th Grade AT
2nd Place Elizabeth Sigworth - 8th Grade AT
3rd Place Daniel Fedor - 7th Grade AT
4th Place Michael Druskovich - 8th Grade AT
5th Place Ally Schultz - 7th Grade AT
6th Place Garrett Frain - 8th Grade AT
7th Place Clark Belanger - 8th Grade AT
8th Place Ian Cummings - 7th CMPI
9th Place Mike Payne - 7th Grade AT
Others in the top 15 include:
10th Place Alex Olson - 8th (TBA - 8th Grade CMP)
11th Place Matthew Westerman - 8th Grade AT
12th Place Peter Jurica - 8th Grade AT
13th Place Samantha Kaufman - 8th Grade AT
14th Place Tucker Knowles - 8th Grade AT
15th Place Alex Chao - 8th Grade AT
· On February 9th, 2008, the EJH Math Counts Team ventured to Petoskey
Middle School. Out of 14 schools in attendance EJH took FIRST
PLACE. Out of ninety participants at this level of competition, the first
four slots were awarded to EJH students.
· A representative from the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp came to EJH to listen to prospective campers. The thirty or so EJH music students who performed earned a total of $29,880 of scholarship offerings.
· The following eight 8th grade students have been selected to participate in this
year's MSBOA District II Middle School Honors Band all day on Wednesday,
March 5.
Badour, Stephanie (bass clarinet)
Benak, Cameron (trombone)
Brennan, Lauren (flute)
Cooke, Chris (tuba)
Crocker, Morgan (clarinet)
Kerndt, Connor (trombone)
Lopez, Nick (horn)
Rizor, Geoff (clarinet)
· The following eighth grade students are the winners of the "America & Me "Essay Contest:
1st Place - Alise Shurly
2nd Place - Justin Moore
3rd Place - Elizabeth Sigworth
Alise's first place essay will now advance to the statewide competition
from which the top ten entries in the state will be selected. The statewide
winners will be announced in April.
· The TC EJH Symphonic Orchestra not only received straight I's at the MSBOA District Festival, but also were rewarded with a standing ovation. Adjudicators commented on the challenging literature and how well the students rose to the challenge.
· Kathleen Schnerer, violinist, will participate in the American String Teacher's Association (ASTA) Chamber Music Day at MSU on March 4, 2008.
· Sixty-two 8th and 9th grader stuudents have been cast in roles for the spring Drama Club production of "Krazy Kamp".
· February Reading Promotion Winners: Marilyn Berry, Kennedy Cullen
COMMUNITY
· The three first place winners of this year’s VFW Voice of Democracy contest are EJH Students:
o 1st: Courtney Gorter - $500.00 US Savings Bond
o 2nd: Nicole Helmboldt - $300.00 US Savings Bond
o 3rd: Chris Gauthier - $200.00 US Savings Bond
· EJH Art Students participated in United Way Helping Hands/Warm Hearts Auction and contributed two hand shaped chairs that assisted in generating $5,000 for the United Way.
· Two WWII Veterans visited Nancy Fitpatrick’s Social Studies classroom.
· EJH ninth grader, Courtney Gorter, won first place in the VFW Northern Michigan competition for Voice of Democracy. She will be proceeding to state competition.
· Student Groups extended a thank you from Grand Valley State University for their contributions to Third Level Crisis Intervention Center Transitional Living Program.
· Ninth grade AT American History just completed a Grand Traverse Heritage Grant. Students studied the WWII experimentation on drones done here in Traverse City. They then created a display for the center which was put on view during November and December. Right now the display is with the Traverse Area Model Plane Society (TRAMPS) who provided us with a demonstration of modern, miniature, remote- controlled aircraft back in September.
· One of our students, Maddy Ober, collected money for malaria nets for Africa for part of her Africa research project. She hoped to collect $10. She collected from her team of students ---- about $120!
· EJH 8th Grader Kevin Query volunteering at Munson Hospital’s Infusion Clinic with adolescent chemo patients using a flight simulator program installed on a laptop computer.
· On February 25, ninth graders attended a private screening of the acclaimed Academy Award winning film Schindler's List at the newly reopened State Theatre in Traverse City. Students travelled by school bus to downtown T.C. where they were warmly greeted by Traverse City Film Festival founders and Executive Board members John R. Williams and Doug Stanton and a host of volunteers. They viewed the film in conjunction with study of the Holocaust and World War II. The activity was preceded by classroom study and followed up with discussion and a related writing assignment.
STAFF
· Wendee Wolf-Schlarf on final ballot for 7th/8th/9th Honors Choir Director for Michigan School Vocal Music Association.
· Eighty-three percent of EJH’s teachers have earned a Master’s Degree or higher.
· Jon Moore, 7th Grade Science Teacher accepted into the Salmon in the Classroom project supported by the Grand Traverse Area Sport Fishing Association and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
· Kristin Stuedemann, EJH Biology Teacher, finished her Masters in Educational Technology this past summer.
· Ellen Boyer has been selected to be on a twelve-member task force between the American String Teacher's Association and the Yamaha Corporation for "being an innovator" in the string classroom.
· Jami Grant, EJH Biology teacher, won the Grand Rapids 1/2 Marathon on October 25th.
· Amy Dunscombe won $2000 grant for innovative programming in the EJH Cognitively Impaired classroom.
· Three teachers, Brandi Reynolds, Pam Forton, and Mike Wilson, from EJH have been accepted as MI Champions through MACUL. The Department of Education has developed this program to develop educational leaders focused on promoting student achievement through technology implementation.
· Eighth grade math instructor, Jane Porath, has been invited by the President of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) to sit on the review panel for articles sent for consideration to their national publication.
· Than Dykstra finished 10th in the White Pine Stampede.
· Jane Porath selected by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Editorial Board to serve on the review panel. This honor will require two national meetings (first one in Washington D.C.) with all expenses paid by NCTM.
· Mark Fries (Physical Education) competing in the Bob Swanson Memorial Tennis Invitational won the 8.5 Division (the most skilled division) doubles competition at the Grand Traverse Resort.
ATHLETICS
· EJH Trojan Girls Cross Country Team--2nd at Regionals
· EJH Trojan Girls – 3rd in the state
· Freshman Volleyball team takes first place in Gaylord Freshmen Tournament.
· An intramural basketball program was offered to 7th grade boys who were not a part of the
interscholastic team. Sessions were held on Mondays and Wednesdays, during resource period, in
November.
· Three EJH Freshmen earned a spot on the All-Region Tennis Dream Team: Fisher Sutherland,
Hunter Bergsma, Riley Chadwell
· Clark Phelps (Freshman) earned a spot on the Junior Olympics Downhill Ski Team