Teacher of the Year to be Named on Tuesday Johnston County Schools' Teacher of the Year will be named at the annual Flame for Learning banquet on Tuesday, April 19 at 6 p.m. at the Johnston County Country Club. The event, hosted by the Johnston County Association of Chambers, will also honor three finalists. For more information, please call Rick Childrey, President, Greater Smithfield-Selma Chamber of Commerce, at (919) 934-9166. Bus Drivers to Show Skill The annual Johnston County Schools Bus "Roadeo" will be held on Tuesday, April 19 at 9:30 a.m. at North Johnston High School. Ten drivers from each of the school system's transportation districts will participate on an obstacle course that demonstrates their skill. The event will be held in the school's back parking lot. Cash prizes will be presented to the first through fourth place winners. Door prizes will be given also. The top three drivers will compete in Pitt County at the District "Roadeo. The top 10 in the Northeastern North Carolina district will move on to state competition in Raleigh. For more information, please call Billy Sugg, Director of Transportation, at (919) 934-8340. JCS to Honor National Board Certified Teachers A celebration honoring all Johnston County National Board Certified teachers will be held on Tuesday, April 26 at 4 p.m. in the Boardroom at Central Services. For more information, please call Patricia Hester, Executive Director for Federal Programs, at (919) 934-4361, extension 304. West Smithfield Raises Money for Heart Association West Smithfield Elementary students raised $3,252.00 for the American Heart Association in our Jump Rope for Heart campaign. For more information, please call Angie Creech at (919) 989-6418. SSS Representatives Share Slice of High School Life at Selma Middle SSS's NJROTC students, counselors and the school's Career Development Coordinator made presentations to the upcoming Freshmen at the feeder schools*Selma Middle, Corinth-Holders, and Smithfield Middle. The current cadets in ROTC performed drill routines and went to each classroom to explain the expectations of the NJROTC program. The cadets taught the students about the three core values of the program honor, courage and commitment. Also at SSS, student Diamond Fowler is the state winner in the Customer Service Contest held in Greensboro this week for SkillUSA VICA. She will be competing at national competition this summer in Kansa City, Kanas. Eder Rivera was a third place winner in the Extemporaneous Poster contest. On Saturday, April 23 the football team will have a car wash at Ryan's Steakhouse from 10-2. Cost is $5.00. For more information, please call Marchelle Horner, Assistant Principal, at (919) 934-5191. Cooper Elementary News! Cooper Elementary second graders performed a musical entitled "Everybody Has Music Inside" on April 7th for parents, teachers, and staff. The musical included six song selections and many speaking parts. Music teacher Carla Jones worked with the second graders to learn the songs and the speaking parts and the students gave an excellent performance. For more information, please call Michee Olson at (919) 553-0256. Also at Cooper, on Friday, April 8th, Cooper celebrated its parent volunteers with a reception in the media center. All parents who have volunteered with the school were recognized by Julie Jailall, principal, and Nancy Parker, assistant principal, with a certificate of appreciation and a special volunteer mug. Cooper took this time to recognize with a plaque the Parent Volunteer of the Year, Debbie Monroe. Debbie has a fourth grader, Anna, and a first grader, Morgan, at Cooper. Debbie can be found on most days weeding or pruning flower beds on the school's campus, volunteering in her children's classrooms, or helping the school set up for an upcoming event. She has served for the last two years as chairperson for the PTA Ways and Means committee as well as on the Beautification committee. During this time, she has helped to organize many fundraisers that have netted about $35 000. Also recognized were the Parent Volunteer runners-up Michele Byrd and Molly Powell. Michele is the current PTA president and also has two children at Cooper; Harrison is in the fourth grade and Grayson is in the first grade . Michele has helped to organize and implement many fun events held at the school. She works closely with teachers to ensure their needs are met. Molly has a son in the first grade, Christian. She has worked many, many hours to get volunteers to help with school picture day, Showcase of Stars, and other various activities held at school. Throughout the months of February and March, the second graders at Cooper Elementary studied all of the many the fairy tales. They ended their study with a Fairy Tale Ball on Friday, April 8. Each student was asked to dress as their favorite character. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Gretel, The Princess and the Pauper, Mulan, Rumplestilskin, Captain Hook, and of course, Prince Charming were all present. The teachers dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood, The Evil Witch from Snow White, The Big Bad Wolf and one of the Three Little Pigs, and Dopey the Dwarf. The students paraded down all of the school's halls and entered the ballroom (gym) through a tulle and wisteria covered archway. During PE, the students were taught how to waltz by PE teacher, Judy Dalfors. On Saturday, April 9th, Cooper welcomed spring with a Spring Carnival co-hosted by the PTA and the school. Booths were set up by the teachers such as a basketball shoot, badge making, face painting, fingernail painting, ring toss, guessing games, and a cake walk just to name a few. The NC Museum of Natural Science brought several reptiles for all to see. The students submitted artwork that was displayed in the front of the school. Cooper Elementary's Odyssey of the Mind team competed Saturday, April 9 in the State competition in Boone. They placed 8th in their division. The team qualified to go to the State competition after placing 2nd at the Regional competition held at East Wake High School in Knightdale in March.
