JCS Academic Calendar Dates *March 12—Early Release Day/Staff Development *March 21—Good Friday Holiday *March 24-28—Spring Break NJHS Counselor Earns National Certification Wendy Gupton (Harris) has received her National Certification as a (ACS) Approved Clinical Supervisor. Earning this high honor in the counseling profession requires 100 hours of supervising other counselors and another 20 hours of evaluation by other clinicians within the field. This demonstrates commitment to the school counseling profession and enhances knowledge while working with students, parents, and the community. This credential will also assist her with providing support to other counselors, social workers, student advocates and mentoring new school counselors entering Johnston County Schools. Clinical supervisors must also demonstrate knowledge in legal and ethical issues, cultural and diversity issues, methods and training in supervision, and professional development. Professional growth is a necessity to stay informed of current practices within the school counseling profession. Gupton was also inducted this past spring into Chi Sigma Iota (Alpha Upsilon Alpha) National Counseling Honor Society for Academic Excellence in Counseling. She is a second year doctoral student at ArgosyUniversity pursuing her Ed.D. in Counseling Psychology with a specialization in Supervision and Education. She has 14 years experience working at the high school level, nine of which have been with the Johnston County Schools. Her goals for the near future are to incorporate her knowledge towards future research in dropout prevention/intervention strategies; work with at-risk populations and minority groups; teach, consult and advocate for future programs in the Johnston County Schools. Gupton also has earned National Board teacher certification (2006), National Certified Counselor (2002), and Licensed Professional Counselor (2002) credentials. For more information, please call Wendy Gupton, Counselor, NorthJohnstonHigh School, at 919.284.2031. Joe Rock Edwards to VisitDixonRoadElementary School(New) Joe Rock Edwards will be visiting Dixon Road Elementary School on Friday, March 7. Joe Edwards taught art and drama in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System for 15 years before starting Whiterock Studio where he designed, manufactured, and sold original sculpture internationally for 12 years. Currently Joe is the host and producer of the Claywright Workshop, an educational television program produced and shown through TV Access21 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Joe will be working with the 3rd and 4th grade classes all day, teaching them to make their own fish sculpted from clay. For more information, please call 919.894.7771. CassieRecoreWinsPrincetonMiddle School Spelling Bee (New) There was a 10 way tie for second place in the Princeton Middle School Spelling Bee. Cassie Record, eighth grade student, was the only student to spell her word correctly in round three. She then went on to spell “eliminate” to win. Cassie will continue in the County Level Competition on Thursday, March 6, 2008. Cassie says she has always done very well on spelling tests, but this was the first time she‘s won a spelling bee. Cassie’s parents are Pamela Delisle and Craig Recore. For more information, please call Ken Williams at 919.936.5011, Ext. 319. Wilson’s MillsElementary School to Hold Career Day (New) A Career Day will be held at Wilson's Mills Elementary on Friday, March 14 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. For more information, please call Nan Alberti at 919.934.2978. Four OaksElementary School Performed Disney’s Aladdin Jr. (New) Four Oaks Elementary School students performed Disney’s Aladdin Jr. on February 11, 12, and 15. The cafetorium was packed with three sold-out, evening performances. The third, fourth, and fifth graders transformed into magical characters and performed this classic tale of magic, love, and self discovery. The cast of 46 students have been working with music teachers Elaine Butler and Christine Avery and dance teacher Nickie Lee since October in their theatre production elective class. Art teachers Leslie Smith and Laura Myers taught “theatre production through art” elective students to produce the scenery and props for the show. The collaborative effort among the performers, teachers and art students has triggered an amazing excitement throughout the school and community for performing and the arts. Cast members are Aladdin-John Cuppett, Jasmine-Danielle Mozingo, Genie-Andrew Lee, Sultan-Jaylin McMillan, Jafar-Colton Johnson, Razoul-Austin Van-Hoy, Iago-Austin Turnage, Baker-Alexandria Beard, Butcher-Cliff McLamb, Grocer-Emily Morgan, Princes-Brandon Selleck, Jose’ Vargas and DeParis Patterson, Attendants-Maygon Johnson, Sophia Okigweh, Sharde Sanders, Vivian Almanza, Kayla Benson, Sarah Weston, Olivia Olive, Dakota Parker, Ellie Daughtry, Gabriela Sanchez, and Zaquaya Walker, Harem Girls-Meghan Barham, Kenya Bristow, Gracie Hatch, Alaynah Miller, And Sydney Wheeless, Guards-Arturo Almazan-Saavedra, Erick Campbell, Jermon Daniels, Spencer Stone, and London Walker, Narrators-Allison Banks, Ashley Dasey, Asheton Makey, David Steen, and Nykia Walker, Towns People- Brittany Benson, Carson denning, Johnna Dodd, Elizabeth Evans, Connie Hernandez, and Charles King For more information, please call 919.963.3016. Charter Night for West Johnston Key Club (New) The West Johnston Key Club will have its Charter Night on Tuesday, March 11 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Media Center. Parents are invited to attend. For more information, please call Mary Best Reichard 919.934.7333. Also at WestJohnstonHigh School, WestJohnstonHigh School Receives $5,000 Lowe’s Grant for a Reading and SculptureGarden(New) Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation has awarded a $5,000 Toolbox for Education grant to West Johnston High School in Benson, NC for a Reading and Sculpture garden. West Johnston High School is one of 1000 schools or parent organizations to be awarded a Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant for parent-initiated school improvement projects benefiting public education K-12 across the U.S. during the 2007-2008 school year. The student and faculty designed Reading and Sculpture garden will include new plants and landscaping, benches and iron sculptures and will provide a beautiful natural area in which students can read, study and socialize. The installation of the garden will be a collaborative effort involving landscaping and construction students, the Future Farmers of America, band students and parents groups including the PTA and the Band Parent Association. Our local Lowe’s Home Improvement store at 40 and 42 in Clayton, NC has generously agreed to provide assistance with the project. The project is scheduled to be completed this spring. “Through our Toolbox for Education grant program, Lowe’s recognizes parent-initiated efforts to enrich the lives of children in our communities,” said Larry D. Stone, chairman of Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation. “By supporting schools like West Johnston High School, we believe we are contributing to a cause that’s important to our customers and employees and helping build a stronger foundation for the children who will be tomorrow’s employees, homeowners and community leaders.” “This grant is a great example of how community partners can support student learning with meaningful and relevant activities that will benefit the school, community, and students for years to come,” said Brookie N. Honeycutt, Principal of West Johnston High School. “We are excited about the ability to enhance our campus and give students an outdoor setting in which to read, learn, and appreciate nature. I am very proud of the collaborative efforts from our Band Parents Assoc., PTSA, and Career & Technical Education Dept. to make this proposal a reality through the generosity of the Lowe's Corporation. I invite and encourage everyone to visit our garden and to support student learning." Launched in partnership with PTO Today, a leading organization serving parent-teacher groups, the Toolbox for Education program is providing more than 1,000 grants totaling $6.5 million during the 2007-2008 school year. Grants of up to $5,000 are available to public schools in the U.S. and Canada for a wide range of improvement projects and urban schools or school districts may be eligible to receive Toolbox grants up to $500,000 for school improvement initiatives. All K-12 schools in the United States are eligible. Parent groups may apply by visiting www.toolboxforeducation.com. Since its inception in 1957, Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation has helped communities nationwide through employee volunteerism and financial contributions. In 2006, the Foundation supported community and education projects across the country through grants totaling more than $15 million. For more information, call Maureen Rich at (704) 758-2298. Wax Museum at River Dell Elementary (New) River Dell Elementary School held a "Wax Museum/PTA Program" on Thursday, February 28, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. For more information, please call Bonnie Vause at 919.553.1977. Also at RiverDellElementary School, Stitches of Black History (New) Students in Mrs. Melchiorre's and Mrs. Hill's classes at River Dell Elementary completed a project entitled, "Stitches of Black History" this week. Mrs. Melchiorre's combined reading classes have been studying biographies. To celebrate Black History Month, the students chose a prominent African American to research. Students then started designing a quilt square portrait about their person on a paper template. The students were asked to include the person's name, and a symbol representing why he or she is an integral part of America's history. The students then transferred their artwork onto material using a light box, crayons, and permanent markers. Once complete, the squares were ironed to remove the wax from the material. The quilt was then sewn together with help from Mrs. Melchiorre's mother. "My favorite part about the quilt project was getting to see my drawing on the quilt," said Sarah Fisher. After the quilt was displayed, the students gave a presentation about their square and person of interest. "This project was a lot of work, but I guarantee that these kids will remember a little part of American history and little part of fourth grade at River Dell!" said Mrs. Melchiorre. For more information, please call Bonnie Vause at 919.553.1977. Also at RiverDellElementary School, Read Across America River Dell Elementary will have a “Read Across America” on Wednesday, March 5, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Our special guests will include our students, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, and Senator Janet Cowell. For more information, please call Bonnie Vause at 919.553.1977. Geography Bee Held at FourOaksMiddle School(New) On Tuesday, January 15, 2008, ten students at FourOaksMiddle School competed in the semifinal round of the geography bee, which is sponsored by the National Geographic Society in Washington, DC. These students were Blake Clifton, Corey Holland, Lance Kapral, Anna Mukamal, Jock Parker, David Pollard, Nick Stone, Annie Thornton, Alex Williams, and Shelby Williams. After a series of questions with students being eliminated after missing two questions, the finalists were Corey Holland and Shelby Williams. Upon completion of the championship round, Shelby was declared the school winner. Shelby has taken a written test which was sent to the National Geographic Society. If she is one of the top 100 scorers in the state of North Carolina, she will be invited to attend the state competition in Raleigh. The geography bee is held to promote students’ understanding of their world. It is open to all fifth through eighth graders throughout the United States. For more information, please call Phyllis Edwards, FourOaksMiddle School at 919.963.4022. On Tuesday, February 19 more than 270 eighth grade students participated in the eighth annual Career Fair at Cleveland Middle. The students had the opportunity to choose six of the 25 career presenters as they rotated through the various classrooms. Presenters from organizations such as NC StateEngineering, JCCTruckingSchool, and IBM provided audio-visual demonstrations of their careers. Other presenters like 50-210 EMSgave small tokens from their company. Students also heard from a restaurant manager from Cracker Barrel and a DNA specialist, a cosmetologist and a veterinarian, a teacher and a nurse. Annual favorites included a policeman and a fire fighter, a crime scene investigator and the Army National Guard. Students were encouraged to ask questions of the presenters. Refreshments were provided to our presenters. A special thank you goes to our PTA, Tiffany Mundy, and Jennifer Holland for all of their hard work and support. The Career Fair is part of the annual eighth grade Career Exploration Project. This project is an inter-disciplinary study of possible future careers. Language Arts students research their personal career choice using books and the computer lab. Math finds students working a budget process for their chosen career. Science is represented as students meet their high school counselors. In Social Studies they use the website to explore information for their educational path in high school. For more information, please call 919.553.7500. Also at ClevelandMiddle School, Cleveland Middle Students to Participate in the Regional Tournament (New) Science Olympiad Students are continuing to practice for their Regional Tournament in Kinston on Saturday, March 15. The event will take place at Lenoir Community College, and will occur all day from 9 a.m. until the awards ceremony ends at about 6 p.m. Many of the students are entering for the first time, and look forward to the events. For more information, please call Jeanne Mullins at 919.553.7500. Canned Food Drive(New) This past holiday season Cleveland Middle’s Rambassadors participated in activities centered on giving. Cleveland Middle School donated thousands of non-perishable food items to the Salvation Army. The annual canned food drive was sponsored by the Rambassadors, and the homerooms on each grade level that contributed the most food were awarded with doughnuts and juice. The winning homerooms were Mrs. Keene in the sixth grade, Mrs. Boyette in the seventh, and Mrs. Meese in the eighth grade. The Rambassadors also bought Christmas presents for a family at Harbor House, using money that was raised by waiting tables at Pizza Inn last school year. Harbor, Inc. has been helping domestic violence victims in Johnston County for twenty years. The Rambassadors enjoyed wrapping up the presents and presenting them to Harbor employees at the school. Finally, the Rambassadors participated in Cleveland Middle’s “Thanks for watching over us” celebration, honoring Johnston County police officers. The students created personalized bags filled with candy and treats for the officers. The Rambassadors are looking forward to a new year of providing service to the community. Civil War Re-enactor (New) Civil War Re-enactor Tom Stubbs visited Mrs. Pinkston’s eighth grade Social Studies class on February 22. A Civil War artifact collector, Mr. Stubbs allowed the students to view and hold belt buckles, breast plates, bullets, and pieces of cannonballs found on Civil War battlefields. He also brought the uniforms, both Union and Confederate, and gear that he uses in battle reenactments. Mr. Stubbs will be at the Gettysburg reenactment this July with over 15,000 other men and women that will reenact and commemorate the battle. When asked why he enjoys his hobby, Mr. Stubbs said he does it to honor the men who fought in the war. For more information, please call 919.553.7500. Annual RMS Spelling Bee (New) The Spelling Bee winner for Riverwood Middle School is Grant Masini, a sixth grader. Grant will progress to the county competition. Second place winner for the school was Lizzie Tart, a seventh grader, and Khalil Williams, a sixth grader, placed third. For more information, please call 919.359.2769. Also at RiverwoodMiddle School, RMS Science Olympiad Winners (New) The Riverwood Middle School Science Olympiad team won first place in the six county regional tournament in Wilson recently. The RMS Science Olympiad team consists of 15 students from 6th, 7th and 8th grade. This is our third year participating in Science Olympiad. The team won nine first place ribbons, 9 second place ribbons in the 23 events of the competition. Six events are construction events like Tower building, Robo-Cross, and Scrambler car. The other events require the students to investigate various aspects of science and use their acquired knowledge to analyze and interpret various information in the competition event. The fifteen members of the team are three eighth graders: Chris Feola, Alex Foote and Nicole Towne. The 7th grade team members are: Courtney Barefoot, Duke Dyer, Emily Pounds, Kevin Thorne. The 6th grade team members are: Brook Boatright, Hinton Edgerton, Elizabeth Feola, Kaneishia Hampton, Austin Lane, Tianne Maultsby, Julia Minton, Alex Smith. This year's coaches were Kathy Feola, Jeremy May, Amanda Stuart, Todd Crocker, and Shannon Jones. The team will go on to compete at the State Science Olympiad competition on April 4 and 5 on the campus of North Carolina State University. For more information, please call 919.359.2769. Also at RiverwoodMiddle School, RMS Sports Champions (New) The lady Ravens started the 2007 – 2008 with a goal to be the American Conference Champions of Johnston County. Almost unstoppable, the Ravens clinched that goal with back to back wins over Clayton and Smithfield towards the end of the season. Coached by Ashley Enyeart, the team started the season with a big win against Archer Lodge by a 49 – 14 score. The girls continued to work hard and improve each week. They ended the season with a conference record of 9 – 1, with an overall record of 12 – 2 to take the title. The girl’s team also added many individual scholar awards and the team scholar award from Johnston County Schools. The Riverwood Ravens boy’s basketball team finished the 2007 – 2008 season as the American Division Champion of the Johnston County Middle Schools. Coached by Paul Haynes and assisted by Rich Habercorn, the Ravens compiled a 9-1 conference record and an overall 13 -1 record in an outstanding season. Riverwood’s only loss was to Cleveland early in the season by a 29 – 31 score, but reeled off 9 consecutive conference victories and avenged that loss with a 42 – 29 triumph towards the end of the schedule. They outscored their opponents by an average score of 50 – 20. The boy’s team also added many individual scholar awards and also a team scholarship award from Johnston County Schools. The Third Annual Johnston County Schools Cheerleading Competition took place at West Johnston High School on Saturday, February 2, hosted by Cleveland Middle School. After a long day of competition, the RMS Cheerleaders took home the first place trophy for the American Division. This is the third year in a row that Riverwood has placed in the competition in the American Division. The Cheerleader’s hard preparation paid off in a two and a half minute routine packed full of cheering, stunting, tumbling, and dance. For more information, please call 919.359.2769. JohnstonCountySchoolsMiddleCollege Open House Johnston County Schools Middle College will host an Open House on Tuesday, March 4 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. with an information session and presentation in the Great Hall at Johnston Community College. Campus tours will be available as well as opportunities to speak with current students, teachers, and parents. Come experience a day in the life of a Middle College Student. For more information, please call Geraldine Blinson at 919.989.6208. Cooper Elementary Community-Health Day and Fun Run Cooper Elementary School will be participating in a Community-Health Day and Fun Run from March 18 - March 20. Cooper Elementary School, Kiwanis of Clayton, and Partnership for Children of Johnston County are proud to host its first ever Cooper Elementary Community-Health Day and Fun Run. This event will allow parents, volunteers, businesses, and different community organizations the ability to experience the “best kept secret” of Clayton -- Cooper Elementary School. Our goal is to raise funds and awareness for our school. The funds will provide classroom materials that will give students a competitive advantage and increased knowledge, and provide “hands-on” experience of the latest technology. -Tuesday, March 18: representatives from the Health Care Industry will speak with students on the benefits of healthy living. -Wednesday, March 19: representatives from community service organizations will allow students to experience the feel of sitting in their vehicles. -Thursday, March 20: Fun Run. Clayton area businesses will have booths set up providing flyers, promotions, and brochures while the Fun Run is going on. Space is available for more participants, so please forward this on to any other organizations you feel may be interested. For more information, please call 919.553.0256
