Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Honor roll field trips scheduled

The top academic students at South Middle School will receive a well-deserved treat this week, when they leave the SMS campus for a couple of hours to eat at the mall and play laser tag.
Sixth graders will leave Wednesday at the end of third hour and return for seventh hour, while seventh graders are scheduled to go Thursday, and eighth graders on Friday.
Students who are eligible to attend the outings are:

Eighth Grade- Dalton Anderson, Breanna Baker, Tyler Beall, Jacob Bennett, Austin Bolt, Andrew Burkhart, Lloyd Burrow, Blanca Castaneda, Kovan Chew, Christen Cool, Rebecca Cooper, Michael Copeland, Mikaila Craig, Andrew Crouch, Michael Daugherty, Chelsea Dawson, Ashley Dean, Steven Denmark, Christopher Diles, Hannah Doerge, Fischer Dowell, Marina Dudley, David Evans, Leah Forkner, Rachael Foster, Devin Freeman, Brian Grier, Dakota Gilmore, Zach Grimes, Lane Hampton, Paige Harmon, Alexis Hawk, Lacy Heiskell, Christy Hernandez, Dustin Hill, Aaron Hodges, Corey Hounschell, Cheyenne Howard, Spencer Hunt, Kylie Hurrell, Shaynee Johnson, Dylan King, Jessica Knight, Kelley Leach, Grant Lewis, Tessa Luper, Breanna Martin, Andrew Mays, Kane McCaslin, Matthew McCoy, Nathan Morris, Faith Mowry, Taylor Mulik, Lanie Nicolas, Victoria Nolan, Kelsey Pace, Cindy Pham, Dylan Prauser, Jesse Rowe, Jesse Ruvalcaba, Mollie Sanders, Cassey Schulze, Tim Scroggins, Kaylee Sexton, Alicia Shofner, Angela Sliger, Hailey Smith, Victoria Smith, Ashlee Stephens, Catherine Stewart, Grant Stewart, Daniel Story, Shanna Striegel, Savanah Sweeton, William Thrasher, Emily Tripoli, Tyler Walker, Blake Ward, Ana Warner, Samantha Warren, Amanda Webster, Craig Yeoman, Ken Zhang.

Seventh Grade- Molly Baker, Nathan Baker, Kirsti Banning, Lindsey Beall, Joseph Bennett, Emylee Brown, Sara Buck, Tozia Burris, Taylor Camden, Jordan Chambers, Tolby Clemons, Matthew Cruzan, Brittney DeMasters, Breanne Diles, Derek Dillon, Christine Dunn, Dermott Evans, Taylor Fetterman, Tara Fleming, Brittany Frisbie, Devyn Hale, Summer Harbeson, Gage Haskew, Jessica Highley, Icesus Holland, Brandon Holman, Amie Howard, Ashley Howe, Rachelle Highbank, Jacob Johnson, Selena Jordan, Alex Kangethe, Alexander Karns, Sarah Kessler, Breanna Knapp, Tera Knight, Lauren Layne, Luke Lenhart, Sydney Long, Hunter Lynn, Jacob Lyons, Austin Mallory, Wade Mathis, Ian McPherson, Mary Jean Miller, Brittany Mitchell, Ian Mitchell, Victoria Mitchell, Anh Nguyen, Billy Nguyen, Holly O'Dell, Andrew Perry, Payton Pollock, Chloe Potts, Shalea Purdy, Blake Putnam, Gilbert Randolph, Samantha Rice, Andrew Roberts, Mariah Sanders, Adam Schilling, Daniel Scott, Adam Snearly, Shawn Spicer, Kayla Stewart, Isaiah Stout, Bayley Strella, Nathan Stripling, Jeffrey Terry, Kaycee Thompson, LaTosha Treat, Christian Underwood, Brittany Utley, Greggory VanLoon, Kyle Vene, Jamie Walters, Hannah Ward, Dillon Warlaumont, Casee Wheeler, Johnna Yeoman

Sixth Grade- Torri Ackerson, John Alumbaugh, Jodi Anderson, Victoria Baker, Sierra Bartholomew, Abigail Bass, Haley Powers, Austin Boyd, Lisa Bromley, Alexis Brown, Nathan Brummer, Casey Burkhart, Hannah Cody, Hollis Cady, Tracie Cottrill, Ronald Darby, Aaron Daum, Shaney Delzell, Danielle Doerr, Laila Douglas, Karissa Dowell, Caroline Dutton, Preston Eafrati, Calisha England, Taylor Erwin, Judith Fausto, Austin Fenn, Sandra Gallegos, Riley Gass, Valerie Glass, Kelsey Gould, Olivia Hampton, Allison Hankins, Hannah Hare, Christopher Harpole, Joshua Harris, Shanice Hazley, Elisabeth Heimberg, Isaiah Hicks, Alex Hill, Esteban Hinojosa, Brittany Hudson, Ricky Hutchison, Jordan Ivey, Anna Johnson, Erin Johnson, Carson Jones, Morgan Jones, Morgan Lamar, Brandon Laub, Nicholas Laub, Kylie Lewsader, Elisha Mansour, Dominique Michael, Hunter Mills, Damon Monasco, Lane Morrill, Robert Munalem, Alexander Musgrave, Tyler Nonemaker, Morgan Osburn, Taylor Parker, Spencer Peterson, Blake Price, Orion Quintana, Stefon Rich, Thomas Richins, Alexandra Ritter, Gabriel Sachetta, Krystal Schulze, Bryson Sexton, Taylor Shutte, Dakota Smith, Benjamin Story, Shane Striegel, Logan Terry, Victoria Thompson, Theodora Voutiritsas, Shani Wage-Knight, Elaina Warren, Ethan Warstler, Andrew Welch, Allison White, Storm Whittington, Shannon Williams, Tiffany Williams, Emilee Wills, Alexis Woods, Emily Yarbrough

Track season approaching

By CHRISTEN COOL and BECKY COOPER
Room 210 Staff Writers


Track is coming up pretty fast at South Middle School.
The fun begins at the end of February for seventh and eighth graders. Track can be hard, but it's so much fun. Track athletes compete in numerous events, including 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, 400 meter dash, 800 meter run, 1600 meter run, 4 x 100 relay, 4 x 200 relay and 4 x 400 relay. Also available for athletes are other events, including hurdles, pole vaulting, high jump, long jump, shot put, and discus. Athletes may compete in up to four events.
South has three coaches, Coach Rocky Biggers, who teaches at South, Coach Adrien Hedley, who teaches at an elementary school, and Coach Jason Veisselmeyer. Coach Biggers coaches field events, Coach Hedley coaches the distance runners, and Coach Veisselmeyer coaches the sprinters.

CP Hearts fundraiser begins

By KEN ZHANG
Room 210 Staff writer


The race is on!
The CP hearts fundraiser has started again at South Middle School. Beginning Jan. 22, SMS students have started to sell CP Hearts and because of the four snow days, the deadline has been moved to Feb. 19.
South students participate in the fundraiser to raise money for the CP Center, which helps children with cerebral palsy learn and be able to attend regular school.
South is competing against other schools, including Aurora, Diamond, Cecil Floyd, and Carthage, to raise the most money. At South, the TA that sells the most hearts will receive breakfast at McDonald's and will visit the CP Center.

South teams win doubleheader over North


South Middle School basketball teams swept North Monday night, with the A team using a strong fourth quarter to run past North 21-15, while the B team rode a buzzer beating, nothing-but-net three-pointer by Blake Ward to down North 16-15.
The A team trailed 13-12 after three quarters, but outscored North 9-2 in the final six minutes, including five points from J. T. Taylor, who led all scorers with 11 points, including a pair of three-pointers. Tyler Walker and Cody Sadler contributed fourth quarter baskets. Austin Bolt had a three-pointer in the second quarter.

(Photo: Austin Bolt runs into a North roadblock during the second half of South Middle School's 21-15 win over North Monday night. Also shown for South, from left, are Tyler Walker, Cody Sadler, and Layne Hampton.

SMS teams do well in Joplin quiz bowl match


The first Joplin quiz bowl match in two years was held Monday at Memorial Middle School.
Memorial's number two team won, though not before being taken to overtime by South's number one team, consisting of Kane McCaslin, Kylie Hurrell, Lainie Nicolas, and Savanah Sweeton.
South's number two team, led by Dylan Prauser, who answered 23 questions during the tournament, defeated the number one team. Other members of the number two team were Sarah Kessler and Alex Kangethe.
The SMS Quiz Bowl team will compete in a social studies tournament at Lamar in February.

(Photo: Kane McCaslin, Kylie Hurrell, Lainie Nicolas, and Savanah Sweeton are shown prior to their overtime win over North Middle School's number one team.)

Monday, January 22, 2007

Second quarter honor roll released

The second quarter honor roll has been released at South Middle School. Those making the list were:

Eighth Grade- Dalton Anderson, Breanna Baker, Tyler Beall, Jacob Bennett, Austin Bolt, Andrew Burkhart, Lloyd Burrow, Blanca Castaneda, Kovan Chew, Christen Cool, Rebecca Cooper, Michael Copeland, Mikaila Craig, Andrew Crouch, Michael Daugherty, Chelsea Dawson, Ashley Dean, Steven Denmark, Christopher Diles, Hannah Doerge, Fischer Dowell, Marina Dudley, David Evans, Leah Forkner, Rachael Foster, Devin Freeman, Brian Grier, Dakota Gilmore, Zach Grimes, Lane Hampton, Paige Harmon, Alexis Hawk, Lacy Heiskell, Christy Hernandez, Dustin Hill, Aaron Hodges, Corey Hounschell, Cheyenne Howard, Spencer Hunt, Kylie Hurrell, Shaynee Johnson, Dylan King, Jessica Knight, Kelley Leach, Grant Lewis, Tessa Luper, Breanna Martin, Andrew Mays, Kane McCaslin, Matthew McCoy, Nathan Morris, Faith Mowry, Taylor Mulik, Lanie Nicolas, Victoria Nolan, Kelsey Pace, Cindy Pham, Dylan Prauser, Jesse Rowe, Jesse Ruvalcaba, Mollie Sanders, Cassey Schulze, Tim Scroggins, Kaylee Sexton, Alicia Shofner, Angela Sliger, Hailey Smith, Victoria Smith, Ashlee Stephens, Catherine Stewart, Grant Stewart, Daniel Story, Shanna Striegel, Savanah Sweeton, William Thrasher, Emily Tripoli, Tyler Walker, Blake Ward, Ana Warner, Samantha Warren, Amanda Webster, Craig Yeoman, Ken Zhang.

Seventh Grade- Molly Baker, Nathan Baker, Kirsti Banning, Lindsey Beall, Joseph Bennett, Emylee Brown, Sara Buck, Tozia Burris, Taylor Camden, Jordan Chambers, Tolby Clemons, Matthew Cruzan, Brittney DeMasters, Breanne Diles, Derek Dillon, Christine Dunn, Dermott Evans, Taylor Fetterman, Tara Fleming, Brittany Frisbie, Devyn Hale, Summer Harbeson, Gage Haskew, Jessica Highley, Icesus Holland, Brandon Holman, Amie Howard, Ashley Howe, Rachelle Highbank, Jacob Johnson, Selena Jordan, Alex Kangethe, Alexander Karns, Sarah Kessler, Breanna Knapp, Tera Knight, Lauren Layne, Luke Lenhart, Sydney Long, Hunter Lynn, Jacob Lyons, Austin Mallory, Wade Mathis, Ian McPherson, Mary Jean Miller, Brittany Mitchell, Ian Mitchell, Victoria Mitchell, Anh Nguyen, Billy Nguyen, Holly O'Dell, Andrew Perry, Payton Pollock, Chloe Potts, Shalea Purdy, Blake Putnam, Gilbert Randolph, Samantha Rice, Andrew Roberts, Mariah Sanders, Adam Schilling, Daniel Scott, Adam Snearly, Shawn Spicer, Kayla Stewart, Isaiah Stout, Bayley Strella, Nathan Stripling, Jeffrey Terry, Kaycee Thompson, LaTosha Treat, Christian Underwood, Brittany Utley, Greggory VanLoon, Kyle Vene, Jamie Walters, Hannah Ward, Dillon Warlaumont, Casee Wheeler, Johnna Yeoman

Sixth Grade- Torri Ackerson, John Alumbaugh, Jodi Anderson, Victoria Baker, Sierra Bartholomew, Abigail Bass, Haley Powers, Austin Boyd, Lisa Bromley, Alexis Brown, Nathan Brummer, Casey Burkhart, Hannah Cody, Hollis Cady, Tracie Cottrill, Ronald Darby, Aaron Daum, Shaney Delzell, Danielle Doerr, Laila Douglas, Karissa Dowell, Caroline Dutton, Preston Eafrati, Calisha England, Taylor Erwin, Judith Fausto, Austin Fenn, Sandra Gallegos, Riley Gass, Valerie Glass, Kelsey Gould, Olivia Hampton, Allison Hankins, Hannah Hare, Christopher Harpole, Joshua Harris, Shanice Hazley, Elisabeth Heimberg, Isaiah Hicks, Alex Hill, Esteban Hinojosa, Brittany Hudson, Ricky Hutchison, Jordan Ivey, Anna Johnson, Erin Johnson, Carson Jones, Morgan Jones, Morgan Lamar, Brandon Laub, Nicholas Laub, Kylie Lewsader, Elisha Mansour, Dominique Michael, Hunter Mills, Damon Monasco, Lane Morrill, Robert Munalem, Alexander Musgrave, Tyler Nonemaker, Morgan Osburn, Taylor Parker, Spencer Peterson, Blake Price, Orion Quintana, Stefon Rich, Thomas Richins, Alexandra Ritter, Gabriel Sachetta, Krystal Schulze, Bryson Sexton, Taylor Shutte, Dakota Smith, Benjamin Story, Shane Striegel, Logan Terry, Victoria Thompson, Theodora Voutiritsas, Shani Wage-Knight, Elaina Warren, Ethan Warstler, Andrew Welch, Allison White, Storm Whittington, Shannon Williams, Tiffany Williams, Emilee Wills, Alexis Woods, Emily Yarbrough

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Meeting set to plan bond issue campaign

The following item was taken from the Joplin R-8 School District website:

In preparation for Joplin’s upcoming April school bond issue, community members dedicated to improving educational facilities for the children of Joplin are invited to attend the first Grassroots School Bond Committee meeting.
The purpose of the meeting is to organize a large, active committee composed of stakeholders who desire to see the Joplin School District build three new middle schools to replace the very old existing structures. This will be a grassroots effort of patrons who will plan and implement the upcoming bond issue campaign.

The meeting will be held at Joplin High School in the Eagle Talon Conference Room. Anyone needing additional information about the grassroots meeting may contact the Superintendent’s office at 625-5200 ext. 123.


More information about the bond issue will be featured in upcoming posts on Room 210 News.

South captures two awards in annual Elks Essay Contest

The information is sketchy, but two South Middle School students placed in the annual Joplin Elks Lodge Essay Contest.
School officials know that South students took first and third place in the annual competition, but information on which individual students captured the awards is not yet available.
This year's topic was "Why I Am Proud to be an American."
This is the third time in the last four years that South has taken first place in the competition. It is also the third time SMS has has at least two of the top three entrants.
More information will be furnished on this page at a later date.

Eighth grader meets brother for first time

By TORI MARDIS
Room 210 Staff Writer

If you have ever ridden a roller coaster you know the feeling.
You are excited and nervous at the same time. You don't know if you should laugh or cry. Well that's the way I felt when I interviewed Tiffany Douglas, a South Middle School eighth grader.
Tiffany had never met her older brother until earlier this month. She was nervous before they met. "I hope we get along and get to see each other more," she said.
Tiffany and her brother had never met because he lived with his mom and it was too far for him to come, Tiffany said, adding that her brother would have felt like a stranger because he did not know his dad, but her brother Todd decided that it did not matter and he wanted to meet his little sister.
The meeting went even better than Tiffany expected. Todd had planned on staying here for a few months, but he liked it here so much he decided to stay for good and Tiffany can see her brother whenever she wants.

South students provide Christmas for needy children






The South Middle School Student Council's annual Penny Wars competition resulted in a merrier Christmas for some needy Joplin-area children.
STUCO members took the proceeds from the competition to Wal-Mart the final day before Christmas break, bought presents, then gave them to the Joplin Fire Department, which oversees the event, during a seventh-hour assembly.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

SMS Project Citizen featured in Eagle Eye

Project Citizen, an annual project in Mr. Rocky Biggers' eighth grade social studies classes was featured in the most recent issue of the Joplin R-8 School District's newsletter, The Eagle Eye.
The following article was printed:


A project created by a group of South Middle School eighth graders has received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Center for Civic Education. The group's winning portfolio entitled "Pre-Driver's Ed," had previously been judged at a state-level competition and earned the honor of representing Missouri at a final round – the 10th Annual Project Citizen National Showcase in Nashville, Tennessee. Members of state legislatures, legislative staff, educators, attorneys, and other citizens from around the country served as judges in
this prestigious showcase.
Project Citizen is an award-winning middle school civic education program that engages classes of students to identify public policy issues in their communities, learn about the issues, and propose action plans to address the issues. Classes produce portfolios about changing public policy in their communities. Last school year, two SMS American History classes taught by Rocky Biggers participated in
Project Citizen and won at the state-level competition.
The winning "Pre-Driver's Ed” project approached the problem of how best to prepare new drivers to pass their driver's permit test. The students proposed a new "mini class" within the Teacher Advisory classes for eighth graders, which would teach the Missouri Driver's Manual.
The students, now freshmen at Joplin High School, include: Cheyenna Beck, Maddison Billings, Zach Brower,Shelbi Cooper, Paco Gonzales, Kristin Grasser, Dakota Hackworth, Angelica Himojosa, Michelle Holden, Sierra Hutchinson, Tilly Ingram,
Candra Kaderly, Danielle Kleeman,Veronica Leonard, Shelby McMillen, Blake Mills, Alex Needham, John Ness, Tabitha Robbins, Ryan Simpson, Adam Sonnier, Jeff Taylor,
Tevin Triplett, Miranda Veith, and Ashton White.

Joplin schools accredited with distinction

(THe following article was printed in the Joplin R-8 School District newsletter, The Eagle Eye.)

The Joplin School District has officially received the coveted “Accredited with
Distinction” designation from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education (DESE) for the third consecutive year. Once again, Joplin is among an elite
group of Missouri school districts to earn the state's "Distinction in Performance"
award.
"Receiving this honor for the third year in a row is a reflection on the focused efforts by all of Joplin's staff on being the best," says the Superintendent, Dr. Jim Simpson.
"We are all committed to building on each year's achievement to ensure that our students are prepared for a successful future."
To receive the annual "Distinction in Performance” award, Missouri school districts must meet at least 13 of 14 student performance standards on their Annual Performance Report (APR), which is compiled each year by DESE. An APR is based on the same criteria used in the accreditation process and displays whether or not a school district has met standards related to student academic performance.
These include MAP (Missouri Assessment Program) test scores, ACT college entrance
exam scores, attendance rate, graduation rate, the number of graduates continuing to
college, and other academic performance measures.

Rooker is December 'My Teacher Rocks" winner


Math teacher Mrs. Barbara Rooker was the My Teacher Rocks winner for December. She was nominated by eighth grader Leah Forkner.
In her nomination letter, Miss Forkner wrote:

My teacher Mrs.Rooker Rocks!!!!! You can always talk to her when things aren't going so good and she loves to hear stories of when times are good for you. When Mrs. Rooker is teaching a lesson, she waits until you understand how to do it before she moves on. She will wait for hours after school if you don't understand what she is talking about. I feel so lucky to have Mrs. Rooker for the third year this year!