EMS students offer President Obama opinions on standardized testing

After hearing President Barack Obama tell those attending a town hall meeting that he thought students are taking too many standardized tests, students in Mr. Randy Turner's eighth grade communication classes wrote letters to the president telling them how they felt about the topic.

The students selected the following 21 letters to be sent to the president:

Julia Ayala, Dakoda Ballard, Alec Welch, Jaxon Santiel, Alex Capehart, Evan Blue, Alex Nguyen, Zhenjia Yuan, Mari Santillan, Trevor Conrad, Bethany Martin, Alyvia Warstler, Ronnie Herron, Melissa Danner, Taylor Corp, Paige Earl, Trace Neidholdt, Duane Carpenter, Denton Williams, Tess Harmon, and Rylee Hartwell

Talent show applications available

Applications for the annual East Middle School Talent Show are available in the office.

They must be returned not later than Friday, April 29. A copy of all lyrics must accompany the applications.

The talent show will be held the last day of school.

Student Council elected for 2011-2012 school year

East Middle School and ninth grade Student Council members were elected last week.

For ninth grade- Jessica Crabb, Paige Earl, Rylee Hartwell

For eighth grade- Jennifer Nguyen, Tyler Viles, Shelby Welton, Amy Koch, Ethan Holz, Megan Hickey, Cara Marshall, Jimmy Willerton

For seventh grade- Taylor Robinson, Ashlynn Griffberg, Amy Walser, Kendra Sparrow, Lydia Routledge, Annie Le, Bridget Ingham

MAP testing concludes today

The annual MAP (Missouri Assessment Program) tests conclude today with eighth graders taking science exams.

Sixth and seventh graders, who do not take the science test, finished last week, when testing was held Tuesday, Wedndesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Quiz Bowl ends most successful year ever in Academic Challenge

The East Middle School Quiz Bowl team ended the traveling Academic Challenge competition earlier this month, with Team 2 tying for third place with a 6-3 record and Team One finishing 5-4.

The last competition was in the humanities, following earlier competitions in math, social studies, science, and communication arts.

Team 2, led by Captain Evan Blue and Tess Harper, finished in fourth place out of 10 teams for the entire year. During the humanities competition at Carl Junction, Harmon answered 20 questions correctly, with Blue answering 19.

Team 1 was led by Captain Rylee Hartwell, who answered 19 questions correctly.

The teams will be involved in a Quiz Bowl Spectacular May 19, which will feature teams consisting of sixth graders, seventh graders, eighth graders, parents, faculty members, and high school students who were involved in Quiz Bowl when they were in middle school.

East Middle School Band receives 1 rating at festival

The East Middle School band under the direction of Nicholas Moore, received a 1 rating at the Nevada High School Music Festival Saturday.