Friday, December 20, 2013

EMS students buy toys for underprivileged children

(From Joplin Schools)

On Thursday, Dec. 19, students at East Middle School made a Christmas presentation to area fire departments. Members of the East Middle School Student Council purchased toys for underprivileged children in the Joplin area. They delivered the toys to the fire department members for their annual distribution. EMS Student Council member Ethan Vang formally handed the toys over to Mr. Branham of the Joplin Fire Department during an assembly in front of the student body.

This year's purchases amounted to $1,043 plus some additional toy donations by individuals. The student council raised the money through candy sales and sponsoring a Halloween dance. Over the past 15 years, more than $15,000 has been raised by East students for this project.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

New East Middle School featured in USA Today

The new East Middle School, as well as Soaring Heights and Irving elementary schools are spotlighted in USA Today:

"It's one more step toward returning to normalcy," said Jeff Koch, 40.

Two of Koch's four kids will be attending East Middle School when the school officially opens next month.

Koch was touring the new digs Monday night as part of an open house for the near-completed school.


"For almost three years, everything was temporary -- it was always temporary," Koch said.

"Here is a place they can have memories."



Sunday, December 08, 2013

From December 2012: JEMS Show Choir performs at benefit talent show

Between now and Christmas, I am going to spotlight Christmas stories and videos from previous years on the East Middle School Roundabout and Room 210 News sites. The first one features the JEMS Show Choir, under the direction of Ms. Julie Yonkers performing at a benefit talent show in the EMS commons area.

Friday, December 06, 2013

First signing for Scars from the Tornado canceled

The long-awaited first signing for Scars from the Tornado: One Year at Joplin East Middle School, is going to have wait a little longer.

I called Jeff Auckerman, book manager at Vintage Stock on the Mall a few minutes ago and canceled the event, which had been scheduled for Saturday afternoon. I will reschedule sometime after Christmas.

The book, which details former East Middle School students' tornado experiences and our first year in a warehouse school, features essays by students and by me and student poems.

Scars was published in March, but due to the problems Joplin R-8 school officials had with the book, which have been written about on this blog numerous times, it and the wonderful writing done by these young people never received the attention it deserved.

For those who do not yet have a copy of the book, it is available locally at Vintage Stock on the Mall, Always Buying Books, and Changing Hands Book Shoppe in Joplin, and at Pat's Books in Carthage. Amazon has them on sale at the moment for $8.60.


Saturday, November 09, 2013

From Spirit of Hope: The 2012 Joplin High School graduation

(In this sample chapter from Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado, I write about the 2012 Joplin High School Graduation ceremony with the emphasis on Sarah Kessler, a graduate and one of my former students, who lost her home during the May 22, 2011, tornado. Spirit of Hope is available in e-book format for 99 cents now through 10 a.m. Monday.)


The smile never vanished from Sarah Kessler’s face as she listened to the names of one student after another being called onstage to receive their diplomas.

It takes a while to go through 431 names. Fortunately for Sarah, her name was closer to the beginning of the alphabet so she would have to stand in line for much less time than some of her classmates.

It had been an exciting evening for the tall, slender (“I’m a beanpole,” she says) senior. About an hour and a half earlier she had been in a room with the President of the United States. It was not her voice that said, “Oh, my God, the leader of the free world,”-that was a classmate- but she could understand the awe.

The Joplin High School Class of 2012 listened to seemingly endless speeches- from High School Principal Kerry Sachetta, Superintendent C. J. Huff, Gov. Jay Nixon, and yes, from President Barack Obama “the leader of the free world,” in a ceremony that started a few minutes late.

All of the speakers had praised Sarah and her classmates. “You are an inspiration,” the president had said, but somehow Sarah did not feel like an inspiration. As she waited, she thought back over the past year, the path that led her from the most horrifying moments of her life, some spent in this same building, the Leggett & Platt Center on the Missouri Southern State University campus, to where she was today, a few moments from receiving her diploma- her ticket into adulthood.

It still brought a shudder to her every time she thought about the events of May 22, 2011.

That weekend had been a big one for the Kessler family. A day earlier, the wedding of Sarah’s older sister, Kate, had taken place. Sarah and her brother, Will, had provided music for the occasion- Sarah on her beloved violin, Will on guitar.

“My entire family was in town,” Sarah recalled. The family stayed for another big event the next day, Will Kessler’s graduation with the Joplin High School Class of 2011.

The family watched with pride as Will received his diploma, had pictures taken afterward, and then Will left. “He had a party he was going to, so he left before the rest of us,” Sarah said. It was shortly after Will left that the tornado siren sounded.

As the rest of the Kessler family was about to leave, a security guard stopped them. “He told us we had to go to the basement. We didn’t have a choice. We were all wanting to leave.”

The guard escorted the family to the locker room area with five or six other families to wait out the storm. “We were down there for a quite a while,” Sarah said. It was there that they received word that Home Depot had been hit. “That’s when we started to get nervous about my brother because we live a block from the high school. One of the easiest ways to get from the college to my house was down 20th.”

Scaring the Kesslers even more was their inability to contact Will. There was no phone coverage in the locker room. “That was the scariest 30 minutes in my life, not knowing where my brother was, or even if he was still alive.”

Finally, they were able to contact Will. He had been driving through the heart of the storm. “He said he prayed the whole time he was in the car. He just got a new car and he is a good driver. Thank God for both of those things. He said was dodging flying cars, flying trees,” Sarah lowered her voice, “flying people.”

Will Kessler ended up at a church at 26th and Connecticut.

Now that they knew Will was all right, the family piled into two cars to head toward their home, which they now knew had been in the path of the tornado.

“We went down Rangeline, but that wasn’t going to happen. It was mass chaos everywhere, so we drove down side streets. It was terrifying; the closer we got to home, the worse the destruction. We wondered if home was going to be there.”

As what would normally be a 15-minute trip had already taken more than a half hour, Sarah’s dad received a call from Will.

“Where are you?” her father asked.

“Home.”

“Do we have a home left?”

“Sort of.”

Still seven blocks from home, Sarah’s dad stopped the car, jumped out and began walking. Sarah’s cousin took the wheel. After what seemed an eternity, Sarah was close enough to see her house.

“I will never be able to forget that. We were on Indiana and I can remember driving up to 20th Street. I could see clear to the hospital. There was nothing there. I saw the school, then I looked slightly to the left. Our house was built a little better than the ones around us. It was the least damaged. The lower level was still standing. You could see a part of the upper story where my brother’s room was.”

The first words she said when she saw what was left of her home will be forever burned into her memory. “I remember looking at it, crying, and saying to my cousin, ‘That’s my house. That’s my house.’ All I could think was it was gone.”

At that point, Sarah got out of the car, stepping over downed power lines, walking between cars. “I walked the path between the school and my house, the same as I had done every day since my freshman year.”

She spotted Will and ran to him, hugging him. The two stood crying. They checked on neighbors to make sure they were all right and then went into their house to see what had survived.

Much of the family’s irreplaceable sentimental items, including photo albums and papers, were unharmed since they were under their parents’ bed in the lower level. “We were able to salvage quite a bit,” Sarah said. “We were fortunate.”

And the one possession that Sarah cherished above all others- her violin- was also undamaged, as was her brother’s guitar. “We had played my sister down the aisle at the wedding and when we got home, we left the instruments downstairs in the hallway.”  Had they taken the instruments upstairs where they were normally kept, they would have been swept away.

“That was about the only happy thing that happened that night. I love playing the violin. It has always been special to me.”

For the next few weeks after the tornado, Sarah and her family stayed with Matt Proctor, president of Ozark Christian College, his wife, Katie, and their six children. Some of the time Sarah stayed with Rebecca McMillin, her best friend since kindergarten.

The Kessler family lost some of its animals, but “we found two of our rabbits and two of our cats.” The family also had two dogs, Hank, a yellow lab, and Rusty, a golden retriever.

After a few days, Rebecca McMillin talked Sarah into going to the Humane Society to see if her dogs were there. “I didn’t want to go. I was afraid I wouldn’t find them.” When they walked into the building with the dogs, “I saw Rusty right off the bat. I went up to the cage and he started barking.” When he was released, he ran into Sarah. “Basically, he almost knocked me over. It was so good to see him.”

Sarah was never able to find Hank.

A new home had to be found for Rusty after the Kesslers moved into an apartment, where they would have to stay for quite a while before their house could be rebuilt.

In the days following the tornado, many friends helped the Kessler family through its ordeal, including some they had never met before. “The people from our church (Central City Christian Church) were there for us. They helped us with our house and helped us move into our apartment.”

The summer was a blur for Sarah. After a couple of weeks dealing with the aftermath of the worst night of her life, Sarah had an opportunity to get away from it all for a short time, as she traveled with Ozark Christian College’s Highest Praise Choir, playing her violin. “It was nice to get away,” she said. “It was such an encouraging environment.”

When she returned, it was not to the home she had known for her whole life, but to a place she had never seen before. “I didn’t quite have a room. My room was full of boxes, so I stayed on the couch in the living room for a while, but that was okay. It took us quite a while to get everything put in its place. It was mass chaos.”

It was also not the home she knew. “We had just remodeled our house, spent the last two or three months before the tornado just totally redoing it. We had a beautiful new deck. I told everyone that next year, we would have to have all of our study parties at my house.

“Obviously, that didn’t happen.”

Sarah threw herself into volunteer work, helping Forest Park Baptist Church’s Mission Joplin. Sarah’s plans to spend her summer looking for colleges were tossed aside. That would have to wait.

Before she knew it, it was time for her senior year of high school to begin, not at the historic building she could walk to every morning, but in a box store at Northpark Mall. “I thought it would be poorly put together. When school actually started, it was so much better than I could have possibly imagined. It’s not the best, obviously, because it is not a permanent facility, but it worked.”

Sarah will never forget the first day of school at Northpark Mall. “It was all hugs and laughter and smiles. Even with people you barely knew, it was like, ‘Oh, my goodness. I know you. You’re alive.’ “

That spirit continued throughout the school year. “The student body seemed to be closer. There is something that links us all together.”

As the school year passed, there were many positive moments such as using another tornado survivor, her violin, to earn a I rating at state and being a part of the Prom Court. “That was something totally unexpected.” Her fourth year as a member of Key Club, a service organization, was also a highlight. Sarah was lieutenant governor on the Missouri/Arkansas Board.

And while she didn’t have a deck for study parties, she had something even better. “We have a roof at our apartment,” she said. “The other night my dad and I had a candlelight dinner of beans and weenies on our roof.”

Even though the Kessler family will soon move back into a house, Sarah confided, “I kind of like our little apartment. We all secretly kind of like it.”

The experience of living through the tornado has helped strengthen Sarah Kessler’s faith. “I’m a Christian. I’m very proud of that. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is to trust in Him no matter what. No matter what the situation is, He will take care of you.”

God helped provide for her family, Sarah said, with everything from saving her brother Will the day of the tornado to helping them to cope with the aftermath of the storm.

“I went through, maybe not quite depression, but I wasn’t my normal, bouncy self for a while,” Sarah said. “When that happened, I needed to reconnect with Him. I learned that the more I make an effort in my relationship with God, the more joyful and hopeful I was, the more content I was.”

By this time, Sarah had moved to near the front of the line. In a few moments, her name would be called and she would leave Joplin High School forever. The next stop for Sarah will be Missouri State University in Springfield where she will study music education.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher since I was little. I like helping other people learn and I have a lot of patience. Teaching comes naturally to me.”

“Sarah Kessler.”

A smile spread across her face and there was a spring in her walk as she stepped forward to receive her diploma. She turned to her family in the audience and smiled, then she took a brief moment to give thanks.

The path to graduation had not been an easy one for Sarah Kessler, but the moment had arrived and she knew this was never something she could have done alone.

“One big lesson I have learned this year is that even when you can’t feel God’s presence, that doesn’t mean He’s not there. God has promised us he will never leave us.”

This time, Sarah felt His presence.

Monday, November 04, 2013

First signing for Scars from the Tornado set for December 7 at Vintage Stock on the Mall

It certainly has taken long enough, but the first signing for Scars from the Tornado: One Year at Joplin East Middle School has been set for 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, December 7, at Vintage Stock on the Mall.

Scars features stories that I wrote about my experiences during our first year in the warehouse school, as well as stories and poems written by my students.

I will be contacting people who contributed to the book, so that they can have the experience of being involved in a book signing.

Copies of 5:41: Stories from the Joplin TornadoSpirit of Hope, and No Child Left Alivewill also be available.

More information about the book will be provided in coming posts.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

MSSU student Taylor Camden speaks to eighth graders

Taking the photo

As we continue catching up on videos, this one comes from the Christmas Dance, when drama teacher Ms. Lara Stamper was roped into taking photos.

EMS Color Guard performs at pep rally

As we continue to catch up on videos that have not been available due to technical difficulties, here is the Color Guard, under the direction of Ms. Lara Stamper performing at the winter sports pep rally last month.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

JEMS Show Choir performs at Benefit Show

Another one that has been a while in coming. In this video, the JEMS Show Choir, under the direction of Ms. Julie Yonkers, performs at the Dec. 1 benefit show to raise money for toys for the Joplin Fire Department's annual Christmas for Kids program.

EMS students contribute to Joplin Christmas for Kids, Sandy Hook Elementary

Because of technical problems, we are just now able to get some videos from earlier in the school year posted. In this one, taken the week before Christmas vacation, EMS students learn at an assembly that they raised more than $1,400 for the Joplin Fire Department's Christmas for Kids program and they were challenged to raise money to help Sandy Hook Elementary School Family Fund. That challenge resulted in a couple of hundred dollars being sent to Newtown, Conn.




JHS students talk to eighth graders

This panel discussion, which features Joplin High School students talking to EMS eighth graders was held the last day before Christmas break.

Friday, March 29, 2013

EMS eighth graders learn about technology they will have in high school

In this video, which was taken in December, former EMS students, now students at Joplin High School, returned to East to tell students about the technology that will be available to them next year.

The presentation took place on the half-day just before the Christmas break. The entire morning was filled with speaker from JHS and JHS graduates, who talked to the eighth graders about high school and about their future.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Four EMS cheerleaders make freshman squad

Four East Middle School eighth graders have been selected as freshman cheerleaders following recent tryouts.

Those chosen were Shae Hogan, Taylor Robinson, Lydia Routledge and Amy Walser.

Former East students who made the junior varsity team were Abi Killinger, Lexi Ruddick, Amelia Street, and Annie Strickling.

Former East students chosen for the varsity squad were Blair Wallace, Tiffani Redding, Riley Ingram, and Connor Barnett.

Monday, March 11, 2013

From Scars from the Tornado: I Am Proud to Call Joplin My Home

The following story, written by eighth grader Taylor Robinson, is featured in the newly-published book Scars from the Tornado: One Year at Joplin East Middle School. The book is available now through Wednesday evening as a free e-book download.


Who would have thought such a tragedy could happen to Joplin?

Trust me, that is not what was on my mind when I was at Grand Lake in Grove, Okla. The weather was so nice. Beams of sunlight peeked through the clouds and the water felt good on my hot skin.

After a while, it started to get cloudy, so we headed toward the docks. The wind blew through my hair as we rode to the campground. We hooked the boats up to our trucks. It was around 4:30 p.m. Our parents started talking, so my friend, Kayden, and I went inside her camper and got some snacks.

Kayden’s parents were in the middle of building a camp, so they were carrying logs to the side of the shelter. My parents and their friends stayed to help and all of the six kids let out a small cheer. We got to hang out longer!

We went inside Kayden’s camper again and started to play Monopoly. After about an hour, we got bored. All of the kids came outside with Kayden and me. The time was now a little after 5:40 p.m. We wanted to listen to music on Kissin’ 92.5. We were ready to sing and dance, but that excitement quickly disappeared.

My parents’ friend turned on the radio in her Jeep and what we heard was definitely not music. A guy was talking loud and fast in a panicky voice. I heard him say something about a tornado in Joplin and I was a bit confused. I mean, nothing ever hits Joplin, so I figured it was a minor tornado that blew about five shingles off a couple of roofs.

I was wrong.

We listened a bit longer and the reports of damage kept getting worse. My mother logged onto Facebook and the news feed was overflowing with comments about this tornado. My mom came across one that said 18th Street was gone.

That was my street!

I choked back tears and tried to stay strong so I wouldn’t worry the younger kids who were with me. I was scared because I did not know what Joplin was like or if it was as bad as everyone said it was. I longed to know if Joplin was okay, if my friends, family, and neighbors were still alive, and if my house was really affected.

The little kids didn’t know what was happening, and for a moment, neither did I. Kayden already had tears streaming down her face. All of the four families rushed to their cars. We were soon on the road heading for Joplin. My head was going berserk. So many questions were running through my mind and I had a lot of mixed emotions. My uncle sent a picture of the front of my house. It did not look horrible. After a few seconds, though, I noticed that only our garage was standing and it was barely up. I let out a small whimper, which suddenly turned to tears. I remembered that my dog was at home in the house when the tornado hit.

We texted my uncle to ask and he said there was no sign of Buddy. I tried to stay strong for my sister, but it kept getting harder and harder to choke back my tears. I started to see the destruction as we drove down I-44. These houses did not look too bad, but we drove further and the damage was much worse.

I saw people in hospital gowns being aided and guided down the street. We checked on my grandma and her house was fine, but she wasn’t there. We got back in our car and tried to find our way to our house. The police made us stop and park our car on 24th and Connecticut. We had to walk the rest of the way. I had never seen so much damage in my life. Wires, trees, cars, and many other things were mangled and all over the ground. I saw people walking the streets with leaves/debris in their hair and on their bodies. We approached my street and I took a shaky breath.

I ran down the road, hopping over wires and tree limbs. I looked at what was once my home. My family and I walked up our driveway and our relatives and neighbors surrounded us and gave us hugs. I kept trying to see the house, but they thought it would be too overwhelming. I requested to see my room. I stopped breathing. I started choking, trying not to cry, but I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I fell to the ground bawling. My aunt took me in her arms and held me there until I calmed down.

My room was completely gone; I had nothing left. Broken pieces of my belongings were scattered across the floor and the lawn. My sister’s room was crushed. Pile after pile of debris, some walls, and bedroom furniture. The kitchen, living room, bathrooms, my parents’ room, and all of the other rooms in the house had all of the contents scattered and destroyed.

It was hard to take in reality and understand what was happening, and the next several months after this disaster felt like a dream, but Joplin is coming back stronger and better than ever and I am proud of the hard working citizens, but most importantly, I am proud to call Joplin my home.

Harlem Shake comes to East Middle School

The national fad, the Harlem Shake, came to East Middle School during eighth grade lunch Thursday.

Video by Nick Shellenbarger, Journalism Club Editor

Routledges win EMS Trivia Night competition

The Routledges, featuring eighth graders Lydia Routledge and Michaela West, took first place honors in the first East Middle School Trivia Night Friday night in the commons area.

The fundraiser was sponsored by the eighth grade faculty team to raise funds for the upcoming field trip to a Springfield Cardinals game/sports and entertainment job seminar.

The winning team received a trophy, plaques, and copies of the new book Scars from the Tornado: One Year at Joplin East Middle School.

The fundraiser brought in more than $500.

East MIddle School story told in Scars from the Tornado






The story of East Middle School, from the tornado on May 22, 2011, through the end of our first year in our warehouse school is told in the new book, Scars from the Tornado: One Year at Joplin East Middle School. The first print copies arrived at East Friday, with another shipment coming in today.


From now through Wednesday evening, Scars from the Tornado will be available as a free e-book download from Amazon Kindle. For those who do not have Kindle readers, there are free Kindle apps for PCs, Macs, IPhones, IPads, and other devices that connect to the internet.

Following is a breakdown of what is included in Scars from the Tornado:

Foreword- This features a story that a former East student, Joplin High School sophomore Rylee Hartwell, wrote about the school shortly after the tornado.

A Teacher's Story- Over several chapters, Mr. Randy Turner, eighth grade communication arts teacher, writes about the last day at East before the tornado hit, the tornado and his first trip back to the school, the meeting at Missouri Southern where Principal Bud Sexson outlined what the warehouse school was going to be like, the return to school, the first day and much more.

Tornado Stories- This section features the students recounting their tornado stories. Some were right in the middle of it. Others feared for their friends. It affected all of them. Students with stories in this section include Jennifer Nguyen, Nick Shellenbarger, Abi Killinger, Alexandra Stelts, Donna Tomlinson, Maggie Baker, Cami Sanders, Kaley Moser, Amber Fleming, Desirae Orlaski, Taylor Robinson, Keisha Grunden, Courtney Hunt, Victoria Stehm, Garrett Severs,  and Ryan Ball.

The School Year- This section features stories from the students about our year in the warehouse, with some commenting about the school. Those contributing stories include Sarah Peterson, Megan Hickey, Amy Koch, Jennifer Nguyen, Annie Strickling, Stella Ndauwa, and Melinda Adams. Megan, Amy, and Jennifer contributed multiple stories in this section.

Parting Shots- This section includes a longer story Mr. Turner wrote about the people from around the world who let us know that we were not alone in our battle. My story centers around our 86-year-old penpal from Santa Barbara who has come to mean a lot to Mr. Turner's students both last year and this year. The section also has shorter comments from Cara Marshall, Jimmie Willerton, Audrey Kanan, Taelor Stone, Logan Whitehead, Amelia Street, and Madison Meinhardt.

Tornado Poems- Among those contributing to this section are students Mykah Campbell, Michaela West, Sean Harrison, Ashton McGehee, Karly Weber, Jacy Welch, Mackenzie Gunderson, Bridget Ingham, Jerry Bland, Joseph Fry, Beth Dulinsky, and teacher Kathy Weaver.

The book also includes a photo section.

Three copies of the book are available in the East Middle School Library.

(Photo: Eighth grader Melinda Adams, who wrote one of the stories in Scars from the Tornado, examines her copy.

Thursday, February 07, 2013

8th Grade Enjoys Honor Roll Field Trip

By: DESIRAE ORLASKI
Journalism Club Editor

East Middle School eighth graders had their honor roll field trip on February 1st. They first went to the mall with their own money to buy lunch, then headed over to the Bridge for hours of fun.

With Nine-Square, Wii games, concession stands, ping-pong, and many more things to do, the Bridge was a wonderful break from school.




Thursday, January 24, 2013

We're Live Blogging the Pep Rally Tomorrow!

By DESIRAE ORLASKI
Journalism Club Editor

East Middle School Journalism Club will be hosting a live blog tomorrow during the pep rally. We will be updating our Facebook page and our Twitter account, which will be at 3 p.m.

Spirit Week, Play - Top East Activites

By DESIRAE ORLASKI
Journalism Club Editor

East Middle School has an Alice in Wonderland play, directed by Ms. Lara Stamper, coming up on April 25th at South Middle School for an Elementary performance and an evening performance for parents, and April 26th on the evening for the final performance day.

In the meantime, East Middle School has been holding Spirit Week:

Tuesday, 1/22 – Twin Day

Wednesday, 1/23 – Cartoon Character Day

Thursday, 1/24 - Celebrity Day

Friday, 1/25 - Eagle Wear Day
 

Sixth grade quiz bowl team takes second at East history competition

It was the best finish ever for an East Middle School sixth grade quiz bowl team, when it tied for second place in the history competition at East Thursday, Jan. 17. The team is coached by Ms. Crystal Stokes.

Team members shown are Linda Switzer, Jessica Nguyen, Maggie White, and Steven Johnson.




Thursday, January 10, 2013

Photography Club holds first meeting


Mr. Rocky Biggers talks to members of the photography club during its first meeting Thursday. Pictured are Joel Shannon (Bottom Left), Katie Brown (Bottom Right), Brian Murray (Top Left), and Nick Shellenbarger (Top Left). Photo by Keith Logan