East Middle School officials have an internet block party

Commentary
By LAELA ZAIDI
Editor

            Have you ever tried to work on a school project in our computer lab? Your teacher says you need to find movies, and some good links? You search it on Google, find a good link, and try clicking on it. Then, the fateful words come up…”you have been restricted.”

            With our brand new building and brand new technology comes a price. Our school officials have been blocking websites right and left. Of course, the usual social networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace, and naughty pages have been blocked. However, it goes deeper than that.

            During the eighth grade third quarter research project in my communication arts class, many kids ran into roadblocks in finding resources. Trying to watch videos from the time period was impossible. Mrs. Thomas, the eighth grade reading teacher, even had a hard time downloading the "I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King, Jr.

            “I was unable to fulfill my research needs at school because they were blocked for entertainment purposes, when really all they were was educational videos.”  Said Celeste Graves.

            Lots of kids at the school believe on that blocking educational sites can also be a kind of censorship. Just because sites having streaming media, don’t mean that they don’t have educational things that we can use.

            So what’s your opinion on the subject? Whatever it is, at this rate school officials definitely won’t stop their “block” party anytime soon!

"Are You Smarter than a Map Tester" fun event for students, parents

BROOKLYN VICKERS

Staff Writer
The parents of East Middle School students received an introduction to what MAP tests are all about during the school's first ever "Are You Smarter than a Map Tester? last month.

Parents and students were treated to a spaghetti red meal, then parents were shown what the MAP tests were all about, actually taking questions from the ACUITY preparation tests. While they were doing that, middle school students participated in math and communication arts activities in their classrooms, and younger children played games in the gymnasium.

(Photo: Mrs. Clara Ervin, instructional coach, hands out prizes at the conclusion of the activity.)

New principal to meet East Middle School teachers

East Middle School faculty and staff will officially meet new Principal Bud Sexson 7:15 a.m. Wednesday, May 5.

Breakfast will be served.

Mr. Sexson will take over as principal for the 2010-2011 school year. Mr. Ron Mitchell, current principal, is leaving to become principal at Lamar High School.

First-ever EMS Dodgeball Tournament held

By CAYLEY HARDISON
Photographer
The first-ever East Middle School Dodgeball Tournament was held after school Friday, April 23. Information about the winners will be featured in an upcoming post.

Offset Sunset, New Rebel Flag perform at EMS Assembly April 20

By BROOKLYN VICKERS
Staff Writer

Christian rock groups Offset Sunset and New Rebel Flag performed at an assembly in the East Middle School Gymnasium April 20.

"It was fun and they got the audience into it and they talked about real problems that we could all relate to," said eighth grader Mackenzie Shamblin.

New principal hired for East Middle School

The Joplin School District has hired Mr. Bud Sexson as East Middle School principal for the 2010-2011 school year.

The following release was issued by Assistant Superintendent Stephen Doerr:

We are very excited to inform everyone that we have hired James (Bud) Sexson as the new principal at East Middle School.  Bud has 20 years of administrative experience in the Bartlesville Schools.  All of his experience has been at the junior high/middle school level.  He is very knowledgeable of middle school student and has a wealth of experience, knowledge and skills in helping to focus the buildings he has lead on the needs of the kids.  Bud will be coming up during various times between now and the start of school, so if you have the opportunity to meet him please be sure to welcome him to our district and to the community.

Sexson replaces Mr. Ron Mitchell, who will be principal at Lamar High School.

Mitchell to become Lamar High School principal

Mr. Ron Mitchell, principal at East and South middle schools for the past nine years will become principal at Lamar High School for the 2010-2011 school year.

More about Mr. Mitchell's move will be featured later on this website.

Show Choir Auditions held April 21st

By: BROOKLYN VICKERS
STAFF WRITER
Picture this: Music filled up the room. A nervous smile breaks through from the young girl’s face. She quickly pushes away her negative feelings, knowing that this is what she wants. This is her whole high school career, thinks the girl. She opens her mouth, and, oh, this girl’s voice was strong. She started to sing. She smiled then lost herself in the song. Her life is to entertain. She’s here to perform.
The date is April 21. Middle School students blossoming into High School students try out for The Joplin high school’s show choir. There are different types of choir that the people have to try out for. They are: Sound Dimension, Touch of Class, The Choral Concert Choir, and the treble choir. They had to start with a dance. Difficult? Definitely not! Well, for the JEMS anyway. Everyone had to go to a secluded room and sing-NOT ACAPELLA!
There is tension creeping behind kids as they walk from class to class, waiting to find the news of their audition. Good luck girls…and Khristopher Daily!

DodgeballTournament set for Friday

By CAYLEY HARDISON
Staff Writer

The first ever Dodgeball Tournament will be held at East Middle School in the auditorium at 4:30 on Friday and will last until all teams have competed.
There is no admission fee and the concession stand will be open.

Winners announced in EIghth Grade Poetry Contest

Winners in the annual East Middle School Poetry Contest have been selected.

The winners, whose poems will be published in a national book are Dani Wildcox, Janessa Jones, and Meagan Camden. Their poems are printed below:


EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY
By Dani Wilcox

The little girl I knew,
grew up confused and abused.
This innocent child was frequently used.

She had no one to guide her,
and no one to hide her,
causing pain and fear to grow inside her.

She never ran,
and she'd never hide,
she'd just sit there confused inside.

She never told until one night,
he was coming back
and she was filled with fright.

"I should have been there,"
her mother said,
as crazy thoughts filled her head.

But the little girl did not wish him dead
she was confused,
and prayed the news would not spread.

Somehow it did,
and she was protected,
but in several ways she was also rejected.

Rejection confused her,
she did not want to lose her,
her former best friend now thinks she's a loser.

A liar, a slut,
anything but,
the confused little girl she was.

Down the road she took the wrong path,
you do the math,
she took the WRONG path.

She'd use and abuse,
and she tried to refuse
the help that she needed to get.

The help was forced upon her,
and she'd start to wonder
if everything would soon be okay.

A SLAVE TORN
By Meagan Camden

A slave torn and beat,
he could never truly break free.
He is a slave,
a slave who was beat and abused,
a slave who was always used.

It ain't his fault.
He was a slave, torn and beat,
who could never truly break free.

COCKROACH
By Janessa Jones

I went into the kitchen
and turned on the light.
"Hello" came from the cockroach
with kindness and delight.

She said, "Have you seen my children.
I had them them here tonight.
Watch where you step,
you'll give them quite a fright."

I turned around and saw her kids
running the other way.
She said not to leave.
I told her I couldn't stay.

Orchestra concert held at EMS

By KAYLA JOHNSON
Staff Writer
Cindy Oster, Mariane Addington, and Linda Hailey conducted the Joplin Mass Orchestra Concert Tuesday night at East Middle School. Cindy Oster then strolled off to play the piano. The program included the 13 Joplin elementary schools, North Middle, South Middle, East Middle School, and JHS. It was a successful night, although the parking was a little rough. Parking was so bad some people missed the concert and some had to park blocks away. First, the elementaries played,then the middle schools, followed by the high school (including the strolling strings and some of the JHS band)
At the end, the middle school and the high school orchestras came together to play fiddles on “Fire.” Instruments included the violin, the viola, the cello, the bass, the double bass, clarinet, flute, French horn, and the bassoon.

Seventh grade class undergoing a Renaissance

By VALERIE ROYER
Staff Writer
Mr. Jason Weaver’s students in his seventh grade history class are studying the Renaissance time period. The Renaissance was a time of rebirth and renewal, where everybody started over. Everybody is picking something they want to improve themselves that has to do with school.
The students are going to be monitoring their progress over about three weeks. Every couple of days they will blog about their progress. “They are doing this because I think whatever you are studying, even history, it needs to be able to be applied to real life and useful to you. So this will be a real life situation that helps study the Renaissance time period,” Mr. Weaver said.

Show choir selected for 2010-2011 school year

By CAYLEY HARDISON
and MACKENZIE SHAMBLIN

J.E.M.S. have been selected for the 2010-2011 school year. Tryouts were held earlier this month.

First sopranos include Maggie Baker, Destiny Horine, Alize' Iverson, Kaley Moser, Kat Rodgers, Annie Strickling, Amelia Street, and Alyssa Wescoat.

Second sopranos include Haley Forest, Kylie Howerton, Riley Ingram, Kiah Poulson, Miranda Sanders, Rickelle Stafford, Avery Tanner, Karly Weber, and Logan Whitehead.

Altos include Deonna Cole, Shana Cover, Ashlie Green, Abbi Hendrix, Bethany Martin, Adrienne Myers, Renee Oviedo, Faith Reynolds, and Azia Wheatley.

Eighth graders completing civil rights research project

Eighth graders in Mr. Randy Turner's communication arts class will complete the third quarter civil rights research project next Tuesday, when the final draft of their paper is due.

The students are required to write a 1,000 word research paper on some aspect of the civil rights movement, make an oral presentation, and a multi-media presentation.

Two students in the fourth hour class, Taryn Parker and Adison Wright conducted a telephone interview with Rita Schwerner, widow of Michael Schwerner, one of three civil rights workers murdered in MIssissippi in the summer of 1964.

The interview and many of the research papers will be posted on the Room 210 Civil Rights website, a site established for the project.

(Photos by Stesha Hiebert and Kiefer Fortuck- Top, Adison Wright and Taryn Parker interview Rita Schwerner Bender, Taryn's Mississippi Murders poster, Cayley Hardison and Sabrina Randles put up civil rights posters in Mr. Turner's room, Mackenzie Shamblin plays while Cayley does the work.)

East Middle School sweeps Elks Lodge Essay Contest

East Middle School took first, second, and third place honors in the seventh and eighth grade division of the annual Elks Lodge Essay Contest.

This year's topic was "The American Dream: What is It?"

Eighth grader Taylor Caldwell took first place, seventh grader Mitch Woods; and the third place winner was Laela Zaidi.

Laela Zaidi, Celeste Graves named EMS Journalism Club co-editors

Intelligence, energy, positive attitude and a strong work ethic.

The description fits eighth graders Celeste Graves and Laela Zaidi, the new co-editors of the East Middle School Journalism Club.

"These two young ladies' energy and enthusiasm has helped us take the Journalism Club in some new and exciting directions," Mr. Randy Turner, co-sponsor of the club, along with Mrs. Angel Mense, said.

Those directions, Mr. Turner said, include putting the Journalism Club on Facebook and Twitter, adding a YouTube channel, and live-blogging of school activities on this blog.

"The Journalism Club is in good hands with Laela and Celeste," Mr. Turner said. The two eighth graders have not had to carry the work alone. We have a solid group of eighth graders," Mr. Turner said, "and the best group of seventh graders we have ever had.

"This a great group. I can't wait to see what ideas they come up with the rest of the year."

East wins 49-18 in home finale

East Middle School eighth graders closed out the home portion of their schedule in style tonight, defeating Neosho 49-18.
The outcome of the game was never in doubt after Eli Taylor nailed two three-pointers and Quantal Brown nailed another one in the opening period, which ended with East leading 12-4.

The home team built its lead to 24-7 at halftime and 38-11 after three quarters.

Chase Hall and Dillon McVey shared scoring honors with 12 points apiece, doing their damage in completely different ways. Hall scored all of his points form under the boarda and at the free throw line, while McVay found the range for four three-pointers.

Scoring- Hall 12, McVay 12, Charlie Brown 9, Taylor 7, Q. Brown 6, Wesley Hooks 3.

Downtown Dillon, acrobatic Quantel helped build East lead

It was enough to give Neosho's coach a permanent case of heartburn.

Qunntal Brown picked a Wildcat's pocket, scooted around two defenders and tossed in an underhand shot facing away from the basket, bringing about an immediate timeout from the visitors.

Joplin East led 24-7 at halftime and after Neosho scored the first basket, two Dillon McVay three-pointers and Brown's acrobatic shot enabled East to go on a 14-2 run and lead 38-11 after three quarters.

Action from eighth grade A game

Joplin East leads 24-7 at halftime

Joplin 8th leads Neosho 24-7 in the final home game.

Eli Taylor and Chase Hall each have seven points, with Taylor ripping the nets from downtown and Hall working the boards. Dillon McVay and Qunatal Brown each nailed a three-pointer and Charlie Brown added four points.

In the B game, Terrell Gilmore was on fire, scoring 18 points as East won 31-22. Also scoring were Malachai Poling with 11, and Oswaldo Gomez and Jonthan Ponce had one apiece.