North Forsyth Baseball Players Raise Money to Fight Childhood Cancer

On Thursday night, baseball players, coaches and others at North Forsyth High School contributed to the fight against childhood cancer by getting buzz cuts at home plate.

Members of the team made the commitment to have their hair cut as part of their efforts to raise money for the Vs. Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit organization “dedicated to saving kids’ lives by empowering athletes and communities to fund life-saving childhood cancer efforts.” 

Several cancer survivors participated in the event. Bonnie Claire Shelton sang the national anthem. Jackson Hemley of North Forsyth and Savion Littlejohn of Reagan High School each threw a ceremonial first pitch. Jackson is a 5-year-old who had liver cancer. 

Before graduating in 2003, his father, Josh, played baseball for North Forsyth. Littlejohn is a Reagan football player who was diagnosed with a more of Non-Hodgin Lymphoma. As of Thursday, students had raised $4,461 for Vs. Cancer Foundation.

Three professional barbers – Jamie Rutledge and Rick Converse of Old Town Barber Shop and Dean Shore of Wake Forest Barber Shop – were on hand as volunteers to do the honors.

Atkins Student Has Committed to Playing Baseball for Belmont Abbey College Next Year

On April 20, Michael Williams, a senior at Atkins Academic & Technology High School, signed a baseball collegiate award to attend Belmont Abbey College in the fall.

Present at the ceremony were Atkins administrators, Williams’ family, Coach Vic Little, Athletic Director Chad Booth and former Coach Chris Booth.

Belmont Abbey is in Belmont, N.C.

 

You can find out more about Williams in a Winston-Salem Journal profile at Winston-Salem Journal

Forsyth County Association of Educators Elects New Officers

Ronda Gordon has been elected president of the Forsyth County Association of Educators. She will take office on July 1.

Gordon, who is a social worker with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, will serve a two-year term.

She was also re-elected for a final two-year term as president of the Student Services Division of the N.C. Association of Educators (NCAE).

“I serve on both the local and the state boards of NCAE,” she said. “I was elected to serve as NCAE state delegate for NEA (National Education Association).  

The other newly elected officers are:

Treasurer: Alma Cruz

Non-instructional ESP: Kendrick Leak

Elementary School Director: Nakita Carson

Middle School Director: Jeff Shu

High School Director: Debra Troxell

Beginning Teacher Director: Haley Morris

You can learn more about Gordon from her campaign video on YouTube 

HI/VI Field Day Held at BB&T Field

Here are some more pictures from HI/VI Field Day. For the full story, go to Field Day

History of Rock 'n' Roll at The Downtown School

In recent days, Ray Randall, who teaches eighth-grade English at The Downtown Schools, has been teaching a “History of Rock and Roll” class as one of the middle school’s Discovery options.

Colin Tribby, the school’s assistant principal, is friends with Rob Hotchkiss, the co-founder of Train, a Grammy-winning band Train. At Tribby’s invitation, Hotchkiss visited with students via a FaceTime video call to talk about music of the ‘90s.

                                                                                        

Hotchkiss is no longer with the band, but has started a new group with three of Train’s old members.

Earth Day at Konnoak Elementary

Wednesday was Earth Day and, at Konnoak Elementary School, students  – with the help of science teacher Stacy Smith, first-grade teacher assistant Jeffrey Lanier, Principal Shelia Burnette and others - spent the day learning about gardening for sustainability, composting, recycling, and planting. They also created a butterfly garden and an international garden.

Here are some pictures:  

Folks at Walkertown High School Plant Cherry Tree in Memory of Graduate Who Died Last Year

On Thursday evening, Walkertown High School held a tree planting ceremony in remembrance of Tyler Gallimore. 

“Pastor Jesse Clubb, who has sons that attend Walkertown, officiated the service,” said Jayne Koeslin, an Exception Children's teacher in the Occupational Course of Study program at Walkertown. “Tyler was a student from the first graduating class of Walkertown High School. Tyler passed away unexpectedly in July of 2014. He left behind family, staff and friends that thought highly of him. 

“Tyler was in the Occupational Course of Study Program and wanted to work on diesel engines. He loved fishing with his grandpa and hunting, along with cherishing his mom. Tyler is greatly missed by all, but will now have a flowering cherry tree that will remind us daily of him.”

Lowe’s Home Improvement of Kernersville provided the tree.

Third-Graders at Caleb's Creek Elementary Win Recycling Contest

When the students in Laura Barnhardt’s third-grade class at Caleb's Creek Elementary School learned about a plastic-bottle-recycling competition, they decided to participate.

“My class headed the whole bottle drive for our school and worked very hard to raise awareness about recycling,” Barnhardt said. “We collected bottles, labeled each bag, carried them out to our tractor trailer and loaded them.

“Some students came to the fair in Greensboro and unloaded the trailer. We had a total weight of 1,854 pounds of plastic bottles collected in one month. We won the competition and will be receiving $1,000 dollars for our school. We plan to use that for instructional science materials and possibly a bike rack.” 

The students' drive had countless hours of help from student teacher Anna Powell and from such parents as Tina Swisher and Jolie Lencar, Barnhardt said.

It also had lots of help from the community. ChemSource Direct in Kernersville provided bags for the students to use to collect bottles. Such local businesses as Feeny’s Frozen Yogurt gave the bottles the company was recycling to the students. Families, neighbors and other members of the school community contributed. 

Best Logistics Group of Kernersville provided a tractor trailer to use to store the bottles and to take them to the recycling station when the contest ended. By the time, the students were done, it was about almost filled to the top.

“I was very surprised,” Barnhardt said.

And pleased.

To see the story about the contest on WXII-TV, go to WXII

Superintendent Emory Raising Money for Habitat for Humanity as Celebrity Chef

On Wednesday, April 29, Superintendent Beverly Emory will serve as a guest chef at Five Points restaurant on South Stratford Road.

Emory is appearing as part of the restaurants Celebrity Chef Series in which celebrities appear for a night and a percentage of the proceeds goes to a worthy cause. In this case, 15 percent of proceeds will go to Habitat for Humanity of Forsyth County.

Emory will be on hand from 6 to 9 p.m. The night will feature a special menu and wine pairing.

Five Points is at 109 S. Stratford Road. If you have questions, call 448-0970 or check online at Five Points

You will find more information about Habitat for Humanity of Forsyth County at Habitat

Teacher at Clemmons Elementary Named STEM Fellow by Discovery Place Education Studio

Maggie Caldwell

Maggie Caldwell, who teaches fifth grade at Clemmons Elementary School is one of 26 educators named as a 2015 STEM Fellow by Discovery Place Education Studio.

The three-year fellowship prepares local teachers for dynamic, hands-on learning experiences in order to deliver high-impact STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) lessons in the classroom that prepare students for real world challenges.

With more than 70 applications received, 26 educators from North Carolina and South Carolina were selected for the 2015 STEM Fellows cohort.

“STEM Fellows is not only about increasing STEM content in the classroom, but more importantly about learning how to engage students in impactful, meaningful conversations that are relevant in our everyday lives,” said Discovery Place Education Studio director, Stephanie Hathaway. “There is an urgent need both locally and nationally to support teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. Our goal is to equip them with the right tools, technology and confidence that they need to broaden inquiry-based STEM education.”

STEM Fellows is the flagship offering of Discovery Place Education Studio and is designed to give teachers and educators skills and tools that can be adapted to meet the needs of their own classrooms. Over the three-year program, participants will move from learning about STEM content and science education to becoming community problem solvers and engaging in action-based research in their own classrooms.

The new STEM Fellows were invited to participate in Discovery Place Education Studio’s first annual Carolinas STEM Conference last Friday, along with 95 other North and South Carolina educators. The sold-out conference promoted active involvement from its participants by offering hands-on and engaging demonstrations such as 3D printing, simple soldering, circuit art and ocean literacy.

In addition to the conference, STEM Fellows will begin their first year engaging in immersive experiences that focus on supporting growth in pedagogy, before moving into field experiences with STEM-based partners and completing a high level research project.  

The 2015 Fellows join a network of Discovery Place’s previous Fellows from the past five years. STEM Fellows participation is by application only. To qualify, applicants must be full-time educators employed in North Carolina or South Carolina public, private, parochial or charter schools. School or district-level facilitators working with STEM educators and employees of informal education institutions (e.g. museums, zoos) are also encouraged to apply.

For more information about the program, go to Education Studio

Speas Elementary Kindergarten Teacher Headed to Brazil This Summer for International Conference

Clemencia Cardona-Estrada with students

Clemencia Cardona-Estrada, who teaches kindergarten in the Spanish immersion program at Speas Elementary School, has received a grant to attend the iEARN 2015 Conference and Your Summit at the end of July.

“It is in Brasilia, Brazil,” said Principal Robert Ash. “This will be great for her and the school as a Global Gateway school.”

Cardona-Estrada is from Manizales, Colombia. She has been teaching kindergarten for 21 years – 13 in Colombia and 8 in the United States.

As part of the VIF Alumni grant/award, she will receive:

• A $500 stipend for traveling to the conference.
• iEARN conference admission.

• Hotel accommodations for six nights, including breakfast and lunch each day.

• Transportation to and from the hotel/airport.

• A half-day tour of Brasilia, followed by dinner out with VIF staff and other alumni.

For more information about the conference, go to: iEARN Conference

Bookmark Art Contest Open to Middle and High School Students in Forsyth County

If you’re a student in middle or high school and would like to see your art on 5,000 bookmarks, you might want to enter the bookmark art contest sponsored by Bookmarks and Arts for Art’s Sake.

The contest is open to middle and high school students who live in Forsyth County during the 2014-15 school year. The subject should have something to do with reading, books and/or writing.

Using the template available on the Bookmarks website, you must submit a work of art in color. It can be a print, drawing, painting collage, photo or produced on a computer. The artist’s name may not appear on the art. One entry per student.

The printed bookmark will be about 3-inches-by-9-inches. The deadline is May 18. The winner will be notified by June 12. The winning artist will be honored Aug. 28 at a reception at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts and the work of the winner and runners up will be on display through Sept. 21.

For the template and complete rules, go to  Bookmarks

If you have any questions, send an email to gh@bookmarksnc.org or call 747-1471

Some Photos from the International Festival at Speas Elementary

On Thursday, Speas Elementary School held an International Festival.

Here are some pictures from the event:

To read the preview story, go to: Speas International Festival 

More Photos from East Forsyth Middle Celebration of Veterans

Don Isaacs

Jami Kaler and Karen Slepp

For the complete story, go to My Hero Is...

Global Celebraton at Ashley Elementary School

On Saturday, Ashley Elementary School held a Global Celebration.

The celebration began with a parade that included students and staff carrying international flags. On the school campus, booths representing each continent were set up. The booths had activities designed to engage students, parents and guests.

The afternoon also included entertainment by students and special guests. Vendors were on hand and there as food donated by Winston Salem State University.

“There was so much more that made this a huge success,” said Principal Mark Hairston. “Dr. Emory was one of our attendees.”

Here are some photos from the festival:

You can find the story that promoted the festival at Ashley Global Celebration