Morrisville Elementary Team Heads to Odyssey of the Mind World Finals

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Bill Poston

Morrisville Elementary will send a team to compete in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals Tournament this month.

The team of Andrew Downhower, Krishan Guzzo, Anthony Guzzo, Liam McHale, Michael Biddle, Timothy Downs, and Hiromu Koyama has worked on Odyssey of the Mind’s Problem 1, Ooh-Motional Vehicle.  Under the guidance of coaches Bethanne Downhower and Kavita Nanda, they worked hard to successfully design, build and maneuver a vehicle that will display at least three emotions as it travels both forwards and backwards within a set area as part of an 8-minute original performance.   

The team of fifth-grade boys took second place in their division in the Eastern Regional Tournament on March 3 and placed first for their division at the state Odyssey of the Mind Tournament on March 31 at Wingate University.  The first placed state finish propelled them to the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals Tournament at Iowa State University from May 23 to 26.  

The Morrisville team will serve as a buddy team to a team of students from Singapore. 

The last time a team from Morrisville Elementary advanced to the World Finals was in 2008.

Thanks to teacher and Odyssey of the Mind Coordinator Christina Balsamo Heir for sharing this story.

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Capital City Sertoma Club Recognizes 25 WCPSS African American Academic Achievers

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Bill Poston

The Capital City Sertoma Club recognized 25 Wake County Public School System African-American students with the highest grade point average in their school’s graduating class at its Annual Academic Achievers Recognition Banquet at the North Raleigh Hilton. 

The students are:
Sarah Pak of Apex High.
Kedamawit Tilahum of Athens Drive High.  
Grace Osagie of Cary High.
Breania Yount of East Wake School of Health Sciences.
Shannon Jackson of East Wake School of Arts, Education and Global Studies.
Wynn Burnett of East Wake School of Engineering Systems.
Gabriel Rollins of East Wake School of Integrated Technology.
Kenya Watson of Enloe Magnet High.
Tyra Person of Fuquay-Varina High.
Ashley Courtney of Garner Magnet High.
Noni Alexander of Green Hope High.
Mikia Langford of Heritage High.
Ruhamma Wolle of Holly Springs High.
Bright Gyami of Knightdale High.
Emmanuel Shiferaw of Leesville Road High.
Keyona Jones of Phillips High.
James Peterkin of Middle Creek High.
Fatoumata Diakko of Panther Creek High.
Kide Nnadike of Millbrook Magnet High.
Darren Geiger of Sanderson High.
Ozioma Onuoha of Southeast Raleigh Magnet High.
Anita Adams of the Wake Early College of Health Sciences.
Phillip Hardy of Wake Forest-Rolesville High.
Jasmine Stanley of Wakefield High. 

Some of the students indicated their future university plans. Eight plan to attend North Carolina universities. Adams, Hardy and Tilahum plan to attend NC State University. Person, Courtney and Nnadike plan to attend UNC-Chapel Hill. Alexander plans to attend Appalachian State University. Yount plans to attend UNC-Wilmington. Eight plan to attend out-of-state universities. Three received full scholarships: Stanley for Columbia University, Gyami for Notre Dame and Onuoha for Princeton University. Osagie plans to attend Johns Hopkins University. Peterkin and Diakko plan to attend Clemson University. Watson plans to attend Columbia University. Jackson Plans to attend Spellman College.

Wake school board chair Kevin Hill congratulated the students.  Thanks to Assistant Superintendent Marvin Connelly for sharing this story.

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100 Black Men Award Scholarships to WCPSS Students

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Bill Poston

The Triangle East Chapter of the national organization 100 Black Men presented scholarships to nine Wake County Public School System African American male students at its 8th Annual Scholarship and Awards Gala held at the Sheraton Imperial in RTP. The scholarships were awarded to Alec Barner, Justin LeGrand Langford, Runako Reed and Louis Williams of Enloe Magnet High; Jalan Burton of Broughton High; Kahlil Perine of Fuquay Varina High, Zachery Thomas of Garner Magnet High; Christopher Carrington of Knightdale High; and Isaiah Avent of Wake Forest-Rolesville High. All of these students participated in the 100 Black Men’s Mentor program.

The organization presented an award to the Wake County Public School System as its Community Partner of the Year.

Thanks to Assistant Superintendent Marvin Connelly for sharing this story.

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Green Hope Wins State NCHSAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Bill Poston

Green Hope High rolled past Catholic High of Charlotte 17-6 in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s  third annual state women’s lacrosse championship Saturday afternoon at WakeMed Soccer Park.

Green Hope had a 9-6 lead at intermission. In the second half , Green Hope shut out Catholic while scoring eight more goals. The Falcons completed a perfect 20-0 season while Catholic wound up 19-2, with both losses to Green Hope.

Green Hope Midfielder Maggie Auslander was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the championship.

The lacrosse state championships are currently conducted as an open tournament, with all classifications competing for a single crown.

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Wakefield Repeats as Women’s Champs in NCHSAA State 4-A Track and Field

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Bill Poston

Wakefield won the women’s title for the third straight year on Saturday in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state 4-A  track and field championships at the Irwin Belk Track at North Carolina A&T.

Wakefield recorded 60 points to 35 for runner-up West Mecklenburg. A total of 51 schools scored in the women’s meet.

Ariah Graham won the 400 individually in 55.14 seconds for Wakefield and ran on the winning 4×400-relay team with Tiana Patillo, Tyra Lea and freshman Je’May Ward. That quartet set a new state record of 3:47.72. They broke the record set by another team of Wakefield runners two years ago.

Alexis Murphy, a senior at Apex, was the champ in both the 100 and the 200, winning in times of 11.66 and 23.96 seconds.

Samantha George of Millbrook High broke a 20-year old 4-A record, winning the 1600 in 4:51.54, just .05 seconds faster than the time Amy Herrmann of Providence High in Charlotte ran to establish the mark back in 1992. George was runner-up in the 3,200.

The Broughton team of Megan Sullivan, Kyndal Boykin, Alison Berger and Mattie Blue won the 4×800 in 9:11.48.

Deja Barbour of Southeast Raleigh High had a career best in the 100 wheelchair with 41.04.

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Knightdale Repeats as Men’s Team Champs in NCHSAA State 4-A Track and Field

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Bill Poston

Knightdale High won its second consecutive men’s crown on Saturday in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state 4-A  track and field championships at the Irwin Belk Track at North Carolina A&T.

The Knightdale men won two relays and the 200 meters title as they earned 61 points.  Ronald Reagan High of Pfafftown finished second with 38 points. Enloe High was third with 37 points. Broughton High was fifth with 28 points. A total of 61 teams tallied points in the men’s championships.

The Knightdale relay teams of Kimani Hoffman, Marquavious Johnson, Da’Quan Smalls and Joseph Horton took the 4×100 in 41.93. In the 4×400, Henry Kiedy, Khalid Powell, Myles White and Johnson won for Knightdale.

Horton won state title in the 200 with a time of 21.03. He finished second in the 100.

The Enloe High 4×200 relay team of Dominique Faison, Jonathan Addison, Brandon Mangham and Fabian Jarrett won with a time of 1:26.61. Addison won the high jump with 6-8.

Broughton High men won two events. Harrison Booth won the state title in pole vault at 14-6. Sam Roberson won the 3,200 in 9:20.73.

Wheelchair athlete Matthew McDonald of Wake Forest-Rolesville won four medals. McDonald had career bests in the 100 (29.38) and 200 (1:09.86). He won in the discus and shot put.

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Parents invited to preview new elementary Richland Creek on Saturday

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Paul Cory

Wake County’s newest elementary school, Richland Creek, will host an open house in Wake Forest on Saturday, May 19. Families are encouraged to visit the initial site and learn more about this exciting new school and how you can help shape its identity, values, and traditions.

Principal Dr. Tammie Sexton will talk with families about Richland Creek Elementary over food and fun activities. Richland Creek will open for the 2012-13 school year for students in kindergarten through third grade. The school will be housed in a temporary modular campus, with plans to move into a new, permanent school site for the 2014-15 school year.

What: Richland Creek Elementary School Open House
When: Saturday May 19 from 10 a.m. to noon
Where: 530 E. Perry Avenue Wake Forest, NC

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LISTEN: Vance Elementary Teacher Assistant is Teacher Assistant of the Year

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Bill Poston

Vance Elementary teacher assistant Birgit Plemons is the 2012 Wake County Teacher Assistant of the Year. Plemons has worked at Vance for five years and partners with teacher Janet Peterson. She is the Teacher Assistant Representative and Co-chair to the Funshine Committee at Vance Elementary School.

Plemons is known at Vance as the school’s poet. She writes poems honoring staff members who earn recognition. She wrote a poem entitled “Children’s Smiles” that she included in her portfolio.

As a first-grade teacher assistant, Plemons devotes her time to her students helping them with daily instruction, helping to provide differentiated lessons in a small group setting, working directly with at-risk students and supervising students in the lunch room. It’s a busy, demanding, non-stop job.

Listen to Vance Elementary Teacher Assistant is Teacher Assistant of the Year

This is a 7.5-minute mp3 file.

The nine finalists honored by the Wake County Teacher Assistants Association are Barbara Thorp of Conn Elementary; Travis Welch of East Cary Middle; Mary Thompson of East Garner Middle; Vicki Ulm of Holly Grove Elementary; Mae DePaola of North Forest Pines Elementary; Brenda Wright of Northwoods Elementary; Susan Wilkes of Leadmine Elementary; Fran Killius of Swift Creek Elementary; and Jackie De Prospero of Turner Creek Elementary.

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Board Names Principals

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Bill Poston

At its May 15 meeting, the Board of Education named Kelly Aman principal of West Millbrook Middle and Robin Wahl principal of Northwoods Elementary.

Aman has served as assistant principal at Millbrook Magnet High since 2005. Prior to that, she was a coordinator at Millbrook Magnet High and curriculum integration coordinator at East Millbrook Magnet Middle. She worked as a teacher at Athens Drive High and East Wake High.

Wahl has served as principal at Weatherstone Elementary since 2005. Prior to that, she was an assistant principal at Weatherstone Elementary and earlier at North Ridge Elementary. She worked as a teacher at Northwoods Elementary and Garner High.
The board named as assistant principals James Nelson at Apex High, David Newkirk at Knightdale High, Larae Butcher at Longview School, Tierre Ramsey at Durant Road Middle, Richard Pruette at East Cary Middle, Wendel Evans at Rolesville Middle, Heather Johnson at Oak Grove Elementary and Julie Cutler at Davis Drive Elementary. The board named Erin Swanson interim assistant principal at Combs Magnet Elementary.

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Bugg Parent Shares Book Via Skype

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Bill Poston

Bugg Magnet Elementary students in the classroom of Stacey Lynn Hill had a parent read to class via Skype while the parent was in Kabul, Afghanistan. The parent works in the U.S. Embassy there. Hill prepared her students for the experience. They found information about Kabul and the American Embassy where he is stationed. Students used the research to create a list of questions.

When they contacted the parent over Skype, he read a story to the children, asked the children some questions, and then answered their questions.

The students learned about life in the embassy, the war in Afghanistan and about life in Kabul. The students were interested to find out about sheep and goat markets and shepherds tending flocks in traffic where sheep have the right of way. In Kabul, people speak three different languages including English. Students learned about the weather, the food and the landscapes. The parent shared his photographs with the class to give them a firsthand view of the country.

The parent visit to the classroom using Skype is an example of 21st Century instruction that students will long remember.

Thanks to assistant principal Ruth Freeman and teacher Stacey Lynn Hill for sharing this story.


Photograph shared with students of Afghan shepherd with a flock of sheep and goats.

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