Classroom Connection - April 28, 2010
Four WCPSS Students Named Morehead-Cain Scholars
Four Wake County Public School System high school seniors have been named Morehead-Cain Scholars, providing a full four-year scholarship to UNC-Chapel Hill.
The four WCPSS students are Ellen Corbitt Currin of Broughton High, George Edmonds Ramsay and Madhulika Vulimiri of Enloe High and Laura Nataly Rozo of Panther Creek High. To read more about these students and each of their accomplishments click here.
The scholarship covers all expenses for four years of undergraduate study at UNC, and features a distinctive program of summer enrichment experiences. Over four summers, scholars have the opportunity to complete an outdoor leadership course, carry out public service in the U.S. or abroad, conduct research at sites across the world and gain experience in private enterprise.
The selection criteria for the scholarship are leadership, academic achievement, moral force of character and physical vigor. Morehead-Cain recipients are chosen solely on the basis of merit and accomplishment, not financial need.
WCPSS Students Earn Honors at State Math Contest
WCPSS students took top honors at the State Math Contest, held April 14 at the NC School of Science and Math. Twelve students attended the State Math Contest, representing Leesville Road High, Sanderson High and Enloe Magnet High. Eight of these students placed in the top 40 of all students in the competition. The high performers and their schools are:
- Leesville Road High: Woong-Soo Lee
- Sanderson High: David Hemminger
- Enloe Magnet High: Lisa Zheng, Amitoj Singh, Tejas Sundaresan, Nick Tobey, Jason Liang and Calvin Deng.
Enloe had more students place in the Top 40 than any other high school in North Carolina.
Students who place in the top 15 at the State Math Contest receive automatic invitations to represent North Carolina on the state's American Regions Mathematics League (ARML) teams. Calvin Deng (2nd place), Jason Liang (7th place) and Nick Tobey (13th place) will represent WCPSS on the teams this year.
Leesville High Latin Students Excel on National Latin Exam
Leesville High Latin students participated in the 2010 National Latin Exam along with 135,000 other Latin students from around the world. Twenty-three Leesville High students won national awards in this year's competition. The award winning students include:
Summa Cum Laude (Gold Medal)
Level 2: Emily Farmer and Kyle McKinley
Level 3: Nicole Curtis, Dominic Sirkin, and Michaela Ulman
Level 4: Beyza Batca
Maxima Cum Laude (Silver Medal)
Level 2: Andrew Wood, Jessica Jones, Laura Thabet, Catherine Werner, and Rachel Phillips
Level 3: Connor McNally, Jonathan Wendt, and Erin Flannelly
Level 4: Stephen Ryan
Magna Cum Laude
Level 1: Eleanor Cain
Level 3: Gregory Pope
Level 4: Eli Kratt
Cum Laude
Level 2: Michael Elderkin
Level 4: Rebecca Dixon, William Gunther, Jeremy Weiss, and Richard Frost
Cary High School's Navy JROTC Recognized
Cary High School's Navy JROTC unit has been chosen as the top unit in Area Six, which includes all of North and South Carolina (68-NJROTC Units). The unit will be recognized by the Navy League for their achievement with a trophy that will be awarded during the Senior Awards Day at Cary High School on Friday. May 28.
Cary High's Navy JROTC unit is one of 11 units in the U.S. that will be considered for the "Best in Nation Award" out of over 640 NJROTC units.
Parent Matters Electronic Newsletter Launch
Parent Matters has now gone digital. Click here to view the May 2010 issue. Parents are encouraged to sign up to receive the monthly Parent Matters electronic newsletter. Go to the WCPSS subscription manager to create or update your account: http://www.wcpss.net/signup/newsletters/login
Superintendent Search Committee
Wake County School Board Chairman Ron Margiotta has announced his appointments to the superintendent search committee.
The superintendent search committee will be chaired by School Board Vice-Chair Debra Goldman. Completing the committee are board members Chris Malone, Deborah Prickett and Carolyn Morrison.
"I have great confidence in the wide-ranging talents of this committee," said School Board Chairman Ron Margiotta. "Debra Goldman has human resource experience, Chris Malone is experienced in the business world and Deborah Prickett and Carolyn Morrison have many years of experience as educators."
The committee will be charged with finding a new superintendant following the resignation of Superintendent Del Burns. WCPSS is currently being led by Interim Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer Dr. Donna Hargens.
2010-11 School Schedules Now Online
At its April 20 meeting, the Board of Education approved the bell schedule for the 2010-11 school year. This schedule is similar to the bell schedule used in 2008-09, but with the addition of new schools that have opened since then. There are four new schools opening for 2010-11. Heritage High School and Mills Park Middle School will operate on a traditional calendar; Holly Grove Middle School and Alston Ridge Middle School will operate on a year round calendar.
Enloe Earns Honors at NC Science Olympiad
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Enloe High Science Olympiad Gold Medal winner Mia de los Reyes holds trophy the team earned at the State Science Olympiad. |
Enloe Magnet High's Science Olympiad team placed third among more than 400 teams in the State Science Olympiad (NCSO) held at N.C. State University on April 24. Nearly every member of the 18-student competing team won at least one medal. Enloe's team had five seniors, six juniors, three sophomores, and four freshmen. Students Melissa Chan, Sainath Asokan, Angela Ning, Arjun Bhattacharya, and Arnand Kornepati are the coaches of the Enloe team.
More than 2,000 middle and high school students representing 106 North Carolina schools competed in 46 different events that focused on the various science disciplines of biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, engineering, and technology. The competition took place at Reynolds Coliseum and at select locations on NC State's Centennial
Campus.
Jason Painter, Executive Director of the NCSO, said, "We are extremely proud of our students across the state who have dedicated their time and energy in pursuit of gaining new knowledge and skills in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math that will help them in pursuing their higher education and career pathways."
Here are some of the highlights:
- Mia de los Reyes and Mark Greenfield won a gold medal in Astronomy
- Angela Ning and Viju Matthew won a gold medal in Anatomy
- Melissa Chan and Mia de los Reyes won a silver medal in Ecology
- Ivan Kuznetsov and Calvin Deng won silver in Remote Sensing
- Bronze medals were awarded to Angela Ning and Krishan Sivaraj in Food Science, Sainath Asokan and Krishan Sivaraj in Ornithology, Jasmine Huang and Angela Ning in Flying Bird (their model flew 36 seconds!)
In 2010, 407 middle and high schools and over 8,500 students competed at the NCSO regional sites for the right to earn a spot in the State Finals. The NCSO is sponsored by The Science House, NC State's acclaimed K-12 outreach program.
Five WCPSS Seniors Awarded Wake Electric Scholarships
Five Wake County Public School System students have been awarded scholarships by Wake Electric, a non-profit electric utility. Nicholas Savage of Wake Forest-Rolesville High School has been awarded the $2,000 Fred M. Alford Memorial Scholarship. Four other students - Garrett Johnston of East Wake School of Integrated Technology, Morgan Elisabeth Jones, Colin Taylor Reed, and Maurice Savage of Wake Forest-Rolesville High - have each been awarded a $1,250 Touchstone Energy Scholarship from Wake Electric.
These five students have parents or guardians who are served by Wake Electric which serves 34,000 customers in parts of Durham, Franklin, Granville, Johnston, Nash, Vance, and Wake counties. The scholarships will be paid to whichever college or university the students enroll in for fall 2010.
In total, Wake Electric has awarded 17 college scholarships for 2010 totaling $22,000. Funding for scholarships is made possible by Wake Electric members and Wake Electric employees through the Operation Round-Up Program. Learn more about the scholarship program or Operation Round-Up at http://www.wemc.com/
Heritage Middle Wins First Place in Design Competition
A team of Heritage Middle School students earned first place in the Southeast region in the 2010 School Building Week School of the Future Student Design Competition. Winning the competition earned the team the chance to compete in the national finals in Washington, D.C., and a check for $500. Teacher Susanne Killian is the team's advisor. The students have worked with staff from Moseley Architects on the project.
The first-place regional winning teams receive travel and hotel accommodations to participate in the final jury process slated for April 28 at the American Federation of Teachers. The students will attend a reception in their honor hosted by the National Association of REALTORS and spend a day on Capitol Hill with their respective members of Congress. The week's events culminate in the Awards Ceremony, April 29, at the National Building Museum, where the winning schools will receive cash prizes.
The Future Student Design competition, open to middle school students, challenges student teams to design their schools to enhance learning, conserve resources, be environmentally responsive and engage the surrounding community. The multi-disciplinary solution requires students to follow a planning process from the concept phase to completion of the project, with thorough documentation. The students present their project to a jury for review.
Wendell Middle Student Earns Top-5 in National Chess Tournament
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Wendell Middle student Cheri Agner competes at the 2010 All-Girls National Chess Championships. |
Wendell Middle School student Cheri Agner tied for 4th/5th in the 12 and under age group at the 2010 All-Girls National Chess Championships held on April 16-18 at Columbus, Ohio.
On her way to claiming the fifth-place trophy in the 38-player U12 section, Agner won her games against Sydney Morris of Alabama, Ronavia McMillian of New York, Isabel Gellert from Tennessee, and Mariah MacGreen from New York, and had one game lost to Shivani Shanmugadas of New Jersey.
Agner is an active scholastic chess player in the Raleigh/Durham chess community. Prior to this tournament, she recently won 1st place at the Raleigh Russian School Scholastic Tournament, held March 20 in Raleigh. She practiced chess daily for more than one hour for a month in preparation for the tournament.
The national tournament was presented by the Kasparov Chess Foundation in association with the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and the United States Chess Federation (USCF) and was held in conjunction with the 2010 National High School Chess Championships.
The event drew 210 scholastic girl chess players from across the country. The competition presented a $68,000 Academic Distinction scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas to the winner of the U18 section.
Broughton Automotive Students Honored by Valvoline
Broughton High School's Automotive Service Technology students won a national competition sponsored by Valvoline Motor Oil. Their Grand Prize was to have the students' names written on the hood of the Number 17 Valvoline car that ran at Talladega on Sunday, April 25. The car was driven by Matt Kenseth. Instructor Ricky Brantley says that his students were "really excited" to watch the race and see their names on the hood of the Valvoline car. Students participating are in the Automotive Service Technology classes Level I, II, and III at Broughton; the majority of the students are members of the Broughton Transportation Academy.
Broughton Teacher is Fulbright-Hays Winner
Broughton High French teacher Richard Dubois is one of 16 teachers from across the nation chosen as a recipient of a Hays-Fulbright Summer Seminar in Senegal. Participants will spend the month of July in Africa studying Senegalese culture, including a familiarity with the country's history, religion, politics, educational systems, and art forms such as music, dance, film and literature.
WCPSS Teacher Named 2010 Driver’s Ed Teacher of the Year
WCPSS teacher William Powell was recognized as the North Carolina Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association's (NCDTSEA) 2010 Teacher of the Year at the annual NCDTSEA conference awards ceremony held April 17 in Charlotte.
WCPSS Senior Administrator for Athletics/Driver Education Bobby Guthrie says Powell will:
- represent North Carolina at the 2010 ADTSEA Conference in St. Louis, Missouri
- be recognized as one of the 2010 ADTSEA Teacher of Excellence Award winners
- receive a commemorative plaque and a $250 check from AAA at a special ceremony
- be recognized at a recognition luncheon
- receive from ADTSEA a voucher for his conference registration
- and receive $1,000 toward the expenses from NCDTSEA for attending the 2010 ADTSEA National Conference.
Powell is a teacher at North Garner Middle School.
Board Names New Principals
At its April 20 meeting, the Board of Education named Robert Gupton principal at Mt. Vernon Middle School and retired principal Marge Ronco as interim principal at East Garner Elementary.
Gupton has served as assistant principal of Mt. Vernon Middle since 2007. Prior to that, he was an assistant principal intern and psychologist at Mt Vernon Middle. Earlier he worked as a middle school psychologist in Greenville, NC.
Ronco retired after serving as principal of Ballentine Elementary and Lincoln Heights Elementary. She served as an interim principal at Creech Road Elementary earlier this year.
The board named Barry Squires an assistant principal at Moore Square Middle.