By Alana Jordan

The Sadies Hawkins Dance was held on Tuesday, November 22, from 6:30-8:30. Some students in the school dressed as twins or in country clothes. Every student got free nachos. Some activities that were held at the dance were a corn hole, a hula hoop contest, and a snowball dance. The winner of the hula-hoop contest was 8th grader-Kylee Schmader. There was also a DJ and a bake sale at the dance.

The Student Council teamed up with the Serving Our Soldiers Club to stuff stocking for the soldiers in Afghanistan. Donations for this worthy cause were made by the students, parents, and faculty. They donated food items such as Slim Jims, Beef Jerky, Peanuts, Crackers, Starbursts, Tea Packets, Granola Bars, and other non-perishable items. They also included small gifts such as games, decks of cards, and yo-yo’s. There were about 25 stockings.

There was a door decorating contest held from December 1-22. Doors were decorated by the homeroom students. There was a winner in each grade and the winners will get a dress down day.

The officers in Student Council this year carried on the tradition of buying turkeys for the Salvation Army. They bought four turkeys from Giant Eagle. The 2011-2012 Student Council officers are Mary Katherine Paulone, Maggie Manolis, KaitlynCapehart, and Alana Jordan.

Treasures for Children is an event sponsored by The Salvation Army in Jeannette every year. The Student Council officers bought several Christmas gifts for a local child in need.

Upcoming Community Service Projects:

Canned Food Drive
Empty Bowl at AB Ceramics

OCTOBER STUDENTS OF THE MONTH

By jadamorgan

6th Grade

Devin Parkinson

Devin Parkinson thinks she got the award for Student of the Month because she gets good grades and helps other people. The activities she participates in are band, chorus, and Student Council. Her future plans are to go to college and become a teacher. Her mom and dad support and encourage her to do well at home and at school. Her advice to her fellow classmates is to try your best and work hard to do well in school.

Congratulations Devin!

7th Grade

Ciara Bold

The Student of the

Month in 7th grade for October is Ciara Bold. She thinks she was chosen as Student of the Month because she made stockings to send the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ciara’s grandparents, friends, and parents support and encourage her to do well. She participates in Reading Competition and Student Council. Ciara’s future plans are to join the military and then go back to college to become an FBI agent. Her advice for her classmates to do well is to follow your dreams and never give up.

Congrats Ciara!

8th Grade

Rajha Smith

Rajha Smith was chosen for Student of the Month in 8th grade. She thinks she got this award because she is kind to her classmates and teachers, pays attention in class, is respectful, and has good grades. The activities she participates in are Jays and Winterguard.

Her future plans are to go to college to become a cosmetologist. Her advice to her classmates is to be quiet and respectful in class and to pay attention.

Great Work Rajha!

By KaitlynCapehart

Many people have heard about Mrs. Marks, the superintendent, has decided to retire from the district. This was sad news for a lot of us since she has been with the district for 28 years.

Mrs. Marks has many degrees in different teaching areas. She went to Seton Hill for her teaching degree. Then she got her Master’s degree at IUP. Next she got her Principal papers at Saint Francis, and finally, her Superintendent papers at Gannon.

Mrs. Marks started in the district as a substitute, and then was an elementary teacher and classroom assistant. She started her teaching career at Gaskill School and said that it was a wonderful experience. She taught 5th grade at Jeannette. She was a high school principal and afterwards she became a superintendent. Have you have ever wondered who made the phone calls at 6 in the morning to cancel school during the winter? Yep, that was her also.

Mrs. Marks said that deciding to retire was a very hard decision, but that it was time to move on. She said she is going to miss a lot about this district including the students, faculty and being a part of all the wonderful things going on at Jeannette.

From her superintendent experiences, Mrs. Marks has learned that you need to be very flexible and that you can’t take yourself too seriously. But most importantly, you CAN make a difference in the lives of people. Her best memory is watching the students succeed in what they do. Mrs. Marks’s biggest inspiration was her 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Evans. She said it is important to thank teachers and not forget about them. What you do here is very important and will take you far in life.

Mrs. Marks said that in her future she plans to take a break and spend some time being a grandma. She said that after awhile she may even look into teaching at the college level or being a consultant.

Mrs. Marks will be missed in many ways. She was a great teacher, principal, and superintendent. The middle school would like to congratulate Mrs. Marks on her accomplishments and wish her the best of luck in her future.

YEARBOOK WINNERS

Congratulations to the winners of the 2011 – 2012 yearbook cover contest. The theme was “A Hawk’s Eye View” and the contest was sponsored by Mrs. Fawcett.

The front design will be created by Mary Katherine Paulone.

The back cover will be designed by Kylee Schmader.

Both winners will receive a free yearbook.

november STUDENTS OF THE MONTH

6th Grade

Chloe Stein

By Kelly Soles

Chloe Stein has won Student of the Month for November. She thinks she won because she is helpful to others. Her mother encourages her to do better in school. Chloe likes to draw in her spare time. Her hobbies are baseball and basketball. Chloe’s future plans include going to Seton Hill University. She does not know what she wants to go for yet. Chloe’s advice for her fellow classmates is to study, pay attention, help others, and come to school everyday.

7th Grade

Samantha Welshons

By Mary Katherine Paulone

Sam is November’s 7th grade Student of the Month. She thinks she was chosen, because she is respectable to her teachers and brought her grades up. Her parents and teachers support her and encourage her to do well in school. Sam participates in marching band, concert band, chorus, gifted, and winter guard. In her future, she wants to go to college to study music or zoology. Some advice Sam has for other students is to keep your grades up and respect your teachers.

8th Grade

Jerrica Clemens

By Erin Fulton

Jerrica Clemens was chosen as the Student of the Month for November. She thinks she got this award because she’s very nice to everyone and her grades have been improving. Her Aunt and Grandma encourage her to work to the best of her abilities. She participates in Mural Club, Reading Competition and enjoys hanging out with her friends in her spare time. She wants to go to Penn State, but is undecided on her career.

By DesiraeKrystofiak

The 8th grade students visited the Central Westmoreland Career and Technology Center on November 23, 2011. This trip showed the students the options for having a hands-on job right out of high school. It was a great opportunity for students to see what options are available besides college. The teachers demonstrated programs that students can begin taking in high school to help them in the future.

Some of the careers students offered by CWCTC

-Automotive Technology

-Commercial Art and Illustration

-Cosmetology

-Culinary Arts

-Carpentry

-Horticulture

-Covering and Design

-Masonry

-Mechatronics

-Graphic Communications Technology

-Operations

-Health Professions/Occupations

-Powerline TEC2000+, Electrical

-Protective Services

There are many more job opportunities for the students to look into at CWCTC.

On the field trip, the students were broken into five different groups, with a tour guide and an assistant in each group. The students walked through the classrooms and workshop while CWCTC students in class. The 8th graders could ask the CWCTC instructor or students any question that they had.

The workshops were very informational and really opened some students up to going to Tech. Some people were just amazed by all the information that was being offered.

The Vo-Tech school is a very helpful school, not just with its education, but with the community as well. While we were there, we saw an example of them helping the community was by doing an activity called “Turkey Bowling “to help donate to “Alex’s Lemonade Stand.”

Author’s Note: Alex’s Lemonade Stand is a foundation that was started by a little four year old girl when she was diagnosed with cancer just before her fourth birthday. Alex passed away from her disease, but the foundation is still going strong. The proceeds benefits children who have cancer.

By Maggie Manolis

Everyday millions of people wake up and immediately reach for their laptop or Smartphone. They log into their Facebook, Twitter, and or /their Google+ account. They check their notifications, news feed, and update their status. Most of the population has some type of social network account. Some of these accounts include Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and ooVoo.

One of the most well known social media sites isFacebook. It is a social networking site that allows people to connect with others who they haven’t seen in a while. Facebook users can find long-distance relatives, high school friends, Facebook, users post statuses, pictures, and start conversations with friends. Facebook users can send friend requests to people they know so they can stay in touch. Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerburg and his college roommates Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Maskovitz, and Chris Hughes. They created the site for people of all ages. As of September 2011, Facebook had 800 million users.

Another well known social media site isTwitter. It is another social networking site where users can create text message based posts called “tweets.” A “tweet” is a type of text message where hash tags and at signs are used. Twitter users can “tweet” to their favorite celebrities and send direct messages to your friends. Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Evan Williams, Biz Stone are the founders of this website. As of November 2011, Twitter had 380 million users.

A third well known social media site is Skype. It is a social networking site where users can video and voice chat over the Internet for free with other Skype users. But when calls are made to mobile phones and landlines, a small fee is charged. Skype has other features including file transfer, instant messaging, and videoconferencing. Skype was created by the Microsoft Skype Division in August 2003. As of September 2011, Skype had 663 million registered users. The eighth graders will use Skype during February and March, to do Literature Circles with college students from St. Bonaventure University in New York.

A fourth well known media site is ooVoo. It is social networking site that is a lot like Skype. OoVoo was released in 2007 by ooVoo LLC. OoVoo has many free features that include video calls, video chatting, video messaging, instant messaging, file sharing and video call recording. Users have to pay for features like video conferencing, phone calls, and desktop sharing.

Social media is all around us. You’re always thinking about social media or you’re already on that site. Even though these social media sites are a part of our lives, you must always be careful what you post on these sites. Do not post anything that you are not comfortable with EVERYONE seeing and don’t trust any users that you do not personally know.

By: Erin Fulton

You know how your language arts teacher always nags you about how you should read more? Well studies have shown that reading can benefit you! Reading more has been known to improve your writing skills, memory, and vocabulary! It also can help you in many other ways!

Sometimes when you’re stressed, reading has been known to help relax and calm you. In a study at the University of Sussex, research was done by a group of volunteers. These volunteers had their stress levels and heart rate increased through a range of tests and exercises before they were tested with a variety of methods of relaxation.

“Out of all of the stress relieving tests, reading worked best! It reduced stress levels by 68 percent,” said neuropsychologist Dr David Lewis from University of Sussex.

Reading has been known to help exercise your mind too! Your listening skills and communication with others grow when you read more. It also helps you stretch your imagination and brings out the creative sides of people out.

Children as young as 11 are expected to be reading as many as 50 books in a year! Reading this many books will help you grow as a person and will help you in and out of school. Poor readers have been known to think lowly of themselves and activities they try. Being a poor reader will get you nowhere in life, so the next time your teachers nag and whine about how you should read more, LISTEN! There are tons of wonderful books and magazines that are waiting to be opened!

Source:

By Mia Hill

This semester, our school has a new student teacher for musical education. Her name is Ms. Gantzer. She attends college at Seton Hill University and her major is in music education.

She decided to become a teacher because she greatly enjoys music and loves working with kids of all ages. Ms. Gantzer thinks all children should experience the joy of making music and what better way to help them than being a teacher.

Ms. Gantzer thinks Jeannette is a great school in a great community and is really enjoying working with the music students in all grade levels.

Not only is she interested in music she also likes to play volleyball and read in her spare time.

We welcome Ms. Gantzer to our school. We wish you luck in your teaching career.

By TaylerStough

The Serving Our Soldiers club has created a wall dedicated to the soldiers. These soldiers are

SFC Paul J. Gaudi
Bernard S. Gaudi
Francesco Saverio Madonna
Joseph Madonna
Michael J. Casario
SFC William Shaffer
PFC Stephen Shaffer
SFC John Shaffer
Frank J. Cignetti
Edward J. Durbiano
Anthony J. Gaslevich, Sr.
RB Ober
James T. Huttenhower
Aldo Palulone
Jack G. Merrell
Colonel Joan M. Graziano
Alvin John Clemens
Robert Hanko
Kenneth Eash
Robert M. Gaudi
Harry Gross
John Luther Hetherton
SFC Andrew Galgola, Jr.
Michael Edward Spoonhoward
Frank Edward Helzel
SP4. Lester J. Smith, Jr.
James R. Fellows
David Raymond Balzarini
Gilbert Lee Wright
Robert E. Good
Robert E. Good, Jr.
Robert Jay Shmidt, Jr.
John Stough
Michael P. Murphy
Angelo D. Machado
Angelo M. Machado
Christopher M. Kratochvil
Richard A. Mock(HT2)
Captain Justin Wolfe

By Abbey Pietrusinski

The following thank you note was received by the Serving our Soldiers Club and the Student Council for donating the stocking to the military.

Mrs. Abreu,

I just wanted to let you know that we received the four packages in the mail. Needless to say, our soldiers had a lot of fun with it and are very thrilled with the gifts/treats they’ve received. It’s been a long time since we received a group care package like this, so everything came at a good time. I was even able to share the last box and a half with some of our neighboring units/sections – and they appreciated it as well.

I will try to write a hand-written thank you with pictures and get it out in the mail, but I wanted to make sure to let you know right away that the packages got here. Again, we were blown away by you and your students’ generosity.

Captain Mark Bergan and Task Force Thunder in Afghanistan

PS The funniest moment for me was when one of our sergeants from Cincinnati (who is a die hard Bengals fan) got the stocking that had a Steelers notebook in it. I think he believed there was some sort of joke/conspiracy against him- but it was just by chance.

By Olivia Urbanic

We all need calcium in our bodies, but about 9 out of 10 girls and 7 out of 10 boys do not get enough calcium in their daily diets. Kids between the ages of 8 and 18 need about 1,300 mgs of calcium per day.

Calcium is a mineral that is used to build strong bones, help muscles contract, and keep a heartbeat. Without enough of this essential mineral, at these ages, as kids grow they have a higher chance to get injuries like broken or fractured bones. Later in life, they have a higher chance of getting osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a bone disease that lowers the amount of density of the bone.