I NSI DE Buoyancy Cup
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Students Earn Recognition
M iddle school students who demonstr ate M CDS's four core values of honor, wisdom, respect and compassion can receive the Core Values Awar d. Evening of the Ar ts
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Avenger s: I nfinity War
BY I SABEL L A GAL OFRE Core Values has become an important part of our middle school. There have been awards for them since the 2012-2013 school year. Six years ago some teachers got together to recognize students who do special things, good students?service to the school, and students who demonstrate the four core values of honor, respect, wisdom, and compassion. Then they decided to give a monthly award to three students. The award is a certificate, a medal, and a $10 bake sale coupon. There have been 18 Core Value Awards winners in the year. There have been six Core Value Winners from every grade.
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Mr. Mathes, the director of the middle school said, ?There were a lot of teachers who wanted to give the award after every
Photo by Rachel Hodes Above: All of the students who've received a Core Values Awar d dur ing the 2017-2018 school year. month. Mrs. Pekoc was one of the major people who wanted the idea to happen, but I have to be honest and say that I probably came up with the idea and then shared it with the team leaders.? Mr. Fallik, the eighth grade team leader, and an eighth grade social studies teacher said, ?The eighth grade team decides on the monthly eighth grade core value winners by having weekly team meetings with all the eighth grade advisors, where we often discuss students who we think are worthy. We share our experiences that we had with those students and we try to remember certain things that they might have done to show the four core values.? Continued on page 4
Wendy Walk, 2018 BY RACHEL H ODES
On April 8 the annual Wendy Walk took place. The walk was hosted in Hibiscus Park Miami. Numerous events went on throughout the day like a zumba class warm up, a 5k, and multiple rafles.
BY JAK E GROSSM AN Orlando Fest is a yearly competition that happens at a high school performance auditorium in Orlando. Only some Middle School electives can perform at this competition. The electives that perform at Orlando Fest are Beginning Instruments, Beginning EBO, Middle School Chorus, Middle School Concert Band, and Intermediate EBO.
Before the walk began, Dr. Jonathan from the Sylvester Cancer Center and Dr. W. Gregory Sawyer from the University of Florida came down and spoke at the Walk.
This year the students of Miami Country Day Middle School earned first place in all music sections. In EBO and in Chorus, MCDS received superior marks in the majority of their categories. Superior is the highest Continued on page 5 grade that you can get in music grading or performances.
This year was the ninth annual Wendy Walk and it was a big success. A lot of kids from Country Day came to support the From left: Bella Brod, Sienna Rosenber g, Tiana Tolles, Olivia Cooper, Sier r a Landes Family Foundation and Rosen and Stephanie Rosen. especially because of the Rosen?s whose children go to school at MCDS. Wendy Landes was the sister of Mike Rosen, father of Kayla (11th grade) and Sierra (6th grade.) The event started at 10 am and the park quickly filled with many people and even pets. The park was set up with a sign up/tee shirt booth, dj booth, merchandise tent, raffle booth, and a stand for bagels from Einstein Bros. There were stands for sponsors like Deliver Lean and Lanzo Construction. They also had a frozen yogurt truck and a taco truck. Across the street was a truck to donate blood and people donated blood.
Playing in Orlando
In Orlando Fest, MCD middle school students and lower school students performed and represented MCDS. The competition at Orlando Fest is not easy. Several other schools also have competing bands, choruses, orchestras, and other music performers. The Arts Director, Ms. Alfonso, said, ?I think we have been going to Orlando Fest for about seven years.? ?It is challenging to play in front of judges,? said Ms, Alfonso. At Orlando Fest, the students are graded on several aspects of their performances. Some of these aspects are posture, music reading, dynamics, keeping tempo, and playing the right notes. Grading aspects can be very detailed. For example, EBO students are graded even on their bow direction. Continued on page 6