Thursday, October 17, 2013 • 45
SCHOOLS
OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal
Six weeks after she wrote the essay, the Columbine school shootings occurred. Scott had been eating lunch with her friend outside. Her brother Craig survived, but two friends who were with him were shot and killed. After hearing a presentation on Scott’s story, the Vestavia Hills students were encouraged to accept and fulfill challenges about getting rid of prejudice in their hearts, dreaming big, choosing positive life influences and speaking with kindness and not cruelty. The Vestavia Hills City Council provided financial support for the program. Greystone Elementary School students won awards in the NFL Punt, Pass & Kick competition. Front, from left: Ella Copenhaver, Peyton Thurmond and Cooper Kelley. Middle: Alison Hanna, Brooke Stroup, Jake Majors and Braden DiClemente. Back: Nick Dunlap, Kaleigh Rice, Josh Harrington and Kenna Burdett. Max Johnson is not pictured. Photo special to the Journal
Greystone Students Excel in NFL Contest Students at Greystone Elementary showcased their football skills by winning several awards in a recent competition. Four Greystone students advanced to the NFL Punt, Pass & Kick sectional competition after winning the event’s school round. The contest, which allows youngsters to showcase their talents in punting, passing and kicking with scores based on distance and accuracy, was hosted by the Greystone Elementary Physical Education Department Sept. 16-17 at the school. The first-place winner in the girls’ ages 8-9 division was Kenna Burdett. Kaleigh Rice won first place in the girls’ ages 10-11 category. First place in the boys’ ages 8-9 competition went to Josh Harrington. Nick Dunlap won first place in the boys’ ages 10-11 division. The four winners will move on to the sectional competition in Chattanooga, Tenn. The students have a chance to qualify for the Team Championships competition in Nashville based on their qualifying scores in Chattanooga.
the students designed and built small remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, out of PVC pipe, floats and motors.
Vestavia Students Take Rachel’s Challenge Students at Liberty Park Middle School, Pizitz Middle School and Vestavia Hills High School recently participated in a program called Rachel’s Challenge. Rachel’s Challenge is a series of student empowering programs and strategies that equip students and adults to combat bullying and allay feelings of isolation and despair by creating a culture of kindness and compassion. The programs are based on the writings and life of 17 year-old Rachel Joy Scott, who was the first student killed at Columbine High School in 1999. As part of a school assignment, Scott wrote an essay entitled “My Ethics, My Codes of Life” in which she talked about starting a chain reaction of kindness.
Cherokee Bend Honors Retired Teachers Cherokee Bend Elementary School recently honored four faculty members who have retired from Mountain Brook City Schools. The retirees are Diane Hilburn, Cathey May, Greg Odrezin and Donna Phillips. Hilburn worked for the school system for 28 years as a special education teacher. May was a sixth-grade teacher at Cherokee Bend Elementary and worked for Mountain Brook City Schools for 12 years. Odrezin was a sixth-grade math teacher at Cherokee Bend Elementary, where she worked for 14 years. Phillips was the receptionist and registrar for Cherokee Bend Elementary. Prior to that, she was the school’s bookkeeper. She worked at the school for 23 years.
OLS Students Take Office Officers for the new school year have been elected by the eighth-grade class at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic School in Homewood.
Highlands Students Travel to Dauphin Island Sea Lab Eighth-graders from Highlands School recently took a trip to get some hands-on science lessons. The students spent Sept. 20-22 in Dauphin Island at the Sea Lab to study coastal ecology and oceanography. The students and their environmental science teacher, Sam Kindervater, journeyed out into the Gulf of Mexico and trawled for sea life. They caught a variety of sea creatures and were surprised to find a baby shark sucker, an animal that sticks to sharks and eats the sharks’ leftovers, and an Asian tiger prawn, an invasive species, that was almost 12 inches long. The students also explored the salt marsh with their fishing nets. They found blue, hermit and fiddler crabs and lots of baby fish, shrimp and moon jellies. The next day they visited the Estuarium, the Sea Lab’s public aquarium, and were able to touch stingrays, horseshoe crabs and a bonnethead shark. During their visit, they learned about coastal erosion and the ecology of different habitats. For their final activity,
Cherokee Bend Elementary School recently honored faculty members who retired from Mountain Brook City Schools in May. From left: Donna Phillips, Diane Hilburn, Cathey May and Greg Odrezin. Photo special to the Journal The new officers were chosen by their classmates to lead their class and support school-wide activities. Outside of the classroom, their responsibilities include bringing new and creative ideas to school leaders, helping with Catholic Schools Week and leading school prayer at special events. The new eighth-grade officers are Jessica Walker, Mary Grace Farr, Jake Miller, Natalie Vizzina, Caroline Smith and Anna Rumore.
Other officers are Sloan Zieverink, secretary; Ellen Simmons, treasurer; Merritt Cahoon, parliamentarian; Sophia Rosene, chaplain; Jordan Stevens, historian; and Ashleigh Patterson, sergeant-at-arms. ❖
Liberty Park Middle Elects New SGA Officers
kdrexel@otmj.com
Members of the Vestavia Hills High School Student Government Association visited Liberty Park Middle School recently to participate in the middle school’s Student Government Association officer induction ceremony. The new student officers were sworn into their positions by the high school students. Each new officer received the book “The Positive Dog” by Jon Gordon. Kate Strange is the Liberty Park Middle School SGA president, Harrison Wood is boys’ vice president and Carlee Beth Yarbrough is girls’ vice president.
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Please make sure all informat including address and phon Highlands School eighth-graders recently spent a weekend at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Front, from left: Logan McFadden, Ford McInnis and Grant Bend. Back: Tate Shuttlesworth, Alexandra Lohrke, Sarathi Shah, Cecilia Reisner, Megan Seidel, Anna Lisa Goodman, Livia Wilson and Carolyn Calvert-Grimes. Photo special to the Journal
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