Each newsletter we will be

doing a spotlight Teacher of

the Month.

This newsletter, the spotlight

teacher profiles Coach Jessie.

This is Coach Jessie’s first year

teaching and what better

school to each at than Mari-

etta Middle School. Coach

Jessie loves to teach and

coach.

Here’s a few questions I asked

him about himself:

What do you enjoy most

about teaching?

Knowing everyday that I

can impact a young per-

son’s life

What is your favorite day of

the week and why?

Saturday, I play a lot of

softball on that day.

When you were in school,

your favorite subject in school

was?

History

Has Marietta Middle School

been what you expected it to

be?

Yes, with my father being

a teacher at this school

for many years, I knew it

was a great place to

work. Even now that I

work here, I still believe

that.

If you were to visit some-

where, where would it be and

why?

My favorite place to visit

and my only destination

spot is Las Vegas, Nevada.

I love the lights there.

Did you have any idea you

would be a teacher growing

up?

No, not at all

What is your favorite

holiday and why?

Thanksgiving

Where is your favor-

ite place to eat at?

Buffalo Wild

Wings

What is your favorite foot-

ball team?

Marietta 7th grade foot-

ball team

Marietta School District is

very lucky to have such

great teachers that take

pride in what they do.

Coach Jessie is one of many

wonderful teachers we will

be profiling this year, so if

you enjoyed reading this

article, please check out

next month’s spotlight

teacher.

Article by Abby Reed

Volume 1, Issue 1

October

MARIETTA MIDDLE SCHOOL

October newsletter

MMS Spotlight teacher

The Students of the Week

for the weeks of Septem-

ber are Madyson Darnell,

Neida Salazar, Amelia Law-

son, Zane Nutter, Kevin

Robles, and Chase Water-

house.

Madyson’s favorite

food is tacos.

Neida’s favorite lan-

guage to speak is

Spanish.

Amelia’s favorite color

is turquoise.

Zane’s favorite foot-

ball team is OU.

Kevin’s favorite animal

is a horse.

Chase’s favorite sport

is Cross Country.

Article by Seth Brown

Get to know…

Mms Students of the week

Words to live by...

“When leading, be generous with the

community, honorable

in action, sincere in your words.”– Jack Kornfield

Photo submitted by C. O’Connor

P A G E 2 O C T O B E R N E W S L E T T E R

This year on October 14th, the 8th

grade went to the Enville Community

Church for the Teen Conference. The

8th grade spent a full day learning

about things to help overcome any

challenge. We could choose 4 of the

following workshops:

“The Exploding Volcano”

“Only Skin Deep”

“Vape or Not to Vape”

“Surviving the Danger Zone– Listen to

your gut”

“The Options You Never Knew You Had”

“Beyond the Birds and the Bees”

“Shape Your Future”

“Sexting, Texting, and Social Media”

“What Shoe are You”

After the four workshops, the student’s

met in the church for a speech by Todd

Huston. Todd Huston gave his story

about losing his leg and told of the

accomplishments he has done without

one of his legs.

Todd lost his leg due to a boat accident

at 14. He didn’t actually lose his leg

until he had to get it amputated. His

speech was “More than Mountains:

How to Overcome any Challenge”.

vation in about 20-30 states; however,

in the middle of his

mountain climbing chal-

lenge, he was climbing a

mountain that he was

already halfway up, he

stopped climbing and sat

on a rock next to him. He

thought to himself a

long half hour. Finally,

he decided he would keep going and

finish this challenge.

When he reached the top of the moun-

tain, he ran into a man. The man

helped Todd with his publicity. He had

the social media telling people of his

challenge, and had a book published

about him.

Todd proudly finished his challenge. He

climbed the highest elevations of all 50

states in only 66 days, 22 hours, and 47

minutes. This shattered the original

record by 35 days! He was also the first

disabled person to complete this goal!

Article by Ruby Withers

Todd is a professional mountain

climber. He

decided to

go moun-

tain climb-

ing with a

group of

friends. Un-

fortunately,

he had to

climb this mountain by himself. His

friends backed out, but that didn’t stop

him. Todd decided to make himself a

challenge. He decided he would climb

the highest point of elevation in all 50

states. Todd decided he would sell t-

shirts to raise money for his adventure.

His goal was to raise $50,000. Believe it

or not he only had to sale one t-shirt to

make $50,000. He told his goals to a

man and asked if he would like to buy a

shirt. The man said yes and asked him if

he could stop by his office so he could

write him a check. The next day, Todd

went into the man’s office. Little did he

know that he was going to receive a

$50,000 check.

Todd was very determined. He began

his challenge successfully. He had al-

ready climbed the highest point of ele-

Teen conference

September Student of the month:

chase waterhouse Chase Waterhouse was elected the Student of the Month for

September. Here are a couple of things about Chase.

What is your greatest accomplishment?

Going undefeated in cross country.

What is your favorite class and why?

Science, because I like to learn the truth about the world.

Who inspires you and why?

My dad, because he has told me to do everything to the

best of my ability.

What do you want to be?

An Olympic 1500M runner.

Chase was elected Student of the Month because he is a good

student, kind, and respectful to others. If you ever want to be

Student of the Month, its good to generously help out your

community and your fellow peeps.

Article by Kate Bone

“Believe it or not, he only had to

sale one t-shirt to make $50,000.”

- Ruby W.

Digital copy of this month’s newsletter is

available at www.mariettaisd.org

P A G E 3

really big. Also, from the side profile of

Lincoln, you can see his silhouette from

a different point of view.

Another reason I liked the Lincoln Me-

morial was because halfway up the

steps right in the middle it said—This is

where Dr. Martin

Luther King Jr. gave

his ‘I Have a Dream’

speech.

Something else inter-

esting about the

memorial, it was

lined up with the

Lincoln Memorial

Reflection Pool and the Washington

Monument. So it made it look like he

was looking into the water.

While I was at the Lincoln Memorial, I

got to talk to a Korean War Veteran and

take his picture with two other older

men. They were trying to take a selfie,

so I offered to help them out.

I really enjoyed seeing and thanking

veterans. We wrote letters to veterans,

and when we saw one, we would give

it to them. I thought that was really

special, because I think it made their

day. They would walk off smiling. Their

families would get teary-eyed and thank

us.

I gave my letter to a

Korean War Vet-

eran, but not the

one I took a pic-

ture of. His family

was with him when I gave it to

him, and they were all really happy and

thankful. They told me that it takes cour-

age to walk up to someone like I did

and hand them a letter. When the fam-

ily told me that, it really made my day.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was

really interesting. When they switched

guards, they did a long and very cool

presentation. They made sure every-

thing was perfect with their uniforms

and badges. The guards presentation

was perfectly performed.

The reason I went was to learn to be a

leader, and I felt like I did my part. I was

able to meet other students from across

the world who were also nominated.

Overall, there were about 300-400 stu-

dents. We were able to discuss with

each other our thoughts of what it

takes to be a leader.

I met a lot of people. I really enjoyed this

trip. I am very grateful I got to go. I

loved the experience, and I had a blast.

Article by Heaven Sustaire

I just got back from Washington D.C.

Monica Flores and I were nominated in

4th grade by Ms. Willis. We were nomi-

nated because Ms. Willis saw leadership

skills in us.

I went as a part of a program called the

People to People

Ambassador Pro-

gram. As part of

the program, we

had the opportu-

nity to visit the

Capitol, Library of

Congress, Arling-

ton National

Cemetery, and

many more memorials.

We got to stand outside the gates of

the White House; however, sadly I did

not get to go in.

While we were by the gates, we saw

several protestors. One of the protestors

name was Connie Picciotto. She had

been there for about 35 years. She

doesn’t ever leave for more than about

30 minutes. When she does, a friend

stands in for her. People bring supplies

to her, and she lives in something that

looked like a giant trash bag.

One of my favorite places was the Lin-

coln Memorial. I liked it because it was

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

“My two favorite parts of the trip

were being able to stand at the

gates of the White House &

thanking the veterans.” - Heaven S.

A trip to the nation’s capitol

WWII Memorial

P2P Wreath

Arlington National Cemetery

WWII Memorial &

Washington Monument

Photos submitted by H. Sustaire

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

At See You at the Pole, you meet at your school. You meet

with other students and sing a couple of Christian songs.

Then, you break into small groups and pray with your

group about school events, people that are having trouble,

and problems in the world.

Then, you make a big circle around the flag pole. Each per-

son in the circle prays. That’s where it gets the name “See

You at the Pole”.

Later, after school, you ride a bus with your church to a

thing called “Saw You at the Pole” in Ardmore.

Article by River Pierce

See you @ the pole Quiz Bowl:

2014 Red River Academic Conference -Marietta

Nov 4

Field Trip: GEAR UP trip to ECU

8th Grade—Ada

Nov 6

Basketball Tournaments: 6th Grade—Madill

7th Grade—Dickson 8th Grade—Kingston

Nov 10-15

Basketball Tournaments: 7th & 8th Grade—Madill 9th Grade—Lone Grove

Nov 17-22

Thanksgiving Break Nov 24-28

Gathered by Heaven Sustaire

Upcoming Events

After the classes, it was time for lunch.

We went to the college’s

cafeteria. They had a

salad bar and two differ-

ent entrées. They also had

ice cream.

After lunch, the 7th grad-

ers got shirts and contin-

ued with their classes.

Finally after they were done with their

The 7th grade of Marietta Middle

School visited Murray State College in

Tishomingo on September 18th and

toured the campus.

The advisor first gave a speech, and

then everyone separated into two

groups. We went to several different

classes. We got to see the dorms, nurs-

ing department, forensics part, and an

IETV classroom.

classes, they got to visit the gift shop.

Article by Mackenzie Muller

Murray state college trip

Courtesy of mscok.edu

Wednesday was col-

lege trivia day. Each

student in each home-

room class, and some

teachers, filled one out.

On Thursday every-

body got post cards.

On the postcards, stu-

dents were supposed to write how

GEAR UP helps you reach your goals.

The postcards were sent to Oklahoma

Senators and Representatives.

The week of September 29th to Octo-

ber 3rd was GEAR UP week! There was

a door decorating contest about our

goals in school and after school, like in

college and after that.

On Monday during homeroom, the

homeroom classes talked about goal

setting. You also talked about how you

want to decorate your door.

On Tuesday, it was college T-shirt day. If

you wanted to, you could wear your

favorite college t-shirt.

Friday the doors were judged.

Mrs. Dunn’s homeroom class

was the winner of the door

decorating contest and received

an extra day of outside home-

room.

Aubrey Dedek and Abby Reed

were the winners of the trivia

contest. They each received a $10

iTunes card.

Article by Mandy Sykora

Courtesy of Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education

Gear up week

Thank you to the MMS Student

Council & Mrs. Dunn for helping

make the first newsletter possible

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

Have you ever needed advice, but you were too scared to

ask? You thought you would get made fun of for wanting

help, or that no one would understand? Now you can ask

questions, get advice, and no one will know it’s you!

In the library, there will be

a box with slips of paper

beside it. You can write

anonymous questions and

get advice/answers from

your peers in the next

newspaper.

begin mid-February.

Article by Sophie Love

Cross Country

This year Marietta’s Cross

Country team has done

absolutely great. It takes a lot of heart

and dedication to run XC. Our cross

country team worked hard all summer.

We had to give up most of our summer

vacation to come early in the morning

to practice, even though it was really,

really hot. When school started, we had

to show up every morning at 6:30 and

run until 7:30. It wasn’t easy, but in the

end it all paid off.

At the Norman meet, our highest two

competitors were Chase Waterhouse

and Trace Stewart. Chase placed 1st

and Trace placed 2nd for the junior

high boys.

Softball

This year fast pitch softball was played

from July through mid-September. They

worked on throwing, hitting, and field-

ing fundamentals. It was a tough year,

because they didn’t have very many on

the team, but they sure did have fun!

The entire team participated in the ALS

Ice Bucket Challenge. It was a great

team building experience. “It was a

great experience because it was fun

and it was for a good cause. I think we

did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, be-

cause it was new and a fun experience

as a team,” Katie Sorrell said.

The girls on the team were Bailee Gray,

Dani Latimer, Karley Riley, Carlee Car-

roll, Jenna McComber, Katie Sorrell,

Sarah Jackson, Aaliyah Garcia, Katelyn

Coffey, Haley Hicks, Addison Self, and

Lakira Anderson. Slow pitch softball will

Junior high girls highest two competi-

tors were Mandy Sykora and

Marissa Fincher. Mandy

placed 2nd and Marissa

placed 14th.

Our last meet, which was the

junior high state cross country meet—

Thursday, October 16th , was a huge

success. Both boys and girls won first as

a team. Leading the boys was Chase

Waterhouse placing 1st. Junior high

girls were led by Mandy Sykora also

placing 1st. All of the junior high girls

medaled placing in the top 30.

Both the girls and the boys cross coun-

try teams have done very well this year.

We are very thankful to have such a

great, encouraging coach. Thank you

Coach Appelman for always believing

in us and pushing us to do better.

Article by Marissa Fincher

sports

We need a name for our monthly newsletter!

Submit your creative ideas to Ms. Heil on a sheet of paper with your name. There will be a vote & the winner will be announced next month. If your title is chosen, you will also receive a prize!

CONTEST!

If you are interested in

writing articles for the

monthly newsletter—

see Ms. Heil.

ADVICE COLUMN

“We are very thankful to have

such a great, encouraging

coach. Thank you Coach

Appelman…” - Marissa F.

P A G E 5