shout out to graham high students kristen gravely ... · bound ghs student, when he saw her being...

Around Our Schools Shout Outs October 2014 Volume 1 Alamance-Burlington Schools Public Information Office

Shout Out to Graham High Students Kristen Gravely, Assistant Principal

Carter Garrison was riding by the house of Sarah Young, a wheelchair-bound GHS student, when he saw her being lifted out of her chair and into her house. He realized the effort that was taking and saw that there was no wheelchair ramp. So, he knew just what he would do. He leveraged the help of his friend, Chris Lowe, and a few other willing volunteers, and they crafted Sarah a ramp so that she could have independent access in and out of her home! Anonymous donors from the boys’ church, First United Methodist in Graham, gave funds for all materials needed, and the guys provided the manpower. We are so proud of these two young men and their volunteer friends! Also, Sarah has begun high school this year and has made a superb transition. Way to go! We are fortunate to have these three students

at GHS.


By the end of the day, Sarah was able to use her new

ramp for the first time and had a whole new group of

friends!

Pictured at right: Carter and Sarah

Pictured below: Chris, Carter and Sarah

Check out the local media stories from Times-News and WXII News 12 about this great project:

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/top-news/schoolmate-acts-when-he-sees-student-s-need-1.380540?tc=cr

http://www.wxii12.com/news/local-news/piedmont/local-student-makes-a-difference-in-classmates-life/28341118

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/top-news/schoolmate-acts-when-he-sees-student-s-need-1.380540?tc=cr

http://www.wxii12.com/news/local-news/piedmont/local-student-makes-a-difference-in-classmates-life/28341118


Shout Out to Southern High FFA Floriculture Team Fox 8

Check out the What’s Right With Our Schools segment that aired this week from Cindy Farmer at Fox 8 News.

The Southern High FFA Floriculture team is headed to national competition later this month. Good luck Patriots!

Team members include: Patric Moore, Sarah Davis, Carly Fuller and Davis Kappert

http://myfox8.com/2014/10/02/ffa-floriculture-team-competes-naitonally/

Shout Out for SEPTA Heather Ouzts, Parent Liaison

The ABSS Department of Exceptional Children and the Special Education PTA (SEPTA) held their 4th Annual SEPTA Kickoff on Saturday, September 27th on the campus of Elon University. Every year, SEPTA provides a great event for families of ABSS students with disabilities! This year was another great success with over 200 students, parents, staff, and volunteers gathering to enjoy the beautiful weather, free lunch, and fun games and activities. The most important goal of the SEPTA Kickoff is to provide information about community resources available from many service providers in Alamance County. The organizations included the ABSS EC Parent Advisory Council, ABSS speech and language pathologists, ABSS physical therapists and occupational therapists, ABSS Assistive Technology, Cardinal Innovations Health Care Solutions, Trinity’s Buddy Break, the NC Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Alamance Community College, The Arc of Alamance County, Studio 1—By My Side Theatre, TopSoccer, Voices Together and Dynamic Dance.

http://myfox8.com/2014/10/02/ffa-floriculture-team-competes-naitonally/


We would like to send a special thank you to Elon University Autism Speaks student volunteers and Elon University for supporting our families and community!


Shout Out to E. M. Yoder Elementary Pam McCalip, School Counselor For many students, when they hear UNC-Chapel Hill, they think basketball or football. That all changed when the fifth grade students at E. M. Yoder participated in the "First Look" program on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. "First Look" provides upper elementary, middle and high school students with a glimpse of what "going to college" really means. Our students learned college vocabulary, the history of the university, and they participated in a Q & A session with current UNC students who would be acting as their campus guides. One of the most important suggestions the UNC students gave to our students was to learn study habits now and work hard. All of our students drank from the water fountain that is rumored to result in straight "A's" after drinking from it! They were all excited about that opportunity.


Shout Out to Graham High’s Sydney McCann Fox 8

Check out the great Fox 8 news story about Sydney McCann and her journey back from surgery!

http://myfox8.com/2014/09/26/graham-high-school-student-survives-brain-tumor-vision-loss/

Shout Out to Matthew Pfeuffer, Newlin Orchestra Director Cindy Smith, BMS/CMS Orchestra Director

I would like to share a Shout Out to Matthew Pfeuffer, the new teacher covering the orchestra programs at Eastlawn, Andrews, and Newlin elementary schools. Not only has Matthew nearly doubled the enrollment of students in the orchestra program at those schools, but he also got a Donors Choose proposal funded in 5 short days that will bring in 10 violins to the program so that students who can’t afford their own instruments can participate! I am very excited about the new direction of the orchestra feeder program!

Here’s what Mr. Pfeuffer shared about his activities:

I am a first year teacher and I am also a transplant. I just moved to Burlington from Pittsburgh, PA. Overall, Pittsburgh has some great string programs throughout the region and almost all of them have classroom instruments for the students. When I got down here and started to take my inventory, I noticed there were no classroom instruments. When I started asking some questions, I found out more about the program and more about the students and their home/life situations. I was told student numbers have been very low because of the cost to rent an instrument.

When I did my recruiting, I had students come up to me and apologize to me because they already knew they would not be in the orchestra. When I asked them why, the answer was always dealing with their parents/guardians not having enough money. This broke my heart to have students literally apologizing to me, because they could not be in orchestra.

http://myfox8.com/2014/09/26/graham-high-school-student-survives-brain-tumor-vision-loss/


I have a favorite quote which is, “I don’t accept excuses, I embrace solutions,” Jon Taffer. With that in mind, I tried to find a solution to this obvious problem. I quickly found out my budget was not large enough to buy enough instruments to make an immediate impact. That is when I heard/found out about donorschoose.org. I set up an account and sent my project

to everyone back home in Pittsburgh, PA. Within five days, my project was completed funded thanks to generous donations from my friends and family in PA and a couple of generous “anonymous donors” from North Carolina and California. It was incredibly overwhelming to see and hear the feedback I got on donorschoose.org. A lot of my friends and family have never been to North Carolina, Burlington, or have even heard of ABSS, but they still gave. It was a great experience and I am planning on doing it again for Eastlawn Elementary!


Shout Out to Yoder on the Move! Bonnie Adams, Mebane Women’s Club

E .M. Yoder participated in the Mebane on the Move Mad Dash on September 13th. Mebane On The Move was started 8 years ago by the Mebane Women's Club as an initiative to help Mebane become a more active and fit community. Initially, it was an event to raise awareness of the options that citizens have to get up and get moving. After the second year, they wanted the children of our community to become an integral part of this movement. From that desire came the Mebane Mad Dash, a 1 mile family fun run or walk, to be an elementary school competition to see which

school could have the highest percentage in attendance at the event in Downtown Mebane, on a Saturday morning. That meant not only did the teachers need to inform the kids and parents of the event, but to do their best to get them excited about getting up and getting some exercise early on a Saturday morning. We went from less than 20 participants the first year (before the competition) to over 600 participants each of the past few years! The funds raised from this event have been able to allow the schools to offer after school running clubs, MebFit classes, nutrition programs, and much more all free of charge to the citizens of Mebane; all because of the desire to live healthy and active lives. Yoder won a participation award and the Spirit Award! The money will be used to purchase additional P.E. equipment.


Shout Out to CTEC Culinary Arts Gina Bader, School Counselor

Wednesday afternoon, students from Ms. Tiffanie King’s Culinary Arts classes helped unload a pallet of food worth over $1,000 donated by Food Lion for CTEC’s Cheetah Pack program! The Cheetah Pack program started last year to help high school students who may be food insecure (meaning they do not always know where they will find their next meal). The idea was inspired by the backpack programs in place at some elementary and middle schools. Ms. King saw a need for this in the high school as well. Students can self-refer or teachers can refer students to the school counselor if they are in need.


Students can also pack a bag for another student they know who is in need. Some of the items donated include canned ravioli and chili, individual fruit cups, crackers, canned tuna, oatmeal, macaroni and cheese, and juice. I’d like to give a Big Shout Out to Ms. King whose hard work helped secure this donation! It will help students in need from all six high schools!


Shout Out from Garrett Elementary Kris L’Heureux, Technology Teacher Shout Out for Happy Meals and Happy Gator Families! Thursday night was Garrett McTeacher night and thanks to the Mebane McDonald's, our supportive families, and hardworking teachers, staff, and P.T.O., we raised almost $600.00! We really appreciate everyone coming out and dining out! The Gators really enjoyed seeing their teachers trying to get the hang of those registers, and drive-thru!

shout out to graham high students kristen gravely ... · bound ghs student, when he saw her being...

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