Hilsman Orientation

Just a reminder of the student orientations set next week at Hilsman.

Orientation for 7th and 8th graders is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 5th from 10:00 am - 11:30 am.

Orientation for 6th graders is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 5th from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm.

Please mark your calendars to attend and don't forget to stop by the PTO table in the main hallway.

Middle School Advanced Content Course Parent Meeting

Parents are invited to attend a CCSD Middle School Advanced Content Course Parent Meeting that will be held at the CCSD Board Office on March 19, 2009 or March 26, 2009 from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. Parents may attend either meeting since the same information will be presented at both meetings. This meeting will review the Middle School Advanced Content information with parents and provide an opportunity to ask any questions you may have.

For more info on the meeting, in case your kids didn't bring them home:

http://hilsmanpto.googlepages.com/Parent_Letter_for_Advanced_Courses_F.pdf

For more info on placement criteria for Math and English/Language Arts:

http://hilsmanpto.googlepages.com/MS_Placement_FY10_Criteria.pdf

Oratory, Math and Baseball

Oratorical Winners

Saturday, 2-28-09, the three Optimist Oratorical clubs in Athens held their annual oratorical contest at the courthouse downtown. We were fortunate to have four contestants at the competition, two boys and two girls.

Asher Hill (grade 8) was one of three first place winners in the boys' competition, and Timmy Huang (gr. 6) was one of three second place winners in the boys' arena.

Mariah Pettis (gr. 7) and Isabella Manoguerra (gr.7) both received honorable mentions in the girls' competition.

Please congratulate these students when you see them this week. They worked very hard and were excellent ambassadors for Hilsman Middle School.

Baseball

Below is the link for the Cedar Shoals Baseball website. Here, you can find our schedules, etc. We have upcoming games this Friday (@ North Oconee) and Saturday (HOME vs. South Effingham and Oconee). All home games are FREE w/school ID. Please come support your students.

CEDAR SHOALS BASEBALL SITE: http://www.eteamz.com/CedarShoalsJaguars/index.cfm?subsite=4964521

Math Scholar

If you see Akshay Hariani in the halls please congratulate him on making the highest score that anyone has ever achieved at the Regional Mathcounts Contests in its 25 year history. He scored 45 out of a possible 46 eclipsing 42 by Boris, David, Phillip, and 43 by Cathy Deng.

Art Decko and Lice

Hilsman students are part of the new public art being installed in the College Ave parking garage as part of the Art Decko project. An opening reception is March 1, 2-3pm in the garage. More info here:

http://hilsmanpto.googlepages.com/ArtDecko.jpg

Recently Hilsman sent home a letter about Lice since there was a case found at school. In case you didn't get that letter it is available here:

http://hilsmanpto.googlepages.com/HMS_Lice_Letter.doc

Hilsman Success at Regional Science Fair

Hilsman students made us all proud at the regional Science Fair held at Athens Tech. Hilsman is the only CCSD middle school to be sending students to the state fair to be held in April. Seven of our 10 students placed. Six will advance to the state level. The winners were:

Grand prize:Daniel Harrison

1st place
Erin Hollander

2nd place
Anna Staddon
Jeremy Mote
Evan Knox
Jeff Bellah

3rd place
Virgille Sonon

Regional Ricoh Sustainable Development Award
Erin Hollander

US Navy/Marine Corps
Anna Staddon

All 1st and 2nd prize winners will go to the state finals.

Fundraisers

Publix fundraiser

If you or your friends or family shop at Publix you can help donate money to Hilsman without costing you a penny. Hilsman has received keychain cards that you can use every time you go to Publix. These cards are different from the ones at Kroger in that they are printed especially for Hilsman and are not linked to any individual so big brother can not track you! Cards are available in the school office and will be distributed at other events. These cards never expire and can be used at any Publix in Georgia, AL, SC and TN.

Box Tops for Education

Remember that the Box Tops for Education is a year-round activity. Tops can be brought in at any time. Put in a baggie or envelope with the Homeroom teacher's name on it. The school has already made a couple hundred dollars from this already.

School Supplies

Last year the PTO sponsored a program where you could pre-buy school supplies for the next school year at the end of this school year. Supplies were delivered the first day of classes. The kits were based on Hilsman teachers' official supplies lists. We are considering offering this service again this year, but we need to see if there is any interest. Please let us know your opinion. More info about the vendor is at http://www.schoolkidz.com

Hilsman News

ROTC

The Hilsman Middle School JROTC Drill Team will be participating in two competitions within the next 30 days. On February 28th the team will travel with the Cedar Shoals High School team to Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville. On March 7 they will again join the CSHS team at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega to compete. Our drill team has represented HMS extremely well this year and has more than held its own against drill teams from established, high school JROTC programs.


High School Registration – It’s Sooner Than You Think!

Rising 9th Grade Parent Advisement Night
February 19, 2009
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.Hilsman Middle School
Agenda
· Welcome – Dr. Anthony Price, Hilsman Middle School
· Transition to High School – Ron Jones, CSHS Counselor
· Questions and Answers
· Advisement – Discuss course recommendations with teachers, choose electives, meet with high school counselors
· Refreshments


CCSD Spelling Bee

Congratulations, Andrew Bryant! Andrew, an 8th grade HMS student, placed 2nd in the CCDS Spelling Bee.

Winter News

PTO Meeting and Title 1 Meeting

The next scheduled PTO meeting is Monday, February 9 at 6pm. Prior to that there will be a Title 1 meeting at 5:30. The Title 1 meeting will discuss the ways that Hilsman utilizes its Title 1 funds, etc. Meet in the Media Center


Competition Cheerleading

For any rising freshman interested in Competition Cheerleading @ CSHS:Mandatory Information Meeting February 17, @ 5 p.m. in the CSHS cafeteria. All tryout information will be given at that time. Any questions; email Kari Speakman: speakmank@clarke.k12.ga.us


Foundation for Excellence in Public Education

There are many fine teachers at Hilsman who deserve to be nominated for one of these awards; unfortunately last year HMS had only one nominee. One of our trustees, Dr. Maxine Easom, is making an appointment with Dr. Price to see how the FFE can help make sure that our faculty and staff are well represented. There are three particular awards that we simply must have nominees for: the Kilpatrick Middle School Teaching award, the Teacher of Promise Award for those teaching less than four years, and the Teacher of Excellence Award for those teaching four years or more.

See the press release here:
http://hilsmanpto.googlepages.com/FFE2009.pdf


University of Virginia Summer Programs

University of Virginia Summer Programs - In conjunction with the Curry School of Education, the University of Virginia announces the 30th year of its residential summer program for gifted and/or high ability students. Students enrolled in grades 4-10 during the 2008-2009 school year may apply to attend a twelve day session. Applications can be submitted on-line at http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/sep or by mailing a paper application to us. The applications are available on our website. If you have any questions please contact us at 434-924-3182 or curry-sep@virginia.edu.

Science Fair Winners

SCIENCE FAIR WINNERS – 6th GRADE
BEHAVIORAL/ SOCIAL SCIENCES
1. Garrison Hefner
2. Claudia Davis/ Jayleen Serrano
3. Addie Young & Maya Stagg > Third Place tie

CHEMISTRY
1. Andrew Buxton
2. Shelby Marquardt/ Cassie Ryan
3. Alex Caudill & Timmy Huang > Third Place tie

EARTH SCIENCE
1. Michael Ohana

ENGINEERING
1. Alex Smith
2. Xavier Arnold
3. Corynne Gamboa

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
1. Shelton Pittman

MEDICINE/ HEALTH
1. Matt Owensby/ Zach Finnan
2. Jake Babendrier
3. Shelesa Seay

MICROBIOLOGY
1. Erin Jarboe
2. Dacia Daniel
3. Brantley Summers

PHYSICS
1. Savanna Crane
2. Caley Rentz
3. Christina Turner

PLANT SCIENCE
1. Virgile Sonon
2. Elizabeth Ratajczak
3. Grace Yuh & Amber Jones > Third Place tie

PROJECTS GOING on to DISTRICT SCIENCE FAIR:
1. Virgile Sonon
2. Erin Jarboe
3. Andrew Buxton
4. Shelby Marquardt/ Cassie Ryan
5. Elizabeth Ratajczak

SEVENTH GRADE SCIENCE FAIR WINNERS

ANIMAL SCIENCE
1ST JAMIA JOHNSON/BRIDGETT DAVID

BEHVIORAL SCIENCE
** 1ST CHRISTINE JAHNG
** 2ND LIZZY REECE
3RD ADAM NIBBLELINK
AUDREY SMITH

BIOCHEMISTRY
1ST TORI MARVIN/ MARIAH PETTIS
2ND TATIARA COUSAR/ ERICA CRUTCHFIELD

COMPUTER SCIENCE
1ST ASH HART EARTH SCIENCE
** 1ST EVAN KNOX

ENVIRONMENTAL
** 1ST ANNA SCHRAMSKI/VICTORIA MASON
2ND JONAH BRUXTON
3RD JOEY SNAVELY

MATHEMATICS
** 1ST KENNETH ADAMS

MEDICINE AND HEALTH
** 1ST MADISON HOGAN
2ND ISBELLA MANOGUERRA
3RD SHAYLEE POKOSKI

MICROBIOLOGY
1ST SAM MANANDHAR
2ND JOSE HEREDIA
3RD DREW MINER

PHYSICS
***1ST LOGAN GLENN
2ND MANUEL FIGUERO
3RD KEUNDRA BRISCOE/BRANDRIKA WATKINS

PLANT
1ST HALEY DAVIS
2ND BRIAN HEREDIA
2ND ZOE BOLEN
3RD MIRNA MORALES/MAYRA BARRIENTOS

**** going to the district science fair

HMS EIGHTH GRADE SCIENCE FAIR WINNERS

Mathematics
1st place-Sam Flexner/Bo Lane

Microbiology
1st place-Daniel Harrison
2nd place-Jeremy Mote
3rd place Richard Dunham

Animal Science
1st place-Narda Davenport

Behavioral Science
1st place-Lauren Warrenfeltz
2nd place-Yeji Lee
3rd place-Cody Milsap
3rd place Raven James

Physics
1st place-Anna Staddon
2nd place-Veronoka Rzucidlo/Maya Klos-Gromadzka
3rd place-Marcus Winston
3rd place-Sam Eberhart

Biochemistry
1st place-Andrew Bryant

Chemistry
1st place Jeff Bellah
2nd place-Micaela Johnson
2nd place-Joao Franca
3rd place-Tien-Tien Cheng
3rd place—Akshay Hariani
3rd place-Dhruv Patel

Engineering
1st place-Asher Hill
2nd place-Mary Carson Brown/Alicia Micheletti
3rd place Cecilia Villaveces/
3rd place- Zach Huberty

Environmental Science
1st place-Erin Hollander
2nd place-Duncan Robertson
3rd place-Shane Smith

PROJECTS GOING on to DISTRICT SCIENCE FAIR

Erin Hollander
Jeff Bellah
Daniel Harrison
Lauren Warrenfeltz
Asher Hill
Veronika Rzucidlo/ Maya Klos- Gromadzka
Jeremy Mote
Anna Staddon

MLK "I Have a Dream" winners from Hilsman

Two seventh graders at HMS took the prize in the annual MLK writing competition - Lizzy Reece and David Virgo. They were filmed reading their pieces and will be honored later this week at the MLK breakfast at UGA

Academic Bowl

I hope you will be as proud as I am of our Hilsman Academic Team as they took first place at the Page Regional Academic Competition last Saturday. They will now compete at the State Semifinal on January 24th. This is really a great accomplishment for our team as 80% of our team members are participating in this type of competition for the first time.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your help and support to make the Academic Bowl at Hilsman a great success. The competition went very smoothly and without any glitches. All the participents, parents, coaches and others present seemed to enjoy the event very much.

Ms. Srivastiva

Team Members are:
Akshay Hariani, Jordan Coleman, Jonah Buxton, Madison Hogan, Evan Knox, Timmy Huang, Jose Heredia, Brian Heredia,Tien-Tien Cheng, Sean Zhang.

Geography Bee

Congratulations go out to Jonan Buxton, 7th grade, who won first place in our Geography Bee today. Second place was Evan Knox, 7th grade, and 3rd place went to Dhruv Patel, 8th grade. A special thanks to Mary Quinn for all her hard work in getting this done…Also, thanks to Lucille Srivastava and Cindi Clark for their help, as well.It was a well organized and exciting contest!!!!

Volunteer

Just a reminder as the second half of the school year commences that parents are welcome to volunteer in the school as hall monitors or in other roles. Go to the school office for more information about needs and requirements.

Upcoming events at Hilsman:

PAGE Academic Bowl – 1/10
Spelling Bee – 1/15
Geography Bee & Science Fair – 1/15
Writing Test – 1/21
District Science Fair -- Jan. 24th
Basketball vs Coile - Jan 15th

Again, this year, Hilsman has swept the DAR Essay Competition

Congratulations to the following winners of the District DAR Essay contest:
8th grade: Jeff Bellah
7th grade: Madison Hogan
6th grade Claudia Davis

Writing Assessment and Little League

Writing Assessment

January 21, 2009 - 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Writing Assessment

The 8th Grade Writing Assessment is a state mandated standardized test. The Clarke County School District also administers a similar type of writing assessment to sixth and seventh grade students on the same day.

The writing assessments will be given the morning of January 21, 2009 so please make sure students arrive on time that morning.



Little League

Below there is a link to a flyer with information about baseball signups for Athens International Little League. This flyer was supposed to have been sent to homes on the eastside last week; however, because of a mix up at mailing services, the flyers were sent to the westside of town. We hope to still get them mailed, but we weren’t sure if they would get to homes in time for this weekend’s signups. Please look the flyer over and sign your child up during one of the registration times. Note: the flyer mentions that boys will be drafted after tryouts, but girls’ softball is available for middle school aged kids. If you have any questions, you can email me at buz.amason@uscm.org. Thanks.

http://hilsmanpto.googlepages.com/EastSideLL2009.pdf

PTO Hospitality

HMS PTO Hospitality will be providing lunch for the HMS Faculty and Staff on Friday, January 9th (the week we get back from winter break). PTO will provide pots of pinto beans and/or black eyed peas and turnip or collard greens, condiments,utensils, plates and cups.

We need donations of packs of beef smoked sausage (like kielbasa), cornbread muffins, desserts and drinks. Donations can be dropped off Jan. 9 before 9:00 a.m. in the HMS office or Conference Room.

If you can donate any of these items please contact Kelly Sanders at jukso@aol.com or Anna Steffl at annasteffl@aol.com
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Jaguar Caper

Cedar Shoals High School is proud to present the 22nd Jaguar Caper 5K. The race start/finish is located at Cedar Shoals High School which is located at 1300 Cedar Shoals Drive, Athens, GA 30605. Start time will be 8:30AM, Saturday, January 24, 2009. Registration will open at 7:30AM.

Course: The 5 kilometer course is run throughout the school grounds and in Green Acres subdivision. The start will be in the upper parking lot of the school and the finish will be at the amphitheater. Finish line management provided by Classic Race Services with complete results posted online to www.runningintheusa.com, www.coolrunning.com, and www.active.com.

Awards: Awards will be presented to the Overall Male/Female, Masters Male/Female, and Grand Masters Male/Female. The top three male/female in age groups beginning at 10 and under through 75 and over will be given awards. Awards presentations will be made at 9:45AM.
Goodies: All pre-registered participants will receive a long sleeved tee shirt and as available to race day registration. There will be plenty of food, fruit, and fluids for post race refreshments.

Information: Additional information, please call Roger Edmonds at (706) 546-5375 ext 21203 or Will Chamberlin at (706) 769-6593 or email at gwi...@bellsouth.net.

Registration: $15.00 postmarked by 1/17/09, afterwards $18.00. Family registration (pre-register only) is $45.00. No Shirt Option - $10.00.

Make checks payable and mail to:
2009 Jaguar Caper 5K
Cedar Shoals High School
1300 Cedar Shoals Drive
Athens, GA 30605

Science Fair

Hilsman Science Fair will be Thursday, Jan. 15th in the HMS lunchroom.

Projects will be setup at 8:30 am and will be judged throughout the day.

Parents are welcome to drop-by during the day to look at the projects.

Coming Events:
Geography Bee
Spelling Bee
Oratorical Contest