Jefferson Middle School News
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Mt. Lebanon Students Win First Place Awards at PJAS State Competition
May 14, 2013
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Mt. Lebanon students who won first place awards at the PJAS state competition. |
Congratulations to three Mt. Lebanon students who participated in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science state competition on May 13 at Penn State University. All three students won first place awards at the competition.
Azfar Merchant and Charles Yuan from Mt. Lebanon High School and Nikolas Mustian from Jefferson Middle School earned first place awards for the presentation of their individual novel research projects. Congratulations to the students and Mr. Tilger. |
JMS Student Receives Award for Artwork from PA American Water
May 14, 2013
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| David O’Matz with his award winning artwork "Reflections" with Josephine Posti from PA American Water. | A Mt. Lebanon student from Thomas Jefferson Middle School earned western Pennsylvania’s top prize in Pennsylvania American Water’s 11th Annual “Protect Our Watersheds” Art Contest. JMS sixth-grader David O’Matz earned first place for western Pennsylvania for his artwork depicting a deer drinking from a stream entitled “Reflection.”
The company received approximately 525 entries from fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders across the commonwealth. Pennsylvania American Water announced the contest winners as part of National Drinking Water Week, May 5-11.
Pennsylvania American Water’s contest requires the students to accompany their artwork with a short description of how watershed protection affects them personally. |
JMS Students Rank in Top Ten of National French Test Results
April 24, 2013
| The National French Contest/Le Grand Concours is an annual competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French. Students in grades 1-12 in all 50 states and abroad take a written test and compete against students with similar educational backgrounds. Out of the 20 8th grade Jefferson Middle School students who took the test, 12 ranked in the top ten nationwide. These students are: Aya Dardari, Jeremy Farbman, Harrison Greenbaum, Ben Jia, Addison Lee, Darby McCaslin, Ballard Powell, Peter Copetas, Zach Dewit, Mel Jiang, Alex Thorpe, Mary Augenstein. Congratulations to the students and their teachers on these outstanding results. |
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JMS Students Travel Around the World in One Day at Pgh Folk Festival
April 23, 2013
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| JMS students at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall for "Around the World Day." |
| The Jefferson Middle School International Club participated in “Around the World Day” as part of the 56th International Pittsburgh Folk Festival. Students were able to learn and experience a variety of cultures in a single day trip. The objective of this educational experience is to promote a better understanding of various peoples by learning about their history, culture and customs. This program gives students the chance to participate in folk crafts, performances of traditional ethnic dances, songs and music, and cultural exhibits where students can learn about a people’s history, geography and customs. |
| JMS Selected to Join School in Scotland to Celebrate International School Meals Day
March 25, 2013
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| Mr. Kramer’s 8th grade class at Jefferson Middle School Skyped with students from Brannock High School in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. |
| Jefferson Middle School was selected to participate in the first ever USDA International School Meals Day celebration. JMS was among 24 schools from Scotland and the USA selected to highlight school lunch nutrition and healthy eating habits.
Mr. Kramer’s 8th grade class at Jefferson Middle School was paired with a class from Brannock High School in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The two classes communicated via Skype to discuss healthy food choices, nutrition and their favorite lunchtime foods. International School Meals Day is intended as a way to partner U.S. classrooms with their counterparts across the Atlantic to discuss topics such as healthy eating habits and nutrition education via the Internet. Mt. Lebanon was picked as one of only 9 schools in the country to participate. Thank you to our Food Service Director Tazeen Chowdhury for making this experience possible for our students. |
JMS Student Gold and Silver Key Winner at Regional Scholastic Writing and Art Awards
March 4, 2013
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JMS student Mong Zhang's visual art piece, The Dog, received the Gold Key award. |
Congratulations to Jefferson Middle School 8th grade student, Mong Zhang, for recently being named a Silver Key and Gold Key winner in the Pittsburgh Region's 2013 Scholastic Writing and Art Awards.
Mong’s poem, "Beast!" earned the Silver Key. Out of all regional submissions, few er than 10% are recognized as Silver Key winners. Mong’s visual art piece, The Dog, received the Gold Key and has been submitted for a national level award. Of 2100 visual pieces entered, only 242 Gold Keys were awarded.
Pittsburgh Regional Scholastic Awards were distributed at an awards ceremony on Saturday, March 2, at the University of Pittsburgh. |
Jefferson Middle School Presents Once Upon a Mattress
February 22, 2013
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Jefferson Middle School students will present the musical comedy, Once Upon a Mattress. The play, written as an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea, will be performed on March 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the Jefferson Auditorium. For ticket information, contact Janice Cherry at Jefferson Middle School at 412-344-2120. Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for students. |
Mt. Lebanon Students Create Art to Preserve Memory of Classmate
February 21, 2013
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JMS Law Club Kicks Off with Visit from Congressman Tim Murphy
February 19, 2013
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| Congressman Tim Murphy with members of the Jefferson Middle School Law Club and Ms. Sasha Williams. |
Jefferson Middle School students will get a unique opportunity that is not available to every law school student or even every practicing attorney. A new Law Club was started by Jefferson parent and Reed Smith attorney, Sasha Williams, that will introduce students to the U.S. justice system through firsthand experience. The Law Club’s first meeting was held on Feb. 19 and the guest speaker was Congressman Tim Murphy who spoke about the legislative branch of the government and described to students how laws are conceived, written, presented and adopted.
The students will use the Congressman’s presentation as a basis for their Moot Court and will put together a Mock Trial with the guidance of Ms. Williams. The law firm of Reed Smith will host one of the Club’s meetings at the McGough Courtroom where the students will get a chance to talk to some of the top attorneys about practicing law. Ms. Williams will meet with the Law Club to develop their case and put together a trial, is a native of Moscow, Russia and a mother of four Jefferson Elementary and Middle Schools students. Her life experience and her career path made her a strong advocate for civics education and prompted her to initiate this project.
As part of the Moot Court program, the Law Club members will also get a chance to visit the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court and meet with Judge R. Stanton Wettick who will talk to the student about the civil trial process. A similar trip is planned to the Federal Courthouse. Finally, the young lawyers will hold their Mock Trial in the downtown courthouse before a panel of practicing attorneys and a jury. | |
JMS International Night Draws Record Crowd
January 23, 2013
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| JMS students perform an Indian dance at the International Night. |
| Jefferson Middle School International Night was a great success, raising over $4,500 for the Cali Orphanage in Haiti. The JMS International Club organized the international food and entertainment festival that drew a record crowd of 600 people. Teachers Ashlee Beckett, Molly Wetmore, and Kristin Hertzog helped the students organize the event that brings families and friends together to celebrate and share their cultural heritage through food, dance, games and ethnic dress. |
JMS Holiday Collection Help Students at Staten Island School
January 4, 2013
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| Dr. James Walsh, Mr. Jeffrey Zeiders and Mrs. Janice Cherry make good on their promise to JMS students. |
| Jefferson Middle School Student Council held a collection before the holidays with the goal to raise $3,000 for students at PS 041 in Staten Island who were left homeless by SuperStorm Sandy. JMS students exceeded their goal by raising $3114.34. The funds were used to purchase 24 gift cards at $125 each for 24 children attending PS 041. The gift cards arrived in time for the holidys at the school in Staten Island on December 21. One additional gift card was sent to a student in need in Eastern Pennsylvania. Students raised money primarily through homerooms donations, candy cane and hot cocoa sales.
Students were promised that if they met their building goal, JMS Principal Dr. James Walsh and Dean of Students Mr. Jeffrey Zeiders, would dress as penguins and walk through the cafeteria. The students' generosity was also rewarded with a Pajama Day and the homerooms that met their goals received holiday treats. |
JMS Teacher Achieves National Board Certification
November 27, 2012
| Congratulations to Ashlee Mae Beckett, 6th Grade Social Studies at Jefferson Middle School on achieving her National Board Certification. The Mission of the National Board is to advance student learning and achievement by establishing the definitive standards and systems for certifying accomplished educators, providing programs and advocating policies that support excellence in teaching and leading, and engaging National Board Certified Teachers and leaders in that process. |
JMS Student Leaders Attend State Conference
November 12, 2012
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| Eight Jefferson Middle School Student Council Executive Board members had the opportunity to attend the 76th Annual PASC State Leadership Conference, November 1st – November 3rd. JMS students, Harrison Greenbaum, Maggie Baker, Kristen Karlovich, Sarah Harouse, Lauren Vogt, Nora Tomer, Mel Jiang, and Kelly Hois attended the conference which was hosted by the Laurel Area and Union Area School Districts.
As delegates, they attended two student-led leadership workshops and listened to three nationally recognized motivational speakers. They stayed with host families and had numerous opportunities to meet and exchange ideas with their peer representatives from around the state. The theme of the conference was, “Ignite Yourself, Your School, and Your Community to Serve Others.” Additional activities included fireworks, hosted in the firework capital of America, a banquet for all the delegates and their advisers, and a dance. |
JMS and MMS Students Recognized as Promising Young Writers
October 19, 2012
| Jefferson Middle School student Elly Bleier and Mellon Middle School students Emma Dougherty and Madelyn Rice were recognized for their exceptional writing skills in the Promising Young Writers program sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). The students were among the 85 students across the nation who received Certificates of Recognition.
According to the NCTE website, the Promising Young Writers program was established in 1985 to stimulate and recognize student's writing talents and to emphasize the importance of writing skills among eighth-grade students. Students currently in the eighth-grade who are nominated by their schools may participate in the program. This year, 276 students were nominated. Of that number, 85 received Certificates of Recognition and 191 received Certificates of Participation. Each student submitted two pieces of writing, which were read by two judges. Papers were judged on content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development,and style.
Congratulations to our students and their teachers for this outstanding academic recognition. |
New Dean of Students for Jefferson Middle School
July 17, 2012
| The School Board approved a change of assignment for Jeffrey A. Zeiders from Supervisor of Social Studies and Family Consumer Science to Jefferson Middle School Dean of Students, effective July 17, 2012. Mr. Zeiders has been an administrator in the District since 2010. Prior to Mt. Lebanon, he served as the Social Studies Education Advisor for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. |
Last modified on 5/14/2013, 4:25:06 PM
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