April 26, 2013

Hello Titans,

We have had an excellent week full of unique opportunities here at EPMS. Our 6th graders enjoyed a field trip to Fernbank Museum, some of our 8th graders went on an Historic Roswell walking tour, and most of our 8th grade students are enjoying their field trip to Washington DC as we speak. Although they got off to a significantly delayed start, all is sailing smoothly now, and they are having a blast. Fox 5 News visited the school and highlighted our talented students as well!

I would like to take a moment to share some exciting news with you. Yesterday I was selected as the Principal of the Year for the Northwest Learning Community in Fulton County Schools. I share this with you, not because I am comfortable "tooting my own horn," but because I think it is very important for you all to know that the community recognizes our hard work and our positive direction. I consider this award to be far more about the staff and their endless devotion to your students than anything that I have done. I believe that this community has rallied behind our work and supported this school beyond measure. I am humbled to be the recipient of this award, yet I am so pleased to share the school's recognition with all of you. Thank you.

Celebrations:

• Our feature on Fox 5 News yesterday was a great opportunity to show the community all of the great things that we are doing. Mr. Willis told me that the producer commented afterward on how impressed they were with our students, their manners and attitude. Emily Stone, the Senior Web Producer actually emailed me today and said the following: "Paul and I were both delighted and impressed by your students. They're so well-behaved! We had a great time with them, and hope they did as well. You have lots to be proud of." It's always nice to hear others affirm what we already know: Elkins Pointe Titans are the best!
• Feel free to check out this link for footage. http://www.high5sports.com/story/22073783/high-5-field-trip-elkins-pointe-middle-school
•  We are very proud to report that our 22 eighth grade French students who took the Grand Concours (National French test) this year ranked them in both the state and national TOP 10!!! There were close to 1200 level 1 students in Georgia and over 24,000 in the country who took the test this year. Based on their test scores, this year's state and national Top 10 from Elkins Pointe include:
• 10 Malik Botteger / Cigi Curry / Dezyrae DeLeon
• 9 Fatima Boumahdi / Ellie Sprick / Ramya Srinivasan
• 8 Rosario Arellano / Marcea Harley / Noelia Nava
• 7 Abby Hutchinson / Juan Padilla
• 6 Victoria Brunner
• 5 Kiara Allen / Isabel Allen / Amanda Kelly / Nicolas Myers
• 4 Steven Koskey / Paola Marquez-Gomez / Chandler Stevenson / Katarina Wilcher
• 3 Julia Kornetzke *Julia is the first student from Elkins Pointe to make a Top 3 ranking!
• Congratulations to these students for their accomplishment!!
• The EPMS Symphonic Band traveled this past weekend to Orlando Florida to compete in a mixed level competition sponsored by Universal Studios. The Band earned 1st place and received the Gold Award for having the highest score of all the middle school bands. Furthermore, the EPMS Symphonic Band placed second overall out-scoring all high school groups except the first place group. The maximum score was 300 (100 points per judge), the EPMS Band scored a 269 and the first place group scored a 279. We are extremely proud of this group. They have worked hard all year and always strived for perfection in performance. Please remember to share your students' celebrations with us so that we can honor them. Following you will find a few examples...
• We are so proud of Jordan Leet, who received 4th Place All Around in her Regional Gymnastics competition. Way to go, Jordan!
• Congratulations to Nathan Wonsley, who has received multiple athletic recognitions this school year, including:
• 2012 AAU Junior Olympic Gold Medalist for 12yr old in Shot Put
• 2012 AAU Junior Olympic 9th in the nation for 12yr old in Discus
• 2012 12yrd old Offense-Defense Georgia Camp Defensive MVP and All-American Team 
• 2012 Georgia 7th Grade FBU National Middle School All-Star Team

Be in the Know:

• Progress Reports go home with students on Tuesday, April 30th. Please take the time to review and discuss this with your student. This is the last progress report of the year, and there are still four weeks to pull up their grades if needed. All students who have failed a course or are in danger of failing will have a summer school registration form attached. Please remember to get your child registered as soon as possible. Do not wait until the final report card to register, as spaces may no longer be available. Refunds will be provided to families if students succeed and no longer need the summer school courses.
• Remember that we have a BIG week next week, with Taste of Broadway Wednesday and Thursday night, EOCT testing for some of our 8th graders on May 2nd, as well as the 8th grade Dance Friday night. As an "actor" in one of the performances, I can assure you that the Broadway vignettes are top notch and you won't want to miss out! Remember that tickets include desserts, as well as a stellar performance. Call the office for details or make sure your students buy their tickets in the front atrium one morning next week.
• The 8th Grade Dance is always a stellar, well-prepared event that is a perfectly magical evening for the 8th graders. Don't let them miss out on this once in a lifetime event. Make sure they buy their tickets one day next week, as the dance is FRIDAY night, May 3rd.
• If your 8th grader is earning high school credit for their Math Course, make sure that they arrive on time, well rested, and ready for testing on May 2nd.
• There will be a Roswell High School XC parent meeting on Tuesday, May 7th at 7:00 pm in the Roswell High School Auditorium.  The meeting is for all new runners and returning runners. We will be discussing the upcoming fall season, summer schedule and summer camp.
• Milton High School robotics is offering a robot-building camp and a programming camp from June 3 - June 7th. Students in the robot-building camp will use hand tools to build a robot using concepts of buoyancy and hydrodynamic design. Yes, we are building water robots! Students in the programming camp will learn programming skills as they work with robots (Scribblers and Finches), animation (Scratch and Alice), and introductory programming languages. The camp is designed for rising 4th through 9th graders. For more information, see our flyer at  http://tinyurl.com/MiltonRobotics
• Because of 8th grade dance, students and/or parents interested in RECYCLE CLUB should come Thursday May 2nd, not Friday May 3rd.

Did You Know?

Did you know that our 6th grade students participated in science experiments on their field trip? They enjoyed their visit to Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta.  The museum offers hands on opportunities for students to explore!  Students were also able to experience the wonders of IMAX in the film Flight of the Butterflies, as well as dive a little deeper into their science studies of weather formations through a Weather Wonders program.  Click here for some great pictures from the trip.

Have a great weekend, Titans.