Thank you to the volunteers who helped serve and deliver over 550 breakfasts and lunches to Sullivan County students and their families on February 27th! 

   

On Tuesday, March 10th, 27 students from nine middle schools participated in this year's spelling bee.  The top three finishers from each school competition tested their spelling knowledge in round-by-round format with the ultimate goal of being declared the 2015 Sullivan County Spelling Bee Champion.  Though only one student will be declared the 2015 County Champion, the first place winners from each individual school will be eligible to represent their school in the Regional Spelling Bee in Knoxville on Saturday, March 14th. 

 

Congratulations to the winners!

 

Pictured here are: 

 

1st Place - Rachel Martin - Colonial Heights Middle School 

2nd - Eden Phillips - Bluff City Middle School

3rd (three way tie) - Kassidi Johnson (Mary Hughes Middle School), Wesley Kincaid (Mary Hughes Middle School), Alyssa Hobbs (Sullivan North Middle School)

 

  

Innovation Academy will hold informational meetings for parents, prospective students and their families on March 19th, April 9th and April 16th.  A school walkthrough can be made from 8:00 - 10:00 a.m. on those days, followed by a parent meeting at 10:00 a.m.  Topics to include learning methodology, online curriculum, school goals, internet access, related arts, STEM afterschool program.  There will also be time to address questions and concerns.  Open enrollment for IA begins on March 9th.  Innovation Academy is located in Holston Middle School, 2348 Highway 75, Blountville.

  

Students and faculty from several Sullivan County schools including Bluff City Elementary and Middle, Holston Valley and Mary Hughes Middle, Weaver Elementary, and Sullivan East High Schools recently sported Rare Disease Awareness Day t-shirts to show support for young men in our system whose lives have been drastically affected by rare diseases.

 

Bryson Burgess, an eighth grader at Bluff City Middle School, was diagnosed as a fifth grader at age 11 with Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), an allergic inflammatory disease that has caused him to be hospitalized multiple times. During flare-ups, Bryson may be unable to eat for extended periods of time because of the pain and inflammation associated with EoE. As a result, he has had to rely on a feeding tube for nourishment more than once.

 

Hunter Brown, a fifth grade student at Weaver Elementary School, deals with Hirschsprung Disease (HD), which occurs when some of the nerve cells that are normally present in the wall of the intestine do not form properly during fetal development. Most children born with HD develop symptoms within the first six weeks of life, while many become systematic within 24-48 hours of being born, as was the case with Hunter. He was diagnosed at three days, and underwent extensive surgery at only four days old. Without a surgery that only offers a 50% survival rate, HD has a 100% mortality rate. A stomach virus that is typically not much more than a nuisance for most healthy people put Hunter in ICU for a month when was only two years old.

 

Despite the fact that they each have a disease that could choose to wreak havoc over their lives at any moment, neither Bryson nor Hunter is willing to allow his disease complete control over his life. Both boys are talented athletes who enjoy active lives playing multiple sports, and they are both young men with engaging personalities who are well-loved by all who know them.

 

  

Blountville Elementary second graders had a special visitor. Marty Silvers brought a screech owl to the BES classrooms. Students learned about adaptions, food chains, and life cycles.

 

 

 

  

 

Students wore their pajamas to school on Wednesday and read all day. They read in their classrooms, with buddies, and during related arts. Some students even read in the cafeteria after eating their lunch. Students were able to read a whopping 1,068 books together on this special day! The faculty and staff at BCES are extremely proud of how many books their students were able to read.

 

Below are some pictures from this day.

 

 

 

Our students really enjoyed hearing Mrs. Ashley Gearing read Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!

 

  

  

Miller Perry Elementary School celebrated Dr. Seuss Week March 2-6, 2015 by listening to some guest readers. Dr. Yennie read McElligot's Pool , played his guitar and shared songs with 4th grade. Their favorite song was S-M-I-L-E which is an original composition by Dr. Yennie.  Dr.Robin McClellan read Mr. Brown Can Moo,Can You? to kindergarten and 1st grade students and played a great sound game. Can you sound like a rooster, too?  Mrs. Evelyn Rafalowski read My Many Colored Days and Sneetches to 2nd grade and helped the students practice working together. Ms. April Griffin from the Colonial Heights Food City shared The Lorax with K, 1 and 2 students. She brought along E-co and Re-co her recycling friends. Kindergarten, first and second grade students will be helping Food City recycle by placing art work on brown grocery bags in art class with Ms. Williams.  Our beautiful bags will be used on Earth Day to bag customer's groceries. This will remind our community that Food City and MPE students care about our environment. But, perhaps the most special reader of all was Sean Patrick Clare, a 4th grader at Miller Perry who volunteered to read Oh the Thinks You Can Think! to kindergarten students. Sean Patrick shared his story that when he was in kindergarten and first grade, learning to read was a challenge, but he encouraged the young students to never give up! Practice makes a good reader! It was an amazing week full of great stories to share.

 

 

  

The sixth grade at Holston Valley Middle School is showing off their technology skills.  Macbooks, iPads, and SmartBoards have all been put to use in the preparation and completing of the State Writing Assessment.  Students have also been busy using Renaissance Place for Math and Language Arts practice as well as logging into Moby Max to practice typing, spelling, math, reading and grammar.  Hopefully, "Old Man Winter" is gone and we can "March" into Spring ready to move forward.

  

Mrs. Wicker's Fourth Grade class gave presentations from Dr. Seuss books on their study of themes.  Each student portrayed a character from the Dr. Seuss book they chose and they read a portion of the book which relayed the theme. 

 

  

 

  

  

Sixth grade students at Sullivan Gardens K-8 participated in a math lab to discovered the fascinating number known as Pi.  Students were asked to work with a partner to  measure the circumference and diameter of several different objects.  Groups were then asked to divide the circumference by the diameter.  Students found that all quotients were very close to 3.14 (AKA - Pi).    Finally, students were asked to determine the relationship between the circumference of a circle and its diameter.  The class was excited to see that the circumference is approximately 3.14 times the diameter and that  this holds true of all circles no matter their size. 

 

Congratulations to Sullivan Central High School Skills USA Cosmetology Team.  Listed below are the standout students who placed in regional competition and all of which have qualified for State Competition. 

 

Chelsey Waterman-1st  in Cosmetology

Alex Stapleton- 1st in Nail Care

Lena Burnett - 1st in Fantasy Makeup

Sydney Travirca- 3rd in Esthetics

Ally Villa- 4th in Job Skills Demonstration

  

We wish to invite you to our annual Sullivan East High SkillsUSA Community Yard Sale on Saturday, April 25, 2015. If you are planning to sell, the gates will open at 6:50 a.m.  The sale will be from 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Come out and purchase a spot for $10 to sell your stuff, or just come by to support our clubs.  FFA will also be selling hanging baskets, vegetables, and flowers.

*If WCYB predicts a 60% chance of rain on the 25th, the sale will be rescheduled for Saturday, May 2nd.*

  

Sullivan South Senior, Emily Hammes, was one of the very few selected as a Universal Dance Association All-American Dancer this summer while attending UDA Summer Dance Camp. Due to this special honor, Emily was invited to participate in the New Year's Parade in London, England.  While in England, aside from the parade, she enjoyed many landmarks and activities.  Emily is a member of the Southern Belles Dance Team.

  

Sullivan South Advanced Acting class will be presenting its annual one act play festival on Sunday, March 15, 2015, at 2:30 p.m. in South's Theater.  The two on act comedies are The Nine Worst Breakups of All Time and That's Not How I Remember It.  Everyone is invited to watch these humorous shows!  Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students and are sold at the door.

  

Sullivan South math classes welcomed Eastman engineers in recognition of National Engineers Week. Students experimented and built models while learning about opportunities in this lucrative field. A warm thank you for sharing your talents and enriching our students.

(Activity facilitated by Anthony Peters)