One of the Highland Middle School values is that we believe in educating the whole child. Therefore we not only educate the students during the school day on academics, but we also focus on activities where students learn empathy and learn to give to others and care about others. Below are some examples of our amazing students and staff at HMS!
Wing Mural
The Wing Mural was created by Mrs. Taylor’s 5th Grade Mural Club. The below description of the project was written by our 5th Grade Student and Mural Club Member, Savannah Thellman.
We chose to create this mural because we thought it would be a fun and creative project. At the start, we didn’t think it would take so long and be so hard to complete. We started off by tracing and cutting out a lot of paper feathers. Cutting and tracing feathers was not that fun but we knew that once we got them all cut out, we’d be able to paint them. We had to cut out about 140 feathers to make the wings really BIG! One Friday every month, all of the kids in our club got together and painted the feathers. It took about 3 clubs to complete just the painting part. Once we got all of the feathers painted and dried, we hung a large piece of black paper up in the hallway. A group of girls offered to help hang up all of the feathers on the large piece of paper. We wanted an ombre look, so we had to arrange the feathers carefully to achieve that effect. It took about 2 months to put all of the feathers on the mural. A small group of girls spent every workshop and recess trying to make those wings look their very best. Finally, we moved our finished mural to the HMS lobby so the whole school could see it. We wanted everyone to take pictures in front of it to make it look like they have wings. We added a quote that says “If You Don’t Have Wings, Create Them” and that is exactly what we did!
I want to give a special thanks to Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Anderson, Mrs. Effert, Rylee Stone, Gianna Giocondi, Mya Fusetti and all the members of the Mural Making Club for all of their hard work and guidance in completing this project.
Pride
The students in Mrs. Yowler’s Life Skills (PRIDE) class at HMS run a monthly school store (Cool Tools) and Cougar Cafe. At the cafe they sell treats to the students and staff. Sometimes these treats are homemade like rice krispy treats or chocolate dipped pretzels! In April, the students popped popcorn and sold over 200 bags to the kids during their lunch periods. Thank you to Rural King for donating the bags!
Knitting Baby Hats
Under the guidance of Mrs. Veri and Mrs. Martin, some of the 7th graders at HMS learned to knit on a loom. Baby hats were created and donated to Heritage Valley, Children’s, and Magee Hospitals.
Escape Room Fundraiser
HMS students began with an idea to raise money for Camp Kon-O-Kwee. They met with administration and teachers every two weeks for two months to plan two Escape Rooms that we would offer one day after school; one based on a National Heist and one based on pranking a teacher. Due to the students’ diligence and planning, over 50 of their peers participated and they were able to raise over $200 for Camp KOK! Two staff members from Camp KOK came out to HMS to check out the Escape Rooms and accept the check. Thanks to the students and staff who planned the Escape Rooms: Julianna Duke, Cadence Mazzetti, Kasey Corona, Cheyenne Rader, Emma Anderson, Mr. Braddock, Mr. Egger, and Ms. Frengel. We are so proud of you, your commitment to a cause, and your dedication to helping others!
Musical Theatre Concert Showcases History
At the HMS Musical Theater Showcase concert on May 7, the students in 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Chorus presented selections that spanned several decades of twentieth-century music. Music from the musicals Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Seussical opened the concert. However, the second portion of the program featured something entirely different.
As a follow up to last year’s Blackhawk High School musical, the students in seventh and eighth-grade chorus presented the children’s opera, Brundibar. The following program notes highlight the historic significance of the story as well as the children who presented the music in the ghetto of Terezin. It was a tremendous learning experience for the students as they presented the opera in Reader’s Theater style. The below excerpt from Brundibar: A History and Synopsis details specifics of the opera.
In addition to the service learning our HMS students participate in via community and school projects, we also offer numerous educational trips for students throughout the year.
Girls on the Go
For the past two school years, guidance counselor Mrs. Engle and teacher Mrs. Martin have been taking groups of girls on STEAM related field trips. This year they visited four companies, Allegheny Health Department, Bidwell Training Corporation, Covestro, and Inventionland.
On September 16, girls visited the Allegheny Health Department in downtown Pittsburgh. Girls listened as many female employees talked about their jobs. Some of the employees were an epidemiologist, a nurse in the Immunization Clinic, IT Project Manager, and an employee in the Vector Project (mosquito tracking). There was a Q/A session at the end of the presentation where our girls were able to ask any specific questions to the panel.
In February, seven girls visited Bidwell Training Center on the Northside of Pittsburgh. Girls learned about this completely free (no income requirements) post-secondary training facility. Girls toured the culinary arts program, horticulture technology program, pharmacy tech/medical assistant and medical coder areas, and the Laboratory Technician program.
In March, eight girls visited Covestro in Robinson Twp. Girls were taken on a tour of this polymer and plastics company to learn about what goes into making paints and polymers for industries like the automotive industry. Girls also had a round table discussion with many of Covestro’s female engineers about their jobs and career paths.
In April, 23 girls took a tour of Inventionland in Pittsburgh. Inventionland is a design company and the world’s largest private invention factory. Girls learned about what it takes to be an entrepreneur and the process involved in creating a new product.
Mrs. Engle and Mrs. Martin are already planning trips for the girls in the 2019-2020 school year!
Children’s Picture Books
In 6th grade students create, write, and illustrate their own 12-page children’s picture books, based on the process from author Jack Gantos. Then they spend time reading the books to students in our primary schools. Thanks to Miss Mallozzi, Mrs. Zenisek, and Mrs. George for organizing the experience for our students!
Washington, D.C. Trip
From May 8-10, 130 students in 8th grade had the opportunity to travel to the nation’s capital under the guidance of Social Studies teacher, Mr. Hardesty. Students had an action-packed few days taking in numerous sites and experiences. One of the most impactful stops was at Arlington National Cemetery. Students visited the Kennedy gravesite and then went on to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The tomb houses the remains of unknown soldiers from WWI, WWII, and the Korean War. It has an empty honorary tomb for the Vietnam War because the soldier that was interred there was able to be identified using DNA analysis at a later time. Our students watched the Changing of the Guard and a wreath-laying ceremony. Many students highlighted this experience as the most meaningful of their trip.
Students also took a tour of the Capitol Building. The Capitol houses the legislative branch of government. Students learned how the Senate and the House of Representatives work to pass legislation that impacts our lives. As they walked through the rotunda they marveled at the size and grandeur of the dome and the artwork the fills the space. They witnessed first-hand where so many of our nation’s heroes and legends have lain in state.
The Smithsonian Institute’s museums have intrigued and educated millions of people. Our students explored the contents of two of the more popular museums, the American History and Natural History museums. In the American History museum, students saw pop culture items like Dorothy’s ruby slippers and the Batmobile alongside the famed Star-Spangled Banner flag that hung above Ft. McHenry inspiring the national anthem. In the Natural History Museum, they saw the Hope Diamond and incredible animal specimens from the past.
This is only a small snapshot of the places our students visited. They also saw a number of memorials dedicated to presidents, servicemen and women, and more. These include Lincoln, FDR, Jefferson, Vietnam, Korea, WWII, USMC (Iwo Jima), Air Force, and the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon. Our last stop before coming home was to Ford’s Theater where students heard a park ranger describe the events of President Lincoln’s assassination.
Our students were incredibly respectful, interested, and well-behaved as we took this 3-day journey. They represented our district and community extremely well in one of the most important places to our nation all while learning what it means to be a part of this community and our nation as a whole.
Camp Kon-O-Kwee
Students in 5th grade at HMS took part in their annual four day/three-night excursion to Camp Kon-O-Kwee. Students took classes in canoeing, archery, high ropes and low ropes, team building, outdoor survival, conservation, and wildlife. Camp KOK has been a tradition for over 45 years where students take their educational experience from the classroom to the outdoors. We would like to thank Mr. Chismar for his organization of the Camp KOK experience for students, and all teachers, staff, and high school counselors who run the classes at Camp KOK, spend the night at Camp KOK, and help to organize the trip for our 5th graders.
In addition to the educational trip opportunities that we offer to students, we also have numerous students who compete at the local, state, and national level in academic competitions. Below are a few of the competitions our HMS students have participated in this year.
K’NEX
Students attended the Thermo-Fisher K’NEX Stem Design Challenge on April 2, 2019 at Penn State Beaver Campus. Our 5 teams of HMS students competed against students across Beaver County in an engineering challenge to build a “green” crane to scoop up and move 5 objects across a table.
Robo Sumo
Students from HMS competed in a local robotics competition at Freedom Area Junior High on March 21, 2019. Students constructed robots to certain specifications out of Lego Mindstorms to compete against students from other schools in the county in a “Sumo” type of event. Students used their programming and construction skills to create their robots for the competition.
Battle of the Books and Youngstown State University English Festival
HMS students who love to read had two exciting opportunities this spring.
In April, a group of 20 students attended the 39th Annual Youngstown State University English Festival. Students were invited to attend based on their interest in reading and writing, current grades, and previous festival experience. They had to commit to read up to seven books chosen by the festival committee. While at the festival, they attended workshops and discussion groups, wrote essays and poetry, participated in games based on their readings, and met with authors of some of the books.
Kaitlin Bonazza, Quinn Borroni, Abigail Camp, Caleb Farone, Sophia Fogle, Sydney Stanislawski, and Grace Steele won awards in areas of trivia, poetry, and writing.
In May, two teams of students attended the Beaver County Battle of the Books. Students committed to reading the seven titles selected by the committee. Both teams competed against other Beaver County 7th and 8th grade teams in a trivia round and an online escape room. The team of Abigail Camp, Claire Houk, Jaylyn Houk, and Iley Tweed won 2nd place in the county for the trivia round. The team of Aubrey Blackburn, Devon Puglia, Emily Szabo, and AJ Trzcinski won 1st place in the county for the online escape room round.
Technology Student Association
Blackhawk School District would like to say how proud we are of our students who participate in the Technology Student Association (TSA). This group of students work all year to create projects that
they enter into STEAM related competitions. These projects range from video game design to marketing to essay writing. Students can work individually or in groups. We would like to congratulate the following students who placed at the Pennsylvania Technology Student Association Conference at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort in April.
Middle School Individual Events:
- Julie Walker 7th Place Essays on Technology
- Andrew Woods 3rd Place Promotional Marketing
- Madison White 4th Place Career Prep & 1st Place Promotional Marketing
Middle School Team Events:
- Guilia Dilonardo & Lila Grimm 9th Place Challenging Technology Issues
- Kendall Coddington, Dominic Eicholtz, Chris Knight, Ethan Papa, Madison White, Andrew Woods 8th Place Chapter Team
- Madison White, Tessa DeSanzo, Abby Montgomery, & Noel Shackelford 8th Place Website Design
- Ethan Papa, Josh Ziegler & Brianna Weir 7th Place System Control Technology
- Aidan Thellman & Kendall Coddington 6th Place PA Digital Video Challenge
- AJ Trzcinski & Julie Walker 6th Place Forensic Technology
- Abby Montgomery, Tessa DeSanzo, Ethan Papa, Noel Shackelford 5th Place Community Service Video
- Luke Shope, Nathan Paliwoda, & Logan Stanislaw 5th Place Inventions & Innovations
- Skye Lanham, Evie Fogle and Andrew Woods 5th Place Mass Production
- Kylie Coddington 4th Place Children’s Stories
- Chris Knight & Dominic Eicholtz 4th Place Electrical Applications
- Kendall Coddington & Max Rodgers 3rd Place Coding
- Andrew Woods, Melanie Carlin, & AJ Trzcinski 3rd Place Tech Bowl
- Kendall Coddington, Ethan Papa, Iley Tweed, Josh Ziegler, & Kylie Coddington 2nd Place Video Game Design
- Dominic Eicholtz, Cora McCowin, Abby Montgomery, Noel Shackelford, Aidan Thellman, Natalee Tusick, Madison
- White & Andrew Woods 3rd Place TSA TEAMS
Not only did our students work hard and compete at the State Level, but many of our Blackhawk students who participated qualified for the National Level of competition. Congratulations to the following middle school students that qualified for the National TSA Conference: Andrew Woods, Kendall Coddington, Madison White, Cora McCowin, Abby Montgomery, Dominic Eicholtz, Natalee Tusick, Ethan Papa, Noel Shackelford, Aidan Thellman, Josh Ziegler, Iley Tweed, Melanie Carlin, Max Rodgers, AJ Trzcinski, and Kylie Coddington. And, congratulations also goes out to the following high school students that qualified for the National TSA Conference: Gabriella DeRose, Kaylee Houy, Ian Tweed, Nolan Finkbeiner, Nathan Schneider, Jimmy Hofer, and Jacob Hopkins.
Academic Games
HMS students competed in the National Academic Games competition in Orlando, Florida this past
April against students from all over the country in the games of Equations, Linguishtiks, Presidents, Propaganda, Current Events, and Theme. Our team from HMS celebrated some huge commendations. Thank you to the Blackhawk School District for supporting the games and a very special thank you to Tim Davis and his family for sponsoring the trip.
Students at HMS have experienced so much more than just academics this year. We are thankful to our amazing staff who provides these opportunities and we are appreciative of our students for participating, learning, growing, and experiencing education beyond the classroom with us!
