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SCHOOL NEWS FOR
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2001
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McKenzie Elementary School News |
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By Max Batchelor and Mary Nethaway
McKenzie Elementary School opened its doors to
approximately 530 students on Wednesday, August 8.
Beginning this week, McKenzie Elementary School will be
writing a weekly column in the McKenzie Banner. This
year's co-editors will be Max Batchelor and Mary Nethaway.
They are students in Mrs. Betsy Campbell's class.
On Monday and Tuesday evening, our new principal, Mrs.
Charlene Alsup, welcomed parents and introduced teachers.
Mrs. Alsup is from Dresden where she taught elementary
classes for 16 years. She has also taught classes at The
University of Tennessee at Martin. Mrs. Alsup is excited
about being a principal and is "looking forward to a new
challenge."
This year's focus will be upon academics and character.
Citizenship awards will be presented to one student from
each class monthly. Watch for the students' names and
pictures in future columns.
There are three new teachers at MES. Mr. Matt McCaleb is
the new physical education teacher. He is from McKenzie.
He says he is excited about meeting all the students and
having fun in P. E.
The new fourth grade teacher is Mrs. Sherrie Austin. She
is also from McKenzie. She taught fifth grade last year at
McKenzie Middle School. She is looking foward to all the
differences.
The new speech teacher is Chasnie Hudson. Ms. Hudson is
from McKenzie. She is looking forward to meeting all of
her new students and all of the teachers.
Parents are always welcome at the school. There are lots
of ways you can be involved.
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McKenzie Middle School News |
School has begun. We are happy to say that enrollment is
higher than predicted. We had 411 students on Friday,
August 10. The building is full of excitement and
anticipation of what the year might bring.
At 7:00 p.m., on August 16, the P.T.O. is sponsoring fifth
grade open house. The P.T.O. would like to invite all
parents of the fifth grade class to come and meet the
teachers, have some refreshments, and tour the facility.
Our middle school football Rebels began practice on August
1. Our head coach, George Ognibene, will be assisted by
Josh Kee and Matt McCaleb. The Rebels will host the annual
middle school jamboree on Saturday, August 18 at 6:00 p.m.
This year eight area schools are participating. Dresden
will play Inman in the evening's first contest. Huntingdon
and Medina will be the second matchup. West Carroll and
Camden are the third and McKenzie and Hollow Rock-Bruceton
will conclude the evening's games. The Rebels will begin
regular season play at Dresden on August 23.
On August 22, our fifth grade boys will meet with a
representative of Boy Scouts of America. Parents of these
young men want to keep this date in mind. The fifth
graders will meet during homeroom to discuss the benefits
of scouting.
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Notes for McKenzie High School |
By Terry Howell, MHS Principal
The first week of school went extremely smoothly. Students
seemed to settle into the newyear well. We did make a few
schedule changes to accommodate students in regard to
graduation necessities and in regard to classes as on our
part. Because we build a schedule and try to balance class
size and teacher load, we are reluctant to make too many
changes. During the spring we make a special point of
having students reflect on their schedules to minimize the
number of changes in the fall.
Last Monday freshmen and their parents attended freshman
orientation. This activity helped students acclimate
themselves to our building and the high school procedures
and policies. I encourage all parents to visit our school,
call teachers when they have concerns, and feel that the
school and parents together help make a difference in the
development of the high school student. We are currently
working on our School Improvement Plan. If any parent
would like to serve on a committee to examine areas to be
strengthened, please call me at school so that we can
place you and use your perspective and viewpoint on
various goals that we have established.
We have approximately 20 clubs/organizations in our school
right now. These clubs and organizations cater to a
cross-section of people. We always want as many students
as possible to join the different clubs. Statistics verify
that students who are involved in school activities are
generally more successful than those who are not. This
week, for example, the Student Advisory Council to the
Principal, the M Club, Distributive Education Clubs of
America, Library Club, and Fellowship of Christian
Athletes (open to all students) will hold their initial
meetings. Students need to find the organization they find
compatible with their talents and skills and become
active. As a corollary to this, colleges and universities
look at several factors in awarding college scholarships.
First, they look at student performances on standardized
tests, i.e. ACT or SAT. Second, they examine community
service and student involvement in school activities.
Finally, they scrutinize the grade point average of a
student over four years. Note, however, the importance of
involvement and service. We do provide many programs for
students to meet that area of development.
The football team scrimmaged Henry County on Tuesday and
Jackson Southside on Friday of last week. Against Henry
County the Rebels scored six touchdowns to Henry County's
three. Both sides of the football had bright spots with
more work left to do. Against Southside, the Rebels played
well. Both squads featured heavy hitting, and each scored
three touchdowns. This action ended the informal
pre-season scrimmages in preparation for the jamboree.
Both Henry County (5A) and Jackson Southside (3A) are
larger than McKenzie. They provided us with great
pre-season work in preparation for our upgraded football
schedule this fall. The Rebels will compete in the
Huntingdon Jamboree on Friday, August 17. We will play
against Hollow Rock-Bruceton in the fourth quarter of
action. Advanced tickets may be purchased from team
members and in the high school office. Tickets are $4.00
with all advanced sales going to the local school. Tickets
sold at the gate will be divided among all participating
schools. The Rebels home opener will be on August 24 at
7:30 p.m. against Obion County. Come out and support these
young men as they represent our school and community.
On Tuesday, August 21, the Junior Class will meet to
discuss the magazine sales drive. This fund-raiser has
traditionally been the means of the Junior Class to fund
the Junior-Senior Prom and all activities that are
associated with their senior year. Students are expected
to sell 7 magazines or pay a class participation fee to
pay for the expenses of their senior year. The Q.S.P.
Program offers a wide range of magazines plus music on
CD's. As these students come to you, I ask that you
support them in their class fund-raiser.
We truly appreciate the support that area businesses and
industries give our high school when they purchase
advertising space through print and radio. Our Touchdown
Club has busily sold ads for the program and signs for our
game field. WMUF will again air our games live and has
sold ads to many businesses to make this a reality. Local
boosters and radio do this to support the school and team
in interscholastic athletics. I ask that you check out
promotional companies from out of state. These companies
often sell without the knowledge of the school or team
with revenue going out of state. Feel free to call the
school if you question whether the ad sale benefits the
school directly or indirectly.
Members of the Yearbook Staff for the 2001-02 school year
are as follows: editor - Jessica Johnson; seniors - Amanda
Barnes, Jadrea Allen, Kaci Mebane and Jill Stambaugh;
junior - Ashley Creasy; sophomore - Kate Hames; and
freshmen - Carol Perritt and Bridgett Eubank. These
students work hard to produce a quality product. Jennifer
Yates, our yearbook sponsor, has led members of the
Yearbook Staff for the past two years. She continues to
work hard to coordinate students, meet deadlines, and
teach journalism and reporting. Students benefit from
serving on this staff.
Most seniors have completed their senior pictures. Our
school photographer, Don Hayes from Bradford, has only a
few seniors left to have all classmates taken. Seniors are
not obligated to buy from Mr. Hayes, but must pay a $25.00
sitting fee to be included in the yearbook and the class
composite.
I am about to begin a project to display all the existing
class composites on a wall unit that unfolds for people to
see. It is an expensive undertaking. I ask that McKenzie
High School alumni who would like to contribute to this
fund to call me here at school (352-2133). Classes who
have reunions here on campus are always asking to see the
composites. Except for the year immediately preceding, the
composites are stored in the library. I think they should
be more public and approachable. I ask all alumni to
participate in this project by contributing money to the
account set aside for that purpose.
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