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SCHOOL NEWS FOR
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2001
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Elementary School News |
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By Mary Nethaway and Max
Batchelor |
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It has been a busy week at McKenzie Elementary School.
The fourth grade students finished Science Projects on
Monday. They are on display in the hall for parents and
students to enjoy. The Rebel Singers performed for the
Rotary Club on Tuesday and the Business Expo on Thursday
in Huntingdon. On Monday night, they presented the
program for the PTO meeting. The program was called, "A
Salute to America."
The annual third and fourth grade spelling bee,
organized by Mrs. Tammy Gordon was held Friday, November
16. Mary Nethaway was the winner and will compete in
Jackson.
The PTO sponsored Fun Run was held Monday and Tuesday,
November 19-20. Pledge money will be turned in next
week. Prizes have been donated and include a bicycle, a
$50.00 gift certificate to Toys R Us, a boom box with CD
player, a bean bag, $25.00 savings bonds and Happy Meal
coupons. McKenzie Elementary T-shirts have also been
designed as prizes for students.
Students have been writing essays about America's
veterans in honor of all the women and men who have
served this country so we might be free (look elsewhere
for essays).
School will be out for the Thanksgiving holidays
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, November 21-23. |
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Middle School News |
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No news this week. |
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Notes from the High School |
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By McKenzie High School Principal, Terry Howell |
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One area that McKenzie High School tries to provide
areas of growth for its students is community service.
Several clubs have as their mission the opportunity for
students to do community service and reach out beyond
the high school setting. The Tennessee Tomorrow Club is
one such community service organization. The club is
composed of students that are enrolled in social studies
classes. The goal of the club is to help people in
geographical areas that have identified needs. The
club's most recent project has been to assist workers in
New York City who are involved in the clean-up of the
World Trade Center. Students collected and /or donated
50 pairs of work socks and 15 pairs of work gloves to
this humanitarian project. All items were sent to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation in Albany, New York,
where they were re-routed to the intended destination.
Richard Chappell, the sponsor of the club, provided
leadership and direction to this worthwhile project.
The high school is the beneficiary of two new
technological devices. First, the high school received
two laptop computers from a grant written by Jackie Carr
and approved by Education Edge. Grant writer Jackie
Carr, who serves as the system vocational director and
teaches classes in international business, our new
vocational offering, applied for the grant and received
full approval. These two laptops will be stored in the
library and are intended for student and faculty use on
a check-out basis. Because of the value of the laptops,
parents and students will need to sign a sheet assuming
responsibility before checking these machines out. The
laptops will be excellent additions to the school and
enable students to complete projects at home. Students
may use these laptops to do projects or review for
standardized tests like the ACT. The other purchase is
that of three C pens. These pens are miniature scanners
that read copy. The pen works best with 10 or 12 point
type on white paper. It will read materials in books,
tests, review sheets, etc. and will duplicate it after
the scanning is completed. The pen can be hooked to one
of three computers in the library, read into Word, and
printed. Funding for this came from the Red and Gray
Weekly, the school's on-line newspaper. This electronic
newspaper will resume the second semester School sponsor
for the event is Dan Ridley. The money in the account
came from ad sales last year in the newspaper.
Last week students observed National Random Acts of
Kindness Week. The Renaissance Club was particularly
active in this through their sponsor Glynda Corbin. On
Tuesday, they celebrated National Friendship Day by
giving students four letters to distribute to friends.
They also gave the faculty and staff cards of
appreciation. The Renaissance Club always reaches out to
help cement the relationship of students and faculty
through their own random acts of kindness. They help
decorate the school for homecoming, proms, and special
events. An organization such as this helps students to
realize their artistic potential and activities.
The McKenzie Rebels traveled to Hohenwald last Friday to
battle the undefeated and top-ranked team in the state,
the Lewis County Panthers. McKenzie capitalized early on
two Lewis County mistakes to take a 12-0 first quarter
lead. They built the lead to 28-0 before Lewis County
scored with 33 seconds left in the first half. The
Panthers came back in the second half to take the
momentum away from the Rebels and moved to within 14
points by scoring first in the second half. The Panthers
found a fumble deep in Rebel territory to further
jeopardize the lead, but two outstanding defensive plays
resulted in losses back to mid-field and swung the
momentum back to the Red and Gray. Two more Rebel scores
and two successful point after touchdown conversions put
the score at 42-14. In the closing moments of the game,
the second defense earned glory of its own with a goal
line stand that kept the Panthers out of the end zone.
Our record of 13-0 continues to better any mark of a
McKenzie team. The team has continued to show the
sportsmanship and fair play that marks a great team. As
I told our students at last Friday's pep rally and as I
have told our team on numerous occasions, the lasting
legacy of a team is not merely wins and losses, but the
integrity and honor that they reveal about themselves
during competition. In a game of intensity and passion,
young men may have a tendency to lose composure. Our
players, for the most part, have exhibited enthusiasm
and passion without losing perspective and composure.
They are a credit to the coaches who instill in them
these values and the parents who are committed to the
greater issues in life.
This week the Rebels return to Rebel Stadium on Friday
at 7:00 P.M. to play the second-ranked team in the
state, the Martin Westview Chargers. Tickets will be
$6.00 and may be purchased in advance up until 12:00
noon on Wednesday. I will stay at school up to that time
to sell these tickets. The gates will open at 5:00 P.M.
on Friday. We will have an additional gate on the back
side of the field off Bell Avenue. People may park at
the Board Office or at the field house off Bell Avenue.
We will park cars within the stadium area behind the
home side. The winner of this game will play in the Blue
Cross-Blue Shield Bowl in Murfreesboro on November 30.
Come out and support your McKenzie Rebels.
The Rebel basketball teams played in the Huntingdon
Jamboree this past Saturday in pre-season action against
the Huntingdon Fillies and Mustangs. The Lady Rebels
narrowly lost to the Fillies in their two-quarter
contest. The Lady Rebels owned the early lead, but fell
behind in the second canto to lose the game. All of the
girls played in the contest, promising that they will
have a deeper bench than in years past. While playing
with three seniors, the team is still quite young with
many players having limited varsity experience. They
should improve and be competitive in District 11-AA. The
boys' team, hampered by the absence of several players
because of football involvement, lost to the Mustangs by
four points. They played evenly with the fully manned
Mustang squad and only fell toward the end of the
contest. They too should benefit from a deeper team and
the eventual return of the football players. The new
11-AA District this year pairs us with Milan, Riverside,
Lexington, and Camden. We will return to play many of
our local area schools and not play Bolivar, Southside,
Chester County, and McNairy County. The season is
scheduled to begin on Tuesday, November 27, at
Clarksburg and continue that week with home games on
Thursday and Saturday of that week against Dresden and
Gleason respectively. Schedules are available at the
school thanks to the patronage of Farm Bureau.
School will not be in session on Wednesday, Thursday,
and Friday of this week in observance of Thanksgiving.
When we return, we will have 18 days left in the first
semester. We have several upcoming test dates including
the Gateway exams in biology I/biology for technology
and algebra I on December 11, 12. Final exams will be on
December 18, 19 with December 19 as a half-day. |
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Phone (731) 352-3323 or
Fax (731) 352-3322
washburn@mckenziebanner.com
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