Oak Hill Academy Newsletter
Information for Families, Faculty, Alumni, and Friends
Volume 10, Issue 3
O
ak
Hill
Academy is a
non-sectarian school
based on Christian
principles and dedicated to a quality
educational program
for students prekindergarten
through
grade
twelve. The school
is committed to the
total development of
each student who
attends,
and
emphasis is placed
on the academic,
social,
moral,
personal, and physical development of
each student.
T
he
newsletter
you are about to
read has been published by Mary
Kathryn Todd, Jake
Orman and the students of the OHA
Publishing Class. We
hope you enjoy it.
March 26, 2010
www.oakhillacademy
Message from our Headmaster, Mr. Bill Miley
Dear Parents,
We’re from Oak Hill and couldn’t be
prouder. If you can’t hear us, we’ll yell a
little louder. If you have attended pep rallies
or basketball games, you may have heard
our students yelling this chant. Why are we
proud of our school? I thought I might take
a few minutes to tell you a few of the reasons that make our school so special.
As always, the main ingredients that are
needed for a school to
be successful are a
great student body, a
talented and caring
staff, and parents who
expect
excellence.
Oak Hill Academy has
all of these ingredients.
When we had our
accreditation visit earlier this year, Mrs. Sarah Beard, our SACS chairperson, described Oak Hill as one of the top five
schools that she had visited. Mrs. Beard
has visited schools all over the Southeast
and recognized in three days how special
Oak Hill Academy really is.
We are proud of the accomplishments
that our students have achieved and are
achieving. Our mathematics and science
team finished third in their division in the
Science and Mathematics Tournament held
at Mississippi College. Thomas McCollum
place second in the individual competition in
mathematics.
Cameron Ellis, Morgan
Sweeney, and Chris Yoo scored in the top
10% on the written test and Ciera Higginbotham, David Matusiak, and Reid Posey scored in the top 20% on the written test.
These students were competing against
approximately 600 students from 55
schools. Our Social Studies team competed in Oxford on Saturday, February 20,
2010, and our Quiz Bowl Team will defend
its district title later in the year. We have
won the District Quiz Bowl for at least the
last five years. Students in elementary
school consistently score above the national
average on the Stanford Achievement Test.
National
We require all seniors
to take theMerit
ACT each
year, and the averageSemi-Finalist
score for our senior
classes is over 22 for the past two graduatanielthe
Haas
has aving classes which is above
national
been named
a National
erage. Blake Wheeler
is the district
winner
in the Spelling Bee
in the
fourth grade, by
and
Merit
Semi-Finalist
Burland Young finished
fifth
in
the
fifth
grade
the National AchieveSpelling Bee. These are only a few of the
ment Scholarship Proaccomplishments that our students are
gram. Haas will now
achieving.
compete
forinaacademics,
finalist
Not only are we
excelling
but we are competing
andplans
beingtosucspot. hard
Daniel
cessful in athletics.attend
Our football
team,
MSU and is girl’s
softball team, girl’s basketball and boy’s
leaving his major open
basketball team have had all made the
for the
present. aHelistis of
playoffs this year.
I received
the
son
Toxeyparents,
and
schools who have multipleof
players,
and coaches ejected
from
the
athletic
Diane Haas of West contests this year. We
did not have anyone on
Point.
this list. I am especially thankful and proud
The faculty, staff,
of the way our students compete in a sportsadministration
manship manner and with the wayand
our fans
board
of directors
of We
conduct themselves
at athletic
events.
stress good sportsmanship
here at school,
Oak Hill congratulate
and it is importantDaniel
that allon
of this
us realize
out- that
we all represent Oak Hill at these games.
standing accomplishThank all of you for supporting our young
ment. and remember that
men and young ladies,
you are part of the Oak Hill family when you
are in attendance at our sporting events.
Join with these students and teachers in
promoting good sportsmanship and a positive image for Oak Hill Academy at our
games.
Congratulations to David Pryor, MAIS All
Star in football, Megan Holton, MAIS All Star
in softball, and Bonnie Riley, MAIS All Star
in basketball. We are proud of you.
We have many things to be thankful for
at Oak Hill Academy, and we appreciate
your support.
Sincerely,
D
William L. Miley
Volume 10, Issue 3
Page 2
February Elementary Students of the Month
PK-4 - Jack Ketchum, Ty Harden, K– Conner Freeman, Nathan Harrington, 1st - Julia Rae East, Zack Campbell, 2nd - Mark Davis, Molly
Mitchener, 3rd - Peyton King, Hunter Mitchell, 4th - Savannah Davis,
Anna Kathryn Childress, 5th - Cody Jackson, Grace Clayton
We would like to
congratulate our
Rotary Students of the
Month:
March Elementary Students of the Month
February- Carly Bernegger
PK-4 - Austin Donahoo, Jack Esterling, K - Hunter Holder, Rivers Bryan, 1st - Nicholas Flannagan, Brody Pierce, 2nd - Lily Todd, Anna
Grace Reed, 3rd - Abbi Crane, Emma Kate Russell,
4th - Carson Collier, Connor Williams, 5th - Turner Robinson, Baylee
Edwards
March- Will Stafford
District Quiz Bowl
The District Quiz Bowl competition will be here at Oak Hill
on Tuesday, March 30th. Winston, Heritage, Starkville, Calhoun, Manchester, and Pillow
Academy will be competing for
District Title as well.
The members of the Oak Hill
Academy team include: Thomas
McCollum, Will Stafford, Cameron Ellis, Ross Billington, Morgan
Sweeney, Bubba Hudson, and
Reid Posey.
The Junior High SGA has recently
completed its main Service Project for this school year. Members of the association chose to
send supplies to a local military
troop. In the end, they sent fifteen
boxes of supplies to the 223rd
Engineering Battalion that is deployed to Baghdad, Iraq.
They began planning and organizing their efforts in early January by collecting, sorting, and
organizing items such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant,
socks, disposable cameras, hard
Anchor Club
Anchor Club has been very
busy!! We have decorated doors at
Dugan for Christmas, Celebrated
Valentine’s Day at Waverly Care
Home, and hosted a motherdaughter tea. We have volunteered
at the New Haven School in New
Albany, MS for north Mississippi’s
Anchor Club convention. Several
Anchors are going to Mississippi
State Tuesday, March 2, to listen to
Beth Holloway talk Spring Break
safety and tell a little of her daughter
Natalee’s Story.
candies, books, and dvds, along
with many other useful and enjoyable items. Then they had to
package and label all of the supplies. They paid for the shipping
cost by selling love pops and
cookies on Valentine’s Day.
They ended their project and
closed their last box after receiving Military Minutes calling cards
from WCBI.
This was a school-wide effort
that included donations from the
elementary and high school students, parents, and teachers.
“Have a Heart for
the Animals”
The Honor Society
collected money and pet supplies
for the Humane Society in February.
Photography
Club
The photography
club is planning a
photo outing after
Spring Break.
Student Government
Association
SGA hosted a heart
disease awareness month and
raised $730 for the American
Heart Disease Association!
We sold heart tattoos, cookies,
and offered students to wear
jeans and a red shirt for a
dollar. Thanks student body
for all the participation!
Volume 10, Issue 3
Page 3
Date
Opponent
Site
March 11
Starkville Academy
H
March 22
Heritage
A
March 23
Manchester*
H
March 30
Winston*
A
April 1
Starkville Academy
A
April 5
Heritage
H
April 8
April 15
Manchester*
Winston*
A
H
On Friday, Feb. 5th, Oak Hill Academy participated in the Annual High School Science and Mathematics Tournament held at Mississippi College in
Clinton, MS. Each year the college conducts the
tournament on two days. 55 schools participated
on Friday with approximately 600 students.
During the morning competition, students take
two written exams from the following areas: physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics. In the
afternoon competition, each school is represented
by a 4-member team that competes by answering
questions in all four areas. Students scoring in the
top 20% on the written tests earn a $300 scholarship at MC. The top 20% in Mathematics included
Ciera Higginbotham, David Matusiak, and Reid
Posey. Students scoring in the 10% on the
It is also time to submit your application for the
Mississippi Tuition Assistance Grant (MTAG) or
Mississippi Eminent Scholars Grant (MESG). To
qualify for the MTAG (up to $3,000) all you need is
a 2.5 GPA and a minimum ACT of 15. The MESG
(up to $10,000) requires a 3.5 GPA and minimum
ACT of 29. It is really easy to fill out the application online.
Simply go to www.ms.gov/sfa/
normalEntry.jsp on the IHL website and follow the
steps. We have already sent your GPAs and IHL
has confirmed that they have received all of our
seniors’ information. You also need to submit the
Federal Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) as
March 5 (Fri)
Canton
1:00
March 26 (Fri)
Winston
2:00
March 31
(Wed)
Marshall
1:00
April 10 (Sat)
Canton
April 13
J.H. Division
(Tues)
April 16 (Fri) H.S. Division
North State
April 21 (Wed)
Field
TBA
Winston
TBA
Winston
TBA
Washington
TBA
April 24 (Sat)
North State
Washington
TBA
April 30 (Fri)
Overall
Miss. College
TBA
written test earn a $500
scholarship. The top 10% include Cameron Ellis,
Morgan Sweeney, and Chris Yoo.
Thomas
McCollum placed 2nd in Mathematics and won a
$1500 scholarship. All scholarships are renewable
for 4 years.
Also, the Oral Competition team from Oak Hill
won third place in the finals and received an engraved plaque. Students on this team were: Cameron Ellis, Thomas McCollum, Morgan Sweeney,
and Chris Yoo.
soon as possible if you are trying to qualify for federal loans or grants. Go to www.fafsa.ed.gov for
an application.
Many of our seniors are receiving scholarship
offers and award letters from universities. Please
remember that we must have a copy of these offers to keep on record even if the recipient does
not plan to accept the award. These scholarships
are announced at graduation and we want to make
sure that everyone is included.
Volume 10, Issue 3
Pre-K4 News
From Mrs. Michelle Williams &
Mrs. Donis Catledge:
We celebrated the 100th
day of school with several activities including exchanging
100 pieces of candy with our
classmates, making badges
and placing 100 stickers on a
chart.
Valentine’s Day was a fun
day. We celebrated by exchanging cards, treat bags and
ended with a party.
Dad’s Day was a huge success. Our Dads came to eat
lunch with us and worked at our
centers in the classroom. We
cut out dinosaur bones to make
a necklace, traced and cut dinosaurs to make a scene. We
also made dirt cake for dessert.
Pre-K5 News
From Mrs. Judy &
Mrs. Shannon:
January brought “Old Man
Winter” to Oak Hill, so some of
our days at school were inside.
Two unexpected “snow” and
“ice” days were a treat.
On January 22 we celebrated the 100th day of school for
the 2009-2010. Report cards
were sent home for the second
time. We are working hard on
our skills.
Good citizens for the last
three months are Nathan Harrington, Kate Wheeler, Wells
Williams, Cameron Dill, Makenzie Williamson, and Mary Mac
Case, Congratulations!
Our Valentine Party was a
great success. Thanks to our
parents who helped. Have a
great Spring break!!
. We’ve also had two extra special elf visitors named Melvin
and Elfie. We hope Melvin and
Page 4
Elfie tell Santa about how much ideas. We have finished a unit
fun we’ve had so far this year! on capitalization and punctuation in English, and we have
Third Grade News
moved on to pronouns.
Mrs. Ham’s and Mrs.
We are very proud of Blake
Shows’ class have been enjoy- Wheeler from Mrs. Ballard’s
ing science labs. We have class.
She represented the
looked at the three different fourth grade at the district
types of soil with magnifying spelling bee and won! She will
glasses and we were able to now move on to the state
compare and contrast them. A spelling bee. Congratulations,
parent brought in some river Blake.
clay and the students were able
Since school started in Auto mold it into their own crea- gust, we have passed over 100
tions. When the clay dried, the objectives in Accelerated Math!
students were able to take their Hopefully this will make a big
projects home.
difference on our achievement
The students have been test.
working with fractions in math
and continuing to master their Fifth Grade News
multiplication facts.
We have had a very producA representative of McReyn- tive third nine weeks. In math
olds
Orthodontics
from we have been studying measStarkville came and spoke to urement and graphs. The stuthe students about the im- dents got to construct a multiportance of regular dental visits ple bar graph using skittles
and taking care of their teeth.
candy. We are discussing the
We are looking forward to a roles that people had in the
fun Spring!
Revolutionary War, and in science we are discussing the difFourth Grade News
ferent types of energies used.
From Mrs. Ballard &
In English, we are now able to
Mrs. Fletcher:
identify every word’s part of
We have been working hard speech in a sentence. In readthis semester in all of our sub- ing, we have finished two novjects. In math we have spent a els, Twenty and Ten and The
lot of time adding, subtracting, Big Wave. We are planning a
and multiplying fractions. We field trip in April to the McWane
have also studied our country’s Center in Birmingham, AL. It is
government, people, customs, an awesome hands-on science
and responsibilities. In science museum. The students are exwe have learned about weather cited!
conditions, oceans, planets,
and other objects in space. In
reading we have started a unit
called “Express Yourself.” The
literature in this unit encourages students to use their creativity to solve problems, make
decisions, and express new
Volume 10, Issue 3
Spelling Bee Winners
& Alternates:
Elizabeth Claire Tabor, 4th
Grade Alt. ,Blake Wheeler, 4th
Grade Winner, Burland Young,
5th Grade Winner, Ken Dill5th Grade Alternate
Page 5
4th Grade Cloud Project:
Peyton Teffeteller, Connor Williams, and Anna Kathryn Childress
The Winners competed in the
MPSA district spelling bee in
late February and Blake
Wheeler won Northern District.
Elementary Schedule
of Events
March 26
PreK4 Mom’s Day 10:45-12:00
Report Cards go home
March 31
Michelle Easterling Speaker
3rd Grade 9:45
2nd Grade 12:30
April 1
Spring Pictures
(starting at 8:30)
April 12
3rd Grade Health Works
April 15
PreK4 Cap and Gown Pictures
Class Group Pictures PreK4- 5th
Grade
April 16
Progress Reports
April 22nd
D.A.R.E. driving cart
April 27
1st Grade Health Works
April 29
D.A.R.E. pizza party
MAIS District II East Art
Winners
Classroom Art
K-4:
1st place John Ross Craven **MAIS Overall Art
Winner-2nd place
2nd place Allie Comer
Artroom Art
1st grade:
1st place John Austin Ricks
2nd grade:
1st place Jaden Craven
1st place Dalton Wilemon
2nd place Ramsey Claire Robinson
2nd place Laura McBrayer
3rd grade:
2nd place Mackenzie Wablington
2nd place Abbi Crane
4th grade:
1st place Peyton Teffeteller
1st place Connor Williams
2nd place Emily Allen
2nd place Elizabeth Claire Tabor
5th grade:
1st place Grace Clayton
2nd place Madie Holton