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