Spreading Some Happy News! 
June 2010
After a long winter and spring of battles in public school budgets, wonderful achievements are still being reached. As the school year winded down, our area teachers, staff and students were still giving us plenty of Happy News.
R Shawnee Mission South Senior, Varsha Subramanyam, won first place in the prose catagory of the Kansas State Forensics Tournament. She has lettered for four years and has qualified to compete at Nationals.
R KCMO School District Student, Daniel Bauman, achieved high honors at the Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematical State Tournament. He won first place in "Concepts" test and third place in "Problem-Solving" test. Only two other students placed in the top three of all three tests at the state tournament.
R Sumner Academy had also great successat the Kansas State Forensics Tournament. Senior Robert Coppage won 1st Place (State Champion) in Poetry Interpretation and Junior Jazmyne Preston, 1st Place (State Champion) in Serious Solo Acting. Seniors Marcus Banks and Robert Coppage won 2nd Place in Duet Acting. Freshman Deonte Minor, placed 2nd in Prose Interpretation. Senior Khrystal Johnson received 3rd Place in Humorous Solo Acting. Seniors Rachel Marshall and Caleb Sisk got 3rd Place in Improvised Duet Acting. The forensics team will compete at the Nationals in June.
R Susanne Mitko, a 7th grade teacher in the Lee’s Summit School District won Missouri Teacher of the Year for the 2009-2010 school year. The Bernard Campbell Middle School teacher uses creativity and imagination to teach her students about social studies. Mitko describes her own trips to China and other places to learn about geography, history and current events. She is now a candidate for the National Teacher of the Year.
“Pleasure is spread through the earth
In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.”
~William Wordsworth, 1806
January 2010
With the poor economy and pending budget cuts, the negative news overshadows all the positive and creative things going on in our schools. Even though budgets are tightened and various programs have ended, our teachers and students are still doing great things. So let’s all celebrate our students’ successes and thank our teachers for their hard work.
Here are some of the great things that are going on in our schools:
R The Broadmoor Bistro in Shawnee Mission School District creates delicious meals on Wednesday nights and right now taking orders for holiday pies and breads. See their website for the dinner calendar and to order pies.
R At Blue Valley North High School, science teacher Eric Kessler has been named Kansas Outstanding Science Teacher 2009 by the Kansas Chapter of the National Association of Biology Teachers. In 2007, he was awarded a national award from the Milken Educator Award. Mr. Kessler gets the students excited about science through his field trips to study animal habitats.
R In Olathe, an elementary teacher, Deb Wertin, has organized a tutoring program for the Salvation Army’s homeless shelter. For the past two years, children receive tutoring once a week. Ms. Wertin has really eased parental worries about the effect of their homelessness on their children. Read more here.
R In October, the Center High School Debate Team won three awards in the Smith-Cotton Invitational. The invitational was held in Sedalia, Missouri involving 18 high schools.
R In North Kansas City, Oak Park High School’s yearbook has earned an All-Missouri rating from the Missouri Interscholastic Press Association.
R A Kansas City, Missouri, student at Paseo High School took part in a panel discussion at the educational hearings of the United States Commission of Civil Rights in November 2009.
Hope you enjoyed hearing some happy news!
“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”
~Frederick Keonig