Introducing Clinton Middle School’s Hawk Talk
The Clinton Middle School news staff are, back row: Sam Whitaker, Sam Bowling, Joshua Patton, Ashton Arndt, Dylan Reed, Anthony Berg, and Zachary Rains; middle row, Hunter Evans, Angelyna Long, and Abigail Bible; front row, Jeremiah Turbyville, Kiara Reeves, Kira Murphy, Dannah McBride, Hazel Hensley, Catherine Meredith, and Abigail Sanders. Not pictured, Kayana Donegan.
A crew of superb student reporters and writers have been recruited to showcase the great goings-on at YOUR hometown middle school.
The process for this CMS student news reporting class is led by 8th grade ELA teacher, Kevin Powers, but these students are doing the real work.
Based on the students’ favorite things about CMS, Mr. Powers split the class into four teams. These teams will generate the content to be shared with “Courier” readers each week.
You will find short pieces below related to areas of learning and fun in our building from Academics to Related Arts classes to Clubs and Programs.
The Hawk Talk staff is adamant that we have the best teachers around; therefore, once a month there will be a Teacher Spotlight.
Showcasing a wide variety of the positive happenings at CMS is Hawk Talk’s first priority.
Honors Passes are back
The Honors Pass Program has just started for the second 9 weeks. Students are already taking advantage of the great opportunity provided by the program.
Mr. Mike Holden, the leader of the program, says, “Our goal with the honors pass program is to provide a positive incentive that will encourage students to work hard.”
To get an honors pass, students have to have all A’s and B’s in every class for the 9 weeks grading period and have at least a 3.5 grade point average.
Students who receive an honors pass get to be released to from class to lunch early, will get lunch outside, lunch in the auditorium, and incentive field trips, such as a Smokies game and a movie at the Ritz Theatre.
November Teacher Spotlight
This month’s Clinton Middle School teacher spotlight is Mrs. Carrie Brown, a new teacher filling in for eighth grade Algebra teacher, Mrs. Kristen Land.
Mrs. Brown has been teaching for two-½ years, and has taught math for two different schools in the state of Florida.
She “always wanted to be a math teacher” when she was growing up, but “math was a struggle” for her. She mentioned that, “it wasn’t until middle school that it clicked with me. I wanted to be able to help other students like myself to have that ‘lightbulb’ moment.”
Mrs. Brown will be a teacher here at Clinton Middle School through Christmas Break when Mrs. Land comes back from maternity leave.
Boys basketball starts strong
The Clinton Middle School Hawks have beaten the Norris Senators by a score of 62-39 in its first game of the season.
The varsity starting lineup of Trace Thackerson, Rishon Bright, Jackson Garner, Tyler Morgan, and Lane Harrison played very well together.
We caught up with Rishon Bright after the game and he said,” I thought it was great because we beat Norris, a tough team and our biggest rival.”
Jackson Garner dropped 20 points and Rishon Bright scored 19. Both players contributed the most to the team scoring-wise.
Garner is a key player for the Clinton Middle School Hawks. Overall Jackson is a unbelievable player; he specializes in 3-point shooting and defending.
Garner said,” It was an amazing game, both teams fought hard but we wanted the win more than they did.”
This week, the Clinton Hawks take on the Horace-Maynard Middle School Red Devils at Clinton Middle School. Games start with Girls JV at 5:00.
That middle school drama...
The CMS Drama Club aka The CMS Players has started back up for the school year. Drama is a great opportunity for students to come out of their shells and can be free to express themselves.
Students have said that the drama club is a “fun and delightful experience.” Not only for the actors/actresses but also for the backstage crew member as well.
Some of these jobs include, but are not limited to, costumes, makeup, lighting, sound, and designing and building sets.
One of our students, Jade Guadarrama, from last year, was both in the cast and a part of the backstage crew. When asked about which job she preferred, she replied saying, “Acting was fun, but personally I don’t like being in front of a lot of people. Being a part of the tech crew was more comfortable for me.”
No matter the comfort level. Drama has something for everyone, and we look forward to seeing this year’s spring play.
Until next week...