The Official Newsletter of Gregory-Portland Middle School: Home of the World’s Greatest Students! Academic UIL winners: Brodie Mitchel, Diego Aguillon, Adrian Galvan, Natalie DeLeon, Emma Denton & Erin Ebers. More details inside! Photo by Brooke Moreno Visit www.g-pisd.org/gpms/community to view, GPMS Gazette download, and/or print your own copies in… March, 2019 Brought to you by students in the GPMS Press Corps! Jonathon Martinez Executive Editor March “color” by Jessie Riojas GPMS NEWS News Editor: Faith Pitts (with help from Toonie, the Press Corps Broonie) Math Counts By Melany Castillo Photos provided by Collen Johnson 3rd-place winners (left-to-right, above) Lleyton Davidson, Elisabeth Miller, Eli Gerick and Elena Miller represented GPMS at the February 2, 2019 Math Counts meet. The team was selected by Mrs. Biediger, and some volunteered. The team can only have 4 students. Mrs. Biediger selected them from her UIL team. There were additional students who went to the November practice round. Eight students participated in the practice meet last fall. (Continued on next page) (Math Counts, continued from previous page) The Nueces Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers and some local companies sponsor the event each year to challenge 6th-8th grade students with engineering-type problem solving. The competition consists of several different tests and a team test, like the UIL Math competitions. Currently they provide a stipend of up to $500 each competition year to up to two teachers per school for attendance at a free workshop in the fall with continuing education credits ($100), the practice ($200) and the competition ($200). Mrs. Biediger will be at the meet as coach. “If any teachers would like to help me at the competition, they would be eligible for a partial stipend,” she said. Members of the GPMS Math UIL team calculated in a MathCounts meet on Dec. 8, 2018 sponsored by Nueces Chapter of Texas Society of Professional Engineers. Events include Sprint, Target, Team and Countdown - a buzzer beating live action contest. Quinn Smith, 8th grade, placed 10th overall in the individual competition. Contestants (pictured above, left-to- right) were Elena Miller, Lleyton Davidson, Peyton Felchak, Olivia Kohleffel, Luke Kohleffel, Eli Gerick, Quinn Smith, and Austin Nguyen. Cats Club By Kendall Lopez On Jan 11, students that were eligible to go on the Cats Club field trip went to Bowlero in Corpus. Students were provided with a $7 arcade card, and most students brought extra money for food, drinks, and Laser tag. Students had 2 hours to play and bowl. Students had their own personal lane to bowl in with as many people as they want to bowl in the lane with them. Students could also order food from their lanes, as well as order dessert, drinks, and appetizers. In the arcade portion, there were games such as Flappy Birds, Angry Birds, and even a virtual roller coaster ride. Students could go in the photo booth to remember the trip, and they can save up tickets to get prizes in a machine. When the 2 hours was up, students and teachers loaded up the buses to come back to school. After returning to school, students ate their ordered sack lunches or their lunch brought from home. Then, students volunteered to play rounds of volleyball. The next Cat's Club will be March 21st for 6th grade, and March 22nd for 7th & 8th grade. We will be going to Jumping World in Flour Bluff. Attendance By: Zoey Lankford January 31,2019-February 07,2019 95.49 % February 08,2019-February 14,2019 96.30 % February 15,2019-February 21,2019 94.55 % February 22,2019-February 28,2019 94.12 % Be sure to come to school whenever possible. Stay healthy! Student of the Month - February Winners By: Rylee Martinez Congratulations to these outstanding students: 6th grade Winners: Bella Reed & Paul Sellers 7th grade Winners: Bayleigh Reed, Davian Guevara, & Ruben Flores 8th grade Winners: Brooke Moreno & Vincent Nguyen Library News By Juan Hinojosa During the month of February, you could go on a “mystery date” with a book! People would come by the library and see the “Blind Date with a Book” display. All books were brand new and wrapped. You would simply select a book based on the description of it “Things went very well, everybody was respectful and treated the books with care,” said Mrs. Doty & Mrs. Costilla. “It pretty good,” said Jesse Riojas. Madysen Whitfield and Braelin Cates (pictured left) were the first to select their books from the “Blind Date with a Book” display. Box Tops for Education Mr. Thomas, Room C112 Turn your trash into cash for our school! Please clip, collect and bring your Box Tops coupons to school. Money raised will support our school library! Box Tops collection bins are located in the front office, the library, and several teachers’ classrooms. For more information about the program and/or to register as a supporter of our school, please visit www.boxtops4education.com Spelling Bee By Jaden Velasco Pictures by Savannah Diaz-Korff & Faith Pitts We had a spelling Bee in the auditorium on February 20th. Here is a list of contestants: Madison Boomer Ayden Malerie Mendoza Vince Esqueda Hernandez Connor Carr Levi Welch Kenneth Voyles Quinn Smith Chloe Smith Hailey Rasmussen Cadence Phelphs Diego Aguillon Madison Caitlyn Byrne Eli Gerick Carmickle Taelor Fritz Reanna Aguirre Madden Schoener Lindy Rodgerrs Alyssa Shaffie Carson Victoria Garcia Danish Niazi Eva Huckaby Guidry Damien Rufino Medado Elena Miller Jacob Kohleffel Quesada Jenna Rodriguez Reed Dooms Angelina Ortiz Estevan Martinez Brayden Garcia Giovanni Correa David Sanchez Elisabeth Miller Erica Estrada Jordan Milam Myles Holden Makayla Rodriguez Harlyn Falor Jazmin Jackson Benjamin Palacios Lauren Spencer Gabriella Sage Moss Flores (Results on next Genesis Valdez Ruben Cuevas page) Mallory Hendryz (Spelling Bee, continued from previous page) 2019 GPMS Spelling Bee Champions! It was a close win, but in the end, Quinn Smith (now eligible for the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.) won 1st place. The winning word was “obsidian”. Hailey Rasmussen got 2nd place and Eli Gerick got 3rd (pictured above, in that order). Mark Your Calendar! There are a lot of exciting events happening at GPMS; to see what they are when they will happen, visit the school’s website, or click the link below! https://www.g-pisd.org/gpms/calendar/happening-now-event-calendar ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Got News? If you have information or pictures for the GPMS Gazette’s News section, please contact our News Editor, Faith Pitts! Pe ple Section Editor, Madison Snody Meet Mrs. San Juanita Perez By Ginny Carey, Photo by, Eagle Imaging What do you do at GPMS? I teach 6th grade Science. I try to inspire my students to appreciate and respect the world around them and understand how it works. Education/experience: Bachelor’s Degree from University of Texas at San Antonio in 2006, I have been a teacher at G-PISD since spring 2007. For 12 years I was a member of the Texas Regional Collaborative for Excellence in Science Education: this organization allowed me to grow as an educator. TRC has given me some valuable experience that I have been able to bring back to my classroom. For 2 years I worked with the UT STEM Center to expand my knowledge in technology and Computer Science. I am always ready to learn more and find resources to use in my classroom! Hobbies: I love spending time with my family! I also love to travel. This past summer I was able to travel to Canada; while there, I visited Niagara Falls and it was amazing! It is my goal to visit every National park in the U.S.; I have already been to most of the parks in the west. Favorite Book(s): I also love to read. I currently have two favorites: Fish in a Tree by Lynda Hunt and What If? By Randall Munroe (I often refer to this book during class if the content is relevant). I have many students that like to ask “WHAT IF questions, and I will not ever answer a “what if” question because there are usually too many variable to consider to come up with a precise answer. (continued on next page.) Mrs. San Juanita Perez (continued from previous page.) Favorite Game(s): Monopoly, Risk, Scrabble and Words with Friends. Family game night occurs at least once a month in my home and we are competitive. Thanks to my son, I recently started playing a card game called “Magic the Gathering” and it is my goal to beat him every time we play. Favorite music, artist or genre: I enjoy listening to all kinds of music. some of my favorite bands that are in my playlist at the moment include: Rush, The Eagle, Green Day, John Mayer, Post Modern Jukebox, Metallica, Blink 182, Chicken Foot, Queen, Paramore, Pink Floyd, Van Halen, George Strait, Joe Satriani and Fleetwood Mac. Something about me that might surprise people: When I was in 7th grade I missed half the school year! It is not as fun as it sounds…… I was homeschooled because I broke my ankle into really bad and was not allowed to go to school. I had to have two surgeries to fix it and was in a cast for almost 5 months. Meet Coach Christopher Kasner By: Bella Rodriguez What do you do at GPMS? Boys athletic coordinator, head 7th-grade football, basketball, assistant track, 7th grade Science experience: it's my 19th year at GPMS Hobbies: Family time, fishing, snow skiing Favorite Book: The Bible Favorite Game: Any game I play with my daughters Favorite music: Christian music- favorites are Crowder, Skillet, Switchfoot, and any Bethel Music Something about me that might surprise people: I love snow skiing! I have been to numerous places in Colorado and New Mexico snow skiing over the past 28 years.