Featured News - May 2009
Urbana Middle School Students of the Month Gather at a Retreat
Courage and Leadership Stressed
[featured 5/28/09 - 6/1/09]
The 2008-09 Urbana Middle School Students of the Month learned leadership and courage at a special retreat Thursday at Crystal Lake Park in Urbana. There were 81 students of the month this year at UMS – one student per month for the nine teaching teams at the middle school.
“Our theme for the day is courage; courage to be a leader and courage to be yourself,” says Barbara Linder, coordinator of the student of the month program.
The students of the month received words of encouragement from Superintendent Dr. Preston L., Williams, Jr., UMS Principal Nancy Clinton, and a keynote talk from Urbana Firefighter Rhonda Overton.
The students did several team building and leadership exercises at Crystal Lake Park.
“This is a wonderful way to end the school year,” says UMS Principal Nancy Clinton. “We’re going to talk a lot about courage (and do) lots of team building and leadership activities. This is a great day. I look forward to it every year.”
Photo 1: Urbana Firefighter Rhonda Overton was the keynote speaker at the UMS Student of the Month retreat Thursday at Crystal Lake Park.
Photo 2: UMS students gather at Crystal Lake Park as part of the annual Student of the Month Retreat.
Budding Scientists on Display at Thomas Paine Elementary School
Annual Science Fair Showcases Student Experiments
[featured 5/26/09 - 5/28/09]
If the annual Thomas Paine Science Fair is any indication, there are many potential scientists learning the craft. Thomas Paine Elementary School hosted its annual science fair last week and student projects ranging from biology, physics, earth science, and botany were on display. The Thomas Paine gym was packed with students displaying the results of their science project.
The Thomas Paine students had special guests at the science fair. Students at Wiley Elementary School walked to Thomas Paine to see their fellow students’ projects.
Jaimin learned about physics - especially how an elevator works. “You can use a pulley to move something up and down,” he says. Dakota also did the elevator experiment. He says, “You can make an elevator anywhere, anytime. All you need to do is have a pulley.” Both students are in the fourth grade.
Ashia is a Thomas Paine fourth-grader and her experiment was desalination - turning salt water into fresh water. “It takes two days. After two days the water inside the cup is fresh water and the water around the cup is salt water,” she explains.
Russell is a fifth-grader at Thomas Paine, and he built his own burglar alarm out of a radio. He learned a lot about electricity and how to build an alarm during his experiment. “I (think) it is pretty cool that we get to make our own experiments,” he adds.
Congratulations to all our budding scientists at Thomas Paine Elementary School!
Photo 1: Thomas Paine students display their science fair projects about desalination and elevators.
Photo 2: A Thomas Paine student shows classmates how to build a burglar alarm out of a radio at the annual science fair.
Urbana School District #116 Board of Education Receives Facilities Committee Report
Committee Outlines District Facility Needs
[featured 5/20/09 - 5/26/09]
The Urbana School District #116 Facilities Committee finished its nine months of work Tuesday night as committee members presented the board of education with its recommendations on how to maintain and improve District 116 facilities. The report is 30 pages long and contains a 600 page appendix. The committee spent hundreds of hours touring school buildings and listening to parents, students, teachers, and members of the public give testimony about District 116 facilities. The school board will now use this report as a guideline and prioritize the facility projects.
The committee came up with 10 recommendations. Those recommendations are:
- Redraw elementary school boundaries to balance school enrollment with building capacity
- Improve indoor environmental quality and efficiency in all schools
- Provide a new facility to house Early Childhood Education
- Build a new elementary school with a capacity of 400 students
- Equip every elementary school with separate multi-purpose room and gym
- Renovate Urbana High School’s Cobb Auditorium
- Upgrade the southwest athletic quadrant at Urbana High School
- Determine the feasibility of renovating and re-purposing Washington School (currently housing early childhood)
- Relocate Adult Education and District 116 Central Offices
- Sell downtown property currently housing Urbana Adult Education and District offices
“The committee believes that the District has done an outstanding job of cleaning and maintaining its aging facilities,” says Facilities Committee Co-Chair Diane Marlin. She continues, “However, while our schools’ programs and services have changed over the years, many of our facilities have not kept pace due to a lack of ongoing funding for capital projects. Our facilities now have serious deficiencies which minor amounts of maintenance funding cannot address. The good news is that there now are more funding options than were previously available. This includes revenue from the newly-approved 1% sales tax and state and federal resources.”
The committee hopes that the school district acts on building a new early childhood school. “The most pressing facility need in District #116 schools is providing a new space for the Early Childhood Program. We are recommending ‘repurposing’ one of the existing K-5 buildings for this purpose; therefore, the district also will need to build a new K-5 attendance center,” Committee Co-Chair Joe Vitosky adds.
While it is the board of education’s responsibility to set the priorities regarding building renovation and construction, Marlin hopes the board takes the committee report to heart. She concludes, “Our committee firmly believes that a high quality public school system in Urbana is critical for the community’s future growth and prosperity. We’ve heard from staff, students, parents and the public. The community supported the 1% sales tax for rebuilding schools. It’s time to get moving.”
Board of Education President, John Dimit, says, “I thank the committee for its very thorough and professional approach to the task of developing a strategy for comprehensively updating our schools. This report will allow us to pursue modern educational strategies to serve our ever changing communities of learners, from pre-school to adults.”
Leal Olympics Challenge Kids to do Personal Best and Have Fun
[featured 5/19/09 - 5/20/09]
Students at Leal Elementary School are currently in the middle of the 17th annual Leal Olympics. The games not only have kids compete against each other, but they also keep track of their personal accomplishments over their career at Leal Elementary. All kids from grades K-5 compete.
Leal Teacher Yvonne Vitosky explains, “We challenge them to do their personal best. Kids get their score cards annually and can check to see if they've improved from the previous year. This is all due to the wonderful parent help that supports this effort. Lots and lots of data have to be entered into spreadsheets!” Students compete in the 50 meter run, the 400 meter run, the tennis ball throw, and the standing broad jump. Vitosky adds that the object of the games is to have the kids compete against each other in a safe and positive atmosphere. “Teachers provide practice opportunities throughout the spring semester, and there's a healthy attitude about it amongst students, teachers, and parents,” Vitosky says.
The Leal Olympics are an annual event that the entire community looks forward to every year. Vitosky comments, “It's tradition, first of all. Kids look forward to the chance to compete, especially as they grow to be intermediate students. It's a great way for parents to be involved. They help us time the 400 meter run, and come to the UHS track to cheer on their kids.”
The Leal kids ran the 50 and the 400 meter runs last week. On May 22, the kids will be competing in the broad jump and the tennis ball throw. Good luck to all competitors in the Leal Olympics!
Photo 1: Teachers and parents help administer the 17th Annual Leal Olympics.
Photo 2: Students participate in the 17th Annual Leal Olympics.
Thomas Paine Students Walk for Teacher
Walk Raises Funds for Multiple Sclerosis
[featured 5/13/09 - 5/19/09]
Thirty-eight students from Thomas Paine Elementary School recently raised $1,015 for Multiple Sclerosis medical research in honor of Thomas Paine teacher Helen Edwards, who suffers from MS. The money was presented to Edwards at a MS Walk-a-Thon earlier this month.
“A member of the PTA board approached me and asked if I would mind if this year for the walk-a-thon they did it in my honor and all proceeds raised would be donated the day of the MS Walk, instead of the money going to our PTA,” Edwards says. “I told her, humbly, if she presented it to the rest of the board and they were in favor, and then she presented it to the rest of the PTA and they were in favor as well, that I would be more than grateful for such an endeavor.”
The students had some incentive to raise money for the Walk-a-Thon. “With the generosity of local businesses, we were able to award 22 raffle prizes at the school (with) the grand prize of a bike,” says Thomas Paine PTA member Joanna Griffin. “The most amazing part to me is that only 38 students out of the entire student body brought back pledge sheets. What an incredible difference these 38 students made!”
Edwards says she was surprised, overwhelmed, and choked up with emotion when the parents and students presented her with the check for the MS Walk. Edwards explains, “I just want to thank our PTA for coming up with the idea to do the walk in my honor. I was a little ‘uneasy’ about the idea at first, but everyone was so supportive of the plan that I just cannot thank enough the students, parents, staff and PTA for what they did.”
Photo 1: Thomas Paine students walk to raise money for the MS Walk-a-Thon at the school’s gym.
Photo 2: Thomas Paine students present a check for MS research. After all the funds were collected, the students raised a total of $1,015.
UHS Agriculture Program Wins State Honors
[featured 5/11/09 - 5/13/09]
The Urbana High School Agriculture Program is still in its infancy, but the UHS Future Farmers of America (FFA) Club is now the recipient of two first place awards from the Illinois Farm Bureau and Affiliates. The Urbana High School FFA won first place in the 2008-09 Heritage Program and the 2008-09 Cooperative Program. These programs require FFA members to take part in several projects that promote citizenship and service. For more information about the activities, please see http://www.usd116.org/uhs/activities/ffa.html. Two members of the UHS FFA will now go to National FFA meetings in Washington, D.C., this summer.
UHS Agriculture Teacher Mike Martin says he and the students are thrilled with the group’s awards. “We wanted to do high quality activities that are important to the chapter, school, and community. It wasn’t so much winning, but showing others that the FFA can work at a school like Urbana,” Martin adds.
Martin says these awards show that even though UHS is a non-rural high school, there still is very high interest in agriculture. He comments, “We take a lot of pride in winning these awards because not much we did came easy. We are quickly gaining the respect of people in Urbana and in the surrounding communities. They know that Urbana has outstanding students that are motivated to succeed. These awards are a nice milestone for us to achieve again.”
The FFA hopes to expand membership in the coming years. Martin explains, “Word is spreading around school about the opportunities in our program. The heritage and cooperative activities are just one the different types of events that we do. Some students enjoy judging competitions or fun nights. But, some students are really attracted to the community-based and hands-on events of the heritage cooperative. Our success will attract those types of students.”
And look for more news from the UHS FFA in the future. Martin says, “Next year’s activities will be of better quality with hopefully even more participation. We are aiming for top 5 in state!”
Yankee Ridge Art Students Draw Wildlife
[featured 5/8/09 - 5/11/09]
It’s not every day that Yankee Ridge Elementary art students have a muse to draw. Well, thanks to the U of I College of Veterinary Medicine’s Wildlife Clinic, Nokomis the Owl and Oden the Hawk were on display for the kids to draw last month. The two birds sat perched all day at Yankee Ridge Elementary for Martha Churukian’s art students.
“The students enjoyed drawing the birds. Many of them said that they've never seen a real owl or hawk so close before. They liked that they could see the real thing. They were able to draw what they saw so were able to include some details that they might otherwise not have known about,” Churukian says. She adds, “I wanted them to have the experience of drawing from observation. They also learned information about the birds themselves. All the reasons they gave for why they liked drawing the birds are the reasons why I wanted to do this activity.”
The Wildlife Clinic takes in injured or orphaned animals and rehabilitates them to send back into the wild. Unfortunately, Nokomis and Oden’s injuries (they can’t fly) will prevent them from returning to the wild. However, the birds have found a second life in helping educate kids. “I attended Krannert Art Museum's Kids at Krannert. They had a variety of activities for children to do that tied into their various bird-themed exhibits. One of the activities was for the children to draw the live birds that were there from the Wildlife Medical Clinic. Later, when I was planning for my classes, I thought that drawing the birds from observation would fit perfectly with what I was planning for my k/1 class,” Churukian explains. “The Wildlife Medical Clinic - specifically Megan Kees, the graduate student who was my contact person - was very easy to work with. The ‘event’ went off without a hitch!”
Photo 1: Nokomis the Owl poses for Yankee Ridge art students.
Photo 2: Oden the Hawk poses for Yankee Ridge art students.
Photo 3: Yankee Ridge art students enjoyed drawing a real live owl and a real live hawk.
Urbana High School Music Group Records Album
[featured 5/4/09 - 5/8/09]
Thirteen Urbana High School students are now published artists. That’s because the singing group Vocal Chords Required has recorded an album of their work. The album was part of a fundraiser that helped raise money for the choir trip to Nashville, Tennessee, in April.
“The recording also provides the kids with a long-lasting memento of their high school choir years,” says UHS Choir Director Angelica Franklin. “We recorded the album in late January 2009 at Doug and Cheryl Gherna's house. Doug Gherna is the sound engineer for the country/folk singer Bonnie Raitt,” Franklin explains. The Ghernas' son, Jimmy is a member of the group.
The students really enjoyed the album recording experience. Franklin says, “They loved it! Some of the students have returned to the Gherna's to record solo work. They learned the importance of balancing each other while singing, so one part doesn't over-power another. The students also learned about copyright laws and how to apply for rights to sell music.”
The members of Vocal Chords Required are enjoying the experience of successfully producing an album, and Franklin says she’s proud of the group. She says, “The students really feel like rock stars - especially after performing for people in Nashville. They received so many compliments from tourists and natives in Nashville. They work well together, and they are quite professional while performing in public. The best part is that the kids genuinely enjoy each others' company.”
If you would like to purchase a copy of the Vocal Chords Required album for $10, please contact Franklin at UHS at 217-384-3505. The album will also be on sale during the UHS Choir Concert on May 12.
May 2009 Urbana School District #116 Monthly Online Newsletter
[featured 5/1/09 - 5/4/09]
Stay up-to-date with current events in District 116 with the "Urbana School District Monthly" online electronic newsletter.
The May 2009 issue features a letter from Superintendent Williams; articles about the Exchange Club of Urbana honoring UHS students, Olympian and TV-Commentator Nancy Thies Marshall, making UMS more energy efficient; the District's 2009-10 calendar and more.