Student of the Month - Jacob Calles

Jacob is a great young man and our choice for student of the month. In addition to being a successful student Jacob has two other qualities that really stand out. First, he is willing to take risks. Not just risks like turning at cross country which was amazing, but also the risk of being nice to everyone, the risk of accepting others, and the risk of being a good person in every situation. The other quality that stands out with Jacob is his humility. He excels in so many different aspects of school from athletics to academics, and in every area Jacob shows true humbleness. You would never know how successful he is because he is soft spoken and humble. During an era when so many are about themselves it is nice to see a young man still concerned about others.

Ideas by 8th grade teachers, written by Mr. Gillespie

Dawn Bowker Award 2011

We present the Dawn Bowker award for two reasons: one to remember Dawn Bowker and two to honor students here at SMS that display some of the same characteristics as Ms. Bowker.

This year’s 8^th grade award winner shares the attribute of grace with Ms. Bowker.  We can look at grace in two ways. A person can show grace with people, and they can be graceful in difficult situations.  Dawn and this 8^th grader share such grace.

Both Ms. Bowker and this 8^th grader illustrate grace with people. Ms. Bowker became a teacher because she found joy in helping and seeing others succeed.  I have witnessed the same grace and encouragement with this 8^th grader. It was during practice. I was helping a student rewrite a paragraph while our new hero was sitting next to us listening in. I was going step by step through this student’s paragraph, and it was a great paragraph. It had a clear and interesting topic sentence, fantastic transitions, and convincing elaboration. As I was telling this student how wonderful his paragraph was, I could see out of the corner of my eye our hero at the very edge of his seat grinning from ear to ear. As I finished praising the paragraph and exclaiming excitingly about the genius of his closing sentence.  Our young hero sprang out of his chair and gave the other student a high five. He was so happy to see another student having success. His celebration in someone else’s success is grace.

But one can also have grace while handling difficult situations. Like some of you Dawn had to deal with difficult situations. She had to solve problems, overcome obstacles and face challenges.  How she handled those difficult times was grace. Ms. Bowker showed grace by overcoming obstacles with a positive attitude and hard work. Like Dawn, our 8^th grade recipient of the Dawn Bowker award faces difficult situations with grace. Like many of you he battles challenges, overcomes stumbling blocks, and is forced to solve problems that may not be fair for him to have to face, but he does face them, and he faces them with a smile. At the same time he does not simply believe that problems will simply go away; he meets them head on with perseverance. When classes get tough he volunteers to go into practice, when he is frustrated with a class assignment instead of giving up and becoming off task, he buckles down and systematically and strategically solves the problem and works harder. In class and in the halls he works hard to show grace in difficult situations.

Grace is not easy nor is it common to see such grace in an 8^th grader. “Everything good comes from grace, and grace is an art and art does not come easily.”  - Norman Maclean

It is my pleasure to present the 2011 Dawn Bowker award to Josh Gruber.

Kate's Poem

Always will I remember when I learned to pointe in ballet
Always a smile dancing upon my face
Always feeling the sharp ache of pain in my toes
My bun pulled so hard my head was bleeding with agony on the inside
Always will I remember that pain. The pain in my knotted stomach struck like lightening setting my heart on flames yet still I smiled with joy
Always will I remember the dizziness I felt. Spotting this corner and that my head couldn't catch up to my legs
Always will I remember how the music hit my ears the passion and grace deep within allowed my worries to disappear and my past to disintegrate
Always I will dance to calm my fears my worries my agony from before
Always I will remember the soothing pain from the traditional pointe or pirouettes

Sydney's never shall

Never shall I forget the first time I went on the After Shock at Silverwood.
Never shall I forget the line that stretched for a mile, with me at the caboose.
Never shall I forget the nauseating smell of popcorn and sweaty palms the hundred nervous bodies ahead of me.
Never shall I forget my wobbly knees and pounding heart.
Never shall I forget the wild screams, or my trembling hands, grasping tight to the railing.
Never shall I forget the dark night sky, lit up by magical colorful rides, illuminating with thrill and joy.
Never

Mady's First Day of Midde School

Never shall I forget my first day as being the 'Big Kids' in middle school.
Never shall I forget seeing the people I had known so well for such a long time with a new eighth grade 'look' like a rabbit that has turned from white to brown for the summer.
Never shall I forget the smell  of old books in just a regular old school.
Never shall I forget the screams and squeals  of everyone reuniting and getting to be with their friends once again.
Never shall I forget my friends tight squeeze from her arms around me as if I was a long lost relative.
Never shall I forget the day that I felt more than just a student, I felt like an eighth grader at Somers Middle School.
Never shall I forge the start of something new in my life.
Never.

First Antelope by Abi

Never shall I forget that day, that sunny October day, when I shot my first antelope
Never shall I forget that excitement
Never shall I forget the feeling of he soft prairie grass underneath me, as I layed down, my breath fogging my black Nikon scope
Never shall I forget that heart stopping moment when I touched the trigger, my life changed forever
Never shall I forget my fathers' face, covered in excitement, shock, and utter disbelief
Never shall I forget he smell of hose freshly shot bullets, and he smiling faces of those surrounding me
Never shall I forget my words of "I told you I could do it" while my excited friend and I raced up to the top of the mountain to see our true accomplishment
Never

I am Elie Weisel by Nichole

I Am

I am a caged in animal

I wonder if I'll make it out of here alive

I hear whispers gnawing at my head like a cold gust of wind

I see victims hiding under a silent night, a silent world

I want to be with my family once again and forget this hellish experience

I am a caged in animal

I pretend to feel ok and be brave

I feel broken like shattered glass

I touch my father’s rough cold hand so tightly

I worry about my sister and the way her golden locks surround her beautiful face

I cry when I think of losing them and dying without them

I am a caged in animal

I understand I have little chance of survival

I say never give up on hope on life

I dream we will be set free, and be able to glide through the skies like the majestic eagle

I try to stand tall like a tree

I hope I will not change

I am a caged in animal