SCSD Students Win Video Contest Awards
Two groups of Spring Cove School District students received awards in the 12th Annual Environmental Video Competition sponsored by the Blair County Board of Commissioners and the Blair County Department of Solid Waste and Recycling. The students were coached by Mrs. Laurie Fichtner. Mr. Harold DeLozier helped with the editing of the commercials. This year’s them was “Go Green…Use the Blue Bin!” Each student group produced a 30 second commercial based on the theme. The students received their awards at the Blair County Courthouse during the County Board of Commissioners’ meeting.  Levi Steward, A.J. Farkus, Alexis Worrell, Lindsey Smith, and Sarah Sault from Spring Cove Middle School took second place in their division with their commercial, “Good product, bad commercial”.

Ellie King, Anna Ormsby, and Meggie Stern from Martinsburg Elementary received an honorable mention award for their video, “Go Green”, in the elementary school division.
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SCMS and Central Students Compete at
National History Day at Juniata College
This is the second year SCSD competed in the National History Day Competition at Juniata College. Some of the National Sponsors for History Day are: the History Channel, Maryland State University, and Case Western Reserve University. Mrs. Laurie Fichtner, elementary and middle school gifted support teacher is the National History Day coach.
The students had to choose a topic that they could relate to the theme Conflict and Compromise. They then began extensive research. The students had to not only understand the research, but also interpret it. There were four divisions in which to compete: exhibit, documentary, performance, and research paper. Some students chose to do exhibit boards and displays. Another group produced a documentary with assistance and instruction from Mr. DeLozier and Mr. Grozanick. In addition to compiling the research and displaying it on an exhibit board, they also could do three-dimensional displays to go along with their exhibits. Additional requirements included having to do an annotated bibliography, with primary and secondary sources; and a process paper explaining their research project. On the day of the competition, the students were interviewed by judges about their topics to determine their depth of knowledge.
It was an incredible learning experience for all of us. Four out of six of our groups made it to the finals. Andrew Brumbaugh, Hannah Shingler, Matthew Prokop, Philip Williams, Matt Ritchey, Levi Steward, Logan Stern, A.J. Farkus and Connor Greenland from SCMS produced projects for the competition. Representing Central High School were Rachel Fry, Shana West, and Jason Prokop.
Hannah Shingler placed third in the junior level division “Individual Exhibit” category with a project on The Anabaptists. Andrew Brumbaugh placed 1st in the junior level “Individual Exhibit” category with his project on The Andersonville Prison. Rachel Fry and Shana West took 1st in the high school level “Group Exhibit” category with their project on Cleopatra: A Life of Compromise in a Time of Conflict. Andrew, Rachel, and Shana are advancing to the PA State National History Day Competition at Millersville, University, May 12 and 13, 2008.
SCMS Students Participate in Computer Fair
Eight Spring Cove Middle School students recently competed at the Intermediate Unit 8 Computer Fair. The event was held on March 10 at Penn State Altoona. The students were coached by SCMS gifted support teacher, Mrs. Laurie Fichtner. Middle school art teacher, Mr. Mark Reed, and Instructional Technology Specialist, Mr. Arlin Roth, provided assistant to the students in the graphic design, logo design and web site design categories.
SCMS eighth grader, Jason Mobley, entered two projects. He produced a logo design for the PA middle school computer fair with help from Mr. Reed. Also, Jason produced a newsletter on the "Automotive Revelation" in the desktop publishing category.
Competing in the web site category was a team composed of seventh graders Alyssa Clark, Andrea Fox, and Aaron Butler. Mr. Roth was instrumental helping to teach Mrs. Fichtner and her students how to utilize Microsoft FrontPage to create a web site.
In the graphic design catergory SCMS entered two projects. Eighth grader, Sarah Sault produced business cards and stationery. Mr. Reed provided instruction and helped with her graphics. Sixth grader, Josh Gilbert produced a business card, which his grandfather will utilize in his business.
Eighth graders Lindsey Smith and Alexis Worrell teamed up to produce a newsletter on "Momentum" which is a Christian organization they are connected with through their church.
All the students did an excellent job! We are so proud of them. Alyssa, Aaron, and Andrew placed second in the website design. Sarah Sault took second in graphic design.
Josh Gilbert placed first in with his business card he created for Mr. G’s Heating Service the graphic design catergory. Lindsey and Alexis placed first in the desktop publishing catergory. Josh, Lindsey, and Alexis will be competing at the PA Sate Middle School Computer Fair on April 23, 2008 in Harrisburg.
SCMS MATHCOUNTS TEAM
The SPRING COVE MIDDLE SCHOOL MATHCOUNTS team recently compete in The Blair Region MATHCOUNTS competition at Penn State – Altoona.
MATHCOUNTS is a National math enrichment, coaching, and competitive competition that promotes middle school mathematics achievement in every U.S. state and territory. MATHCOUNTS is sponsored by many well known organizations. The Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers, the Business and Professional Women / USA, the National Society for Professional engineers, NASA, Lockheed Martin, NASA, and General Motors to name a few.
If you would like to experience a challenge, attempt some of the math problems at the MATHCOUNTS website
www.mathcounts.org
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The Spring Cove Middle School MATHCOUNTS team consisted of Mark Brumbaugh, Jackson Brumbaugh, Ian Reed, Jarrett Ritchey, Alyssa Clark, Renee Keith, Sarah Lechner, and Hannah Shingler. Students have been working throughout the school year with MATHCOUNTS coach, Mrs. Laurie Fichtner. The students on the team were the top eight scorers from the Spring Cove Middle School MATHCOUNTS school competition.
The team placed fourth in the Blair Region. In addition, Jackson Brumbaugh placed seventh and Mark Brumbaugh placed second. Jackson and Mark both placed high in last years Regional competition too!
Mark will be representing Blair County at the Pennsylvania State MATHCOUNTS competition in Harrisburg March 28 –29, 2008. We wish him the best of luck in his return trip to States!
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Since so many of you have requested information on where to buy hands-on problem solving activities, I have listed below two websites where you can buy hands-on problem solving games. However, you may need to access them throughyour home internet server. There are restrictions on our server when it is related to shopping.
www.puzzles.com
www.mindwareonline.com
Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Please watch here for further announcements.