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Community eNewsletter - May 3, 2017
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Remembering Dr. Sponseller
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Former School Superintendent Dr. Edwin H. Sponseller passed away Wednesday, April 5th.
Many of you will have special memories of Dr. Sponseller. He touched so many lives in this community during the time he served as a teacher and coach, assistant principal, associate superintendent and superintendent. Dr. Sponseller began in the district in 1966 as a ninth grade civics teacher at J. Frank Faust Junior High School; he retired as superintendent in 2006.
From Dr. Padasak:
I met Ed in 2006 during our transition. He was gracious, extremely helpful and always offered a warm welcome to my entry into the Chambersburg community. His advice was, as I have found out years later, spot on. On many occasions over the years, l would call him for historical knowledge and information on a specific issue. He always responded with a detailed and informative answer. I was always impressed with his knowledge of CASD employees and their families. On many occasions he could have used his influence, to question a decision that was made in the district after his departure. Not once did he, even consider doing that. On the contrary he would console me when the critics were after myself or the district. I will always remember his infectious smile and his warmth.
From Dr. Baker:
Ed was my Junior High Civics teacher at J. Frank Faust Junior High at CASD. He was a great teacher and a wonderful role model. Little did I know at the time that someday I would be a member of his administrative team and principal at CAMS in the early 90s. He was an exceptional educational leader and knew every individual who worked for the district. He also knew their spouses, children and interests,” said Dr. Dana Baker, president of the School Board of Directors.
As I moved on to the position of superintendent at Fannett-Metal SD, Ed continued to mentor me in school administration. His tenure as teacher, coach, building administrator, and superintendent was long and very successful. Often, when I am in the board meeting room I look at his picture with admiration and respect. On behalf of the school board, I extend our sincere condolences to the Sponseller family during this time of loss of a husband, father, and grandfather.
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ACT Program Receives University Recognition
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The district’s Academic-Career-Transition (ACT) Program which was started at the beginning of this school year received the Shippensburg University School Study Council 2017 Exemplary Program award. ACT is designed to help CASHS students achieve three important Goals: to succeed in
Academics, which means earn a high school diploma; to make a
Career connection in order to function in society by developing a vocational experience; and to eventually
Transition to post-secondary life being career, trade school, or college.
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Student Information to be Offered in Electronic Format in 2017-18 School Year
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CASD is updating its methods of providing information to parents and guardians in a way that increases the convenience for them as well as students. Beginning next school year, parents will have the option of receiving important student information electronically.
“These new methods will ensure that instant communication is in a secure and reliable format. We also will be able to provide both current and year to year historical information. Another plus is that we will minimize district costs. And, finally, there are considerable environmental benefits of a paperless system,” explained Christine Wolgemuth, director of technology.
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Teacher Appreciation at CAMS North
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The students at CAMS North put together a surprise for their teachers in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week.
With the help of Assistant Principal Mike Snedden, the students made a series of videos about their teachers. Each morning a video will air on the morning announcements. View the videos here.
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CMS Video Club Make Donation
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The CMS Video Club recently presented 13 Nintendo Wii video game consoles and 70 games and movies to representatives of the pediatric unit at the Chambersburg Hospital.
“It’s a way to give back and help out kids in need,” said Josh Bound, adviser to the Video Club.
The 85 Video Club members raised $2,500 during a 24-hour marathon video game event held last fall to help buy the necessary supplies. Club members then worked to modify the Wiis so that the pediatric patients could play both DVDs and video games, explained Mr. Bound.
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Author Visits Lurgan Elementary
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Author Susan Whitelock along with Illustrator Cathi Dentler visited Lurgan recently and met with kindergarten, first and second grade students, and students in the Transitional Learning classroom. They read one of their books to the students and also talked about the writing/publishing process with the students. The original water color portraits from the book are displayed on the stage.
The students in K-2 had a door decorating contest as part of the author/illustrator visits. The books that Susan writes are all about life and the seasons, so it made it very easy for the teachers to incorporate science with the writing process as well.
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Fayetteville Students Raise Money for St. Jude
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Students at Fayetteville Elementary accepted the challenge of making a difference in a child’s life through math with the St Jude Mathathon.
“They asked for donations from friends and family for completing math pages, and came through in a BIG way. They raised over $2,281.00!!!!!!! We are so proud of our students and their BIG heart!” said Andrew Nelson, principal.
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Battle of the Brains Sponsored by CASD Foundation
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The CASD Foundation sponsored the 2nd annual Battle of the Brains at Hamilton Heights Elementary School in early April. The event was organized by the CASD Gifted Department for students in Grades 3-8. Forty nine elementary and 35 middle school students participated in the event. Teams were required to have at least one gifted student.
“The event consisted of nine stations that required the use of 21st century skills – collaboration and teamwork, creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving. Some of the stations included building a bridge to hold up to one hundred pennies, a 24 Game and Math Dice Tournament, and creating and performing a skit using a variety of props in unique ways. A favorite station was the Escape Room, which required teams to solve five logic and number puzzles to unlock a box containing a ‘Ticket to Learning’ before time expired,” explained Brooke Michalsky, gifted support teacher.
Trophies and gift cards to Sweet Frog were given to each overall winning team in the elementary and middle school divisions. Ribbons also were awarded to first place winners of each individual station in both divisions. Special recognition ribbons were awarded to elementary teams for outstanding sportsmanship, teamwork, or creativity. Parent and student volunteers ran the stations.
“We could not have the event without our wonderful volunteers,” said Mrs. Michalsky.
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CAMS North Students Benefit from Master Classes Conducted by CVSM Teachers
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CAMS North students recently experienced master classes conducted by teachers from Cumberland Valley Music (CVSM) School who were chosen for their outstanding contributions to their area of music playing.
Master classes are sessions of instruction that are usually given to students by a master in their field. CVSM sponsored the master teachers to come to CAMS North to work with the music students.
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Mr. Bernie Pitkin conducts master class with North Low Brass students.
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Dr. John Purcell of CVSM conducts a masterclass with CAMS North trumpet players.
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Tim Gotwald with CAMS North flutes in a workshop sponsored by CVSM.
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CAMS South Celebrates National Library Month
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CAMS South Libraries celebrated National Library Month with many activities for the students. A chess tournament, scavenger hunts, trivia questions, top readers, and Makerspaces activities were part of the festivities.
“In addition to traditional Makerspace activities, Library Secretary, Marty Etter and I planned a humanitarian project, Sole Hope, for students,” noted CAMS South Librarian Teresa Miller.
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CASHS Gifted Students Conduct Blood Drive
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The CASHS gifted students conducted a blood drive recently in conjunction with the Central PA Blood Bank.
“We were able to register 132 donors and collected 75 pints. That’s a total of 225 lives saved! The Central PA Blood Bank was so impressed with our students and appreciated their efforts to make this drive a success,” said Jennifer Michael, advisor to the gifted students.
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Welding Class Members Visit Area Businesses
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The CASHS Welding II class members recently toured various Welding and Metal Fabrication businesses in Franklin County. The students went to Volvo (Shippensburg), Y.B. Welding (Chambersburg) & Hauk Designs (Chambersburg).
“At Hauk’s the students got to meet Kenny Hauk (the owner), tour the facilities and learn about the new show ‘Road Hauks’ on the History Channel that is filmed on location. Needless to say, the kids were a little star struck and Kenny and the guys were awesome to the students. The students had a great time,” said Tiara Walburn, CASHS Agricultural teacher.
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This is the Wenger family – mom lives in Chambersburg and her three daughters live in Utah. All four women are CASHS graduates. They were recently given a tour of CASHS and are shown here holding up their class yearbooks.
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Square 1 Art – It Starts with the Art!
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In April the students at Guilford Hills Elementary participated in a school-wide art fundraiser that not only raised $4,800 in sales for the PTA to benefit GHE and its students, but it also focused on student creativity and artistic achievement.
The program was sponsored by the PTA, who partnered with Square 1 Art, one of the most successful art fundraising program companies in the U.S., who reproduce student art onto keepsake memory products.
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FCCTC Students Experience Court and a Special Visit
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The Medical Assisting students of Franklin County Career and Technology Center (FCCTC) had a unique interactive opportunity with our public judicial system. On Thursday, April 6th, 19 students and two instructors observed several cases in the 39th Judicial District Court with the honorable Judge Shawn D. Meyers on the bench.
The following day, Judge Meyers made a special visit to FCCTC to discuss the students’ court experience and describe the judicial system as it relates to the ethics and law within the medical field. He connected the personal experiences in law with the patient care the students will experience in their careers. Much like in health care, court can be unpredictable.
Judge Meyers disclosed, “It’s real. You think you know what everyone is going to say. It’s amazing what happens in real life.”
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Scotland Elementary Take Boys and Girls Basketball Titles
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Both Scotland boys and girls fourth and fifth grade basketball teams received a heroes’ welcome by staff and students after winning their respective tournament championships. With We Are the Champions blaring over the loudspeakers, the teams took a well-deserved victory tour through the hallways. They were high-fived and cheered on by the entire school.
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Scotland Elementary Students Win Big at Science Fair
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In the recent Franklin County Science Fair, Scotland Elementary tied with two other elementary schools in Franklin County (Fairview and Summitview) with 11 awards and brought home the highest number of elementary awards in Chambersburg Area School District.
The winners include:
Primary Earth Science:
Primary Life Science:
- 4th place Janell Rosenberry
Primary Life Science Partner:
- 1st place Laura Pascual Garcia and Evan Ni
- 2nd place Diego Cruz Denisac and Daniel Casagrandi
- Honorable Mention Josue Perez Gan and Juan Sica Lopez
- Honorable Mention Jason Wu and Nieke Rogelj-Brooks
Primary Physical Science:
- 2nd place Drew Wishard
- 3rd place Addison Flack
Intermediate Earth Science:
- 4th place Cindy Ni
- 5th place Yana Kim
Primary Airplane Challenge:
Letterkenny Army Depot:
- Primary Award: Engineering 2 Callan Waggoner
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Students Visit the Falling Spring
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CASHS students in Janine Stottlemyer’s Agriculture class recently took a field trip to the Falling Spring. The students were able to take macro-invertebrate samples to help evaluate the health of the waterway. This was done in conjunction with the Franklin County Conservation District.
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Revised School Vaccinations Guidelines
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(Editor’s Note: we ran this story in eNews last month, but because of its importance, we wanted to run it one more time.)
The Pennsylvania Department of Health has revised the guidelines for vaccinations required for school attendance beginning in August 2017.
“We would really like to stress to parents and guardians to have their child or children fully vaccinated if at all possible before school starts in August 2017. If a child is not fully vaccinated or has only received one dose of a vaccine in a series, that family has only five days in which to get the child caught up with the vaccines needed or the child can be excluded from school under these new guidelines,” said Donna Rock, R.N., nurse supervisor for the district.
According to Mrs. Rock, this will especially impact the following students:
- New kindergarten students
- 7th grade students who are required to have the meningococcal (MCV) and Tdap vaccines
- 12th grade students who will now need a second dose of the meningococcal (MCV) vaccine.
- Any student enrolling in a Pennsylvania school from another state or another country throughout the school year.
“I want to remind parents and guardians that students cannot be registered without immunization records. It is the parent or guardian’s responsibility to bring these records to the registration process,” stressed Mrs. Rock.
“Keystone Health is working with the district to develop a ‘catch-up’ immunization clinic for any student. This is a work in progress and more details will follow,” noted Mrs. Rock.
If you would like more information about the changes in vaccination requirements, you are encouraged to talk to your child’s primary care provider or visit:
http://www.dontwaitvaccinate.pa.gov
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Youth Court First of Its Kind in the County
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CASHS students are part of the first official Youth Court in the county and they recently conducted their first two trials. In this program students serve as jurors for other students and they also serve in the roles of judge, bailiff and as an advocate for the student who is accused. Students have been trained to serve in each of these roles and, as the program continues, they will rotate through the various roles.
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Chambersburg-Israel
Student Exchange Program
October & November 2017
Ten Israeli students (five boys and five girls) will be matched with ten American high school students. The American families agree to pick up the Israeli students at Washington-Dulles airport and provide a homestay in Chambersburg. During that week the Israeli students will attend CASD classes, and the host family will furnish meals, and pay for/provide evening and weekend activities.
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A free afterschool program, where 4th-6th grade girls meet twice per week for lessons on a variety of issues including self-esteem, peer relationships, decision-making, nutrition, diversity, emotions, and more! Girls also run during each session and improve their physical fitness, building a lifelong love for physical activity and wellness! Join us to help demonstrate and support healthy lifestyles for youth! Celebrate
the girls’ success and run along with our 90
participating girls!
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“The Chambersburg Area School District does not sponsor or sanction this program/event/activity”.
Per Board policy 913.1
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