IN Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall Summer 2019 | Page 72

Dr. Larry Kushner Memorial Scholarship Awarded
at Brentwood Middle School
Jamie Kurtz, an 8th grader at Brentwood Middle School was selected
as the first recipient of the newly established “Dr. Larry Kushner Memorial
Scholarship”.
Dr. Kushner was vital in developing the first true middle school in the
Brentwood Borough School District and served as the Principal of the middle
school from 1999-2011. Unfortunately, after a courageous battle with cancer,
Dr. Kushner passed away in February 2019 at the young age of 64. The annual
memorial scholarship was established by Dr. Kushner’s family, friends, and
colleagues to honor his memory and celebrate all of the contributions he
made to the school district and particularly to the students and staff at
Brentwood Middle School.
Jamie was chosen for the scholarship from a group of 9 amazing applicants
who wrote essays describing important life lessons they’ve learned in the
middle school, including themes such as responsibility, honesty, and “being
yourself”. All 9 applicants attended a breakfast with the middle school staff
members who served on the scholarship committee as well as members of
Dr. Kushner’s family. Dr. Kushner’s brother, Terry, thanked the students for
their efforts in applying for the scholarship before presenting Jamie with
the award. Jamie will be using the funds from the scholarship to attend the
Pittsburgh CLO program “Into the Woods, Jr.” this summer!
The Brentwood Middle School staff would like to thank everyone who has
contributed to the scholarship fund and allowed us to keep Dr. Kushner’s
memory alive by providing a wonderful learning opportunity to one of our
students!
Brentwood Middle School 7th Graders
Become the Teachers
“You really don’t understand
something unless you can explain it to
a second grader” and “We truly learn
95% of what we teach others.” These
two axioms were on full display as 7th
graders from Brentwood Middle School
led an ‘Astronomy Extravaganza’ for 2nd
grade students at Moore Elementary
School.
Middle school science teacher Kristin
Papariello came up with the idea for
the event and worked with Leslie Miller
from Moore Elementary to bring the
students together. The 7th graders
choose “big ideas” from their astronomy
unit and used Power Point presentations
and hands-on demonstrations to teach
the content to their young audience
as they rotated from one station to the
next. Some of astronomy topic that
were explored were Ocean Tides, Moon
Phases, Solar and Lunar Eclipses, and
How Rockets Work.
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After the small group presentations,
the elementary students had the
opportunity to explore the world of
augmented reality through the use of
merge cubes. Nick Caponi, 7th grade
social studies teacher at the middle
school, has used the devices in his
classroom and was excited to share
them with the students from Moore.
When viewed through a Smart phone
camera, the merge cubes allow 3D
imagery to appear and the students
were able to explore a model of the
solar system and access information
about each planet with a simple tap of
the screen.
A special thank you to Ms. Papariello,
Mr. Caponi, Mrs. Miller, and especially
to the 7th grade students from
Brentwood Middle School and the
2nd grade students from Moore
Elementary for a wonderful day of fun
and learning!