Project
The Brentwood Middle School Student Council
sponsored a spirit week in the middle school during the
week of Homecoming, October 7-11, 2013. The Student
Council created daily themes in which participation was
rewarded with a small token. Monday was “Mustache
Monday”, and students wore mustaches or mustache
attire all day. Some students even created mustaches
for their hair! On Tuesday, several Brentwood teachers
hosted a pink thumbprint cookie sale for breast cancer
research. The Student Council thought it would be
beneficial to have a “Pink Out” day coincide with the
cookie sale and decided to donate money on behalf
of all of the students wearing pink. Student Council
was able to donate $110.00 to the Susan G. Komen
Foundation, which was sent along with the proceeds
from the cookie sale. “Wacky Hair Wednesday” showed
students’ true creativity! Some students dyed their hair,
some had glow in the dark hair, some had mohawks,
and others created crazy up-dos. Thursday was “Neon
Day” in which the students decked out in bright colors
and were rewarded with glow sticks. Also on Thursday,
the Student Council hosted a “sign decorating session”
after school for any middle school student. The
students created and painted signs to take to the
Homecoming game on Friday. It was enjoyed by all
who attended. On Friday, the students showed their
pride and respect, the monthly themes for Advisory,
and wore as much blue and gold to school in honor of
the Homecoming game. Spirit week wrapped up with a
middle school dance before the game where two most
“Spirited Spartans” won tickets to the game.
Middle/High School
Teacher Receives
Honor for Use of
Technology
Beau Sedlar, technology education teacher at
Brentwood Middle/High School, was recently
honored as a 2013 Champion of Change during
Connected Educator Month. Connected Educator
Month was sponsored by the Allegheny
Intermediate Unit and Common Sense Media.
Educators were selected as Champions of Change
for their “creative approaches in using technology to
enhance learning in every classroom for every child.”
The inaugural group of innovative educators was
recognized as Champions of Change at an awards
ceremony and luncheon held on October 20, 2013.
Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall | Winter 2013 | icmags.com 53
ews
The third annual Elroy Elementary School beautification project
took place on Sunday, August 25, 2013. This was a very special project
because Elroy received a $750 “Let’s Play” Maintenance Grant from
KaBOOM! and the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. KaBOOM! is a national
non-profit group dedicated to saving play time for America’s children
by creating great play spaces through the participation and leadership
of communities. The grant required the school to make purchases that
would help improve and maintain the Elroy playground. Therefore,
mulch was purchased with the grant.
Early Sunday morning, a group of 25 people came together to
prepare the playground for the first day of school. The group was a great
mixture of teachers, including Amy Smith, Amy Ferkett, Jamie Dobson,
Melissa Sauro, Jacelyn Pulleo, Christina Dietz, Patricia Bohenko, and
school community families. The crew went to work on the huge pile
of mulch by the playscape, applying sealant over the mural that was
completed last summer, painting the Elroy motto on the wall, picking
up garbage, weeding and mowing around the entire playground and
making student dismissal boxes for kindergarten and first grade.
Parents Jennifer Travis and Kristen Beck and the Hartley family,
Sarah, Sara, and Josiah, tackled the mulch first. Shoveling it into wheel
barrows and spreading it around the playscape was a tough job on that
hot summer day, but Hunter Brownlee, Beatrice Cook and the Ferkett
girls, Hannah and Naomi, were up to the challenge. After Sean Sauro
dug trenches around the picnic tables and benches, Mrs. Smith’s son
Kaiden and Mrs. Travis dumped mulch under and around the tables and
benches. Next, it was decided that mulch would be spread along the
fence line to help deter students from kicking up the dirt and lessen the
making of mud after a rainy day. Mrs. Beck and her sons, Nate, Owen,
and Jeff, along with Mrs. Smith and Kirk Ferkett, began the task of
spreading the mulch which was dumped in the area. It took three hours
to spread and layer the mulch down to a layer of perfection.
In order to protect the mural painted on the wall last year, an outdoor
sealant was applied. Three people took on this task. Mrs. Ferkett, Mrs.
Dobson and Renee Burch began by wiping down the mural. Then they
worked together on applying the sealant over the mural. After this, Mrs.
Dobson touched up the existing mural of the school and Renee Burch
moved on to helping Mrs. Sauro paint the Elroy Motto that was drawn
on the wall by the elementary school art teacher Barb Girone.
A lot of work needed to be done around the school building,
the outskirts of the playground and on the cement play area. Elroy
Elementary principal, Amy Burch, started off weeding around the front
and side of the building. Mr. and Mrs. Ferkett took on the challenge of
weeding and cutting down branches on both sides of the fence line.
Don Keener, our school custodian, used the weed whacker on the
cement top and mowed th