GILL HALL ELEMENTARY TINA MAYER, PRINCIPAL
WEST JEFFERSON HILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS— GILL HALL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
est Jefferson Hills
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of our new staff and students to Gill Hall Elementary. It is really exciting to be a part of so much growth, change, and innovation. I am already looking forward to the start of the school year and seeing those smiling faces eager and excited on the first day of school. Good luck to all of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders on their new adventures at Jefferson Elementary School!
Wishing everyone a wonderful and relaxing summer … See you soon!
GILL HALL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUPPORTS DYSTONIA AWARENESS
Gill Hall Elementary School participated in Dystonia Awareness Week in honor of one of our Gill Hall families. Dystonia is a Neurological Movement Disorder that causes muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily causing pain, tremors, twisting, and other uncontrollable movements. Dystonia can affect any part of the body including the arms, legs, neck, eyelids, face or vocal cords. There is no cure for Dystonia at this time.
The entire faculty, student body and PTA pulled together to support the Sorley Family who has a daughter in third grade at Gill Hall and a son with Dystonia who will be entering kindergarten this Fall. During the week of April 30 – May 4, 2018, special activities were planned to spread awareness of Dystonia, raise funds and show support for the Sorley Family. Each
50 WEST JEFFERSON HILLS homeroom took part in Bucket Wars to see which homeroom could raise the most money. Containers were placed in each homeroom for the students to bring in any spare change throughout the week. To cap off the week, an outdoor movie night was held on Friday, May 4 to watch“ Wonder.” In addition to the movie, there was a Chinese Auction with lots of amazing prize packages and baskets. A school-wide assembly was held on Monday, May 7 to learn more about Dystonia from the Sorley Family, recognize the winning homerooms and pull the winning tickets from the Chinese Auction. The winning homerooms had the chance to pie and silly string their teachers, crack a dozen eggs on Mrs. Palmer’ s head, dump a bucket of ice water on Mrs. Swogger, paint Mrs. Bowser’ s face, and help shave Mr. Lauso’ s head at the assembly.
At the end of the assembly, Mrs. Palmer presented a check to the Sorley Family for Dystonia research from all of the proceeds of the Bucket Wars, Movie Night and Chinese Auction! Heartfelt thanks to the Gill Hall PTA, all of the students and staff, and the wonderful Gill Hall teachers for leading the way and being such good sports as they were hit with pies, silly string, eggs, ice water and even a head shave!
GILL HALL STUDENTS RECOGNIZED AT SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
Several students from Gill Hall Elementary were recognized for their outstanding achievements at the May 22, 2018 school board meeting. It was a pleasure to speak about the many, wonderful things that our Gill Hall students are doing on a daily basis; however, it was extremely difficult to select only a few. Each student was introduced and awarded a special certificate of recognition from the WJH School Board of Directors:
Callie Dailey, Natalie Borneman, Jenna Lyons and Olivia Virgin – all qualified for the state-level Future Problem Solving Competition
Abby Kauffman – received an Honorable Mention for her participation in the Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest at the Pittsburgh Public Theater.
Kane Eggerton – won the Gill Hall Spelling Bee Maggie Spell – awarded Gill Hall“ Artist of the Year”
Liam Mahoney – winner of Gill Hall 24 Math Competition and Geography Bee
Enrique Ochoa – Highest Accelerated Reader( AR) points Marley Defries – 2nd highest Accelerated Reader( AR) points Ava Sorley – 2nd highest Accelerated Reader( AR) points( Marley and Ava tied) Congratulations to all!