Monticello Live

Recently, Monticello School’s EAST programs showcased projects at the National EAST Conference in Hot Springs.

Monticello Intermediate, Middle, and High School students represented their respective schools at the conference and displayed how they use high-end technology to implement community service projects. Each school is required to set up a booth which tells their program’s “story” and students must make a 10-minute presentation that discusses how they exhibit Teamwork, Collaboration, Community Involvement, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, and Resource Integration. Judges then rate the program’s overall effectiveness. All three Monticello schools were rated Superior Schools (the highest possible rating).

Monticello High School EAST also won several conference competitions. The winners were as follows: Filiberto Escamilla and Ashlee Johnson (Make a Difference Award), Kelsie Adcock, Zach Berryman, and Joseph Greenway (Make Me Care Video competition), and Jake Curry (First Place-Alumni “Live” Video Competition. MIS students who represented at conference were: Tyler Vance, Jeff Carmical, Kevin Davidson, Bliss Jaggers, Kristen Daniel, Ashley Forrest, Samia Lindsey, and Grace West. MMS students included Mckenzie Zieman, Elizabeth Echols, Mary Kate Jones, Mallory Jones, Savannah Reynolds, Maggie Hand, Summer Chase, and Alex Jones. MHS students included: TJ Sanders, Meredith Dickson, Jake Curry, Bentley Brodnax, Filiberto Escamilla, Kelsie Adcock, and Ashlee Johnson.

Several Monticello High School students attended the ACTM Regional Math competition held at UAM on Saturday, March 7. Among the winners were Jordan Hopper (1st place – Calculus), Kelsey Bryant (2nd place – Calculus), Kelsey Luper (3rd place – Calculus), and Laura Swain (2nd place – Geometry). Receiving honorable mention were Sam Cason (Calculus), Zach Robinson (Calculus), Hollis Scriber (Calculus), Logan Bone (Geometry) and Kayla Fenton (Geometry).

Pictured from left to right are: Jordan Hopper, Kelsey Luper and Laura Swain

The Monticello High School Band attended the Region 4 Concert Band Assessment in Camden on Friday, March 5th.

The band received 1st division superior ratings from the three judges in the prepared concert performance and received a 1st division superior rating in the concert sight-reading portion of the assessment.

These awards combined with the 1st division superior ratings received at marching assessment in the fall gives the Monticello HS Band the Sweepstakes Award for 2009-2010.

Congratulations to these talented, hardworking students.

Congratulations to the following students who were selected as Monticello High School Students of the 2nd Quarter. These students were nominated by teachers and voted on by the entire staff at MHS.

Freshmen: Blake Shirey and Ashleigh White
Sophomores: Trent Rogers and Parker Palsa
Juniors: Reginald Rayford, Tyeashia Allen
Seniors: Thomas Lafever, Ashley Savage

The criteria for being selected is to exhibit Monticello High School’s nine guiding principles: Respect, Responsibility, Trustworthiness, Compassion, Perseverance, Optimism, Loyalty, Cooperation, and Courage. For exhibiting such outstanding character these students were treated to lunch in town by MHS Principal Kenny Pennington.

Senator Jimmy Jeffress (right) presents a Senate citation to Michael Binns, Sr., in recognition of his retirement after 35 years of teaching music.

Binns conducted concert choir recitals, taught hundreds of students to sight read music and was named Arkansas Senior High School Choir Director of the Year five times.

Hundreds of his choir students have been named All Region for Southeast Arkansas.

The MMS Student Council has reached its goal in raising money for Monticello School District’s first defibrillator!

The Council raise $1400!

Thanks to all those who contributed!!!! The defibrillator will be delivered to the school this week.

Three Monticello High School choir members performed with the All-State Mixed Choir at the Hot Springs Convention Center on Saturday, Feb. 20. These students competed against students from all over the state for a place in the top choir. Those selected are among the best of the best high school musicians in Arkansas.

Singing Bass II, J.J. Albrecht earned 9th chair;singing Tenor II, Trevon Block earned 4th chair; and singing Soprano II, Natalie Skinner earned 8th chair. The students performed Psalm 43 by Felix Mendelssohn, Exultate Deo by Giovanni de Palestrina, Alleluia by Martinaitis, Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine by Eric Whitaker and The Best of All Possible Worlds arranged by Robert Page.

For each of these students, it was their second time to perform with the Arkansas All-State Choir. They are pictured with their director, Michael Binns, Sr. who considers it a great blessing to work with such wonderful and talented students. Pictured left to right are: J.J. Albrecht, Michael Binns, Sr., Natalie Skinner and Trevon Block.

MHS Transition Class students recently spoke to the school board during their monthly meeting about their disabilities and how they have learned to cope with them through this program. Read the rest of this entry »

Students from the Monticello EAST Lab also attended Tuesday’s monthly Monticello School Board meeting to show the board what they do in EAST Lab. The students choose some sort of service project and work together to complete those projects. While doing this, the students learn valuable computer editing and social skills.

Some of this year’s projects were creating a website for their fellow students, creating a news team, creating a virtual tour of MIS’s Learning Garden, and geo-caching.

The students also raised $200 in 30 minutes with their “Dog Walk,” a fundraiser which allowed students to “skip” their AR reading time one day and walk around the pond if they paid a dollar. The money went to help the dog pound.

EAST students also participated in the Empty Bowls program with their art teacher and UAM’s art department. The students created ceramic bowls that they will sell; the profits will stay at MIS to help needy students there.

With the arrival of spring comes the dread of the Benchmark exams, which were the main topic of Monticello’s regular monthly school board meeting. Bobby Harper stated that the governor is encouraging schools to go beyond proficient on the exams. He wants them to be more prepared for college and beyond, so he wants them to score higher on the exams. In light of that, Harper asked the principals to tell the board what they have been doing in their schools to help improve the students’ Benchmark or SAT/10 (for elementary) scores. Read the rest of this entry »

The  MMS student council wants to buy a defibrillator for our school. We want our students and staff to have the equipment needed in case of an emergency.

In the past months, there have been some issues with kids that have heart problems who were involved in athletics. It was unknown to them that they had a condition. This particular condition or disease causes athletes to collapse when in hard-working and running situations.

Parkview High School basketball player remains in critical condition after collapsing during a game. Fifteen-year-old Chris Winston was in critical condition at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. He had played the first quarter of the game against Searcy when he fell to the floor Tuesday night. Medical personnel began CPR and used a defibrillator to stabilize Winston in the gym in Little Rock before he was taken to a hospital., according to AOL.co

Please give!! This could save a life!!!

If you would like to donate you may contact the MMS office at 367-4040 or Kim Pigott @ 367-7567

MHS and MMS Band Auxiliary Positions have been announced and include:

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The 2010 Monticello High School Safe Prom Committee will host a benefit cookout on the parking lot at Piggly Wiggly February 11th, 12th, and 13th.

There will be a variety of items offered for sale each day. Some of the items include ½ Pork Roast $10, ½ Chicken $2, Slab of Pork Ribs $12, BBQ Sandwiches $1 and Smoked Sausages $1. The scheduled times of the sale are Thursday and Friday 10 to 6, and Saturday 10 to 12. Piggly Wiggly sponsors the sale.

Funds raised will be used to support the Monticello 2010 Safe Prom, which will be held in April. The purpose of Safe Prom is to provide a safe, alcohol- and drug-free environment for post-prom activities.

Twenty-four members of the Monticello High School Forensics team competed at the Cabot Classic Forensics Tournament and earned the 3rd place Sweepstakes Award in their division. Students competed in 11 events. As a result of points earned at this tournament, 4 students have qualified for membership in the National Forensics League (NFL): Derrick Banks, Kelsea Jackson, Terry Jenkins, and Devin West. Drama teacher, Christy Armbrust, has also earned her merit status as a NFL coach. 

Some of the highlights of the tournament included the Improvised Duet Acting team of Devin West and Terry Jenkins advancing to semi-finals. Superior debate speakers were Thomas Lafever and J.J. Smith. Debaters earning Excellent speaker points were Kelsea Jackson, Adam Todd, Derrick Banks and Michael Sawyer.

Receiving Excellent ratings for individual events were Kabresha Binns and Hunter Brown (Improvised Duet Acting), Alex Dearman and Anna St. John (Duet Acting), Sarah deRueda (Original Oratory and Solo Acting), Kelsea Jackson (Storytelling), Hunter Brown (Solo Acting), Terry Jenkins (Poetry Interpretation) and Devin West (Prose Interpretation). 

Other members who contributed to the team’s success were Haley Burnett, Maggie Barnett, Jackie Cargile, Chyanne Craft, Brittany Halley, Alexis Pulido, Melodie Sandlin, Sabrina Slaughter, Derrick Barnhill, Brice Pace, and Jesse Speich.

Jenkins and West have qualified to compete in the Tournament of Champions in April. The team is coached by MHS – NFL Coaches Debbie Ashcraft and Christy Armbrust.

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The Box Top for Education Program at MIS is really paying off.

Kim Lee, Monticello Intermediate School’s box top coordinator, brought an $872.40 redemption check to MIS from the April – October drive.

Lee also said that the students have already collected more box tops than last time for the next redemption period.

The box top collection program is one of the PTO’s projects. Madison Young, a fifth grader, collected the most by bringing over 400. She was the contributing factor that helped Ms. West’s class to be the top classroom winner at MIS with over 700.

Congratulations to the following Monticello HS Band members for making the Region 4 All Region Bands on Monday at Camden Harmony Grove HS. They will be participating next weekend at UAM at the Region 4 All Region Band Clinic.

The students are………. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, the Monticello EAST classes held an event for the SHIIP (Senior Health Insurance Information Program.)

Seniors from Drew and Ashley County come to the school, so EAST students could help them to make changes so it could essentially save them money.

Story and photo by Bentley Brodnax

Tuesday night the Monticello school board held its monthly meeting. One of the main topics of the meeting was the discussion and approval of the uniform, mats, and facility services. 

The board recognized Jennifer Touchstone for completing her National Board Certification, which means she can now teach her subject anywhere in the nation.

The board placed before the public the Monticello School District Ten Year Facilities Plan to allow comments, opinions, and questions. The public posed none, so the board approved it.

Congratulations to the following students who were selected as Monticello High School Students of the 1st Quarter. These students were nominated by teachers and voted on by the entire staff at MHS.

The criteria for being selected is to exhibit Monticello High School’s nine guiding principles: Respect, Responsibility, Trustworthiness, Compassion, Perseverance, Optimism, Loyalty, Cooperation, and Courage. For exhibiting such outstanding character these students were treated to lunch in town by MHS Principal Kenny Pennington.

Freshmen: Logan Bone, Kelsie Adcock
Sophomores: Jake Curry, Madelynn Gates
Juniors: Anthony Glover, Tre’veon Hawkins, Meredith Dickson
Seniors: Curtis Lagrone, JJ Smith, Amy Flemister

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

The success of our FCCLA canned food drive was phenomenal! Thanks to all MHS staff and MHS students that helped make it such a success.

FCCLA was able to prepare 20 Thanksgiving Baskets and all remaining food items were donated to Teachers of Tomorrow for their Christmas Basket Project. How blessed we are!

Kelsea Jackson, 4th place, during the awards ceremony.

The MHS Forensics Team earned 3rd place in Division II at the Russellville Forensics Tournament.

Jackie Cargile

The highlights included Jackie Cargile earning 4th place in the finals of Dramatic Interpretation and Kelsea Jackson earning 4th place in finals of storytelling. Emily Hilton advanced to semi-finals in solo acting, and the team of Terry Jenkins and Cavon Handley advanced to semi-finals in Improvised Duet Acting (IDA).

Terry Jenkins, Kelsea Jackson and Emily Hilton have now qualified for the State Tournament of Champions in April. Members who have earned enough points to qualify for membership in the National Forensics League are Jackie Cargile, Zachary Chambliss, Brittany Halley, and Parrish Hicks.

The Debaters: Bricen Pace, Kelsea Jackson, Zachary Chambliss, Brittany Halley, Parrish Hicks, and Derrick Banks.

Other team members who earned excellent ratings and contributed to the team’s success were as follows: Derrick Banks & Parrish Hicks (debate), Brittany Halley & Zach Chambliss (debate), Brice Pace & Kelsea Jackson (debate), Reshanae Crift (prose interpretation & humorous interpretation), Sarah deRueda (solo acting & IDA), Rebecca Ferguson (storytelling & IDA), Brittany Halley ( IDA), Cavon Handley (storytelling), Emily Hilton (IDA), Soncerra James (poetry interp. & prose interp), Brice Pace (original oratory), Olivia Vaughn (solo acting & original oratory), and Jesse Speich (original oratory).

The next tournament is scheduled for North Little Rock in December.

Tuesday night, the Monticello School Board held its regular monthly meeting. The first item on the agenda was the update, discussion and approval of the recommended Monticello Intermediate School vehicle traffic. Bobby Harper, Superintendent, stated that there had been a lot of accidents on Jordan Drive already this year, and that luckily, no one had been hurt. “We have a dangerous situation in front of MIS,” stated Harper. Mary Donaldson, MIS principal, presented a diagram of the recommended changes for the traffic, which included restricting the exit from MIS to a “right turn only” lane. They would then make two lanes that turn into the MIS campus. After turning, the parents will merge right and the teachers will use the left lane to bypass the drop-off zone and park. Donaldson said that she believed this would solve a lot of problems. She said that if the board approved the changes and they could have the arrows painted onto the pavement this weekend, they hoped to begin utilizing the changes Monday. Read the rest of this entry »

Eight members of the MHS Forensics Team competed at Little Rock Central High School. Over 900 entries were competing in 15 events. This was a record-breaking number of student entries for this tournament.

Although the MHS team was small in numbers, they experienced much success.

Front row: Rebecka Bennett, Reshanae Crift, Raven Miller, Devin West
Back row: Brice Pace, Chyanne Craft, Natalie Skinner, Terry Jenkins

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After 3 days of intense legislative committee and floor debate, our delegation was recognized for many individual achievements:

Excellent ratings for Committee: Brice Pace, Brittany Halley, and Zach Chambliss
Superior ratings for Committee: Jackie Cargile and Natalie Skinner
Excellent ratings for Caucus: Jackie Cargile, Natalie Skinner, and Zach Chambliss
Superior ratings for Caucus: Brittany Halley and Brice Pace
Superior ratings for Parliamentary Procedures: Brice Pace and Natalie Skinner 

The MHS delegation authored 4 legislative bills by the following delegates: Natalie Skinner, Parrish HIcks, Brice Pace, and Jackie Cargile. Bills earned recognition in two primary methods: 1) an independent judge decides which bills are the best and 2) the bills passed by the college senate become Laws of Congress which are forwarded to the Governor and Arkansas Legislators. Brice Pace earned 3rd Place for Best Bill, and Natalie Skinner’s bill passed in the senate with a record-breaking unanimous vote. 

Natalie Skinner was recognized by award as our Best of Delegation. Not only did Natalie score well in all events, she was elected to serve as House Clerk. She first won the Republican nomination, and then she was able to persuade a House containing a 2/3 majority of Democrats to elect her by crossing party lines. Read the rest of this entry »

Monticello High School FCCLA is having a canned food drive!!!
- Student are encouraged to bring your canned goods to your 1st block class
- The 1st block class to collect the most cans will be treated to breakfast courtesy of FCCLA
- FCCLA will be collecting cans until November 17th
**we are also taking monetary donations from businesses

Read the rest of this entry »

After spending time learning the software for Microsoft Publisher, the 4th grade EAST students created signs for the Drew Memorial Hospital Health Fair.

The students learned many components of the program such as: changing font, choosing colors, creating backgrounds and even transporting DMH’s logo onto the signs. Using the EAST standards as a model, the students were involved in Community Involvement, Collaboration, Teamwork, Problem Solving and Self Direction.

In the future, the students will use the skills they learned to assist others in our community and school.