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6/2/2009: Yesterday I received notification that our yearbook was selected by the Walsworth Publishing Company's sales reps as a recipient of the Gallery of Excellence Award. Here's our sales rep's description of the award:

<<The Gallery of Excellence is where the company ask reps to submit books
that they think have some "excellent" aspects that other schools would
be able to learn from. We have a library we make available to our reps
of these books. They are also our sample books.

From these books we pull material for our Possibilities book. To be in Possibilities
you must be a gallery of excellence winner. Only a small percentage of
school's around the country are awarded this. So congratulations to you
and your staff.>>

The Possibilities book goes to every Walsworth school to use for ideas the following school year.
It is a high quality, yearbook sized book featuring each winner's work. We hope to make that cut.

Thanks for your support this year!

Debbie Garner
Central Journalism

The 2009 Spring Nationals for the Student Television Network were announced today. 410 entries from across the nation were entered. For the 4th time this year, Central Intelligence was named the #1 Bi-Weekly Student Television show in the nation.

Also winning 1st in the nation were Felix Chang and Destiny Pettus for human interest feature, Haley’s Play and 1st in the nation sports news for Halli Bruton and Pazsley Looney for their coverage of basketball districts.

This final award cycle of the year means that C.I. has swept all national overall show categories across the nation for the 2008-2009 school year.

I know this winning thing may seem like “old hat”, but truly this is an amazing feat for the students of the C.I. staff. They have created a reputation for Central High School around that nation. I couldn’t be more proud.

And of course, we couldn’t have done this without the support of the entire school and administration. Sincerely, thank you.

Our boys tennis teams advanced to the state tournament level and are playing in Columbia on Saturday the 23rd. Congratulate them on their winning season....GOOOOOOOO BULLDOGS!!

Project Graduation tickets are now on sale for $5 in the Financial Office. Don’t miss out on this evening full of games and prizes! What could be better than dodge ball and a chance to win a flat panel TV?

Tickets for the senior breakfast are on sale now through Friday May 15th. Tickets are $6 and can be purchased in the Financial Office. The breakfast is Tuesday, May 19th at 8:30 am immediately before graduation practice.

There will be a very important senior meeting in the Auditorium on Friday, May 8th at 10:30. Every senior should plan to attend.

On Friday, May 15 the National Television Academy announced the Emmy Award Winners for this year’s Mid-American Chapter of the High School Student Television Awards. (Yes, these are THE EMMYS)

This was a new award category offered this year by the Academy with the hopes of recognizing the best high school broadcast programs in the country.

Out of 9 categories, Central Intelligence won 5. Our show as a whole won best overall editing. Other awards included best writing for Will Pearson and best photography for Nate Fairbank. We also won Best Documentary for our work on The Cooks Kettle located on Commercial Street (produced by Taylor Deeds, Kalee Burgess and Natalia Allen) and Best Cultural Affairs piece for our coverage of Haley Steven’s play, It Takes Life to Love Life (produced by Destiny Pettus and Felix Chang).

We also earned 5 honorable mentions including: two news stories (Teen Voters produced by Felix Chang and Destiny Pettus and Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act produced by Will Pearson and Natalia Allen), a sports story (Girls Swimming produced by Felix Chang and Destiny Pettus), a public affairs story (Seatbelts produced by Andy Wolff and Mitchell Trafford), and a photography (Japanese Fall Festival produced by Will Pearson and Raleigh Cavero).

The Central Intelligence staff will be honored at the Emmy Award Gala on October 3.

These awards top off an already amazing year. In November the National Scholastic Press Association honored C.I. with Best of Show at the national convention along with 20 other individual student awards. And in the Student Television Network’s Fall Nationals we were honored with 1st Place Bi-Weekly/Monthly Show along with 1st place human interest story and 1st place sports.

The annual silent art auction will be held Monday May 11 in the library until 3pm Thursday, May 14. 20% of the proceeds will be donated to charity, 20% will be given back to the art department, and 60% of the proceeds will go directly to the student. Work won in the auction must be picked up by 3:30 on Thursday. Thanks for your support!

Central High School students gave their strongest performance ever in competitive algebra, geometry, probability and trigonometry at the April 25 Missouri Great Plains Math League contest in Columbia.

May is ALS awareness month and time for Central to begin planning teams for the Walk to Defeat ALS in the fall. We had a huge showing at the last walk and we have been challenged to make it even bigger this year. If you are interested in being a captain or sponsor for a team, please contact Mrs. Teague in room 106 by May 15th.

3rd Block                    9:11 – 9:59
Passing Time               9:59 – 10:04

7th Block                    10:04 – 11:10
Passing Time               11:10 – 11:15

5th Block                    11:15 – 12:50
                                                                        Class Time
1st Lunch                    11:10 – 11:35              11:40 – 12:50                           * 70 minutes
Passing Time               11:35 – 11:40

2nd Lunch 11:35 – 12:00 11:15 – 11:35; 12:05 – 12:50 * 65 minutes
Passing Time 12:00 – 12:05

3rd Lunch 12:00 – 12:25 11:15 – 12:00; 12:30 – 12:50 * 65 minutes
Passing Time 12:25 – 12:30

Students should return to 5th block after 3rd lunch. School will dismiss at 12:50 for summer vacation.

Congratulations to the Central High School Wind Ensemble for another fantastic festival season!! If you have not had the pleasure of hearing them perform, we look forward to seeing you at our Spring Concert on Monday May 4th, at 7pm in the CHS Auditorium. Here is a summary of the festival results for this spring…

State Large Ensemble Festival
Straight “I” Superior Ratings on the Floor
“I+” Superior Rating in Sight Reading

Six Flags St. Louis Festival
Straight “I” Superior Ratings
Sweepstakes Award for the Best Band at the two day Festival

MSU Pride Classic Festival
Two “I” Superior Ratings and one “I+” Superior Rating
Outstanding Woodwind Section of the Festival
Winner- Outstanding Band in our Class

Mrs. Lisa Lilley Among 5 Teacher of the Year Finalists!

Five Springfield Public Schools teachers have been named finalists for 2009-2010 Teacher of the Year. Selected from a pool of 42 nominees, the finalists will be recognized by the Board of Education at the April 14 school board meeting.

A selection committee will interview the finalists and choose the Teacher of the Year, who will be named Monday, April 20, during the Teacher Appreciation Banquet at University Plaza Convention Center.

* Dave Davis, language arts/communication arts teacher and HTV Magazine adviser, Hillcrest High School;

I.B Art Students On Exhibit Through April at the Creamery

The Central High School Art Department is very proud of this years senior I.B. art show. The opening is part of April's First Friday Art Walk located at the Creamery Fine Arts Center Located at 411 North Sherman

Please join us this Friday from 7-9 PM for First Friday Art Walk and also enjoy performances from the Central Theater Department as well as encore features from C.I. on display. Refreshments will be served.

CHS Art Teachers, Susan Brown and Kevin Kloppenburg, have their own artwork on display at the Greene County Library on the downtown square during the month of April. Please stop by the downtown library as well for the First Friday Artwalk activities.

Congratulations to Spenser Pulleyking for placing 1st in the State judging of Reflections (Middle School Division)! His winning Musical Composition entry has been sent to the National Reflections judging. Spenser is an 8th grade MYSP student.

Be a Part of This Year's AWESOME MEMORIES VIDEO!

Seniors: Turn in a childhood and senior picture to Mrs. Lemmon (room 214) before April 21.

All Students: Turn in pictures of you and your friends from this year before April 21 to the media department (room 214). Also, check out our Facebook page "Central Memories" and upload your pictures.

Vernon Meidlinger Goes to the State Poetry Out Loud Competition for the 3rd Year!
Feb. 26, 2009

In Poetry Out Loud, communication and art collide as students create wonderful poetry performances.For the second year, Central High School senior Vernon Meidlinger-Chin will compete in the state Poetry Out Loud contest set for Tuesday, March 3, in Jefferson City.

Vernon was runner-up in last year’s competition and he has been in Poetry Out Loud all three years. Vernon will be doing some work for the Springfield Arts Council with Boyd and Field elementary schools as a result of winning the regional competition in February.

SPS announces make-up days

Springfield Public Schools expects to end the 2008-2009 school year Wednesday, June 3. Students will be dismissed two hours early that day.

As of March 3, students have missed three days of school due to inclement weather in January. Six make-up days were originally scheduled into the 2008-2009 school calendar, which identified June 5 as the last day of school if all six were necessary. Since fewer make-up days are required, the last day of school will be June 3, assuming there are no additional cancellations.

Students will be out of school March 23-27 for spring break. Also as originally scheduled, students will not have classes Friday, April 24, to allow teachers to participate in professional development or work opportunities. Although that date was designated on the calendar as a possible make-up day, administrators deemed it unnecessary since students would already be required to return the week of June 1.

Are you looking for an easy way to earn money for your class and help cure cancer? Relay for Life is collecting canned food to donate to a food pantry after the All-Youth Relay event. Bring your canned food to the table at lunch until April 17th. The class who brings the most food will get $25 put into their class account. We’ll see you at lunch.

The annual Mr. CHS Pageant is coming up on MARCH 11th. It features men from grades 11 and 12 who compete in talent, casual wear, and formal wear. Central students are able to buy tickets for $3 to attend the event that will take place during 2nd, 3rd, and 4th block. All proceeds go towards prom for the senior class.

NEW THIS YEAR:
Any teacher may sponsor one student (junior or senior), even if they do not belong to a club or organization.

AS ALWAYS:
A club or organization may sponsor one member (junior or senior). This is a great way to promote your club to the school.

WHAT TO DO:
Fill out the attached entry form with the student you want to sponsor and give it to Ms. Pelkey along with the $10 entry fee by Feb. 17.
Please contact Ms. Pelkey with any questions.

It Takes Life To Love Life will be performed on Saturday, February 21 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, February 22 at 2 p.m. at the Vandivort 2nd Stage Theatre on Campbell.

The original script focuses on the journey ALS patients, families, and friends take through the course of the disease. The production premiered last August at the Vandivort Center Theatre before going on to appear as a part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Four of the original cast members (Aubrey Smith, Lauren Schriver, Aaron Weiss, and Samm Hill) are joined by some new faces (MacKenzie Schriver, Jacob Gaumer, Tommy LaMarre, Jeremy Lowther, Samantha Hays, Nathan Atkinson and Nicole Andrews). Our material has continued to evolve as our perspective and understanding of this devistating disease continues to evolve, but many of the wonderful moments you remember, including the original music written by Quinton Smith, still appear in the performance.

Directions to the theatre and ticket information can be found at www.vctheatre.com

Admission is $5 and, in addition, donations to the Keith Worthington Chapter of ALSA will be accepted at the door.

Thank you for the continued support of our theatre students and this worthwhile organization. We hope to see you all there.

Central Theatre Director

Great News! US News & World Report has Central High School listed as one of the top high schools in America. CHS received the Bronze Award! Great work by a great team – proud to be a BULLDOG!

Students on Exhibit at the Front Porch

Students enrolled in the advanced art course held an informal opening of an exhibition of showcasing some of the work they have made this year. The opening was on January 15th and their work will continue to be on exhibit throughout January. The Front Porch is located downtown on South Street next to Ernie Biggs. Don't miss this fabulous show! The following students have pieces on display:

Give a big congratulations to our CHS students who won prestigious awards in the PTA Relfections Contest.Allison Hamburg won 1st place & 3rd place in the Citywide PTA Reflections Contest in Photography. Spenser Pulleyking won 1st place in Visual Arts; 1st place in Musical Composition; and 3rd place in Literature in the same contest.

1/20/09: The Student Television Network has awarded C.I. with FIRST PLACE for monthly/bi-weekly show in its 2008 fall nationals, making Central's program once again NUMBER ONE IN THE NATION. Central Intelligence also earned top honors for sports news (Halli Bruton and Pazsely Looney) and human interest feature (Drew Sampson and Nicole Young).

The Student Television Network is made up of 896 schools from across North America. This is a huge win for the Central Intelligence Staff.
Read a complete list of honors at: http://www.studenttelevision.com/honors/honors.html.

This award is in addition to the previous honors earned in November from the National Scholastic Press Association, which also named C.I. best in the nation.

The information that follows has to do with gaining legislative support for the Missouri Fine Arts Academy, which could very well be budgeted out of being in the coming weeks. If you have had students or children involved and see the worth in this program, a letter or email to your representative is desperately needed. If you have time today, please write to Rep. Allen Icet – chair of the Budget Committee, and express your concern for continuing the Academies – even if it means cutting the number of students attending the academies or cutting the amount set aside for the Academies. Once cut, the Academies might never have the impact they have today with our high school students throughout the state.

Central may have programs that benefit the gifted students in the Springfield Schools, but there are many districts across the state where the Find Arts Academy is the only gifted program a young person may experience. Please take the time to ensure the funding for this worthwhile program will continue. Your input will be greatly appreciated.

On a tight budget? Try applying to Harvard
The nation's top colleges have gotten to be so expensive that only the wealthiest families can possibly afford them, especially during bleak economic times like these. Right? Not necessarily. A new report shows that such schools might not be as costly as you think.

Central High School celebrated the diversity of its students and staff with a special flag ceremony on Wednesday, Jan. 7, in the student commons. Flags representing 31 countries and over 70 students and staff members were hung from the mezzanine. International students will pose for group pictures with their flags prior to hanging.
The event ties in with the school's participation in the International Baccalaureate program, which is geared, in part, toward creating greater understanding of people from throughout the world.

It’s time to begin thinking about our Loyalty basketball game and dance! The dates for Loyalty are February 12 (assembly and game) and February 13 (dance). CHS Cabinet students will soon be calling on your classroom to get nominations for Loyalty Court. During the Loyalty Assembly, candidates for 2009-2010 student body officers will make their speeches. More information will follow.

Hey Bulldogs! If winter weather and the holiday snacking got you feeling a little sluggish, don’t worry. Grab a friend and join the bulldogs walking club as we get fit by walking the halls with friends after school on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Come to an informational meeting in room 224 after school on Thursday. Bring a friend!

There will now be recycling bins in the commons, the family and consumer ed rooms, and on each floor near the stairs. Please remember to use them ONLY for plastic bottles and aluminum cans, not trash!

Until the student green team is fully assembled, student volunteers are needed to help with this project. Contact Ms. Meekma for more information.

Keep in mind:

As many of you may have already noticed the signs posted around CHS, FBLA has kicked off our annual Toy Drive for Crosslines. If you can help, please bring a new, unwrapped toy to Room 210, the main office, or I will personally come and pick up the donation from you. (The deadline is Tuesday, December 16.) With so many families hurting financially this year, I know any toys we can donate will be a blessing.

Congratulations to our 11 outstanding musicians for their auditions for All State Band in Columbia

They are among the best of the best musicians in the state and as I told them yesterday they are all better players because they challenged themselves to prepare for the auditions and the Band is going to be better as well.

Some wonderful news from yesterday, both Fern Bosch (freshman) and Erin Cameron (sophomore) were selected for clarinet callbacks which means that the judges wanted to hear more from them as the worked to make their decisions. Congratulations!!

Finally, our biggest congrats from the day go to Erin Cameron for making All State Band!!! This is a tremendous honor for Erin and one that is well deserved. It is tremendously impressive that as only a sophomore Erin was selected as one of the best clarinetists in the entire state. Erin made 7th chair All State Band and will be performing in January at the MMEA State Music Convention. Way to make us proud, congratulations Erin!!!

Students can bring food to Ms. Meekma's learning lab (Key Clubbers will be doing learning lab pick ups on the 15th, 17th and 22nd) or to the table in the commons during lunch.

Key Club has organized a school-wide food drive to help out the increasing number of families who are in dire need of any help they can get. We will be donating all food items to The Kitchen, as it is the main food distributor and service provider in Southwest Missouri to those in need of assistance.

In just one month, The Kitchen serves 1,700 families (that's 4,000 individual people) and 1,300 of those individuals are children. And, the need for help is only growing: in the past month alone from September to November, they have had to serve 300 MORE families than usual. At the same time, they are so low on food items that they can only supply a family with 4 to 5 days of food and a family can only receive assistance ONCE in a 30 day period.

Crisis has hit home, and the situation will become more desperate before it gets better. Key Club has decided to make some fun out of our effort to relieve our neighbors of hardship.
We want to stir up the competitive drive in every Bulldog: it's a competition to see which group can raise the largest number of nonperishable food items, and EVERYONE is included.
The most charitable group wins bragging rights!

In order to make our efforts as valuable as possible to The Kitchen, each group has been assigned a food type:

Faculty and Staff- peanut butter and crackers
Middlers- canned vegetable items
Freshmen- canned fruit
Sophomores- pasta, rice
Juniors- soups and sauces
Seniors- meat items (canned tuna, etc.)

Respond to this email or talk to Mrs. Meekma (the Key Club sponsor) if you have any questions.
Please take the time to chat with your students about this. We will have a table at lunch and containers around the school designated for collection of donations.
We will also PROMINENTLY display the item counts of each group in the Commons so everyone will know who's in the lead at all times.
Thanks so much!

Congratulations, CHS Wrestlers, on your success in the Jay, Oklahoma Tournament!

You are graciously invited to Central High School’s 3rd Annual Poetry Out Loud competition. This year’s competition will be held at the Randy Bacon Studio and Art Gallery (Monarch Art Factory) 800 West College Street in Downtown Springfield. The performances will be from 5:00p.m. To 7:00 p.m.

Poetry Out Loud is where communication and art collide to create wonderful performances of poetry. Students choose poems from an anthology, memorize the words, and recite the poems with their personal flair. All of this is in front of a panel of judges. The complexity and skill of the performance are a sample of the criteria to be evaluated. These students work hard learning the art of speaking. As a teacher, I am trying to provide the contestants a receptive audience who will appreciate their hard work. Please try and attend our event Thursday evening December 11th. Everything is free and you will be entertained! If you have questions, please feel free to email Kyle Wallace or check out the Poetry Out Loud website:www.poetryoutloud.Org.

Ian Fuemmeler was interviewed by KY3 this morning. He will be discussing the many illustrations he has done for the CASA cards project throughout the majority of his school years. Follow the link below for the interview:
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/35531574.html

The hosts of our newspaper web page, the American Society of News Editors, pick stories every week to feature on a national edition or national high school newspaper.

Today the ASNE launched a new look for the site.

Elizabeth Callen's news story about college expenses from our October issue was featured on the national edition.
There are more than 600 high school newspapers who have their newspaper hosted on this site, so this is quite an achievement!

Here's the link:

http://hsj.apptheory.net/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/newspaperid/553/Default.aspx

Please congratulate Elizabeth on this honor!

HUGE NEWS! The Central Intelligence staff attended the annual National Scholastic Press Association and Journalism Education Association's annual national convention and contest this weekend. Over 5,000 students from 48 states and London competed with 381 schools entering Best of Show competitions in 3 categories. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE WAS NAMED THE #1 BROADCAST IN THE NATION WINNING THE OVERALL BEST IN SHOW AWARD!

We are so excited to bring this home to Missouri, Springfield and the Central Community.

But that's not all. With 2,191 students competing from across the country for national individual awards, the C.I. staff brought home 20 individual awards, more than any other individual school at the annual student journalism competition. Individual winners were:
1st in the nation: Broadcast Feature- Drew Sampson and Nicole Young
2nd in the nation: Broadcast Commentary- Andy Wolff
                                 Broadcast News- Felix Chang and Destiny Pettus
                                 Broadcast Package- MK Byrne and Will Pearson
                                 Broadcast Sports- Pazsley Looney and Halli Bruton
                                 In-Camera Feature- Brittany Donnellan and Nate Fairbank
                                Short Documentary- Kalee Burgess, Natalia Allen and Taylor Luttrell
                                Videography- Evan Melgren
3rd in the nation: Podcasting- Sarah Smith and Drew Mittman
                                 Broadcast Commercial- Jackie Moad and Lydia Berns
Other winners in writing contests included Mitchell Trafford for Review Writing and David Langdon for feature writing who were awarded Honorable Mentions.

This was a huge weekend for C.I. and Central High School. Please congratulate the staff as you see them.

Our boys swim team placed 12 of 68 this weekend at the MSHSAA State Swim meet. Albert Lloyd took 3rd in the 200 individual medley and 2nd in the 100 freestyle. Ian Fuemmeler took 15th in the 200 free and 11th in the 500 free. the 200 free relay took 8th and the 400 free relay 14th place. it was a great weekend and the boys are very pleased with their performance as well as i. This was the first time in history our boys swim team scored at the meet and brought home medals. Congratulations boys on a great season.

You are invited to see all four of Central's Art faculty's artwork as represented in the annual

"Teachers As Artists" exhibit at "The Front Porch" gallery,

located on South Street inbetween Walnut & McDaniel

( just south of the square next to Ernie Biggs)

during the month of November.

The show opens this Friday during the First Friday Art Walk

with all exhibiting artists on hand from 6:30-8:00.

Please be sure to stop by if your participating in the art walk this Friday and see Susan's, painting, Kevin's painting(*see attachment), Gary's Photograph and Greg's sculptures in the show.

Thanks!
Greg Benne

Congratulations to our CHS Band on their showing at All District Band auditions!

Nov. 5- Congratulations to the Central Band for their outstanding showing at All District Band auditions last night at Ozark High School. The Band had 21 students make one of the two ensembles! All District Honor Band students are Rachel Staudte, JR Robertson, Claire Donze, Erin Cameron, Fern Bosch, Amy Bunselmeyer, Samira Prince, Ben Huggins, Josh Windsor, Dylan Pelletier, Graham Wyly, Adam Melvin, Kathryn Turner and Taryn Ekins. All District Concert Band students are Tom Pesek, Karl Rovey, Zach Bever, Gerhardt Hinkle. Cameron Mills, and Andy Wolff. Paul Sponslor made one of only two Tenor Sax chairs from the entire district for Jazz Band. Honor Band students and the top two chairs from each Concert Band section qualify to audition for All State Band in December. Way to go Bulldogs!

10/27/08: This weekend the Central Intelligence staff competed in an intense competition involving 20 schools from the 4 state region. Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma are known to have some of the strongest media programs in the country. C.I. won FIRST PLACE SHOW in the 9-5 contest held at the camp. We had only eight hours to do an entire show from start to finish on the topic of "creating". These students did an amazing job, beating out ALL OTHER SCHOOLS in the competition.

Other winners this weekend included:
1st Place- Human Interest Story (Long Form)- "Haley's Story" (Nicole Young & Drew Sampson)
2nd Place- News Story- "Young Voter Involvement" (Felix Chang, Destiny Pettus)
3rd Place- Public Service Announcement- "Expression: Use it or Lose it" (Brittany Donellan, Sarah Smith, David Langdon"
Honorable Mention- Human Interest (Short Form)- "Japanese Fall Festival" (Will Pearson, Raleigh Corvero)
Honorable Mention- Anchoring (M.K. Byrne)

In November we will continue to compete, this time at a national level. In the meantime, please congratulate these students and our staff as you see them.

Students who did not order packages the first time photos were taken, can do so now.
Picture envelopes are available in the Attendance Office.

For questions about the pictures received, please call LifeTouch at 883-2332 or visit their web site at Lifetouch.com

The IBTheatre Arts seniors with the assistance of the Advanced Drama 3 actors will be presenting their Independent Project--Devised Performances for the public on Monday, October 20 at 7 p.m. in the CHS Auditorium.

As a part of their IBTA curriculum, each of the 8 seniors is responsible for creating an original performance piece from initial idea to final performance. In addition, the other Advanced Drama students have also been exploring the devising process and will present several of their workshop pieces.

Admission is free and the program should last approximately one hour. Following the performances, the students will conduct a brief talk back about the process for creating original performance pieces.

Do you need extra help? Take advantage of our free tutoring and get assistance from a CHS teacher from 3:00-4:00pm.

English Tutoring- Mondays Room 239
Math Tutoring- Wednesdays Room 347
Science Tutoring- Thursdays Room 306

There will be a spirit bus leaving for Ava Friday at 4:45 p.m. Cost is $3 to ride the bus plus admission to the game. Come and cheer on your fighting Bulldogs as they defeat the Ava Bears Friday night.

Hey everybody, pay attention to this announcement. Due to the volleyball game and soccer schedule change, Howl Night has been changed to October 16th. If you have already signed your club up for a space, you will receive verification soon. The chscabinet.com website is currently being repaired, but please continue to create usernames and passwords on the website. Please email laura@ransin.com if you have any questions

Once again the C.I. staff has brought home more NATIONAL honors for the Central High School community. Yesterday Central Intelligence received a 3rd place national award in broadcast news from the National Scholastic Press Association. Nick Balla and Breanna King (class of 2008) earned this honor with their piece on heavy backpacks and the damage they can cause. We were honored along with schools from Ohio, Michigan, Florida, California, Illinois and Hawaii. We are extremely proud of this honor and look forward to competing for more awards at this year's national NSPA convention in November.

Check us out on the NSPA national website:
http://nspa.studentpress.org/winners/bcstory08.html

The Homecoming Dance will be on Thursday October 2nd from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. The football game is Friday and the Queen will be crowned at the football game.

Attention students: if you are planning on taking someone to the homecoming dance who does not attend Central, you will need to pick up a permission slip from the attendance office and return it to Mr. Martin by Wednesday, October 1st. You will not be able to buy a ticket until your guest is approved

Attention students: if you are interested in joining Spanish club, please stop by room 227 to talk to Mrs. Amato.

Hey freshmen! Are you interested in running for a class office? You can pick up applications in room 249. The applications and speeches are due to room 249 on Sept. 12th.

Do you want to learn more about Hispanic culture and the Spanish language? Come join us on Thursday, September 4th in Mrs. Amato’s room, room 227, after school for the first meeting of the year!

Attention all runners: it’s not too late to join cross country. Practice is from 3:00-5:00 in the wrestling gym. Find Coach Lubinski if you have any questions.

SPEAR club and science club will hold its first meeting on Thursday, September 4th. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Are you interested in an all expense paid trip to Anaheim, California this summer? You could be spending part of your summer in Anaheim by earning the privilege of representing Central at the National FBLA Leadership Conference. Find out how by talking to Mrs. Ryan in room 210. Come by, pick up an application, and talk with this year’s FBLA Officers. Don’t pass up the opportunity to get involved!

The first meeting of the year for International club will be held Thursday, September 4th in room 223 at 3:00. Election for this years officers will be held. Everyone is welcome.

Art club will be meeting this Thursday, September 4th in room 201 in Mr. K’s art room after school until 4:00. Come be creative with art club this year.

Attention high school students interested in Model United Nations. There will be an informational meeting on Monday, September 8, from 3 to 4 in room 312. If you are unable to make it, see Mr. Wiley in room 312.

If you want to join the salsa & Merengue club, come to room 227 Thursday, September 4th at 3:00.

History club will have its first meeting after school on Thursday, September 25th in room 322. If you cannot attend, please talk to Mr. Elkins in room 322.

Central is now forming teams for the ALS Walk. Our goal is to form 12 teams. Please join the effort to find a cure. Get your club or class to form a team to walk on September 20th. See Mrs. Smith in room 102 for club packets or talk to Mrs. Teague.

Our battle to find a cure for ALS is progressing, but it certainly isn’t over. Please consider signing up for a team or forming one of your own at the Walk to Defeat ALS.

This link should take you directly to the walk site for our area. Mrs. Teague's team is called Haley’s Little Helpers…she would welcome anyone to join them if you are not affiliated with another team. We don’t think there is a limit or a minimum number for a team…the more the merrier. Our goal is to raise at least $75.00 per person who walks…but you are certainly welcome to raise more…there are prizes for the team who fundraises the most.

All of the money stays locally to help with local people with ALS, like our own Haley. For example, this week she was given an air mattress from the loan closet. In addition, the ALSA has provided Haley with an electric wheelchair and an eye-gaze computer to help her communicate.