2007-08 CCPS Points of Pride

Earlier this fall, students from Miss Stocktill’s classes at Floyd T. Binns Middle School entered the Creative Communications Poetry Contest for young poets. There were more than 10,000 entries from across the nation, and only 900 poems were selected for publication. Twenty-seven students from FTBMS were selected for publication. Their poetry will be featured in a book called A Celebration of Young Poets, which is an anthology depicting the views and concerns of modern day life. Congratulations to the following soon-to-be-published authors: Carly Berkebile, Lauren Brewer, Chelsea Colvin, Brandy Conaster, Gregory Ford, Edgar Gaeta, Dylan Glenny, Jasamine Gordon, Daniel Grotz, Kaitlyn Jenkins, Melani Jorge, Elena Kidwell, Karie Kovacs, Charlotte Lewis, Alliyah Morton, Amy Quinonez, Joze Zunig Ramirez, Annie Retenour, Katherine Sasu-Twumasi, Kylie Rae Shope, Logan Shurina, Katherine Sublett, Nathan Swarens, Allyah Thompson, Jamarius Wallace and Molly Winstead.

The Culpeper Middle School FBLA Club on March 4 won the “Germanna Achievement Award”.  Only nine schools in the entire region received this award and Culpeper Middle School FBLA Chapter # 8517 was one of these schools. The project was a Club Project and required all members to participate in various activities in order to be considered for the award. The areas of participation included the following: Community Service, Membership, Education,and Involvement. Our Club Members and Officers are as follows: Riley Moore, President; Savannah Ward, Vice President; Ashlee Hawkins, Secretary; Blaine Lafin, Asst. Secretary; Tiara Lacy, Reporter; Justin Dodson; Alex Stotler; Dartagnan Dwyer and Daniel Counts. Tiffany Reed was elected the FBLA Germanna Region Historian.  Her duties for this office include coordinating the local chapter historians, taking pictures and collecting materials for regional meetings, organizing displays and finding speakers and workshop presenters for regional conferences. Joseph Rutherford is the CMS FBLA Advisor.

Two Culpeper Teams will head to the State DI tournament after their outstanding performances at the regional tournament held March 1. Congratulations to the teams from Emerald Hill Elementary School (1st place, "Obstacles, Of Course!") and Farmington Elementary (2nd place, "Hit or Myth") and all of the Culpeper teams who participated in the regional tourney. Your creativity and enthusiasm make us proud!

Swimmer Jake Maloy finished the season with a 3rd place finish in the 100-yard backstroke at the Group AAA State Swim Meet! Jake also placed 8th in the state in the 50-yard freestyle race and achieved the notable designation of All-American Time swimming the 100-yard backstroke at regionals.

CCHS senior Mike Soiland represented Culpeper in the Group AAA State Wrestling Tournament after placing 4th at the Northwest Region Wrestling Tournament, and placing 1st at the Cedar Run District Wrestling Tournament. He holds the CCHS all-time wrestling career record with 142 wins.

Emerald Hill Elementary School and Farmington Elementary School were honored with Competence to Excellency Awards under the state's Index of Performance. In order to do so, a school must exceed the state's accreditation standards and meet requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act for two consecutive years.

On Feb. 9, 58 students from Culpeper participated in the District 13 Elementary Chorus at Monticello High School in Charlottesville. They were directed by Jerrilyn McDanel of Harrisonburg and accompanied by Kathy Pellegreen. They were an outstanding choir and did a fabulous job. Every elementary school in Culpeper was represented and their teachers are very proud of them.

Culpeper County High School's MCJROTC Drill Team again won the Northern Region American Legion Drill Championship and now stands to advance to the American Legion State Championships in March. The CCHS Drill Team is the two-time defending State Champion. At regionals, the team placed first overall; it also placed first in the categories of armed regulation, commanded by Zach Kieter, armed exhibition, commanded by Alexis Gomez, and inspection, commanded by Wilson Minter. The students also placed second in color guard, commanded by Zach Kieter. CCPS congratulates the students of the MCJROTC program for their continued pursuit of excellence, as well as their instructors for this distinguished accomplishment. In addition to their competition wins, a recent inspection summary from the Marine Corps stated in part, “This is the best school I have observed, bar none. In my opinion, this may be the best school in MCJROTC.”

Sixth grader Kate Bridges (Floyd T. Binns Middle School) correctly spelled the words "academic" and "caribou" to win the CCPS Spelling Bee and will represent our school division at the regional competition March 8 in Fredericksburg. Way to go, Kate! We're proud of your success!

Congratulations to the following high school students for selection by audition to the prestigious American Choral Director’s Association Southern Division High School Honors Choir: Kyle Masson, Ashleigh Thompson, John Flemming, and Theodore Deal.

Congratulations to the following students who auditioned and were selected to the 2008 Virginia Middle School Honor Choir: (from Floyd T. Binns Middle School) Bria Wiest, Tiffany Yowell, Elena Zanella, (from Culpeper Middle School) Christine Gamache, Emily Dietz, Jocelyn Rathbone and Tabatha Compton. These talented vocalists will perform in Harrisonburg on April 24-26 under the direction of Philip Silvey, professor at the University of Maryland.

In the January 2008 study entitled "No Guarantees" released by the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, Culpeper County