Two students, Brad DeLeone and Linnea Phillips, placed in three categories at the Pennsylvania Middle School Computer Fair

(more project links and photos coming soon!)

Congratulations!



Mrs. Shaffer and Mrs. Sullivan are proud to announce that the students participating in yesterday’s Chester County Middle School Computer Fair had an excellent day! Seven students traveled to the Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU) to compete amongst the best of the best computer projects in all of Chester County. We would like to acknowledge:

Bradley DeLeone – Desktop Publishing – “Killing Mr. Griffen”



Sean Speers – Desktop Publishing – “The Untold Story of Sean Speers”



Bradley DeLeone – Digital Movie – “Aladdin and the 8th Grade Fall Play”



Tyler Freeze and Jake Stambaugh – Logo Design – “2009 PA Computer Fair”



Allison Henry and Jordan Snowden – Multimedia –

“Average American Middle School Girl”



Tyler Frees – Multimedia – “The D.B. Cooper Mystery”



Jordan Snowden – Webpage – “Hoppin’ 50’s”



Linnea Phillips and Amanda Kurtz – Webpage – “How to be a Hippie”



This day long event welcomed over sixty students from seven local middle schools. The Pennsylvania Middle School Computer Fair is a student event that highlights computer technology integration within the middle school classroom and recognizes student achievement. Students are able to unleash their creativity, convey information more dynamically, apply state standards and collaborate to create innovative projects. There are competition prizes associated with the computer fair. At the regional level yesterday, individual medals were awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. All participating receive a certificate to honor their efforts.



We are proud to announce that two of our students were placeholders in three different categories:

Linnea Phillips took 2nd Place in the Webpage category for her project titled “How to be a Hippie”

Bradley DeLeone took 2nd Place in the Desktop Publishing category for his adaptation of the book “Killing Mr. Griffen”

Bradley DeLeone also took 3rd Place in the Digital Movie category for his film titled “Aladdin and the 8th Grade Fall Play”



This event was designed to be fun as well as competitive and allowed the students the opportunity to participate in two internet scavenger hunts as well as a virtual field trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Twenty students (including our own Allison Henry and Jordan Snowden) participated in the creation of a news bite of the Middle School Computer Fair for the Student Update show. Students created the interview questions, served as news reporters and worked behind the camera to capture footage that will later be edited for an upcoming segment of the Student Update show on http://ccitv/cciu.org



Please join us in congratulating all of these students on a job well done and especially Bradley and Linnea for their project awards. We hope that all students will pursue this contest next year in high school and we look forward to working with everyone on next year’s fair here.

Hey you…yeah, you! I heard you call that kid stupid. And that other kid who’s rushing down the hall with a bright red face, I heard you call him ugly. I hear you every time. I hear you when you demean someone’s intelligence and I hear you when you degrade someone’s personality. I hear everything. And you know what else? I see you too. I see you point and laugh at the girl who doesn’t quite live up to your standards. I saw that time when you tripped the boy who doesn’t speak English very well. But what about you? Do you hear yourself doing these things? Do you see your victim’s self-esteem dropping? Do you feel anything? Remorse? Regret? Anything?
Just because you don’t classify yourself as a bully does not mean that your peers have the same opinion of you. Bullying is anything from name-calling or mental abuse to actual physical abuse. Just simply calling someone stupid after they get a bad grade on a test is bullying. I mean, how else would you classify that? Peer motivation?...Not exactly. I can only imagine that what you’re feeling is some kind of vain, self-appreciating high when you degrade someone, or you are so incredibly insecure that the only way you can feel better about yourself is by making someone else feel worse about themselves. If either is the case: get a grip! What if your life took a turn for the worse and all of a sudden people were teasing you about your grades, your appearance, your ethnicity, your sexual orientation, or your personality? I can vouch that you would definitely not appreciate that kind of humiliation.
You need to be put in place for two reasons; first, because you bully your peers, second, because of why you bully your peers. Teasing someone about his/her appearance is completely unacceptable. Not everyone can be athletic or thin or “really ridiculously good-looking” or however you see yourself; I think we’ve already established that you have a high opinion of yourself. So why do you need to mortify someone who might have a bit of a weight problem, or whose skin hasn’t cleared up, or who can’t afford to wear Abercrombie and Hollister? Is that really what matters to you, how everyone else looks or what they’re wearing? And don’t even get me started on teasing people about their race or ethnicity! Now don’t think I’m on some kind of ethnic-pride trip when I say that uttering any sort of racial or ethnic slurs to anyone whether they be Caucasian, Christian, African, Muslim, Asian, Buddhist, Catholic, Jewish, whatever they are, is more than unacceptable. It is deplorable! Forever in my mind will you be the person who has no respect for other cultures, because that is what you are showing me by demeaning someone who is of a different race or ethnicity than you.
I don’t think you know exactly what you’re doing to your peers when you bully them. Do you have any idea what humiliation can do to one’s self-esteem? It obliterates it; crushes any hopes of making friends or being more sociable or succeeding because they think they’re unworthy. And do you want to know why? Because of you. You are making it impossible for them to have faith in themselves. The kids you bully are so hurt by what you say, and I can guarantee that they’re a lot more upset than they’re willing to show. And by you perpetually harassing them, they think that they’ll always be known as “the kid who has no friends” or “the overweight kid” or “the kid that no one likes.” Put yourself in that situation and I guarantee you’ll have little to no self-esteem and think yourself unworthy of any positive attention.
So I hope as you’re reading this you’re thinking about everything you’ve done in the past. It’s never too late, or too difficult, to apologize. Simply saying “I’m sorry” could potentially gain you forgiveness from a number of people. I also hope that this has influenced you to stop. Stop making fun of people, they don’t like it and if you were in their position you wouldn’t either!
And for anyone who has ever been bullied or has seen bullying take place, speak up! There are so many people willing to rectify the situation. Teachers, principals, guidance counselors don’t want to see bullying take place so they’re the first people you should go to! And don’t listen to what any bully says. You are cool, you are fun, you are smart, you are attractive, you are you! No one can change who you are, so be proud of yourself no matter what people say.

Posted by
Nadia Elboubkri

The Phoenix and the Phoenixville Area School District have teamed up to bring you The Purple Press, a blog created by the students of the Phoenixville Area School District!

The idea for the blog was born after Alex Miller, a tenth-grade student at the Phoenixville Area High School, penned an article for the high school newspaper about the Vale Rio Diner, which was posted to The Phoenix’s “Phoenix Files” blog. The article was so well received that people began asking to read more articles not just from Alex, who was affectionately dubbed “Mr. Miller” by blog commentators, but from the students in the Phoenixville Area School District!

In response, Matt Byrd, Online Editor for The Phoenix, created The Purple Press, a blog dedicated to publicizing the work of Phoenixville students. The blog was given the name The Purple Press after the high school newspaper for which Alex Miller writes.

Phoenixville Area High School teacher John Zittel, the faculty advisor for The Purple Press, is very pleased to see the students have another outlet in which to publicize their work.

PASD would like to thank The Phoenix and Matt Byrd for their efforts. We would also like to congratulate Mr. Zittel, the staff of The Purple Press, Alex Miller and all our students.

Posted by
Karin Williams