Buzzin’ Around the World

All students at Asa Clark participated in the preliminary rounds of the National Geography Bee in early December. The National Geography Bee is a nationwide event that provides students the opportunity to increase their knowledge about the world through a fun and competitive manner at three different levels, including the school, state, and national level. Sixteen students advanced to the school’s final round for the opportunity to take a qualifying test to compete at the state level.  Each student continued to demonstrate their knowledge about the world and how it works. It was a series of events that included hard thinking, as well as, many laughs!

Pictured from left to right: Neelay (2nd place), Tyler (1st place), and Noah (3rd place).  (posted by Ms. Bartoszewski)

Stuffin’ the Bus with Homemade Fleece Blankets

Ms. Flynn and her resource students focused on helping others as they created four beautiful tie-blankets for the “Stuff the Bus” community fundraiser. Think how warm and appreciative the recipients of these blankets will be as the Wisconsin weather turns chilly! Want to know how to create a tie-blanket, visit with Ms. Flynn or one of her resource students. (posted by Ms. KBD)

Honoring Ashlyn

If you had an opportunity to watch our Pirate Dancers perform this fall, you may have noticed their wonderful new uniforms. Through the many heart-felt donations that were received by the Flegel family and Asa Clark Middle School, new uniforms were purchased  to honor their friend and classmate Ashlyn Flegel. These uniforms were specially designed with a beautiful, blue-embroidered heart at the end of one sleeve.

Lead by Coach Miranda Kozlik, the Pirate Dancers devoted practice time to writing thank yous and sharing a picture of the new uniforms with all individuals who donated. Special thank you to Mandy Faller from EmbroidMe for generously donating the embroidered hearts. “I've absolutely loved having the opportunity to coach these girls. They are all such sweet and hard working young ladies with a lot of talent!” - Coach Miranda Kozlik

In addition to purchasing new Pirate Dancers uniforms, donations have also been used to support the dance team as they head to competition on Saturday, December 10 in Watertown. (posted by Ms. KBD

Yearbook Field Trip

On Tuesday, October 25th, the Yearbook class attended a field trip at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee hosted by Josten's Yearbook Company. Students participated in various workshops including Yearbook Basics, Design Trends, Photography and Photo Selection, and much more. More than 12 different schools from Wisconsin also participated in the workshop. Overall students learned many new skills and generated great ideas to incorporate into our school's yearbook. (posted by Ms. Gruepink)

Preparing for Competition

Asa Clark Middle School decided to transition from the FIRST LEGO League to the VEX Robotics Competition this year. This transition provides our middle school students an opportunity to apply STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) principles to a more rigorous competition that mirrors working in a related industry. Robotics has thirty students all progressing through the VEX Robotics Competition. Students are applying gear ratios, mechanisms, and stability through their builds. They are then using a C-based programming language to both autonomously drive their robot and maneuver their chassis through user-controlled tasks. Ultimately, all four teams are preparing for their first competition on November 12 at Xavier Middle School in Appleton. Advisors for Robotics Club are Scott Roehl and Ron Johnson. (posted by Ms. KBD)

"I decided to join robotics because I want to be an Engineer, and I like that we have the opportunity 
to practice and learn these skills in the Robotics Club." - Evan R. 

Cross Country Team - Catch 'em if you can!

This year our cross country teams are being coached by Abby Bartz, Christina Callies, and Cathy Walz. You still have one opportunity to watch these young athletes challenge themselves to achieve their personal best time. Their last meet is the Waukesha Invite (Minooka Park)  - Wednesday, October 12 at 4:25 p.m. Go Pirates! (posted by Ms. KBD)

"Just Breathe" by Izzy Y.

Authors Note:  This short poem is my story about running cross country at Grant Park, where lake Michigan is right beside the course in the cool woods. This is one of my favorite courses, because it is so picturesque and the lake’s spray keeps you refreshed.

Left, right, left, right
My feet fall softly in front of each other
In, out, in, out
I breathe deeply through my nose

Leaves drift around me
As dirt loosens under my tired feet
In the distance I can hear waves
And Lake Michigan’s wind sweeps up it’s spray onto my face

Nature outlines my path
But it is beginning to blur as I grow weary
Mostly green with hints of red and yellow
Is the bleary picture that I see

I beg to stop, but I won’t
Controlled stubbornness is the only thing that drives me forward
Aside from my aching feet
I must keep on moving

I see a girl ahead
Our athletic shirts matchup
I pick up the pace
And she does too, pitter pat pitter pat

It’s me, I exhale
And she begins to slow down
Together we run through the trees
As we here cheers ringing in the outskirts of the woods

I continue running
And I see a mass of people ahead of me
I go a little faster now
The terrain is beginning level and only about 100 meters in front of me is the finish line

Faster and faster I run
Rapidly picking up speed as I zoom past the crowds
Closer and closer the finish comes
And I fly to the end and with nothing left...

I breathe
Just breathe.

(posted by Mrs. Whelan) 

Undefeated!

Coached by Sarah Coburn and Emily Pinzl, our 7th and 8th grade girls' basketball teams are undefeated in conference play. Be sure to catch the girls in action during one of their upcoming games. Go Pirates!
(posted by Ms. KBD)

Living Her Passion

Allie is an 8th grader who is taking charge of her passion for singing. In addition to singing the National Anthem at a volleyball qualifier in Chicago this past spring, Allie had the opportunity to perform at a recent Pewaukee Pirate JV football game. She hopes to one day be a voice coach so that she can share her passion for music and inspire others to pursue their dreams. (posted by Ms. KBD)

March Madness

by Eric T.

The tournament has started

Teams have been battling to the end

To see who has came to play

And who was just for pretend

When the game's start

Each team will have a chance

To get the team's goal

To advance in the big dance

One by one teams will fall

Only the strong will survive

And in the end

Only one will be alive

The favorites will squander 

Upsets will be on the verge

When the road comes to an end

New stars will emerge

The mascots will dance 

The players will sweat

But it’s all worth it

For a chance to cut down the net

There emerges the Cinderella stories

Fighting with all the strength they can muster

For a moment of glory 

That’s why they call them bracket busters   

  

When the tournament's over

You will see happiness and sadness

But that's the reason why

They call it March Madness

(posted by Mrs. Whelan)

Grateful

Definition of Grateful - (adjective) feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness; thankful.

Over the last few weeks, the ACMS Student Council has been spending time thinking about how they can show how grateful they are for all of the work that gets put into having our school run. They decided that they wanted to show their appreciation for the administrators, administrative assistants, the kitchen staff, and the custodial staff. The Student Council broke into groups and came up with a ways to show their appreciation.

(posted by Mrs. Giese and Student Council)

Volleyball Coaches Trivia

Introducing our 7th and 8th grade volleyball coaches:
Scott Roehl, Mark Baker, and Karen Mendez

A. Which coach taught and coached volleyball in Lisbon, Portugal and had the girls participate in a big tournament in Madrid, Spain?

B. Which coach does a “50 States Challenge” in the summer to see if he can find a license plate from each state and actually found all 50 states plus the District of Columbia last summer? Additionally, this coach was a nationals participant in powerlifting for two years in high school.

C. Which coach once jumped off a 35’ cliff and landed in a lake and took a luge ride down an Olympic course? Also, this coach played on the state championship volleyball team as a senior in high school.


The first 7th grader and first 8th grader to email Ms. KBD the correct answers will win a pair of pirate socks! (Posted by Ms. KBD)

Fraland Campbell - A Familiar Face at ACMS

“I started in Pewaukee after graduating from U W Whitewater in 1957. I taught 8th grade. The high school and middle school were in the same building so I was given a chance to coach high school football and basketball. I went to grad school and got my degree in counseling. I became the middle school guidance counselor in 1969 when the new high school was built. Because of the split into two buildings I had to give up coaching high school. I then became the middle school AD. I started to do scoring and timing for high school basketball games in 1960 and continued at the new high school. Started to do timing for high school football in 1969 when the new school was built with a football field with bleachers and a scoreboard. Before that games were played at the Village park where spectators walked the sideline to watch games and refs kept time on the field with a stop watch. The first few years at high school had to keep score from a card table on the sideline because there was no press box. The middle school and high school merged into the same building again in 1984 and I continued scoring. I retired from my counseling job In 1994 but have kept on timing. The high school track was built in 1970 and I started to help timing for those events. I have always loved playing and attending sporting events. I can remember as a pre teen making a score sheet for Marquette & Wisconsin basketball so that I could score those games as I listened to them on the radio (no tv in those days) and then comparing my scoring with the newspaper report the next day. I've had grandchildren at Pewaukee since I retired so I got to know kids from their classes that kept me interested in Pewaukee games. Having been an AD for many years I knew how difficult it was to get helpers for games so I have kept myself available. I really enjoy seeing kids in middle school and again in high school as they perform at that level. I also get a kick out of seeing children of former students follow their parents footsteps. I just think sports participation is such a rewarding school experience and enhances the whole educational process.” - Posted by Mrs. KBD