Second Edition, 3rd Quarter, 2004

2004 HJS Spelling Bee Championship
Congratulations to Morgan McClure (right) for winning the 2004 Harrison Junior School Spelling Bee.  The eighth grader correctly spelled “disheartened” to win the event.  Morgan will represent Harrison Junior School at The Cincinnati Post  Regional Spelling Bee, which will be held at the Museum Center in Union Terminal February 26, 2004 at 1 p.m.  Becky Kollstedt, last year’s winner, finished second.  Good job to all of the contestants, and good luck Morgan!

Washington DC Trip:

From April 21-24, 106 of our 8th grade students will be traveling to Washington DC for the 25th annual Washington DC trip.  The chaperones will be: (teachers:)  Shawn Sowders, Cindy Benson, Todd Elrod, and Becky Wilhelm (Parents): Patty Hoerst, Jeff Hotopp, and Laura Scrivner.
Students are scheduled for a special Capitol Building Tour with Congressman Chabot (or an aide if he is called out of town) that could include admittance onto the House Floor, the Holocaust Museum, the newly re-opened National Archives, the new World War II memorial where students will be laying a wreath in honor of our veterans, in addition to the other typical DC sites: Washington Monument, White House, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Pentagon, Ford's Theater/Petersen's House, Smithsonian Museums (National Archives, Air and Space, Natural History, American History), The Awakening, National Zoo, National Cathedral, Embassy Row, Arlington National Cemetery, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington House, Kennedy Gravesites, Mount Vernon, Alexandria, VA, Watergate, Union Station, The Naval Yard, and Kennedy Center, FDR, Iwo Jima, Jefferson, Korean, Lincoln,  and Vietnam Memorials.
 
It should be quite a trip! We will post the details and pictures from the trip in our final newspaper in May.

This years track team is coached by Miss Wilhelm, Mr. Albrinck, Mrs. Adams and Mr. Rettig. Last years' 7th grade boys were undefeated so they should be pretty good. The coaches are excited about having new runners, and throwers this year. Practice started on Monday, March 15th.  There are currently over 100 members on the team!

Ribbon Cutting at the new Junior School Cafeteria
On Thursday, December  18th the new cafeteria was officially opened by the Board of Education and by Junior School students and administration. Students began using the cafeteria when we returned from Winter Break on January 5th, 2004.

Mrs. Haas' Book Talk

Students from Mrs. Haas's 7th Grade Language Arts class participated in a book talk with other Harrison residents at the Harrison Public Library. After reading Hana's Suitcase, written by Karen Levine, the multi-generational discussion focused on the part the book plays in promoting harmony and peace rather than hatred because of a different ethnic, religious, or racial heritage. Promoted by The Center for Holocaust Humanity Education, students have been encouraged to read the internationally award-winning book that inspires people and brings them together from across cultures, generations, times, and places. The book is a true story about Hana, a young girl lost in the Holocaust, and the desire of others to promote understanding.

Harrison Jr. High Wrestling Invitational Team Results 

1. Elder

   259

2. Miamisburg

   202

3. Gray

   170

4. DeSales

   168

5. Loveland

   160

6. Amelia

   155

7. Harrison

   149

8. Mason

   131

9. Glen Este

   122

10. Sunman Dearborn

    84

11. Three Rivers

    82.5

12. Pleasant Run

    74.5

13. Finneytown

    34

14. Purcell

    24

15. Winton Woods

    15.5

16. Woodland

    14

10- Bagging Groceries
9- Babysitting
8- House sitting
7- Dog Walking
6- Pool Cleaning
5- Lawn Mowing
4- Washing Dishes
3- Caddying at a golf course
2- Washing cars

and #1- Sitting around doing nothing ... (Oh, that's right, you don't get paid for that! If you did most junior high students would be millionaires.)

2003-2004 Girls Basketball Results:

Top Ten Springtime Activities:
Nicole Grow, Mike Simpson, Justin Sturgill, Amber Smith, Carrie Seiter, Tina Sinclair, Tiffany Smith, Kelly Shields

10- Soccer

9- Baseball

8- Flying a kite

7- Planting flowers

6- Skating in the park

5- Bike riding in the park

4- Eating ice cream

3- Fishing

2- Walking the cat or iguana or just feeding the ducks

and #1- Falling in love with that special someone (for at least 2 days or maybe a week unless you change your mind sooner.)

MARCH

          1-5   Achievement Testing
          5      Jr. School Play
          18    Sixth Grade Parent Orientation - 7:00
          19    Third Quarter Ends
          19    Athletic Dance - 7:00 - 9:00
          20    Science Olympics
          26    Freestyle Group Pictures - 11-12
          31    Mini Inservice Day Dismiss - 1:30
          31    Art & Science Family Night - 6:30 -8:00pm

APRIL
          7       Honor Soc. Ind. - Activity Center - 7:00
          9-16  Spring Break
          19     School Reopens
          21-24 Washington D.C. Trip - 8th Graders
          26-30 Book Fair
          27-28 Diamond Oaks Tour - 8th Graders
          30      Midterms
MAY
          1  Track - Harrison Invitational
          4-7    6th Grade Tour of Jr. School
          11     Band Spring Concert - 7:30
          14-16 Band Trip Cedar Point
          15     Chorus Contest & Trip
          18     Chorus - Spring Concert - 7:30
                   Track - FAVC league meet AT Glen Este
          21     Honor Society Trip to Kings Island
          26     Band Banquet - 6:30 p.m.
          28     Awards Day/Olympic Day
          28     8th Grade Dinner/Dance
          31     Memorial Day - No School        

JUNE
          2-3   Exams - Early Dismissal - 1:30
          3      Last Day of classes for students
          4      Records Day for Teachers

2003-2004 Wrestling Results

I Have A Dream by Ashley Hightower (Assignment originally submitted to Mrs. Adams)

          I have a dream that we would feed the third world countries.  We spend millions of dollars on plastic containers, boxes, and bags for our food.  Also we feed Iraq when their dictator is being an idiot and terrorized America.  Then he went and hid, so we spent billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq so they have a better life with more food and then the third world countries have no food at all, and we could take a couple of hundred or even a couple of thousand dollars and buy the third world countries some food.         

          I mean look at Ethiopia, you can see basically every bone on everybody's body because they have no food to eat .  They also have no clothes except a couple of rags to barely cover them up.  They don't have any clean water.  Then the water that they do have is the polluted water from other countries.  Then they can't take any showers, wash there hands, or even keep cool when they are outside all day except for a couple of boxes that they have. Then we spend millions of dollars on the bottles for the bottled water that we buy, then we spend a lot on the water too.         

          Then we have soap and water that we waste and they don't even have soap and clean water to wash their hands, and because of that they get sick, then since they don't have any fat since they don't have any food they get sick and die.          

          Then like 50% of the population in Ethiopia has A.I.D.S.,  and we could have prevented that if we gave them the money for the medicine, or even give them the medicine itself to help prevent so many people from getting A.I.D.S..         

          Also then we can take the chance to help save innocent children and even adults' lives by adopting them and having them be sent over here so they could at least have a chance to have at least a half-way descent life.  Then the people who have that money, like millionaires, who have the chance to save so many innocent lives don't.  To me I think that is stupid because if I had a chance to save somebody's life I would do it.  I mean how would you like it if you  lived in a third word country like Ethiopia, would you like it if nobody would feed you, give you clean water, or even have you sent to America to have a different life.  You wouldn't have any of your game systems, your televisions, your house, your bed, your clothes, food, clean water, and you might not even have your parents.  How would you like that?

Dear Diary,
Today must have been the worst day in my life. Today my family got into the car and headed for the Funeral home, well most of family, all except one, and she was lying in the casket. My only sister "Salli" was 18 years old when she died on January 12, 2003. Exactly 17 days away from my birthday and 22 away from hers.
            We came into the funeral home, smelling of flowers and  death. Well I was last to come in. I was in my own little world, trying my best to not believe that this wasn’t real, it was all a joke for Salli to see how much everyone loved her. I heard my mom scream and fall into the arms of my brother. This wasn’t a joke this was the real thing. My sister was dead.
     I was clinging to my dad for a while. His tears were running down my face as well as my own, I looked around the empty room full of people who didn’t even know her, because her friends didn’t see the real  Salli, they saw her as grown but I  saw her as a sister, My sister. The sister  who was president of the Just Say No club two years in a row. She wasn’t supposed to die like this, not my sister.
      I was in the bathroom when I realized I had no one to fix my hair, or do my make-up, or make me look just like them. Not for sixth grade graduation, or the first day of seventh grade. Most importantly I couldn’t lean on her shoulder, I couldn’t see her, I couldn’t feel her crawl next to me in bed. Then I cried by myself and thought. Then I smelled her sweet perfume.

Editors Note: Within the same year this student also lost her father to a drug-related death.

I HAVE A DREAM.........By "Sandy"

I have a dream, a dream that some day, some day soon, people will realize, the harm of drugs. That people will someday know, that they destroy lives, not only lives, but destroy families as well. Drugs cause pain, they do no good, unless they are used the right way. Today as I stand here this very moment....people all over the world are using these drugs, for personal use, for no good reason. Maybe to be cool. So I stand up here today, telling those people that they will look really cool, dressed in the clothes there family picked out for them to wear on the day that tears fall into their caskets, yea, you do drugs to be cool, but you won't be so cool, when your dead.

I have a dream, that one day we won't have to worry about drugs being wrongly used. We won't have to worry about losing our family to them. I have a dream today, that know one will have to go through what my family and I went to. The grief, the guilt, the hatred of those people.....those people who use drugs, the ones who wont get hurt, the ones that will never learn. I stand up here today, doing a favor to all those  people who lost their lives to drugs, lost their family to drugs, and lost hope in the world.

As I stand up here today, I remember my sister and my dad, I love them very much. For those people out there, who choose not to listen, I have one thing to say to those kind of people... "I wish you luck". What happened to me was real. It really happened, I cant change it, It wasn’t just a nightmare....It was real. Drugs Do Kill. I could try my best, to go along with the World today, but I couldn’t tell you, I couldn’t look you into the eye, and say drugs don’t kill. They do kill. They killed my sister, they killed my dad, but most importantly they killed the people who knew them, their family, and their friends.

I have a dream, that as I stand up here today, that I don’t just get through to one person, but I get through to all. This day, illegal use of drugs is one of the biggest problems we face today in America. I have a dream, that every person in this classroom, in this city, in this world, can one day see, that drugs kill. That they are taking your life, as they did my sisters, and my dads. Drugs do kill, and today, right now.... I HAVE A DREAM..

I Have a Dream by Michael Brock (Assignment originally submitted to Mrs. Adams)

I have a dream that one day that America will be a drug free land. Too many people these days smoke and do drugs. Those people are endangering there lives and the people all around them. In the future, the way that I see it, anybody who wants to do drugs should have to move out of the country and kill their self there. I have a dream that one day athletes will not take steroids and such drugs and take the risk of getting thrown out of the league. If they are pro then somebody obviously thought that they are good without drugs. I have a dream that in the future all of the drug and tobacco companies will go bankrupt.

            I have a dream that one day no one will fight to resolve a conflict. If we are on the verge of war instead of fighting we should sign a peace treaty. Or if that doesn’t work out no one can say no to money. If kids at school are mad and are going to fight then the teachers should put a restraining order on the kids to make sure that they don’t come within 50 feet of each other. I have a dream that in the future people will realize that fighting dose not resolve anything. All fighting does is give someone a bloody nose or worse. I have a dream that in the future people will understand how stupid fighting is.

            I have a dream that in the future people will recycle and not pollute. Everyone knows how bad pollution is and what it is doing to the world. In the future I hope that people will recycle. If everyone could help stop pollution just a little bit even that could help. In the future I hope that farmers will not spray there crops with as much pesticides. If everyone could pitch in so help handle all of these topics then the whole world could be a better place.

      I Have a Dream  by Morgan Schwegler (Assignment originally submitted to Mrs. Adams)

    My dream today is to all the people that do drugs or drink and drive.
   I have a dream that drugs are banned and that police buckle down on drinking and driving.
        Last April 14,2003 my family and I were sitting outside eating super and then my moms cell phone rang and she ran to her car and left. My uncle (Bobby Chaney) was in a bad truck crash and my cousin was with him and they didn't think he was going to make it. My mom called us and said he was dead.
   The man that had hit them was on drugs and a drunk driver. My uncle was okay, he had some cuts and a broken ankle. Those things can be replaced but my cousin (Jarrod Morgan Chaney) can't be replaced. We were all at my grandpas house and my whole family was there and when we were there we had a bad time. We were all sitting there saying we wanted to be in that trunk because we can't go through this.
    My family went to court and watched the driver get 2 years probation and 30 days in jail.
      I have a dream! That there should be no more drugs and police should buckle down on drinking and driving. 

Political Commentary by Sarah Striker, 8th Grade writer and artist.

As most people have, I have been trying to keep up with the current election coming up this fall. Unfortunately, if you count not keeping up with the upcoming elections a fortune, for me I have been so swamped with resubmitting math and L.A. papers, opinion papers, and book reports to even care about what’s happening right now.  And besides that fact I’ve been emotional disturbed by Howard Dean’s 2^nd place/ waking of the dead/ dying dramatically speech, I haven’t really wanted to get that involved. From what I’ve seen the Democrats eat themselves alive by continually mudslinging against each other just to be in the #1 spot for the Democratic line. All the while the Republicans watch and laugh on how they just keep defiling themselves to the American people. The Republicans aren’t much better. I don’t think people would appreciate some of things I would say. But I would say someone who can’t even eat a pretzel. . . well you know the rest.
All I have to say is that I hope some idiot doesn’t go into office but that’s probably not going to happen.

Well, that is Sarah's opinion. What is yours?

____________________________________________________________________________

Please make the most of the 4th Quarter of school here at Harrison Junior School.
Have a safe Spring Break and work hard to achieve success as school will quickly wind to an end.

For complete Harrison Junior School news visit www.southwestschools.org and click on "Harrison Junior School" at the top.