Top Honors at PSPA Journalism Finals

Anita Zuberecz's winning illustration

On Friday March 4^th, three OJR students traveled to Penn State (University Park) to compete in the PSPA (Pennsylvania School Press Association) Student Journalism State Championship.  In October, six OJR students placed first at the regional competition, qualifying them for the State Championship, but only three were able to attend.  

Anita Zuberecz (12th) won the state illustration competition. Anita had to create an illustration based on a poem about Penn State. Congratulations to Anita!

Anita receives her award

 http://paschoolpress.org/3487/news/students-earn-top-honors-at-journalism-finals/

The Pennsylvania School Press Association Regional Student Journalism Competition was held on October 13^th.  Select members of the OJRHS Yearbook, The Gavel, and Video Production Club traveled to Temple University to compete. This was Owen J. Roberts' first year attending the competition which consisted of on-site competitions like yearbook spread design, newspaper story-writing, and broadcast script-writing, as well as carry-in competitions for photography and video.  

The six OJRHS students who advanced to the state-level competition on March 4^th in State College follows:

Nicole Amstutz- Yearbook Captions

Mandy McGuigan- Yearbook Spread Design

Anita Zuberecz- Literary Magazine Art

Mike Styer- Yearbook Feature Photo

Cole Whitelock- Yearbook Sports Photo

AJ Lauletta- Yearbook News Photo

#JROTC5K2016

NJROTC is hosting the JROTC 100^th Anniversary 5k at the high school on Saturday April 23^rd. Registration can be done online at www.RUNCCRS.COM.  Please come out and support your NJROTC unit. The Army will be there to make personalized dog tags for all registered runners or walkers. Hope to see you out there. Thank you for all of your support.

Leo's Help Ian's Boots

For the second year in a row the Middle School Leo Club joined the Coventry Lions Club in a joint project  at In Ian’s Boots.

Leo advisor Kira Rumpp (top, second from right) had several members of her club join half a dozen of Lions in a project at the newly relocated In Ian's Boots' Shoe Box.

Last month High School Leos helped move the contents from the old location to the new space, a small warehouse located in North Coventry on rt. 100.

The job the Leos and Lions had before them was to clean the warehouse shelving units and reorganize the existing shoes, boots and sneakers. This turned into quite a task as the warehouse is still being set up and other donations are waiting to be cleaned, separated and catalogued.

Before beginning the service of organizing the relocated footwear, the Leos used a large handcart (see top picture) to bring in the shoe supplies they had brought with them from their "New and Slightly Used Shoe Drive" they held prior to the service date. These shoes find new owners from all parts of the world. Read about In Ian’s Boots HERE.

EV Construction Progress

The East Vincent school building is really taking shape!
Each week photos are added to the construction photo galleries for the East Vincent Elementary School project. Keep an eye on the exciting progress at http://www.ojrsd.com/Page/6666

#Shout Out to the Sprout

Principal Oswald encourages Brussel tasting at East Coventry

See the Pottstown Mercury article
Check out the photo gallery from this week's Shout Out to the Sprout.

Students loved Balsamic Roasted Brussel Sprouts

West Vincent students were in the Brussel Sprout spirit

East Vincent 6th grade students encouraged younger brussel tasters

Principal McKillip greeted students as the school buses unloaded

Chef Rick and volunteers were amazed how students at North Coventry loved brussel sprouts

Owen J. Roberts elementary students learned to accept a vegetable who is often left out--left on the sidelines. Don't Bully the Brussel was the theme to Chef Visits at each of the Owen J. Roberts Elementary Schools this week. Chef Rick Wray pre-roasted brussel sprouts and cooked them with a splash of Balsamic Vinegar during lunches. One may be surprised to learn that, depending on the lunch, there was an 80-90% participation rate in the tasting. Many students begged for seconds. And thirds. At one lunch table of 20 students, 17 asked for seconds. 12 said it was the first time they had tried brussel sprouts; 17 said they would eat again. (And one student confessed that Chef Rick made them better than his mom.)
Go for the Greens is an annual celebration of good food and great fun encouraging kids to eat green plant based foods. In its 8th year, students have learned to love broccoli, peas, lettuce, kiwi, kale and event the once-bullied brussel sprout!

Team Dylan and Origami Inc.

East Coventry students rally for school mate Dylan Spriggs, who is fighting a rare disease

A group of sixth grade students at East Coventry Elementary call themselves Origami Inc. They have been using their skills and imagination to raise funds for a school mate--a kindergarten student diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Among their many fundraising efforts, the students made origami frogs which symbolize "a leap of faith" and have been selling them at the student store for the past few weeks.

Dylan Spriggs, a 5-year-old student at East Coventry Elementary, was diagnosed on Dec. 30, 2015 with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), an inoperable brain tumor. Students are very intent on fighting the fight alongside of their friend.

Origami frogs symbolize a leap of faith

Tonight at a major Dylan's Dino Bingo event, the students will be selling Hope Bags for $.50. Below is the Hope Bag description the students of Origami Inc wrote….

This is a “Hope Bag”. Each item represents a symbol of hope. The origami frog symbolizes a “leap of faith” and with each leap is strength. The Star Wars sticker symbolizes “reaching for the stars….the impossible” and always “sticking” to positive goals in life. The string bracelet symbolizes “a circle of hope” that can never be broken. The candy symbolizes that “life is sweet” when we work together as a team!! Thank you for supporting Team Dylan-Origami Inc.

Update on 3/20/16: Oragami Inc. raised $581.42 for the Spriggs Family during their spirit week!!