March-April 2015 Issue
Dawn Harmon talks
about her Super Bowl
experience while
Star Hill students
attend historic event at
Public Archives
What’s Inside…
Page 2 Superintendent’s Message
Page 3 CRHS Receives $32K Samsung Award
Page 4 So You Think You Can Spell?
Page 5 CRHS Space Bound?
Page 6 Dawn Harmon’s Trip to Super Bowl
Page 7 Charlton “Shakes It Off” With Jeff Davis
Page 8 Education Secretary Visits Star Hill
Have you seen our new website?
http://www.cr.k12.org
Nearly 5000 pictures are now online of
the 2014-2015 CR school year at:
http://www.cr.k12.de.us
Welcome to Rider Country!
What’s Happening?
Board Meetings (7:00 p.m.)
March 17th: - Postlethwait Middle School
April 21st: - Star Hill Elementary School
May 19th: - Charlton School
Special Events:
March 27th - In Service - Schools Closed
April 3rd through April 10th - Spring Break
April 13th through April 17th: Kindergarten
Registration
We Are On
Facebook!
Go to your Facebook account and LIKE “Caesar
Rodney School District”
for the latest information
in ALL of your Rider
schools! Thank you for
your support of CR!
Caesar Rodney School District, 7 Front Street, Wyoming, DE 19934
Message From the Superintendent
that will be remembered for a long time. We are
all looking forward to seeing his Super Bowl
ring in the near future!
As we enter the second half of the 2014-2015 school
year, it is a wonderful opportunity to reflect back on
some individual and team accomplishments. We are extremely proud to
announce that we
have had 85 students designated
by the College
Board as Advanced Placement (AP) Scholars. These students have scored
a three or higher Kevin Fitzgerald, Ed.D., Superintendent
in multiple Advanced Placement courses. In an effort to help our students to be college and career ready, our high school
offers twenty-two Advanced Placement courses and two
Dual Enrollment courses. Again, congratulations to
these students.
This month, Star Hill Elementary hosted the
district’s “Spelling Bee” which was as close as
the Super Bowl! I want to congratulate the winners at each grade including Fred Fifer III Middle School for sweeping the competition in
grades 6-8.
Other awards and accolades go out to three of our engineering students: Jeremiah Collins, David Friess Jr. and
Tyranae Haupt who rebuilt a “Power Wheels” jeep into
useable mode of transportation for our special needs
population at the John S. Charlton School. As a result of
their work, the high school was awarded a prize of
$32,000 in technology from Samsung! They will now
compete nationally for a chance at $125,000 in hardware
and software.
At the Delaware
Public Archives
in Dover, Mrs.
Jeani Prezler and
Mrs. Sally
Pangle’s fourth
grade class from
Star Hill Elementary School were
invited to participate in a ceremony with Governor
Jack Markell and
other state dignitaries to proclaim
February as
African American
History Month.
Also at the high school, our student athletes dominated
the swimming competition with the boys swim team
capturing first place in the Henlopen Conference and the
girls team placing third. Coach Maureen VanOrman was
selected as the Henlopen Conference Female Swim
Coach of the Year. At the State indoor track championship, Jeanette Bendolph blew away the competition to
become the 800 meter State Champion.
Fifer Middle School Boys Basketball team deserves a
shout out for winning the Grotto’s Championship Bracket of the Capital Classic as does the Postlethwait cheerleaders for once again winning the State championship!
Speaking of athletes, the district is extremely proud of
Duron Harmon, CRHS Class of 2009 for his performance in the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl XLIX.
Whether you are a Patriot’s fan or not, it was truly exciting to see one of our own former students competing on
the world stage in front of millions of viewers in a game
-continued next column-
And finally, I want to congratulate Ruth Fuchs,
McIlvaine’s librarian, for becoming the first-ever
recipient of the K-8 STEM Educator of the Year
award. Mrs. Fuchs is an amazing, creative and
energetic librarian who developed multi-media
stations for the 500+ kindergarten students at
McIlvaine which helped peak the children’s interest and understanding in basic science skills.
Governor Markell and Star Hill
Elementary Class Kick Off
African American History Month
Governor Jack Markell with
Tyroniece Hampton-Jones
Prior to the
reading, students
recited the Pledge
of Allegiance.
Star Hill student
Tyroniece Hampton-Jones then
sang the National
Anthem in front of a standing room only crowd
of invited guests, dignitaries and staff.
Great job, Star Hill students!
Samsung Awards $32,000
in Technology to CRHS
What do you get when you ask three engineering students at Caesar Rodney High School to convert a mobile toy into a special needs vehicle? Answer: A Fisher Price Power Wheels Jeep modified to provide transportation for students at the John S. Charlton School.
L to R: Deb Rudis, Charlton School; CRHS seniors Jeremiah
Collins, David Friess Jr. and Tyranae Haupt; CRHS teacher
Chris Harris; Chris Hurd, Charlton School.
Seniors Jeremiah Collins, David Friess Jr. and
Tyranae Haupt took on the challenge by removing the
pedal on the floor and replaced it with a switch on the
steering wheel. They also removed the shifter and replaced it with switches on the dashboard.
Wiring was rerouted,
the windshield removed for better visibility and pool noodles were wrapped
around the jeep’s roll
bar to further absorb any bumps to the vehicle.
When finished, the jeep was delivered to Charlton
where special needs students who have limited ability
with their arms and legs were able to try it out. Physical therapist Deb Rudis said the children who have
tried the jeep have truly enjoyed the idea of traveling
down the halls of Charlton with the modified vehicle.
The project was entered into the “Samsung Solve For
Tomorrow” contest in which the seniors were declared
the state winner, receiving more than $30,000 in technology for CRHS. If the project wins at the national
level, the school will receive a $120,000 technology
grant. Good luck to these talented students.
Caesar Rodney High School Students
Earn Advanced Placement Honors
The College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP)
Program has announced that Caesar Rodney
High School has 85 students who have earned
recognition as AP Scholars, AP Scholars with
Honors and AP Scholars with Distinction during
the 2013-2014
school year. In
the class of
2012-2013,
CRHS had 66
students who
earned AP
recognition. In
2011-2012, 39
students earned AP Scholar recognition.
The AP Scholar recognition is granted to students who receive scores of 3 or higher on three
or more AP examinations. The AP Scholar with
Honor recognition is granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP
Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or
more of these exams. An AP Scholar with Distinction is given to students who receive a score
of at least 3.50 on all AP exams taken, and scores
of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.
This year, CRHS also had five National AP
Scholars, who all graduated in June. In order to
receive this honor, a student must have an average score of 4.00 on all AP exams taken while
scoring a 4 or higher on eight or more exams.
MECC Librarian Receives Honor
Ruth Fuchs, librarian for the J. Ralph McIlvaine
Early Childhood Center, was recently recognized
by the Caesar Rodney
School Board for being
selected by the Delaware Science Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics Council
(STEM) as the first
recipient of the K-8 STEM Educator of the Year
award. Mrs. Fuchs created interactive multimedia stations which fostered an understanding
and interest in basic science skills to more than
500 kindergarten students at McIlvaine. Congratulations to Mrs. Fuchs for a job well done!
High School Athlete Signs
UD Letter of Intent
Flanked by her mother Sandi and varsity soccer
head coach Darrell Gravatt, Caesar Rodney High
So You Think
You Can Spell?
At the annual District Spelling Bee held recently at
Star Hill Elementary School, students in grades 4-8
from across the Caesar Rodney School District
competed against each other for the right to be
declared grade-level champions.
In grade 4, Brandon Young from W. Reily Brown
Elementary School spelled m-a-t-t-r-e-s-s correctly to
become champion.
School senior Alexa Faulmino signs a National
Letter of Intent to play soccer at the University of
Delaware in the fall.
100 Days Celebrated
An annual milestone was once again reached
recently as our schools celebrated 100 days of
academic instruction. This
achievement is
highlighted annually around
the district with
many of our
elementary
In grade 5,
Meredith Sehm
from George
Welch Elementary
School spelled
s-y-n-o-n-y-m to
capture the trophy
for her school.
Front Row: Brandon Young and
Fred Fifer III
Meredith Seihm. Back Row: Joshua
Middle School did
Taing, Nadia Wilder and Samuel
a sweep in grades Collins with their champion trophies.
6-8: Joshua Taing
took grade 6 by spelling the tough v-e-n-o-m-o-u-s
while the grade 7 trophy went to Nadia Wilder for
spelling s-o-v-e-r-e-i-g-n correctly.
Completing the eighth grade and a sweep of the
middle school grades by Fifer Middle School was
Samuel Collins who took the crown by spelling
f-u-s-e-l-a-g-e.
Congratulations to each of the champions as well as
all of the participants in this year's spelling bee.
Freshman Academy Students of the Month
school children and staff dressing up as 100 yearolds! With less than 70 days of school remaining
(as of print time), it’s time to start planning all
those graduations just around the corner!
Five students
attending the
Freshman
Academy at
Caesar Rodney
High School
have been
chosen by both
their teachers
and peers as
L to R: Gabriella Gruhler, Brianna
“Students of
Brooks, Kayla Callaway, Jon Butto and
Alexa Castro.
the Month” for
January 2015.
Each student was given gift certificates to local merchants for a job well done.
CRHS Space Bound?
The Caesar Rodney High School (CRHS)
Science Department is hoping to send an experiment into space aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and is looking to the community to help
fund this project. However, flying into space is not
cheap; $30,000 in local funding is needed for this
project.
Community funds would provide CRHS with a
mini-laboratory on the ISS to support its winning
experiment, all required NASA launch services,
and the capability to return the capsule safely to
Earth for data harvesting and analysis.
Last August, CRHS submitted a proposal to the
Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP)
to be the first high school in Delaware to send a
student designed science experiment to the International Space Station (ISS). The SSEP project
allows students an opportunity to engage in “real
world science” by designing an experiment
proposal that meets NASA’s safety and research
procedure protocols in order to be a viable experiment on the ISS.
CRHS’s winning proposal was “The Breakdown
of Hydrogen Peroxide in Microgravity.” If funding
is successful, the CRHS experiment will be aboard
Mission 7 to the International Space Station in
spring, 2015 from Cape Canaveral AFB, Florida.
“Participating in SSEP will ultimately provide CR
students with our own, very real space program,”
said CRHS principal Dr. Sherry Kijowski. “It is our
hope to raise the funds to put the payload experiment in space and send our winning students to
Cape Canaveral Air Force Base to witness the
launch firsthand.”
Local businesses and community members who
are willing to donate funds to this worthy cause
should use the following link to the website:
http://www.gofundme.com/ma7k2o
FFA Students Attend QUEST
Leadership Conference
CRHS FFA members recently attended the Delaware FFA QUEST Leadership Conference held
at Dover High School. QUEST focuses on getting
FFA members from across the state together to
practice leadership skills while also preparing them
to take on FFA officer position in the near future or
be a committee chair holder.
Members were engaged in numerous activities including interacting with FFA members from other
schools, as well as giving them numerous opportunities to implement teamwork and leadership skills.
When asked if they would consider applying for
an FFA officer position during the next school year,
one student replied she would since she wants to
become as involved as possible in FFA. Said
Emma Statham, “I want to stay involved in FFA
and this seems like the next step.” Another student,
Sydney Simmons, responded, “I am contemplating
it. It will help me become a better leader.” Keely
Cubbage proclaimed, “Yes! I want to travel, be
active in my chapter and be a big part of leading our
future members.” By partaking in QUEST, our FFA
students are more prepared to step up to an active
role in the Caesar Rodney FFA chapter.
The Caesar Rodney Facebook Page was created in June of 2013. In that
short time since, we now have more than 2700 daily followers who have
“Liked” us to receive all of the positive programs, events and accomplishments going on in our district. From posting videos (“Shake It Off” 82,000 people reached), supporting a former CRHS football player in the
Super Bowl (62,000 people reached) to announcing school closings and
delays (4200 people reached in one hour), we will continue to highlight
the amazing accomplishment of our district’s children and staff. Thank
you for your continued support of the Caesar Rodney School District!
Dawn Harmon Reflects on
Super Bowl Trip...and her son!
Dawn Harmon is one of the few who can say
she went to a Super Bowl. It is another thing to
say that she watched her son Duron PLAY in the
Super Bowl...and watch him WIN!
Having taught the past 16 years in the Caesar
Rodney School District teaching middle school
math and English Language Arts at both Fred
to become someone. It takes talent, hard work, a
sense of humor and a strong personality.”
Dawn said the last minutes of the game were incredibly emotional. “I was sitting next to five Patriots mothers and we all began to pray that we needed
a miracle. And it happened…Butler caught the ball!”
Dawn concluded her interview by saying, “I am so
excited that my son got to play in the game. After the
game was over, we all went down on the field looking for him, but he found us first. He ran to us and I
immediately saw the excitement in his face that he
got to live his dream of playing in and winning a
Super Bowl. I was so excited to see him so happy.”
Added Dawn, “ It was so much fun for all of us because we got to live a dream.”
Teacher Recognized By VFW
As Teacher of the Year
Dawn Harmon is interviewed by WBOC-TV after
returning from her trip to the Super Bowl.
Fifer Middle and now Postlethwait Middle, Dawn
reflected on the incredible journey of going to
Phoenix and watching her son perform on a stage
in front of millions of fans around the world.
W.B. Simpson’s Music teacher, Windsor Allen, was
recently recognized by the Delaware Veterans of
Foreign Wars (VFW) as “Teacher-the-Year” for her
work in promoting patriotism & citizenship. The
award was in recognition for her work on the
school’s Veterans Day Assembly. Ever humbled,
When asked to describe her recent experience,
Dawn stated, “It has been an emotional ride, a
blessing and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to
not only go to the Super Bowl but to see your son
play in it as well.” Added Dawn, “The most
amazing part is that my son, from Magnolia, Delaware, a tiny little town in a small state, can at the
age of 24 say that he went to the Super Bowl, he
played in the Super Bowl and he won!”
When asked about her son’s reaction to the past
season, she stated, “This is the most amazing
thing to have happened in his life. This Super
Bowl will go down in the history books and I
know my son understands that. He is a CR graduate, born and raised in Delaware, and the CR
community is excited for him and for us.”
Dawn added, “It is a great feeling to know the
community supports children that are doing positive things. Duron may be my son, but he is also
the community’s son. If you work hard and believe in what you are doing you can leave here
-continued next column-
Teacher Windsor Allen provides another engaging music
lesson to students at Simpson Elementary.
Windsor said in her acceptance speech, “I cannot
thank you enough for this honor, when it is, in fact,
all of us at W.B. Simpson who wanted to honor and
thank you for your service to our country.” Said
Simpson’s principal, Michael Kijowski, “Listening
to Windsor’s acceptance speech not only made me
reflect how fortunate we are to live in America, but
how blessed I am to work with such a multitude of
talented and passionate educators.” Added Mr. Kijowski, “Thank you for choosing to use your talents
and skills at W.B. Simpson Elementary.”
STAR HILL STUDENT CREATES
“SCRATCH” WEBSITE GAME
Emma Coleman, a
fifth grade student
at Star Hill
Elementary School,
recently entered an
engineering computer coding
contest sponsored
by the University of
Delaware.
Charlton “Shakes It Off” at
PBS Celebration
The John S. Charlton School was recently
visited by Delaware’s law enforcement
agencies to talk to students about public
safety
including
"Stranger
Danger."
Star Hill's Achievement Liaison Teacher
Barbara Miklus and grade 5 teacher Chris
Warga watch Emma navigate the web.
Emma, a student
with the Gifted Enrichment Education Program (GEEP) at Star Hill, recently
participated with her fellow classmates and students from
across the country in an "Hour of Code" program which
allowed more than 70 million students to enter code into an
animated program.
Discovering that UD was holding a coding contest, Emma
was able to create two animated games on a free website
called "Scratch." As a result, Emma took second place with
one of her games and earned a $500 prize for her efforts.
“Pennies For Patients” Raises Funds
For Cancer Patients
At the McIlvaine Early Childhood Center (MECC), a three
week-long campaign to raise pennies for patients suffering
from lymphoma and leukemia culminated with more than
twenty students tossing
whipped cream pies
into the faces of their
beloved teachers.
More than 500 MECC
students took part in the
“Pennies for Patients”
campaign which supports the Delaware and McIlvaine teacher Lindsey Fitzgerald
Maryland chapter for
takes one for the team
the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The money raised by the students helps aid
patients needing services for their health, as well as education and research in finding cures for these diseases.
MECC students understood that one penny can make a
difference! Students brought home individual boxes to collect pennies from family and friends. Some of those boxes
returned with more than 3700 pennies in them. Together,
MECC raised $1394.87!!! Thank you, McIlvaine students!
At Charlton’s monthly Positive
Behavior
Support
(PBS) celebration,
members of
the Delaware
State Police,
Probation
and Parole,
New Castle
County
Dover Police Officer Jeff Davis
Police and
holds a thank you card from the
Dover Police students of the Charlton School
stopped by
to talk with and entertain students during
Charlton's monthly Positive Behavior Support (PBS) program.
Members of the law enforcement community and
staff from the Charlton School following the
monthly PBS Celebration.
Following the briefing, Dover Police Officer Jeff Davis, whose "Shake It Off" video
went viral, did his own version of Taylor
Swift's hit song and proceeded to "Shake It
Off" to the children, staff and parents of
Charlton. Thank you for your support!
Secretary Murphy Visits
Star Hill Elementary
Frear’s Third Grade Mini-Society
Highlights Entrepreneurship
Delaware’s Secretary of Education Mark Murphy
recently stopped by Star Hill Elementary for a
random visit to chat with students and staff.
At Allen Frear Elementary School, a third grade
“Mini-Society” was created where all third grade students were required to create and sell a product tied
into the economic units they were studying. Second
grade students were then invited into the classrooms
to purchase the goods or services created.
School ambassadors Peyton LeBlanc and
AmberDae Krzminski showed Secretary Murphy
around Star
Hill, visiting
classrooms
and explaining various
school programs and
projects.
During his
brief tour, Secretary Murphy talked with staff members, observed instruction and student interaction
during a
geography
lesson, and
watched Star
Hill students
glide through
a class computer assignment.
Go Riders!
More than $500 was raised by the “Mini Society”
which will be used for future field trips.
Frear’s Yearbook Club, comprised of ten fourth
grade students, were on hand to take photos and
document the event such as the photos above.
Guess Who Showed Up At
The McIlvaine ECC
Ronald
McDonald
recently
stopped by
McIlvaine
ECC to talk to
the children
about being
safe while
playing and to
also help
celebrate the
100th day of
school.
The CR Report is a publication created exclusively for the community of the Caesar Rodney School District.
For questions or comments, please contact Ron Gough, Community Relations Specialist for the Caesar
Rodney School District at (302) 698-4828 or via email at: [email protected].