MANSFIELD, CT
06268
SPECIAL
POINTS OF
INTEREST:
MMS Times
MMS Students
Connect with
V O L U M E
Afghan
Orphanage
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I S S U E
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N O V E M B E R
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MMS Students Connect With Afghan Orphanage
by raising
money.
On Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009, MMS 7th graders
Finally,
Coliform
Bacteria is out
camps. The children here wore loose, baggy clothes and sad
had two guest speakers visit from the Afghan Child Edu-
faces, unlike the children in the orphanage. The food looked like
cation and Care Organization (AFCECO), which raises
a small slice of bread with a little water. One picture had a child
money and creates orphanages in Afghanistan. These
looking out from the edge of camp, which seemed to be sur-
Halloween
speakers were Andeisha Farid, who is an Afghanistan
rounded by either barbed wire or electric fence. The tents the
party was a
citizen, and Ian Pounds, who visited Afghanistan for five
children lived in were small and cramped, with hardly any living
HUGE
success!!
months to help with the orphanage.
space. If it were me, I would much rather live in the orphanage
We will miss
think of a “hard knock life,” like in Annie, right? Not at
refugee camps, and how it is very hard for them there. He also
this orphanage! Andeisha began the speech by talking
compared them to the orphanages, which are so much nicer.
of our school!
Our
When people think of orphanages, they often
Mrs. Scruggs
so much!
about the happy and hopeful atmosphere in the orphan-
than in a refugee camp. After that he told the students about the
Our school is currently helping to raise money for the
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE:
age. In Afghanistan, the women have to cover their
orphanages. We raised $1,000 at the Halloween party on Friday,
heads and children run to and from school, and never be
November 6th, and will raise more and more money whenever
Afghan
Visitors
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outside if they can help it. Inside the orphanage, though,
we can. If you hear of anything that is supporting AFCECO, we
there are courtyards, and the children can go outside to
at the newspaper urge you to participate.♦
Coliform
Bacteria
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play with much less worry than the average person in
~ Ellen W.
Halloween
Party
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Mrs. Scruggs
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German
Exchange
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Entrepreneurial
Skills
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Afghanistan. The orphanage is a safe place, partially due
to the fact that there are two guards at each orphanage
– one for young boys and girls, one for older boys, and
one for older girls. There is also a set of “parents” at
each orphanage, so it feels more like a home. Not so
hard, now, is it?
Then Ian, who had taught photography at the orphanage to five students, spoke. He didn’t really talk
much, but rather showed us the pictures his students
had taken. He first showed the many pictures of the
Comic
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orphanage. All of the pictures with people in them
showed smiles, and other pictures showed beautiful
Veterans
Day
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here had good-fitting, comfortable-looking clothes.
Horoscopes
Horoscopes
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6
Our
Staff
Our Staff
flowers in the front and in the courtyards. The children
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When there was food involved, it was in large quantities
and quite delicious looking. Some of the pictures showed
the children in their rooms, which were spacious and
had two bunk-beds each.
The other pictures showed the refugee
Andeisha
Andeisha
Farid
Farid
andand
IanIan
Pounds
Pounds
speak
speak
to MMS
to
7th MMS
grade7th
students
gradeon
students
Thursday
on Thursday,
September 24,
2009.
September 24, 2009.
P A G E
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This is what our school’s
water fountain looked like
when it was covered because we couldn’t drink it.
“Now I know what
you’re thinking:
Waste in our
water? Gross!”
Coliform Bacteria
On Sunday, September 20th, our principal Mr.
Cryan sent a notice to our parents that there was a problem
with our water. He informed
everyone that we had bacteria
in our water and that we
wouldn’t be able to drink the
fountain water for awhile. So
what exactly was in our water
anyway? It’s called coliform
bacteria.
Coliform is a bacteria
that is normally found in waste.
Somehow, a very small amount
of it got into our water. Now I
know what you’re thinking:
Waste in our water? Gross! But
there was a very, very small
amount that got in, and it wasn’t really the waste that got
into the water, it was the bacteria.
This affected our
school in many ways. For one
thing, our cafeteria. The cafeteria employees use water
every day as they cook and
wash vegetables and fruits.
So how did the cafeteria
workers wash vegetables and
fruits and cook foods when
the tap water wasn’t available? According to our Assistant Principal Mrs. Morell,
the cafeteria employees
had to, “… wash all fruits
and vegetables with bottled
water, which is a day-to-day
difficulty for them.” She also
said that the cafeteria employees needed to “…cook
with bottled water.” This
may or may not have been
necessary. The heat of the
cooking might have been hot
enough to kill the bacteria,
but just to be safe, the cafeteria employees used bottled
water during that time period.
Our school took
every attempt necessary to
get rid of this bacteria problem. They treated it with
chlorine, flushed the pipes,
retested the water, and
made progress. They just needed
a little more time than originally
expected to be sure we received
good test results. Until then, we
had to use the bottled water at
the dispensers.
We have been told that
the district had taken three
tests. Two came back positive
and indicated that we still had
coliform in our system. The third
was taken on October 21, and
we found out on October 28 that
we had no more coliform in our
pipes. On Thursday, October 29,
the water fountains were back
up and running. “We will continue to monitor coliform levels
regularly throughout the year,”
Mr. Cryan wrote in an email to
MMS staff and parents. We are
very excited to have this problem solved, and we are finally
back to regular fountains.
Not bottles and cups. ♦
~ Beth C.
Halloween Party
MMS
TIMES
The Student Council’s
huge Halloween party was an
enormous success. The fun event
was complete with Guitar Hero,
Dance Dance Revolution (DDR),
food, music, dodge ball and its
own Haunted House, a spooky
building made from the portables
with ghosts, witches, mummies,
vampires, screaming figures, and
complicated math problems. The
party was after school, 2:45-5:00,
on Friday, November 6th and tickets cost $3.00 or $2.00 with a
canned good. Permission slips
were handed out in homerooms,
and tickets were sold the week of
November 2nd. All the money the
Student Council made from the
Halloween party will be donated
to an orphanage in Kabul,
Afghanistan. (The MMS
Student Council donated
money to this orphanage
two years ago to help them
build a library.) Altogether,
they raised $1,000 and onethird of the 5th and 7th
grades and more than onehalf of the 6th grade attended. Thanks to all who
came to the Halloween
party on November 6th for
helping these children’s
lives. And stay tuned for the
news of the school’s 40th
birthday party coming from
the Student Council in the
spring. ♦
~ Owen E.
A group of MMS students play
DDR at the school Halloween
party.
V O L U M E
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I S S U E
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P A G E
Mrs. Scruggs Moves To Southeast
Mrs. Scruggs taught at MMS for a few years, and
before that she had taught at different schools. Mrs.
Scruggs recently moved to a new school, Southeast Elementary, where she teaches second grade. I
had a chance to interview her and got these results:
Q: What do you miss the most about MMS?
A: I miss seeing my former students and fellow
teachers the most! However, with my son now in
the sixth grade, I do get by now and then and see
people.
Q: What do you like the best about Southeast?
A: Again, I love the kids and the other teachers I
work with at Southeast. I had not realized how
much I missed being with second graders and believe it or not, teaching math!
Q: Do you prefer teaching 2nd or 6th grade?
A: Wow, that's a tough one. I like both ages for
different reasons. I do miss the books we read
together in 6th grade.
Q: Who’s better behaved? Last year’s 6th graders or
this year’s 2nd graders? (We won’t be offended.)
A: Who behaves better? That depends on the day
you ask me! Second graders generally do not follow
German
directions as well, though. Yet another reason to
miss you all at MMS!
Q: If you had a choice, would you stay at Southeast with 2nd graders, come back to MMS, or go
teach at a different school? (Goodwin, Vinton,
etc)
A: If I had a choice I would probably stay at
Southeast where I am. I enjoy being just a parent
at Goodwin and MMS!
Q: What new and exciting things are you looking
forward to? (Fun in Your Own Backyard, etc.)
A: The Enrichment Clusters sound like a lot of
fun!
Q: Are you excited to have one class?
A: I do like having only one class a lot. It's a joy
as a teacher to see learning and that's easier
when you only have 14 kids instead of five classes
of 20!
Q: Do you look forward to teaching new subjects? (Science, Math, etc.)
A: Yes, I do enjoy teaching everything
again. However, 2nd grade math is a lot easier
than 6th grade math! I never was very confident
Facebook. “I know some kids who are in high
school and they still exchange email with their
students,” Mrs. Andrews said.
Another reason I think it is worthwhile is
Exchange
German Exchange is one of the school’s oldest traditions, but is it worth the amount of
effort that must be used to house and entertain
the German students? I think it is. Despite the
fact that I, a home host, constantly had to entertain a German guest, I believe that the German exchange is very important for many reasons like the friendships, the learning, and the
exchange of culture.
This is an important program because, in
Mrs. Andrews’ words, “The kids in this program form everlasting friendships that, I believe,
they will keep forever.” I know from my own
and my friends’ experiences that even after the
German students leave, the students still keep
email contact and contact on websites like
for the learning that is done. There are three levels
of learning that occur in German Exchange, as far
as I can see. There is the obvious learning and improvement of foreign language from the student
who is in the foreign country. Also there is the
with decimals, but don't tell Ms. Dunnack
or Ms. Hart that...
So, in closing, Mrs. Scruggs was a great
teacher whom we will miss a lot here at
MMS, but hopefully we will see her
sometime! ♦
~ Beth C.
Mrs. Scruggs in her new room
at Southeast
German students but by exchanging German and
American, cultures as well. For all of these reasons and many more, I feel that the German
Exchange is a program that truly meets, passes,
and far exceeds its own worthiness. This explains its long extended life across the entire
course of both schools’ lives.
~ Chris B.
obvious learning of that country’s history.
I also think there is a third level of learning that is not so obvious. This level of learning is
what American culture or German culture is
learned when the student gets the chance to live
temporarily in a new country. All the things that
the students learn are nowhere near what they
would learn from a book, because they get the
experience to live that life and not only learn about
it. Also you can never really learn what a chillycheese-dog is like until you try it!
This German exchange program creates
everlasting friendships, teaches students things
there are just no way to learn from a textbook, and
truly lives up to its name, not only by exchanging
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A group of MMS students take the
German students for an outing on the
Brooklyn Bridge in NYC.
P A G E
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“Young
entrepreneurs
need to be
realistic; no
business will
succeed in a
month.”
-Danny Briere
Entrepreneurs
Have you ever wanted to be a billionaire?
Entrepreneurs -- businessmen and women who
work on their own -- are all around us. Some
give up after the first month; others go on to
be the legends we know today as Bill Gates,
Larry Page, and Sergey Brin.
In 2009 entrepreneurs are all around
us as they try to change the world, and maybe
make a little money in the process. Mansfield,
Connecticut, is no exception. People like
Danny Briere (Founder and CEO of Telechoice
and Mblast), Jean Phillips (an attorney in a
Hartford law firm), Ralph Phillips (expert
accountant), and Jojo Phillips (a filmmaker,
producer, and CEO of Jojo Orientations), are
keeping the business spirit alive. However, it’s
not an easy path to glory. There are many rules
and suggestions a young person or
entrepreneur must follow to be successful.
The world of business is a harsh one
and includes many challenges to face as they
hope to cash in that million dollar paycheck.
“Entrepreneurs must remember, no matter
what, that not every one will like their ideas,”
says Jojo Phillips. Entrepreneurs, in
Danny Briere’s words, “...just have to
keep going no matter what problems
they face.” These are only a few
suggestions out of the lake of them,
but even a few can save you.
To be a successful
entrepreneur you will face many
problems, especially if you’re young.
Even though Jojo Phillips believes, “All
entrepreneurs, no matter what their
age, deserve respect.” His mother
agrees: “Young entrepreneurs should
be mentored and encouraged to
continue to be young entrepreneurs.”
Danny Briere states, “Young
entrepreneurs need to be realistic; no
business will succeed in a month.”
Entrepreneurs face many
challenges. One is, in Jojo’s words,
“Learning to manage profit.” Another
challenge, in Danny’s words, is “…to
constantly be making money and
constantly making your deadlines, and
you have to have a different product
than everyone else.”
There are also some small
things entrepreneurs can do to be
successful. You can take Jean Phillips’
advice: “Keep your eye on the ball and
remember what you define as success
and your steps to get there. Do not be
greedy, and be nice,” (as suggested in
The Power of Nice). You can also follow
Danny Briere’s advice and “…talk to
potential customers, Make sure you
have enough money, and make sure you
have support from family or friends.”
No matter who you follow their advice
is vital.
Entrepreneurs are among the
leading designers and producers of the
products that make our lives easier and
better, not to mention a large lifeline of
the country’s economy. Without them
we may have a hard life ahead of us.
~ Chris B.
Swine Flu
Beth C.
MMS
TIMES
P A G E
Veterans Day
5
Veterans Day is a
holiday to honor the men and
women who have served in the
United States armed services. It
is celebrated on November 11,
the same day the Armistice was
signed in 1918, which ended the
fighting in World War I.
World War 1 took
place between July 28, 1914, and
November 11, 1918.
It ended on the eleventh hour,
of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month. Every November
eleventh, there is a ceremony
MMS
TIMES
held at Arlington national Cemetery. At 11 AM, a guard with
soldiers from every part of the
military services gives honor to
the dead soldiers at the Tomb of
the Unknown Soldier. Parades,
military exhibits, ceremonies and
tributes to war heroes take
place through the day.
veterans in Mansfield alone. All
over town, veterans sat outside
stores, giving away white poppy
flowers for a one dollar donation. All of the money went to
support veterans, some of
whose families are dead or gone
and who have trouble supporting themselves.
From Mansfield, it
would be hard to get to Arlington National Cemetery. But, you
can honor the veterans in many
other ways. There are many war
~ Lisa W.
VOLUME
1,
ISSUE
1
P A G E
Horoscopes
Aries: March 21-April 19 ~ You will find your hidden talent today!
Taurus: April 20-May 20 ~ Stay on your toes. Trust no one.
Gemini: May 21-June 20 ~ Be careful what you say to people; it will come back to bite you.
Cancer: June 21-July22 ~ People will make your wishes come true!
Leo: July 23-August 22 ~ You will lose a friend today; it is not going to be one who is close to you, though.
Virgo: August 23-September 22 ~ This is not a good day for you; something bad will happen. It may be something small, but it will
affect you in a big way.
Libra: September 23-October 22 ~ Today, you will overcome a fear that has been bothering you for years.
Scorpio: October 23-November 21 ~ Your enemies will soon see the good in you.
Sagittarius: November 22-December 21 ~ Meditating will help you calm down.
Capricorn: December 22- January 19 ~ You will be moody and irritable.
Aquarius: January 20-February 18 ~ You will get emotionally hurt today.
Pisces: February 19-March 20 ~ You will get closer to a cousin you never see.
~ Erin M. & Hunter M.
(From Left To Right)
Ellen W., Beth C., Lisa W., Chris B.
(From Left To Right)
Erin M. & Hunter M.
With Our Adult Helpers:
Mrs. Hodgson
Ms. McCormick
Ms. Young
Thank you!
Owen E.
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