Students were working hard in Related Arts today. Ask your 6th grader what game they were playing in PE or what is being created in Art class.
Please consider submitting your photos for our Yearbook! The link to post photos is located under News on our website.
Plating activity in Mr. Overstreet's Discover Your Future Class.
Congratulations!
1ST PLACE: ROHAN WENTZEL
Library of Choices
South Middle
7th Grade, Heidi Zwiener
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — Four eighth-grade students at South Middle School will be taking their experiment to new heights after winning the NASA TechRise Student Challenge, a national competition that selected 60 teams out of more than 700 applicants.
Students who register for the competition must submit a proposal for an experiment that will be carried out aboard a high-altitude balloon launched by NASA. The balloon has space for dozens of payloads and the teams that win are awarded $1,500 to build out their designed experiment.
The payloads however are quite small—about the size of a loaf of bread—so staying within the confines of the payload requirements is key.
Adamantia Sierros, Leyna Munroe, Fern Haggerty-Bever and Luci Moore at South were all selected by NASA for their plan to test how altitude affects motor efficiency, heat generation and power use, and were the only team selected from West Virginia.“It’s kind of like a puzzle,” Haggerty-Bever said when describing the groups’ design process. “You have to fit it into there, try to make sure everything’s good, make sure everything fits, because you also have guidelines, you can’t go over a certain weight limit, you can’t go over a certain voltage, you can’t go over a certain amp limit, space limit, all that kind of stuff.”
The four said they were surprised to be picked since they were from West Virginia, but were nonetheless very excited when they found out they had been selected. A few of them already had some prior experience with robotics and knew they wanted to incorporate that knowledge into their design.
The group specifically designed its experiment around the high altitude of the balloon, which was likely a key factor in their selection for the challenge. Danielle McCulloch, the program executive for NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program, told 12 News in an interview that environmental changes and being conscious about the test environment is exactly the kind of creativity teams are evaluated on during the selection process.“Those types of proposals rise to the top in terms of student teams that are really looking to understand how the space environment might impact the work that they’re looking to do,” McCulloch said. “Understanding microelectronics, understanding the performance of motors that can factor into robotics. All of those things factor into larger missions someday that [the students] might be involved in.”
Throughout the process, students also meet with NASA engineers who act as mentors and advisors on how they can best build their project. Although the students have yet to begin assembling their experiment, the NASA balloon is not scheduled to launch until the summer of 2025.
March 17 and 18 are days of instruction!
****Update: ****Monongalia County Schools will now have an ARCTIC ACADEMY DAY today, Wednesday, February 12.
Due to winter weather conditions, Monongalia County Schools will operate on a 2-hour delay today, Wednesday, February 12, 2025.
Monongalia County Schools Kindergarten Registration:
Enrolling Now for 2025-2026!
Click here to register: bit.ly/Kstudentinfo
Children must be 5-years-old by June 30th to register.
For additional information go to the MCS web page https://www.boe.mono.k12.wv.us/page/kindergarten-enrollment
Congratulations to our Aerial Drone Teams!
All of our teams have qualified and will be representing West Virginia in the Northeast United States Dragonfly Championship in May!
Mrs. Beck's Science Class.
🍎 If your child is feeling unwell, watch for symptoms like fever, cough, and lethargy. Click the link to view MCS' protocol for when your child has the flu and/or a fever over 100°F.
https://5il.co/36yof
🌟🌟Visit South Middle School with Superintendent Campbell as he features two stellar students in this month's Student Success Story. https://tinyurl.com/35usjvd7
Governor's STEM Institute Information
🎉Congratulations Monongalia County Schools' Math Field Day winners and participants! Students were amazing competitors who showed academic prowess and terrific sportsmanship! Many will advance to the Regional Math Field Day.
View the results at this link: https://5il.co/36ref
8th graders were learning about the structure of DNA by making their own DNA models. Mrs. Rowan loves to pull art into her classroom activities.
Today the K-12 Speakers Bureau brought Nick Malone to South Middle.
🍎Important Update: February 10 & 17, 2025 are Now Regular Instructional Days for students. Additional weather-related make-up dates will be announced soon.
When you bring in your spare change for our Penny Delays, it helps support our PBIS Rewards. Here are two examples of our 2nd Quarter Rewards.
Report cards have been sent home!
