“Middle School Minutes”

Welcome to another edition of Middle School Minutes! December is in full swing here at North Clay Middle School.

For the holidays this year, North Clay’s Student Council put together a food drive for all three grade levels. Administration also thought it would be fun to turn it into a competition for everyone to enjoy. All three grades had one goal: to bring at least 350 items for the drive. At the end of the week, whoever brought the most items won electronics at lunch. The tables piled up with more food everyday; the three grade levels met their goal of 350 items. Sixth grade came away victorious with 783 items. Second place was the eighth grade with a total of 556 items. Last but not least, the seventh grade had 443 items. This made a grand total of nearly 2,000 items donated to the Clay County Food Pantry. Student Council Sponsor Mrs. Keyes stated, “ The Thanksgiving Food Drive is a fun, competitive way for the students to get involved in community outreach as well as teach them the importance of giving.” Thank you to all who donated!

Christmas time is ramping up for North Clay’s Band. This December 5th the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades will be having a Christmas concert. The 6th grade will be performing at 6:30 ; 7th will be at 7:00 ; 8th will play at 7:30 ; and lastly the Honor band will play, as soon as the 8th grade is finished. All 230 band members will be attending the concert. A new after school program has also begun. On Mondays, students are allowed to come to the program for extra help and practice. On Tuesday and Thursdays, students play in the honor band and work on their own music. On Wednesday and Fridays, there is a jazz band practice. There are sixty-five students that participate in the after-school program. That is an additional seven hours that students get to tune up their skills!

This week’s teacher focus is more of a tribute! Mr. True is currently one of the seventh grade math teachers. He has been teaching for over 42 years. He started out at North Montgomery for two years; he moved to Van Buren for a year. However, North Clay has been his home for the past thirty-nine years. Mr. True has taught everything from PE to Computer Literacy. His true love has been in the mathematics department. Besides being a teacher, his other role has been that of a coach. He has been on the sidelines for Boys’ Freshman thru Varsity Basketball, Girls’ Freshman thru varsity Basketball, and Middle School Cross Country. In 2019, he received the honor of becoming a Golden Apple Winner! Mr. True became a teacher because he thought it was important for kids to be able to learn and have fun at the same time. Mr. True said he hopes his kids see him as someone who is smart, who likes the kids, and someone who likes his job. That can be seen through socializing with kids in the hallway, supporting fellow colleagues, yelling last call at the end of every day, and waving to students on the buses for summer break. At the conclusion of this school year, Mr. True will wave at the buses for the final time. When we asked him how it felt to be his last year of teaching he replied, “I’m excited to have the time to do more things with my grandkids. I’m also excited to do more traveling and time to spend working on my house. But I am also very sad, because I do love my job and enjoy being around the kids.”North Clay appreciates Mr. True’s dedication to the school and students . He will be sorely missed!

The basketball teams are off to a great start. The 6th grade team is 4-1. One of the coaches, Christian Roembke, said, “We are off to a great start this year. The boys come in and work hard every single day, and you can tell they all want to get better. Coach Jacob Fowler and I have seen growth in every one of them, and we are excited to see how they do with the rest of the season.” The 7th and 8th grade basketball teams are both undefeated with both being 6-0. All three teams are in action this week.

The sixth grade was able to have an experience outside of the classroom. Indiana State University hosted Youth Day for Vigo and Clay County students. The entire grade was bussed over to Hulman Center to watch a Sycamore Women’s Basketball game. Students received free shirts, a free water upon entry, and a snack box with a decorated basketball cookie and bag of chips. They enjoyed interacting with the band, watching the Spirit Squad dance and cheer, and singing along with the many songs played during the timeouts. The Pacers Power Pack was the halftime performance, and they were able to hear Miss ISU, as well as a Spirit Squad member, sing the national anthem. Scoopie, the Culver’s mascot, was there, to mingle with the students, as well as the Cow from Chick-fil-A. After the game, they gathered out front to take a picture with the Larry Bird statue, then returned to school.