This week’s Athletes of the Week are 7th grader Janie Baldwin and 8th grader Maddox Burgess who both play on our OCMS Basketball teams. Janie has an incredible work ethic and never backs down from a challenge. She is often put up against the other teams' best player and even though she may get knocked down a few times every game, she always jumps right back up to fight for her team. Her determination, toughness, and willingness to work hard make her a valuable teammate. She brings great energy to the court and creates opportunities with her aggressiveness. She put it all together in our last win, leading the team in scoring with 11 points. Janie is proof that heart, hustle, and determination are bigger than size! Maddox scored 22 points at last week’s win against Westside Middle School. He is showing great leadership on and off the court. He leads drills and helps correct his younger teammates. Maddox is also excelling in the classroom!

❤️🖤 OCMS FCCLA Leaders in Action! 🖤❤️ On Thursday, November 12, seven Oglethorpe County Middle School students attended the FCCLA Fall Leadership Conference in Covington, Georgia! Students participated in leadership sessions, networked with students from across the state, completed community service activities, and competed in various events. 🏆 Congratulations to our competitors! ⭐ DeMarco Silva, Franklin Hgay, and Payton Howard – Statesman Exam 🥉 Braxlynn Huddleston – Member Recruitment Display – 3rd Place! 🥉 Macie Cole – Cupcake Decorating – 3rd Place! ⭐ Nariah Brown – Pen It, Print It, Present It ⭐ Mary Brown – Preserve and Serve & Lapel Pin Design We are so proud of ALL our students for representing OCMS with leadership, enthusiasm, and Patriot pride! ❤️🖤 A special THANK YOU to Kathy Pokorney for helping chaperone and Steve Irwin for driving our bus! #OCMSFCCLA #FCCLALeadership #PatriotPride #GeorgiaFCCLA

Students in Mr. Cook’s, Mrs. Moncrief’s, and Mrs. Nesbit’s 7th grade math classes were introduced to their Proportional Reasoning unit by participating in a “Lemonade Stand” activity. Students used ratios to determine which lemonade was the “most lemony”.

This week’s Athletes of the Week were 8th grader, Ariel Miller who plays on the basketball team and Special Olympian, Jason Reynolds. Ariel has recorded a double-double in each of our last two games, scoring 22 and 25 points while pulling down 17 and 19 rebounds. Opposing teams are now calling out "Cover #40" by the second quarter because when Ariel is locked in, she dominates court. She has been a difference-maker for our team and is very deserving of Athlete of the Week! OCMS is also so proud of Jason Reynolds for being nominated as the Male Student-Athlete of the Week for his outstanding performance at the Special Olympics! Jason earned 1st place in his group in bowling! He secured his win with an impressive spare and strike in his final two frames. In addition to his athletic achievement, Jason was recognized for demonstrating excellent sportsmanship throughout the event. He not only cheered on his own teammates but also students from surrounding areas. Jason's encouragement, positive attitude, and support for others truly stood out!

Mrs. Blackwell’s 8th grade science students practiced writing hypotheses while exploring static electricity, electromagnetism and building circuits.

Congratulations to the winner of Beta Club's Fall Fun Basket Raffle!

Students in Mrs. Wilkins' & Mrs. Grogan's classes learned from a Mad Science Sentence Structure Lab last Friday. The kids built compound and complex sentences while determining the genre of the sentences constructed.

Last week’s Athletes of the Week were 7th grade 1st baseman on the softball team, Lila Robinson, and 8th grade quarterback on the football team, Kruze Crampton. Lila showed incredible growth in both skill and effort over the course of this softball season. As the first baseman, Lila did her best to snag all the balls that came her way. Lila is learning to use her height and stretching abilities to help out her team. Lila always makes an effort to make her teammates look good even when the occasional "bad" throw is made. Lila is a respectful teammate and responds well to any kind of feedback from coaches or other players. Lila’s coaches expect her to be a strong leader for the softball team as an 8th grader next year! Kruze was the team captain for the football team all season. As the quarterback, Kruze led the team in both rushing yards and passing yards. Kruze was a huge factor on the defensive squad as well.

*Read with a Hulk Hogan inner voice. Let me tell you, brother! These bruisers posted the highest scores on the Math or Reading MAP Assessment for their grade. For the next round, those posting the highest growth scores will wear the belt for the day. Encourage your student to do their best on the MAP Assessments so that they can one day tote the title. Woooooo! (*Shout the “woooo” in a Ric Flair voice.)

Congratulations to these awesome students who were selected by their teachers for the Patriot Pride luncheon for the month of October for being examples of well rounded students in & out of the classroom.

Congratulations to these 1st quarter Patriot Reward Card drawing winners!  OCMS students earn a PRC Card after each quarter based on parameters related to grades & behavior.  All students who receive a PRC card are eligible for the drawings at the end of the quarter.

This week, we celebrated students with one or zero absences for the 1st quarter with popsicles & an extra recess!

Kudos to Ms. Serrian and her 6th Grade, Jazz, & 7th/8th Grade Combined Bands on an awesome Fall Band Concert Tuesday night!

Even with short week, we had plenty of bell ringers to kick off the 2nd quarter! #RingtheBell

🎸🤘 Rock Your School Day? More Like ROCK YOUR TASTE BUDS! 🎶🥣 Our 8th Grade Food, Nutrition, and Wellness students turned up the flavor with a DIY Dip Challenge! Students put their creativity and culinary science skills to the test by experimenting with flavor combinations, textures, and food pairings to create their own original dips! From developing recipes with precise measurements to using kitchen conversion math to scale up their creations for judging, these students mixed a little science, math, and culinary magic! They also tapped into their entrepreneurial skills through food styling, photography, presentation, and marketing. The final result? Some seriously creative dips that were ready to ROCK the judges' taste buds! 🎸🔥😋 #RockYourSchoolDay #RockYourTasteBuds #DIYDipChallenge #OCMS #FutureFoodEntrepreneurs

🧵🪡 Sew Much Fun in 6th Grade FCS! Our 6th Grade Family & Consumer Sciences students have been building their basic hand-sewing skills! They’ve learned how to thread a needle, tie off their thread, and master several basic stitches. Each Friday, they put those skills to work by completing a fun mini sewing project. These hands-on lessons teach practical life skills that can be used for clothing repairs and personal projects—and could even grow into future entrepreneurship opportunities. Skills learned in FCS go far beyond the classroom! 🧵✂️

Last week’s Athletes of the Week were 8th graders Kenzie Wright who is a football cheerleader and Levi Sims who runs cross country. Kenzie’s coaches brag that she is an outstanding cheerleader!! Kenzie is always willing to do whatever is asked and always wears a big smile on and off the field. Not only is Kenzie a great cheerleader, she an awesome individual and student! Levi's growth in the sport of Cross-Country has been so fun to watch over the last three years. From beginning in the back of the pack to presently being one of our top runners, Levi leads in more than just the finish times. Levi gives good direction to his younger peers and encourages the others as he runs past them. While he keeps pursing PRs on the trail, Levi also manages to have great grades in his classes.

Last week, OCMS students connected with community members by reading the book If You Find a Rock. 8th graders visited the Oglethorpe County Senior Center. 7th graders were the guest presenters for story time at the Oglethorpe Public Library. Everyone enjoyed painting their own memory rock. We appreciate The Stone Store for providing the rocks. Thanks to Ms. Atao for coordinating and community member Lynn Faust for securing a Thrivent grant to fund this service-learning opportunity.

Mrs. Allgood’s 8th grade Computer Science class just finished a robotics unit. Instructors from Georgia Tech led the lessons through zoom each day, and the students were able to program the robots to perform certain tasks. We are so thankful for our partnership with Georgia Tech through the Rural Computer Science Initiative.