Our amazing
and talented students and staff often show what super eagles they are
here at school and in the community. Below are just some of Oakland's
Latest and Greatest!
May,2011
Congratulations to Mr. Kremer's and Mr. Fernandez's 9th Grade Link classes who
participated in the Project Citizen State Showcase yesterday in Jefferson City. The
"Speak for the Animals" Campaign, the "Stop Sexting and Cyber Bullying" Policy,
and the Purple Ribbon Awareness Program all earned exemplary marks, but the
Growing Green Movement earned a Superior Rating and won Best Project out of
the entire state! The members of this team included Kyle Huebotter, Kassidy Jacobson,
Josh Cook, Zach Lolley, Nohemi Trujillo, Kendra Nobles, Amanda Holmes, Blake
Bennington, Angelica Robledo, Oliva Burks, Nicole Dorman, and Emily Winniger.
Congratulations to all participants who represented Oakland and Columbia in such
a professional manner.
January,2011 Nick Kremer, Oakland Junior High Language Arts teacher,
was published in the Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development (ASCD) journal, "Educational Leadership"
in Volume 68, Number 5, February 2011. His article, "How I Became
a Convert to Online Learning" is featured on page 63, and details
his work with CPS Summer School and his online class, "Creative
Writing in a Digital World."
December,2010 Danielle Johnson, Oakland Junior High Language Arts
teacher, was published in the National Council of
Teachers of English journal, "Voices From The Middle" in
Volume 18, Number 2, December 2010. Her article, "Paying Attention:
Talking about Social Justice in a Reading Intervention Program"
is featured on page 26.
November,2010
Oakland Junior High Language Arts teachers Jayme Pingrey
and Danielle Johnson have been invited to
write a monograph on Youth, Community and Family Programs
for the National Writing Project. There are only 6 other pairs of
educators given this honor this year. Jayme & Danielle's monograph
relates to the University of Missouri's Writing Project for middle/junior
high and high school students, which Danielle Johnson coordinates
and runs each year.
October,2010
The Columbian Chapter of the Daughters of The American Revolution
awarded Oakland Social Studies Chair, Scott Wright,
the American History Teacher of the Year. Mr. Wright
was the first recipient for this award since 2005.
October, 2010
Congratulations to 9th grader Krystalyn Weltha
for her award winning photograph, No Strings Attached.
Krystalyn entered the Daniel Boone Regional Library's "Photos
with Beat" Contest and won 3rd place. There were 48 entries
from teens throughout Boone and Callaway counties, and even
as far away as Canada and England. If you would like to view
the award winners, visit http://teens.dbrl.org
Congratulations Krystalyn!
No Strings Attached
Summer, 2010
Congratulations to Ms. Marsha Tyson for being recognized
as the Presidential Award Winner of the Year in Science
Teaching! Along with an all expense-paid trip to Washington,
DC, Ms. Tyson also received a financial award.
March, 2010 Jacob Freyermuth, a ninth grader taking Level 2 Spanish,
was awarded a National Spanish Exam Global Citizen Scholarship
in March, 2010. This will allow him to participate in a two-week
Spanish immersion program through the Concordia Language Villages
in Minnesota this summer. This is quite an honor, as there were many
qualified applicants. Out of over 100 students that took the National
Spanish Exam at Oakland in 2009, Jacob ranked first.
This year, he will be taking the National Exam again, in hopes of
scoring the highest in the district. Jacob's teacher at Oakland is
Tamara Lambson.
September, 2009 Susan Bauer, Oakland's EEE teacher, has been selected
to receive the Exercise Tiger Educator of the Year Award
by the the Exercise Tiger
National Foundation. The Exercise Tiger Association works to honor
and recognize veterans, active military, students, citizens and communities
for their patriotic or positive actions. The group is named in honor
of the battle of "Exercise Tiger" in World War II. Congratulations
Ms. Bauer!
Summer, 2009
Science teacher, Marsha Tyson, is up to great things!
She has been named a Missouri state finalist for
the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching!
That's not all. Ms. Tyson has also been named the Secondary
Science Teacher of the Year by Science Teachers of Missouri
(STOM)! We are proud to call Ms. Tyson our colleague!
April,
2009 Language Arts Department Chair, Helen Porter,
has been awarded the Outstanding Junior High Teacher of the
Year! Helen was surprised and speechless when Dr. Ritter
awarded her with flowers in front of her honors classes but we weren't
surprised -- we know just how great of an educator she is! Helen,
you make us proud! View the release here.
January,
2009 On January 23-24, J'Den Cox traveled
to Tulsa, OK to compete in a national wrestling invitational
tournament. J'Den won the championship for
the 157 lbs. weight class. He is ranked #1
in for his weight/age class! Way to go, J'Den!
January,
2009
Jacob Freyermuth's performance this year has been absolutely
stellar. Jacob managed to win BOTH the Oakland Spelling Bee
AND the National Geographic Bee this year!
He is an inquisitive
learner, who is both an exceptional budding historian and also
a wonderful writer and grammarian! Jacob always has his hand
raised in Honors, and is truly an inferential thinker. His maturity
and smarts carry over into his personal life, making him a great
friend, a kind and reflective student, and a very amusing conversationalist.
November, 2008
Mr. Gammon, Mr. Johnson, and the 9th
Grade Honors Block soared like eagles during the 2008 OJHS
Political Convention. Students from Mr. Johnson and Mr. Gammon’s
class spent months researching political candidates in order to represent
them during their political convention. The event was a huge success
and drew the attention of hundreds of parents and citizens. In addition,
the event was attended by seven local officials who were running for
office, as well as reporters. Check out the full story here.
View the sideshow produced by 9th grade students
Shea Tindall, Michelle Nava, and Madalyn Delcourt by clicking here
to download (24.7 MB, Windows Media File; Our
thanks to Mr. Trogdon for his assistance).
May, 2008
Lindy Watson, 8th grader at Oakland, has really shown
her true colors and her compassion for others. As a newspaper
carrier, Lindy learned of a subscriber who cancelled her subscription
because she was no longer able to read. Lindy and her mother showed
up at the individual's house prepared to read to her. The resident
was so moved by the kind gesture that a letter to the editor of
the Columbia Tribune was in order.Read
the full story here. Lindy, you are FANTASTIC!
May,
2008
Mrs. Sherry Colwell, Secretary to the Principal, has
been named Associate of the Year by
the Columbia Teachers Association! Mrs. Colwell sets the standard
for school staff members. We are proud of you, Sherry!
April, 2008
Mr. Tony Gragnani, 8th Grade Social Studies Teacher, was
named the Outstanding First Year Teacherfor
the entire district! Way to go Mr. G! Read
the Tribune Story
