Christmas Silliness at Compass - Part Two

Notes from October

October ended with a celebration of Halloween and outstanding student accomplishments.

Ms. D found some pumpkins and brought them to school for the students to carve.

Tony G. was recognized for being the Most Improved Student and for having Perfect Attendance. 

Alan B. was recognized as Student of the Month.

October Open House

Staff and students welcomed parents and friends to attend an "Open House" at Compass Academy - Mount Carmel on October 26th.

The students prepared for the open house by decorating the building and organizing refreshments. Students also participated in a door decorating contest. 

 

Students also gave tours of the academy, highlighting many of the activities and projects that we have already done this year. Parents also had the opportunity to meet with the staff. Parents who were not already familiar with Jupiter Ed., our online grade book, were shown how to log onto the site and check their child's grades.

The next family event will be a Thanksgiving luncheon.

Bloomsburg Fair Field Trip

If you live in Central Pa, you know about the Bloomsburg Fair. If you don't know, check out the the fairs website - https://www.bloomsburgfair.com/

Mrs. Dietterick, Mr. Olbrish, and Ms. Gidaro took a group of students to the fair for a field trip.

Student Written Staff Profile - Mrs. Dietterick

Mrs. D was born July 15, 1983. She has 3 kids and has been married for almost 10 years. Her husband's name is Jack and her sons' names are Landon, Hunter, and Maddex.

She went to college at Kutztown University for her bachelor's degree and also went to Bloomsburg University for her 2 masters degrees. She attended college for 7 years. She worked at 5 different schools until she got a job at Compass Academy. She is in her 3rd year as a teacher at Compass Academy.

Mrs. D is 5'8" and wears a size 10 shoe. She has 4 tattoos. She got her first tattoo when she was 20 years old. She has an older brother named Kenny. The ideal place she would want to live is in New Zealand where she can lay on the beach as well as climb mountains. Her favorite color is purple.
She wears her sons' football jersey numbers painted on her nails during their football season. She likes football. Her favorite college team is Penn State and favorite NFL teams are Dolphins and Jets.

She has traveled to about 14 different states across the United States of America. She has also traveled to Barbados. Her favorite movie is Drop Dead Fred. Her favorite student is the one she has the most lasting impact on!

- Gavin A.

Student Written Staff Profile - Ms. Gidaro

Miss Gidaro was born April 25, 1991. She lived in Kulpmont along with her 2 younger siblings. She always dreamed of becoming a teacher. Miss Gidaro created a "classroom" in her grandmother's basement where she would force her sister and neighbors to come be her students. After graduating high school with stellar grades, she made her dreams a reality.

She attended college at Kutztown for a year and a half. She later transferred to Bloomsburg to finish off her Bachelor's degree. In 2013 she graduated from Bloomsburg University with a Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education.

After graduating, she got a substitute teacher position in surrounding school district areas. She continued to teach around the area for another 2 years. In November of 2015, she was hired at Compass Academy as a math teacher.

She also teaches during the summer at North Central Secure Treatment Unit as a math teacher. Miss Gidaro is also a full-time mom . With two beautiful baby girls. Keira is in kindergarten, she was born in June making her a summer baby like her other sister. Shaelyn is her baby sister, both are summer babies. With no brother to protect them when they get older. Hopefully, there's a boy in their family soon. She looks forward to getting married in June.

- Sam S.

Creating The Class Oath - A Student Perspective

This school year at Compass Academy we decided to create an oath to become better, more positive students. The high school students helped create it and make it a great oath. We started on the first week of school and it is now in play. After eighteen rough drafts, we finally have a neat, nicely worded oath.

We worked on the oath every day until it was fully complete. It took us about a week to collect all the information. We went through the oath and corrected all of our mistakes. We pledge to this oath daily. The reason we pledge to the oath is because it is very important. We can learn a lot from it.

Why are oaths important? If you follow these simple rules you can become a great/successful student. Our school oath we practice every day. By reading it daily we will understand it better.

Oaths are very important.

Brandi M.

Student Oath

One of the tasks given to the Compass Academy students at the beginning of the school year was to create a student oath or creed. This is not a simple process. Each day during the first two weeks of school, at least one period was spent in creating their oath.

The first few days were spent in group discussions about the importance of having goals or principals to use as benchmarks for measuring our success as students. Other Oaths and Creeds were read and examined. The Athenian Oath, The Boy Scout Oath and Law, Essays by Plato and Aristotle, and Charge of the Light Brigade were some of the written words examined.

Brains packed with knowledge, the students broke into small groups to start creating potential oaths. Drafts were read and shared. Merging of drafts led to a functional oath. The unified draft went through another week of heated debate. Motions were made. The importance of each word was discussed. Phrasing was debated. Votes were taken and the oath was sent back to the writers for further revision. It was an arduous process.

The process ended with a student meeting in which a unanimous vote was made to ratify the Student Oath for the 2016/2017 school year. Student's signed the new document and committed to try there best to meet the ideals set forth in their new oath.

Student Writing - Creed

In the start of the 2016 school year, we were working on an oath and a creed. Jarrod Shaffer wrote a heartfelt alma mater or creed. We had several discussions (3 students). We wanted changes but he made his own adjustments, fixed, and perfected it. Everyone liked how it turned out and didn't see any need to change anything because it had a nice rhyme to it.

Allen B. and Jarrod S.

Basketball Court

One of the exciting improvements that happened over the summer at our Mount Carmel Academy was the construction of a paved half court for basketball and other outdoor activities.

Students have already worn in the new court and basketballs. Obviously, this new addition has been a 'slam-dunk' with the students.

Flashback to last years basketball game versus Williamsport Compass Academy

Tony requested that I put up last years basketball video. Here it is.

Hopefully this Fall we will be able to redeem our academy and defeat the Williamsport students in flag football.

First Day of School

The first day of school. It is always an exciting time, even for parents and teachers. Check your Facebook feed. Everyone is posting pictures. For many, there are new shoes and clothes. Others have to deal with starting in a new school in which they may not have any friends. Excitement and, often, stress.

I'm happy to say our first day of school was relatively stress free. We have seven returning students and three new students. And we took the obligatory "here's our first day of school" picture.

Students and staff went over the student handbook, discussed the level system, participated in team building activities, read some essays about values, and learned about Jupiter Ed. (Jupiter Ed is the online service Compass Academy is using for grades and online services. Students should have brouught home a sheet with login instructions for parents.)

We also played some basketball after lunch on the new court that was constructed over the summer. 

Open House / Awards Ceremony

As the school year draws to a close, Compass Academy is excited to graduate three students from the academy this year. 

Will Costello, Damian McDonald, and Josh Dinklocker completed their Senior year while attending school at JWYC's Alternative Educational Program.

Dan Heit, the President and CEO of Justice Works, attended the graduation and awards ceremony. 

Hydrogen Balloons