GULF SHORES, Ala. —

‘Cadillac’ of Education                 

During the end of March three students at Gulf Shores Middle School received their acceptance letters to the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Fairhope High School.

These students were eighth graders Alayna Merchant, Alexis Rodrigue and Billy Whittington.

In order to be considered for the IB program a student had to have a 3.0 (B) in math, English, science, and social studies classes in their eighth grade year,  a completed application,  standardized test scores, and teacher recommendations from three core subject teachers.

Once these things were sent in the students received a date for their interview with some of the IB instructors. At the interview they had to complete a writing sample.

By: Sydney Taylor; 8th

Mini Greenhouses

In Ms. Terry Green’s seventh grade greens and ground class, nine participants have the pleasure of doing many different activities.

Some are planting, picking up trash to beautify the school grounds, picking blackberries, watering the plants in the greenhouse and much more.

At the beginning of March, Ms. Green began teaching her students how to make terrariums.

Terrariums are glass containers, chiefly or wholly enclosed, for growing and displaying plants. They are, basically, mini greenhouses.

Most of the material to make the terrariums was provided by different stores like Pottery Barn, Lowes and The Home Depot.

By: Shelby Simpson; 8th

Go Bay Bears!

On April 29 both seventh and eighth graders will be heading to Hank Aaron Stadium in Mobile to watch our own Mobile Bay Bears compete against the Birmingham Barons! 

Both grades will load onto district buses that will be departing for the game in Mobile at 9 a.m. Buses will be returning to the school at approximately 2:30 p.m. 

The reason for having this day off is to have a lot fun with the whole school and practice the Alabama Course of Study requirements in  math, which includes mean, median, mode and range given with a specific set of data. 

By: Sarah Jarrett; 7th

Tipping the Scales

Five GSMS students out of dozens who tried, reached state-level recognition in this year’s Duke Talent Identification Program.

Those select five were James Martin, Sai Patel, Jamie Rasinen, Nicholas Russo and Nathaniel Wood.

The purpose of the Duke Talent Search is to expose talented seventh graders to higher-level testing in order to prepare them for these tests in their junior and senior years of high school.

In order to do this Duke invites gifted students to take either the ACT or SAT.

To qualify for the talent search students must score in the 95 percentile or higher on a standardized test.

This ranking must come from either of the two most recent tests. In addition, certain sub-tests are used, such as the mental ability and aptitude sections. It is obvious that merely qualifying for the talent search is a prestigious achievement.

The next step is accepting this opportunity and taking the test. Those who elect to participate had to register at a local testing center beforehand.

Most GSMS students took  the test in Foley, while a few took  it in Daphne or Mobile. The Duke TIP participants took the test in either January or February according to preference.

Students then anxiously await the results to whichever test they took.

For state-level recognition there are certain criteria that must be met. The criteria for the state-level recognition is set at approximately the 50 percent of the NPR of all juniors and seniors taking the tests while the grand-level recognition is set at approximately 90 percent of the NPR.

The Alabama Duke TIP State Recognition ceremony is held annually at the University of Alabama.

The campus is located in Tuscaloosa and allows for an exciting weekend for the talented scholars.

At the ceremony they are awarded a special medallion for their honorary achievement.

In all, 33 people qualified to take the test. A huge congratulations goes out to all who qualified for the Duke TIP and especially those who achieved state-recognition. Good job!

By: Zach Warren; 8th

Cry Me a River

During this past week at GSMS, Ms. Michele Carpenter’s seventh grade family and consumer science classes learned what to do when taking care of a baby and how to do it the right way.

This coming week some of Ms. Carpenter’s students will be taking computerized babies home to see what it is like to be a teenage parent.

These babies cry just like a real child for a better simulation, no matter what time of the night.

Each baby is equipped with a recorder so Ms. Carpenter can see how many times it cried and for how long it cried.

In this project students can take home one of the four babies Ms. Carpenter has — JR, Hannah, Millie and Parker.

This semester Ms. Carpenter also got the money to buy a new baby.

The new baby’s name is going to be determined by the students. The baby’s name is either going to be Penelope or Shaniqua.

Each seventh grade class gets to vote on the name.

By: Harlie Guy; 7th