Barton Junior High students excel in the classroom

EL DORADO — With a theme of “Going for the Gold,” students at Barton Junior High have learned traits for success and have put those traits to the test, by excelling in the classroom and at numerous competitions, according to Sherry Hill, principal.

This year’s theme, “allowed many in class activities to practice important life skills like perseverance and hard work. It also allowed students to participate in many classroom competitions throughout the year, as well as outside of school competitions,” Hill said.

During the regular May meeting of the El Dorado School Board, Hill presented her “Principal’s Report,” and told of many activities and achievements at the school during the 201617 school year.

At Barton, seventh and eighth grade required courses include: English regular or Pre-Advanced Placement; math regular, pre-ap or pre-ap algebra 1; science regular or preap; social studies regular or pre-ap with a rotation of art, music, physical education and health. In addition, seventh-graders have keyboarding/ cultivating culinary tools and eighth graders have career development. Students in both grades can choose one elective – art, band, choir, select choir, orchestra, athletics, physical education and girls athletic condi-

tioning. Imagine Zone is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) elective that emphasizes the “maker mentality” to develop coding and programming skills, Hill explained. She also said that robotics is a STEM elective that introduces students to coding and manipulating robots. Competition Robotics is a STEM elective that uses EV3 robots to participate in robotics competitions.

Also at Barton, MP3 is a performing arts elective and students learn about musical production, practice and performance. Beginning Media is a technology elective creating mostly print media; advanced media is a technology elective creating mostly live action media and digital media is a technology elective concentrating on webpage design and yearbook design. Garden Gurus is a continuation of the gardening, cooking and financial literacy skills learned in CCT.

At two Union County math competitions, Barton students received second and third place awards in the Algebra I division; first and third in seventh grade math and first, second and third in eighth grade math. At the ACTM regional math competition in the Algebra I division, Barton students scored first, second and third place in state and Barton student, Coleigh White, placed fourth at regional. Her score was higher than many third place winners at other regionals and she will advance to state, Hill said.

Several Barton students placed at Southern Arkansas University’s Creative Writing Fall Festival in several categories, including third place, Tiffany Tram, non-fiction; second place, Kywnn McEntire, fiction; first place poetry, Coriana Davis and third place for poetry, Emily Huddleston.

During the “You Be the Chemist” local challenge, students who placed included Jadon Cunningham, winner; Ella Langridge, first runner up and Titus Seabolt, third runner up. “These students plus six others competed at the state competition, with Barton taking fourth and second place at state – Hailey Talley and Ella Langridge,” their principal said.

Two robotics teams at Barton competed in the Northeast Louisiana Regional Autonomous Robotics Circuit competition, taking first and second places in the middle school division. At the Regional Autonomous Robotics Circuit competition in Ruston, Louisiana, Barton’s teams finished in second and third places.

Barton entered two teams during a University of Arkansas at Little Rock PreCollege Diversity Engineering Olympics Competition For Critical Thinking and Team B won first place. For the CO2 Racers competition, team A won third place and team B won sixth place.

During a Social Studies Regional History Day, Barton students placed first, second and third in individual exhibits; first, second and third in group exhibits; first and second in website designs; first and second in historical papers and first in individual performance.

At Southeast Regional Art Competition, a seventh and an eighth grader at Barton, both received first place awards. The BJHS Future Business Leaders of America team competed at the 2017 District III conference in Pine Bluff and took the following awards: first place Keyboarding Applications I, third place FBLA Creed, fifth place Intro to Business Communication, third place spelling, second place web page creation, first place business graphics and second place job interview. BJHS Quiz Bowl team captain, Ella Langridge, was selected as a member of the Arkansas Governor’s Junior High Quiz Bowl All-Star Team.

Eight members of the BJHS choir qualified for all-region choir; 25 band students made Region 3 All Region band and the band received an excellent rating on stage and sight reading solo and ensemble. They received 29 superior ratings and 15 excellent ratings.

Undefeated teams at Barton Junior High during the 2016-17 school year include the eighth grade girls basketball team and the seventh grade football team. Hill also said the archery team scored high enough at state to qualify for nationals.

“The year after the El Dorado Promise was announced, Barton decided to teach students the idea that ‘to whom much is given, much is expected.’ To that end, our students participate in many service projects and raise money to help others. Our biggest donations go to ‘Project Christmas,’ where we provide food and gifts to several of Barton’s students in need and their siblings. The most we’ve given was to 13 families and this year we gave to six. Our two biggest fundraisers are the Coach Joe Black Memorial 3 on 3 Tournament and Barton Gives Back Day. These two events raise money while providing a lot of fun for students and staff,” Hill told board members.

Also during the May meeting, board members approved a “Special Education Assurances and Agreements for School Age Services and Certification regarding Lobbying,” as presented by Shawn Lamkin, special education director. Lamkin explained that the certification states that the El Dorado School District will use federal funds in compliance with all regulations, records are kept for five years and the district follows all the Americans With Disabilities Act guidelines.

Board members also approved the Title VI-B preliminary budget of $971,584.62 for the 201718 school year for all schools in the district.