Aware March - Public Schools of Robeson County

Public Schools of Robeson County 

Vonta Leach 

Brings Home 

a Super Bowl 

Win 

Educators 

Dance to 

Raise Money 

for Literacy 

Pembroke Teacher 

Honored with Tree 

Bus Drivers Get 

Thank You 

March 2013

From the Superintendent’s Office 

Spring is on the way as March 

roars into the district. Warm 

weather brings with it the 

promise of graduation and 

summer. Our students, teachers 

and so many volunteers are busy 

reading and supporting literacy. 

Thank you in advance for all your 

hard work as we move toward the 

end of the school year. 

CONTENTS 

Sincerely, 

Dr. Johnny Hunt, Superintendent 

PSRC Grad Plays in 

Super Bowl XLVIII 

Art Education News in the District 

................................................................................................................. 3 

Vonta Leach and the Ravens Win the Super Bowl .............................................. 6 

Love the Bus Thanks Drivers For a Job Well Done............................................... 8 

Black History Month Event Honors Authors ..................................................... 12 

Pembroke Elementary Teacher Honored ........................................................ 15 

Dr. Seuss Readers Spotlighted ....................................................................... 27 

Educators Dance to Raise Money for Literacy .................................................. 29 

Artwork ................................................................................................... 31 

School News A - Z ...................................................................................... 4 

Page 

2

Arts Education in the News 

Bottle Art History” by Ashely 

Berdeau-FHS, Karena 

During two Art Night Out 

teacher workshops, visual art 

teachers learned new projects to 

support teaching writing and art 

history called “Personal 

Shrines” and “Bottle Art 

History.” After learning about 

the historical uses of shrines 

and the talking about 

spontaneous writing, teachers 

created their own Personal 

Shrine. This project not only 

supports history and writing, but 

“The Raven” by Lezlie 

Woods-Jacobs, Prospect ES 

 

also involves math in the 

measuring and construction of 

each piece. In “Bottle Art 

History,” teachers selected an 

artist and completed a 

reproduction of a painting on the 

bottle. The teachers were 

excited about this “new canvas” 

and we’re positive the students 

will be too. Not to mention, 

we’re recycling as well! 

Quinton Smith 

his dress design 

High school art students 

participated in the annual Red 

Dress Design Contest 

sponsored by the SRMC Heart 

Center. During the Red Dress 

luncheon on Feb. 9th, the dress 

designs were displayed, voted 

on and this year’s 1st place 

winner is Lumberton HS student 

Quinton Smith and 2nd place is 

Kaylee Buckley. Both dress will 

be made and modeled during 

next year’s luncheon. 

The K-12 visual art 

teachers participated in 

Professional Development Day 

sponsored by the Art 

Department faculty of UNCP. 

This is the third year the 

university has sponsored the 

workshops, which included 

morning and afternoon sessions 

in Art History, drawing, digital art, 

sculpture, fiber and photography. 

The teachers also had a chance 

to collaborate with fellow art 

teachers from Columbus County 

who were also in attendance. 

The partnership with UNCP has 

grown and continues to develop 

as we all work to create the best 

arts programs in North Carolina. 

In preparation for the All- 

County Band Clinic and 

Concert, the middle and high 

school band program held All- 

County Auditions at St. Pauls 

High School Feb. 21st. After 

playing scales and audition 

pieces and the scoring, the 

accepted students will now 

begin practicing the music 

selected by our guest 

conductors. They will showcase 

these selections at All-County 

Band on April 26th at RCC. 

“Beyond Art”, an exhibit of 

works by PSRC art teachers will 

be on display in the lobbies of 

the Carolina Civic Center Historic 

Theater through April 2nd. 

Those who have helped 

students learn so much about 

creating art will display their own 

work during this faculty art 

exhibit. Works displayed will 

represent a wide variety of media 

including crafts, photography, 

drawing, printmaking, mixed 

media and painting. The exhibit 

opened Feb. 21st with a 

reception with music provided by 

Prospect ES music teacher 

Angie Carter and refreshments 

by Cakes and Pastries Unlimited. 

If you’re looking for beautiful art, 

you don’t have to go far – PSRC 

art teachers aren’t just teachers, 

but artists as well! 

Upcoming Arts Education Events 

March 8 – Elementary 

Music Festival @ Lumberton Jr. H 

March 23 @ 7:00pm - 

CTAP “Once Upon a Mattress” @ 

Lumberton Jr. HS Auditorium 

$5.00 Adults $1.00 Students 

April 11 @ 7:00pm – All- 

County Chorus @ UNCP 

April 11 @ 5:30pm – 

Opening Reception HS Small 

Works Squared Exhibit @ Civic 

Ctr. 

April 11-14 – Studio One 

“Grease” @ Lumberton HS 

Auditorium 

April 15-25 – All-County 

Art Exhibition @ Biggs Park Mall 


County Orchestra @ LJHS 


County Band @ RCC 

“Personal Shrine” by Sandi 

Carter 

Page 

3

East Robeson Primary School 

CONGRATULATIONS TO ELISIYAH, 

KAYLYN, DANIEL, AND JAYDEN! PSRC'S 

2013 ELEMENTARY BATTLE OF THE 

BOOKS WINNERS! 

The Third grade students at East 

Robeson Primary have been 

working very diligently to gain new 

skills and strategies that will enable 

them to become more independent 

and deep thinkers. They have 

gained a thorough knowledge of 

fractions, matter, and geography. 

Students have enjoyed learning 

about influential African Americans 

during Black History Month. As 

always, students are persistently 

striving to be 

caring, to be 

thinkers, and to 

be safe! 

East Robeson is 

getting ready for 

our Kick off 

Pennies for 

Patients during 

March. Pennies 

for Patients is a 

special program 

sponsored by 

the Leukemia 

and Lympho 

Society’s School 

and Youth 

Program. During March our 

students bring in pennies to give to 

the Leukemia and Lymphoma 

Society’s programs. 

February was a very busy month 

for Kindergarten! We discussed 

Groundhog's Day in hopes of 

spring weather. Mrs. Tillie Clark, 

from the Health Department, came 

to visit us. We learned how to take 

care of our teeth properly. Also, 

We Won!!!!! 

GO BEAVERS!!!! 

we learned about our Presidents 

and famous African Americans that 

have influenced our lives. On 

Valentine's Day, we were excited 

to show others how much we love 

them, by creating cards to share.. 

February is a busy month at East 

Robeson Elementary. We 

celebrated the 100th day of school 

February 5, 2013. To celebrate, 

the students dressed –up like they 

were 100 years old. During the 

week of Valentine’s Day, we will be 

honoring our mothers, fathers, and 

grandparents-muffins for moms, 

doughnuts for days, and grits for 

grandparents. Our first graders 

continue working hard on our PBIS 

Matrix-Be Caring, Be a Thinker, 

and Be Safe. 

Art Teacher Barbie Coble, has been 

very busy painting murals all over 

our school campus. She's painted 

several murals to promote Positive 

Behavior Interventions and 

Supports (PBIS). 

Fairgrove Middle School 

8th grade students from Fairgrove 

Middle School recently took a trip 

to South Robeson HS to tour the 

school and to see what it would be 

like for them next year. 8th graders 

got important information about 

class scheduling, clusters for high 

school, attendance and 

expectations for rising freshman 

and freshman attending South 

Robeson High School. 

Students enjoyed presentations 

from Teacher Cadet, Dance, CTE, 

Athletics and PE, JROTC, Band and 

Chorus, as well as English, math, 

and civics classes. The students 

also had a chance to enjoy lunch 

with the Teacher Cadet students of 

South Robeson High School. 

On March the 6th and 7th, 

Fairgrove Middle School’s Battle 

of the Books Team participated in 

the PSCR Annual Middle Grades 

Battle of the Books Contest. 

Although we didn’t win, the team 

put on a spirited and hard-fought 

performance and greatly 

increased its scoring over the last 

two years. The Fairgrove team 

looks forward to giving it another 

go next year, and congratulates 

Pembroke Middle, Red Springs 

Middle and Orrum on their first, 

second and third-place finishes. 

Fairgrove extends its thanks and 

appreciation to this year’s Middle 

Grades Battle of the Books players, 

Shayla Hunt, Makaila Clark, Shirleen 

Graves, Jeremy Hunt, Qualyles 

Breeden, Destiny McKoy, Michaela 

Mickles, Kytria Pittman, David 

Torres. 

4

DEEP BRANCH 

ELEMENTARY 

SCHOOL 

We celebrated Dr. Seuss Week by 

having many people come out and 

read to our students and talk about 

the importance of reading everyday! 

We are also excited about our field 

trip to the Columbia Zoo! 

Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss! 

First grade celebrated Dr. Seuss Day 

with making green eggs and ham! 

We are looking forward to our trip to 

the Columbia Zoo! 

Second grade is busy with enforcing 

PBIS and practicing with the schoolwide 

matrix. The students are 

excited about the upcoming “Spring 

Fling” and our end-of-year-trip! 

Congratulations to Grace Oxendine 

for being selected “Student of the 

Month” in Mr. Hardin’s class. 

The third grade students are fully 

charged after seeing the greatest 

show on Earth, Ringling Bros. & 

Barnum & Bailey Circus. Students 

observed animals such as the camel 

that they learned about through 

reading. It was an exciting 

experience, especially our lunch at 

ChuckeCheese, where a “Kid Can Be 

A Kid”! 

Fourth grade students have been 

working really hard in our classes. 

Students are comparing stories 

February was an exciting time in 

the Carroll Middle School Kingdom 

with “Curric with the Chick” on 

February 5th. We had a wonderful 

turnout of parents and students as 

teachers discussed the core 

curriculum and provided other 

useful information to the parents. 

After the presentation, Chic-fil-A 

served sandwiches, chips and soft 

drinks to all that attended. Parent 

comments were that they hope we 

have more curriculum nights in the 

future. 

February brought with it the CMS 

Science Fair and Art Show. Fifth 

grade students chose a scientific 

question related to 5 different 

categories and used this as the 

determining the theme / topic of 

them. We have also been working on 

learning the three R’s andteaching it 

to the other students. 

We are being Responsible, 

Respectful,and Ready to learn! 

Watch out for Deep Branch’s 5th 

grade Bulldogs. We are busy 

preparing ourselves for the EOG with 

learning new skills and strategies 

that will help to ensure we reach 

success. 

The sixth grade students have been 

working hard in all their Common 

Core classes and doing quite a bit of 

research for Ancient Greece and 

Rome. The students enjoyed a 

Valentine dance with their friends 

and a variety of music for all. Our 

focus of their science project. 

These were displayed in the 

cafeteria and in the 5th grade 

hallway. First, second, and third 

places were awarded to students 

for each category. 

Mrs. Smith’s art students also 

had their beautiful creations on 

display in the gym. The students 

used a variety of mediums to create 

original, personal and interesting 

pieces of art. 

The hard work of the teachers, 

students, and parents made this 

night a great celebration of the 

intelligence and capabilities of our 

students. 

Dr. Seuss Wild N Wacky Dress up Day 

students and teachers worked 

together to come up with some 

wonderful incentives for the PBIS 

program which has brought around 

positive actions for our school! 

Everyone celebrated Dr. Seuss’s 

birthday with a week of activities 

and playing dress up. The Top AR 

readers in each class received a 

goodie bag with Dr. Seuss items, and 

all the students received Dr. Seuss 

pencils and the staff each received 

Dr. Seuss pens and class posters. 

Employees of the Month! 

Congratulations to Ms.Emma Carter 

School, Secretary and Ms.Mary Beth 

Goins, Guidance Counselor as our 

Employees of the Month! 

L. GILBERT CARROLL MIDDLE SCHOOL 

5

Super Bowl Superstar! 

Vonta Leach brings it home 

6

Vonta Leach Goes all the Way 

Shares Super Bowl Win with Community 

Vonta Leach is a 

hometown hero in his 

hometown of Rowland 

and throughout Robeson 

County. The Baltimore 

Ravens All-Pro fullback is 

a former PSRC standout 

at South Robeson High 

School and East Carolina 

University. After a trip to 

New Orleans to play and 

win in Super Bowl XLVII, 

Leach is a Super Bowl 

star who has made his 

community even more 

proud. “To make it to the 

Super Bowl was a dream 

come true. Just to play in 

the game was a dream. 

Growing up as a child, I 

watched the Super Bowl 

and it was my dream to 

play it and ultimately 

win,” said Leach. 

The Ravens 

defeated the 49ers by the 

score of 34–31 on 

February 3 at the 

Superdome in New 

Orleans. 

Vonta grew up in the 

small town of Rowland. 

The Super Bowl trip was 

the first time in his nineyear 

NFL career to the big 

bowl. Leach also played 

in two Pro Bowls, but the 

Super Bowl brought 

memories of a lifetime. 

“When you see that 

confetti drop and they 

announced the Ravens 

were the champions, 

everything goes through 

your head. You think of 

your hard work, the 

number of years playing 

to get there, there are so 

many thoughts of 

celebrating with the team 

and your family on the 

field. It is one of the 

moments you will always 

remember,” said the 

Rowland native. 

The road to the Super 

Bowl was lined with 

cheers for Vonta as he 

prepared for the game. 

The schools he attended 

in Rowland rolled out the 

red carpet with 

celebrations, T-shirts and 

a Super Bowl party. On 

Sunday, February 22nd 

the town of Rowland held 

a celebration and parade 

to honor their hometown 

hero. More than one 

thousand people lined up 

as the hometown 

celebrity rode into town. 

“The town of Rowland did 

a great job with everyone 

who gave donations and 

helped with the parade. 

The feeling when I came 

riding down the street 

was a great experience. 

There were a lot of people 

there. I celebrated, but 

the town and Robeson 

County also celebrated,” 

said Leach. 

Vonta took some time 

off after the big game, but 

has already started 

training for next year. 

The fullback will bring 

back his Football camp in 

Robeson County at 

Lumberton High on June 

28th and 29th. The camp 

is open to all children 

from 6 years old to 16. 

Along with NFL Players 

and coaches, Leach will 

be teaching fundamentals 

of football from NFL 

players and coaches. 

7

Student Bus Safety Warrants a 

Thank You to Bus Drivers 

Dr. Johnny Hunt riding West Lumberton 

school bus in honor of the Love the Bus 

Campaign. 

Throughout the month of February, 

North Carolina citizens and schools 

were invited to participate in the 

American School Bus Council’s Love 

the Bus (LTB) campaign as Governor 

Pat McCrory urged all school 

communities and citizens to 

recognize the excellence of the state's 

school bus drivers and their record of 

safety. 

School bus safety is an integral part 

of the education process. Without safe 

transport to and from schools, our 

children could not participate in the 

learning process. More than 13,400 

yellow buses travel North Carolina 

roads each morning to safely 

transport 790,000 students to school. 

Yet very few people give a second 

thought to the drivers behind the 

wheels who take on this important 

responsibility each day. For PSRC bus 

drivers such as Elsie Hunt, she knows 

many drivers are too distracted 

around buses. “Sometimes I have to 

honk the horn to get their attention,”, 

said Hunt. 

the United State according to the 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration. Driving a school 

bus is 8 times safer than riding 

with a parent or guardian in a car. 

Even with these numbers, three 

Robeson County school buses have 

been rear-ended by motorists 

since December. All were minor 

injuries, but some students were 

taken to the hospital. The Public 

Schools of Robeson County 

transports approximately 14,389 

children per day. 270 school buses 

are traveling approximately 15,000 

miles a day. 

These numbers are crucial on days 

when inclement weather poses a 

hazard for students. Administrators 

weigh the cost of delaying school 

hours or sometimes cutting the day 

short. The public is often unaware 

that Robeson County still has many 

rural roads where few cars travel, yet 

buses pass morning and evening. 

Some bus drivers travel as far as 

Scotland County and will not finish 

their routes until almost 5 p.m. On a 

day when snow is forecasted to begin 

in the afternoon, bus drivers might 

still be on the road and in harm’s way 

if not for the critical thinking by 

administrators. 

there is a stop arm and an 8 light 

system, but the motoring public still 

sometimes fails to stop. Bus drivers 

maintain a close eye contact with the 

children just in case they need to yell 

for a child to stop walking. 

School bus driver Latisha Hunt says 

bus drivers must multi-task to keep 

students safe and watch the road. “It 

is dangerous, I have people pass the 

bus and the police sitting right there 

and they would stop them. Drivers 

are not paying attention, but they are 

texting or other things,” said Hunt. 

For all they do, bus drivers are 

worthy of much praise by parents, 

the school system and the 

community. The Love the Bus 

Campaign targets to do just that by 

making bus drivers feel appreciated 

for what they do. 

During Love the Bus, schools held 

socials for drivers. Children wrote 

thank you cards and letters and so 

much more to recognize bus drivers. 

More than anything, the motoring 

public is reminded to be cautious 

around buses and the special cargo 

they carry. 

School bus transportation is the 

safest form of mass transportation in 

These bus drivers often multi-task 

more than any other driver. They 

must watch for cars as they prepare 

to load children, watch the child 

cross, check behind the bus and 

maintain eye contact on children 

seated on the bus. While most never 

receive accolades, these drivers are 

credited with saving lives every day 

across the state. The most dangerous 

time for a student is the loading time. 

As a child prepares to cross the road, 

8

Green Grove Elementary 

Congratulations to our 

Green Grove School Battle 

of the Books team, third 

place winners in PSRC’s first 

2nd/3rd Grade competition. 

Team members include: 

Davarius, Francisco, Inyah, 

Ariel, Trinity, Noah, Emma, 

Tavarius, Enrico, and Halen. 

Thanks to our coaches, Mrs. 

Elizabeth Oxendine and Mrs. 

Jo Ann Hunt for preparing 

the team to compete 

successfully. Thanks to Mrs. 

Barbara Oxendine for 

transporting the team to and 

from the competition, Mrs. 

Sheri Dial Herndon for 

supporting our team, PTA for 

purchasing team shirts and 

Mrs. Tracie Hunt for the 

delivery of the shirts. 

Green Grove received 

recognition in Raleigh for 

effective implementation of 

PBIS. Mr. Shoemaker, music 

teacher and PBIS coach, 

accepted the PBIS award. 

Thanks to Mr. Shoemaker 

and the school’s PBIS team 

members for effective 

implementation of the 

program. 

Students and staff are 

enjoying the new scholastic 

readers this year. The 

leveled readers provide 

students with fiction and 

nonfiction texts to 

improve fluency and 

comprehension. Task 

cards are included in 

the sets of leveled 

readers to help 

teachers differentiate 

instruction to groups 

of students. The 

students are excited 

! to read books and 

materials of their 

choice. 

Second and third grade 

students had the opportunity 

to compete in the school’s 

spelling bee. 

Congratulations to our class 

winners: Cassidy, Destiny, 

and Inyah, in second grade; 

and Valeria, Mackenzie, and 

JayShon, in third grade. 

Many classes completed 

various activities in 

recognition of Black History 

Month. Famous African 

American biographies were 

read over the intercom 

throughout the month. 

Students had the 

opportunity to guess whose 

biography was read. Those 

who knew the answer 

received a pencil from the 

principal. Students had the 

opportunity to write about 

famous African Americans 

and create pictures to 

display with their writings. 

Mrs. Smith’s third grade 

class completed a biography 

assignment. Students read 

their biographies to other 

students throughout the 

campus. 

Pre-K students are 

enjoying their new 

smartboard. New activities 

are incorporated into the 

classroom to continue 

making learning exciting and 

fun! 

Kindergarten Pandas are 

excited about Antarctica! 

The continent of Antarctica is 

home to one of our favorite 

animals, the Emperor 

Penguin. He lives on the icecovered 

glaciers and hunts 

for food in the icy ocean. We 

have made an entire wall 

featuring animals and words 

that describe Antarctica. Did 

you know that an iceberg is 

made of fresh water Did 

you know that penguins only 

live at the South Pole Did 

you know that the South 

Pole is the coldest place on 

earth We 

do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Kindergarteners have 

worked together to create 

wordles in our classroom. 

We have compared story 

characters and plots, 

created wordles to make 

comparisons, and displayed 

our work in the hallways. 

First grade classes have 

finished reviewing three 

dimensional shapes and 

adding and subtracting with 

regrouping. We are 

continuing to improve our 

reading fluency and 

comprehension skills. 

We are also learning how 

to use more 2.0 Web tools 

and are excited about 

creating wordles. We display 

them in the hallway, along 

with our writings. We love 

incorporating this new idea 

in our classroom. 

Ms. Rhonda Cooper, our 

new first grade teacher is 

happy to report that she is 

enjoying her first year 

teaching. She is also happy 

to finally get to fulfill her 

passion for teaching and 

watching her children grow. 

Second Grade: Healthy 

habits are welcome in our 

school as we continue to 

learn about steps to improve 

health with the North 

Carolina Nutrition Assistance 

Program. Mrs. Janice Fields, 

with the Robeson County 

Cooperative Extension 

Agency, works with 2nd 

graders weekly to share 

nutritious lessons and to 

encourage students to eat 

healthy and exercise for 

better health. With the fruit 

and vegetable grant, 

students have had the 

opportunity to make better 

informed decisions about 

healthy habits at home and 

at school. 

Third grade students 

are enjoying their new math 

books and we continue to 

dip deeper into the common 

core. Fractions are being 

learned, and students have 

been involved in a variety of 

activities to help them 

understand math concepts. 

Other new math and reading 

materials have been received 

to help students think 

critically and express their 

thoughts through writing. 

! 

9

Janie C. Hargrave Elementary 

Students are busy learning and the 

school is busy getting ready for our visit 

from AdvancEd. We have had wonderful 

volunteers and community support to help 

the school. New mulch has put out, sand 

added to the playground and new signs 

put up around the school. 

In celebration of Black History, 

students at J.C. Hargrave researched 

many famous African Americans to portray 

in our Black History program. All grade 

levels contributed their talents to making a 

program a huge success. Cassie 

McClamb also came and gave students 

and visitors a very motivational speech. 

Teachers and Teacher Assistants also 

provided lunch for staff filled with “soul” 

food. 

Our Pre-K class has been busy 

learning about Dr. Seuss and listening to 

his exciting stories. We had a grandparent 

visit and read The Cat in the Hat. She also 

made a special treat with the students. 

Exciting things are happening in Pre-K! 

In kindergarten we have been 

working on reading with the daily five 

program along with various Dr. Seuss 

activities. Ms. Nance, our school nurse, 

came in and gave a dental health lesson 

as well as toothbrushes for all students. 

Kindergarten is working hard getting ready 

for first grade. 

We studied famous African Americans 

for Black History Month. We celebrated 

President's Day by learning about George 

Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We 

continued to work on single and double 

digit addition. In ELA, we worked on our 

creative writing skills. 

During the month of February, we 

learned about Valentine’s Day and the 

importance of being kind and loving 

everyone. We celebrated Dental Health 

month by discussing the importance of 

keeping a healthy and clean mouth. Our 

students demonstrated how to brush and 

floss their teeth while pretending to be the 

Five Little Monkeys from the book Five 

Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed during 

our lesson on subtraction. 

During the month of February, Janie 

C. Hargrave 2nd grade learned a lot about 

African American History. They explored 

and researched African Americans, and 

learned how life has changed from then to 

now in American. At the end of the month, 

Second Grade embarked on a thematic 

unit centered on Sweet Clara and the 

Freedom Quilt. Students read the book, 

learning about the Underground Railroad, 

and Harriet Tubman’s role and how much 

she worked to gain freedom to many 

slaves. Students gained knowledge about 

the secret code through Freedom Quilts, 

and the meaning the quilt and also of each 

pattern. As a grade level, students made 

their own Freedom Quilt that was matted 

and placed on display in time for the 

African American History Program at the 

school. Students also wrote about what 

freedom means to them onto a Freedom 

Bell and this was on display around the 

quilt. They also learned a little bit about 

astronomy as African American followed 

the North Star to freedom. All the students 

worked so hard and had so much fun 

learning. They were so very proud of their 

quilts, as were the Principal, teachers, and 

all the staff. 

In third grade we have been 

practicing our discussion skills by having a 

Morning Meeting each day. Not only does 

this support classroom community and 

reinforce our rules for discussion and 

sharing in class, it also gives us an 

opportunity to review prior knowledge and 

introduce learning topics for the day. We 

believe this is a perfect way to get our day 

started on the right foot and promote 

collaborative work throughout all activities 

and subject areas. An essential part of 

these meetings is to review our daily 

standards, essential questions, and I can 

statements. We have noticed an 

improvement in both vocabulary and 

comprehension as a result of unpacking 

these documents together. Students now 

show an increased willingness not only to 

participate, but also to go outside their 

comfort zone and strive for personal 

responsibility for learning. Consider giving 

Morning Meeting a try in your classroom 

to start every day in a positive, productive 

way! 

The 4th graders researched famous 

African American inventors, scientists, 

teachers, and innovators. They portrayed 

their person during the Black History 

program at school. Students worked 

really hard and created a script and props 

for the program. 

In math we really enjoyed visually and 

physically creating equivalent fractions 

using objects in the classroom, Fraction 

Stax, tiles, and cubes, as well as pictures 

to learn various math/fraction concepts. 

10

LITTLEFIELD MIDDLE 

SCHOOL 

Employees of the 

Month 

Mrs. Cindi Humphrey, our 

Media Specialist, was selected 

as Certified Employee for 

February. She has been at 

Littlefield for 15 years. Mrs. 

Humphrey is an invaluable 

employee to Littlefield Middle 

School. Oh sure, there’s the 

“Caped Crusader” and the 

“Man of Steel”, but if you’re 

battling a last minute media 

need or facing a major 

technology glitch, it’s 

Littlefield’s “Webmaster”, Cindi 

Humphrey, that you need. 

While those other guys are out 

playing with trains and joking 

around with their rivals in 

Revlon, she’s coming to the 

rescue and saving the day. 

With everything from webcasts 

to Channel One broadcasts, 

from coaching cheerleaders to 

coordinating after-school 

tutoring and Saturday 

Academy, and on to bravely 

fighting one of our fiercest foes 

in the Battle of the books, she 

leaves all of us mere mortals 

wondering, “How does she do 

it” For 15 years, she’s been 

our beloved hero, and now 

she’s our certified employee of 

the month at Littlefield Middle. 

Mr. Stephen Sellers, our 

ISS Coordinator, was selected 

as our Classified Employee 

for February. He has been at 

Littlefield for 6 years. If LMS 

was a basketball team, Mr. 

Sellers would be skillfully 

playing all the positions. He 

serves as a “guard” for the 

development of our students 

and our community, providing 

team sports opportunities for 

5th -8th graders after school 

and on Saturdays. In addition 

to sharing his coaching 

expertise, he helps “center” 

students by imparting his 

wisdom, inspiring and 

mentoring a host of students 

on our campus. He keeps us 

moving “forward”, sharing his 

positive attitude and uplifting 

spirit with young and old alike. 

For 6 years, Mr. Sellers, our ISS 

Coordinator, has helped our 

youth succeed in the games of 

football and basketball, but 

more importantly in the game 

of life. We’re proud to honor 

Coach Stephen Sellers as our 

Classified Employee of the 

month and our MVP for life. 

Please join us in 

welcoming our newest faculty 

members whom have joined us 

for the second semester. A big 

Littlefield welcome goes out to 

Mrs. Mari Parker, 7th grade 

Language Arts; Mr. Scott 

Lindsey, 7th grade Social 

Studies; and Mr. Wyvis 

Oxendine, 8th grade Social 

Studies. Welcome aboard! 

The LMS Hornet Girls’ 

Basketball team led by 

dedicated Coach Meekins 

worked very hard to become 

the 2013 Robeson County 

Middle School Girls’ 

Basketball Champions. Their 

teamwork, dedication and 

good sportsmanship paid off. 

Thanks to Coach Meekins and 

the team: Jimmia Stephens, 

Sierra Foley, Jada Stewart, 

Trinity McBryde, Sequoia 

McMillian, Gia Williams, 

London Thompson, Mariah 

Pratt, Alysia Patel, Kadesia 

Davis, Destiny Hardin, and 

Taylor Smith we brought home 

the trophy. Way to go girls! 

On February 28, 2013, 

Littlefield was honored to 

present the school’s annual 

Black History Program. 

Students were chosen to 

conduct the ceremony. The 

students were Jontarius Cain, 

Naseem Singletary, Jeremy Hill, 

Jamari Pratt, Maurice Rogers, 

Jimmia Stephens, Aubrey 

Savannah, Gia Williams, Laila 

Jackson, Gabrielle Richardson, 

Ron Jefferson, Tasiana 

Locklear-Gibson, and Jazmine 

Minter. The school was also 

honored that Mr. John Wayne 

Robinson, a Lumberton City 

Councilman was the guest 

speaker. The program was 

AWESOME thanks to the 

students and our own Mrs. 

Humphrey. Mrs. Humphrey 

took time out of her busy 

schedule to ensure that we had 

a program that was a huge 

success. 

We would like to 

congratulate Alliyah Thompson, 

an 8th grader at LMS, for 

winning the Littlefield and the 

PSRC Job Shadowing Portfolio 

Contest. Alliyah was 

recognized at a luncheon at 

The 

Pinecrest 

Country 

Club and 

was 

rewarded 

with a 

$100.00 

cash card. 

Alliyah 

was also 

the LMS 

portfolio 

winner and 

received a $50.00 cash card. 

Alliyah job shadowed Detective 

Jerry Kinlaw at the Lumberton 

Police Department. The 

multimedia project submitted 

by Alliyah was awesome! Way 

to go Alliyah! 

Jr. Beta Club wins in 

Greensboro 

The Littlefield Middle 

School chapter of the Jr. Beta 

Club put their hearts into 

sacrificing long hours on 

fundraising efforts, as well as 

practice and preparation for 

their respective competitions. 

We sent 33 delegates to the 

2013 State Jr. Beta Club 

Convention. Their efforts paid 

off when they returned as 

champions in two categories. 

A group of our 6th graders 

placed 2nd in the state in the 

Multimedia competition. This 

group included: Sarah Leviere, 

Sarah McVicker, Tasiana 

Locklear, Destiny Coe, and 

Lauren Parker. Another 6th 

grader, Haven Brit, placed 3rd 

in the state for the Essay 

competition. These two wins 

earned these girls an invitation 

to compete at the National level 

in Alabama in June. Awesome 

job Jr. Beta Club! 

11

Lumberton Junior High School 

Coach Ted White is a 7th/8th 

Physical Ed/Health Teacher at LJHS. 

He has been in this profession for 18 

years and all 18 of those years have 

been at LJHS. Coach White earned 

his BS Degree in Physical Education 

and his Master Degree in Education 

at UNCP. Coach White is married to 

Toni White and they have two 

children; Zachary and Madison. In 

his spare time, he enjoys hunting 

and sports. 

Ms. Janiece Morant is a Long Term 

Substitute Teacher at LJHS. She has 

been in this profession for 1 year and 

that year has been at LJHS. Ms. 

Morant has a BA in Business-AIU 

Online. Ms. Morant has three 

children; Sorretta Oliver, Lynette 

Oliver and Damani Bordeaux. In her 

spare time, she enjoys shopping, and 

spending time with her children. 

Vicky Liu is a seventh grade student 

at LJHS and is 12 years old. She is 

the daughter of Yan Zhen Zheng and 

He Hai Liu. She is member of the 

LJHS Orchestra Club, Beta Club and 

has previously won the 

Left to Right: 

Coach Ted White, Janiece Morant, Vicky Liu & Kevin Lozano-Pena 

superintendent’s award. Her plans 

for the future are to become a 

biologist. In her spare time, she 

enjoys spending time in art and 

music. 

Kevin Lozano-Pena is an eighth 

grade student at LJHS and is 14 

years old. He is the son of Pablo 

Flores and Maria Reyna. His plans 

for the future are to become a 

professional soccer player. In his 

spare time, he enjoys playing soccer. 

Long 

Branch 

We had some great parent 

volunteers come in a read also! 

! 

Dr. Seuss’ friend 

Thing One stopped by for 

a visit! 

The Cat in the Hat 

stopped by to read to 

the students on 

March 1 st ! 

! 

12

Black History Month Event Honors Authors 

at Lumberton Senior High 

Authors are all 

Educators 

Students at Lumberton Senior High 

School were given a chance to see 

history at they listened to three local 

African American authors today. The 

three authors were Demetria Grissett, 

Former State House Representative 

Frances Cummings and Elizabeth 

Marie Sanders. Grissett's is an 

educator and she wrote In Sickness 

and Health. Frances Cummings book 

is The Girl That Never Quit. Sanders 

is also an educator who published 2 

books – To Know Avail and 

Blindsided. Students listened to the 

authors as they told their stories of 

their lives and their road to 

publication. 9th grader Justin Lewis 

said the presentation was profound 

as he heard Frances Cummings 

describe being the first minority 

educator to teach at Lumberton 

Senior High School before 

integration. "It was important to hear 

about what they went through 

and what inspired them to write their 

books. School library Coordinator 

Constance Campbell welcomed and 

coordinated the second annual 

program. 

Dee Grissett: In Sickness and in Health 

This Baltimore native worked for eighteen years in 

the business world (Financial Aid Counselor) prior 

to entering the Public Schools of Robeson County in 

2005. She is currently the Career and Technical 

Education Coordinator for the Public Schools of 

Robeson County. She previously served as the 

Career Development Coordinator and Special 

Populations Coordinator at Fairmont High School in 

Fairmont, North Carolina. She was also the advisor 

for the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS), 

he School Webmaster, and Teacher Cadet Advisor. 

Pictured L- R are Dee Grissett, Louise Odom, 

Frances Cummings, Dr. Johnny Hunt and 

Constance Campbell (not pictured E. Marie) 

E. Marie - Blind Sided 

E. Marie Sanders taught in the public school 

system for 12 years and has served as a youth 

pastor for the past 13 years, observing the habits 

of the age group she hoped to write for one day. 

Her first published book, To K(no)w Avail, won 

Favorite Book of the Year with From A Writer’s POV 

Magazine, and her second book, Blindsided, 

appeared on Amazon.com’s Contemporary Fiction 

Best Seller list. Presently, E. Marie is an English 

Instructor at Robeson Community College. 

Frances McArthur Cummings: The Girl 

Who Never Quit 

Is a native Robesonian who retired as an educatoradministrator 

from the Public Schools of Robeson 

County.Cummings started her career as a master 

classroom teacher serving twenty-three years in 

Education. During Cummings outstanding career in 

public education she was a visionary leader for 

education, students, and educators, having 

integrated the Lumberton High School as the first 

black teacher elected as Teacher of the Year, and 

selected as Outstanding Young Educator by the 

Jaycees. 

Cummings is the Former State Representative in 

the NC House – District 87, Robeson, Hoke and 

Scotland counties. The first and only female of 

Robeson County to serve in the General Assembly 

during 1993-1996. 

13

Lumberton High School 

Lumberton High School 

ProStart students competed 

in a cheesecake bake-off 

on Friday, February 08, 2013 

in their classroom. The class 

was divided into four groups 

to create a New York Style 

Cheesecake, Chocolate 

Espresso Cheesecake with 

Ganache, Strawberry Hot 

Fudge Cheesecake, and 

Pumpkin Cheesecake. The 

students demonstrated mi 

sen place skills and 

garnishing techniques. The 

winning team members were 

Patricia Alvarado and 

Keanna McNeill with their 

Strawberry Hot Fudge 

Cheesecake. Judges were 

Sherry Odom, LaFayette 

Barnes, and Shandora 

Chavis. Instructor is Rose 

Freeman. 

Seniors Daniel Harper 

and Walter Patterson are 

working on research projects 

that will be submitted for the 

UNCP regional science fair 

on February 16th. 

Science Olympiad team 

members are building, 

studying and practicing their 

events for the regional 

tournament which will be 

held on the campus of 

Fayetteville Technical 

Community College on 

February 23rd. 

Quinton Smith won the 

2013 Southeastern Regional 

Healthcare Red Dress 

Awareness Event. This 

event recognizes heart 

awareness in women. 2012 

winner was James Jones, 

12. Instructor is Scottie 

Thompson. 

Mrs. Bean's 4th period 

Discrete Math class 

conducted surveys about 

favorite type of food and 

favorite type of music. After 

completing the survey, each 

group created Venn diagrams 

and presented their findings 

to the class. Good job 4th 

period! iPad Rolls out for 

Freshmen and Sophomores 

February has been a very 

busy month for Technology 

Services at LHS. Freshmen, 

sophomores as well as 

juniors and seniors have 

been checking out iPads and 

Macbooks left and right. 

Students are realizing and 

appreciating the ease of 

technology use in the 

classroom. Students as well 

as teachers have been 

adjusting to the huge influx 

of apps and software use to 

do more with activities and 

assignments that would have 

been normally submitted on 

thousands of papers. 

Currently over 1000 iPads 

and Macbooks have been 

distributed at LHS. 

Lumberton High School’s 

Future Business Leaders of 

America club has been very 

active lately from helping in 

the community to 

working within the 

organization. FBLA 

students attended the 

National Fall 

Leadership 

Conference in 

Charlotte, NC where 

participants learned 

valuable leadership 

qualities over a course 

of three days. Several 

members also entered 

in the FBLA regional 

competition in 

Fayetteville where 

they were successful, 

having three 

contestants advance to the 

upcoming State FBLA 

competition. Participants 

included Bryer Hunt (2nd in 

Future Business Leader), 

Ralph Horne, Pedro Garcia, 

Juan Hernandez, Haylea 

Kirkland (2nd in Business 

Communications), Kadaisha 

Williams, and Olivia 

Spaulding (3rd in 

Accounting). FBLA is also 

currently involved in helping 

the community through the 

Teddy Bear for Kids project 

still. The club is collecting 

new and gently used stuffed 

animals to distribute to 

children involved in domestic 

issue, house fires, and other 

tragic events. FBLA with the 

help of DECA is also 

planning an upcoming talent 

show to raise funds to cover 

expenses for students 

competing in the NCFBLA 

State Leadership Conference 

in April. For more 

information about Lumberton 

High School’s FBLA 

program, you can e-mail Ms. 

Jennifer Hunt at 

jennifer.hunt@robeson.k12.nc 

.us. 

14

Orrum Middle School 

Orrum Middle School's Battle of 

the Books team has been preparing 

for competition to be held March 6th 

at Lumberton Junior High School. The 

team is coached 

by Elizabeth 

Berteotti, Media 

Specialist at the 

school. This 

program is for 

middle school 

students, grades 

6-8. Students at 

participating schools read books from 

a list established by the state Battle of 

the Books committee, and then 

compete in quiz-bowl-style 

tournaments to test their knowledge of 

these books. 

Orrum Middle School's PTO has 

been very busy. A Valentine's Day 

dance was held on February 15th. 

Students who participated were able 

to purchase a drink and snack to raise 

money for celebratory incentives. 

The School Counseling Program 

at Orrum Middle was excited to 

participate in Read Across America 

Week. On Friday, March 1 Mrs. Tonya 

Locklear, School Counselor from 

Fairmont High School came to speak 

with the 8th grade about their high 

school transition. They learned about 

future classes, registration, importance 

of academics, and attendance in high 

school. The student's received handouts 

about the course of study for 

them to follow and learned how to use 

the counselor's website at Fairmont 

High School. The 8th grade student's 

also had the chance to hear from Beta 

Club student's and their experience's 

at Fairmont High School with a 

question and answer session. The 

student's were engaged and excited 

to learn more about their upcoming 

opportunities at Fairmont High School. 

They will be registering for their 9th 

grade classes on March 23! 

Orrum Middle School AIG 

students have been working diligently 

in the areas of reading and math to 

enrich their classroom experiences. 

Reading students have been studying 

the poetry of Emily Dickinson in order 

to decipher the written text of 

metaphorical poems. These students 

have also been making text to self 

connections by relating this poetry to 

the demands of their own lives. Math 

students have been using the "Hands 

on Equations" approach to simplify 

algebraic 

expressions 

and defining 

functions/ 

relationships. 

Fran 

Bauguess, 

Exceptional 

Children's teacher retired March 1st 

after 31 years of service with the 

Public Schools of Robeson County. A 

retirement celebration was held in 

which the retirees family and friends 

attended bringing gifts and offering a 

heartfelt farewell. 

Black History month was marked 

with celebrations across campus. 

Students researched famous African 

Americans and participated in daily 

"What's the Answer" competitions. 

This months activities was culminated 

by a school wide assembly in which 

South Robeson's Honor Guard and 

Choral Team performed. Chief Mike 

McNeil offered words of wisdom and 

encouragement to an eager audience. 

The Positive Action program 

here at Orrum Middle School gave 

students the opportunity to participate 

in a sponsored writing and drawing 

contest for the month of February 

2013. The contest theme was: What 

can you do with Positive Action to deal 

with peer pressure. The Positive 

Action team selected six winners from 

6 th graders, six winners from 7 th 

graders and six winners from the 8 th 

graders from the Robeson County 

Middle Schools for a total of 18 

winners. Please join us in 

congratulating Joshua Ramirez, one of 

Ms. Jacobs’ 8th grade students here 

at Orrum, as the 2nd place art winner 

for 8 th grade. 

Thirteen schools in Robeson 

County receive the Positive Action 

curriculum to Prevent Youth Violence. 

15

Pembroke 

Elementary School 

Teacher Honored 

with Tree Planting 

All across the nation, classes 

celebrated Dr. Seuss birthday during 

the month of February with all kinds of 

tributes to the author. For one class in 

the Public Schools of Robeson 

County, the last week of February was 

especially difficult as their teacher died 

unexpectedly on Saturday. Syvetra 

Armstrong was a beloved third grade 

teacher at Pembroke Elementary 

School. 

On February 27th, Pembroke 

Elementary School Principal Tona 

Jacobs and Rita Locklear (Indian 

Education Director) read Dr. Seuss’s 

book The Lorax to Armstrong's class. 

The students were all dressed in the 

pajamas as the school celebrated with 

a different Seuss themed attire for 

each day this week. Written on the 

board behind the book readers was 

Mrs. Armstrong’s last instruction to her 

class. The students sat attentively 

listening to the Dr. Seuss book. The 

Lorax has strong environmental 

themes regarding deforestation and air 

and water pollution. After reading the 

book, Mrs. Syvetra's 3rd grade class 

planted a tree in her honor at the rear 

entrance of the school. Each student 

scooped up handfuls of dirt to put 

around the new sappling. The Red 

Maple was donated by Pembroke 

Hardware to the school. The young 

mother of four was laid to rest 

February 27th. 

REMEMBERED 

Tree 

Planting for 

Mrs. 

Armstrong 

Mrs. Armstrong is 

survived by her 

husband, Marshall 

“Marty” Armstrong; 

three sons, Tyler Ryan 

Armstrong, Cameron 

Chase Armstrong, and 

Andrew Brent Armstrong, 

all of the home; a 

daughter, Miss Lacey 

Marie Armstrong of the 

home 

16

PARKTON 

ELEMENTARY 

On March 5 th , 2013 Parkton’s 

5 th Graders were visited by 

two of Fayetteville’s FireAntz 

members. They came to read 

to the grade level and answer 

questions. 

SPELLING 

GREAT! 

On March 7th, 2013 Conner 

Leach was announced the 

winner of Robeson County’s 

2012-2013 Spelling Bee held 

at Pembroke Elementary. 

Parkton Bruins are proud of 

Conner, WAY TO GO Conner 

Leach! 

Pembroke Elementary 

On February 19th and 20th our 

fourth and fifth graders had a very 

special visitor. Mr. Jose 

Hernandez, Gang Detective for the 

Robeson County Sheriffs 

Department, came to speak with our 

students about the importance of 

being good students and choosing our 

friends wisely. Mr. Jose shared some 

his life experieces with our students 

and educated them about some things 

that they should be aware of that is 

going on in our area. Mr. Jose ended 

his message by showing our students a 

music video with these lyrics "I know I 

can, Be what i wanna be, if I work hard 

School 

at it, I'll be where I wanna be. A big 

thanks to Mr. Jose. You really inspired 

our students to be the best they can 

be! 

Pre-K has been busy learning 

alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors. 

We visited Lowe’s Food to learn 

about and taste various healthy foods. 

We had a great time at the UniverSoul 

circus. The children saw many 

animals, a magic show and acrobats. 

We celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday 

with different activities including A Cat 

in the Hat snack and guest readers. 

17

Peterson Elementary 

The Pre-K classroom have been 

having so much fun but learning 

through it all. A lot of our learning 

takes places through hands on 

experiences and teaching our 

students to be observant through the 

learning process. Our literacy focus 

this was on the book Chick-a Chick-a 

Boom Boom. The students made 

coconut trees and put the letters of 

their names on tree. So many of our 

students have made progress in 

learning the letters in their names. 

One activity we have been working 

on the letter S and it phonemic 

sound so in our sand/water table we 

put a magic grow snake in it. The 

longer you leave the magic grow 

snake in the water the more it grows 

and our students are very eager to 

measure its growth each day. So 

while working on letters we are 

becoming aware of numbers and how 

to measure. In the art center 

students were given the opportunity 

to make snakes and as some 

students were engaged in there 

activity they were able to tell you 

what letter snake started with as 

well as the sound. 

The guidance department at 

Peterson has partnered with Ms. 

Jessica Drake and her team of 

volunteers and mentors to conduct a 

six-week program for second 

through fourth grade students on 

Bullying. The team meets with the 

students on Tuesdays and Thursdays 

during their classroom guidance 

resource time. The goal of the 

administration and the school 

counselor is for the program to help 

provide intervention and prevention 

strategies against bullying. 

Peterson Elementary School 

partnered with Southeastern Heart 

Center, Southeastern Health 

Cardiopulmonary 

Within Daily Five, Peterson fourth 

graders are delving into non-fiction 

informational text to research 

animal adaptations. They are 

learning the art of outlining their 

research. In collaboration with art 

teacher, our students are creating 

habitats out of gallon milk jugs. The 

milk jugs serve as one of many 

invaluable tools within our study of 

the customary and metric systems. 

In February, the second grade 

celebrated the hundredth day of 

school. Students chose the way they 

wished to show one hundred, and we 

received some very creative 

projects. We also celebrated Black 

History Month by learning about 

African Americans who have 

contributed in some way to our 

society. Students also created some 

wonderful projects to show what 

they had learned. 

On Friday, April 5th at 7 pm, the Robeson Planetarium and Science Center presents Galileo: The Power of the Telescope. This program 

celebrates the life and achievements of Galileo. We follow that up with an observing session (weather permitting) on the lawn outside the 

planetarium. This is a part of the statewide NC Science Festival. Admission is free and the program is suitable for ages 3+. 

The Robeson Planetarium and Science Center is located at 420 Caton Road in Lumberton, NC. 

Our phone number is 910-735-2148, and the contact email for Director Ken Brandt, is kenneth.brandt@robeson.k12.nc.us 

For more information about the North carolina Science Festival, go to: http://www.ncsciencefestival.org/ 

18

Piney Grove Elementary School 

4th Grade had been really 

busy the past few months. We 

recently took a trip to Fort 

Fisher. We had a wonderful 

time looking at marine life. 

When we left Fort Fisher, we 

had a wonderful lunch at 

Chuckee Cheese. 

Now we are working hard 

with Common Core. The 

benchmark is coming in a few 

weeks and we hope that all the 

hard work pays off with high 

scores. Our students have also 

learned a lot about Black 

History. Our school had two 

programs this month and the 

students learned from each of 

them. 

Our 5th grade team is 

proud to announce Kaitlyn Wilt 

as the District Award winner for 

an essay contest. She then 

moved on to win the chapter 

level. Congrats Kaitlyn! For 

Language Arts, students are 

busy working on art projects, 

creating carvings/ sculptures. 

For math we are full of 

enthusiasm for fractions with 

models! Science is finishing up 

food chains/ food webs along 

with describing interactions of 

various populations in 

ecosystems. Our Social 

Studies department is busy 

working on their constitution 

bug and learning more about 

our nation’s rich history. We 

recently took a trip to the crown 

coliseum to watch “Freedom 

Train” for Black History Month. 

After our experience learning 

more about Harriet Tubman 

and the Underground Railroad, 

we then enjoyed a nice lunch at 

Grandson’s. Students are in 

deep preparation for 

improvement on the next 

Discovery Benchmark tests. 

Good Luck to everyone! 

Finally, Congratulations to our 

5th grade choir and band for 

their performance during our 

Black History Program and 

PTO. 

-Justin Dial, Rose Clark, 

Cynthia Hammonds, and 

Angela Nicole 

Oxendine 

2nd and 3rd 

grade 

students 

participated in 

the first 2nd 

and 3rd grade 

Battle of the 

Books 

competition. 

We were very 

proud of our 

students. 

Next, our 

school 

celebrated 

Read across 

America and 

Dr. Seuss with 

a week of 

activity. From 

eating green 

eggs and 

ham, to 

dressing 

wacky, 

students 

Dr. Seuss CAT IN THE HAT 

DAY 

learned to associate reading 

with fun! Lastly, on March 7, 

we held our sixth BBs (Books 

and Brownies) Social. Students 

are striving to increase their 

reading levels! We like to 

welcome our Kindergarten 

students to our BBs event! Go 

Pioneers! 

Piney Grove’s science 

club is working diligently on 

another fundraiser to prepare 

for their field trip to Marble’s 

Science Museum in Raleigh, 

NC. We have enjoyed working 

together this year conducting 

exciting and new experiments, 

maintaining our compost bin, 

taking a trip to Fascinate-U 

museum, and dissecting owl 

pellets. Students are becoming 

more enthused about science 

and are learning about the 

physical world around us! 

Piney Grove Beta Club 

has some exciting news. We 

are proud to say that we have 

raised over a $1000 dollars for 

Leukemia research for children 

in North Carolina. We are also 

going on a weekend trip to 

Washington DC in March. We 

plan to visit the White House 

and the Capitol. It will be a life 

learning experience for our 5th 

and 6th graders. 

The month of February has 

been busy for Piney Grove's 

Choir! All choir students are 

working on the upcoming 

spring concert, which will be 

held in May. They will be 

singing a variety of music that 

ranges from the 70's to the 

present. Fifth grade choir 

performed at February's PTO 

singing "Oh Won't You Sit 

Down" with soloist Shayna 

Tyler. Second grade did a 

fantastic job at their 

performance at the Black 

History Program. They sang 

"Oh Won't You Sit Down" and 

"Nobody Knows the Trouble 

I've Seen". Also at the Black 

History Program, music 

teacher Ms. Kelsey Cummings 

performed "Maple Leaf 

Rag" by Scott Joplin on the 

piano. Everyone did an 

AWESOME job! 

The media center has 

had a busy month so far! We 

have had our spring 

bookfair, BBs (Books and 

Brownies) for AR and 

celebrated Dr. Seuss! It has 

been a great month for 

BOOKS! 

Dr. Seuss’ Field Day 

19

PROSPECT 

ELEMENTARY 

We would like to congratulation Mrs. 

Lezlie and Mrs. Winifred for being chosen 

as Teacher and Teacher Assistant of the 

Year! 

Our 2nd grade students worked on 

cereal boxes decorated with facts about 

George Washington Carver, which they 

learned from reading the story, “A Weed is 

a Flower”. 6th grade 

students also worked 

on their Black 

History research 

projects on the 

contributions 

and legacy of 

WWII’s 761 Tank 

Battalion, the first 

all black tank unit to 

see combat. The 761st helped liberate 

more than 30 towns under Nazi control. 

Eighth Grade students have Job 

Shadowing this month. Students choose a 

career field and role model to shadow on 

that day. They really enjoyed it and learned 

a lot from this experience. 

Prospect School celebrated 

Valentine’s Day with a school wide PBIS 

incentive. The Art Club sold Valentine 

Candy-Grams, which included a lollipop 

and a special note to someone special. 

Students across the campus have 

exhibited positive behavior and they 

were rewarded with a social on 

Valentine’s Day. 

Our students showed how much they 

appreciated their school bus drivers 

this month. They created personalized 

cards to give them on Valentine’s Day. 

The 1st grade teachers and students 

are happy to welcome Mrs. Desiree 

Brayboy and Ms. Sabrina Demery to the 

Prospect School Family. They will be 

working as Teacher Assistants. We are 

excited to have these ladies join our team. 

Prospect Chinese Exhibit 

20

Robeson Early College says goodbye to Dr. Chrestman 

and hello to the next generation 

Dr. Chrestman was honored with a 

going away ice cream social by 

Robeson Early college students 

and staff February 26. Mr. Russell 

Scott (left) and SGA President 

Evan Floyd (right) gave several 

words of thanks and gratitude on 

behalf of the students and staff of 

ECHS to Dr. Chrestman for the 

years of help and support he has 

shown as we ventured into 

unfamiliar territories. Also 

commenting on Dr. Chrestmans 

support of ECHS was Mrs. Sheila 

Gasque, Principal of ECHS. 

When asked if he was packed up 

and ready to go Dr. Chrestman 

replied “I’m packed up and ready 

to fly.” Dr. Chrestman has been a 

tremendous source of support 

and encouragement to the 

students and staff at Early 

College. It was hard to hold back 

the tears as we said goodbye to a 

man, who to us, was a great 

person, a great friend, and a great 

source of help and inspiration. 

Pictured below Mr. Josh Oxendine 

(left), Early College 13 th year 

student was the first student to 

receive the first ever Presidential 

scholarship from Robeson 

Community College. Also 

pictured below (right), Mr. Harvey 

Strong, Director for Technology at 

RCC, Enrique Sagredo Es. (center) 

and Everette B. Teal (right) ECHS 

students were presenters at the 

RCC Advanced Manufacturing 

Professional Development. It was 

amazing to see how many NC 

Community Colleges also house 

Early Colleges and to learn that 

our students are and want to be a 

part of something so great. 

RUSSELL SCOTT, DR. 

CHRESTMAN AND SGA 

PRESIDENT EVAN FLOYD 

ECHS STUDENTS PRESENT 

JOSH OXENDINE 

Career Center Students Compete in SkillsUSA Conference 

On Friday, March 1, several of our Career Center students attended and competed in The Region IV 

SkillsUSA Conference at FTCC. All of our students attending represented our school and county in a most 

respectful and dignified manner. Region IV consist of 12 counties surrounding Robeson County. Fayetteville 

Tech was an excellent host. 

Rufo Garcia, a Networking student placed first in the Inter-networking Contest. Cameron Woods and his 

brother Kyle Woods, finished first and second respectively in the Residential Wiring Contest. Alejandro Cortez 

and James McCall finished first and second in the Welding Contest. Morris Currie, competed in the Carpentry 

contest and competed at a high level with more than 10 contestants in the contest. Harvey Manor placed 

fourth in the Computer Maintenance Technology competition 

In April, these students along with several others will be attending the NC SkillsUSA State Conference where 

more than 2000 high school students will compete in more than130 events that include Leadership and Skilled 

competitions. Industry persons, along with colleges from across the Southeast United States will be in 

Greensboro to view these young people performing at an unbelievable level of expertise and knowledge. 

SkillsUSA provides the engine that students can propel themselves into a very successful future, whether at a 

higher learning facility, or in the world of work. SkillsUSA, along with Trade and Industry curriculums, equip 

students with 21st Century skills that will ensure all of us that tomorrow's leaders will be well equipped with the 

skills America needs. Skills USA-"Champions at Work"... 

21

ROSENWALD 

ELEMENTARY 

Rosenwald celebrated Black 

History Month by learning songs and 

reading about famous African 

Americans in history. Third and fourth 

grade students also performed a 

dance. 

Kindergarten went on a field trip 

to the circus. Students were able to 

see exciting events that included 

acrobats, animals, and clowns. 

Kobe Bullock is in Mrs. Freida Diaz 

First Grade Class. He was featured 

as the artist of the day on Color the 

Weather. 

21st Century Tutoring 

program held a parent night that 

consisted of student performances 

and a workshop for parents. The 

workshop was focused on Common 

Core and how to help your child 

prepare for the EOG. Dinner was 

served afterwards for parents and 

students. 

Read Across America was 

celebrated throughout the entire week 

by having a different Dr. Seuss book 

each day. On Friday, we celebrated 

Dr. Seuss’ birthday by having cake, 

the staff wore Read Across America t- 

shirts, and students were asked to 

wear a birthday hat. 

Parents, community 

members, 

grandparents, 

staff, and 

Fairmont 

Middle 

School 

Junior Beta 

Club visited different classrooms to 

read their favorite Dr. Sues book. We 

also had a visit from The Cat in the Hat 

who went to each classroom and 

spoke to the students about Dr. Seuss. 

! 

Congratulations to Aiyanna 

Montanez Silva, Third Grader in Mrs. 

Emily Jackson’s class for winning First 

Place in the Public Schools of Robeson 

County Spelling Bee Third Grade 

Division. We are proud of all the 

“Dino”-mite Dinosaurs who represented 

our school from Second through Fourth 

Grade. 

Students are excited that Ms. Erica 

is starting art classes. We are also 

discussing “In like a lion out like a 

lamb.” How March comes in rough and 

windy and April comes in calm. In 

kindergarten, we have a Leprechaun on 

the loose and all the students are trying 

to find him from all the trails he has left. 

First Grade is finishing our study of 

life cycles. We have investigated frogs, 

! 

butterflies, and chickens. We loved 

exploring all the changes they go 

through. We are having fun being 

creative learners! Our studies on the 

seasons have us hungry for Spring. 

Even though the weather did not always 

cooperate, we flew kites to see how the 

air affects them. It is fascinating to 

know that something we can't even see 

can affect us. 

Our curriculum Fair was a great 

success! The Second Grade 

classroom projects and individual 

projects were colorful, well thought out, 

and displayed great effort on the part of 

the students. We enjoyed looking at the 

bright ideas of the other students. 

We are continuing to work diligently 

every day to show growth in all areas. 

We have completed our Mid-year Math 

Assessment, Writing Tests, and 

Accelerated Math Tests. 

Third Graders are really getting 

into the spirit of Spring! We are getting 

ready to begin our Plant Growth and 

Development unit and have already 

planted our cabbages. We can’t wait to 

see how enormous they grow! We have 

also set up a worm bin to help us 

Rowland-Norment 

Elementary 

harvest compost for our plants. At the 

end of our unit, we will travel to 

Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia to observe 

and learn about several different plant 

species on display there. 

The Fourth Grade is working on 

some exciting Curriculum Fair projects. 

Mrs. Bristol's class came in first place 

and Mrs. Huggins’ class came in 

second. Students enjoyed making 

these projects and learning about 

various curriculum areas. We visited 

the Planetarium. We enjoyed mining 

for different types of rocks and taking 

samples back to the classroom to use 

for classification. 

! 

22

Rowland Middle School 

Linda Dial, 6 th grade ELA teacher, 

coordinated a President’s Day Birthday 

Celebration. Pictured left to right: Linda 

Dial, Bonnie Rogers (Media Specialist), 

Seth Chavis, Kelsey Chavis, Kenzie Lewis, 

Nytia Lewis, James Hampton, Andrew 

Hampton and Brenda Fairley-Ferebee 

(PSRC Board Member) 

The 6th grade students 

held a “Red, White & Blue 

Birthday Party” for the United 

States Presidents on 

February 28th, 2013. After 

the PowerPoint presentations 

everyone enjoyed cake, ice 

cream, and punch. Ms. 

Baker's science students are 

experimenting with waves, 

sound, and light. Students 

are getting to use convex 

and concave mirrors and 

light to project images that 

seem to be closer than they 

really are. Bottles and tubes 

have also been used to 

experiment with sound pitch 

and slinkies to demonstrate 

waves. 

The 7th Grade students 

are learning fun new ways to 

incorporate math into their 

daily lives using the new 

Common Core curriculum 

with the guidance of Ms. 

McBryde. Students are also 

becoming more astute to 

scientific discovery and the 

processes of the scientific 

method, with the guidance of 

Ms. Bullard. Mr. 

Gilliland and Mr. 

Nunnery continue 

to use crosscurricular 

activities 

that amalgamate 

history and English 

into an exciting 

curriculum that all 

students can 

connect with. 

Congratulations to 

the 8th grade students who 

participated in this year’s 

Groundhog Job Shadow Day 

on Feb. 1st. Rowland 

Middle’s top portfolio 

belonged to Kayanna 

McCallum, who job 

shadowed a Scotland 

Memorial Hospital Intensive 

Care Unit (ICU) secretary. 

Kayanna will receive a $50 

Visa gift card. 8th grade 

students also went on a high 

school tour at South 

Robeson, which was led by 

the High School’s Teacher 

Cadets. 

Rowland Middle School’s 

PTSA along with the Town of 

Rowland hosted a Super 

Bowl viewing party on 

February 3rd for its students, 

the community and the staff. 

The school and the PTSA 

provided drinks, snacks, and 

dinner for everyone in 

attendance – not to mention 

the delicious purple and gold 

cupcakes that were served. 

We were all so proud of our 


alumnus--Vontá Leach and 

his team, the Baltimore 

Ravens, for their win. 

The 2013 Homecoming 

was in epic proportion. In 

addition, we were able to 

train our students in 

communication skills by 

allowing each of them to 

engage with visitors and 

dignitaries at this wonderful 

event. On game day faculty 

and students participated in 

festivities such as tacky day, 

twin day, and celebrity day. 

Our Homecoming Court 

did an excellent job 

representing Rowland 

Middle. Jakayla Blue and 

Jared Morgan were crowned 

as queen and king for the 

2012-2013 year. Hats off to 

the faculty, parents and 

students for an outstanding 

homecoming! 


held its 2nd Nine Weeks 

Academic Achievement 

Award’s Program on 

February 8th. The students 

were recognized for their 

hard work, citizenship, and 

outstanding achievement in 

the classroom. In addition, 

several students received 

certificates for being 

positive role models from 

the PBIS program. The 

highlight of the program 

was the “Principal’s 

Award.” This award is 

given, by Miss Wooten, 

to students who have 

shown exceptional 

leadership in the areas of 

academics, behavior, 

attendance, etc. 


celebrated Black History 

Month with a student 

assembly. South Carolina 

House of Representatives 

Terry Alexander spoke to 

students about the choices 

they make today and how it 

impacts their future. David 

Walker did a rendition of the 

"I Have a Dream" speech by 

Martin Luther King Jr. 

Students eagerly watched 

Fairmont High School’s 

Chorus, South Robeson High 

School’s Chorus and 

Drumline, UNCP dance 

student Trey Robinson. 


hosted its first annual Fun-N- 

Fit Math Night February 

26th. The math and 

exploratory teachers showed 

how they incorporate math 

into all classes on campus. 

Teachers, the school nurse 

and cafeteria manager 

explained to parents how 

they engage students by 

using best practices and the 

new Common Core State 

Standards. We had over 180 

parents and students to 

participate in this open 

house. We ended our Fun-N- 

Fit Night with a healthy meal. 

Pictured left to right: Rowland Middle 

School’s Media Center Specialist (Bonnie 

Rogers), Principal (Shanita Wooten) and 

ELA teacher (Helen Nygaard) join forces 

with Southside Ashepole Elementary 

School’s Principal (Dacia Bullard) and 

Media Specialist (Joy McCall) on Read 

Across America Day. Rowland Middle 

brought 8 th graders and 7 th graders to 

read to the younger students. 

23

St. Pauls Elementary 

February may have been a short 

month, but St. Pauls Elementary 

made sure that each and every day 

was full of new and exciting 

adventures in learning. 

Students and staff kicked off the 

month by showing that SPES has a 

heart for the community. Everyone 

worked diligently to find sponsors, 

raise money, and show off their math 

skills for the Annual St. Jude’s 

Math-A-Thon. 

Students have been reading diligently 

in our quest to read from St. Pauls, NC 

to St. Paul, MN. Every 25 books read 

by a student equals one mile of travel. 

Our goal is to travel to St. Paul, MN 

and return home in time for summer 

vacation. Students celebrated the 

fact that we arrived in Chicago, IL at 

the beginning of the month. Our 

Bullpup Readers are doing a fabulous 

job! 

Second and third graders stole the 

show with their performances and 

displays at the PTO Meeting. These 

students wowed parents, staff, and 

classmates with their celebration of 

Black History Month. They shared 

tributes to Martin Luther King, Jr. 

and shared spirituals and songs of the 

Civil Rights Movement. 

February 14th brought a sweet 

Valentine’s Day treat for the entire 

staff. Teachers were inspired by a 

visit from the North Carolina 

Teacher of the Year, Ms. Darcy 

Grimes. She shared tidbits of 

classroom wisdom and advice. Her 

greatest gift was reminding everyone 

to celebrate each student’s 

victories and the love of 

teaching. 

Backpacks continue to overflow 

with Bo’s Receipts, Box Tops, 

and Campbell’s Soup Labels as 

students continue to support 

efforts to raise money for the 

school. Students have already 

raised an additional $3500 

dollars for the school! There’s 

nothing like Bullpup Pride! 

Our STARS Tutorial and Enrichment 

Program is well under way for our 

3rd-5th graders. Students spend 45 

minutes engaged in intensive 

instruction, and another 45 minutes 

exploring hobbies, sports, and 

interests. Students look forward to 

Monday and Wednesday afternoons 

and a time of learning, growth, and 

engagement. 

Our month closed out with our 

Annual Black History Program. 

Students and staff from all grade 

levels paid tribute to the many 

African Americans, past and present 

who have worked tirelessly to make 

our world a better place for each of 

us. 

SOUTH 

ROBESON 

HIGH 

Students of the Month for the 

9th Grade Academy were chosen 

December and January. All students 

nominated were treated to afternoon 

snacks and the winners were given gift 

bags. The winners for December 

were: female - Kiana Locklear male - 

Jayquan Baker. For January: female - 

Martasia Glenn male - Christopher 

Locklear. 

The South Robeson band and 

chorus were very busy in the month of 

February. Band students Jessica McLean 

and Zack Stubbs were selected to 

participate in the 36th annual Honors 

Band at USC in Columbia, SC. They were 

among 465 students from 7 states to 

participate in the 4 day event. The 

chorus, band and drumline participated in 

the Black History Programs at Fairgrove 

Middle, Rowland Middle and South 

Robeson. 

The following band students were named 

to the Robeson County 2013 All County 

Band: Jamieia Adams, flute; Ellen Gibbs, 

clarinet; Jeremy Jones, bass clarinet; 

Jessica McLean, euphonium (1st chair); 

James Nixon, euphonium; and Zack 

Stubbs, snare drum (1st chair). 

Jessica McLean participated in the UNC- 

P Honors Jazz clinic with jazz 

saxophonist Ken Holgren on February 

23rd. Several band students participated 

in master classes with The Boston Brass 

at UNC-P on February 25th. Choral 

students Ellen Gibbs, Keyana Davis and 

Aquasia Smith participated in the UNC-P 

Honors Chorus on March 2nd. 

24

St. Pauls Middle School 

Students enjoyed dancing and 

entertainment on at Valentine’s Dance on 

February 15 in the school gymnasium. 

The students were beautifully dressed and 

enjoyed the great food. A photographer 

was present to provide lifetime pictures. 

Congratulation to Taylor Davis for the 

best Job Shadowing Porfolio. Taylor 

joined all the other 8th grade winners on 

February 22nd at Pinecrest Country Club 

along with her parents Mr. and Mrs. Davis. 

To celebrate Taylor's success, Taylor spent 

her Groundhog Day shadowing with an 

attorney in Lumberton. She plans to attend 

Duke University and practice law. Special 

thanks to all of our participants and the 

coordinators for all their hard work and 

providing such a great program. 

Parents, students, faculty and 

community came together for the SPMS 

annual C.A.R.E Night, an evening where 

people got to review curriculum and 

community resources available to them. 

Some of the vendors present where the 

SPMS PTO, Drug Awareness Council, and 

Social Services. Teachers provided 

information for parents encompassing their 

curricula and making themselves available 

to greet parents/family members and 

answer questions of concern. Parents 

also were invited to shop at the Scholastic 

Book Fair which profit will provide free 

books for students after earning 

Accelerated Reader Points. The evening 

culminated with a dinner that included 

main courses and desserts, all catered by 

a local Lumberton business. 

6th grade students traveled back in 

time to visit what was one of the areas 

only segregated schools. Students had 

an informative afternoon listening to 

speakers on the dangers of drugs and 

alcohol abuse, bullying, and conflict 

resolution. Raymond Martin, retired SPMS 

school teacher, was also in attendance 

and presented that day. 

The Battle of the Books team is 

working diligently reading, memorizing 

author and titles, and creating story maps 

of the 27 books listed on the North 

Carolina Book List. 

Sixth grade Science students 

have been working on a variety of life and 

environmental science experiments. 

Students have been working in 

cooperative teams creating BIOMES in A 

BAG! This project allowed students to see 

the carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles at 

work. They have also been creating and 

presenting projects dealing with food 

chains and webs. Mrs. Edwards is so 

proud of her young scientists. The annual 

St. Pauls Middle School Science Fair will 

be held April 15, 2013 in the school gym. 

Tanglewood Elementary 

2ND PLACE IN 

THE 2ND/3RD 

GRADE BOB 

COMPETITION 

WINNERS 

Moving For McDonald's, 

Tanglewood contributes 

paper goods to the 

Ronald McDonald House 

of Chapel Hill each year. 

Parents are invited to 

come see their child 

showcase PE skills and 

bring donated items. 

(Right) Henrietta Nance, 

PE teacher, Madi Britt, 

LHS Study Buddy and 

one of our kindergarten 

students cup-stacking 

with paper goods. 

Brotherhood Assembly 

A word singing in 

harmony. Photos 

showcase Flags of World 

and Cultural Dress. 

25

Union Elementary School 

! 

Union Elementary is 

Soaring Above and Beyond!! 

We are having a great year 

and our students continue 

to work hard. Union 

Elementary was recognized 

as a PBIS Green Ribbon 

School in Durham, NC. 

Union Elementary 

hosted a “Seuss-A- 

Bration” to celebrate Dr. 

Seuss’ birthday on March 1, 

2013. We had several 

activities that the students 

and staff really enjoyed. 

The Union Elementary 

Junior Beta Club donated 

$102.10 to the Ronald 

McDonald House from our 

“Jugs of Love” tab and 

aluminum can drive 

collection. We are thankful 

that we are able to help 

those in need. 

Pre-K is busy at work, 

learning and having fun. We 

when to Raleigh NC. To the 

UniversSoul Circus the 

students ready enjoyed their 

experiment .The students 

also my clown and talk 

about how they enjoyed the 

circus!!!! 

! 

Kinder"garden" has 

bloomed. The boys and girls 

have learned the alphabet 

and beginning sounds and 

are reading leveled readers. 

We are writing numbers to 

100 and decomposing 

numbers to 10. We have 

learned our kindergarten 

words and are even 

learning to recognize some 

of the first grade words. We 

are excited about beginning 

our Spring unit. We will learn 

all about insects and will 

even experiment with 

planting seeds and 

watching the seeds grow 

into plants. We are 

"hopping" our way to first 

grade. 

Second graders are 

learning about embryology. 

Each second grade class 

has an incubator set up in 

the classroom with 12 eggs 

inside. The students are 

responsible for rotating the 

eggs and keeping water in 

them. This activity is 

teaching the students 

responsibility, how to read a 

thermometer and to make 

observations. We are 

learning a lot about the life 

cycle of a chick, and the 

parts of an egg. Once our 

chicks hatch we will donate 

them to local farms. We 

also learned about several 

different African American 

inventors during Black 

History Month and even 

created projects on one of 

them. 

Congrats to the 2nd 

Grade Union Elementary 

PSRC Spelling Bee 

Champs!! 

1st Place – 

Madison ! 

Brewington 

2nd Place – 

William 

Brooks 

3rs Place – 

Aiyana 

Strickland 

We are very 

proud of our Emily Goins, 

Dameon Hunt, and Jayden 

Strickland who represented 

third grade from Union 

Elementary in the County 

Spelling Bee on March 7, 

2013. They all did a 

wonderful job and 

participated in multiple 

rounds. Every three weeks 

third grade has a PBIS 

celebration party for 

students who have meet the 

requirements. For the month 

of February we had about 

98% student participation! 

This was a wonderful event 

for our students who 

enjoyed a movie and a huge 

buffet of toppings for their 

ice cream sundaes. We look 

to have another great 

turnout of students for our 

next PBIS celebration when 

we have free technology 

and ice cream sundaes in 

three weeks. 

Our 4th graders are 

getting Spring FEVER! We 

are counting down the days 

until spring break, spring 

fling and the most important 

– END OF GRADE TEST. 

The students are excited 

about becoming authors for 

a book they are making. 

They will not only be the 

author but the illustrator. 

Some of us are participating 

in Science Projects and 

trying to battle the new 

concepts in Math class. 

Union fifth grade 

students recently completed 

units of study in math, 

reading, and science using 

reclaimed cereal boxes from 

home. Reading students 

prepared a cereal box using 

a theme from their book of 

choice. In math, boxes 

were used to study and 

calculate volume for a real 

world application. Science 

class used these same 

concepts to study matter, 

density, and mass. 

February has been an 

exciting month for the 

“Senior Eagles” at Union 

Elementary. We have 

studied the effects of the 

Underground Railroad and 

how this secret route 

contributed to the freedom 

of many slaves in America. 

Students created Freedom 

Quilts and wrote a story 

using the quilt patterns to 

culminate their study of this 

unit. To conclude their 

bowling unit in P.E., 

students traveled to the 

Lumberton Bowling Alley to 

display their skills learned 

and good sportsmanship in 

a friendly competition. 

26

UNION 

CHAPEL 

ELEMENTARY 

SCHOOL 

Union Chapel Elementary 

School recently completed 

and passed their PBIS SET 

Evaluation for the 2012-2013 

school year. A “thank you” 

goes out to all the students, 

staff, parents, community 

members, and local business 

leaders for your assistance in 

this behavioral support 

program. 

West Lumberton 

Elementary 

Selected students in grades 

2nd -6th recently competed 

in a District-Wide Spelling 

Bee held at Pembroke 

Elementary School. ( See 

inserted Picture) 

Congratulations goes out to 

Mijaaniq Camp ( 3rd grade) 

for winning 2nd Place and 

Andy Deleon (4th grade) for 

winning 1st Place. Mr. 

Wesley Jacobs ( 6th grade 

Teacher) coordinated this 

event for our students at 

Union Chapel School. 

Students at West Lumberton Elementary 

participating in drill 

March 3 – 9 2013 was Severe Weather Awareness Week. The state of 

North Carolina observed a state-wide tornado drill on Wednesday, 

March 6 at 9:30 a.m. All schools in the Public Schools of Robeson County 

participated. 

The week is our annual reminder that spring weather is on the way, and 

with it, an enhanced chance for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. 

While twisters can happen any time of the year, spring and fall tend to 

have the greatest number of severe storms due to the more dramatic 

differences in colliding air masses. 

The statewide tornado drill helps state residents and employees to think 

about where you would go in case a tornado warning was issued for 

your home, school, or place of employment. In fact, it’s a good idea to 

think about it anywhere you are, even the mall, a ball game, or a movie 

theater. The safest place to be is in a sturdy building, in the lowest 

interior room or basement and away from windows. Even without a 

direct hit, a tornado can throw debris through windows scattering glass 

and potentially causing injury. If there is not a sturdy building nearby, 

you want to go to the lowest lying area you can find and lie face down 

with your hands covering your head and neck as much as possible. 

27

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!! Thank you to all our volunteers for reading 

28

5th Annual 

Golf 

Tournament 

Pinecrest Country Club 

Lumberton, NC 

Friday, March 29 

Registration 8:30 a.m. 

Shot-gun start 9:00 a.m. 

Hole Sponsorship $100 

(4) Person Teams $200 

Public Schools of Robeson County 

For more information, contact Sandra Evans @ 910.735.2362 

Congratulations to Prospect Elementary for their 1st place win in the 4th - 5th grade Battle of the 

Books competition on March 22. Fairmont Middle won 2nd place and Littlefield School won third 

place. Congratulations to all of our winners! 

29

Educators Struct their Stuff 

for Literacy 

Gary Patrick and Kellie Blue 

On March 22 and 23rd 

five members of our PSRC 

Family strutted their stuff to 

raise money for the Dolly 

Parton Imagination Library 

at the 2nd Annual Dancing 

with the Robeson County 

Stars!!! 

Superintendent Dr. 

Johnny Hunt danced with 

Carolyn 

Dr. Johnny Hunt & Mrs. 

Carolyn Watson 

Watson to “Forget You”, by 

Cee Lo Green. After 

practicing since January, 

the couple mixed a dance 

skit with shagging. “I had a 

great time. It is amazing 

what you will do to help 

children,” said Hunt. 

Kewanda Meritt is the 

English/Language Arts 

Curriculum Supervisor. 

Merritt and Leland Fuller 

danced an 80’s Hip Hop 

Routine to “It Takes Two”, 

by Rob Base. “I thought it 

was an awesome 

experience and I feel very 

pleased to be provided the 

opportunity to meet and 

work with people from 

across Robeson County to 

help children. 

Merritt says 

the best part 

of the whole 

event was 

when the 

announced 

revealed the 

full amount 

raised by the 

program. 

Kristen 

Stone 

is the 

Principal at 

Peterson 

Elementary 

School. She and 

Kristen Stone and 

Pedro Massol 

Pedrol Massol danced a 

Latin Salsa to 

“Suavemente”. 

Brooke Britt and 

Dr. Daniel Walters 

by Elvis Crespo. “I 

loved dancing and getting to 

know new people; however, 

the biggest part was raising 

money to help 

the children in 

Robeson County. 

I believe in Dolly 

Parton's program 

and feel that it is 

a great benefit to 

the students in 

Robeson 

County,” said 

Stone. 

Brooke Britt, an 

English teacher 

at Lumberton 

High danced with Dr. Daniel 

Walters. 

Congratulations to all of 

these members of the PSRC 

family m for representing 

the district well. Tina Bullard 

and Rick Gregory raised the 

top money numbers, but a 

special congrats goes out to 

the 2nd place fundraisers - 

Gary Patrick – Assistant 

Principal at Carroll Middle 

School and his dance 

partner, Kellie Blue 

(Robeson County Finance 

Director & Jonathan Blue's 

wife). Together they raised 

$19,816.25 

The 3rd place 

fundraisers were Kewanda 

Meritt and her dance 

partner Leland Fuller 

(Owner, Lumberton Honda). 

Together they raised 

$14,830.00. 

Overall the event raised 

$169,719.25. 

Dr. Johnny Hunt and 

Mrs. Watson raised $7,666. 

Kristen Stone and Pedro 

Massol raised $5,070. 

Brook Britt and Dr. Daniel 

Walters raised $7,993. 

Kewanda Merritt and 

Leland Fuller 

30

UP AND COMING EVENTS 

hs 

March 29, 2013 

Optional Teacher Workday 

April 1, 2013 

Easter Holiday Begins 

April 9, 2013 

Parent Night Activity 

Robeson Community College 

5:30 p.m. 

April 11, 2013 

HS Small Works Squared 

Exhibit Reception @ Carolina 

Civic Center 

April 11, 2013 

Special Olympics 

April 27, 2013 

Teacher Recruitment Fair 

10:00 am - 2:00 pm 

Lumberton Senior H S 

Congrats to Stephen Stone for winning 

the PSRCAEOP Spring Basket 

31

Union Chapel Elementary 

Student Artwork 

This art mural wraps up a thematic unit in 

Wesley Jacobs 6th grade class which dealt 

with turning points. The English / Arts class 

painted various concepts from the thematic 

unit into the mural. 

Piney Grove Elementary 

See the Aware Magazine online 

We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Aware Magazine. The publication is available on-line at the Public 

Schools of Robeson County website at http://www.robeson.k12.nc.us/ 

By Going Green, the Aware Magazine is protecting the environment. We are keeping printing to a minimum, 

thereby saving trees and sending less waste to the landfill. Enjoy other publications throughout the school year 

on your mobile device or phone. If you have questions about the publication feel free to contact Tasha 

Oxendine, the Public Relations Office for PSRC at the Central Office at 910.671.6000. 

Shining light on the GREAT things in the Public Schools of Robeson County 

Public Schools of Robeson County * 410 Caton Road * Lumberton, NC 28358 

32

Aware March - Public Schools of Robeson County

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