Gone Fishing

Students in Mr. Dadey’s 6th grade science classes at the Greater Johnstown Middle School held an electromagnetic fishing derby in the classroom. The students who built the fishing rods competed by finding who could pick up the most paper clips in thirty seconds. It was a fun and exciting extra credit/enrichment activity that connected school and family in the same project!

All of Mr. Dadey’s students agreed that it was fun building this project at home and that it was also nice to work with their families, showing off what they were learning in school.

Planting the Seeds of Citizenship

On October 8th, 20 students from the JHS Key Club and 20 students from the JMS Builders Club joined forces on their long term urban beautification project in Johnstown. For the 4th consecutive year, the students worked with the Johnstown and Richland Kiwanis Club to maintain the massive flowerbed that resides at the city’s entrance on Bedford Street. The students plant a variety of annual flowers in the spring and remove them in early October. Club advisors Robert Heinrich, Thomas Staib, Bernard Conway, Wes Bowser would like to thank the students for their continued dedication to their community.

Connecting with Parents

During the week of October 12th, parents of East Side students were invited to reading workshops aimed toward informing parents how the Success for All reading program works for their students. Presented by reading facilitator Mrs. Kathy Kessler, the workshop focused on the specific skills and procedures taught during the reading block.
Before the sessions began, Principal Doug Henry and Assistant Principal Amy Arcurio thanked the parents for their focus and dedication to their children’s education. Mrs. Arcurio also pointed out the importance of literacy at the early elementary level because as she noted, without a basic foundation of literacy, other content areas become increasingly more difficult as a child progresses throughout his or her education.
After the brief presentations, parents were given the ability to observe their child’s reading classes. Impressed with the level of student active participation, the parents came away with a thorough understanding of the program and learned how to reinforce the topics when they are home with their children.

The Physics of Fun

Mrs. Phyllis Meyers’ 7th and 8th grade science classes at Johnstown Middle School enjoyed building and flying air powered rockets down the school’s hallway. No, the students were not being mischievous! They were actually launching the soft foam rockets to learn a valuable and relevant lesson on physics. Students competed to achieve the longest distance while learning about drag and aerodynamics. The project made possible by the Saint Francis University and the Pennsylvania STEM Initiative (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) was deemed to be a huge success by the students because they learned some “hard science” while having some serious fun.

Working Hard at West Side

Students at West Side Elementary have been actively involved in the community during October. Mrs. Tomak's and Mrs. Thompson's 5th grade classes worked together to create an original scarecrow for the contest in downtown Central Park. "Balancing Bob" not only balances on his head, but also balances all of the student responsibilities that our West Side students balance (as noted on the pumpkins that surround him.) Stop down and check him out!
Additionally, West Side is helping local food banks by collecting non-perishable food items during the month of October. Students or staff members who choose to participate in “casual Fridays" must bring in a non-perishable food item. The goal is to help people through the economic downturn while simultaneously teaching students to become good citizens.

Johnstown Shows Trojan Pride

“Pride and Tradition” is something that the students and faculty members take very seriously at JHS. This can especially be witnessed every single Friday throughout the school year with all of the blue and black that can be seen throughout the hallways and classrooms. So, it was no surprise that on Friday, October 16, 2009, Johnstown High School stayed true to their “Pride and Tradition” motto for the big game against the McCort Crushers. Faculty members participated by wearing the team’s away jerseys during the school day and at the game, for a donation of at least one dollar. This was used to help purchase pom poms that were given to the first two hundred Johnstown students who entered Trojan Stadium that night for the game. Many Trojan fans showed their school pride by wearing their blue for a “freeze out” theme, and cheering enthusiastically throughout the game. The Trojans played a hard-fought game against McCort, but the game did not end in their favor; the final score of the game was Trojans: 21-McCort: 40. Despite this loss, Johnstown’s school pride still remains strong.

New School Store Merchandise

The JHS School Store is pleased to announce that we have new inventory in for all GJSD fans. Specifically, we have the new "Trojan Army" and "Believe in Johnstown" merchandise in stock and available for all Trojan fans.

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Welcome

Welcome to the GJSD Journalism blog!