Phoenixville School Board Honors Outstanding Students

The Phoenixville Area School Board recognized three special groups of middle school students and one high school junior at the board meeting on Thursday, April 14th. Middle school principal Dr. Troy Czukoski introduced all the students to the board and the audience.

The Phoenixville Middle School boys’ A Level ice hockey team won the Tri-County Championship on March 17, 2011, defeating Downingtown East Middle School 1-0. The team members are:

• 4th Grade – Zachary Baker (Schuylkill Elementary) and Bobby Batter (East Pikeland Elementary)
• 6th Grade – Harrison Baker, Sean Fowler, and Tyler Skomsky
• 8th Grade – Liam Bonner, Doug Hook, and Alex Horvath
• Coaches – Gene Bonner, Jim Fowler and Jim Skorsky

Several middle school students took part in a county-wide essay contest for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids’ “Kick Butts Day 2011” program. Phoenixville Area  Middle School had six finalists and the contest winner.

First place went to Olivia Teter for her essay “Putdown." The finalists and their essay titles from the district were:

• Madi Barker, “How Tobacco Impacted Me”
• Christen Martin, “How Tobacco Has Affected Me and My Family”
• Sarah Potter, “Tobacco”
• Lauren Randall, “How Tobacco Has Directly Impacted Me”
• Caroline Stipa, “How I Want to be Protected from Tobacco”
• Taylor Tague, “Kick Butts Day 2011”

Czukoski also recognized Alec Thompson, a junior from Phoenixville Area High School and bass clarinet player, for his selection to the Pennsylvania Music Educators’ Association Region VI Band Festival. Alec was selected by audition from among students from 72 other high schools in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.

Family and Consumer Science teacher Lynne Henry recognized a group of her students who completed a project to write and produce several children’s books in her class. These students wrote and illustrated books and the top 10 were chosen to have their books bound and printed.

All of the students took part in the project process. Some called local printers to get prices for printing and binding, and others wrote grant applications to get the funds for printing.

The students obtained grants from the Community Health Foundation and and the Education Grant Foundation. Once finished, the students read their books to children at the Kindergarten Center and are planning a bus trip to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to read their books there and then donate them to the hospital.

The 10 students whose books were chosen are:

• Jessica Bennick
• Jessica Carboy
• Kim Rutherford
• Garrett Serwatka
• Molly Shannon
• Luke Stambaugh
• Gillian Stinson
• Taylor Tague
• Allison Trafford
• Jackee Veneski

The school board members congratulated all those honored for their accomplishments.