Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1198116
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 8-14, 2020 UCW 25 Colin Baumgartner Jack Britt • Swimming/ cross country/track• Junior Baumgartner has a weighted grade point average of 4.35. He is one of the captains of the swim team and is on the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Student Athletic Committee for Region IV. He ranks 19th in a class of 495 students. Anna Miller Jack Britt• Swimming• Senior Miller has a weighted grade point average of 4.34. She is a captain of the Jack Britt swim team and practices year round with the Fayetteville Aquatic Swim Team. She also coaches younger swimmers. Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop congratulates these amazing scholar athletes of the week and invites them to the Rocket Fizz Store at 1916 Skibo Rd. to receive a FREE FREE gift recognizing their achievement! www.rocketfizz.com Board of education modifies 2.0 rule by EARL VAUGHAN JR. Beginning with the fall semester this year, incoming sixth graders and ninth graders in the Cumberland County Schools will get a clean slate when it comes to allowing them to participate in extracurricular activities at the school they're attending. Cumberland County is one of a num- ber of school systems around the state that holds students to a higher standard when it comes to allowing them to take part in things like athletics, band, cho- rus and school clubs. They must maintain a grade point average of 2.0 or better to be eligible for extracurricular activities. At a recent meeting of the Cumberland County Board of Education, board members voted to lower that requirement for incoming sixth graders and ninth graders, giving them a clean slate and allowing them to take part in all extracurricular events during their first semester at their new schools. Once the initial nine-week semester is over, if they haven't managed to main- tain a 2.0 average, the rule kicks in and they will be ineligible until their grades improve. Vernon Aldridge, student activities director for the county schools, along with board members Greg West and Susan Williams support the change as a way to help the incoming sixth and ninth graders deal with what is traditionally a difficult transition period by allow- ing them to become as fully involved in activities at their new school as possible. Aldridge said he meets with county high school football coaches every February, and they brought up the idea of allowing the sixth and ninth graders to be able to waive the 2.0 requirement. "They don't lose a lot of athletes once they get them into the program and monitor their grades,'' Aldridge said. "We know when kids belong to some- thing, whether it's athletics or arts, they do better in school.'' Williams, who taught choral music for 32 years, said there is research available that shows social and emotional outcomes of students improve when they are involved with the arts. "One of my biggest concerns is if they are not allowed to start those programs in the sixth and ninth grades, they may never get back there,'' she said. "I've had students come back to me through the years and say, 'Ms. Williams, if it hadn't been for your class, I would have been struggling everywhere else.' '' She noted that ninth-grade band students get to spend a summer at camp with fellow band members and begin school in fall with as many as 100 or more new friends. "They have already been able to fit into the mold of that new school,'' she said. West agreed with Williams that studies show the more engaged students are in all activities a school offers, the better they per- form academically. "It's extremely important to get plugged in when you're at a new school for the first time,'' he said. "If they don't plug in early, they're far less likely to plug in later. "The bottom line is they need more caring adults in their lives, not less.'' West said extracurricular activities give students more access to those kinds of adults. Giving them greater access to those activities is what needs to happen, he said, adding, "First semester sixth grade and first semester ninth grade are probably the two most critical thresholds for these kids to shape their middle and high school careers.'' Attention Students: Let Your Voice Be Heard Get published in our award-winning community newspaper Up & Coming Weekly Send in your feature articles, editorials, short stories, movie and music reviews or original poetry and artwork to: highschoolhighlights@upandcomingweekly.com Subject line: High School Highlights Please include your photo and school information. Vernon Aldridge Susan Williams Greg West