Middle School

Middle School News

Student Spellers Excel in Bee

The annual St. Johns Spelling Bee for students in Grades 5-8 took place in December, with 15 students participating. After 23 rounds in the December Grades 5-8 Spelling Bee, Grade 8 student Erik Williams came out victorious for his fourth consecutive year. Though his competition gave him a run for his money, notably Grade 7 students Wyatt Hollingsworth and Alyssa Walker, Williams will continue on to the January county-wide spelling bee with Hollingsworth as the alternate.

Representing Grade 5:

Left to right: Marcus Giles (alternate), Alexandria Valencia, Dylan Voyer, Alex Pearce, Jillian Mach, Caris Morgan

Representing Grade 6:

Left to right: Teague Dunagan (alternate), Leo Naude, Andrew Nargundkar (on screen), Addison Kipnis, Jordan Bliffen, and Dominique Clark.

Representing Grade 7:

Left to right: Deayvn Coleman, William Pounds, Wyatt Hollingsworth, Sergio Lopez Diaz (alternate) Illias Mamea, Alyssa Walker (not pictured).

Representing Grade 8:

Left to right: Autumn Henry (alternate), Sawyer Davidson, Shane Reaves, Grayson Moody, Xavier Baez, Erik Williams.

Grade 8 Debates Philanthropy vs. Worker Treatment

A St. Johns education teaches students to think deeply, critically analyze, and apply lessons learned to new contexts. That was evident this fall in Mr. Rooks’ Grade 8 history classes when they examined the Industrial Age, its key events, topics and people, and many strikes, riots, and labor unions.

“As we ended the unit,” said Mr. Rooks, “we completed a Document Based Questioning (DBQ) activity which analyzed various primary and secondary sources to help students answer the Essential Question: The Philanthropy of Andrew Carnegie: Did it make him a hero?”

Throughout the debate, students were to cite the primary and secondary sources they analyzed during the DBQ. Many students argued that Carnegie should not be considered a hero on the basis that he treated his workers very poorly. They were underpaid, overworked, and prone to injuries. As a result, workers went on to strike at Carnegie’s Homestead steel factory which resulted in many deaths. In response to this strike, Carnegie cut the worker’s pay by 20 percent. Carnegie also had a history of tying his worker’s pay directly to the price of steel. If steel prices increased, so would the worker’s pay, however, their pay decreased when the price of steel dropped. At the end of the lesson, many students felt that charity does not make up for injustice.

The students who supported the stance that Carnegie should be considered a hero argued that he donated the majority of his wealth for good causes. His total giving was over $350m, which is equivalent to just over $5 billion in today’s money. Carnegie believed that wealthy individuals had a duty to donate their fortunes. In his Gospel of Wealth, Carnegie states,”The man who dies rich, dies disgraced.”

As you can see by their Post-It Note “votes” on the board in Mr. Rooks’ classroom, the students had a vigorous debate, full of insight with many votes on both sides of the question.

“This is definitely one of my favorite topics to teach because the students really get into it,” said Rooks. “I love having these types of discussions with my students, because in a world that seems so divisive, students need to learn that they are allowed to have different views and opinions while harvesting their friendships. As Thomas Jefferson once stated, ‘I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.’”

Frances Bailey ’25 discusses her vote as she and Rooks put it on the board.

Students Prep for Moon Mission

As a part of their space exploration unit, Grade 7 has been studying plans for NASA’s upcoming moon mission, Artemis. First, they packed their allowable personal gear for the mission, according to size and weight specifications as dedicated by NASA. Then they went to St. Johns’ virtual reality lab to pilot their own Apollo Mission to the moon. Next, in a cross curricular assignment with English class, students explained their Artemis missions in essays, which were submitted to NASA for review. Essays had to include the types of skills an astronaut would need, what equipment they would take, and how many people should be included in the mission and why. Then students got busy building their landing rovers. In a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) project students used candy to build their rovers according to specific criteria. They were required to stay within a given budget, had to draw the rover first, then build a prototype, and then, finally, retool to address any problems. Rovers were required to have moving wheels, four scientific instruments (including one that moved), and not to fall apart. Finally, students presented their rovers to the class for comments and suggestions.

“The fact that St. Johns has partnered with NASA and their educational program for the Artemis Moon Mission has made our unit on Space Exploration very meaningful.” said Grade 7 science teacher Ms. Tina Sachs. “Using real NASA requirements that align with the NASA Artemis Mission has made learning fun and exciting for the students.”

The next step for these intrepid scientists will be building and launching their own rocks early in 2021.