Piscataquis Community Elementary School recognizes Students of the Month
GUILFORD — The latest group of Students of the Month at Piscataquis Community Elementary School were honored in front of their peers during an April 27 morning meeting, a session moved back one week from the usual third Friday of the month due to the April vacation.
The April honorees are fifth-graders Quentin Blanchard and Dorinda Feaga; sixth-grader Jacob Duncan; seventh-graders Kendall Kimball, Samantha Packard and Meriel Willey; and eighth-graders Hailey Cipullo, Kaitlyn Cookson and Qianna Nadeau.
Students of the Month are middle-schoolers selected by their teachers for criteria such as outstanding citizenship and academic performance.
The morning meeting also featured the recognition of PCES “Upstanders,” students who have stood up for their peers and/or others over the previous few weeks.
Guidance director Jason Schriver said the April Upstanders include a pair of students who helped a classmate solve a problem and “two seventh-graders helping our new student get accustomed to school.”
“Our last one, he’s been helping another friend at recess who was feeling alone, so he put him in their group,” Schriver said.
All Upstanders are presented with a personalized boomerang created by Schriver, hung on the wall in the main lobby. The boomerangs, which signify that good deeds come back, will go home with the recipients at the end of the school year.
The evening before Piscataquis Community Elementary School was the site of a benefit movie night featuring the animated film “Ferdinand” for kindergarten student Abel Richardson, who is currently coping with brain cancer.
“We had a movie night for kids and their parents, we sold baked good which were donated,” Principal Anita Wright said after the morning meeting.
“It was a really nice night to have 170 total here which was really good,” she said about the number of attendees. “They brought blankets and pillows in to the cafeteria for a really nice night.”
Wright said a number of area businesses have donated items, including many gift certificates, for a raffle to benefit Richardson and his family. “The raffle will continue to our Math Night, which is May 10,” she said.
“We had nine baskets, eight of them were ones adults would benefit from but one was for the children — just toys in general,” Wright said. She said the drawing for the toy basket has already been conducted with Richardson himself pulling out the winning ticket during the movie night and a classmate of his winning the basket prizes.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
PCES STUDENTS OF THE MONTH — April Students of the Month at Piscataquis Community Elementary School in Guilford are, from left, Jacob Duncan, grade 6; Quentin Blanchard, grade 5; Dorinda Feaga, grade 5; Meriel Willey, grade 7; Kendall Kimball, grade 7; Samantha Packard, grade 7; Qianna Nadeau, grade 8; Kaitlyn Cookson, grade 8; and Hailey Cipullo, grade 8.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
PCES UPSTANDERS — Every month Piscataquis Community Elementary School recognizes Upstanders, students who have stood up for their peers and/or others over the previous few weeks and honorees are presented with customized boomerangs to signify that good deeds will come back to them. The April honorees are, from left, fourth-graders Brookelynn Hunt and Alex Hall and seventh-graders Caydin Chambers and Zander Grant.
Photo courtesy of PCES
AND THE WINNER IS … — Piscataquis Community Elementary School kindergarten student Abel Richardson pulls a name out of the jar held by his teacher Amy Kelley to select the winner of a children’s gift basket during a benefit movie night on April 27 at the school. Tickets for eight other baskets, featuring items such as gift certificates donated by area businesses, will be available through May 10 and proceeds will also benefit Richardson and his family as he copes with brain cancer.