Piscataquis Community Elementary School recognizes Students of the Month

GUILFORD — Each month outstanding pupils in grades 5-8 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are honored as Students of the Month. The 10 January honorees were presented with certificates in front of their peers during morning meeting in the cafeteria on Monday, Jan. 28.

Students of the Month are selected by their teachers for criteria such as outstanding citizenship and academic performance. Those coming up on to the cafeteria stage to receive their certificates from Principal Anita Wright were Alex Hall and Noah Kain, grade 5; Gabby Koscielny and Timothy MacNeil, grade 6; Scott Chadbourne and Beau Talbot, grade 7; and Melissa Demmer, Sydney Grenier, Saia Miles, and Gracie Talbot, grade 8.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
PCES STUDENTS OF THE MONTH — January Students of the Month at Piscataquis Community Elementary School in Guilford are, from left, eighth-graders Saia Miles, Sydney Grenier, and Gracie Talbot; Alex Hall, grade 5; Gabby Koscielny, grade 6; Melissa Demmer, grade 8; Timothy MacNeil, grade 6; seventh-graders Scott Chadbourne and Beau Talbot; and Noah Kain, grade 5.

“Our ski program has started up,” Wright said in her office after the Students of the Month presentation. “It was last Friday and will be this Friday and next Friday. I think we had 38 students go.”

PCES seventh- and eighth-graders are able to trade their textbooks for skis as they head north to Big Squaw Mountain in Greenville Junction for afternoons of skiing. Many of the students first learned to ski in the program the year before and they can continue to utilize the lessons learned in last year’s program. Others have the chance to head down the slopes the first time.

Grade 7-8 teachers Robyn Rich and Trisha Moulton are both trained ski instructors and the two have the chance to work with the students outside the PCES classroom. Parent volunteers assist Rich and Moulton.

The school’s ski program is in its fifth year and is currently funded through a grant along with a fee paid by participating students. Transportation, lessons, lift tickets, and equipment are all included. Big Squaw Mountain generously discounts its rates to help make the program possible.