Navigating the River

Each week, you will receive our newsletter containing important dates, events, and school news. Navigating the River is one of the best ways to stay up to date on what's happening at the River and ways to get involved to help make this school year the best yet! #RMSGoodAsGold

• March 28th - DECA Day w/ Atlanta Hawks
• March 28th - Lambert HS International Night (Lambert HS - 6:30 to 8:00 PM)
• March 29th - Special Olympics @ Forsyth Central HS
• March 29th - Last Day to Claim Items from Lost & Found
• April 1st - 5th - Spring Break
• April 8th - Solar Eclipse
• April 9th -12th - Band trip to Orlando (Music for All)
• April 10th - Deadline for Submissions to Earth Day Poster Contest
• April 15th - Purple Up! For Military Kids (wear purple)
• April 16th - Sources of Strength: Mental Health Campaign Begins
  
• April 16th - 6th Grade Rising Night
  
• April 17th -19th - 6th Grade JA
  
• April 19th - 8th Grade Dance (6:00 PM)
• April 22nd - May 8th - Football Spring Practice
• Monday - Thursdays (4:30 PM - 7:00 PM)
• Fridays (7:00 AM - 8:30 AM)
• April 23rd - 8th Grade Rising Night
• April 25th - 7th and 8th Band Spring Concert
• April 26th - 28th - RMS Drama presents The Wizard of Oz (at Lambert HS)
• May 1st - 7th Grade Rising Night
• May 7th - 8th Grade Awards Night
• May 8th - Football Spring Scrimmage (6:00 PM)
• May 9th - PBIS Points-A-Palooza (during Connections periods)
• May 13th - 8th Grade Field Day
• May 14th - 6th & 7th Grade Field Day
• May 14th - 8th Grade Field Trip (Teams R & M)
• May 15th - 8th Grade Field Trip (Teams S & P)
• May 16th - 21st - Finals
• 16th - Social Studies
• 17th - ELA
• 20th - Science & Spanish
• 21st - Math
• May 22nd - 8th Grade Walk
• May 23rd - Last Day of School (Early Release)

Get important information even faster by following us on Facebook and Twitter (X)!

Facebook: www.facebook.com/riverwatchms

If your child is ill and does not check out through the clinic the absence will be recorded as unexcused. All students who need to check-out due to illness need to be seen by nurse Brenda prior to being picked up by their parent. In addition, if your child tests positive for COVID please notify nurse Brenda as soon as possible (f40674@forsyth.k12.ga.us).

As we continue to see illnesses spread, please keep these guidelines in mind when determining if a student should be at school or returning to school following an illness.

Delta Community Credit Union has awarded the RMS Academic Bowl team $1500 to use towards their nationals entry fees and preparation!

Congratulations to our Academic Bowl for their progress and hard work throughout the season and a big THANK YOU to Delta Community Credit Union for their generosity and support of our students!

Being part of the yearbook staff is an honor for which many students apply. I hope you will give serious consideration to becoming part of one of the most rewarding organizations at our school.

For the 2024-25 school year, the yearbook class will be a yearlong course; however, there MAY be times when staff members will be expected to cover events before and after school, which will require them to arrive early or stay late. There is also a yearbook camp in August that every staff member is expected to attend. The cost of the camp will be determined at a later date.

APPLICATION FOR 2024-2025 YEARBOOK STAFF

All applications must be completed by April 26th. LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. The size of the staff must be limited; therefore, all yearbook staff members must meet certain criteria. Each staff member must:

1. Be in good academic standing.
2. Have two recommendations from two of your core class teachers from this year.
3. Complete the attached application.
4. Be willing to go the extra mile for each and every deadline!!

Being an RMS Yearbook Staff Member is a privileged. Applicants are chosen for their character, academic success, and work ethics. Applicants should know that I will review their present records including attendance, grades, and discipline. Also, the recommendation of their teachers plays a VERY important role in the selection. At no time will any of this information be made public, nor will any students ever see this information.

I appreciate your interest in the yearbook class, and I look forward to choosing an excellent staff.

Linda Scheaffer
Yearbook Advisor

Before we head out for Spring Break, check out the newest episode of RMS Panther News!

The newest episode includes segments on Staff Member of the Month: Mr. Casey, Exceptional Child Week, Easter, the eSports Team, MLB Opening Day, the 8th Grade Field Trip, and Spring Break!

The RMS Orchestra is Collaborating with LHS, Alliance, Civil Air Patrol, and Cumming City Center for an AWESOME! EXCITING! FREE!! EVENT on Music and Aviation! Saturday, April 13, 10am-12pm!!

(This is made possible by an award from the National Aviation Hall of Fame)

Here are details:

WHO: Riverwatch MS & Lambert HS Orchestras, Alliance Academy, Civil Air Patrol, United Forsyth Orchestra, & Cumming City Center

WHAT: A Three-tiered experience featuring:

*Music & Storytelling (Willa Brown: Aviation Pioneer)

*Paper Airplane Contest (Aeronautic Design)

*Musical Petting Zoo (Discover strings--play a Violin, Viola, Cello, or Bass!)

WHEN: Saturday, April 13

TIME: 10:00am- 12:00pm

WHERE: Cumming City Center, 423 Canton Rd, Cumming, GA 30040

The E-Sports season has come to an end and RMS is so proud of these players and their dedicated coach, Ms. Beach! There have been several switches to players and teams all season but they persevered week after week!

Congratulations to our DKO Team! Noah Kim, Joshua Yoon and Ayaan Saaed brought home 1st place in the county!!!

Evan Doniphan, Justin Kadish and Vihann Tyagi earned us a second place county victory for Rocket League. They played two very tough matches yesterday!!!

And rounding out our competitions were Anthony Alteri and Russell Gibson with our third place county win in Brawlhalla!

Coach Beach and Riverwatch could not be any more proud and excited for this team to go from not placing in our region last year to being a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place County Winners!! Congratulations!!

Tickets available here!

The Forsyth County Schools College & Career Development department held their CTAE Excellence Awards Gala last night and Riverwatch was proud to have Panthers shining like gold by being awarded Middle School Students of the Year in their areas of study!

A/V Cluster - Sam Teater
Business and Computer Science Cluster - Krishna Budim
Healthcare Cluster - Prisha Karani
Engineering and Technology Cluster - Varun Heblikar
Marketing Cluster - Mahima Srikanth

Middle School District Student of the Year - Prisha Karani

Again, a big congratulations and job well done to these students who have worked hard to explore and excel in these areas of interest!

Riverwatch was recognized by the Forsyth Board of Education on Tuesday, March 19 for the RMS Superior Spotlight. Mrs. MacAllaster along with Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Hunziker shared our school’s journey with PBIS and how these tools have shaped our RMS culture to promote a place where students and staff are Safe, Connected, and Thriving. A few of our Student Ambassadors shared their perspective with board members of what Panther PRIDE has meant to them. Congratulations to RMS for earning Operational Status from the GaDOE for two years for implementing a strong and sustainable program to support our school’s culture and climate. Keep up the great work and dedication!

Submission Link

We are proud of the following students who had artwork selected for the FoCAL Secondary Art Exhibition:

6th Grade:

• Ronia Mark
• Kaya Friend
• Luka Azucki
• Aksh Rohilla
• Shreedula Santhanakrishnan
• Vivian Kim
• Aadhya Pingily

7th Grade:

• Emily Jiang
• Meghan Wolfe
• Jimmy Kang
• Kelly Lu
• Pranaya Prabath Rajamani
• Tvishaa Rai
• Conor Sachleben
• Noah Suh

8th Grade:

• Macailyn Martinez-Holson
• Elsa Tan
• Ellie Taningco
• Sri Kankipati
• Emma Unsworth
• Ece Ozturk
• Radhana Srinivasan
• Rachana Srinivasan
• Yenna Shin
• Renee Ligon
• Sienna Armand
• Noah Kim
• Kiley Shadburn
• Mattie McGee
• Jack Blanton
• Charley Chesley
• Leo Aryal
• Nayesha Tamhaney
• Navya Kotagal
• Riya Vakare
• Alice Bauer

Congratulations to these Panthers for being Good as Gold!

The Lambert Connected cluster hosted an informative Parent University with a range of topics/sessions to help keep parents in the know, both academically and socially. A big thank you to staff members and presenters who helped make the night a success! If you missed the event, presentations and session recordings will be available soon for the community!

E-Sports had another great week! Unfortunately, the DKO team didn’t get to play this week but we did win points by forfeit. Congratulations to the winning DKO team last week with Akhil Burri competing for the first time and winning along with Joshua Yoon and Ayaan Saeed.

The Rocket league team had a huge win by Sam Teater, Evan Doniphan and Adam Matthews! Adam played in his first competitive match and scored two goals! Last week our team pulled out a win with Sujay Girish filling in when they were a man down.

Our Brawlhalla team players this week were Mav Lopez and Anthony Alteri who won 2 big matches for us! Last week Anthony and Russell Gibson pulled out the win, too!

We are leading in all three games for our region with one matchup left against Liberty next week before final matches. Congratulations to all our competitors and keep up the good work!!

Available via SchoolPay!

Parents of 8th graders - we are so excited to announce that tickets to the 8th grade dance are now available for purchase. Tickets will be $25 through 3/31. Starting 4/1, ticket prices will increase to $30. Please see the flyer for the GoFan QR code, or visit this link to purchase tickets. Please note that this event is for Riverwatch Middle School 8th graders only!

Also available for sale are 8th Grade Yard Signs! Click here to order a sign that can be personalized with your student's high school and name.

WhyTry, one of our district’s behavior intervention programs, offers this free Parent Guide to Resilience. Each section of the guide provides an audio overview, examples and analogies, discussion guidance, and even family meeting ideas.

The Month of the Military Child was established by former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger in

1986 to acknowledge the significant role military youth play in our communities. These youth face

many challenges that are unique to their situation, such as having a parent/guardian deployed,

frequent moves, new schools, and leaving friends. This month provides opportunity to recognize and

honor our youngest heroes, military children.

The 2024 Duck Dive has begun! Help us reach our goal of 10,000 getting "adopted" and you just might win $10,000!

• Adopt/enter HERE
• Deadline to adopt is March 29 at 11 am.
• That day will be festive with students and staff being encouraged to Dress Like a Duck
• The Duck Drawing will occur at 1 pm!

For more information, visit the Duck Dive website.

The roots of National Women’s History Month go back to March 8, 1857, when women from various New York City factories staged a protest over working conditions. The first Women's Day celebration in the United States was also in New York City in 1909, but Congress did not establish National Women's History Week until 1981 to be commemorated annually the second week of March. In 1987, Congress expanded the week to a month. Every year since, Congress has passed a resolution for Women’s History Month, and the president has issued a proclamation. Please take this opportunity to discuss the many contributions that women have made in history.

• Attendance (Excuses, Check-In/Check-Out), Attendance Update Letter from Ms. MacAllaster
  
• Transportation Changes
• Updated Exam Policy for 2023-2024
• Joining PTSO
• RMS Panther News
• Yearbook Ordering - Order #1287 (Riverwatch Middle School)
• Previous Editions of Navigating the River - January 31, January 24, January 17, January 10, December 20, December 13, December 6