Bulldog Bulletin

• Message from the Principal
• Important Dates
• Spring Reading Challenge Winners
• Entrepreneurship Market Day
• BSD Middle School Spring Sports Championships
• Tri-M Music Honor Society Applications Due
• Summer Library Challenge
• Chairs for Charity Event
• Artist of the Month
• Spring Sports Updates
• 8th Grade Formal Expectations
• 8th Grade Promotion
• BARK Summer Program for Incoming 6th Graders
• BSD Summer Learning Opportunities
• AVID Showcase
• Homework Club
• Schoology Access for Parents
• SAFE-DE
• Transportation: WheresTheBus App
• Volunteering at Springer Middle School

Springer Families,

The week ahead will bring a close to our testing season window. Students have taken the Smarter Balanced (SBAC) test in English Language Arts and Math, the state Social Studies exams, and the NWEA MAP assessments in Reading and Math. Completing these exams is no easy feat and succeeding on them takes focus and perseverance. At Springer, our focus around these assessments is on applying a strong effort and showing growth. Early indications seem to show that students have bought in.

I have personally had and witnessed students running up to me, friends, or teachers to share their scores on the NWEA MAP assessments! Seeing the excitement on a student's face when they share “I got the highest score in the class!” or a “I exceeded the goal I set for myself!” is priceless. Students of all walks of life are having this experience at Springer. We have changed the mindset from these assessments being something that we just simply need to do into an opportunity to reach a goal. I look forward to celebrating their success with you on Tuesday, June 3rd at our Bulldog Block Party where students who met our standards for effort will be invited to attend. We will have sweet treats for them, games, and displays celebrating their achievements.

If you have any questions, concerns, or need additional information please do not hesitate to contact me or one of my administrators. We are eager to help.

All The Best,

Dr. Sterling H. Seemans

Principal

2024-2025 Middle School Daily Rotation Schedule

BSD School Calendar

Athletics Calendar

• 5/26/25: NO SCHOOL-Memorial Day
• 5/29/25: Art Club's Chairs for Charity
• 6/2-6/6/25: Early Dismissals for End of Marking Period Summatives
• 6/5/25: 8th Grade Promotion at Concord High School 6pm

Students who were the winners of our Spring Reading Challenge were awarded their prizes earlier this week. Thank you to our Springer Family Association for their funding of the gift cards. The following winners were:

Springer's Top Reader: Vamsi Gumma

6th grade – 80 books total; 1st place – Vamsi Gumma, 33 books; 2nd place – Ellie Straub, 14 books; 3rd place, 2 way tie – William Dech and Ava Harrison, 13 books

7th grade – 76 books total; 1st place – Zoey Quigley, 14 books; 2nd place, 3 way tie – Isabella Autumn, Inbha Manikandan, Amira Zogheib, 11 books each; 3rd place – Patrick Coffey-Pusey, 9 books

8th grade – 68 books total; 1st place – Kendall Barth, 7 books; 2nd place, Alana Malloy, 4 books; 3rd place – Ja’siere Garrett, 3 books

Our Entrepreneurship class will host their market day on May 21st during all three lunches. Students are encouraged to bring their money ($1 and $5 dollar bills) to purchase items, participate in games, and support our student owned businesses. Parents are welcome to visit and can check in our main office for a visitor pass.

We are excited as all of our Spring sports teams will be competing for championships in their respective sports! Due to inclement weather and poor field conditions these championships will take place on Monday, May 19 at Brandywine High School. Track and field, tennis, softball, baseball will being around 3:30pm with all-district and sportsmanship awards being handed out after competitions are complete. Girls soccer will begin at 7pm with awards and the match will begin at 7:30pm. If students do wish to attend, they will need their parent/guardian with them for the entirety of the game/meet/match.

Attention all current 6th and 7th grade music students! Are you a high academic achiever? Do you consider yourself a leader in your ensembles? Consider applying for the Tri-M Music Junior Honor Society. The application includes 3 signatures from your teachers, a 2-paragraph essay, a B average in all of your non-music classes, and an A in your music class. Applications are available in the back of the choir room and are due by the end of the day on Monday, May 19th to Mrs. Ferrara or Ms. Lee.

There are three new artists of the month for May! Congratulations to Berra Aydin, Liem Reed and Madeline Derle! Your artwork is now on display outside of Mrs. Dooley’s room 161

Soccer

The soccer team defeated Caravel Academy yesterday 6-1. With the bulldogs leading 2-1, Corinne the wall hall had a great save on a direct kick! From there Emery Haley took the game over! Emme Scored 5 goals and controlled the play of the game. Emma Burkhart had a brilliant goal. Quinn Reed, Ava Harrison, Kennedy Duhadaway and Allyson Cleghorn helped set up Springer goals! Defensively the team was led by Marley Richardson! Great team win!

The girls are excited to play P.S DuPont in the championship game tonight at 7:30 at Brandywine High School

The varsity soccer team defeated district rival P.S yesterday. Goals were scored by Allyson Cleghorn, Ava Harrison, Emma Burkhart. Emery Haley had her 5th hatrick of the season! The entire team played well. Allyson Cleghorn and Emery Haley Controlled play the entire game. Great team win!

The JV soccer team also defeated district rival P.S Yesterday 4-0! Alana Malloy got the scoring started with a great chip shop from 22 yards out. Other goals were scored by Charlotte Doyle, Emilie Golden and Ciera Lindenberg! Defensively the bulldogs were led by Rahini Shinde, Corinne Dormann, Ellie Reynolds and Sophia Marquette. Kayleigh Topolski played terrific in goal! Regan Manlove and Deanna Johnson and Isabella Garcia helped control the play throughout the entire game.

The soccer team defeated a very tough Newark charter team yesterday, 2-0. The entire team was locked in and played well from the start. Corine THE WALL Hall was great in goal! Brynn Costenbader, Marley Richardson, Katie Sheidell, Callie Jones, Morgan O’Hanlon all played their best defensive game of the season. Quinn Reed, Lexi Burris, Kenedey DuHadaway, Emma Wallace and Emma Burkhart all moved the ball brilliantly. Allyson Cleghorn helped control the play throughout the entire game. Emme Haley continued her dominance controlling the game and had two perfect passes through Newark's defense. 6th Grade Striker Ava Harrison saw those passes and ran them down perfectly and had two great goals!

Track

The Springer Track & Field team competed yesterday in an AWAY Meet at P.S. Dupont Middle School. The official results have not yet been received. There were, however, numerous highlights. Listed below are a few of those highlights.

• 8th Grader Lezir Brown placed 1st in the 100M, 200M, and the 400M.
  •7th grader Myles Hlywak scored 2nd in the 110M Hurdles

• 7th Grader Ryan Caswell placed 2nd in the 1600M and the 800M.

• 7th Grader Jason Lockwood placed 2nd in the Shot-Put.

• 7th Graders Milan Redmond and Natalia Jamison led the Springer Girl Hurdlers.

The Springer Boys placed 1st in the 4 X 100M relay.
•The Springer Girls placed 2nd in the 4x100M relay.

Baseball

The Baseball team brought home another win yesterday against district rival PS DuPont. After a back and forth battle early the Bulldogs blew the game open with 6 runs in the fifth inning on RBIs by Tyler Overly, Nick Smale, Malachi Byrd and Wes Fiske. Wyatt Dryden, Ben Merlo, and Nate Merlo also contributed with RBI base hits and Matt Sullinger and Nick Smale took care of business on the mound. Next up is a district championship game against a tough Talley team. Great job boys.

Softball

Springer Lady Bulldogs go undefeated for the 2025 season with a 25-0 win over conference rival PS Dupont. Isabel Oberly and Hailey Mullenix combined to throw the shutout. All 19 Student athletes contributed at the plate and on defense.

Tennis

The tennis team finished their perfect undefeated season yesterday by beating PS 7 games to 4. Winning for the Bulldogs were the following teams:

Ethan Isabella/Adam Soloman

Tyler Moore/Jaxson Gaskill

Will Guarino/John Guarino

Lucas Strain/ Landon Williams

Gabe Holloway/Brodie Champeaux

Zeniick Johnson/Damien Grawl

Puteri Atirah/Kenzie McConnell

The following 4 teams for Springer didn't lose a single match this year:

Tyler Moore/Jaxson Gaskill

Will Guarino/John Guarino

Lucas Strain/ Landon Williams

Gabe Holloway/Brodie Champeaux

We are quickly approaching the 8th grade formal, which will take place on Saturday May 17, 2025. We wanted to take a second to review expectations for elgibility to the dance, which were emailed on March 3, so families are aware and can plan for whether their child can attend or not.

Students will need to meet the following criteria:

• Any student with 3 or more referrals and 2 or more missing assignments from the start of marking period 4 Tuesday, April 1 to Friday, May 16 will not be eligible for the 8th grade formal
• Any student with a suspension in marking period 4 will not be eligible for the 8th grade formal

Tickets for the formal will go on sale later starting Wednesday, May 7 and the cost will be $20.

Our focus is and will always remain on preparing our middle school students for the rigors of high school and enabling and empowering them for success. We hope that through a combination of high expectations and high support, our students will finish the year strong and feel accomplished as they and their achievements are celebrated in many ways.

Please feel free to reach out to Dr. Seemans at sterling.seemans@bsd.k12.de.us

Our 8th grade promotion ceremony will be held on Thursday, June 5 at 6pm at Concord High School. Currently, we are still at a 2 ticket per student limit. If you wish to request additional tickets, please complete the following form: 2025 8th Grade Promotion Additional Ticket Request . Large requests will not be granted as space is limited and I cannot guarantee all requests will be fulfilled. Dr. Seemans will send out further details about 8th grade promotion as we get closer, but we wanted to communicate some initial details so parents and families can prepare and plan accordingly.

• Families can begin arriving at 5:00pm and seats are first come first serve
• Both the first floor and second floor sections of the auditorium will be used for promotion
• Students should plan to arrive at 5:00pm and will report directly to the gymnasium
• Students should be dressed in appropriate attire that is becoming of this event. No athletic wear, hats, pajamas, hoodies, t-shirts, sweatshirts/pants, etc. Students who are not dressed accordingly may be asked to change or leave. Long gowns are not recommended as students will have to navigate stairs, walking through narrow aisles, and walking across a stage
• Instructions for how students will process into the auditorium will begin around 5:30pm in the gym with administration
• The ceremony will begin at 6:00pm sharp. Students will receive their certificate of promotion at this event
• If you or one of the guests require handicap seating, please complete this form here: Request for Handicap Accessible Seating Springer Promotion Ceremony This information will allow us to properly plan student seating
• Students will sit in the front away from their guests
• There are no balloons, signs, or noisemakers permitted. Any of these items will be confiscated as guests enter the lobby area.
• We are planning a brief slideshow to present that will run on a loop until the ceremony begins. This will include pictures from the school year. We would also love to show baby/toddler/kid photos as well. Please only submit 1 baby/kid photo as the file to store these is limited. If you wish to submit 1 photo for this presentation, please complete this form: Baby/Kid Picture Submission.
• We will also set up for this event to be streamed to our YouTube page for those who can't make the ceremony in person.
• We are planning for the event to take about 90 minutes
• Behavior and attendance leading up to this ceremony is important. Students who are unable to attend regularly and follow our BARK expectations can lose their ability to attend this event.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate Dr. Seemans at sterling.seemans@bsd.k12.de.us

We are excited to announce our BARK Summer Program, which will take place the last week of July and first week of August. This is program to help incoming 6th graders with their transition to middle school. Students will learn about what it takes to thrive in middle school while meeting new friends and engaging in fun and enriching activities. If you have an incoming 6th grader or know someone who will be coming to Springer, please share this information. Please head to http://springer.brandywineschools.org/SBP for more information!

Talley Middle School is hosting an AVID showcase. This is an opportunity to learn more about what AVID is all about. AVID is a program we offer at Springer and if you are interested in having your child enrolled in AVID at Springer, please contact the school and ask to speak to a school counselor.

When Springer students return in January we are excited to announce our return of our Homework club! The Springer Homework Club is a voluntary after-school program providing academic assistance to students. Homework Club is a program which is held from 3:15 p.m. to 4:20 p.m. on Wednesdays. They meet in room 184 which provides a quiet place to study for each student to assist them in completing their assignments. There will be supervision and access to teachers and school tutors who have been trained to assist students in their studies. A Google form will be added to students' counselor corner page in Schoology for students to sign up, but it can also be found below:

https://forms.gle/KMqsPqenddDJFy8Q7

If you need help access Schoology as a parent to help support your child, please click the following link to access a document that will provide you step-by-step directions:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZjlNYAoqfGxHO3dciOvXU5JOb11Zj7-E69a7-lPn4w4/edit?usp=sharing

Families, you are encouraged to visit the following link on the BSD website to find out more information about Transportation. For your convenience, we have Where is the Bus app and a brand new bus scanner to help you see when your child(ren) are boarding the bus. Students will either enter their school IDs or lunch numbers. You will receive information in the upcoming weeks on when students will receive their school IDs. Happy Riding!! https://www.brandywineschools.org/families/transportation/bus-scanners

Springer Middle School relies on the generosity of time from our great families within the community. We welcome those who want to help be apart of our village and have a plethora of opportunities for volunteers to engage with our students and staff to better the middle school experience of our youth.

Parents who are interested in volunteering at Springer Middle School will need to follow the Brandywine School District's policy for background checks. Please follow this link: Volunteering at BSD to be properly cleared to work with our students. If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact the main office.

Background checks are good for 1 calendar year