The Pirate Treasure

SECOND SEMESTER HUMMING RIGHT ALONG

The second semester at Pine Tree High School is humming right along, busy as ever and productive as ever.

A host of high school groups and organizations participated in EXPEDITION 2024 at Maude Cobb Convention Center last week. The event was an overwhelming success as all campuses and ISD departments showcased their work for about 2,000 people in two hours.

While that event and two consecutive snow days kept that week busy, the rest of the weeks are being filled with activities as well. One Act Play is busy with events to get ready for a major competition next month, while UIL hosted thirty schools for a meet that saw Pine Tree excel in many areas. The UIL Academics team has meets coming up in Hallsville and several other locations before a district competition that could see Pine Tree send a bus full of students to area and then state competition.

Band and choir are also seeing major successes in their competitions as well. Band has seen students make it to state, and choir is still in the midst of some major competitions. Precision and Color Guard are also just beginning competition season. Precision Director Ashlyn Thompson and Color Guard Director Dr. Jared Cronk have their groups ready to bring home the gold in some very prestigious meets.

Testing is beginning to take place at Pine Tree, and March 6th is a major testing date coming up as students will be taking the ACT on campus to work toward college placement. Not far after this date, STAAR testing will begin followed by school year AP testing as well.

On the sports front, basketball is all in for the season and both boys and girls are pushing toward playoff spots. Soccer has begun tournament season and this Friday begins district play for both the boys and girls teams. Coach Angel Rocha’s boys are 5-2-1 heading into district, while Chris Yoder’s girls have a winning record heading into a home district opener Friday night.

Powerlifting finished third in its first meet at Hallsville, while baseball, softball, track, tennis and golf are all just now getting started on spring seasons.

The yearbook is just over halfway complete, and the book will be ready for printing by the middle of March. Seniors make up one-third of the book, so parents of seniors will want to buy one for their students to keep. Yearbooks are $80 and can be purchased in several ways. People can order yearbooks on the high school website by clicking on the buy a yearbook button and purchase with a credit card. Students or parents can purchase with cash or check and deliver to Greg Collins in Room 612. Only 200 are printed each year so parents are encouraged to purchase a yearbook now.

BUC applications for next year are now being accepted. Young men who will be juniors next year or seniors next year can pick up an application from Mr. Collins and turn it back in by the first of February. Interviews will then be held and candidates selected will be announced in February.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Caity Rutledge, Leadership sponsor and Leadership have a host of activities planned for this special day.

Hall of Fame voting is currently under way at the high school. Administrators, teachers, staff and faculty select the Top Ten senior boys and Top Ten senior girls who will make up the Hall of Fame. These students will be featured in the yearbook on their own page.

Life stays busy at the high school, so don’t blink or you will miss half a dozen events at the school. Until next time, try to breath and keep up with the high school administrators, faculty, staff and students. It will keep you young.

Our Middle School families had a lot of fun at EXPEDITION 2024 last week at the convention center. Several sixth graders assisted Mrs. Poplar with her booth at the event. Her booth featured many cultures of the students she teaches and student made hats to represent their country of origin.

Our CEER students presented a wax museum presentation and many stopped by to hear their speeches.

The annual Pine Tree EXPEDITION allowed our Birch First Family a moment to shine last week. Our teachers created inviting booths that welcomed the Pine Tree community to view the many amazing programs that our campus has to offer. Current, past, and future students delighted in mingling with our educators as well as viewing student creations and participating in hands-on activities.

The Birch First family enjoyed the gift of snow and ice recently. While we did miss being together on campus, we loved seeing our students enjoy bonding with their families during the cold weather. Snowmen were built, snowball fights occurred, and books were read by the warm fire as we waited to return to the Birch campus.

As we start the new year, we would like to take a moment to share a few inspirational words from our BFF members. We asked a few members to share their favorite aspect of the Birch First Family, and these were the heartfelt responses.

I love all of the things that we can do at Birch, like the Accelerated Reader store, Student Council and UIL. -Daniel Olvera, third grader

My relationships with my coworkers bring me tremendous joy each day. It is a blessing that I can rely on their expertise and friendship. -Nicole Pilcher, third grade ELAR teacher

At the Birch First Family, everyone is always willing to help each other out. -Marisa Salgado

The teachers and staff members are my favorite thing about Birch. They are always nice and calm. -Eli Martin, fourth grader

Before the Christmas break, our Primary Pirates enjoyed Christmas parties throughout the campus. The students enjoyed having their parents in the classroom and working with them on a craft. Currently, we are working on greater than and less than.

We are learning to identify our teen numbers with fun station games and playing card games. Our students also had a great Pajama Day. They were so excited to be wearing their pajamas.

Our campus also received new learning toys for reading and math from Donors Choose. We are really grateful to them.

Here at the Primary, we have a daily "Lucky Pirate". The kids are eager to hear if it's their number getting called during announcements. Keep up the good work and maybe you will be next!

All students present and on time the week of 1/26-2/1 will get a Special Prize on Friday and if you are here every day you can dress up and have fun.

Monday 1/26

Show up, Team up!-Wear your favorite sports shirt

Tuesday 1/27

WIld Hair, we don’t care!-Be on time even if it means to come in with crazy hair.

Wednesday 1/28

Your future is bright Great Attendance is “Tie-d” to great learning!!- Wear neon colors or tie dye!

Thursday 1/29

Roll out of bed, sleepy head and come to school!- Pajama Day!!

Friday 2/1

You are 100 days brighter! -Grab your “shades” and come to school!!

It is that time of year again at The Pack. The best time of year……..clay projects. For the last three weeks, our students have been experiencing the wonders of clay here at Parkway Elementary. Students made clay animals, and this week they are glazing their masterpieces.

Come see these masterpieces on May 9th from 6-8 at the 10th annual Parkway Elementary Art Showcase! Be on the lookout for your invitation to make your own 6" by 6" tile clay piece…..coming soon!

Our second grade CEER classes are doing a coin drive to benefit the residents of Pine Tree Lodge. Mrs. James's and Mrs. Edwards's classes put out buckets for each grade level to see who will win the battle of the coins. The class that wins will get extra recess. Nothing like a friendly competition for an amazing cause. Way to help our community out little Pirates!

Our Pine Tree Middle and Junior High students, under Coach Alisha Vidaurri, competed in Model United Nations at Region 7 on January 18 and 19. Students came home with several awards and we are so proud!

Jadelynn Armas PTJH: 1st place- WHO (World Health Organization), Douglas Palmer PTJH: 2nd place-UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific. and Cultural Organization), Jirah Baker PTMS: 3rd place-UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization), Eliza Williams PTJH: 1st place-UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization), Clara White PTMS: 2nd place- WHO (World Health Organization) and 3rd place Art Bangladesh, Madyson Simmons PTMS: 3rd place-FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), Hannah Holder PTMS: 1st place-Multimedia presentation for Afghanistan and 2nd place Art for Afghanistan, the Delegation of Jordan (Jirah Baker and J’Kaden Allen) PTMS: 3rd Place-Impromptu Resolution Writing, the Delegation of Israel (Juan Martinez, Landon Warner, Douglas Palmer, Caleb Davis) PTJH: 3rd place Delegation in General Assembly, the Delegation of Cuba (Blair Schroeder, Lily Dodson, Jade Armas, Isabella Aguilar) PTJH: 2nd place Delegation in General Assembly, Best Overall Delegation, 3rd place Map, and Aubrey Klein PTJH: 3rd Place Delegate in Security Council. Congratulations to all students who participated in MUN!

Congratulations to our PTJH Robotics for their success at their competition on Saturday, January 20th!

Team 47789 C - Tech Titans - Adrienne Davis, Zach Lee, and Facundo Schisano won the Judges Award for their engineering notebook and interview.

Team 47789 D - The Mechanics - Jonathan Meaux, Aiden Stewart, Brandon Phan, and Andrew Ovalle won the Design Award for the development of their robot.

Team 47789 G - Fantastic Force- Falon Rutkowski, Landon Warner, and AJ Lanier took first place overall. 🤘🤘

Last week our 8th graders participated in the 8th Grade Career and Technical Education (CTE) Day at Pine Tree High School. Students were introduced to a variety of elective classes and programs offered through the PTHS Career and Technical Education Department.

Students received a copy of the Pine Tree 2024-2025 CTE Guidebook, which includes recommended and required classes for each CTE program. Our 8th graders also toured the high school CTE department and had a chance to see the classrooms, shops, and labs.