Junior High

Students Build their Brains by Building Legos

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boys build a lego motorcycle
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Huddled around boxes of Legos and computers, Reiffton students were building their brains–as well as their coding and engineering skills–as they took part in the school’s Robotics club after school today. Thanks to a generous grant from the Exeter Community Education Foundation, who provided the Lego kits and accompanying computer programs, twenty Reiffton students were randomly chosen to be a part of the 10-week program that offers STEM-based after-school learning to interested students who volunteered to solve problems through building contraptions and coding small motors to make their Legos come to life. In one corner of the room, a team of girls designed a robotic hand that they had coded to open and close, gleefully holding up a bottle of hand sanitizer once they had figured out the correct code and configuration to make the Lego “fingers” move. In another group, a team of boys were designing a motorcycle-like car that could zoom along their desk.

To round out the club, other students were working on STEM-based learning projects, such as applying engineering principles to build a 3-foot high suspension bridge out of thin and bendy K’Nex sticks that was strong enough to hold a book when they placed it on top. Other students were huddled around a desk showing each other tips on how to use Scratch, an introductory visual-based coding-based program that allows them to create interactive stories, games and animations.

Despite all of the different projects going on in the classroom this afternoon, the students all shared the same energetic enthusiasm for tapping into their brains to solve problems–even after a full day of school. “This is awesome,” said Connor Funk as he was building his Lego set. “I love getting my energy out and showing what I’m building to my friends.” Leena Biratate agreed, and said that the club was helping her think about what she wanted to do when she grows up. “I think I want to be a software engineer,” she said as she plugged code into the computer, helping her team figure out how to make their Legos come to life. 

We are so grateful to the ECEF for funding this awesome after-school opportunity for our students, and look forward to seeing what amazing things they build and learn over the next 8 weeks! 

Principal Brown Recognized as a “Daily Point of Light”

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two students stand with principal

From left: Saishree Mupparaju ‘22, Principal Brown and Karleigh Patton ‘21

On a day where we reflect upon the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. and celebrate those who work to create a more equal society, we’re so proud to announce that Exeter Township Junior High’s principal Mr. Alex Brown has been recognized nationally as a “Daily Point of Light” for his volunteerism and development of youth leadership in Berks County through his board advisory roles in VOiCEup Berks and Youth Volunteer Corps of Reading (YVCR). Through those organizations, he became involved in the founding of STAR (Stand Together Against Racism) during the summer of 2020, which started as a series of student-led Zoom meetings with concerned Berks teens [including former Exeter students, Karleigh Patton ‘21 (right) and Saishree Mupparaju ‘22 (left)]. Under the leadership of Mr. Brown and other board members, Ms. Patton, Ms. Mupparaju and other students in STAR quickly grew the organization beyond Berks and now have dozens of STAR affiliates around the United States and Canada that engage hundreds of people annually in initiatives and projects supporting racial equity.

As an educator, coach, administrator and volunteer leader, Mr. Brown has spent his entire career working with and listening to kids. Throughout that journey, he said he came to appreciate their “can-do-anything” mentality that allows them to tackle and achieve goals that adults sometimes don’t believe are possible. So when the founding student members of STAR saw an opportunity to expand their organization’s mission and messaging beyond Berks by creating a website, podcasts, social media challenges, documentaries and more, Mr. Brown knew they could be encouraged to take action and be successful with whatever they put their mind to. “Kids don’t see barriers; they don’t see obstacles. They say, ‘This is what we want to do, and that might be in our way, but we’re going to around it.’”

When you talk with Ms. Mupparaju and Ms. Patton they say that their leadership development is thanks to Mr. Brown’s belief that young people can be empowered to tackle difficult work and to dream the impossible. “He really shows us the sky’s the limit. He shows us that things we don’t think are possible are actually possible,” says Ms. Mupparaju, who is now a student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Ms. Patton, who is now a student at Kutztown University, emphatically agreed, “Voices of youth tend to get shut down much more quickly. I think there’s a stigma that the youth voice doesn’t have the power to make true change, and Alex shut that down immediately by telling us we could absolutely make this happen, we could absolutely do this, and we’re going to do it together.”

Mr. Brown’s work as a youth volunteer leader was brought to the attention of the Points of Light organization by Ms. Christi Terefenko, who serves as the Executive Director of STAR and VOiCEup. In their leadership roles, they’ve engaged 594 youth in 6,279 hours of community service in and around Berks County. The “Daily Point of Light” is a national recognition and awards those who “act on their power to do good every day, using their hearts, hands and minds to help strengthen communities and solve persistent problems,” and is awarded by the Points of Light organization, which was founded by president, George H.W. Bush, and is an international non-profit that works to solve social problems through volunteerism. 

Junior High Spelling Bee Ends With a “Poppet”

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spelling bee winners hold their certificates

The Junior High Spelling Bee ended with a “poppet” today as seventh grader Joey Peroni successfully conquered 13 rounds of spelling, winning the competition with the unusual word, which means "an endearingly sweet young girl or child" or "a small human often depicted in witchcraft or sorcery." (Although a homonym, this poppet is not the latest fidget fad that all of our elementary students love!) The competition quickly heated up in the final rounds as the five 7th and 8th graders challenged each other with their spelling prowess until Joey was left victorious.

Joey has been practicing for the competition since November with Mrs. Cheryl Larson, who advises and oversees both Reiffton's and the Junior High's Bees. When asked, he shyly admits he might have a natural knack for spelling, winning the Bee in third grade and coming in third in fourth grade at Lorane Elementary. Both of Joey's parents, Matt and Dena, agree: "He probably spells better than both of us," they said with a laugh.

Our congratulations to the other Bee participants, who include (from left to right):

  • Lena Bluestone,
  • Evey Manke
  • Joey Peroni
  • Danielle McLaughlin
  • Maya Paduret

Please help us wish the best of L-U-C-K to Joey as he goes on to compete in the 3rd Annual Diamond City Regional Spelling Bee in Wilkes-Barre in March. Our thanks, also, to all of this year's participants and our advisor, Mrs. Larson, for their time and dedication of upholding this national tradition here in Exeter!

 

District to Host Drug Awareness Workshop for Families in January

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picture of assorted edibles and vapes
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“This,” said Exeter Township Detective Sergeant Rocco DeCamillo as he pointed to a table filled with confiscated THC-laced gummies, brownies, cookies and treats, “was not manufactured to appeal to adults. It was manufactured to look like candy to appeal to kids.” 

As part of the district’s professional development sessions with educators and staff last month, Detective Sergeant DeCamillo spent his day walking teachers, administrators and staff through the ever-complex and constantly-changing landscape of what drugs police are seeing being sold and being used in Exeter Township by adults and minors alike. “Things have drastically changed in the last 20 years. When the majority of us were in high school, marijuana was natural and looked like pot. Now, there’s so much synthetic stuff out there that’s chemically-produced with no regulation or oversight–and much of it’s been disguised to look like candy.”

Superintendent Dr. Christy Haller and Assistant Superintendent Mrs. Dawn Harris organized the session with Detective Sergeant DeCamillo and the district’s Student Services Coordinator, Mrs. Alycia Lenart, to bring a greater awareness to teachers of what’s out there, what it looks like, and how to engage students and their families with help for substance abuse. The sessions proved to be so popular with educators that Detective Sergeant DeCamillo and Mrs. Lenart decided to offer a similar session to parents and families so that they, too, could learn what police are seeing in the local community, and how to receive support through the district when families are faced with substance abuse. The parent and family session will be held on Thursday, January 12, 2023 at 7PM in Exeter Township Senior High School’s Large Group Instruction (LGI) room. 

During his presentation to teachers, Detective Sergeant DeCamillo said navigating the “new normal” of drug use and drug accessibility is not easy. Oftentimes, he said as he pointed to all of the items on the table, local retailers don’t even know what’s legal to sell and what isn’t since laws vary from state to state. “Most of this stuff is perfectly legal in New Jersey,” he said. Mrs. Lenart added, “I think there’s also a perception that since it’s legal in certain states, it must be perfectly safe, and it’s really not,” she said, as she ticked off statistics that indicate that 90% of ER admittance for marijuana or THC overdoses are from edibles. “It takes anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours for kids to feel the effect from an edible. Since most teens don’t have great patience, they think it’s not working, so they eat more, and more and more and then wind up in the hospital. That’s why it’s so important to bring awareness to this very scary issue.”

Reggie Dabbs Tells Junior High Students to Never Give Up

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reggie dabbs performs at junior high
@etsdeagles The ETJH assembly today was part stand up, part concert and had many in tears by the end. https://tinyurl.com/2p8acpda #exetertownshipjuniorhigh ♬ original sound - Exeter Twnshp School District

In an assembly that started as part stand-up and part music concert and ended with many in the audience wiping their tears away, motivational speaker Reggie Dabbs today told students at Exeter Township Junior High School that they should never, ever give up. “At 13 years old, I couldn’t see who I am today,” he said. “I cried myself to sleep every night. I thought that nobody cared about me. I felt so unloved because even my own momma gave me up. She kept my brother and she kept my two sisters, but she said I was a mistake and gave me away.” 

Through an emotional retelling of his childhood, Reggie recounted how he found out that he was living with people who were not his biological parents at just 6 years old. “I went into kindergarten and all of the kids had their names on their desk with their first and last name. Mine just said ‘Reggie.’” It was then that he found out he was living with foster parents and that his biological mother had given him to the Dabbs. “I didn’t have a real last name until I was 13 years old when they adopted me.” 

But despite the outcome of his adoption and his healthy home environment, Reggie’s past continued to haunt him through his early adolescence. “I wasn’t ok,” he said. “I wanted to scream ‘why me?’...My story may be different than yours, but I guarantee you we are all going through something that makes it hard to sleep at night.” He said he finally realized he couldn’t change his past, but he could change his future. “I made a choice: I now choose to be hope. I choose to be kind. I choose to be love,” he said, asking those in attendance, “What will you choose?” before he asked everyone to point to their neighbor and say, “Don’t you give up!” and then point to him/herself and say, “I won’t give up!” and then point to their other neighbor and say “Let me love you” before he launched into a rendition of DJ Snake and Justin Beiber’s “Let Me Love You” on his soprano saxophone. 

Click our video to see a few highlights from today–including a special tribute and appreciation to teachers, who he says, are responsible for allowing him to become who he is. “My foster mom was a school teacher and my foster father was a school janitor, and they are my heroes," he said earlier in his presentation. "Boys like me become men like me because of people like (teachers)... I am the product of the public school system... Boys like me make it because of people like you.”