February 14, 2025

Posted on February 15, 2025 by Sean Keating

Principal’s Hello

While middle school principals typically dread Valentine’s Day, given all the extra sugar and relationship drama, this week, our “Share the Love” campaign, turned out to be one of the most joyful of my career!

We started the week listening to big-band music and selling hot cocoa before school, with proceeds going to Bethlehem Inn, a local shelter for families experiencing houselessness. We then continued the week collecting non-perishable food in advisory, with all items donated to Bend Food Project, another local resource providing food to our neighbors in need.

We also continued our celebration of Black History Month, learning about important Black Americans who’ve helped to make our country a unique, dynamic, and diverse place. A message I stressed this week with students was DIVERSITY MAKES US STRONGER! At a time of life when conformity reigns (remember middle school?!), it takes courage to be yourself, to be unique, to simply be YOU!

The world wants us to be ourselves. Science tells us that diversity is a boon to life in an ecosystem. Diversity is a protective factor! How lucky we are to engender these big ideas in the lives of our students.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sean

Career & Technical Education – 8th Grade Fly Up Day

On Monday, March 3rd, our 8th grade students will have the opportunity to visit their forecasted high school to participate in a “fly-up day.”  The goal of this day is to get students into their high schools to learn about the many options they will have the following year.  We will be busing students to their forecasted high school this day and are looking forward to them experiencing a little bit of the high school experience.

If your student is attending another high school on an Area Change Request (ACR), please touch base with our main office to discuss options for transportation on this day.  Students on ACRs are not provided transportation to their school.  

We may, however, have some options available this day depending on which school your student chooses to attend on an ACR. Students attending Realms or Bend Tech Academy WILL be provided transportation for this event.

Please look for field trip permission slip from your student in the coming days.

Share the Love Campaign Update

This week, our PCMS families and staff brought in non-perishable food to our Advisory classrooms. School-wide, we collected just over 600 items! We held a grade level competition to see which class could bring in the most donations. The winning Advisory classes are Ms. Harms (6th Grade), Mr. McLaughlin (7th Grade), and Ms. Zepnewski (8th Grade). These three classrooms will receive fresh donuts on Tuesday, 2/18. Well done, PCMS!

Just a few of our WEB Leaders who helped with food collection.

In addition to our food drive and as the week’s weather dropped to frigid temperatures, students and staff enjoyed a week-long offering of hot cocoa each morning. A huge thanks to our WEB Leaders for doing an excellent job promoting and serving-up the morning treat. We raised close to $450.00 for Bethlehem Inn.

To end our week of sharing the love, we treated our School Resource Officer, Dan Koehnke, to lunch from Mt. Burger for SRO Appreciation Day which is technically tomorrow.

PCMS Athletics

Registration for Track & Field opens Monday February 17th. Please go to the PCMS Athletics website to find more information on how to register. Registration ends March 21st and no late registrations will be accepted.

A Message from PCCO | February Staff Lunch Sign-ups

This month is cold…so let’s warm up the amazing PCMS staff with some yummy soups and salads. The staff lunch will be on Friday, February 21st at 11:30am. Please have all food and drinks dropped off by 10:30am on Friday. Remember to label your dishes and grab them that Friday afternoon from the cart located in the main lobby. Thanks for all your continued help and support. Click here to sign up and thank you.

The National Charity League: Bend Chapter

The Bend Chapter of The National Charity League started its annual membership drive for rising 7th, 8th and 9th grade girls and their mothers (or guardians).  NCL works with local and national nonprofits to understand and serve the immediate and global community by contributing philanthropy hours from its membership.  The program aims to develop leadership skills through team building, mentoring and problem solving by practicing those skills through class officer roles.  And, NCL creates an environment that values differences and nurtures positive identity by appreciating the growth that comes from connecting with different cultures and communities.

Our upcoming interest meetings will be held:

  • Sunday, February 23, 2025 at 5:00 PM @ Westside Church
  • Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025 at 9:00 AM – Thump Coffee at the Grove
  • Saturday, March 1, 2025 is the New Member application deadline. 

Mark your Calendar

  • Feb. 17 | No School | President’s Day
  • Feb. 17 | Track & Field Registration Opens (see info above)
  • Mar. 13 | 5th Grade Family Night | 6:00 – 8:00 PM (more to come soon)
  • Mar. 20 | 8th Grade Science Fair | 6:00 – 8:30 PM
  • Mar. 21 | Track & Field Registration Ends
  • Mar. 21 | Lost & Found is donated to local charity
  • Mar. 23 – 28 | No School | Spring Break
  • Apr. 11 | Spring Fling Dance – Tropical Theme |4:00 – 6:00 PM
  • Apr. 16 – 17 | Conferences
  • Apr. 16 – 18 | No School due to Conferences
  • May 26 | No School | Memorial Day
  • June 11 | Full Day of School | 3:45 PM Release
  • June 11 | 8th Grade Promotion & Reception | 6:00 – 7:45 PM | more info to come
  • June 12 | Lost & Found is donated to local charity
  • June 12 | Last Day of School

Helpful Links

This entry was posted in News from the Nest. Bookmark the permalink.