Tiffany Jones, coordinator of Family and Community Engagement for Newport News Public Schools, was honored as 1st runner-up at the 2024 Family and Community Engagement Awards given by the Family and Community Engagement Learning Network and Successful Innovations Inc.
\r\nThe award was presented April 25 at the 2024 Innovations in Family Engagement Symposium in Raleigh, North Carolina.
\r\nJones was one of 20 finalists for the award from around the country. Dr. Chisel Valdez, director of family engagement for Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia, was the grand prize winner.
\r\nJones was invited to attend the 2024 National Family Engagement Summit gratis and was asked to be a presenter at the next symposium.
\r\n\"It is truly a humbling honor to be nominated for the 2024 Family and Community Engagement Award through the Family and Community Engagement Learning Network and Successful Innovations,\" Jones said, after the award nominations were announced. \"I love what I do. Serving as the coordinator of Family and Community Engagement has afforded me the opportunity to nurture my passion for youth and families.
\r\n\"My aspiration is for our youth and families to experience empowerment, authentic engagement and to become active partners, as I and the Family and Community Engagement team continue to strive towards the goal of informing, empowering and effectively advocating for our families and community.\"
\r\nNNPS' FACE program is part of its Youth Development Department and uses specially-targeted activities to increase family and community engagement with the school division's K-12 students.
","body2":"","publish_date":"Apr 26, 2024","image_1_path":"24042602030747_2024-tiffanyjonesawardceremony.jpg","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"","image_2_caption":"","image_3_path":"","image_3_caption":"","image_4_path":"","image_4_caption":"","image_5_path":"","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-04-26_NNPS-Family-and-Community-Engagement-coordinator-receives-national-award.html","news_id":"4078"},{"headline":"Point Option science students build, test drive solar go-karts","blurb":"","description":"Point Option science students build, test drive solar go-karts","body":"Starting with a box of parts and the knowledge they had gained working on smaller projects, a group of Virtual Learning Academy at Point Option science students built two solar go-karts in April.
\r\nWith instructors from Flying Classroom available to answer questions, students had a diagram on a whiteboard and one another to rely on as they figured out the building part. Once completed, students test drove the go-karts in the school’s parking lot.
\r\n"It was a cool experience; something I haven't really done before on this scale," said Stanley Vanburn, a 10th grader. "And it was cool to be able to do this. It was a collaborative effort."
\r\nThe voluntary hands-on project provided students with a different way of learning science they are currently studying.
\r\n"It definitely helps with everything and makes things more interesting," Vanburen said.
\r\nStudents came to school an hour early several days a month since February to participate in learning the intricacies of creating code with circuits and programming, as well as working on smaller building projects including a motor. Although they usually learn at home through the school's Virtual Learning Academy, a group of 18 to 20 committed to participating in-person and formed friendship bonds along with learning as they worked together.
\r\n"Each of the projects starts with an engagement piece where they started with some of the smaller projects where the instructors will get them excited about a particular topic like circuits," said Gretchen De Wall, science teacher.
\r\n"They really apply some real-life application like connecting to let's say the cell phone. And then they build. Then they're given the components to build a circuit, build a solar rover. So it's a routine for each individual build."
\r\nTeams of students assembled two go-karts, picking out parts and attaching them where needed. Tools and parts were strewn around the floor and the occasional ominous sound of a tiny metal part being dropped could be heard before it was retrieved.
\r\nThey figured it out themselves, hunched over and concentrating.
\r\n"Strategizing-wise, because we don't have any paper instructions, it's more of a you doing it on your own," said 11th grader Ramiyah Jones-Spruill. "You're communicating with your teammates, trying to figure out what part goes where."
\r\nStudents said they enjoyed the building process, but had their eyes on the end result of testing the vehicles.
\r\n"That's going to be the most fun part, to be completely done and trying it and testing it out," Jones-Spruill said.
\r\nLearning by doing rather than listening or observing kept students engaged.
\r\n"I learn in a way that I have to do it to understand it," said 11th grader Joel Bethea. "And this shows that. Because it would be way more difficult for me to just look at a book and someone expect me to build an airplane by just looking at a book, without seeing anyone else build an airplane before or someone walk me through."
\r\nHe compared it to learning to drive a car by studying the textbook, but never taking behind the wheel instruction.
\r\n"This is basically helping us figure out actually how to do it instead of just reading about it," Bethea said.
\r\nBy the time they drove the go-karts on April 19, students were cheering each other on, taking photos and celebrating the project's completion together with the school community.
\r\n"They're excited to come in-even an hour early; and they're chit chatting," De Wall said. "So the whole experience from the science aspect, yes. But also the social emotional bit is just so big for them."
","body2":"","publish_date":"Apr 25, 2024","image_1_path":"","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"240425123744444_2024-build1.jpg","image_2_caption":"","image_3_path":"240425123744444_2024-build2.jpg","image_3_caption":"","image_4_path":"240425123744444_2024-build3.jpg","image_4_caption":"","image_5_path":"240425123744444_2024-build4.jpg","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-04-25_Point-Option-science-students-build--test-drive-solar-go-karts.html","news_id":"4077"},{"headline":"Career pathways event showcases STEM fields for students","blurb":"","description":"Career pathways event showcases STEM fields for students","body":"A helicopter circled above Heritage High School, made a few maneuvers and then hovered before landing on the football practice field.
\r\nThis was the dramatic opening to a morning of career pathways explanations and demonstrations by the Celebrate Freedom Foundation and Virginia Natural Gas on April 24.
\r\nStudents in the Governer's STEM Academy and NJROTC programs at Heritage learned about various career possibilities as they cycled through stations of guest presentations. The foundation had two helicopters and a Hunter Droid for students to see and learn about working with, and VNG used three stations with trucks, equipment and materials displayed to help tell its story of working to serve the community’s natural gas needs.
\r\nNumerous students filmed the opening helicopter landing with their phones as they got ready to learn about these STEM workforce opportunities and the education required to do so.
\r\n"NJROTC cadets who are part of our aerial drone team were able to help assemble the Hunter Drone," said Lenise Cowling, program administrator for the Governor's STEM Academy. "Our engineering drone team will probably help disassemble the Hunter Drone. Virginia Natural Gas is sponsoring the event and showcasing career paths that students can take."
\r\nCelebrate Freedom Foundation, which is located in South Carolina, is a nonprofit education and historical organization created to further education efforts as well as "to honor past aviation pioneers and inspire future space and aviation pioneers," according to its website. The foundation focuses on education with a STEM-Science, Technology, Engineering and Math-education outreach program primarily for K-12 students.
","body2":"","publish_date":"Apr 24, 2024","image_1_path":"","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"240424013943443_2024-careerpathways1.jpg","image_2_caption":"","image_3_path":"240424013943443_2024-careerpathways2.jpg","image_3_caption":"","image_4_path":"240424013943443_2024-careerpathways3.jpg","image_4_caption":"","image_5_path":"","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-04-24_Career-pathways-event-showcases-STEM-fields-for-students.html","news_id":"4076"},{"headline":"Partnership continues to help students learn science at The Mariners' Museum and Park","blurb":"","description":"Partnership continues to help students learn science at The Mariners' Museum and Park","body":"Donning waders to plant eelgrass in Mariners' Lake, conducting water quality testing and learning about various kinds of fish using a simulation were all part of a school day for Denbigh High School ninth graders on April 17.
\r\nThousands of NNPS biology and environmental science students have participated in an ongoing experiential learning program through a partnership with The Mariners' Museum and Park that continues to teach them. A three-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and funded through the Bay Watershed Education and Training program has allowed students to participate in the large-scale watershed restoration project as a learning lab.
\r\nMuseum officials are committed to continuing the program, which other local school divisions have joined since NNPS began participating in 2021.
\r\nAs Denbigh science teacher Kathryn Hamilton's environmental science students took their turn, science educators from The Mariners' Museum informed them every step of the way through the three educational stations of activities.
\r\nAside from the obvious appeal of leaving school for a brief adventure, there are real advantages to this engagement opportunity.
\r\n\"What they're doing here ties directly into what we're learning about,\" Hamilton said. \"Right now we're working on ecosystems and we're talking about how different ecosystems interact and what abiotic and biotic things are. Next unit we'll be talking about invasive species and topics like that.
\r\n\"So it literally ties directly into material we're doing and material we have talked about in class. But some of the tests that they were able to do are not tests that I can do in class with them.\"
\r\nProject Director Andrea Rocchio, senior educator for science at The Mariners' Museum and Park, and Sabrina Jones, senior director of advancement, explained the long-term benefits of introducing students and teachers to the park and museum so that they might return to explore all that the museum and park have to offer. The Mariners' Museum's B-WET program is designed to create environmental stewards and build a sense of belonging in the community for the students.
\r\nThis was illustrated as numerous educators explained steps to students and helped them prepare and work through the stations. Individual interactions, conversations and tips and tricks were sprinkled throughout.
\r\nWithin minutes of getting off the school bus, students were pulling on waders and putting eelgrass onto coconut fiber and a small metal stake. They headed down to the lake where two staffers in the water assisted each student in finding a smooth and suitable spot on the bottom of the shallow section of lake and planting their eelgrass.
\r\nBack on land, students next learned the intricacies of water quality testing in small groups with a worksheet to fill out.
\r\nUsing samples from Mariners' Lake, they were guided in conducting five tests and discussing what the results meant. Water was tested for pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, turbidity and salinity.
\r\n\"It's very difficult to do turbidity and the dissolved oxygen in class,\" Hamilton said. \"But they were able to go right, we talked about this. And hopefully, the next time they see it on a test they'll say right, I did that. I remember this because I did it.
\r\n\"Doing things hands-on stick into your memory better than just hearing it and writing it down and doing homework on it simply because it triggers in their mind. When you do something, it works better for memory.\"
\r\nAt the last station, students learned details about the submerged wreck of the Monitor battleship and how it forms an artificial reef to serve as a fish habitat off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. They used fishing poles to fish for a series of plastic fish labeled with details on specific fish species to learn about invasive varieties, all while avoiding the artifacts that are to be left alone when plying the waterways.
\r\nOne female student was continuously reeling in fish while a boy further down the line said: \"We're starving over here\" after they'd been reminded that this friendly competition could have been more dire if they were trying to fulfill their dietary needs.
\r\nExperiences like this one give teachers opportunities to do things with students that they wouldn't normally be able to do, according to Hamilton.
\r\n\"We're treating it almost as bio prep so that when they go to biology hopefully next year, they'll have seen this information before and they'll remember it a little better before they take the biology SOL,\" Hamilton said.
","body2":"","publish_date":"Apr 22, 2024","image_1_path":"","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"240423033511411_mariners1a.jpg","image_2_caption":"Photo credit: Kyra Duffley, The Mariners' Museum and Park","image_3_path":"240423033511411_mariners2a.jpg","image_3_caption":"Photo credit: Kyra Duffley, The Mariners' Museum and Park","image_4_path":"240423033511411_mariners3a.jpg","image_4_caption":"Photo credit: Kyra Duffley, The Mariners' Museum and Park","image_5_path":"","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-04-22_Partnership-continues-to-help-students-learn-science-at-The-Mariners--Museum-and-Park.html","news_id":"4075"},{"headline":"NNPS Secondary STAR awards honor students, organizations","blurb":"","description":"The Newport News Public Schools Youth Development Department held its annual STAR Awards recognition event for students and student organizations that exemplify the characteristics of student leadership and volunteerism.","body":"The Newport News Public Schools Youth Development Department held its annual recognition for students and student organizations that exemplify the characteristics of student leadership and volunteerism. The STAR - Students Taking Action and Responsibility - Awards are given each year.
\r\nDuring the Secondary STAR Awards Banquet on April 18, 120 middle and high school students representing 41 clubs and organizations were honored for their leadership and volunteerism.
\r\nTeniyah Corprew, a senior at Achievable Dream High School and the Boys & Girls Clubs Youth of the Year for the Virginia Peninsula, served as mistress of ceremonies. School Board member Rebecca Aman gave opening remarks and provided the introduction.
\r\n\"Our honorees, representing various clubs, represents thousands of students in our schools who are sharpening their leadership skills and making a positive difference,\" Aman said. \"Thank you, our honorees, for your initiative, service and heart for others. Your character and dedication have certainly distinguished you and your club or organization as leaders.\"
\r\nAttendees included Delegate Shelly Simonds, Newport News City Council member Tina Vick, Acting Assistant City Manager David Freeman, School Board member Gary Hunter and Rob Coleman, Chief Operating Officer of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Virginia Peninsula.
\r\nFeatured students who presented the awards were Marlie Kane, an eighth grader at Gildersleeve Middle School; Malechi Whitaker, an eighth grader at Passage Middle School; and Marlena Krizmencic, a junior at Warwick High School.
\r\nMusic was provided by the Menchville High School and Crittenden Middle School choirs.
\r\n\"Honorees, I do want to thank you for what you do; you truly do serve as role models,\" Superintendent Dr. Michele Mitchell said in her closing remarks. \"It really is a pleasure to acknowledge all that you have each individually achieved and collectively achieved this year through your service to our schools and our community. You make every one of us in this room proud.\"
","body2":"","publish_date":"Apr 19, 2024","image_1_path":"","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"240419082127427_starmiddle.jpg","image_2_caption":"","image_3_path":"240419082127427_starhigh.jpg","image_3_caption":"","image_4_path":"240419082127427_Star.jpg","image_4_caption":"","image_5_path":"240419082127427_Star-2.jpg","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-04-19_NNPS-Secondary-STAR-awards-honor-students--organizations.html","news_id":"4074"},{"headline":"NNPS Family and Community Engagement coordinator nominated for national award","blurb":"","description":"NNPS Family and Community Engagement coordinator nominated for national award","body":"Tiffany Jones, coordinator of Family and Community Engagement for Newport News Public Schools, was recognized as a 2024 Family and Community Engagement Award nominee by the Family and Community Engagement Learning Network and Successful Innovations Inc.
\r\n\"It is truly a humbling honor to be nominated for the 2024 Family and Community Engagement Award through the Family and Community Engagement Learning Network and Successful Innovations,\" Jones said. \"I love what I do. Serving as the coordinator of Family and Community Engagement has afforded me the opportunity to nurture my passion for youth and families.
\r\n\"My aspiration is for our youth and families to experience empowerment, authentic engagement and to become active partners, as I and the Family and Community Engagement team continue to strive towards the goal of informing, empowering and effectively advocating for our families and community.\"
\r\nNNPS' FACE program is part of its Youth Development Department and uses specially-targeted activities to increase family and community engagement with the school division's K-12 students.
","body2":"","publish_date":"Apr 16, 2024","image_1_path":"240416031441441_2024-tiffany-jones.jpg","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"","image_2_caption":"","image_3_path":"","image_3_caption":"","image_4_path":"","image_4_caption":"","image_5_path":"","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-04-16_NNPS-Family-and-Community-Engagement-coordinator-nominated-for-national-award.html","news_id":"4073"},{"headline":"STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Woodside senior Ethan Clinkenbeard","blurb":"Works on TV and video productions","description":"Watching School Board meetings or football games on TV, viewers may not be aware that Newport News Public Schools students are integral to the broadcasts.","body":"Watching School Board meetings or football games on TV, viewers may not be aware that Newport News Public Schools students are integral to the broadcasts.
\r\nOne of those currently working behind the scenes is Ethan Clinkenbeard, a senior in the Center for the Arts & Communications magnet program at Woodside High School. Students taking elective courses in the NNPS Telecommunications program learn all facets of TV broadcast production while working on live and taped shows that air on local cable channel NNPS-TV.
\r\n\"I really like live events,\" Clinkenbeard said. \"I like the flow of that. I feel like there's always something to do more exciting, and especially on the technical aspect.\"
\r\nClinkenbeard's particular twist is that he came to TV production from the theater side of lighting and sound production work. After taking Stagecraft I as a sophomore in the International Baccalaureate program at Warwick High School, he started really getting into the technical aspect of theater.
\r\nWhile studying theater as a junior and senior in Woodside's magnet program, and specifically the backstage aspects, Clinkenbeard pursued elective courses in Telecommunications. He spends two hours each morning taking classes and completing projects in the program's facility, with some evenings and weekends working events in its production truck.
\r\n\"I've always found this type of camera editing, recording, all of this type of stuff interesting,\" Clinkenbeard said. \"I thought it sounded really interesting. I picked it up; got into it. I've gotten really involved, really enjoy all the things that we do, all the productions, opportunities.\"
\r\nHe and the team televised many football games at Todd Stadium last fall, two basketball games this season, monthly School Board meetings and filmed the Virginia School Boards Association Annual Convention in November in Williamsburg.
\r\nClinkenbeard does numerous backstage technical duties in editing, filming and all aspects of theatre at Woodside both during and outside of school.
\r\n\"I'm really involved with all of that and all of the productions we do as well,\" he said. \"I normally focus on lighting and sound.\"
\r\nAs many students who have trained in the Telecommunications program through the years have done, Clinkenbeard wants a career in the industry. He plans to attend Virginia Peninsula Community College and transfer to Virginia Commonwealth University to study digital film and photography, and technical theater.
\r\n\"With lights and sound, I like being able to stay busy and constantly have things to do and follow,\" Clinkenbeard said. \"It's what I love doing and there's always going to be something.\"
","body2":"Visit Student Spotlights on the Newport News Public Schools website.
","publish_date":"Apr 15, 2024","image_1_path":"240415024914414_ethan.jpg","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"240415024914414_ClinkenbeardEthan.jpg","image_2_caption":"Visit Student Spotlights on the Newport News Public Schools website.","image_3_path":"","image_3_caption":"","image_4_path":"","image_4_caption":"","image_5_path":"","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-04-15_STUDENT-SPOTLIGHT--Woodside-senior-Ethan-Clinkenbeard.html","news_id":"4072"},{"headline":"First NNPS All-City Music Festival held at CNU's Ferguson Center for the Arts","blurb":"","description":"First NNPS All-City Music Festival held at CNU's Ferguson Center for the Arts","body":"More than 600 students performed collaboratively at the first Newport News Public Schools All-City Music Festival April 12 at Christopher Newport University's Ferguson Center for the Arts.
\r\nStudents performed in the Ferguson Center's Diamonstein Concert Hall and Peebles Theatre, as well as on the Diamonstein Concert Hall Grand Staircase. Performances, which were open to the public, included middle and high school bands, choirs, orchestras, guitar ensembles and elementary choruses.
\r\nThe event gave students a remarkable opportunity to perform on a renowned stage and experience the thrill of showcasing their talents to the community, according to CNU.
\r\nEach student who was part of the event was recommended by their music teacher, ensuring that only the most dedicated performers were chosen, according to Katie SheehanSmith, NNPS supervisor of visual and performing arts. Students from various schools performed together in ensembles.
\r\n"We are so excited to be partnering with the city and Christopher Newport's Ferguson Center for the Arts to bring our student ensembles together to perform for our community and expand musical knowledge and awareness for all involved," SheehanSmith said.
\r\n"The amount of focus it takes to be a part of an ensemble is immense, and music and arts are just as important as any other subject. We are grateful for the opportunity given to our young musicians to perform at such an elite performance venue as the Ferguson Center."","body2":"","publish_date":"Apr 15, 2024","image_1_path":"","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"240415111335435_2024-ferguson1.jpg","image_2_caption":"","image_3_path":"240415111335435_2024-ferguson2.jpg","image_3_caption":"","image_4_path":"240415111335435_2024-ferguson3.jpg","image_4_caption":"","image_5_path":"","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-04-15_First-NNPS-All-City-Music-Festival-held-at-CNU-s-Ferguson-Center-for-the-Arts.html","news_id":"4071"},{"headline":"NNPS receives national recognition for music education support","blurb":"","description":"NNPS receives national recognition for music education support","body":"Newport News Public Schools has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education.
\r\nThis is the seventh time NNPS has received this recognition.
\r\nNow in its 25th year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement for providing music access and education to all students, according to the foundation.
\r\nTo qualify for the Best Communities designation, NNPS officials answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and community music-making programs.
\r\nThe NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit supported in part by the National Association of Music Merchants and its 15,000 global member companies and individual professionals worldwide, according to the organization's website. The foundation advances active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving and public service programs.
","body2":"","publish_date":"Apr 12, 2024","image_1_path":"","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"240412013153453_2024-NAMM.jpg","image_2_caption":"","image_3_path":"","image_3_caption":"","image_4_path":"","image_4_caption":"","image_5_path":"","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-04-12_NNPS-receives-national-recognition-for-music-education-support.html","news_id":"4070"},{"headline":"NNPS celebrates newly-resurfaced Todd Stadium with ribbon cutting","blurb":"","description":"Newport News Public Schools celebrated its new artificial turf surface at John B. Todd Stadium with a ribbon cutting ceremony on April 11.","body":"Newport News Public Schools celebrated its new artificial turf surface at John B. Todd Stadium with a ribbon cutting ceremony on April 11.
\r\nThe surface was installed this spring and will be available for school sports events and for outside groups to use. The field is painted in NNPS colors of blue, yellow and white with an NN logo at midfield and Todd in one endzone, Stadium in the other.
\r\nSchool Board Chairman Lisa Surles-Law, Vice Chairman Dr. Terri Best and Board member Douglas Brown, as well as Superintendent Dr. Michele Mitchell, school division staff and community members were in attendance.
\r\n\"The field itself with its new artificial surface is competitive with any field not only in our regional area, but across the state,\" said Director of Student Athletics Lee Martin.
\r\nAttendees were able to walk on the field, take photos and videos, and see the new logos and lines marking playing fields for various sports.
\r\nThe advantages of the new turf surface are numerous. Now in addition to being used for track and football, lines have been added to create soccer and field hockey fields to accommodate those sports, according to Martin. In addition, the field won't have to be maintained as grass had to be, which will save money on labor and materials.
\r\nThe facility will be able to be used more often and for more varied activities by the local community and organizations around the state.
\r\nThe stadium is currently hosting spring sports and other events and will be the site of the first NNPS middle school football city playoff games with the semifinals on May 18 at noon and 3 p.m., and the championship game on May 24 at 6 p.m.
","body2":"View the photo album on Facebook.","publish_date":"Apr 11, 2024","image_1_path":"","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"240411032832432_Todd Ribbon Cutting 5.jpg","image_2_caption":"","image_3_path":"24041507530444_Todd2.jpg","image_3_caption":"","image_4_path":"24041507530444_Todd3.jpg","image_4_caption":"","image_5_path":"24041507530444_Todd4.jpg","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-04-11_NNPS-celebrates-newly-resurfaced-Todd-Stadium-with-ribbon-cutting.html","news_id":"4069"},{"headline":"Newport News teacher named 2025 Virginia regional teacher of the year","blurb":"","description":"Newport News teacher named 2025 Virginia regional teacher of the year","body":"Crittenden Middle School teacher Chanda Woods was named 2025 Virginia Region 2 Teacher of the Year by the Virginia Department of Education in a surprise announcement April 10 at the school.
\r\nWoods has 25 years of teaching experience with Newport News Public Schools and has been in her current position teaching middle school English for four years. Her students filed into the library just prior to the announcement and cheered along with Delegate Shelly Simonds, NNPS School Board members and administration staff, Crittenden staff and numerous supporters of their special teacher.
\r\n\"They talked about how you had a really challenging youth and you had a lot of hardships, but the word they used to describe you was perseverance,\" said Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Lisa Coons, as she presented the commemorative plaque and described why Woods was selected.
\r\n\"And that you have made an amazing impact on your own life and have become a role model for the youth that you serve. And that you believe in bringing healthy options in food and healthy options in life for your students, and planting seeds in them and inspiring them to be successful.\"
\r\nWoods is one of eight regional finalists for State Teacher of the Year, which will be announced May 6 and the winner will be Virginia's nominee for 2025 National Teacher of the Year. Region 2 is comprised of 16 school divisions, including NNPS.
\r\n\"I don't know what to say except thank you,\" Woods said. \"They're my happy place. Middle school is challenging every day; I'm thankful I get to be a part of their lives every day and I work with wonderful people. This is what I've wanted to do since I was 12, so these are my children.\"
\r\nSeveral students spoke about her positive influence on their learning, school days and school experience in explaining what she means to them.
\r\nWoods was honored as NNPS Teacher of the Year for 2023-24, as well as NNPS Middle School Teacher of the Year and Crittenden Teacher of the Year.
\r\n\"It's a tremendous honor and point of pride to have one our teachers recognized at this level among the best in the state of Virginia,\" said Superintendent Dr. Michele Mitchell. \"We are thrilled to join the community in celebrating Chanda's teaching career, impact on students and positive influence every day at Crittenden.\"
\r\nWoods has served in leadership roles as Teacher of the Year Advisory Committee member, modern classrooms project implementer, conductor of professional development sessions for teachers, new teacher mentor and coach, and as content lead at Crittenden.
\r\nAfter earning her bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Albany, Woods started teaching in NNPS in 2000. She taught English at Hines Middle School from 2000 to 2009 and returning as content lead from 2012 to 2018, as well as teaching at Huntington Middle School in 2010-11. Woods has taught at Crittenden since 2019, where she currently teaches sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
\r\nA Newport News resident, Woods mentors sixth grade girls and works with Serve the City: Peninsula on Crittenden's garden project and with the hospitality committee at Lifehouse Church.
\r\n\"Chanda is an exemplar teacher,\" said Crittenden Principal Dr. Natia Smith. \"She loves her kids. She loves her content. She's inspired to help kids be the best that they can be, whether that's academic or social. Her classroom really is a really welcoming place, as the students shared.
\r\n\"And she just takes great pride in making sure that kids are learning every minute of the class that they are in there and they're walking out a smarter baby. So it makes me super proud that she's being recognized for that.\"
","body2":"","publish_date":"Apr 10, 2024","image_1_path":"","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"240410121949449_2024-toy1.jpg","image_2_caption":"","image_3_path":"240410121949449_2024-toy2.jpg","image_3_caption":"","image_4_path":"240410121949449_2024-toy3.jpg","image_4_caption":"","image_5_path":"","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-04-10_Newport-News-teacher-named-2025-Virginia-regional-teacher-of-the-year.html","news_id":"4068"},{"headline":"Three NNPS Odyssey of the Mind teams take top honors at state","blurb":"","description":"Three NNPS Odyssey of the Mind teams take top honors at state","body":"Three Newport News Public Schools Odyssey of the Mind teams earned top honors in the 2024 Odyssey of the Mind Virginia State Tournament held April 6 at Tuscarora High School in Leesburg.
\r\nThe Booker T. Washington Middle School team earned first place and qualified to attend the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals Tournament at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, on May 21-24. Teams from Warwick High School and Knollwood Meadows Elementary School earned third place in their respective problems and divisions.
\r\nThe Booker T. Washington team of Andrew Cochran, Lydia Lynerd, Clair Park, Zoey Cox, Leyla Brin, Arielle Woods and Berkley Hanlon, and coached by Jessie Sprouse, earned first place in the AI Tech-No-Art Problem. In this problem, teams designed, built and operated an Artificial Intelligence Tech-No-Art device that determined if a work of art is beautiful or not. It dismantled a work of art that it decided was not beautiful to create a new work of art it believed was beautiful. The humorous performance also included an artist character that stood up for their work of art, sound effects and team-created artwork.
\r\nIn this problem teams designed, built and ran a vehicle with a team-created rider that traveled to a drive-in movie theater. The movie takes place around the vehicle when a team-created special-effect occurred on the vehicle that made it become part of the action. The performance included a lead actor character and the fun that came with a nostalgic outdoor movie experience.
\r\nThe Knollwood Meadows team comprised of Ryan Wilder, Cree Proctor, Ava Robinson, Alani Joseph, Ryan Zagursky, Camilla Monge and Kaleb Proctor, coached by Lauren Hancock and Katelyn Wilmer, placed third in the Rocking World Detour problem. In this problem, teams created a performance about a rock band on tour. Things get derailed in a very Odyssey way-while playing a song, the band was transported to an unexpected location. The band members had to figure out how to use music to get them back on their tour. The performance also included band merchandise and original hairstyles.
\r\nThe teams of students have worked since September to practice spontaneous problems and solve their specific long-term problem. Odyssey of the Mind emphasizes teamwork, problem-solving, creativity, budgeting, time management, public speaking, performance, and set-design, costume design and building.
","body2":"","publish_date":"Apr 08, 2024","image_1_path":"","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"240408102732432_2024-odysseyofmind-washingtonteam.jpg","image_2_caption":"Booker T. Washington Middle School team","image_3_path":"240408102732432_2024-odysseyofmind-warwickteam.jpg","image_3_caption":"Warwick High School team","image_4_path":"240408102732432_2024-odysseyofmind-knollwoodteam.png","image_4_caption":"Knollwood Meadows Elementary School team","image_5_path":"","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-04-08_Three-NNPS-Odyssey-of-the-Mind-teams-take-top-honors-at-state.html","news_id":"4066"},{"headline":"STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Saunders 3rd grader Kenner Zelaya Gutierrez","blurb":"Student leader in Dual Language Immersion program","description":"When Kenner Zelaya Gutierrez started school, he spoke mostly Spanish. He started learning English in pre-Kindergarten and now is a help to classmates who along with himself are learning daily in both English and Spanish.","body":"When Kenner Zelaya Gutierrez started school, he spoke mostly Spanish. He started learning English in pre-Kindergarten and now is a help to classmates who along with himself are learning daily in both English and Spanish.
\r\nZelaya Gutierrez, a third grader at Saunders Elementary School, studies in the Newport News Public Schools Dual Language Immersion Program. He is part of two classes of students shared by Roseann Debrango and Sonnelys Vera Lamboy, who trade off teaching subjects using both English and Spanish.
\r\nNNPS uses 50-50 two-way model of DLI, which means students spend at least 50 percent of the school day learning in Spanish and come from two language backgrounds.
\r\nStudents help each other and in turn one another's families to learn both languages, according to Vera Lamboy. Zelaya Gutierrez likes studying both, with students speaking as well as writing in Spanish and English.
\r\n\"English speakers learn Spanish with them as well,\" Vera Lamboy said. \"We get to encourage the people who came to the program and it's nice for us.\"
\r\nZelaya Gutierrez is among their student leaders. He is described as an all-round classroom helper and is an Honor Roll student, serves as a safety patrol and participates on the Great Computer Challenge team.
\r\nFavorite subjects include science, social studies and math.
\r\n\"I like school because I can learn different stuff,\" Zelaya Gutierrez said. \"For example, ancient civilizations and different things like the seven continents and the five oceans, and learn different languages. When you're an adult and you would like to go to a different country, you have to learn the language because if you don't know the language nobody will understand.\"
\r\nSafety patrol duties involve watching kindergartners when they're in hallway lines.
\r\n\"I make sure they're safe,\" Zelaya Gutierrez said.
\r\nHis teachers describe him as smart, respectful, friendly and kind. It's important to make extra efforts because you get respect if you do kind things for people and help them, he said.
\r\nOutside of school, Zelaya Gutierrez plays on a Newport News soccer teams, likes to draw and play with his little sister, and during the summers to spend more time with his family and friends.
\r\n\"My Mom tells me to be good at school so I get to be respectful and other stuff -- so they'll respect you more,\" he said.
","body2":"Visit Student Spotlights on the Newport News Public Schools website.
","publish_date":"Mar 28, 2024","image_1_path":"240328025832332_kenner.jpg","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"240328025832332_GutierrezKenner.jpg","image_2_caption":"Visit Student Spotlights on the Newport News Public Schools website.","image_3_path":"","image_3_caption":"","image_4_path":"","image_4_caption":"","image_5_path":"","image_5_caption":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-03-28_STUDENT-SPOTLIGHT--Saunders-3rd-grader-Kenner-Zelaya-Gutierrez.html","news_id":"4065"}]);