Second Street Students will attend the Cluster Bee for Spelling Bee on February 9th at 12:30 at THEARC Main Theater in Southeast. The team will be lead by eighth graders Imanuel Brandon and Neila Wright and sixth grader Elena Kwon. The Second Street Spelling Bee was coordinated by 7th grade English teacher Ms. Peale.

Cooper Campus published its second edition of the school newspaper The Mercury Press, and is hard at work on the third edition. The newspaper is helmed by Ms. Cox, who advised 5th and 6th graders in the club as part of the alternative Wednesday Arts Block. The Second Street Campus has also published two issues of the newspaper, Sumus Leones, and is working on producing a third issue next week. Sumus Leones is open to students in grades 5-12 and meets afterschool on Wednesdays, advised by Ms. Breitman.

The Cooper Campus is gearing up for a new round of Arts Block offerings for Wonderful Wednesdays. Teachers have proposed and planned new classes that students will choose with ranked preferences. The first semester of Arts Block culminated with a showcase. New options include a Band Club, advised by Mr. Starnes and Mr. Evans, Creative Writing advised by Ms. Anderson and Ms. Nunn, Drawing Club, advised by Mr. Rios, Film Making advised by Ms. Maclay and Ms. Helck, a Gardening Club, advised by Mr. Jeremenko and Mr. Mey, Graphic Novels, advised by Mr. Thomas, Zines advised by Ms. Stewart, Sewing advised by Ms. Cox, Songwriting advised by Ms. Dowe, Survey in the Arts of DC, advised by Mr. Davis and Mr. Doyle, Watercolor Painting advised by Ms. Curley, Yoga and Meditation advised by Ms. Cottom and Mr. Della-Croce, and Yog and Wellness, lead by Ms. Gans and Ms. Adeosun. Students took a “gallery walk” to explore the new options for the second semester. In the spring there will be a second showcase for students to share their work from the second semester. 

Cooper Campus Sixth graders in Ms. Adeosun’s class celebrated their poetry unit with a pizza party this week. Students have explored many different types of poems and concepts and will be writing and sharing their poems with a publishing party that will be a feast for all the senses!

On Saturday, Latin Middle Schoolers participated in a Model UN conference hosted by the Dorothy Hamm Middle School in Arlington, Virginia. Twelve schools from the DC area participated with than 200 students from grades 5th through 8th in attendance. Eighth graders, Jocelyn Gill and Neila Wright were assigned to the Special, Political, and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL), representing the country of India and debating the topic of China’s claims on various international territories. Seventh grader, Francisco Blanco, was assigned to the Organization of American States (OAS) committee where he represented the country of Venezuela on the topic of the stabilization of governments operating within countries of South and Central America. Seventh graders, Campbell Hall and Mila Applebaum participated in the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Committee, representing the country of Canada on the topic “Technology Innovation To Address Climate Change.”Campbell and Mila earned the “Outstanding Delegates” awards for their respective committee and a perfect score of 16 out of 16 on their position paper.