Published by The Pilot. – Friday, June 25, 2010

Southern Middle School has worked hard to build a bridge between community and school.

This effort is reflected when approaching the school. Trees, pine straw landscaping, picnic tables and a pergola can be seen in front of the school. This landscaping is a result of the efforts of the school PTA.

Jennifer Berk, former PTA president, had a vision to improve the school grounds and worked tirelessly to that end.

With the help of a landscape committee, chaired by Charles Bennett, Jeff Batton and PTA members, they transformed the front of the school. Bennett and Batton spent numerous weekends working on the grounds.

The PTA raised money with the help of community businesses and PTA members. Aurora Hills Farm and Nursery followed a master plan, relocating existing trees and planting new trees and shrubs. The result – a beautiful transformation of the school grounds.

Berk stepped down last year, but not before handing the torch to her friend, Judy Callister.

Callister has kept Berk’s vision alive.

Recently, she oversaw the cement pouring in the pergola, which was built by Riley Patton for his Eagle Scout project. Patton is a former student of Southern Middle and wanted to give back to the school that had shaped him for future endeavors.

In addition to the pergola and landscaping, yet another project was undertaken by Keith Dickson, a current eighth-grade student, and his mentor. Dickson had a desire to learn about landscaping, and Dr. Robin Moore, Compass Project director, worked to find just the right mentor for him. As a result, Dickson was matched with Donnie Bryant, a landscaper in the community, who also had a desire to work with children. The two have spent many hours outdoors on the Southern Middle campus learning the various names of trees and plants on the premises.

Bryant saw a way to give Dickson an even stronger experience in landscaping. He assisted him in the process of designing a layout and worked with Dickson to revamp the median and flagpole area that are located in the front of the school. Dickson beamed with pride at the work they had accomplished.

Southern Middle has a strong mentoring program that has grown from 40 mentors its first year to 80 presently. The mentors spend an hour each week with a student. The Compass Project has a goal of 110 mentors by this spring. This program has had a positive impact and continues to be an inspiration to the entire Southern Middle community, a spokesman said.

Jennifer Garner, a sixth-grade teacher, said the the program had literally turned students around. She said students involved in the program had shown marked leadership skills and academic success. She said she is thankful that Southern Middle was chosen for the Compass mentoring program

On Thursday, July 8th, six students from the Communities In Schools of Moore County COMPASS Project kicked off their service project with a tour of the Sandhills Moore Coalition for Human Care. After a video presentation and a walking tour of the facility, the students left with an better understanding of what the Coalition does for our community.

COMPASS Project students incorporate The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens written by Sean Covey into their mentoring program. This trip helped the students to incorporate the 7th habit- Sharpen the Saw by renewing and strengthening their heart and soul. This trip was a prelude to the service project that the COMPASS students will begin in the upcoming school year. They will collect canned food, monetary donations, and awareness for the Coalition throughout the school year.

The COMPASS Project is a mentoring program at Southern Middle School. If you would like to mentor a student, help make a donation to the Coalition, or need more information, please contact Dr. Robin Moore at 910-638-8223.

June Newsletters for the ‘SOAR’ After School Program in Aberdeen and Southern Middle School COMPASS Program.

• Click here to view the COMPASS Newsletter for June 2010
• Click here to view the SOAR Newsletter for June 2010

The COMPASS Project at Aberdeen Elementary School (or COMPASS II) is currently serving 39 5^th graders at Aberdeen Elementary.  The students have covered 4 of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and will move on to the 5^th Habit during the second half of February.  I am amazed by the amount of information the students have been able to retain and apply in such a short time.  They have also covered 3 chapters of research guide Rain Forests by Will and Mary Pope Osborne.

After completing the Rain Forest research guide the students will begin planning and coordinating for the Apples Service Learning Project.  This project is designed to strengthen and enhance academic and personal learning outcomes while enriching community service experiences with active reflection.  The students themselves will be responsible for planning and implementing the project and will then evaluate themselves after the project has been put into action.

The Town of Aberdeen has agreed to support the project, which will center on environmental responsibility, by launching a Recycling initiative throughout the school.  The students will host a recycling drive and collect recyclable materials at each of the school’s 17 classrooms.  Each class will receive a recycling bin that will be theirs to keep.  Specifics of the project will be worked out by the students starting in March.  Since there are 6 COMPASS II groups, each group will have the freedom to personalize their portion of the project.

The entire school welcomed Rose Highland Sharpe as a presenter for Black History Month.  Mrs. Sharpe performed a dialogue titled “Africa to America” which chronicled the journey of music and its parallels to the black experience in history. Many students had the opportunity to join Mrs. Sharpe on stage for a chance to really participate in the program.  Although a short month, February has been productive for COMPASS II so far.

For more information about the program, contact Alicia Jones, COMPASS II Site Coordinator.

CIS Moore Executive Director, Andi Korte, was interviewed by ABC11 for National Mentoring Month. She was joined by the Executive Director from Montgomery County.

Click here to view the entire interview.