Issue 8, Volume 11

Students, staff celebrate end of year with pep rally

Story by Oliva Fray and Spencer Pickering, Photos by Olivia Fray, Spencer Pickering, Mara Perez, Gabby Hakes, Caroline Frawley

The students in the stands cheer for their fellow classmates as they shuffle down the football field for their relay team, hoping they can pull out a win. Students not only get to watch their fellow classmates, they also get to watch their teachers on a separate relay team.

This year is the 2nd Annual Clay Pep Session. The pep session is Principal Mr. Todd Crosby’s brain child.

“When he came to Clay three years ago , he wanted to have a place for all of the student body to get together and celebrate,” Ms. Katz, Clay Assistant Principal, said. 

This pep session was in the works since February with the Connections Team of teachers at Clay. 

“The goal of this years pep session is to first of all, have fun together as a Clay Nation, and for everyone to celebrate an amazing year. We also want to recognize those who have accomplished amazing things this year publicly,” Katz said.

The pep session will take place this Friday, May 15th, which is also the day of Clay Dance Marathon and the eighth grade dance. The pep session will be around an hour.

Last year’s pep session was a success. “We can only do it because we have such amazing students here at Clay, who can behave appropriately in the stands.” Katz stated.

All of the students should wear their Clay Challenge shirts from earlier in the year. The sixth graders are gray, seventh graders are black, and the eighth graders are red.

There will  be three relays with twenty students per grade level for every relay. Some of the relays include a sack race, a dress up rally and a waiter relay.

During the Pep Rally, there will not only be relays with students and teachers, there will also be a time to recognize all sports teams and any clubs that have a sponsor by a teacher. They will also recognize any performing arts students.

The Pep Rally was completely organized by teachers.

Mr. Sean McVey, seventh grade science teacher, is also largely a part of the Pep Rally.

“I am mainly helping out with relays and getting all of the stuff set up. I will also help supervise any students while their teacher is doing one of the relays,” he said.

Students were chosen by their teachers to participate in the events. The students who were chosen have followed the “Clay Way” all year long.

Last year was Clay Middle School's first ever Pep Session. It involved only a few students and were mainly made up of “Minute to Win It” games.

“We talked to students to see what they thought about the Pep Session. The feedback helped us organized this year’s Pep Session. Almost all of the feedback we got said that we should have more students get involved in the games and relays. We have taken this and tried to incorporate this into this year’s pep session,” Katz said.

Megan Prince, seventh grader, is participating in this year’s sack race. “I’m excited for the pep rally because it will give me a chance to represent Clay and participate in their activities,” Prince said.

Prince also participated in last year’s pep session, but she says this year was a total surprise. “I was excited when I found out I was able to participate in it because it will give me a chance to do something fun,” Prince also said.

Seventh grade students complete weather observations

By Lauryn Hedges

A group of students gazed up at the sky, jotting down observations about the weather around them in their science notebooks.

Seventh grade science students have been learning about weather and the water cycle. As a way to get them involved with what they are learning, the students have been going outside to take observations of the weather.

Caroline Ramsey, seventh grade, has taken observations and learned about weather before. “They were observations in third grade about the weather and the cycles of the moon,” Ramsey said. This year, seventh graders are learning about the steps in the water cycle and how to read weather maps.

“Since we’re studying weather, it’s important that you understand how to make your own observations and it ties into the other topics we’re talking about in class,” Mrs. Tracy Krause, seventh grade science teacher, said.

Krause said that students have been keeping a log in their science notebooks, as well as talking about using their observation skills during class.

The students have also learned how to find relative humidity.

“You take this meter and you dip the end that has a bulb in it in water. Then you spin it in the air for about thirty seconds and you check what temperature it’s at. You do the same thing again and subtract the temperatures and use the chart to find the relative humidity,” Sage Parikshak, seventh grade, said.

Overall, both Ramsey and Parikshak said that their favorite part of completing weather observations was going outside, and Parikshak also enjoyed using different science tools.

Krause said that learning about weather is important because everyone has to deal with it. “Weather affects everybody, everyday, everywhere, anywhere,” Krause said.

Eighth graders give speeches for high school senate elections

Eighth grade students spoke to their entire class during first period for the Carmel High School Senate Elections. Photos by Claire Abdellah and Jackson Adams

Issue 7, Volume 11

Track students celebrate Cinco de Mayo with piñata

Photos by Amanda King