A new baseball coach, Travis Free, has been named for the Oak Ridge Wildcats.
Oak Ridge High School announced the new coach this week.
Besides coaching, Free will be an eighth-grade math teacher at Robertsville Middle School. [Read more…]
Xavier Harper, 10, of Oak Ridge, wins gold at USA Gymnastics Competition
Xavier Harper, a rising fifth-grader at Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge, competed in the USA Gymnastics Trampoline and Tumbling National Championships from July 2-6 in Greensboro, N.C. (Submitted photo)
Xavier Harper, a rising fifth-grader at Robertsville Middle School, competed in the USA Gymnastics Trampoline and Tumbling National Championships from July 2-July 6 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Xavier, who has attended Linden Elementary School, finished first in the nation on floor for level 10 in the 11-12 age group, a press release said.
He finished fifth in the nation on trampoline for elite level in the 11-12 age group.
He is affiliated with Premier Athletics in Knoxville. [Read more…]
Information about Oak Ridge Schools registration, orientation
All students new to Oak Ridge Schools need to register at their respective schools from Monday, July 9, to Wednesday, July 20, from 9 a.m. to noon. Parents who pre-registered kindergartners in May also need to complete the registration process on those dates, a press release said.
Registration for new students in grades 9-12 will be made by appointment only, the press release said. For more information regarding high school registration, contact the registrar at (865) 425-9524. Information necessary for new student registration includes the following:
- Child’s birth certificate (a certified copy for school records, not the hospital copy or mother’s copy)
- Child’s Social Security number (optional)
- Health insurance provider
- The Tennessee Department of Health Certificate of Immunization available from your doctor or Health Department consisting of two parts:
- Immunizations — A Tennessee Department of Health Certificate of Immunization form showing the complete dates (month, day, and year) immunizations were administered.
- Health Examination — A physical examination is required for all children entering Tennessee schools (K-12). Oak Ridge Schools require a physical examination current since January 1 of the year the student will enter kindergarten. Students entering the seventh grade will also need to provide proof of the T-dap immunization.
- Grades 1-12 only — Provide the name, address, and phone number of the school(s) where your child previously attended or provide report cards or withdrawal forms.
Robertsville Middle chosen for Comcast Cares Day, volunteers encouraged to attend
Pictured above is Carleigh Brown, a fifth-grade student at Robertsville Middle School who helped on the Baker Creek Preserve project last year in Knoxville. This year’s Comcast Cares Day is at Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge on Saturday, April 21, 2018. (Submitted photo)
More than 1,500 local Comcast NBCUniversal employees and their families, friends, and community partners will “make change happen” as they volunteer at different projects across East Tennessee on Saturday. It’s part of the 17th annual Comcast Cares Day, the nation’s largest single-day corporate volunteer event, a press release said.
Oak Ridge’s Robertsville Middle School has been chosen as a project site for this annual event. Robertsville students have designed planters that will be constructed and filled during the activity, the press release said. Volunteers will help with general landscaping and clean up around the school grounds.
Robertsville students and parents, community groups, and additional volunteers are needed and encouraged to attend a project, the press release said. For more information on how to get involved and to register, visit the Robertsville Middles School Clean Up Day link here. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge teams excel at state chess team championships
Oak Ridge High School Freshmen Chess Team: Levi Parish, Adam Herron, Kenny Adams, and Dan Joy (Photo courtesy Esther Parish)
Every year, the top four scholastic chess teams in each of the four grade divisions qualify to join teams from the other three regions to compete for the Tennessee Chess Association scholastic team championships, which were held March 24 at Tennessee Tech University.
Four Oak Ridge schools—Linden Elementary School, Robertsville Middle School, Jefferson Middle School, and Oak Ridge High School—qualified a total of six teams for this year’s event. That meant that about 1/10th of the players were Oak Ridge students (Oak Ridge has about 0.4 percent of the state’s population).
In the Primary (K-3) section, the Linden team of Ricardo Smith, William Hetrick, Quinn Richardson, and Kaylee Tress finished 11th overall.
In the Elementary (K-6) section, Jefferson (Brian Qu, Isaak Nussbaum, Gavin Koentop, and Toby Croft) finished fifth, while Robertsville (Leo Ehlers, Patrick Wurm, Daisy Kercher, Brandon Bonamarte, and Zachary Williamson) took 10th. [Read more…]
Selected for space launch, Robertsville satellite gets boost from ORNL
Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge is the first middle school to ever be selected for a NASA program that launches small cube-shaped satellites into space. On Friday, March 9, 2018, the $70,000 science project got a $15,000 boost from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Celebrating above by saying “NASA, we are a go!” are RMS students, teacher Todd Livesay, ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia, Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers, and other Oak Ridge Schools staff and project volunteers. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 2 p.m. March 11.
Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge is the first middle school to ever be selected for a NASA program that launches small cube-shaped satellites into space.
On Friday, the $70,000 science project, which started about three years ago, got a $15,000 boost from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The Robertsville satellite, which will orbit a few hundred miles above Earth, will use a small camera to try to take pictures of forest regrowth in the Great Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg. That area burned in forest fires fed by high winds after Thanksgiving 2016, killing 14 people and damaging or destroying more than 2,500 homes and businesses.
The RMS satellite, named RamSat, will use a radio to relay its images and other data back to Earth.
A project proposal was submitted to NASA in November, and Oak Ridge Schools learned this month that the RMS proposal had been accepted.
“This is such an exciting opportunity for the students!” said Peter Thornton, one of the RamSat team leaders from ORNL. “They will now have the chance to design, build, carry out, and own a satellite mission.” [Read more…]
Tonight: ORHS Band concert with 8th Grade Bands, JazzRams
Pictured above: The Oak Ridge High School Combined Concert and Symphonic Bands. (Photo by McEachern’s Photography via Oak Ridge Schools and used with permission)
The Oak Ridge High School Concert and Symphonic Bands will perform Tuesday, March 6, in the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center Auditorium.
The show will open with a guest performance by the Robertsville Middle School JazzRams, under the direction of Mike Spirko, director of the ORHS Band. This group of 6th-8th graders was formed and rehearses during school in the electives period at RMS, a press release said.
Spirko will then take the stage with the ORHS Concert Band for several selections, including Richard Saucedo’s “Triumphant Fanfare,” the press release said.
The Symphonic Band’s evening program will include the classic “Shenandoah,” directed by ORHS Band Director Spence Milligan. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge Schools has one of 11 small research satellites selected by NASA
Robertsville Middle School students participating in the NASA Project-Based Learning course visit Marshall to present their CubeSat project to a panel of engineers. Marshall developed curriculum and trained teachers for the elective course while Marshall engineers served as mentors to the students. (Photo credit: NASA/Oak Ridge Schools)
NASA, which has been working with Robertsville Middle School, announced Friday that the Oak Ridge Schools project is one of 11 small research satellites selected to fly as auxiliary payloads aboard space missions in the next few years.
The satellite projects were selected from seven states and Puerto Rico. They are eligible for placement on a launch manifest, depending on the availability of a flight opportunity, for space missions planned in 2019, 2020, and 2021, NASA said.
The Oak Ridge project, RamSat, is an education mission to develop and implement a middle school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, curriculum for building a CubeSat. CubeSats are a type of spacecraft called nanosatellites, often measuring about four inches on each side and weighing less than three pounds. They have a volume of about one quart. CubeSats are built using these standard dimensions as Units or “U,” and are classified as 1U, 2U, 3U, or 6U in total size.
The selections, which were announced Friday, are part of the ninth round of the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative.
The launch opportunities for the 11 small research satellites include planned spaceflight missions led by NASA, other U.S. government agencies, or commercial organizations, as well as deployments from the International Space Station. The CubeSats were proposed by educational institutions, or nonprofit organizations. [Read more…]
Two more students charged after threats, including shooting-related threat
Oak Ridge High School
Two more Oak Ridge students have been charged after police investigated threats, including a shooting-related threat, at Oak Ridge High School and Robertsville Middle School on Friday.
In the threat reported at Oak Ridge High School, a 15-year-old male student allegedly made verbal threats to another student, saying that if he was going to “shoot up the school,” he “would shoot her first,” the Oak Ridge Police Department said.
The threat was reported just before 3 p.m. Friday. The boy was removed from class and taken to the principal’s office, along with the alleged victim and a witness, the ORPD said.
“After conducting interviews and further investigation, officers learned the suspect allegedly made verbal threats to another student, stating that if he was going to ‘shoot up the school,’ he ‘would shoot her first,'” the ORPD said. [Read more…]
Student arrested after threatening to ‘shoot up’ school
Note: This story was updated at 4:40 p.m.
A Robertsville Middle School student was arrested Thursday after threatening to “shoot up the school,” authorities said.
The Oak Ridge Police Department received a report of the threat at 9:59 a.m. Thursday. The alleged threat came during a moment of silence for the victims of the school shooting in Florida, the ORPD said.
The 13-year-old male student was immediately removed from class and taken to the principal’s office where two ORPD officers conducted an interview, according to a statement from police. The student admitted to saying he was going to “shoot up the school,” but he apologized and told officers he was joking and did not mean it, the statement said.
Officers also interviewed a parent of the student who confirmed that the teen does not have access to any firearms at home. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge students earn spots in state chess tournament
K-3 section winners are pictured above at the Tennessee Chess Association Individual Regional Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018, at Oak Ridge High School. An Nguyen from St. Mary’s is at right. (Submitted photo)
Oak Ridge students have earned spots in the state championship chess tournament this month.
The Tennessee Chess Association Individual Regional Tournament was Saturday, January 27, at Oak Ridge High School. There were 36 competitors representing Oak Ridge schools: 12 from Oak Ridge High School, six from Jefferson Middle School, six from Robertsville Middle School, four from Willow Brook Elementary School, three each from Linden Elementary School and Woodland Elementary School, and two from St. Mary’s.
Kindergartener An Nguyen from St. Mary’s won a clear first place in the K-3 division with a perfect 5-0 score, a press release said. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge Schools names teachers of the year
From left to right, top row, are Lauren Blair, Lisa Buckner, Linda Dalton, Donna Gilbert, and Donna Grove, and from left to right, bottom row, are Michael Martin, Bob O’Connor, Steve Reddick, and Leslie Shelton.
Oak Ridge Schools has named its teachers of the year.
Here are the teachers of the year:
- Oak Ridge Schools Preschool—Linda Dalton
- Glenwood Elementary School—Lauren Blair
- Linden Elementary School—Lisa Buckner
- Willow Brook Elementary School—Donna Grove
- Woodland Elementary School—Michael Martin
- Jefferson Middle School—Steve Reddick
- Robertsville Middle School—Bob O’Connor
- Secret City Academy—Donna Gilbert
- Oak Ridge High School—Leslie Shelton
Here is more information about the teachers and their schools from Oak Ridge Schools: [Read more…]
