CMIT North Middle School Newsletter

In partnership with students, parents and the community, CMIT will attain educational excellence by providing a rigorous and technology-integrated education for middle and high school students with an emphasis on mathematics, science, and information technologies.

Scholars who have excused absences have the opportunity to complete any work that they have missed. Upon 48 hours of a scholar's return to school, the teacher should provide make-up work. The number of days allowed to make up missed work will be equivalent to the number of days the scholar was absent. Scholars who have unexcused absences will not be able to make up missed work.

Administrative Procedure 5113: Student Attendance, Absence, and Truancy

The PGCPS lottery for specialty programs and charter schools is now open until February 10th. Siblings receive preference BUT must still apply to the lottery.

Siblings already at CMIT North Elementary do not need to apply. They will automatically move to CMIT North Middle School after they complete 5th grade.

Sibling Preference Information

The Lost and Found is almost getting full. We have a collection of notebooks, composition books, water bottles, purses, pouches, sweaters, jackets and more. If you are missing any items, please be sure to stop by the Lost and Found, located in the cafeteria, to see if they have been placed there.

Our 8th-grade students at CMIT North have an amazing opportunity that is not available to any other 8th-grader in other schools (besides CMIT South)! We have an early college program called Information Technology Early College (ITEC) at CMIT North HS. In this program, students start taking college courses in 9th grade while taking HS courses as well and by the end of their senior year, they graduate with a high school diploma and an associate's degree in Information Technology from PGCC with the majority of costs covered by Chesapeake Lighthouse Foundation and PGCPS! Applications for this program are now open and close Monday, January 9th at 11:59 pm. No late applications will be accepted!

How to apply by January 9th:

1. Write a personal statement - ITEC is a rigorous and challenging program. We want to ensure that all students are willing and ready to meet the challenges and are interested in Information Technology. Please write a personal statement explaining why you would like to be part of the ITEC program and how you are going to ensure that you are successful. The personal statement should be one full page typed on a Google Doc - Times New Roman, double-spaced, 12 pt font with 1-inch margins. Please do not exceed one page.

2. Submit your information and personal statement on this Google Form - ITEC Class of 2027 Application

3. Send the teacher recommendation form to 3 teachers (1 math, 1 English, 1 technology) for the teacher to complete by January 23rd. - ITEC Teacher Recommendation Form. Please note that it is your responsibility to make sure that the teacher completes the recommendation for you.

Deciding Factors:

• PSAT 8/9 Scores
• Grades for 7th and 8th grade
• English Grades for 7th and 8th grade
• Personal Statement
• Teacher Recommendations
• Attendance Record
• Discipline Record

For more information about the program, please review this presentation - ITEC Information for Class of 2027

For questions, please contact Mrs. Andrew - candrew@cmitacademy.org

This happened by accident. It happened right in front of my eyes. I had been brainstorming different ideas for an art installation that the students could create for the school; then I looked up and saw our Giant Gingerbread House and realized we had been working on an art installation for a month.

What started as a box that hauled our new ceramics kiln, became a physical representation of us. We received our kiln in a 4’x4’x4’ cardboard box that I asked to keep for repurposing reasons, of course. Because it’s a box. Who wouldn’t keep a box like that? The scholars even echoed my sentiments.

When I saw that box, I saw a house. The top and bottom lid fit on like a shoebox top. We hooked the lids together with zip ties to make a 90* angle and sat it upon the body of the box like a modular home roof. It was clear we needed windows and a door. Doors and windows were cut with cardboard saws. Now it was a house.

We needed rules if we had a door, we needed boundaries. Students could only go in the house if they worked on it, or decorated it, and only one student was allowed in the house at a time. I was amazed that all of the students respected the house and its boundaries, it was still just “trash” after all.

With boundaries in place, we needed an aesthetic goal. We decided on a giant gingerbread house. The Giant Gingerbread House still needed to represent all of us. “What makes us happy or brings us joy this time of year?” became our aesthetic/theme. This could be a holiday, could be colors, could be snow; Pokémon is even celebrated with a drawing of Delibird welcoming people on the front. Everyone’s joy is celebrated with paint, string, stickers, glue markers, paper, etc. The more we decorated our house, the more it became weathered and started to collapse.

The next question I have for the students…what should we do structurally to avoid our last fate? Or should we make a new sculpture out of the cardboard?

Ms. Knox, Art Teacher

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