Every month we compile a list of students doing great things across the River Region. We have so many talented students in our area. River Region Parents joins with their families and schools to celebrate their achievements!
Stanhope Elmore Student Selected for ASF Young Southern Writer’s Project
Congratulations to Aaron Rudnick. In March, he was selected as one of the 10 high school and college students that get to participate in Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s Young Southern Writers Project. He got to work with playwrights, college professors, and resident staff at ASF. He wrote a 10-minute play that was performed. His play is titled: “Til Death Do Us Part,” and is about a forbidden love between a young Nazi soldier and a young Jewish girl trying to overcome the social injustices of Hitler’s reign of Europe. Congratulations, Aaron. We are so proud of you!
Daniel Pratt 2nd Graders Have an Egg’cellent Time
DPES 2nd graders had an EGG’cellent time learning all about the life cycle of chickens, hatching their own peeps, and practicing math facts to prepare for upcoming testing. The beautiful Spring weather allowed time to use the outdoor classroom for these fun learning activities.
Redland Elementary Shows Support for Ability Games
The students and faculty of RES showed their support of our students who participated in the ability games today with a wonderful good luck send off!
SEHS Reality Check at ECTC
More than 800 students at Stanhope Elmore High School’s CTE courses participated in a budgeting simulation activity called Reality Check as part of their CTE Month celebration.
Five Autauga County Schools Earn 2023 Purple Star School Designation
The Alabama Department of Education recognized five Autauga County schools as 2023 Purple Star Schools. This year’s recipients are among only 122 schools state-wide earning this designation for their commitment to students and families connected to the nation’s military.
2023 Purple Star Schools
Marbury High School
Prattville Elementary School
Prattville Intermediate School
Prattville Kindergarten School
Prattville Primary School
“As military families relocate to a new community and students transition between schools, the students are often faced with unique challenges,” said State Superintendent Dr. Eric G. Mackey. “Adapting to a new school, along with varying course offerings, schedules, and graduation requirements can be stressful. We want to ensure every student who moves to Alabama is given every opportunity for academic growth and achievement – and the Purple Star School Program helps families identify military-friendly schools and helps the schools become more prepared to address to the challenges facing these students.”
The Alabama Purple Star Schools program was established by the state legislature in 2021 and recognizes the efforts of K-12 schools that are committed to supporting military students, and their families, as they transition to new homes and schools. For schools to qualify, they must have the following activities:
• The school must have a staff point of contact for military students and families who serves as the primary liaison between them and the school.
• The liaison completes professional development on special considerations for military students and families.
• The liaison identifies and informs teachers of the military-connected students in their schools and the special considerations military families and students should receive.
• The school maintains a dedicated page for the Purple Star Program on its website featuring resources for military families.
• The school must maintain a student-led transition program with a faculty or staff advisor. This program should provide peer support for newly enrolled and transitioning students.
“Growing up in a military family typically means six to eight moves during a child’s school career,” said Rebecca Thomas, communications coordinator for Autauga County Schools. “It is our privilege to partner with these families to assist them with transitions to and from the River Region area with services such as Student-to-Student programs in our Purple Star-designated schools, school-based military advocates, and dynamic partnerships with the military-affiliated organizations in our community.”
The 2023 Purple Star School recipients join Daniel Pratt Elementary School, Prattville Junior High School, and Prattville High School in affirming their commitment to the district’s military-connected students and families.
Prattville Intermediate School Students "DIG" Breakfast Week
Prattville Intermediate School celebrated the district’s “Dig Into Breakfast” Week with construction-themed decorations, tasty breakfast, staff and students dressing up in construction gear, a breakfast story contest, a “guess how much cereal is in the jar” morning, and with visits from Bob the Builder, the Chick-Fil-A Cow, members of the Public Works department, and even the Mayor of Prattville.
“Purple Up” Day at Daniel Pratt
Daniel Pratt Elementary, along with their Student 2 Student group, sponsored a “Purple Up” Day to celebrate our military kids. DPES has a large population of military families and we enjoyed celebrating them. Each student received a certificate, and their photo is displayed on our foyer slideshow. Student 2 Student members also lead the pledge for the opening ceremony of the citywide Prattville Purple Up event held downtown.
Prattville Intermediate School Gifted Students Travel to Tennessee
5th and 6th grade Gifted students at Prattville Intermediate School traveled to Tennessee in March for a phenomenal all-day field trip, visiting the Aquarium in Chattanooga and beautiful sites in Rock City.
NEW CLASSIFICATION, SAME OUTCOME” FOR PCA’S LADY PANTHERS
The Prattville Christian Lady Panthers recently won their third consecutive state championship title, but this year the well-known blue map state trophy looks different for PCA by changing the classification from “3A” to “4A.”
In March of 2022, the Alabama High School Athletic Association confirmed the shift of alignments regarding classifications, causing PCA to move up a class into the 4A. While this could have been a daunting obstacle for the Lady Panthers, they shifted their mindset to be grateful for the opportunity to play against new opponents.
“We’re going to embrace that. We’re going to use anyone, anywhere, it doesn’t matter what classification we play in, it doesn’t matter who or where we play, we will do the best we can,” Roberson said.
This change to compete in 4A would bring new teams and new mental and physical challenges to overcome; however, the team stayed focused on fulfilling the New Testament command of using every opportunity to show God to others, including to the new teams they would get to face.
Before taking the court in Legacy Arena to face Priceville in the 4A State Championship game, Coach Roberson led a prayer surrounded by teammates, coaches and staff. A few hours later, PCA made history in Legacy Arena in their defeat over Priceville 76-59. The 2022-2023 State Championship team is the first in PCA History to complete a 3-peat in girls basketball and the school’s first state title in 4A.
These accomplishments are especially ones in which seniors Hannah Jones and CoCo Thomas played a significant role.
Eagle Idol Talent Show at Daniel Pratt
Daniel Pratt music teacher, Miss Stewart, coordinated an amazing showcase of student talent during this year’s “Eagle Idol” talent show. Students in 1st – 6th grades blew the audiences away with their dancing, singing, gymnastics, karate, stand-up comedy, and mastery of the piano, guitar, drums, ukelele, and bongos (pictured). It was amazing to see the students shine beyond the classroom!
Homeschoolers Go International
From the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil to a huge koala bear from Australia, and from to an Amazon River tour guide to a Canadian lumberjack, local homeschoolers recently represented countries in the Americas, Oceania and the Middle East at the World Geography Feast at Academy Days Co-op. Pictured are the male and female costume contest winners from each world geography class.
In addition to wearing national costumes, the homeschoolers and their parents sampled a broad assortment of native dishes as a culmination of their studies on these countries.
The Academy Days Co-op, held weekly during the school year at Eastmont Baptist Church in Montgomery, is designed for preschool through high school students to learn subjects difficult to teach at home or best taught in group settings. Visit www.AcademyDays.com for more information.
Learning in Pine Level Elementary’s Outdoor Classroom
Pine Level Elementary’s Outdoor Classroom is thriving this spring. With a new pergola built by Eagle Scout Bowie Booth and Steve Collier from Collier Home Repair and Woodworks LLC, and with Triple C donating hanging plants, the Autrey family with Clean Cut Property Management Services LLC for rock donation and picnic tables with umbrellas, and MPM Feed & Seed for the plant seeds the Outdoor Classroom is a wonderful place to take learning outside of the regular classroom and enjoy nature while learning. The third and fourth grade classes have planted a variety of flowers and plants in the garden beds. The plants consist of okra, squash, broccoli, tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers. The sensory beds contain basil, sweet mint, lemongrass, and rosemary. The students at Pine Level Elementary have taken charge of the daily maintenance of the garden area. They take pride in their hard work. The students are excited for their first harvest soon.
Prattville Intermediate Brings Literature to Life with Family Movie Night
Prattville Intermediate School brought literature to life on the big screen with this year’s movie night, featuring the book-to-movie sensation “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile.” Families enjoyed AMC movie theater popcorn and were given free books at this family fun event.
ECTC Med Science Students Discover Baptist Volunteer Program
Medical Sciences students learned more about Baptist Health’s Volunteer Program from coordinator Valla Furr during their classes at the Elmore County Technical Center.
