Bulldog Families,

This has been a year unlike any we have ever seen. I could not be prouder of our students, our staff, and our families as they have tackled all of the unique challenges of providing a quality education during a global pandemic. In a sense, we were all doing something for the first time. Despite all of the circumstance and challenges, we had a very successful start to the year and have a lot to be proud of.

Our staff has a passion to create engaging and authentic learning experiences for all of our students. In this bulletin we will be highlighting some of these recent student experiences as well as providing upcoming information. Have a great Winter Break!

Sincerely,

Travis Brown

Principal

Our staff and community came together to pack and provide Thanksgiving meals to 50 families and over 300 people on Thanksgiving morning. Faculty and community members volunteered their time on 4 separated days to make this a success. Special shout-out to Carly Gordon for organizing the event. Many faculty members made monetary donations with Josh Bond and Brenda Manucy making significant contributions.

Led by Ms. Joann Nance, Troupe D1-88467 at RJMMS had the most successful showing in the county and one of the top showings in the state at the Florida Jr. Thespians Regional Festival.

Top Honors (Best in Category) went to the following:

Monologue - Eva Gassert

Solo Musical - Ella Escamilla

Duet Musical - LauraLyn Dyches and Ella Escamilla

Pantomine - LauraLyn Dyches, Annabelle McKendrick, Eva Gassert, Zeni Barrett

Set Design - Marissa Dingler

Large Group Musical - Musical Theatre Class (7th Period)

In addition to top honors, we had 21 ratings of Superior and 4 ratings of Excellent.

Our science, math, and computer teachers have been hard at work creating engaging and authentic learning experiences for our students. Some highlights from the world of S.T.E.M. at RJMMS:

• The RJMMS S.T.E.M. club regularly has over 50 students and up to 10 teachers stay after school every Thursday from 2:00 - 3:00. Students engage in activities including robotics, coding, drone programming, and have even had guest lectures from a NASA scientist! S.T.E.M. Club is open to any student who would like to attend.
• Select girls attended a lecture from the "Classy Chemist". Girls learned that S.T.E.M. is not just for our male students and that they can have an impact in the field as well.
• Students in our advanced and Cambridge classes recently submitted their projects for the "International Science and Engineering Fair". Murray has the highest percentage of participation in this competition out of all the middle schools in SJCSD.
• S.T.E.M. Club students recently worked on completing their Rube Goldberg Challenge. The final step involved hitting Mr. Brown in the face with a pie!
• Mr. Pettit's Computer Technology classes had a very successful year earning hundreds of "Digital Tools" certifications from the Florida Department of Education.
• Our S.T.E.M. Team recently received a grant from INK and Beaver Toyota for $5,000 to continue enhancing S.T.E.M.-related opportunities for our students. Be on the look-out for more great experiences from the world of S.T.E.M.

We have a number of initiatives at RJMMS to promote Character Counts! and Kindness. In November/December our students undertook the "30 Day Kindness Challenge" in which they documented acts of kindness each day. We also created a "Chain of Kindness" in which students wrote acts of kindness to create a chain that hangs in our main hallway.

Ayler Sostrom placed 1st in our school-wide Spelling Bee

Ashlyn Van Petten and Joshua Davis placed 1st in our school-wide Science Fair

Dexter Clark

Brenton James

Jenna Huttinger

Lily Simmer

Today in school our 6th graders were able to experience "Holidays Around the World". This was a collaborative effort by our 6th Grade team. Students traveled to different "countries" to experience traditions from around the world. It was a great event!

Our 7th Grade Team has designed a fun day to celebrate Positive Behavior tomorrow on campus. Students will be organized in groups and will engage in fun activities to celebrate a successful start to the year!

Our chorus classes recorded a selection from "The Polar Express" to get you in the Winter Spirit. Also, students from our chorus and Theatre classes visited local elementary schools to sing Holiday Carols during the parent pick-up lines.

• We will have a school-wide FSA Writing Practice test on January 20th
• Please continue to check Home Access Center (HAC) for your student's grades. Please contact teachers for any assistance and questions. Open communication between the school and the home is one of the biggest keys to academic success.
• Students will be taking cumulative tests in January encompassing all of the standards covered the first half of the year. These tests are designed by our teachers here at Murray. The purpose of the tests is to check for progress and also to prepare students for the high-stakes tests coming at the end of the year. These tests will count as a summative grade.
• A reminder that we are not accepting any food drop-offs this year as part of our policies to keep safe from the spread of COVID-19.
• Our school is open and we welcome appointments and visitors. Please remember to schedule and appointment in advance and wear a facemask before coming on campus.

We are consistently updating our Instagram page with pictures and stories highlighting all of the amazing things happening around campus. Follow us @rjmmsbulldogs