The Faubion Lion Pride Press
SPRING BREAK EDITION
Dear Faubion Family,
In this edition of the Faubion Lion Pride Press, we have a campus-wide Read-In Day, share our contributions to the community, and celebrate a Girls in Engineering event.
March 15 is a teacher staff development / asynchronous learning day, so there will be no instruction in the building on that day. We look forward to seeing our scholars again in person on Tuesday, March 16. Over the next several days, we hope that you enjoy time with family and spend some time outside.
The Perseverance Rover that is currently on the Planet Mars is searching for signs of ancient microbial life to determine whether in the past the planet was habitable. The rover has a drill to collect core samples of Martian rock and soil, then store them in sealed tubes for pickup by a future mission that would ferry them back to Earth for detailed analysis. Perseverance will also test technologies to help pave the way for future human exploration of Mars. Equipment such as subsurface radar, moxie (which produces oxygen from martial carbon dioxide) and a weather station are but a few features on the rover.
Perseverance is a quality that describes the act of persisting despite great obstacles. We understand that some of our scholars are facing academic and personal challenges right now that seem daunting. We encourage our scholars to develop a plan of action, to check items off the list as they complete items, and to celebrate as they accomplish even the smallest of tasks.
Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." At Faubion Middle School, we make excellence a habit, and we are kind to each other. Parents, thank you for instilling those values in your children so they can make a lasting and positive mark on our community.
Go Lions!
-Mr. Boom
Taking Care of Our Faubion Family
Ms. Witsell's 6th grade students delivered food donations for families in need. Pictured from left to right are Werner Cruz, Muna Iyinagoro, Olivia Wrobel, and Killian Dupont. In total, our school community contributed 804 pounds of food to Minnie's Food Pantry the past two weeks.
'Girls in Engineering' Event
The professional engineers encouraged our Lionesses to never take ‘no’ for an answer and to strive for their dreams. The girls had several important visitors come by and wish them luck, including Dr. McDaniel (McKinney ISD Superintendent), Mrs. Cowlishaw (Head of Partners in Education), Dr. Henke (coordinator of secondary science), and Mrs. Witt (coordinator of secondary social studies). We are grateful for this opportunity from Raytheon. An extra special thank you goes to Mr. Lazcano for facilitating the learning of our scholars.
Kristina Jasso, Olivia Stroffolino, Emma Alonso, Alexa James-Isaula, Elizabeth Moon, Ayanna Schinella, Luisa Goedde participated in the event, and they are pictured above!
Featuring virtual learners in the yearbook!
Student Spotlight - Jalen Coleman
This week's student spotlight features the student-athlete, Jalen Coleman!
The following words describe Jalen: quiet, intent, humble, responsible, athletic, and kind. Jalen gives credit to his parents and brothers for the development of these attributes. Regarding his parents, Jalen said that they want him and his brothers to be the best version of themselves.
Jalen's older brother, Jonathan, attends McKinney High School. Jalen said that Jonathan always turns his work in on time, which sets a great example. Jalen feels that his twin brother, Joshua, is smarter than he is. However, Jalen fights hard to compete with him academically. Even when Jalen tries his hardest, Joshua always "wins".
Appreciation for family is so evident in Jalen. He said, “I try to be the best version of each of them, and I respect them very much. I also look up to my father, who works very hard. My mom is the comedic side of the family. She has this vibe that she always tries to help us feel better. In the end, she wants us all to respect and love each other and that's what we are doing now. My mom is the heart of the family."
Outside of school, Jalen likes to run, ride his bike, play video games with friends, and sleep. Jalen does not know where his love of running started, but he soon realized upon arriving at middle school that track would be a good fit. Jalen competes in the 400m, high jump, and 4x400 relay. Jalen appreciates the strategy involved with running the longer distances and the team events.
In the relay, there are certain techniques that you must master at the pass. You also have to trust your teammate. Jalen credits Coach Ballou, Coach Denton, Coach Carter, and Coach Larsen with their coaching abilities. He feels that they are all committed to working with their fellow coaches and in pushing the athletes to break their current limits. Jalen also appreciates the family aspect involved with the track team. "When one member of the family does something wrong, we have to take up responsibility and improve together," Jalen said.
Jalen is a high performing athlete on the track and a high performer in the classroom. Jalen's favorite academic classes are science and history. For science, he likes topics revolving around life, so he takes a particular interest in biology. Jalen is a big fan of "old-time war movies", so topics centering on international conflict are appealing. Jalen's history teacher, Mrs. Nicolle said, "Jalen is a wonderful student. His discussions in class always show his deeper understanding and he always helps with understanding content too. He is a leader and is very responsible and holds other students to a higher standard. I enjoy having him in class because he is a leader and a great human."
In the AVID elective, Jalen serves as a tutor. In leading the tutorial groups, his job as the leader is in prompting the students to ask questions and in making sure that the person who is presenting is moving forward. At the same time, he monitors whether the students are participating as a means to understand the content as opposed to simply completing the work.
Jalen's AVID teacher, Mrs. Hutchison, had the following to say about Jalen: "I have had the pleasure of having Jalen in my class for all three of his middle school years. I am beyond blessed to have been able to watch him grow from a quiet, bright 6th grader into a confident and wise 8th grader. Jalen has excellent leadership skills, takes responsibility for his own learning, is kind to others, and always jumps in to help without even being asked. He is a young man with exceptional character and will be very missed as he continues his journey through high school and beyond!"
Jalen said this about our school: "Faubion is the best middle school in Texas. The reinforcement of the topic of family as a culture is so evident. We have a lot of smart and kind students. Every type of personality you can find here. It's not dull. This school brings out our creativity. We help each other so much. The counselors work super hard. We get the best coaches and teachers."
Please take a moment to congratulate Jalen on the contributions that he makes to our school community. We are sad to see that he will leave us at the end of this year but know that he will represent the Faubion Family exceptionally!
Pictures from read-in day!
Rihanna McDonald
Jaime Tiliano, Mark Ehrlich, and Alex Williams
Daniel Nwaekwe
Reese Whitesell, Sara Perez Amaro, and Lisbeth Hernandez
Double, vertical timeline
Students in Mrs. Blackwell’s GT 6th Grade World Cultures class analyzed a double, vertical timeline on Ancient Egypt and World events. Students pictured are: Finn Ratliff, Nikai Parker, Dawson Foltz, Connor Means, Mia Medina, Josephine Hendrie, Greyson Hampton, Adelle Van Allen, Kaiden Ruff, and Charlie Skidmore.
Personal Finance
Adrian Waldon raised his hand to ask Mrs. Potts a question about Personal Financial Literacy. This topic almost always leads to insightful questions and deep conversations about financial planning. Thank you, Mrs. Potts, for incorporating this critical element into your lesson!
Also pictured are: Arria Chatman, Vannesa Ochoa, Karime Cruz, Adrian Waldon, Evelyn Usher, Jazmin Chambers, Reese Whitesell, Olivia Dressel, Paris Sanchez, Morgan Lane, Elyse Jamieson, and Liberty Klueber.
Music and the brain
A wealth of scientific research over the last decade is proving that music education is a powerful tool for attaining children's full intellectual, social, and creative potential. A decade-long U.S. study found that students who participated in at least nine hours of arts education a week (including music study) were four times more likely than their peers to have won recognition for their academic achievement, and three times more likely to have won an award for school attendance.
In a 2009 Canadian study, young children taking music lessons showed dramatic improvement in their verbal intelligence scores after only four weeks of training. Important regions of the brain, such as the frontal lobes that perform higher-level cognitive functions, are larger in musically trained individuals than in those without this training. https://files.rcmusic.com//sites/default/files/files/RCM_MusicEducationBenefits.pdf
Pictured are members of Synergy choir, including: Micah Benatar, Jake Chan, Addison Garton, Lauren Hibbard, Riley Kerz, Rebekah Lessner, Luke Ludwig, Jimmy McGowan, Caterin Plascencia, Wafa Rahmadan, Addi Smith, Paige Stevens, Nathan Stilovich, and Jared Usher.
Beginner Band contest
All of the Ensembles last night received a 1st division rating which is the highest rating you can receive. In addition, the trombones and flutes received the award for outstanding beginner band ensemble. Picture above are members of the beginner clarinet section, Dani Dossett, Frankie Prater, Ava Brown, Jourdin Shead, Landon Cypert, Amarachi Mba, Sierra Hampton, Liberty Kluber, Samantha Allen, Christopher Simon, and Anthony Acosta.
Track and Field Results!
Being a balanced student-athlete requires dedication from our students and support from parents and coaches. Please see below to celebrate with us in our results from the most recent track and field meet against Evans, Hays, and Highland Park.
Faubion MS future 7th and 8th graders should have completed and submitted their 2021-2022 course registration this week! Counselors will start contacting students next week if they have not yet turned in their form. There will be an opportunity for parents and students to confirm course selections during our course verification window in April or May. Course registration instructions and details may be found at the FMS Counselor website: https://fmscounselors.weebly.com/
ELAR teachers have been providing students in all grade levels with access to the Naviance Canvas Course with activities and instructions for utilizing the Naviance Student Portal. Naviance is a personalized software program for college & career readiness that MISD students can access from middle school thru high school years. We hope students will take a moment to explore this app on their laptops (must use SSO), and learn exciting new things about their interests, personality traits and future college/career opportunities.
If you have any registration or counseling questions, please reach out to your child's house counselor!
Counselors by Alpha:
A-G - Mrs. Phillips - rphillips@mckinneyisd.net
H-O - Mr. Rodriguez - danrodriguez@mckinneyisd.net
P-Z - Mrs. Kiefer - chkiefer@mckinneyisd.net
You can always keep updated with the latest counseling information by visiting our counselors' webpage at fmscounselors.weebly.com.
Updated Shot Records for Rising 7th Graders
Rising seventh graders need proof of updated immunizations before the end of this school year. Your child's schedule will be withheld until immunization records are up-to-date.
Please take your child to complete immunizations. If your child has already received his/her vaccines, provide the updated record to our campus nurse ASAP.
The following vaccines are needed:
Tetanus/Diphtheria/Pertussis-containing vaccine (received within the past five years)
Meningococcal vaccine (within the past five years)
It is necessary for your child to be in compliance to attend 7th grade for the 2021-22 school year.
Collin County Health Care Clinic offers low-cost or free immunizations for Medicaid, CHIPs, American Indian or Alaskan native, uninsured or underinsured (no vaccine, capped coverage or select vaccine insurance coverage).
Collin County Health Care, 825 North McDonald Street, Mon - Fri, 7:30am-11am and 1pm-4pm
Spring Break is a great time to get your immunizations completed!
If you have any questions about the information above, please reach out to our school nurse at mguinn@mckinneyisd.net or 469-302-6914.
helping our community
One Heart McKinney is an organization that partners with McKinney ISD to provide for those in need. Go to www.oneheartmckinney.com for a one-stop shop of resources related to COVID and community support. You can donate to the cause or seek help if interested.
Drug Use Prevention Resources
McKinney ISD offers a Canvas course called "Talk it up! Prevention resources for parents," which is full of drug prevention resources. Please visit the following LINK, bookmark it, and review it at your convenience. Our district truly embodies the "Live Kind" mindset in taking care of the entire child. Our district Substance Use Prevention Committee works hard to make the content relevant, engaging, and timely. Our counselors are also equipped with lots of resources to assist you, so if you need anything please reach out to us.
Upcoming Events
Monday, March 15
Teacher Work Day - Asynchronous Instruction for Students
Tuesday, March 16
Choir - Cookie Dough fundraiser begins
Thursday, March 18
Track & Field - 7th & 8th Boys and Girls Thursday at Ron Poe vs. Dowell and Johnson
Friday, March 19
Orchestra UIL Sightreading recording (during class)
Checking Your Child's Grades and Attendance
You may monitor your child's grades and attendance by using the Home Access Center.
Here are the steps to follow:
1) Please make sure that you are using Google Chrome as your browser.
2) Go to https://sso.mckinneyisd.net
3) Enter your login credentials. If you need assistance with your login information, please reach out to your child's house secretary:
A-G: Mrs. Soroa - rsoroa@mckinneyisd.net or 469-302-7005
H-O: Mrs. Gonzalez - amgonzalez@mckinneyisd.net or 469-302-6911
P-Z: Mrs. Dedman - odedman@mckinneyisd.net or 469-302-6917
Jack C. Faubion Middle School, the best middle school in the State of Texas
Email: mvandenboom@mckinneyisd.net
Website: faubionmiddleschool.com
Location: 2000 Rollins Street, McKinney, TX 75069
Phone: 469) 302-6900
Twitter: @FaubionMiddle