Eighth-grade BCIT students at Poquessing MS invited K, 1st and 2nd-grade students from Joseph Ferderbar into their class to work on the Hour of Code together.

At Poquessing Middle School, the students in Karen Moraes' eighth-grade Business, Computers and Information Technology (BCIT) classes invited kindergarten, first and second grade students from Joseph Ferderbar Elementary School into their classes during the week for "Coding with Friends." The middle school students prepared lessons for their younger counterparts, and worked with them on the programming activities for each grade level.

At Neshaminy HS, BCIT students in the Cyber Forensics & Digital Law class earned their Hour of Code certificates by completing the activities during the week. Students had the opportunity to explore the Hour of Code website, choose programming activities that matched their interests, then earn the certificates by finishing the projects and running them on the site.

NHS BCIT students pose with banners and their Hour of Code certificates (on the wall behind the group)

Ben Cichy talks to students about his career in spacecraft design and engineering, including as a lead engineer on the Mars Phoenix Rover.

Students looking for a good e-book or audio book for any grade during the holidays (or any time!) should check out a great Neshaminy library resource, Sora. This app, which can be accessed through Clever on student Chromebooks or linked through school library websites, offers a variety of reading and listening material for students in grades K-12. Other library resources such as the Summer Reading Lists will also be found in this app.

Front (l-r) Carlos Rodriguez. Marty Sullivan, Tina Hollenbach, Cyndie Bowman, Alicia Lafferty. Back (l-r) Paul Saraullo, Adam J. Kovitz, John Allen, Kellen Sporny.

The turf has been completed on the baseball field. New dugouts, a backstop and stands will be installed.

As the old home stands come down, site work on the new tennis courts and multi-purpose field can be seen in the background.

We are looking for certified and support staff for part-time and full-time positions across the District. Check out the possibilities by visiting the Neshaminy employment web page at www.neshaminy.org/employment.

ESS (the District's support staff employment partner) will be holding two informational hiring sessions on Friday, January 6 and Friday, January 20 from 10am-12pm each day. This is an opportunity to learn about the opportunities for substitute teachers and paraprofessionals. These sessions will be held in the District Board Room at Maple Point.

Third grade students throughout the District enjoyed working on a fun Thanksgiving-themed STEAM project during the week before the holiday: Balloons over Broadway. The students learned about the history of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, about the science of how the parade works, how balloons are created, and how they fly (without escaping!). The students then designed, constructed and decorated their own balloons and parade floats which were paraded around the schools and recorded on video using green screens to make them appear over historical photos of the actual parade.

Ugly Sweater Day at Walter Miller ES

A Grinchy visitor greets students at Herbert Hoover ES

Maple Point staff all dressed for the holidays!

The Maple Point MS fifth-grade Choir and Orchestra performed a holiday concert for residents at the Oxford Senior Community in Langhorne.

Maple Point Music students took a trip to the Philly Pops December 16th, to watch the Philly Pops and have a meet and greet with the Director and Principal Conductor David Charles Abell, Lead Vocalist and Broadway star and TV star Jordan Donica and Santa after the concert. With special Guest appearance from retired teacher Maple Point teacher and Philly Pops Choir singer Joan Schenkel and Philly Pops orchestra performer and Maple Point graduate Jon Clark. It was a wonderful night for all.

NHS "Holiday Band" at Middletown Township Open House Dec. 15

Neshaminy High School Choral Concert

Neshaminy HS Orchestra Holiday Concert.

The NHS Winter Band Concert will be held on January 11.

On November 28 the Ambassadors and Student Council Officers from Albert Schweitzer ES filled 69 stockings with donated items. On Friday they will deliver these stockings plus 31 more to the Salvation Army.

The families of Albert Schweitzer ES helped with the annual Shop with a Cop program by contributing $312 during the Schweitzer "Mis-Match" day. District School Resource Officer Missy Robison, one of the organizers of the local Shop with a Cop program in Neshaminy and surrounding communities, accepted the donation. Shop with a Cop was held at the Target store on Old Lincoln Highway on Saturday, December 10. Over 75 police officers from 18 area departments and 100 volunteers helped 350 Bucks County children enjoy a brighter holiday season thanks to generous donations from throughout the area.

First-graders in Mrs. Phillips' and Ms. Wells' class at Tawanka teamed up and made six "no-sew" fleece blankets. These blankets will be donated to an organization called Project Linus that gives handmade blankets to children in need. Most of the children didn’t know how to tie prior to this project, but they worked hard to learn and helped complete the blanket. They are now part of the 9 million blankets that have been donated to this worthy cause!

The kindergarten classes at Tawanka ES have a tradition this time of year of filling their pod with gingerbread men and women - LOTS of gingerbread men and women. The students have been busy creating gingerbread-themed crafts, writing stories, drawing pictures, and on December 21, they had the opportunity to decorate their own gingerbread people with some help from parent volunteers that joined in the fun.

The Neshaminy middle school version of the Neshaminy HS Minithon (itself a high school version of the Penn State THON), raised $3755 to support Four Diamonds, a foundation devoted to helping pediatric cancer victims. Students from all three middle schools participated in the festivities in Gym 1 at Neshaminy HS on Saturday, December 3. The finale was the traditional THON "reveal" when the total donation amount was announced.

On December 8, eighth grade social studies students at Carl Sandburg MS recently participated in a tug of war activity to review what they learned about the American Revolution. Blue (the Colonies) and Red (the British) faced off in some intense battles...and then the Purple Team (the French) came to Blue's aid, leading to an American victory! What a creative, fun way to learn about U.S. History.

The girls' basketball teams from all three District middle schools participated in a first annual basketball fundraiser on November 17 to benefit Athletes Helping Athletes, a Bucks County non-profit that sponsors programs connecting special needs athletes with mainstream student athletes. The tournament, sponsored by the Neshaminy Academy of Basketball, featured three games between the Neshaminy teams and other area teams, and raised over $2000 for the non-profit.

The amazing students of the Sandburg SPIRIT SQUAD filled stockings which were donated to the Salvation Army and distributed to local families. Each year the students collect toys, books, and other stocking stuffers to create awesome stockings. With the generosity of their school, together with our community, they were confident of reaching their goal of 100 stockings.

Carl Sandburg Student Council held a door decorating contest. W.I.N classes were encouraged to use teamwork to give their classroom door a makeover displaying kindness and/or S.P.I.R.I.T., their schoolwide positive behavior program. All of the creative doors are certainly warming the halls of Sandburg!

On Friday, December 16, Carl Sandburg MS held their first-ever Student of the Month recognition award ceremony. 18 students were honored by the teachers that nominated them. Their families were invited to attend the ceremony which was held just before the start of the school day.

The annual Maple Point MS Food Drive provided full Thanksgiving meals for 40 families plus 5,000 pounds of food donations for the ERA Food Pantry in Levittown.

Neshaminy HS students, staff, families and generous local business donors have been working hard to make the holidays a little brighter for families that could use a little extra help. 75 boxes were packed with food items for holiday meals. This is in addition to another 75 boxes that were similarly distributed before the Thanksgiving holiday. The Christmas boxes included chickens, stuffing, cranberries, carrots, green beans, peanut butter, jelly, bread, cookies, pies, mashed potatoes, gravy, granola bars. Turkeys were distributed in the Thanksgiving drive. The Neshaminy HS Interact Club baked and packaged the home-made cookies for the boxes.

These are distributed during the week before the holiday break along with donated gift cards for the recipients that can be used to purchase necessities during the holidays. Neshaminy High School would like to thank all their donors and give a special thanks to Giant Supermarket for supplying many of the food items.

The students from the PASS program, the Art Club, and Painting and Drawing class worked with Mr. Bursk to create murals for the Bucks County Children and Youth center. They worked with images of sea creatures and the sea floor to make small paintings that we combined to create the Mural. The Art Department will be offering a Mural class next year with hopes to create many more Murals both for the school as well as other community organizations.

In early December, fifty Neshaminy HS students attended the PA State Thespian Conference held at North Penn HS. This event included other high school students who study theater from all over the state. Students participated in workshops, watched other high school productions and got to meet others who share the same passion for theater.

It was a big weekend for Neshaminy at the Conference! For the past year senior, Maddie McKenna, has served as a Student Thespian Officer and helped both plan and act as one of the hosts for the conference. Olivia Garland won a $1000 Scholarship for Musical Theater. Maddie McKenna and Ryan Dott took 2nd place in the state for Improv. Christopher Simcox and Nick Fallon won 1st place in the state for Improv. Savannah Acker was awarded All Star Cast for our production of "Tracks" in which the entire cast was praised for their incredible performance. Maddie, Olivia and Nick were elected into the Hall of Fame and Cameron Krauss was elected a Student Thespian Officer for the State for the upcoming year.

Congratulations to all of our talented Thespians and their proud teacher / advisor, Gina Chiolan!

The sixth annual Neshaminy HS Celebration of Reading was held at the Oxford Valley Barnes & Noble shop on December 9. The evening featured performances by NHS musicians, book reading by the NHS 2023 Gym Night Captains, a gift wrapping fundraiser for the Neshaminy HS MiniTHON, and a blue/red Frappuccino contest.

Neshaminy HS Interact Club members painted faces for the Children’s Christmas Breakfast through Dream Drive - a nonprofit organization on a mission to provide necessities and comfort to children experiencing foster care and other hardships. Additionally, the club provided home-baked cookies to accompany the holiday baskets for Neshaminy families.

The Handcrafts in the Hub Craft Fair was held at Neshaminy HS on December 21. This has become a tradition for NHS students and staff looking to purchase some terrific gift items hand-made and sold by a group of students as a class project. The fair gives the students experience in several aspects of running a small manufacturing and retail business.

The SLS and AS programs at Neshaminy HS thanked the NHS staff and students for their generous donations to the Marines Toys for Tots program. The students were able to buy a large quantity of toys to be donated to families in need with the donations.

On December 2, Neshaminy HS held their Student of the Month ceremony in the Black Box Theater. This month the focus was on Business, Computers and Information Technology and Tech Ed departments. Pictured above, left to right – Senator-Elect Frank Farry, Demacio Cooper, Alannah Tiedemann, Christopher Lewis, Anishah Rajeshkumar, Benjamin Peysakhov, Rachel Stilwell, Logan Robinson, Samantha Lugo, Maxamillion DiFrancesco, and Principal Mr. Stephen Garstka

Neshaminy Update is published monthly during the school year and distributed to the Neshaminy community via email and web. To submit comments, suggestions or news items for consideration, please email Chris Stanley, Community Relations Coordinator.

Neshaminy School Board of Directors

Tina Hollenbach - President

Paul Saraullo - Vice President

John Allen

Cyndie Bowman

Adam J. Kovitz

Alicia Lafferty

Carlos Rodriguez

Kellen Sporny

Marty Sullivan

Contact Information

View Upcoming Meetings

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District Calendar

Neshaminy School District

Superintendent

Rob McGee, Ph.D.

Assistant to the Superintendent / Director of Elementary Education

Michelle Burkholder

Assistant to the Superintendent / Director of Secondary Education

Jason Bowman

Assistant to the Superintendent / Director of Pupil Services

Dr. Kevin Kane

Business Administrator

Donald B. Irwin, Jr.

Director of Human Resources

Kelly Kozik

Assistant to the Superintendent / Director of Educational Operations

Paul Meehan

Neshaminy School District

2001 Old Lincoln Highway

Langhorne, PA 19047

www.neshaminy.org