The Montgomery Academy News

Miso Kim Named Volunteers in Action Most Outstanding Member of the Year

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:39:26 -0000

On Thursday, April 25, volunteers throughout the community were recognized and celebrated at the 2013 River Region Volunteer of the Year Celebration. Held at Trinity Presbyterian Church, the event was sponsored by HandsOn River Region and the Junior League of Montgomery. Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr., Chancellor of Troy University, served as the keynote speaker of the afternoon’s reception. The Montgomery Academy was honored to have two distinguished students honored at the event. Hollan Smith, a senior at the Academy and Miso Kim, a sophomore, were both nominated in the Youth Award division. Miso Kim was also the recipient of the highest award of the afternoon, the Volunteers in Action (VIA) 2013 Most Outstanding Member. Volunteers in Action, a youth leadership council sponsored by HandsOn River Region, is an organization devoted to service and encouraging a lifelong commitment to volunteerism. Despite being one of the group’s youngest members, Miso was chosen by the group’s members for this prestigious award. Miso has dedicated over 185 hours of service in the community, supporting local organizations including MANE, Salvation Army, Montgomery Humane Society, Feeding the Multitudes, the Alabama Council for the Arts, and Reading on Wheels. Congratulations to both Hollan and Miso for being honored and thank you both for all that you do in our community!

Students Join Together to Serve on Community Day

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:55:08 -0000

On Thursday, April 18, Middle and Upper School students at The Montgomery Academy joined together for Community Day, a day dedicated to giving back to our community. While students are involved in service projects year round, twice a year, students and faculty devote an entire day to service on and off campus.

Upper School students left campus with faculty and volunteer parents to help at various service organizations throughout the area including: M.A.N.E., Brantwood Children’s Home, the Family Sunshine Center, Habitat for Humanity, MACOA, the Salvation Army, local Headstart programs, and both the Prattville and Montgomery Humane Societies, just to name a few. From bathing animals and cleaning out stables to reading to children and serving food to the elderly, each student was able to impact our community in a strong and positive way.

Middle School students stayed on campus participating in a number of activities to help those in need. Fifth and Sixth grade classes participated by decorating placemats for Meals on Wheels’ clients, stringing bracelets for children who go through Child Protect, creating neck warmers from tube socks and rice for Southeast Hospice Network, and making addition and subtraction notecards for the children in Adullam House. Seventh and Eighth grade classes decorated T-shirts for Brantwood Children’s Home, held a dog wash at the football field that raised $166 for the Montgomery Humane Society, painted pillowcases for Baptist Hospice and the Family Sunshine Center, and recorded themselves reading children’s books on CD, sending both the book and the CD to children at Adullam House to help them learn to read. All Middle School students spent the first few weeks of April collecting clothing for Goodwill, shredded paper, hand sanitizer, paper towels, and crushed cans for the Montgomery Humane Society, and Kleenex for John Knox Manor.

Started in 1994 by a student, Ashley Nellums Modisett, Community Day is in its 19th year and continues to be a favorite day, both rewarding and fun for students and faculty.

Forensics Team Successful at State Tournament

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:27:36 -0000

The Montgomery Academy Forensics team recently competed in the State Tournament for Speech & Debate. The competition was held in Montgomery at LAMP High School and The Embassy Suites hotel, welcoming teams from high schools in the Huntsville, Decatur, Birmingham, Mobile, and Prattville areas. The Montgomery Academy team consisted of 43 Upper School students who took First place in both the Congress and Debate team awards. The team finished the tournament in Third place overall. The next competition for members of The Montgomery Academy Forensics team will be the National Speech & Debate Tournament which Birmingham, Alabama will host in June. Seven students from The Montgomery Academy advanced to the National Tournament where they will compete with teams from all over the country this summer.

Team Awards:

Congress
3rd place - Prattville High School
2nd place - LAMP High School
1st place - The Montgomery Academy

Debate
3rd place - Mountain Brook High School
2nd place - Vestavia Hills High School
1st place - The Montgomery Academy

Overall
3rd place - The Montgomery Academy
2nd place - Saint James School
1st place - Prattville High School

Individual Awards:

Novice House
4th place - Henry Hamlett
3rd place - Jeffrey Stallings
State Champion - William Moore

Varsity House
5th place - John Ahn

After-Dinner Speaking
6th place - Michael Butler
5th place - John Ahn
4th place - William Moore

Dramatic Interpretation
5th place - Evan Price

Poetry Interpretation
6th place - Evan Price

Varsity Public Forum Debate
6th place - Sallie Johnson & Neill McCorvey
5th place - Grey Jones & Drake McGowin
3rd place - Hendrick Adams & Grayson Anzalone

JV Public Forum Debate
2nd place - Benton Hughes & John Ahn

Novice Lincoln/Douglas Debate
5th place - Taylor Dockery
3rd place - Henry Hamlett

Novice Public Forum Debate
5th place - Mollie Beth Dill & Scotland Kemper
3rd place - Allen Millsap & Will Spain
State Champion - Sterling Anderson & Tyler Duncan

Students Receive State Recognition in Duke TIP

Thu, 09 May 2013 21:37:00 -0000

This year, ten seventh grade students qualified to receive state recognition at the 32nd annual Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP). The seventh grade students who qualified for state recognition were Maddie Brazil, Ryan Ford, Kelsey Grant, Stephen Guerrero, Kate Harris, Lauren Muller, Parker Norris, Claire Phillips, Jason Strickland and Katherine Walcott. These ten students have been invited to attend the State Recognition Ceremony at the University of Alabama on May 19th.

The Duke University Talent Identification Program serves 16 states of the Southeast and is committed to identifying and serving academically talented young people, providing students with information about their abilities, academic options and resources, as well as sponsoring challenging educational programs.

Seventh graders are invited to participate in the preliminary SAT or ACT if they score at the 95th percentile or above in one of the following areas on the ERB: verbal ability, reading comprehension, quantitative reasoning, mathematics, writing mechanics or writing concepts and skills. Students can also qualify with other approved standardized test scores. Students took either the SAT or the ACT during December 2012 or during January or February 2013. All of the students who received state honors qualified with the SAT.

Congratulations and job well done to all participants and especially our ten honorees.

Award-Winning Author Visits Lower School

Thu, 09 May 2013 21:29:46 -0000

Recently, award-winning children’s book author Kate Klise visited with the Lower School students and faculty at The Montgomery Academy. In the weeks leading up to the visit, students prepared for the visit by reading and discussing Ms. Klise’s books and characters with their teachers and librarian, Frances Smith. During her day at the Academy, Ms. Klise gave three informative and fun presentations to students sharing her secret for good storytelling and explaining the creative process of writing a book, encouraging all the students to start writing by offering a specific structure for them to try, a clock. Ms. Klise engaged the students by pulling volunteers to create a story, each coming up with their own part of the story sequence. Ms. Klise gave examples ranging from "The Wizard of Oz" to "Star Wars" presenting the success of the clock structure. A special workshop involving 20 selected students was also included in the day’s visit. In the workshop, Ms. Klise used a starter prompt to help students determine their character and his or her problem. She then gave the children ten minutes to put together the beginning of their story. During the ten minutes, she walked around the room offering encouragement and suggestions and then asked the students to come forward and present their stories. As they read, Kate followed the clock structure she had described in her presentations earlier.