Highland Middle School

8 red students testing luminosity of stars with glow sticks in science class

Great job today Emma Baudino and thank you to our guest speakers Chief Chris Conrad and Congressman Shimkus for speaking to our students today. Today's recording will be apart of our Virtual Veterans Day video that will be sent out on November 11th.

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming...Virtually! We are thrilled to still offer our annual book fair to our HMS families. Please see the flyer for more information. Our fair will run from November 2-15, 2020. Happy Shopping! https://5il.co/mjc8

Team 6 Black made it outside for our First Quarter Reward Party!

Highland Middle School came in 5th place in the USAgain Back to School Challenge! They had 89 schools in the competition. Thanks for your support! Please continue to donate gently used clothing, footwear, linens, and accessories for the Recycles Day Challenge! Contest ends Nov. 19.

Congratulations to the Boys Cross Country team for finishing in 5th place today at the State Meet. Way to go!

Congratulations to Payton Frey for finishing in 6th place today at the State Cross Country Meet.

Good luck to all of our runners at DuQuoin today! Here is the link for the live streaming of the state cross country meet today - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD9lhaAlbFN6CJodOId8MFw

Boys basketball open gyms will begin Tuesday, October 27. They will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting the week of 10/26-11/12. They will be from 6:30pm-8:00pm. Do not forget your Covid form, mask, and water. Please enter through the gym doors.

HMS Parents: If your student plans to attend any of our upcoming open gyms they MUST fill out this Covid waiver prior to attending. If we do not have one on file, the student will not be allowed to attend. If you have filled one out before for a tryout or other activity, you do not need to fill out another one. https://5il.co/mee7 Thank you!

Mr. Derek Reckmann, our HMS DSR instructor, has been working with kids and coaching for the past 5 years at HMS. He enjoys playing golf, playing cards, and watching sports in his spare time. When he needs to get away from sports he enjoys working with his hands building or remodeling something. Mr. Reckmann loves Italian food and will never turn down a bag of skittles. A special talent that Mr. Reckmann has is memory recall. On a good day, he can retell a random story from years ago basically to a T. What he enjoys most about working with HMS students is watching his kids work together to achieve a common goal and seeing their excitement when they accomplish something small or something great.

Even though the week was short, we had several students who made the choice to do the right thing, have a positive attitude, and show respect for all.  Congratulations to this week's Positive Pup Award winners!!!!  Keep doing a great job at HMS!!!

Thanks to everyone who participated to unite against bullying by wearing orange today. It was also hat day! Great job HMS!

Congratulations to the top students on 6 Black in the AR reading program for first quarter!

Tomorrow, don't forget to wear your hats and wear orange to unite against bullying HMS!

8th Grade Parents: If you have a student that is interested in playing spring soccer, please fill out this quick survey - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdm-naRx5kfwE6ZBWBuhW4g-jf4DXd6bVxohfC63fXKyvzp1Q/viewform?usp=sf_link

Attention FCA members, or those wanting to join, tonight's meeting at 7:00 pm has been moved to the HMS gym. Please enter through the gym doors. Please bring a drink, pizza will be served. Make sure to wear your mask. The meeting will end at 8:30 pm. Thank you!

Mecala Scholl of Highland Middle School has been selected as one of Emerson’s 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award recipients for Highland CUSD #5. Congratulations on your award! Thank you for always going above and beyond for our kids.

Mr. Patrick McGinthy has been teaching Music/Band for 12 years. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling and doing outdoor activities with my family, weightlifting, watching sports. His favorite food is chicken wings and he is still an old school video gamer. What he likes most about teaching is seeing students develop an appreciation, understanding, and practical application of music. Thanks for all that you do to support our kids at HMS! Keep up the great work!

Mrs. Cordean Jones has been teaching Special Education for almost 28 years, 25 years at HMS. In her spare time, she and her husband love to go camping. They have a camper that we leave at a campground called Pleasant View Campground near Mark Twain Lake in Mo. We both love to travel. Our goal is to visit all 50 states in the U.S. She also loves spending time with family and friends. Mrs. Jones enjoys eating out, going to movies, concerts, and tourist attractions. She also loves being in the water swimming, boating, or going on float trips. She loves big dogs! Labrador Retrievers and German Sheppards are her favorites. She also has one wonderful son and a beautiful daughter in law and can’t wait to be a grandma someday! Mrs. Jone’s favorite food is pizza and favorite candy is M & M's plain. She is great decorator of cakes and she used to work at Baskin Robbins! Mrs. Jones loves teaching because she loves seeing students have pride in their work. She loves the moment when students begin to understand something that they thought they couldn't do before. It really makes her day when kids who don't like to read discover that there are good books that will keep their interest! Thanks for being an amazing teacher!