Stock Contest

Yields High Return

I had the privilege of attending a very special assembly held last week at Jordan-Small Middle School. The entire student body gathered to hear Superintendent Sandy Prince present an exciting and prestigious award to sixth grade student Sophie Sangster, daughter of Andy and Catriona Sangster. Sophie just won the Middle School InvestWrite competition by placing first in the entire state of Maine.

InvestWrite is part of the Stock Market Game program in which students throughout Maine and the nation work in teams to invest virtual money in common stocks, mutual funds and bonds. The InvestWrite national essay competition extends the students’ participation and is designed to help students sharpen critical thinking skills as they compose essays on investment related topics.

While creating a top performing portfolio is difficult, creating a top performing essay is even more challenging. More than 8,000 students wrote essays that were judged at the classroom level and 3,200 of those essays were submitted to InvestWrite where they were judged by industry professionals. Students were tasked to pick a world, publicly traded company and write about the product and services that company provides. Sophie wrote about Apple, Inc.

Superintendent Prince also honored Jack Fitch, longtime teacher at JSMS who is dedicated to inspiring students to get involved in the Stock Market Game and take it to the next level by challenging themselves to write a paper about investing. Prince said “teachers are the backbone of the InvestWrite program and are the reason why the program has become so successful. We realize their schedules are extremely busy, and we are happy he is participating in the program and having students write thoughtful essays for the InvestWrite competition.” Prince also praised JSMS for its recent identification in USM’s Study of Improved Maine Schools. JSMS was identified as showing systematic evidence of intellectual work, equity and efficiency.

Beyond her excellent writing skills and outlook on the economy, Sophie achieves high honors, is an active member of the Girl Scouts, and excels in many sports including soccer, basketball, lacrosse, dance and skiing. She was surprised to be the reason for the assembly but happy to receive the award while surrounded by her friends and family who were excited to celebrate with her.

Sophie received a large engraved trophy, a $100 check from American Express, $150 toward a class pizza party, an invitation to the annual awards ceremony in May and a very special bouquet of flowers, which was purchased by her teachers here in Raymond. Congratulations to Sophie for this outstanding achievement.

15 Reasons

After several weeks of rehearsals, the Jordan-Small Middle School Drama Club is excited to present their spring drama production. This year, students will delight you with their rendition of “15 Reasons Not to be in a Play” a one-act comedy written by Alan Haenel. This hilarious play, which highlights all the reasons not to be in a play, will be supplemented with a few songs sung by the cast and crew. The performances will be held on Friday, April 5, and Saturday, April 6, at 7 p.m. at JSMS. Tickets are $5 and available at the door. Treat yourself to a fun evening and come watch our stars shine.

Financial Education Workshop

The Raymond Village Library, in partnership with Norway Savings Bank, will offer three financial education workshops for new and aspiring entrepreneurs as well as current small business owners. These workshops will provide anyone without formal business training with a basic understanding of the financial aspects of running a small business. This is a three-part series. The first part, Financial Management, will be given at the library on April 3 at 6 p.m. This will help business owners gain an understanding of financial management for a small business including basics of startup financing, financing for a growing business, financing working capital and financing fixed assets.

The two other workshops will be Record Keeping held on April 17 and Time Management held on April 24. All sessions run from 6-7 p.m. and are free. You may sign up for one or more sessions. Coffee and a light snack will be served. Please contact the library at 655-4283 to register or sign up at the library during your next visit.

Scouts, Spaghetti and Sandy

The Raymond scouts will hold a spaghetti dinner fundraiser to benefit Sandy Winde on April 6 from 4-8 p.m. at North Windham Union Church in North Windham. Sandy has been a part of scouting in Raymond for more than 15 years and this is the scouting community’s effort to pay some of that service back to a person who has been instrumental in the positive experiences of so many Raymond boys. Tickets are only $5 and a raffle will be held. Come support our friend and neighbor in need. For more information or to make a donation, contact Dennis Dexter at 221-3367.

Closer to You

Judy Pancoast will join the Windham Chamber Singers in a musical tribute to the Carpenters on Friday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the Windham Performing Arts Center. Pancoast is a 2011 Grammy-nominated vocalist whose “velvety voice, phrasing, and conversational delivery of a song are all products of years spent listening to the timeless recordings of the Carpenters,” according to Randy Schmidt, author of “Little Girl Blue, the Life of Karen Carpenter.” Tickets for reserved seats are on sale and cost between $10 and $15. To reserve tickets, send your request to windhamchambersingers@gmail.com or call 892-1810 ext. 306.

Kindergarten registration

Kindergarten registration for Raymond Elementary School is now open for students who will be 5 on or before Oct. 15. You can register online by going to http://www.windhamraymondschools.org/res/kindergarten_registration. Screening dates are May 15 and 22. For more information, contact Mindy at 655-8672 or mmckinney@rsu14.org.

Honor Roll

Jordan-Small Middle School has announced its honor roll for the second trimester. Congratulations to the following students for their hard work and achievement:

Grade 5 Honors: Hailey Applebee, Savana Bradford, Liam Connor-Schaefer, Callie Fielding, Ivan Kaffel, James Louko, Lindsey MacDonald, Sophey Potter, Kylie Rhoades, Riley Silvia, Whitney Wilson

Grade 5 Honorable Effort: Trenton Atherton, Calum Murray, Caitlyn Nassa, Brooke Proctor, Isabelle Thomas, Chelsea Welch

Grade 6 High Honors: Colby Dionne, Haley Froisland, Hannah Gagne, Sophie Sangster, Alianah Timmons

Grade 6 Honors: Hannah Bernier, Maggi Bradford, Blake Colby, Daniel Davis, Stratos Demakis, Kaitlyn Gedicks, Alexis Peet, Deven Young

Grade 6 Honorable Effort: Courtney Brown, Hayden Dearing, Elizabeth Donahue, Riley Gardner, Devon Griffeth, Kurt Heywood, Ben Kisel, Eliza Martin, Madison McCune, Samantha Phinney, Carlee Richmond, Grace Schmader, Victoria Schmader, Stearns Wallingford, Andrew Wing

Grade 7 High Honors: Danielle Meader

Grade 7 Honors: Walter Backman, Jake Conley, Delaney Ennis, Jessica Meyer, Holly Rose, Nicholas Rose, Hannah Stogsdill, Katelyn Troiano, Alexander Wilkins

Grade 7 Honorable Effort: Kora Hunter, Robbie Murray

Grade 8 Honors: Wyatt Barczak, Taylor Bernier, Cameron Peavey, Kayla Saunders, Madison Shimko, Dani Tardiff, Ellie Van Winkle, David Young

Grade 8 Honorable Effort: Ethan Barczak, Orion Beers, Hannah Brackett, Zach Skillings, Cortney Stedt, Kristina Wunderlich.