Central Cambria School District Achieves AYP!

Congratulations to our students, teachers, and administrators for their continued efforts towards achieving academic success in the classroom and on the PSSA.
Recently received reports indicate that Central Cambria School District has met the targets for Performance, Participation, Attendance, and Graduation to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the 2010/2011 school year! The PA state goals for this school year (2010-11) are 67% of students scoring at Proficient or higher in Mathematics and 72% of students scoring at Proficient or higher in Reading.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education uses the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) to determine AYP performance. As measured by the PSSA, students' scores fall into one of four performance levels:
• Advanced (highest)
• Proficient
• Basic
• Below Basic (lowest)

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), holds LEAs accountable to students, parents, teachers, and the community. The law states that all students must reach the Proficient level or higher in Reading and Mathematics by 2014. More detailed information on district and building performance will be available in the coming weeks. Parents can expect Individual Student Reports to be sent home at the beginning of the new school year.

Moving Day is Finally Here!

After years of pondering, planning, pouring, pounding, and painting, the new middle school is almost ready! Summer maintenance crews are making many trips from 205 Highland Avenue to the new building, bringing desks, books, supplies, computers, file cabinets and sports equipment to fill the rooms of 206 Schoolhouse Road! While construction crews continue to finish the final details of the project, everything but dust is being moved into place so that teachers and students are ready for the start of the new school year. Over the next few weeks, site work will continue as the construction project wraps up inside and the focus shifts to completing exterior areas. To view the project from groundbreaking to completion, visit the website link: Middle School Construction

Summer Camps Held at CCHS for Middle School Students

The Central Cambria High School hosted a variety of summer camps for interested students in grades 5 through 8. These camps were offered, for a fee, from the weeks of June 13-17 and June 27-July 1 where students attended from 9am to noon daily.

The goal of these camps was to teach younger students a variety of useful tools in the fields of creative technologies. The offered camps include: “Anatomy of a Computer” Camp, where students had the ability to explore the components of a computer to discover how they work, taught by Dr. Karwoski; Art, Design, and Technology Camp, where students learned how to take a technological approach to graphic design, taught by Mr. Dumm; and Video and Broadcasting Camp, where students could learn about the broadcasting field and gain a greater appreciation for audio-visual technology, taught by Mrs. Shirk.

Anatomy of a Computer had the students travel through the inner workings of a computer, to the writing of a computer game. The students learned more than they ever would have thought possible in such a short time. Dr. Karwoski stated, “[he] is looking forward to having these “tech guys” in class.”

“The ‘technology in the arts’ workshop was a lot of fun” stated Mr. Dumm. The students got hands on experience working with digital photographs, and editing digital imagery using Adobe Photoshop. They created monsters and creatures from their own photos, and learned how some of today's top special effects professionals use similar technology in the movies and shows they watch every day.

The students also wrote, directed, and helped film a short movie which was filmed digitally and edited on the computer. The ten minute film was a ghost story about a haunted middle school, filmed in and around the Central Cambria campus. Mr. Dumm found the final product was very amusing and entertaining. “We were very happy to see such enthusiastic students taking a bit of time out of their summer break to learn more about this field, and explore their interests” said Mr. Dumm.

Students enrolled in the Broadcasting Camp were able to complete many different projects reported Mrs. Shirk including learning different camera shots, storyboarding and filming their own movie, creating a stop motion film, as well as broadcasting the daily news from Central Cambria High School’s CCTV Studio. Students were able to learn many new programs including conversion software, movie maker, and AVS editor. "The best part of the experience for me was seeing the students’ excitement and creativity towards each project they undertook," stated Mrs. Shirk.

All teachers involved in the summer camps acknowledged the great importance of continuing education into the summer months for all students and the great opportunity that the summer camps had to extending the curriculum in a hands on forum for those enrolled students.

Students and Teachers Gather for a Group Photo During the Final Field Day at “Old” CCMS

To promote the idea of living a healthy and active lifestyle, CCMS held it’s annual “Fit and Fun” Field Day on Friday, June 3. In the morning 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students got a chance to listen to and interact with area professionals who are experts in a number of health, wellness, and safety topics. After a picnic lunch, students moved outside to enjoy the beautiful weather as they participated in a number of games and activities ranging from inflatable obstacle courses and kickball games to water balloon tosses and four-way tug-of-war matches. The highlight of the day came at the end as several lucky students, who had earned chances thanks to their exemplary behavior, seized the opportunity to dunk ten different teachers in a dunking booth in front of the school. Students and teachers agreed that “Fit and Fun” Field Day was truly a “splash!”