East Marion students worked hard to boost their school’s academic rating from a C to a B, and they got a chance to play hard as a reward.
At the Funtastic celebration on Nov. 16, seventh graders through 12th graders rode a mechanical bull, climbed a rock wall, did flips on a bungee trampoline and jumped through a mechanical obstacle course, among other games.
East Marion Junior High and High School scored 652 points out of a possible 1,000 on the state’s accountability model in 2017, up from 623 in 2016. That included a 61.4 out of 100 growth score in reading and 84 growth score in math, showing substantial academic improvement.
The score also tracks growth in students who performed the lowest from the previous year. East Marion had tremendous gains among those students, receiving 73.8 points in that category for reading and 75.5 points in math.
Parents, local churches, community sponsors, teachers and administrators all pitched in to fund the celebration activities last week. They included board games, karaoke, volleyball, kickball and basketball, and the cafeteria staff provided a special Thanksgiving lunch.
“East Marion would like to thank everyone in our community that made this possible for our students. We even had donations shipped in from alumni that live out of state. I am proud to be part of our school, and I am proud of this community,” Principal Percynthia Newsom said in a news release.
Pictured above: Eighth grader J.T. Jones rides a mechanical bull Nov. 16 at East Marion High School’s Funtastic celebration. | Photo by Charlie Smith
