Hunter's New Year Highlights

The year of 2010 has been a great year for Ardmore High School. The end of the year is a time to reflect on the previous year and fondly remember the great things that happened and closely examine those things which went wrong. I hate to single out major events because I am afraid I will leave something out, but I will try to list a few of our accomplishments as a school, quickly pointing out that this is by no means an exhaustive list. Many of the accomplishments of our students and faculty will not be listed but they are still much appreciated by the Ardmore Community.

As always there were some staff changes during the year of 2010. We had some teachers retire, some left for other areas of endeavor and while they will be missed, we have had some staff additions that have become a part of the Ardmore family. The following are a list of new staff members for the year 2010: Lauren Graham, Beth McCaleb, Leigh Ann Brown, Janet Roop, Clint Legg, Michelle Richardson, Morgan Cornelison, Dianne Reed, Jerry Fulks, and Andrew Smith. Some of our new staff members replaced those that retired or left for other places while some were additions to our staff.

One new position that was filled was that of assistant principal. Mr. Brad Lewis has been teaching at Ardmore for several years and has earned everyone’s respect in that role, now he has become an assistant principal at Ardmore. Mr. Lewis is doing a wonderful job in his new role and hopefully will continue in his new role for several years to come.

Ardmore High School was fortunate enough to win the Limestone County Schools Academic Trophy once again this year. The trophy has been awarded to AHS nine out of the past eleven years. This award is based on test scores from the PRE-AHSGE, ACT, SAT-10, Jr. Scholars' Bowl, and Sr. Scholars' Bowl Competitions. Our students and teachers work very hard through the year and it is nice to get recognized for their hard work.

We had several athletic accomplishments during the year of 2010 and I don’t want to start listing them, but we had only one state championship team. Our softball team won the 4A state championship in softball in its third consecutive appearance in the state tournament. Ardmore has a long tradition of softball excellence and will no doubt continue this trend. We want to congratulate Coach Thomas and all the softball team for the wonderful achievement of a state championship. We must never forget what an outstanding accomplishment it is to win a state championship because some schools go years without having a state champion.

Even though we are ending a calendar year, we still have a semester left in the school year. While it is good to take a moment to reflect we must continue to press on for the upcoming year. We must never cease continuing to improve because, “When we cease getting better we stop being good.” We must never get complacent because complacency is the forerunner to mediocrity and being mediocre is not what Ardmore High School is about. We want to wish everyone a successful and prosperous new year.

Basketball

Basketball game Tuesday, December 21, 2010 beginning at 4:00 at the Ardmore High School Gym. Please come out and support our Tigers.

Merry Christmas

Hunter's Highlights

It is hard to believe the semester is over and the Christmas Holidays have begun. I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season and come back to school refreshed and ready to start a great 2nd half of the school year.

Our basketball teams will not be having the entire break off, but will be practicing and preparing for Christmas Tournaments. Please check the website for dates and time of the games. Our teams continue to improve and look forward to a great season.

We continue to have a lot of wonderful things taking place in the classrooms. We have students and teachers working hard to make sure each student receives the quality education we all want for them. We know that the economy is still down and everyone is feeling the budget crunch. If you currently have students enrolled in school, you know how budgets have been cut due to the economy and next year isn’t looking any better. Please continue to be advocates for public education and school funding.

The faculty and staff at Ardmore High School would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

School Closing

Limestone County Schools are closed on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010. I want to make you aware of our procedure for exemptions. The exemption procedure will be the same for everyone EXCEPT those students who exempt ALL of their exams. These students should have their signed form at home and will NOT need to come to school on Thursday and Friday. They may turn in their forms in when we return after the Christmas break. All other students will follow the same procedures. If you have any questions, check the website or call the school. Thank you and stay safe.

Hunter's Highlights

We are a week away from a very important time in the lives of our students and teachers. No, I am not talking about Christmas, but rather semester exams which count 20% of the entire grade. We will be giving exams December 16, and December 17 and all the details are posted on the Ardmore High School website. This is a very important time and I hope everyone prepares properly for these very important tests.

Semester exams also coincide with the Christmas break which last until January 5th for students. When students return on January 5th the second semester will have begun and half of the school year will be in the books. It is hard to believe this school year has passed so quickly and for seniors and their parents I am sure it is hard to believe their time with us at Ardmore High School is nearly complete.

The Award Winning Ardmore High School Tiger Band will perform their annual Christmas concert Monday, December 13, 2010 in the new gym. This is a great time for everyone if you love great Christmas music. Mr. Nelson and our band always do a wonderful job and anyone attending is sure to have a great time and enjoy great music. Please come out and support our excellent band program.

Ms. Martin's sixth grade students had the opportunity to model fossil excavation. The students worked in pairs to identify each fossil they were able to locate. They found fossils such as Crinoid stem, Coral, Brachiopod, Shark teeth, and Dinosaur Bones. Our students are fortunate to have this hands-on experiment provided to AMSTI to aide in their learning process. AMSTI is a great program provided for the state of Alabama to provide Alabama students with learning opportunities otherwise unavailable to them.

Ardmore High School’s 2010-2011 winner of the Scholar Athlete Award is Mr. Landon Boggs and the winner of the Achievement Award is Ms. Brittany Brown. Landon and Brittany will now be eligible for the area nominee which is the first step towards winning the scholarship to be awarded at a banquet in Birmingham. The Bryant-Jordan Student-Athlete Program was created in 1986 by the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in conjunction with the Alabama High School Athletic Association. It is supervised by the Board of Directors of the Bryant-Jordan Foundation. The initial scholarship offered by the Bryant-Jordan Program was the scholar athlete scholarship. In 1989 the Achievement Award was created. This award is designed to reward the student-athlete who achieves beyond his/her ability both academically and athletically or who may have overcome some obstacle or hardship to achieve success.

Some Ardmore students are working to help with the nationwide problem of child obesity. Ana Lombard, Jackson Cornelison, Shelby Goldsmith, Brittanie Glover, and Brandi Howard produced a video posted on Youtube in conjunction with a school program they organized to help bring awareness to the serious health concerns. These students are to be congratulated on their initiative and drive demonstrated by producing the program and video.

Hunter's Highlights

The leaves have fallen, the cold air has settled in and Christmas is right around the corner. This is the most wonderful time of the year, but it is also a very busy time of year. We have many things taking place at Ardmore High School and the semester exams will be on us before we know it. Exams are December 16, and 17 which end the first semester and students return to school on January 5, 2011.

The Ardmore Chapter of Future Farmers of America has been busy this year with its annual fruit/meat sale. This is a big fundraiser for the FFA and Ms. Graham and the club members have worked extremely hard selling and distributing the fruit. The FFA is serving chicken stew to all of its members on Friday, December 03, 2010 which will be a good reward for all of their hard work.

Basketball season is in full swing and our teams are working hard to have another great season. There are games most every night of the week except Wednesday for your viewing pleasure. Our middle school teams play on Mondays and Thursdays and our varsity teams play on Tuesdays and Fridays so please come out and support our basketball programs.

The Bryant-Jordan Student-Athlete Program was created in 1986 by the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in conjunction with the Alabama High School Athletic Association. It is supervised by the Board of Directors of the Bryant-Jordan Foundation. The initial scholarship offered by the Bryant-Jordan Program was the scholar athlete scholarship. In 1989 the Achievement Award was created. This award is designed to reward the student-athlete who achieves beyond his/her ability both academically and athletically or who may have overcome some obstacle or hardship to achieve success. Ardmore High School winner of the Scholar Athlete Award is Mr. Landon Boggs and the winner of the Achievement Award is Ms. Brittany Brown. Landon and Brittany will now be eligible for the area nominee which is the first step towards winning the scholarship to be awarded at a banquet in Birmingham.

Christmas season is also parade season for our marching band. Our band typically marches in the Athens Christmas Parade and the Ardmore Christmas Parade. The band entertains the crowd with traditional Christmas songs as it moves along the parade route. Our band excels in everything they do so we are always excited to get to hear the Ardmore Marching Band and we look forward to the Ardmore Christmas Parade, Saturday, December 4, 2010.