Parsley Elementary Awards and Honors updated Sept. 22, 2009

Staff Members	Students	PTA	Grants	Website
				updated May 31, 2007

School

Parsley is a Real D.E.A.L. School!

February 1, 2007: Parsley was once again selected as a semi-finalist (one of 30) in Governor Easley's recognition of schools that are great places to teach and learn: Real D.E.A.L. (Dedicated Educators, Administrators, and Learners) Schools.   Schools are selected based on excellent student test scores (EOGs) and exceptional working conditions as reported by staff members in an online survey in the spring of 2006. This year the semi-finalist schools submitted an essay outlining the qualities that make their school a great place to teach and learn - qualities that can replicated at any school.  Then, if selected, a semi-finalist school received a site visit by members of the Governor's Teacher Advisory Committee. click to enlarge photo Parsley is proud to have been selected as one of North Carolina's 10 Real D.E.A.L. Schools. Mr. Zentmeyer, Mrs. Suggs, Mrs. Dixon, Mrs. Robbins, Mrs. Youmans and Mrs. Rizzo went to Raleigh on Feb. 1 to present at the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Conference and receive our Real D.E.A.L. award.  NHCS Superintendent Dr. Morris joined us in receiving this honor. Click here for more information about Governor Easley's Working Conditions Initiative and the Real D.E.A.L. Schools award. Read story on Wilmington's StarNewsOnline.com published Feb. 3, 2007

Staff Members

Teacher and Assistant of the Year
	Teacher	Assistant
2008-2009	Nikki Karnes	Deb Farabee
2007-2008	Woody Whittle	Marie Guarino
2006-2007	Sharon Radford	Kay Foy
2005-2006	Michele Dixon	Harriett Jarrell
2004-2005	Monique Robbins	Sharon Parker
2003-2004	Amy Tucker-Morgan Also selected as New Hanover County's Teacher of the Year!	Timothy Winstead
2002-2003	Kristi Youmans	Sheryl Felice
2001-2002	Ann Jenkins	Olivia Tripp

Students

PTA Reflections Contest
New Hanover County Winners:
2008-2009 winner at the NCPTA District 2 level winners at State competition	Nick Sander - Third Place - Visual Arts Grades 3-5 Caroline Mansfield - First Place - Literature Grades 3-5  Kasey Brodwater - Third Place - Literature Grades 3-5 Emma Grace Wright - First Place - Musical Composition Grades 3-5  Chloe O’Briant - First Place - Dance Choreography Grades 3-5   ** 2nd Place State Winner! Feodor Mejouev - Second Place - Film Production Grades K-2
2007-2008 advanced to District Level competition winners at State competition	Lindsey Williams - Gold Medal - Intermediate Visual Arts Feodor Mejouev - Bronze Medal - Primary Visual Arts ** 3rd Place State Winner! ** Emma Grace Wright - Gold Medal - Primary Photography Helena Boldizar - Silver Medal - Intermediate Photography ** 3rd Place State Winner! ** Noah Surrat - Bronze Medal - Intermediate Photography Lindsey Williams - Most Inspiring - Intermediate Photography ** 1st Place State Winner! advances to National competition ** Joseph Minnich - Honorable Mention - Intermediate Literature Lindsey Williams - Silver Medal - Intermediate Musical Composition Emily Ritter - Bronze Medal - Intermediate Musical Composition Hannah Schuessler - Honorable Mention - Primary Film/Video Production
2006-2007	Joseph Minnich - 1st Place - Literature K-2 Layne Pierce - 3rd Place - Literature 3-5 Wyatt Williams - Honorable Mention - Photography K-2 Alicia MacDonald - Honorable Mention - Photography 3-5 Hannah Schuessler - 2nd Place - Film/Video K-2 Hannah Schuessler - Best Theme Interpretation - Film/Video K-2 William Boldizar - 2nd Place - Film/Video 3-5 Helena Boldizar - 3rd Place - Musical Composition 3-5 ** 2nd Place State Winner! ** Helena Boldizar - Best Theme Interpretation - Musical Composition 3-5
2005-2006	Literature - Bradley Barefoot Music - Mackenzie Kuhne Photography - Alicia MacDonald Photography - Honorable Mention - Emily Milkes (Bradley, Mackenzie, and Alicia were also District Level winners)
2004-2005	Visual Arts - Lindsey Williams Photography - Maggie Devine & Christian Kelley Literature - Maggie Devine Honorable Mention in Music - Helena Boldizar
2002-2003	Mackenzie Schmidt - Photography
2001-2002	Evan Barton - 3rd Grade - Photography
North Carolina State PTA Reflections Winners:
2006-2007	Helena Boldizar - 2nd place grades 3-5 Musician Composition
2005-2006	Bradley Barefoot - 2nd place grades K-2 Literature
2002-2003	Mackenzie Schmidt - 3rd place grades K-2 Photography

Honors Chorus
2004-2005	Loryn Teague

Contests
TreeFest Poetry Contest	January 2009:  Lindsey Yelton was the first place winner in the TreeFest Poetry Contest.  A tree will be planted in her honor on school grounds. All Trees All trees can do a lot- They provide shade from the hot- Tress do us good- We plant them so they would- Trees purify the air- We mow them down, that is not fair- Treefest is here- Year after year- Thanks for always being there. Go green!!
Junior League K-1st Bookmark Contest	December 2007:  Hannah Herbert of Miss Weldon's Kindergarten class was selected as the Junior League of Wilmington's K-1st bookmark contest winner! The theme was 'My Idea of a Healthy Me', and the children were asked to illustrate in art form what being healthy meant to them. Hannah was presented with a Dora backpack filled with school supplies, book marks to distribute to her classmates, and a $150 savings bond.  Approximately 1,300 entries were submitted from thirty NHC schools. The bookmarks will be available to the public in the NHC libraries, Barnes & Noble, Salt Shaker, Books-A-Million, and Learning Express.
Halyburton Park Poster Contest	October 2004:  City of Wilmington sponsored a contest open to all elementary students. The students were to create a poster for the new Halyburton Park located on 17th Street Extension. The 1st place winner was Nick LaFave from Mr. Mullins' homeroom. Nick's poster depicted what pollution does to the environment and ways we can all help keep the environment clean and beautiful. The 3rd place winner was Paris Duncan.
North Carolina Reading Association "Young Authors' Contest" - State Winners	2006-2007 Cole Cannon - 3rd Grade 2003-2004 Matthew Swain - 1st Grade Morgan Elizabeth Radford - 2nd Grade Mackenzie Schmidt - 3rd Grade 2001-2002 Elle Howe - 3rd Grade Kaitlin Bailey - 4th Grade Caroline Schmidle - 5th Grade
Superintendent Dr. John Morris Art Recognition	2002-2003 Josh Swain - 3rd Grade 2001-2002 Carly Strauss - 5th Grade

Competitions
Geography Bee Winners	January 2009: Fifth grader, Cole Cannon. January 2008: For the second year in a row, Sam Jarden was Parsley's Geography Bee winner. Winners at schools around the state will take a qualifying test, with the top 100 invited to compete at the state level later in the spring. January 2007: Fourth grader, Sam Jarden. March 2006: Kammy Liu, a fifth grader, has been named a finalist for the 2006 N.C. Geographic Bee. March 2005: Richard Corbett, 5th grader.
Continental Math League - Winners	January 2005 GR. 3 GR. 4 GR. 5 Conner Church Molly Chiarmonte Elaine King Bradley Cotton Hannah Johnson Justine Savingon Tyler Thayer Payton Ball Peyton Youmans Cassidy McClean January 9, 2004 2nd Place - Madison Godfrey 3rd Place - Nicholas Fontana & David Sheppard 4th Place - Rett Nabell 5th Place - Zeke Sigler, Alex Hewett, Marino Leone, Connor Haughton, Jeremy Spahr, & Billy Davis
North Carolina SMS®  Stock Market Simulation	SAGE team placed 3rd statewide and 1st place in the eastern region for the FALL 2003 Semester. The team "earned" $109,542
Sept. 2001 - YMCA Triathlon - Youngest Relay Team: Christian Dias, Nathan Poulos, Grant Nabell (teacher: Maggie Williams)

WECT Super Students

2003-2004 - 4th Grader William Yelton 2001-2002 - 4th Grader Grant Nabell

WGNI Student of the Week

October 2004 - Elizabeth Magill Sept. 29, 2003 - 1st Grader Tyler Graybar

Other Accomplishments

June 2008 - 3rd Grader Hannah Marable will be featured in the "When I Grow Up" section for June's KIDZink. Hannah wants to be an architect when she grows up. As part of her article she interviewed an architect here in town. May 2008 - Carson Mays (3rd grader) was the Kidz Club highlight in the May issue of Kidz Ink, a magazine by kids, about kids and fir kids and their families published here in Wilmington. 2005-2006 - Parsley Patriots collected $943.23 during our "Quarters for the French Quarter", a Hurricane Katrina Relief Drive - Sept. 19 2001 - Mr. Mullins 5th grade students wrote and performed an original play "Coal Dust to Cyper Space", a historical drama about the connection between the old Masonboro School and Parsley Elementary School. This play was presented as part of Parsley Elementary School's dedication ceremony at the start of the school year. 2001-2002 - Students compiled and donated 25 student kits to the "Student-to-Student" Project(North Carolina Reaches out to Afghanistan) 2001-2002 - Students donated 700+ books to Tales for Tots 2002 - Students participated in Valentines for Troops and Valentines for Vets Projects 2001 - Students collected 300+ toys for Holiday WISH project 2001 - Students collected 2000 lbs of non-perishable food items for Salvation Army 2001-2002 - Students collected 275 food items for Mother Hubbard's Cupboard.

PTA

Parsley's Volunteer(s) of the Year
2008-2009	Edna Byrd and Amy Damutz      Edna Byrd is such an asset to Parsley Elementary School. Over the years, Mrs. Byrd has volunteered in her daughter’s classroom faithfully one day per week. When she’s volunteering it’s not just for one or two hours, it’s for the entire school day. She takes the class to lunch on Tuesdays, to give the teaching assistant assigned to that lunch duty a free lunch period. She willingly does whatever the teacher needs. She tutors individual students, reads with students, makes bulletin boards, completes clerical work for teachers, and chaperones on field trips. Additionally, she a member of the committee organizing the 5th grade gift, a butterfly garden. Along with this responsibility, she is assisting our art teacher with the creation of lovely stepping stones to enhance the beauty of the garden, and the memory of our fifth graders.       This alone, however, barely scratches the surface of her sacrifice. For the last three years she has faithfully and consistently volunteered in the library. She volunteers between 15 to 18 hours per week just in the library! This year, we have not had a library clerk. Mrs. Byrd has stepped up to the plate fulfilling some of the duties previously fulfilled by the clerk. Additionally she has solicited library volunteers, and organized the volunteer schedule for the library to ensure the librarian always has assistance. The librarian stated, “She has saved my life this year.”       Friday is “ice cream” day at Parsley. The cafeteria staff was in need of someone to help with ice cream sales on Fridays. Mrs. Byrd answered their call for help. On Fridays during lunch you will find Mrs. Byrd in the cafeteria distributing ice cream to our students. Without her assistance, we may not be able to offer our children this added treat.         Mrs. Byrd’s best asset is that she is unassuming. She works quietly, and always presents herself with a professional and respectful demeanor. She never asks for any special favors or tries to seek attention. She is truly exemplifying someone who is serving from her heart.  She ism’t seeking recognition or attention, she just wants to contribute and provide a service. Her monthly volunteer hours are insurmountable, and could not accurately be counted. Her volunteerism has made a huge impact on the entire Parsley community in many areas, the classroom, media center, and cafeteria. This is an enormous and ongoing commitment. Edna Byrd exemplifies what it means to be Volunteer of the Year. She has a heart of servitude and wants nothing in return. It is an honor to nominate her as Volunteer of the Year.        Amy Damutz is the mother of a fifth grade daughter at Parsley Elementary School. For the past two years she has volunteered to be the chairperson for the Reflections’ Contest. This county wide PTA sponsored event requires a chairperson like Ms. Damutz who carefully attends to detail and is highly organized. We had the most entries of all the elementary schools in the county this year because of the encouragement and support she gave children. She created flyers that went home and a created a huge banner advertising the contest. We feel certain that her efforts in making this opportunity known to both students and parents helped increase our participation.  She volunteered countless hours during this process, arranged for judges, and ordered ribbons for each child who participated. During the last two years, under Ms. Damutz’s direction, we have had entries go to the National level, and have had state level winners. Ms. Damutz recognized and celebrated the student’s successes through various methods. She contacted the parents of the winning entrants, publicized the winner’s names in our parent newsletter, and recognized the winners at a PTA meeting. In conjunction with an evening book fair event, Ms. Damutz organized and hosted our first ever reception for all entrants. She displayed all the children’s work and awarded each piece with the appropriate ribbon. On that evening, every child was a winner. Refreshments were served, and with the book fair as a coordinating event, all students at Parsley had the opportunity to view the beautiful creations on display.  Amy Damutz was invaluable this year in making this our most successful Reflections’ Contest ever.   Ms. Damutz is also a faithful volunteer in her child’s classroom. This year, she led two book clubs with students.  In addition to increasing their reading skills and their love for reading, the students cherished the individual attention and time Ms. Damutz shared with them. Her commitment to this group of children allowed the teacher to work with smaller groups of children, providing them with the individual attention they needed.       Ms. Damutz possesses a quiet, unassuming, and easy going spirit. She is a pleasure to be around and is always willing to do anything that is needed. She never asks for any special favors or tries to seek attention. She is truly exemplifying someone who is serving from her heart.  She isn’t seeking recognition or attention, she just wants to contribute and provide a service. Amy Damutz exemplifies what it means to be Volunteer of the Year. She has a heart of servitude and wants nothing in return. It is an honor to nominate her as Volunteer of the Year.
2007-2008	John Matlock & Suzanne Hamilton
2006-2007	Stephanie Crisp & Shannon Mansfield
2005-2006	Patricia Johnson & Cindy Kuhne
2004-2005	Joelle Ando & Heather Wadsworth
2003-2004	Tracey Schmidt & Mary Alice Hudson
2002-2003	Deborah Fontana & Sharon Matthews
2001-2002	Amy Treman & Angie Willard

Membership Awards (for more information, visit ncpta.org)
Ruby Acorn Award 2008-2009	Have all full-time teachers enrolled as PTA members
Bronze Acorn Award 2002-2003	National PTA award for achieving 10% or greater increase in PTA membership over previous year.
2001-2002 New Hanover Co. Council of PTAs Certificate of Recognition for having 100% Teacher PTA Membership.

Gwin G. Hughes Healthy Living Project Award - established in April 2005 by the North Carolina Congress of Parents and Teachers and the Hughes Family as a memorial to Mrs. Hughes, to encourage healthful living habits. 2008-09 2007-08 - earned for our Walking Club 2006-07 - earned for our Walking Club and Walking Track

Grants

Sept. 2005 - Haley Phillips earned a $600 grant from Intercoastal Realty.  She will use the funds to purchase class sets of novels.

2004-2005 - Emily Anne Wood, 1st Grade Teacher, received a $1000.00 grant from Dollar General to purchase sets of leveled books for the Shared Book Room. She also received a grant from PPD in the amount of $500.00 for the same project.

Dec. 2004 - Parsley Elementary School received a grant from Target in the amount of $500 for support of Read Across the Region program. The grant was written by the Parsley School Library Media Coordinator, Sharlene Williamson, and will be used for books and a special program called Books for Babies. Any student that has a new baby brother or sister after January 1, 2005 will be able to come down to the library, select a new book as a gift for the new sibling, wrap it, and take it home!

Oct. 2003 - Mrs. Jayne Kiker, 4th grade, earned a $300 grant from the Cape Fear Azalea Gardening Club for building a "Monarch Trail" from the school building to the old foundation.

Oct. 2003 - Mr. Stephen Buchanan, 5th grade, earned a $700 Mini Grant from the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce and the GE ELFUNS for "Flutter Factory". It is a cooperative grant that will be shared with Holly Tree Elementary's 5th grade teacher Mrs. Buchanan. Students will work after school at these two schools to create butterfly gardens.

Parsley PTA earned a grant from the North Carolina Congress of Parents and Teachers for 2002 - Parents Encouraging Responsible Choices.

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