Our 8th grade 1st semester Careers and Leadership class has been talking about the importance of being a good leader and working together as a team. This week, they practiced these skills in this cup stacking activity. During several rounds of this activity they had guidelines to follow like no talking, only the leader could talk, everyone communicating and coming up with their own strategy. Some groups were more successful than others. During the reflection time, students agreed that it is important to have good leadership qualities and have good communication skills.

Our GEM girls have started meetings and are planning ways to stay active and live a healthy lifestyle this school year! They kicked off this September playing volleyball, kickball, badminton, spike ball and 4-Square!

For the 2nd year in a row, our OCMS Volleyball team won the Athens Area Middle School Volleyball League Championship! They beat Lake Oconee in round one, Loganville Christian in round 2, & Prince Avenue in the finals. Great job to our girls & Coaches Kirk & Edwards!

Congrats, once again, to our OCMS Football players, cheerleaders, & coaches on their last home game win of the season!!! We're now 6-0 after beating Commerce Middle School 48-6! Our last game is next Wednesday at Apalachee where we hope to finalize an undefeated season. Good luck to our volleyball team this Saturday at their end-of-season tournament. And good luck to our softball team as they play their first post-season game Monday at Loganville Christian! Goooo OCMS Patriots!!!!

Due to bus issues for Commerce, our football game for 9/18/2024 will be pushed back to start at 5:30.

Our Food, Nutrition & Wellness classes participated in mock interviews last week as a part of their Career Connection unit. They learned about professional dress, first impressions, communication skills, basic interview questions, and more.

We're just one week away from our OCMS Patriot Color Run fundraiser kickoff! ⏰ Visit MyBooster.com—we promise it just takes a minute!— to sign up your student and get ready for an EPIC OCMS Patriot Color Run on 10/04/2024! 🥳🎉

All sets were won again by both the OCMS Volleyball A-Team & B-Team Monday night vs. Westminster. We also recognized a special group of 8th grade girls for their last regular season/home game with OCMS. The team now prepares for the end-of-season tournament at Athens Academy this Saturday. We have one more home softball game Tuesday at OCMS vs. PACS at 5:00 and one last home football game Wednesday vs. Commerce at 5:00 at OCHS. Come out and support our Fall athletes one more time!

8th grade students participated in a potential and kinetic energy lab in Mrs. Blackwell’s science class this week. The students analyzed the effects that mass and height have on potential and kinetic energy using a tennis ball, golf ball, and ping pong ball. Coach K even joined in on the fun.🤩

All sets were won by both the OCMS Volleyball A-Team & B-Team Wednesday night at Lake Oconee Academy.

OCMS is excited to announce that our Teacher of the Year is Mrs. Jill Barnes & our Classified Employee of the Year is Mrs. Madison Phillips!!! Mrs. Barnes is a dedicated ESOL/Connections teacher of 21 years total with 17 years at OCMS. She was nominated for “taking pride in teaching kids the right way” and “providing them with real-life lessons that will carry well beyond their middle school years.” One colleague said that Mrs. Barnes “goes above and beyond the normal teacher expectations because she is observant and takes initiative.“ Mrs. Phillips has served as a paraprofessional at OCMS for the past three years and also coaches both the football and basketball cheerleading squads. When nominated, it was said that Mrs. Phillips “operates more like an experienced co-teacher than a parapro.” Regarding Mrs. Phillips, it was also said that “it is obvious that she has a gift and was meant to work with middle schoolers.” OCMS is proud to have them both as part of our OCMS Family!

Reminder to OCMS Parents, Parent Visitation for OCMS is Tuesday, September 10, 4:00-6:00. Our Annual Title I Meeting is at 5:00. You can find the OCMS School Parent Compact at https://ocms.oglethorpe.k12.ga.us/o/ocms/page/title-i-information. You can find the OCMS School Parent & Family Engagement Plan at https://ocms.oglethorpe.k12.ga.us/o/ocms/page/title-i-information. You can find the OCMS Parent Right to Know Notification at https://ocms.oglethorpe.k12.ga.us/o/ocms/page/title-i-information.

Our OCMS Cross Country Team had a great run in Carnesville this past Saturday. Our top girls medalist was Meadow Nimmons (7th) & our top boys medalist was Jonah Burke (12th).

This year's Book Fair is going to be epic! More Books. More Choices. More Fun. Start exploring together and set up an eWallet on our OCMS Book Fair homepage: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/oglethorpecountymiddlesch1

Congrats to our OCMS Football players, cheerleaders , & coaches on another win! We're now 5-0 after defeating Athens Academy 32-16! We take next week off and return for our next game at home on 9/18/2024 vs. Commerce at 5:00. Thursday (9/5), we have home softball at 4:45 AND home volleyball at 5:00 both at OCMS and both vs. Loganville Christian. Please come and support our OCMS Patriots!!!!

Our thoughts are with Barrow County!

Our OCMS Volleyball A-Team & B-Team swept Prince Avenue Tuesday night!!!!

Our OCMS Fundraiser is right around the corner! More details to come soon!

Members of our OCMS 8th grade band got to be a part of the OCHS Patriot Marching band at Friday's high school football game. The students got to march down with the band and perform tunes in the stands. Looking forward to seeing many of these students as official members next fall!

Our 1st period Food Nutrition & Wellness class competed in their first fun food challenge of the year:  The Water Glass Challenge.  They were tasked with making a glass of water look delicious and print media worthy. Using skills like teamwork, food photography, food styling, and safety and sanitation, students submitted one official entry for evaluation.  Great work to all!