Chris Cooper’s RTI class at Harpeth Middle School has started a weekly “Celebrate Cheatham” podcast.

The podcast will highlight the many successes of the Cheatham County School District.

The recording of the first podcast took place on Monday, March 11 and featured Director of Schools Dr. Cathy Beck, Coordinated School Health Supervisor Shelley Duke and Schools Resource Officer Supervisor Sgt. Chris Gilmore.

The episode focused on school safety - an important topic facing schools across the nation.

The podcast is being produced, edited and managed by students in Cooper’s RTI class. Cooper is the school’s band director.

Cooper and HMS eighth-grader Austin Thompson facilitated the first podcast.

The students have spent the past several weeks getting familiar with the equipment and what goes into preparing and recording the podcast.

​Cooper hopes to have the inaugural podcast ready this week. Once available, we’ll let you know how you can listen to it.

Great things can be accomplished when people seek to serve each other.

Nothing is more powerful or more meaningful than an act of service for a fellow human. Acts of service can take place everywhere in public settings or in private. Random acts of kindness don’t need to be planned, they can be spontaneous. Service, best of all, is contagious.
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At Harpeth Middle School, teacher Liz Austin and her students are recognizing random acts of kindness (RAK).
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The project started with a paper hand. A paper hand is given to a student or adult to document a RAK. The RAK can be those that are received or witnessed. 
 
“By refocusing our attention to find ways to help spread kindness we not only spread positivity to another but we magnify ourselves and we come away better for the experience. It feels good to be kind. It feels good to see someone else being kind. It truly is contagious,” Austin said.
 
Austin’s students used the hands to create wings on a wall to further symbolize hope and create a photo opportunity. 
 
“Every class period, students are asked if they have a RAK to document. My RTI students have taken the lead in posting the hands on the wall. The metamorphosis has been ongoing. The students have moved the hands many times because it is growing every day. It is awe-inspiring to see what these students have achieved,” she said.
 
Austin added: “My hope is that by all of us spreading kindness into the world little by little we can change the world.”

The Cheatham County School District will continue to offer its successful Cheatham Achievers after-school program during the 2017-2018 school year.
 
The district offers the program in the three middle schools through a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant. 
 
In 2014, the district was awarded the three-year, $600,000 grant to implement the program at Cheatham, Harpeth and Sycamore middle schools.
 
The district was recently notified that it has received a grant extension of $202,000 to continue the program in the new school year.
 
Emily Staggs, who supervises the program, said, “We are looking forward to another productive and exciting year with this great program. The district has enjoyed much success since we started the program, and many students have benefitted from the academic, artistic and cultural enrichment activities that are provided.”
 
The program offers opportunities for students to explore, develop and strengthen their academic skills.
 
In addition, students participate in art, music and recreation programs, character education programs and field trips to reinforce and complement the regular academic program. Guest speakers are also invited to speak to the students on a wide range of subjects.
 
Students receive a daily snack and are provided with transportation home each day. 
 
The district is working on the details for the new year and plans to start the program in September.
 
Families who are interested in participating in the program can contact your zoned middle school (CMS at 792-2334; HMS at 952-2293 and SMS at 746-8852). Applications will also be available at each school’s open house.

​Harpeth Middle School students presented some creative and unique “Power of One” projects on Wednesday.
 
The “Power of One” project was designed to allow students in several of the seventh- and eighth-grade Tier 1 RTI classes to explore the power and impact of one great individual on the history of humanity. 
 
The idea was to choose an individual (or individuals as some groups did) that dramatically altered the course of history for the better and that made an impact on a world that has or will last for many generations. 
 
Students were charged with a 6-8 week research project that included initial research and evaluation of the chosen subject, a rigorous writing assignment related to the research, an intricately designed door display and presentation around the classroom door of their teacher, and a culminating major presentation for the community in the Harpeth High School theater.
 
The culminating project took place on Feb. 22 in the HHS theater and along with the help of HHS theater teacher, Anita DeFrancesca, the students presented five to seven live performances that highlighted their chosen individual(s) through music, dance and spoken word. 
 
Students designed intricate costumes and stage props, recorded and edited speeches and audio samples, and even wrote their own songs that were included in the intricate performances. 
 
Several HMS and HHS students, along with parents and community members, attended the event and were wowed by the incredible performances of our kids. 
 
From exciting choreographed dances, to riveting speeches and sound effects, the approximately 60 students that participated in this project created some outstanding presentations that honored their chosen subjects in truly admirable fashion. 
 
HMS will soon highlight a video on its social media pages that show off much of this great work.
 
Participating RTI classes were:
 
Melanie Buchanan: Women of History
Taylor Hummell: Jackie Robinson
Amanda Casteel: Malala Yousafzai
Karen Carlton: Dr. Seuss

​It’s School Board Appreciation Week in Tennessee, and Harpeth Middle School is recognizing our six board members in a unique way.
 
When thinking of a way to show its appreciation, HMS decided that it was best to show the board members through something that the school is known for.
 
From HMS Principal Ryan Phillip, Assistant Principal Adrian Baker and Art Teacher Liz Austin …
 
Anyone who has walked through our hallways and classrooms has no doubt noticed that we have a very unusual “ceiling situation” in much of our building with our tiles. 
 
Long ago, our wonderful art teacher, Ms. Liz Austin, began a tradition of designing artistic ceiling tiles with our eighth-grade students and this practice has turned into something of a “phenomenon” across our building as many classrooms and hallways are scattered with evidence of eighth-grade work from across the years. 
 
Ms. Austin’s class has created a specially-designed HMS ceiling tile that says, “Board Member Appreciation Week 2017” complete with a HMS logo. 
 
The tile will be delivered to the Board of Education. While we understand if it can’t necessarily get placed in the ceiling, we assure you it will still make for a great decorative piece somewhere in the board room. 
 
Thank you for everything you do for the Cheatham County School District and Happy Board Member Appreciation Week!

​Harpeth Middle School teacher Allison Johnson spent her Thanksgiving break creating her first mural in Nashville’s Gulch neighborhood.
 
The mural is at A+ Storage on Division Street across from Yazoo Brewery.
 
Johnson has been painting small pieces of art for several years now, but the mural was her first big public creation.
 
The mural features an acoustic guitar and the Nashville skyline.
 
Johnson admits she was a little apprehensive in the beginning about painting the mural, but it turned out to be a great experience and she’s open to doing more in the future.
 
“Now that I have done my first one, I know what it entails,” she said.
 
Johnson, who has been at HMS for 12 years and currently teaches fifth-grade science, enlisted the help of her brother, Drew, on the project.
 
“He’s very artistic … I said I wasn’t going to do it unless he wanted to help me, and he was on board with it,” she said.
 
Johnson, a 2000 graduate of Cheatham County Central High School, started painting about four years ago when she wanted to create special gifts for a friend having a baby and for her parents at Christmas.
 
“I started receiving positive feedback from family and friends, and they soon wanted their own piece. It really took off and people started to commission a lot of pieces with me,” she said.
 
In the beginning, her work primarily featured the visual interpretation of song lyrics.
 
“They would give me their favorite lyrics, and I would create an image,” said Johnson, who sponsors the Art After Hours Club at HMS.
 
Johnson has since branched out and now creates a wide variety of handmade, vintage and creative goods.
 
The mural came about after the owner of A+ Storage saw her work on display at 3rd & Lindsley, where Johnson works part time.
 
Johnson said she is thankful for the positive feedback she’s received since painting the mural.
 
“My favorite thing about it is that my friends are going by it to take pictures and then showing them to me and their kids. I am humbled that they love it and want to see it,” she said.
 
Johnson uses social media to promote her work. To see what she’s created, search “4theloveofmusic615” online.
 
Johnson said she will continue to focus on her art in her spare time.
 
“It’s relaxing and therapeutic. After a stressful day at school, I can sit down and let it out on the canvas,” she said.