Ephrata Middle School students receive awards

EPHRATA — Rising Stars and Shining Stars received recognition, and Ephrata Middle School Principal Ken Murray inducted the first students into the Crazy Sock Club during an assembly Friday.

Membership in the Crazy Sock Club doesn’t come through words. “It’s action,” he said, and sometimes actions that are performed without expectation of recognition

He cited the club’s first member (in addition to Mr. Murray, of course) as an example. Gabe Navarro volunteered to translate for Spanish-speaking parents during the school’s parent conferences in January, Murray said, just because he saw the need. (Crazy Sock Club members actually do get a pair of crazy socks, he added.)

Murray asked all the middle school students who hadn’t failed a class to stand up, and to the kids who had to stay seated, he said the idea is to show them it doesn’t matter if they’ve failed in the past. What matters is where they are now and where they’re going from here.

Students were recognized for their participation in the school’s extracurricular program, and Murray said studies have shown children who are involved in extracurricular activities, both in school and around the community, are much less likely to drop out of school. Intramural Director Leslie Tinnell said 105 seventh-graders and 102 eighth-graders were involved in the program during the first semester.

Members of the school’s National Junior Honor Society also were recognized. To qualify, students must have a grade point average of 3.5 or better.

Rising Stars are students who, in the opinion of their teachers, make the most of their ability. Teachers had to make a choice, and Murray said teachers came to him, saying they had so many kids who fit the criteria they couldn’t decide.

Some teachers went over the limit, but Murray said that actually was OK. The 2015 date on the certificates was just there because 2015 was such a fun year school officials couldn’t let it go. Shining Stars “exemplify classroom leadership,” Murray said.

All Rising Stars and Shining Stars got a certificate, a ribbon and a chance for their parents to take pictures.