Michelle Clayton Receives Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana Honor

Zachary Community Schools Director of Academic Accountability Michelle Clayton was recently selected a recipient of Prevent Child Abuse (PCA) Louisiana’s 2010 Champion for Children Award. This is the highest honor that PCA Louisiana bestows upon individuals who have made a difference in the lives of children. The awards were presented during the 24th Annual "Kids Are Worth It!” Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect. Clayton serves on a local level to prevent child abuse in her role as homeless liaison and Director of Academic Accountability in the Zachary Community School District. She acts as an advocate for the district’s children and families in crisis. Mrs. Clayton works to find students safe, loving homes and works with the families to ensure that they have the resources they need. She has impacted the lives of countless families. Clayton and her husband Aristead are raising their 4 daughters, 1 adopted son and are currently in the adoption process for another son. She has worked in the Zachary Community School District since 2003.

New Warriors on Display at Northwestern Middle School

Inspired by a field trip to Houston Museum of Natural Science Terra Cotta Warrior Exhibit, Northwestern Middle Talented Arts students have produced some amazing artwork currently on display in the school’s library.

The Terra Cotta Warriors of Emperor Qin are a cultural treasure of China. They are the recently dug up remains of the Terra Cotta Army that Emperor Qin constructed for his afterlife. They were buried for hundreds of years before being discovered by well diggers in 1974 in Xi’ai Shaanxi Provence China.

Northwestern Middle School Talented Arts students, along with Tammy Wood, Margret Atkinson and Talented Arts Teacher Shawn Quincy Foreman traveled to Houston to see the Terra Cotta Warriors from China.

Foreman describes the exhibition as “amazing; just being in the presence of the works of art was truly a once in a lifetime experience. The students had a wealth of information passed on to them by the docents; they were shown how the warriors were constructed as well as the reasoned for them being built,” he explained.

Upon returning their first assignment this year was to construct a three dimensional Asian type warrior figure with armor. The purpose of the trip was to get an idea of how a figure could be constructed three dimensionally and what Asian motifs may have been like during the Qin dynasty. The students worked long and hard on constructing these new warriors. They used a construction technique called tape casting. This is where they covered a body part with plastic wrap, and then taped over it in several layers. They then cut it off and reassembled the pieces into a figure and painted it.

The Talented Art students jumped in with both feet and produced some amazing pieces of work. The New Warriors will be on display at the Northwestern Middle School library until the Christmas Break.

ZHS Band Christmas Concert

The Zachary High School Band will be having their 2009 Christmas Concert this Friday night, December 11th, at 7:00 in the ZHS Band Room. They will be performing selections from the Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky, as well as collections of many carols we all know and love.

If you are going to the town open house, you can watch the tree lighting, grab a bite to eat, then head over to the high school for the concert.

Whether you are able to make it or not, we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Jason Venable Donny Alexander
ZHS Band ZHS Band

CC Lockwood to Join Zachary Elementary Students in Celebrating The Wetlands

The Zachary Community is invited to join Zachary Elementary School students in Celebrating Louisiana's Wetlands Thursday, December 10 at 6 p.m. After studying the different ecosystems all over the world and creating the inflatable ecosystems last year, students in Kristy Gilpin and Breigh Rainey's classes have turned their attention to the ecosystems of Louisiana. This year, they have focused on the importance of the wetlands and gone on several research trips with the students. Students had the opportunity to Honey Island Swamp, where they learned photography tips from CC Lockwood, went to LUMCON (The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium) in Cocodrie, LA to study the marsh and visited a scale model of the Mississippi River at LSU. On all of these trips, students took their own photos and interacted with experts in the field to create their own nonfiction books related to the Louisiana wetlands.

Students will debut their books at the December 10 celebration. Guests will have the opportunity to learn from CC Lockwood who will speak about his book Marsh Mission, participate in an auction of artwork created by Zachary Elementary third grade students, and enjoy musical and dramatic selections. All of the proceeds from the evening will benefit the Zachary Elementary Library and several organizations working to save the Louisiana wetlands.

Northwestern Elementary Holds Smart Bodies Night

Northwestern Elementary will host Smart Bodies Night for students and parents on Tuesday, October 20 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. There will also be a Smart Body Walk on Tuesday, October 27 and Wednesday October 28 from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. The Louisiana Body Walk Exhibit is a journey through the body, where students explore the brain, mouth, stomach, small intestines, heart, lungs, bones, muscles, and skin. They will stop at each station to participate in activities focused on the effects that different foods have on each organ. This is a 35ft (wide) x 45ft (deep) exhibit. The students enter through a giant ear into the brain and leave through a cut in the skin after traveling through each body part. Students are currently participating in the Take 10 program and Organwise Guys in their classes and Physical Education classes. Visit www.smartbodies.org for additional info.

Pastorek Visits Zachary Schools

Watch the WBRZ Channel 2 News Story by Lori Steele

Zachary Schools Lauded

Read the 10/7/2009 article in The Advocate by James Minton