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Giving back to the community
Apex Festival
Commission hands out $6,000 in grants
By Shawn Daley, Editor
January 1, 2004
Few things are as important to
a community as its schools.
So it seemed only fitting that
when the Apex Festival
Commission announced its
grant recipients for 2003, the
Apex Middle School PTA was
on the list.
In March, the PTA will unveil
a large plaque honoring faculty
members that have taught at
Apex Middle School for more
than a decade.
The PTA will also host a
reception in the fall at the new
school currently being con-
structed on the Moore Street site
where they old school stood.
According to PTA president
Connie Shay, the grant money
will come in handy.
“We will use it to help fund
the open house at the new
school and to recognize the
teachers,” said Shay. “We were
very happy to receive it.”
Helping fund important
groups or projects in the com-
munity is what the Apex
Festival Commission is all
about.
A volunteer organization
founded by the Downtown
Business Association, Apex
Chamber of Commerce, Town
of Apex and BB&T Bank, the
commission is responsible for
the town’s two annual festivals
on Salem Street.
The festivals, formerly named
Peak Week Festival and the
Today & Yesteryear Festival,
are held in May and September,
respectively. Starting this year
they will be renamed the Peak
Festival and the Yesteryear
Festival.
The money raised from the
festivals helps fund the grants
that are distributed each
December.
“It is getting better every
year,” said festival commission
chairperson Cat Keams. “We
started out with $650 that we
gave away in 1999 and we have
been able to increase it by
$1,000 every year. We were up
to $6,000 this year.”
This year’s grant recipients
included the Eva Perry Regional
Library, Apex Educational
Foundation, the Apex Flames
youth baseball team, the Apex
Fire Department’s junior fire-
fighters program and the middle
school PTA.
Checks were presented recent-
ly. to each group during the
Apex Chamber of Commerce’s
annual open house.
Each year the commission
also awards a $1,000 scholar-
ship to a high school senior
from Apex.
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Apex FD collects toys
for
children
By Shawn Daley, Editor
January 1, 2004
In 1947, a group of U.S. Marine
Corps Reservists, led by Major
Bill Hendricks, collected and dis-
tributed 5,000 toys to needy chil-
dren in the Los Angeles area.
Although they didn't know it
at the time, those Marines start-
ed the Toys for Tots program, a
tradition that has lasted 56 years
and has brightened the holidays
of countless children throughout
the country.
This year, conflicts in Iraq and
Afghanistan have kept U.S. mu-
itary personnel a bit busier than
usual. As a result, civic groups
and community organizations
were called upon to make sure
the Toys for Tots program
remained alive and well.
Locally, the Apex Fire
Department, with help from the
Apex Rotary Club, collected toys
and delivered them to the Marine
Corps Reserve Center in Raleigh.
It was the first time the fire
department participated in the
program and the venture proved
to be a success.
“That’s what the (Christmas)
season is for — giving,” said
Apex Fire Chief Mark Haraway.
“We took this as an opportunity
for the department to give back
to the community and it was
very successful. The citizens of
Apex and the surrounding area
were great. We were overflow-
ing with toys.
“I’m open to doing it again next
year I think it was a very good
opportunity for people to come
by and meet the firefighters. It
not only gave us the opportunity
to let people know (about us) but
it also gave us an opportunity to
be part of the bigger picture and
help people out. I’m hoping we
can do this on an annual basis."
Local teachers earn
national board certification
A record-setting 189 teachers
from the Wake County Public
School System earned certifica-
tion from the National Board of
Professional Teaching
Standards this year.
The 189 teachers earning
National Board certification
were the most of any school dis-
trict in the North Carolina,
which led the nation in the num-
ber of teachers earning certifica-
tion. North Carolina had 1,509
teachers earn certification this
year bringing the state total to
6,646 during the, program’s nine-
year history
Superintendent Bill McNeal
said this is great news for stu-
dents in the Wake County Public
School System.
“Each of these teachers devot-
ed a year to examining ways to
best deliver instruction to stu-
dents,” said McNeal. “They
devoted hours of long, hard
work seeking to best meet the
needs of their students. They
had to create a portfolio of their
work, videotape their instruction
and pass a rigorous test to ~earn
certification. Through this
process, they become even bet-
ter teachers.”
The 189 teachers who earned
National Board certification this
year bring the total for WCPSS
to 665.
“Every child in our schools
deserves a quality teacher,” said
McNeal. “We are working to
recruit, hire, and keep the best
teachers. The most important
step we can take to boost aca-
demic success in the classroom
is to provide students quality
teachers.”
Salem Elementary had ten
teachers earn certification this
year, the most of any school in
Wake County.
Principal Savon Willard said
another seven teachers are
working towards certification
this year.
“I am very proud of their
accomplishment. They have all
worked very . hard,” said
Willard. “We do all we can to
help support them in their
efforts. We help with the video-
taping and release them early to
attend meetings with coaches
and other teachers seeking certi-
fication.”
There were 59 high school
teachers from Wake County
who earned certification this
year. Eight were from Millbrook
High. Broughton, Fuquay-
Varina, Southeast Raleigh and
teachers from Wake County
who earned certification this
year. Seven were from Durant
Road Middle. Six were from
Lufkin Road Middle. East
Millbrook Middle and Reedy
Creek Middle each had five.
WCPSS encourages National
Board certified teachers to serve
as coaches for other teachers
seeking certification. Coaches
are paid an honorarium. WCPPS
provides newly certified
national board teachers a one-
time $500 bonus. The school
system also sends some Wake
County teachers to the annual
conference of National Board
certified teachers.
National Board certification is
the most accepted symbol of
teaching excellence in the U.S.
To earn certification, teachers
must demonstrate teaching prac-
tice, content knowledge, and
pedagogical-content knowledge.
The Wake County teachers
who earned certification from
the National Board
ofProfessional Teaching
Standards in 2003 include:
Apex Elementary - Lynda H.
Brown.
Apex High - Elizabeth Adams
Mata, Colleen M. Sullivan.
Apex Middle - Tonja S.
Dewar, Deborah H. Dupree,
Patricia A. Franklin, Jill Ann
Steele
Davis Drive Elementary -
Rebecca M. Bray, Cheryl Lynn
Barger Marshall.
Davis Drive Middle School -
Christopher Forgione, Bridget
Jo Hayes, John Michael
Hutchinson.
Farmington Woods
Elementary - Ann Wagoner
Legarde, Traci Huffman Quinn.
Lufkin Road Middle - Jodi
Lynne Akins, Brenda Ann
Cotton, Kathryn Crayton,
Jennifer Griffin, Kathleen M.
Van Keuren, Susan Cole
Wilson.
Martin Middle - Sahar Salah
El Shafie.
Oak Grove Elementary -
Susan R. Cormier.
Olive Chapel Elementary
Mary C. Decker, Christine F.
Levy.
Salem Elementary - Heather
M. Bosela, Darlene Cornelius,
Pennie N. Gibson, Brenda E.
Guenther, Stephanie Hall,
Carrie Latham, Teressa S.
Milton, Anna Monza, Cynthia
L. Seder, Sandra Wagner.
West Lake Elementary -
Marcia Elaine Babb.
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