As I mentioned at one of the awards banquets this week, coming to Gorzycki during this time of year has been awesome.  It has allowed me to celebrate all the wonderful accomplishments that have happened over the course of the year by students and faculty.

This week all those students participating in sports were recognized.  It was a great to see so many students being involved in sports.

The dance classes and teams also performed.  The Dance Team Spring Show is tonight for those that would like to come.

Orchestra had their End-of-Year Concert.  It was a fabulous show and there was even a piece performed by the full orchestra.

We have also been in interviews for 5 open positions.  I think you will find our new candidates to be experienced, energetic, and thrilled to be a Gorzycki.

The 6th graders celebrated with their End of Year trip to Alamo Draft House to view Back to the Future.  I heard the students loved it.  7th graders have their trip Monday and 8th graders go Wednesday.

Yearbooks were distributed and 8th grade lockers were cleaned out.  6th and 7th graders clean their lockers next week.  If you are missing items, please take a look in the "lost and found".  That pile is growing.

The Duke Award winners were recognized this morning with a breakfast.  These are students who scored exceptional well on STAAR.  They were asked to participate in taking the SAT/ACT.  Many of our students ranked in the top 3% of students, including the high school students!  This is an outstanding accomplishment and learning opportunity.

Gorzycki ended the week with their annual volleyball/basketball faculty/student games.  It was so much fun to see the heated competition.

Next week is going to fly by so have a fun and relaxing weekend.

The Wind Ensemble performed in Murchison Performing Arts Center at the University of North Texas last weekend.  They received a superior rating, Best in Class, Outstanding Sections - clarinets and tubas, and Outstanding Solists - Maya W., Ian W., and Adam D.

The Wind Symphony and Symphony Band students competed at the Lila Cockrell Theater.  These students received Superior ratings, Best in Class, and Outstanding Flute Section!

The Beginning Band competed at Anderson High School and received Superior Ratings and Best in Class!

Monday night was the Advance Band Spring Concert. I heard them practicing that day and it is truly amazing to hear all this talent.

Tuesday night was the AISD Salute.  This is the night when the district honors all the campus Teachers of the Year, Teachers of Promise, as well as other campus individuals.  Ms. Shirack was the GMS TOY, and Ms. Griffing was our Teacher of Promise (a teacher in their first year).  It was a wonderful event celebrating these outstanding educators.

The Spring Choir concert performed Broadway songs from musicals such as Les Mis, Rent, pop songs such as Lucky, Valerie, Viva la Vida, Skyfall, Riptide & Missing You.  It was an outstanding show!

Thursday night, the new National Junior Honor Society students were inducted to the elite organization.  Almost 150 of our students were selected for this GMS Chapter.

GMS also recognized our wonderful volunteers as well as our student office aides with small celebrations for each.

Today, all the incoming 5th graders were on campus. For someone who normally hears the excitement after they return back to elementary school, it was fun being on this side.  They were so nervous!  But after the tour with our outstanding Pal and Leadership students, their fears were laid to rest.

If you haven't registered online for next year, please do so immediately.

Remember we have a 3 day weekend.  Have a safe and fun Memorial Day!

GMS participated in the Science Olympiad at UT against other AISD middle schools.  In biology and natural selection category, Kelinda S. and Hayli O. received 5th place and 1st place in the space science category.  Also, in the space category, Austin K. and Will H. received 5th place. In geology and mineral science, Rohan G. and Abhi D. took 1st place.

This past Saturday, the Gorzycki Art department hosted the regional Jr. Visual Art and Scholastic event for Region 13 south.  GMS had 63 students participate and these students earned 73 metals.  7th grader, Cassie H. earned a distinguished silver seal medal for her drawing.  

GMS hosted the first GT Independent Study Fair on Wednesday.  There was a total of 33 student projects and over 70 visitors.  The projects were judged and these students won prizes.  Claire (In-N-Out), Emma (Taco Bell), Sophia (Subway and Chick-fil-A), Jordan (Google Play), Hannah  (Google Play), Zach (Google Play), Madeline  (AMC), Winnie (Chick-fil-A), Maria (Chick-fil-A), Imogen (Chick-fil-A), Naya (Restaurant card), Sydney  (Casio Watch). 

Of course with this week being Police Officer Appreciation Week, GMS recognized our own Officer Covington.  We truly appreciate all she does for our GMS students. 

Good luck to all the students in the Dinner Theater production this evening.  I've heard it's great!

In Ms. Gere's 6th grade science class, they used the app "spacecraft 3D" to see all the cool rovers, probes, and telescopes in 3D. 

The 2015 Vision + Voice Poetry Contest winners were announced last week.  Congratulations to Talia H. for Honorable Mention.  If you would like to read the poem, go to http://www.voiceprintaustin.org/grade-7-honorable-mention-2/

Also @GMSStudentNews needs huge praises.  They were the first middle school to earn a SNO Badge for their production site.  SNO Site is used for their online news production of Digit. 

Last weekend, 20 orchestra students competed in the Austin ISD Solo and Ensemble Contest.   17 received the highest ranking of 1 and the others received a 2!    Congratulations orchestra students!


You can still sign up for Gorzycki Soccer Camp.  6th and 7th grade boys and girls have until the end of the month. If you have any interest in soccer and want to start off the summer with a lot of fun, swing by Coach Mahoney's or Coach Sindt's rooms and pick up a registration form. Boy's camp is June 15-19 and girl's camp is June 22-26. 

For all the moms out there, have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!

What an amazing week!  I've spent most of the week in meetings learning who the teachers are and what they teach, as well as learning about the students.  There are great systems already in place.  Did you know that administration meets weekly with teachers to address students' needs and praises?  For such a large campus, it is quite impressive how the teams know each specific student.

I was able to visit classrooms too.  The animation art project in Ms. Bell's class is off to a good start.  This week they were creating the clay figures for their animation stories.  For someone who has difficulty drawing stick figures, these characters are incredibly detailed.  I can't wait to see the final production.

In Mr. Howard's class, students were practicing for their robot relay.  Besides the fact that computer programming is part of this project which I know minimal about, the skills needed to move the robots through the course was masterful to watch.  One student even held the remote control backwards!

The 7th grade ELA classes concluded their 1960's research projects with presentations.  Students presented on the economy, media, music, and automobiles to name a few.  Listening to students talk about the 60's like it was a 100 years ago was pretty aging.  One student said, "I can't believe there weren't remotes for the TVs!".  Another student stated, "Clothing at the beginning of the 60's was like what they wore in the 1800's!"

The Student Talent Show was great.  There are some talented students on this campus.  Some funny ones too - the MCs did a great job announcing all the acts.

I would like to recognize three GMS volunteers who were nominated for the APIE - Austin Partners in Education.  GMS appreciates all the support they provide.  Volunteer of the Year:  Dee Dee Green (PTA President); Mentor of the Year:  Errol Mayer; and Parent Ambassador:  Angie Schuckle (Office Volunteer). THANK YOU!!!

Two of our 8th graders, Alexa R. and J. Michael A. were selected as campus finalist for the Do the Write Things writing contest. J. Michael was also the national finalist for the Travis County/Austin Area.  Congratulation!

Again, it's been a great first week, thank you.

Gorzycki Family,

I am finally here!  Today was my first official day as the next Gorzycki principal, and I am so excited to be on board. Everyone has been very welcoming.  Not wanting to “kick” Mr. Kvapil out of the office too soon, I have spent the past several days unpacking boxes and rearranging the office.  Hopefully everyone finds it warm and inviting.

It has been a long transition, but it has afforded me the opportunity to meet many of you.  Mr. Kvapil, as well as the rest of the administrative team, has done an outstanding job, especially in the light of the recent tragedy.  The team has kept me in the loop the entire time.  Mr. Kvapil has been a great interim during this transition and in my opinion allowed Gorzycki to continue to run smoothly.  Thank you Mr. K!

During these past few months, I have attended CAC meetings, PTA meetings, Parent meetings, Tiger Day, the last Student Council meeting, lunches and morning arrival, as well as  been interviewed for Gnasher News and Digit. I think I am adjusting to 1300+ students most of which are quite a bit taller than me! Now that I am here permanently, I will continue to meet with different Gorzycki stakeholders.

I have learned some of the different ways in place that Gorzycki uses for communication.  I am adding a few more.  I have set up a blog and twitter account and encourage you to sign-up for both.  One of the things I enjoy about being principal is bragging about our school.  I will do that through my blog posts and tweets.  Below are the links.  Encourage your child(ren) to sign-up as well.  They will enjoy seeing themselves or their friends.  In the future, there might even be a small treat if a student is mentioned in either!

Twitter: @GMS_DrMitchell
Blog: http://gorzyckiprincipalsblog.blogspot.com/

Many of you have taken the opportunity over the past few weeks to share words of encouragement.  Please know that I appreciate you taking the time to do so.  I look forward to working with you here at Diane Goryzcki Middle School.  I know together, we will continue to move the campus forward.

Principal,

Cathryn Mitchell, Ph.D

Great time meeting the students at Gorzycki MS.  Tiger Day was amazing!  I asked students what they liked best about the school.  The most common comments were "the teachers and how they always help and push for excellence", "the quality electives offered", "everyone is friendly", and "this is the cleanest campus I've ever been on".   After being here for a day, I think what I heard was correct!  I am looking forward to being her full time.

Have a safe and relaxing Spring Break.