The Pirate Treasure

Pack Playmakers

Our very own Mr. Heard will be leading a group of talented Pack members into the wonderful world of theater. He will be introducing stage presence, script writing, theater history, improv, and more to these amazing third and fourth graders. This is the first time here at Parkway a theater club has been started. Mr. Heard is super excited to be over it!! He can’t wait to show his love of theater to these students.

Hispanic Heritage

Some of our students practiced on Monday September 11 for the 2nd annual Hispanic Heritage Tamale Festival. Thanks to all the amazing students at Parkway who stayed after school to practice. They learned and went over different songs that they will be singing at this wonderful event. A big shout out to our very own Mrs. Juarez’s husband, who offered to play the guitar for this special occasion.

Daisy

Ms. Belinda brought her sweet, loving service dog Ms. Daisy to Parkway on Monday September 11. Daisy got to visit with Mrs. Muniz’s class which they all got to love on her. Daisy also showed off her many amazing tricks that she can do. Man, it's a great day to be part of the PACK!

Art Room News

Our first graders have been busy the last few weeks learning about lines in art class. They went over all the different lines and learned the vocabulary for those lines. This week they are painting their line inspired flowers. Mrs. Scaggs sure knows how to make our Pack members fall in love with art.

Pine Tree Middle School is off to a magnificent beginning as we opened the doors to the 2023-2024 school year. We began by honoring our Primary friends by wearing pink.

Our students are busy learning and working in classes but love the dress up days for Homecoming. Several of our students were asked to attend the pep rally on Friday with their mums.

This week our science classes are exploring the outdoor classrooms and our robotics teachers have begun building engaging and challenging activities for students.

Our 5th grade CEER students journeyed over to the Tyler Caldwell Zoo to learn more about animal habitats with their science teachers this week. Mr. McBride, Mrs. Streetman, Mrs. Childress and Mrs. Moore challenged students to find ways that the zoo uses our math, reading and science skills.

Watch for upcoming events such as our Family and Career night is Sept. 28 from 5 until 7 p.m. please plan to be here. We will have our PTO kick off also that evening. Come see many students display their plans for their favorite career.

Here at PTJH, we’re thrilled with the amazing start to the 2023 - 2024 school year! Our students and teachers are hard at work everyday and we love the effort they’re giving on a daily basis.

Our amazing Skills for Life class recently took a field trip to the Gregg County Historical Museum. Mrs. Radcliffe said the students loved learning about Nasa and space exploration.

Most recently, our Homecoming week included themed days that were a big hit on campus! Our students and staff really got into our Barbie & Ken day, Cowboy day, and Athlete or Mathlete day

The year is underway at Pine Tree High School and, while some schools kind of slide into the groove of the year, Pine Tree hit the ground running and already has full academics, full sports schedules and homecoming taken care of.

Pine Tree crowned Jose Aranda and Jayden Attaway as Homecoming King and Queen this past Friday night. Aranda is President of the BUCS, on the tennis and baseball teams as well as a stellar member of the UIL Math Science team. Attaway is on the Precision Drill Team and also is involved in a host of school activities as well. The couple was crowned by last year’s queen, Grace Aguilar, who came home from college to do the honors.

Other than that excitement, Pine Tree is already winging into a full academic schedule that has seen many classes already achieving success in projects and programs. This year promises, if nothing else, to be one of the most diverse and prosperous academic years that Pine Tree has seen in some time. Between Health Science, Culinary, UIL Academics, Choir, Band, Precision, Cheerleaders, Robotics, Skills USA and Gamers just to name a few, Pine Tree has plans and the people in place to bring home a host of awards.

Sports are also underway, with volleyball claiming a win in its first district game this past Friday and cross country garnering first place finishes in two of its first three meets thus far. Football ends its non-district slate in Jacksonville this coming Friday and will hope to come away with a .500 record heading into district play.

Theatre is busy with its first production of the fall, and Health Science has kicked things into high gear and will begin hospital and pharmacy visits shortly.

The Fifth Quarter Barn Dance helped kick things off socially September 9th with about 100 students in attendance. It was fun and allowed students to socialize outside of the school setting.

It has been a good start to the year, and now Pine Tree is ready to take off and sail to success.

After graduating 34 students in the 2022-2023 school year, ExCEL welcomed back 11 returning students to start the 2023-2024 year.

ExCEL principal, Caci Brinkley, has been busy interviewing new applicants for the program. Thus far, 22 new students have qualified for the program. Many of these students were taking classes only at the main campus last school year and others have come from surrounding districts such as White Oak and Spring Hill. Of our current 33 students, 17 are seniors and we expect our first graduate this year very soon.

ExCEL is proud welcome our new History teacher, Coach Keith Smith. Coach Smith is a native of Louisiana and graduate of the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He has coached at some of the best programs in both Louisiana and Texas and has directed basketball camps in Maui for 8 years. Coach Smith has made the playoffs 27 of 31 years as a head coach and will be assisting with volleyball and basketball at PTISD. We are confident that he will encourage our students at ExCEL to do their best and be successful, too!

In addition to Coach Smith, ExCEL would like to welcome our new Science teacher, Coach Anthony Hatten. Coach Hatten comes to us from Hughes Springs, TX and is a graduate of Kilgore College and Henderson State University. He is a first year coach at Pine Tree Junior High and will serve as a defensive coach for the secondary. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with family, exercising and cooking. We are happy to have him on board.

We welcome our newest little pirate to the ExCEL family! Lead teacher, Brittney Jones, welcomed Ezra Taylor Jones on August 18th. Congratulations, Mrs. Jones and Family!

PACE students have the opportunity to volunteer for the PTISD Backpack Food Program. The program helps students that may need food during the weekend and holidays. Our PACE students and staff have done a great job helping with this program!

TeamPACE welcomes our newest members to the Pirate Nation! We are very thankful for Tavoskia Jones and Ben Phillips! Go Pirates!

Congratulations to Jazmin Adams, PACE Campus Secretary! Jazmin received an Above and Beyond Award in recognition of the wonderful work she does as a Pine Tree ISD member!

Pine Tree High School Speech and Debate team traveled to Melissa Labor Day weekend to compete in the Melissa Argyle Red Bird TFA Swing Tournament. 17 schools and almost 150 students attended the tournament. Pine Tree competed at the tournament with five of their students: Senior Travis Johnson, Junior Aiden McQueary, Junior Alayna Blalack, Freshman Emma Beekman and Freshman Madison Null. The team is coached by Alyx Dickson.

As a result, Pine Tree finished 4th in overall tournament sweepstakes. Additionally, they finished as the top 5A school besting traditional 5A speech and debate powerhouses Lovejoy, Melissa and Princeton. Pine Tree earned 6 medals overall. The tournament was won by 6A Plano West.

In a swing tournament, students compete in two separate tournaments at one host site. In the Argyle portion of the tournament, McQueary finished 6th in Congressional Debate, Beekman finished 3rd in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking and Null finished 4th in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking. In the Melissa portion of the tournament, McQueary finished 6th in Congressional Debate, Beekman finished 2nd in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking and Null finished 4th in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking.

The team will compete next at the Lindale Speech and Debate Classic on Saturday, September 23, 2023.