Dear Parents, Families and Friends, As I begin my second school year as Principal of Mesa Middle School, I am energized and deeply commit-ted to making a positive difference in the lives of your children. We will accomplish this by setting high academic expectations for all chil-dren and providing supportive sys-tems to assure they are met. By addressing school culture, setting high standards for teacher perfor-mance, increased academic expec-tations for all students and engaging the community, it is our goal at Mesa Middle School that all stu-dents are college or career ready without mediation once they tran-sition to high school. I am pleased to share some of the exciting and outstanding programs at Mesa Middle School. Mesa of-fers a variety of academic offerings including Honors courses, AVID, and expanded elective curriculum. In addition, the school will offer

extended learning opportunities that will focus on project based learning, social and emotional learning, and the skills not available through traditional classroom time. Some examples in-clude: guitar lessons, mariachi, cho-rus, Adventure club and sports skills camp to name a few. These opportu-nities will also allow your students to travel to various colleges or historical sites to learn beyond the classroom. We embrace the challenges of the future while we continue to cherish and celebrate the traditions of the past. Our remarkable staff, involve parents and committed students come together to make Mesa Middle School a wonderful and unique place. This year we started out by facing adversity as our computer systems were infect-ed with a virus. As we went through many months to get back online dis-trict wide our staff made best without the use of technology, still able to complete the semester without no lost school days. We hope you visit our website that

will give you a quick snapshot of life at our school. Please explore our links to find out more about curric-ulum, programs, and daily events at Mesa Middle School. Our methods to communicate is ever expanding as we want to provide you with the most updated information as quick-ly as possible. You can also find us on Facebook and other social media sites are coming soon. If you would like to contact me, my e-mail address is mafranco@risd.k12.nm.us. You can also reach me by phone @ Me-sa Middle School, (575)627-2800. I am looking forward to working with you and your student as we work toward an academically suc-cessful school year. Sincerely, Marcos Franco Principal “What is your story?”

News from the Principal

As we work together to prepare stu-dents for high school and beyond, the staff of Mesa Middle school feels it is important to share the goals and high expectations we have for students. The four middle schools have set the follow-ing important goals for this school year:

• 83% of all middle school students proficient in ELA (English Lan-guage Arts)

• 67% of all middle school students proficient in Math

To help students achieve these goals, staff members are working together,

along with district sup-port, to develop rigor-ous quality learning experiences for all stu-dents. Community and family support for learning and education is another key piece to helping students achieve these goals This can be as simple as ensuring students attend school regu-larly and arrive on time and encour-aging to students to participate in class and complete all assignments, at school and home. The graph above

Important Goals

Mesa Middle School Semester 1– 2019

Issue 1

Parent/Teacher Conferences

2/5

Mid-9 Weeks Reports

2/10

No School- 2/17

3rd Nine 3/12

Spring Break 3/16-

Report Cards Issued

3/24

8th Grade 3/23-

No School– 4/10

Mid-9 Weeks Ends

4/21

Upcoming Dates

Mission Creating a culture where students want to learn and propel themselves towards a brighter future.

Vision

Making learning fun for each student to reach their maxi-mum potential in an inspiring, engaging, and challenging learning environ-ment.

Panther News

Mr. Marcos Franco

Principal

Mr. Michael McFerraz

Asst. Principal

Mrs. Jamie Watson

Asst. Principal

Mrs. Lolly Perales

Registrar

Mrs. Dana Valenzuela

Administrative Asst.

Mr. Santos Franco

Security

shows reading levels for our school from the middle of the year iLit assessment. We know Mesa stu-dents are capable of great things, and we look forward to seeing con-tinued results!

Page 2 Panther News Issue 1

AVID

Music

AVID is a college readiness program designed to give stu-dents the tools to be successful beyond high school. Our AVID program has been working col-laboratively to have tutorials and Socratic seminars in class. We are also taking focused notes in our classes and main-taining an AVID Binder. In Oc-tober, AVID held their first parent night of the year, and planning for the next one is in the works.

• Electric Light Parade Perfor-mance on Main Street

News for this Upcoming Se-mester

The Mesa Middle School music department dove right in working hard towards numerous perfor-mances and music festivals com-ing up. The first festival is SENMMEA Solo and Ensemble that will take place in Portales amongst other schools in our state on January 25th. The students have also been working hard to-wards other performances that will come up throughout the

The music department had many exciting events during the first semester.

• First-Place in the Eastern New Mexico State Fair

• Veteran’s Day Assembly Performance at Mesa Middle School

• Holiday Concert at Mesa Middle School with the ad-vanced and beginning band, advanced and beginning or-chestra, choir from both Mesa Middle School and Mt. View Middle School

Students of the Month August— 6 Pillars of Character

Andres Enriquez

Samadhi Page Ana Aceves

Julian Venzor Micah Hernandez

Mia Sanchez Rogelio Rodriguez

September— Respect

Nahomy Cardenas Antonio Salcido Elijah Martinez Charisma Baca

Yeimi Tarango Magallenes Alan Mendoza

October— Citizenship

Isabella Estrada Jonathan Quintero

Vanessa Bedolla Bryson Jenkins

Mariah Carabajal Bianey Quintana

Lillyana Spear

Teachers of the Month August—Candice Rincon September—Kelli Hays

October—Cynthia Stone November— Mary Jane Click December— Melanie Estrada

Meet the Counselor

We are happy to announce the addition of a new School Coun-selor to the Mesa Staff! Mr. Mike Apilado joined our Staff in December. He has over five years experience in the classroom and in school admin-istration. He and his family have taught and served in Latin America and Asia. Mr. Apilado holds several degrees including a Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Counseling. He is also nearing completion of a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Mr. Apilado has been married for twenty years to Mrs. Gina

Apilado who has been hired at Mesa as a LINKs Teacher. They have three children: two daugh-ters aged 16 and 13, and an adopted special-needs son who is 16. They are happy to be in Roswell because it feels like a community. “My job as School Counselor reaches beyond just academic success and healthy social devel-opment. I genuinely care about supporting our students in areas they may be struggling in. My role is to partner with parents and other adults who our stu-dents come into contact with to listen, support, encourage, and

help students understand they are never alone and that collec-tively we can work together to get through the difficult times in life. As a Counselor I am not involved in school disci-pline. My responsibility is to support students, form relation-ships framed by trust, and help students in their overall growth, including being the best student and citizen possi-ble. I am really proud to be a Panther and join the team here at Mesa.” Mr. Apilado can be reached at: mapilado@risd.k12.nm.us

year. We have implemented our extended learning classes in the afternoon. Mariachi Madness is open to students on Monday and Wednesdays from 3:30-5:30 and Beginning Guitar is open to stu-dents on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30-5:30.

In the music department we also

showed growth in our quarterly assessments growing an average of 15% across the board. Students have been given a goal to increase their score by 30% for their third quarter assessment.

Thank you always for all the support you give our music department and the exciting things coming our way.

November— Caring

Lucas Albarez Alan Hernandez

Cynia De Los Santos David Lopez

Brianna Garcia Josephine Wojtewicz

Luis Villa

December—Caring

Natalyn Murrell Alyssa Sanchez

Daena Manriquez Flores Santiyano Gonzales

Esgar Fernandez Tena Lyndsey Gamble

What a year for 8th grade girls

Volleyball! The girls got to

experience the competitiveness

of the Border Conference. This

was the second year of Border

Conference with a very chal-

lenging schedule. Lady Pan-

thers were up against a total of

13 teams across the district and

played their hearts out. My goal

wasn’t about winning games

but getting them ready at the

high school level of competi-

tion. There was much im-

provement for this team. I am

very proud for what they accomplished at the end

of the season. Way to go girls!

8th Grade Boys Team Jonathan B. Alex C. Jose E. Angel M. Brian M. Ryan M. Damian Q. Omar R. Fabian V. Paul V. Luis V. Anthony G.—Manager Dominic P.—Manager The 8th grade team had a great season and ended with a strong fight in the Border Conference quarter finals. Way to go boys!

7th Grade Boys Team Mario M. Anthony G. Santana O. Ernesto G. Julio V. Alejandro G. Abraham V. Jordan M. Dominic P. Heriberto H. Sergio B. Kevin L. The 7th grade team fought hard and learned a lot during their first season of middle school basket-ball!

Volleyball

Boys’ Basketball

8th Grade- Congratulations to : Yasmeen Marrufo, Mireya Tar-razas, Emily Montoya, Yvette Vigil, Brooke Ochoa, Natalie Saavedra, Marissa Rivera, Bridgette Marroquin, Carly Hause, Antonyis Balbino and Mia Sanchez. It was a hard fought road so far. The girls experienced the competitive-ness of the Border Conference. This is the second year of Bor-der Conference with a very challenging schedule. Lady Panthers were up against a total of 13 teams across the district

and are played their hearts out. The goal wasn’t about winning games but getting them ready at the high school level of compe-tition. There was much im-provement for this team. I have to say I am very proud for what they accomplished. They have an away game in Clovis (Gattis) on Monday, January 13th then will be competing against Hobbs (Highland) on January 16th and finishing up the season against Sierra at Sierra Middle School on January 23rd. Playoffs will begin on January

Girls’ Basketball 7th Grade- Congratulations to the girls who made the 2019 7th Lady Panther Basketball team! They are Yadira Aragon, Leah Barrios, Jasmin Cadena, Andrea Carrillo, Naomei Gonzales, Destiny Gonzalez, Juliyah John-ston, Lauren Lucero, Araceli Rivas, Jimena Salcedo, Kristal Sanchez, Kassandra Vega Barra-za, Alicia Zavala, and Manag-ers: Neveah Fox and Brissia Hernandez. These girls worked very hard during their season!

Page 3 Panther News Issue 1

1601 E. Bland St. Roswell, New Mexico, 88203 Phone: 575-627-2800

Mesa Middle School

Visit our website!

mms.risd.k12.nm.us

30th and this will be determined by wins and losses of each team. Thank you for supporting the Lady Panthers during their season!

Soccer and track seasons for boys and girls will be round-

ing out the year for Mesa Panther sports. Students must

have a physical, and can sign-up for tryouts in the office.

Announcements will be made regarding open-practice

sessions and tryouts. If your student is interested, make

sure they check with the office.

Spring Sports

Honor Society

Reading Plus Top Readers Great job to all students that have been working hard in their Reading Plus classes. Here are the Top Read-ers for each class with the most words read with an 80% or better. Mr. Click’s class: I.J.—58,164 words Ms. Stewart’s class: R.R.—85,977 words Ms. Rivera’s classes: 1st period: V.I.—67,510 words 2nd period: N.M.—84,819 words 3rd period: G.DLR —83,105 words 4th period: F.S.—101,559 words; 5th period: J.V.—89,190 words 6th period: S.S.—73,065 words 8th period: K.L. —57,070 words. Congratulations to these students. Keep up the great work!

Junior Historians The Junior Historians is an extracurric-ular program for 6th through 8th grade students. Guided by a school-approved sponsor, students participate in chapter activities that enable them to discover and research history, both in the classroom and in the community. While encouraging the exploration and documentation of state and community history, the Junior Historian program creates opportunities for students to learn research, critical inquiry, analyti-cal reading, writing, critical thinking, and debate skills. One of the major objectives of the program is to bring history to life for our students. This semester we are planning trips to historic places such as Lincoln and Ft. Stanton, the Pioneer

Village in Cloudcroft. Students get to learn about the history of these places by getting to see it first hand. We will also be volunteering some of our time at the Southeastern New Mexico Historical Society Museum. Students will get to lead tours for their weekend visi-tors. By getting our students to volunteer it helps them create communication skills as well as oral skills. This volunteer expe-rience also opens them up to scholarship opportunities for the future. Come Join the fun with Jr. Historians! To join sign up with Ms. Bartlett or Mrs. Hayes

On Wednesday January 8th Mr. Enrique Moreno with

the Roswell Community Disaster Relief visited with Me-

sa Honor Society students. Students learned about ser-

vices that are provided to the community and help get

the Disaster Relief van stocked and organized for its

nightly rounds. Students will also be volunteering one

Saturday a month at the Community Disaster Relief thrift

store.

New Mexico History 7th grade students learned about New Mexico's first people and the methods that

were used to grind corn by using the mano and metate.