March 29, 2024

The Beckwith Chronicle

Posted

Dates to Remember
2/15 Faculty Basketball game
2/19-2/23 Winter Recess
2/27 Unified Basketball home game
2/27 School Committee Budget Presentation
2/28 Movie Matinee
3/12 Spring Picture Day
3/13 School Committee Budget Presentation
3/15 Dodge Ball 2:30-4 p.m.
3/16 Dodge Ball 2:30-4 p.m.
3/16 Aladdin, Jr. - 7 p.m. cafe
3/17 Aladdin, Jr. – 7 p.m. cafe
3/18 Aladdin, Jr. – 7 p.m. cafe
3/27 School Committee Public Budget Hearing

Students of the Month
The following students were presented with Student of the Month Certificates for the month of January:
Gr. 8 – Ella Gesner/Nicholas Antonio
Gr. 7 –Anastasia Bettencourt/Aydan Comey
Gr. 6 – Kelsey Bain/Justin Chmielewski
Gr. 5 – Olivia Visinho/Aidan Melo
Related Arts – Keira Brown/Ethan Cutler

Winter Math Team
On January 26 the Beckwith Math Team competed in the Winter Massasoit League Math Meet which was held at Beckwith Middle School. The following math team members participated that day: Ashley Anderson, Devin Andrade, Ryan Callaghan, Grace Campos, Alex Cote, Lauren DeCoste, Bryce Downs, Jacob Greenberg, Samantha Paulino, Jill Pestana, Jillian Ross, Alex Tomellini, Ben Wheeler, and Tom Zibrida. Ben Wheeler placed third individually. The team placed fifth overall. Our Math Team advisor is Ms. Tina Freeman.

The Tale of Two Teams: Beckwith Robotics
As summer was winding down and the cooler winds of autumn were starting to blow, students at Beckwith Middle School formed two competitive robotics teams, the Poncho Squad and the Savage Dabs. They started the journey, along with 78 other teams, towards the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Rhode Island Championship. Hoping for a repeat of last year’s success, both teams started researching hydro-dynamics to try and solve a problem dealing with the collection, transportation, and/or disposal of water.

In 1989 Dean Kamen started FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) with the goal that students should be recognized for exploring science and technology with excitement and passion similar to athletics. Today there are over 515,000 kids on 59,000 teams worldwide competing in 2,900 events. FLL, which is for students between the ages of 9 - 14, is now in more than 90 countries.

The term “robotics team” is something of a misnomer as it is truly so much more than robots. Students must research an issue, design a unique solution to the problem, share their research with others in the community, and then with the tournament judges. Students are also judged on their core values which include teamwork, Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition. They also have to design, build, and program a robot that can perform various missions on the game board. “FIRST” is more than robots. The robots are a vehicle for students to learn important life skills. “We don’t use kids to build robots; we use robots to build kids” Dean Kamen

Our Beckwith teams visited a water treatment plant and a fire station to learn about various issues with water. The Poncho Squad took this knowledge and developed a Portable Water Distillation System (PWDS) to clean water for personal use, while the Savage Dabs created the Hydrant Hemisphere Helper to keep snow off fire hydrants. In December they traveled to a qualifying tournament in North Providence, RI with their project, their core values presentation, their robot, and their hopes of making it to the Championship Tournament. Not only did they qualify, the Savage Dabs won 1st place champion and 1st place in the robot game while the Poncho Squad brought home the trophy for 2nd place champion. With both teams moving on, it was time to review the judges’ comments and try to improve in all areas: Project, Core Values, and Robot Design as well as try to complete more missions on the game board.

The RI Championships are held in January at Roger Williams University and the top forty teams from Rhode Island and from neighboring towns in Southeastern Massachusetts converge for a full day of competition and judging. As the day wore on, one of the motors on the Poncho Squad’s robot stopped working properly and the spare was left back at school; they were looking at certain doom. Luckily another team had a spare motor that they let us use; this is what the term Coopertition means... you are in a competition but you cooperate with other teams. Later we were able to help another team that could not find their downloading cord.

The Savage Dabs, coached by Mrs. Tomellini, were Alex Tomellini, Josh Guarino, Noah Ferreira, and Ethan Cutler, Angelina Araujo, and Katie Vitale, and Evan Watts. Mr. Greenberg coached the Poncho Squad comprised of: Jacob Greenberg, Devin Andrade, Sebastian Pickford, and Alex Cote, Destin Michener and Jonah Hebda. Mr. Kenny runs the robotics program at Beckwith and was an assistant coach for both teams this year.

After the first of the three rounds on the game board the Savage Dabs were in 2nd place with 210 points; on rounds 2 and 3 they were not able to increase that score but they held on to bring home the 2nd place robot game trophy. They also brought home a trophy for winning the Inspiration Award for Core Values. Both teams did an awesome job as the Savage Dabs scored 101 out of 108 possible points in judging and the Poncho Squad was right there with them scoring 97.

While we are proud of the awards won by these teams, one of the FIRST Core Values states, “It is not about what we win but what we learn” and these kids learned and honed skills such as problem solving, public speaking, conflict resolution, mentoring. FIRST participation is proven to encourage students to pursue education and careers in STEM-related fields, inspire them to become leaders and innovators, and enhance their 21st century work-life skills.

The team members would like to thank everyone who has supported them this past year and all of the volunteers at FIRST, FLL and RISF (Rhode Island Students of the Future). Also congratulations to the top two teams from this year’s Championship: 1st Place Champions Award and 1st Place Robot Performance (255): 3952 Jamestown Robowolves, Neighborhood Team 2nd Place Champion's Award: 26149, The Savage Snowflakes, AIR 4H Robotics, Newport

Beckwith Library News
The Beckwith Library Makerspace is up and running, but we are far from the finish line. Our Lego plates have arrived and soon will be attached to the wall. Although we have some Legos, we are looking for more. We would love to have any and all gently used Legos that you are ready to pass along. We will have challenges and contests connected to the wall and we will post photos of them on our D.L. Beckwith Middle School Library Facebook site. Yes, that’s right we have our very own site and we invite you to visit us!

Our new video equipment should be arriving soon. We have lots of plans to use this in conjunction with a green screen that will be painted on a library wall where everyone will have access to this technology.

For more information, email jmcquilkin@drregional.org. Visit us on Facebook at D.L. Beckwith Middle School Library

App Update: What Parents Need to Know
AntiChat (from smartsocial.com)
AntiChat offers users the ability to anonymously chat with other users around the world. Anonymous apps like the AntiChat app can be very dangerous for students to use because they encourage users to chat with strangers.

What is the AntiChat App?

  • The Anonymous Chat Rooms app from AntiChat offers users the ability to anonymously chat with other users around the world
  • Similar to Snapchat and Instagram Stories, messages self destruct on the app
  • Users earn Karma for texting different users, sending pictures, buying artifacts in their profile, and receiving gifts from other users
  • Karma is considered the user’s “social status” on the app
  • Users have 4 chat room options: One-on-one random chats, Join public group chats, Start a group chat, One-on-one chats with someone specific

AntiChat Marketing Says:
Cool chat rooms. Self-destructing messages. Talk about anything with strangers. Meet new people, ask questions. Share secrets or just kill time. Nobody will judge you, as nobody can find out your real name.

App’s Anti features:

  • No Names
  • No History
  • No Ads
  • No Spam
  • No Bots
  • No Violence

The best anonymous chat game app with 1,600,000+ people online meeting new friends, confessing or searching for partners to date online. The app is free to join and free to play.

The Anti Chat app helps you when you are feeling alone or bored in following ways:

  • Express your secret identity in anonymous chat rooms with no registration
  • Not being afraid of any judgment because of self-destructing messages
  • Meet up and hook up with grown-up teenagers in dorm chat rooms for 18+ teens
  • Come up in lesbian chats, gay dating rooms if you like to flirt with same-sex personalities
  • Find singles over 30+ for serious relationships and discreet adult dating online
  • Join text role play games with singles, if you feel bored
  • Open popular chats section, and join hundreds of rooms for meeting new people and flirting
  • Read public secrets posted by thousands of anonymous users
  • Share your sex experience in sex confessions
Why should parents care?
  • Anonymous apps like the AntiChat app can be very dangerous for students to use because they encourage users to chat with strangers
  • Every chat our team participated in became explicit within the first few messages
  • Teens as young as 17 can join the app
  • The app is marketed by some as a hook-up app
  • Content in chat rooms can be very mature and many users ask for pictures or to send pictures
  • The majority of the public chats our team participated in resulted in another user asking to chat privately so they could send explicit pictures
  • There is no verification process when signing up so it is very easy for students to lie about their age
  • It can be difficult for parents to get involved when their teen is using an anonymous app; when parents aren’t involved it can discourage teens from making wise decisions

AntiChat App in the News:
Parents should know that AntiChat’s anonymity encourages risk taking and accountability-free behavior that often brings out the worst in people. A brief search of the public chat rooms finds very adult-themed discussions and sexual predatory behavior. Online sexual predators thrive in chat rooms that are anonymous. –Cyber Safety Cop

What can parents do?

  • If your teen has the AntiChat app, have them delete it immediately and discuss the dangers of the app
  • When you’re ready for your student to be online, encourage them to use apps that you can monitor or of which you have prior knowledge
  • Before giving your student access to a device, teach your child to ask permission before downloading any app
  • Teach your children to never chat with strangers online, share their personal information on social media, or send pictures anonymously
  • Contact your service provider for more information on parental controls

Principal’s Message
At Beckwith we are celebrating Black History Month this February by reading quotes during morning announcements from influential Americans of color who overcame adversity to greatly impact the lives of others and our nation. We are also celebrating this year’s theme for 2018, celebrating the courage of African Americans in times of war, with a display in the cafeteria honoring those who served and also broke barriers to serve in the United States military. Finally, we are offering another Beckwith Movie Matinee on February 28th with selections that honor the accomplishments of men and women who succeeded in bettering our nation despite the racism they faced. Movie selections will include Hidden Figures, Selma, and Tuskegee Airmen.

Black History Month celebrates the human spirit’s drive to succeed despite injustice and hardship. But more importantly, it drives us as a nation to reflect on mistakes made in the past and the causes of prejudice and bigotry that existed then and that still exists today. How can we as a nation come together to eliminate hate and bring people together? It takes the courage demonstrated by the heroes we honor. That is what we need to teach our students to continue to make our great country even better.

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