The Beckwith Chronicle

Dates to Remember
3/3 School Dance for 6th-8th Graders
3/10 PTSA Auction @Hillside Country Club
3/13 Spring Photos
3/24-3/26 Peter Pan Jr. @BMS Café
4/3-5/18 MCAS Assessments

X-Game Gold Medalist and Guinness World Record Holder K-Rob Visits Beckwith Middle School
On Wednesday, February 15th, Kevin Robinson, a/k/a K-Rob, visited Beckwith Middle School for two presentations to students. K-Rob is a Guinness World Record Holder and X Games Gold Medalist and visits thousands of students around the country spreading awareness of important key topics facing students every day. Kevin uses his T.R.I.C.K. to share these messages and encourages students to practice their T.R.I.C.K. as he has practiced his. This T.R.I.C.K. is a great reminder for students and teachers to continue to strive for excellence. T.R.I.C.K. stands for: TEAMWORK, RESPECT, INSPIRATION, CONFIDENCE, and KINDNESS. K-Rob also promotes the message “Believe you Can Achieve.” His message to students aligns with Beckwith Middle School’s commitment to promoting a growth mindset among students and the BMS universal expectations that students are respectful, responsible, and safe. K-Rob explained T.R.I.C.K. by including student and staff volunteers and performing BMX tricks. K-Rob was accompanied by Josh, a rising BMX star and former Beckwith student. K-Rob’s presentation to students was engaging, informative, and relevant for students. BMS students and staff hope to implement his message in the school community. Special thanks to the Rehoboth PTSA for funding this amazing event.

Principal’s Message
Dear Families,

Beckwith Middle School celebrated National African American History Month by starting each day in February with quotes from amazing Americans to honor their contributions and service. Below is a selection of the quotes read during our daily announcements:

George Washington Carver: "Where there is no vision, there is no hope." George Washington Carver was a prominent African-American scientist and inventor. Carver is best known for the many uses he devised for the peanut.

Susan L Taylor: "Whatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true for us." Susan L. Taylor is an American editor, writer, and journalist. She served as editor-in-chief of Essence from 1981 through 2000. In 1994, American Libraries referred to Taylor as "the most influential black woman in journalism today".

Dr. Mae Jemison: "Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations. Dr. Mae Carol Jemison is an American engineer, physician and NASA astronaut. She became the first African-American woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992.

W.E.B. DuBois: "The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression." W.E.B. DuBois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor. He was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

Booker T Washington: "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." Born a slave, Booker T Washington rose to become one of the most influential African-American intellectuals of the late 19th century. In 1881, he founded the Tuskegee Institute, a black school in Alabama devoted to training teachers. Washington also served as an adviser to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. He is recognized for his educational advancements and attempts to promote economic self-reliance among African Americans.

Marian Wright Edelman: "You really can change the world if you care enough." Marian Wright Edelman is an American activist for the rights of children. She has been an advocate for disadvantaged Americans for her entire professional life. She is president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund.

Jesse Owens: "The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself -- the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us -- that's where it's at." Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history". At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Owens won international fame with four gold medals: 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump, and 4 × 100 meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the games and, as a black man, was credited with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy.” Owens was ranked by ESPN as the sixth greatest North American athlete of the twentieth century and the highest-ranked in his sport.

National African American History Month is a celebration of diversity and a reminder of the core values of the United States. As Americans we understand the importance of perspective and the positive impact of multiculturalism. It was the varied experiences and backgrounds of Americans that made the United States the country it is today. Not uniformity but differences brought us together; embracing diversity is our hope for the future.

Sincerely,
Joe Pirraglia