Hanson Wang (blue sweatshirt) and his Future City teammates are showered with confetti during Friday's celebtration. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net photo)

Davidson IB Middle School welcomed its national champion Future City team back from Washington, D.C., Friday with a ceremony and a confetti-showered parade through the school hallways.

“Let’s give a huge shout out,” Principal Jo F. Karney said as she introduced coach Jay Hager, engineer/mentor Dane Horna , of S&ME Inc., and team members during the school’s video morning announcements.

See a photo gallery below Read the full story

President Barack Obama talks with astronauts on the International Space Station, accompanied by students including Davidson IB Middle School's national champion Future City team: from right, Ruth Swallow, Emily Yue and Luke Churchill. Click to watch the NASA video (Photo from NASA video)

By LAURIE DENNIS
DavidsonNews.net

The Davidson IB Future City team thought their work was complete when they won the national title Tuesday in Washington, D.C.  It turns out they had one more task: meeting with the president.  Yes, THE president.  As in Barack Obama.

“We won nationals and we were flooded by the press,” said a weary team coach Jay Hager, who spoke by cell phone from his hotel room and said his students gave interviews to Voice of America and a news crew from Russia, among others.  “Then we were called to a special meeting and we had no idea what it was about and they said, ‘You’re going to see the president.’” Read the full story

RALEIGH – A team of eighth graders from Davidson I.B. Middle School came out on top Saturday at the North Carolina regional Future City Competition, at N.C. State University. It was the third straight year the school won the event, which is organized by professional engineers as part of National Engineers Week. VIDEO: See the winning entry, hear from a professional engineer about the event’s purpose and listen as the students explain their future city of Mamohatra. Read the full story

Members of the winning team, back row from left: Nick Wilbur, Stephen Dunn, Luke Churchill, Hanson Wang; front from left, Thomas Churchill, Emily Yue, Thomas Thornton, Ruth Swallow.

Updated Sunday, 6:09 p.m.
RALEIGH – Davidson I.B. Middle School’s eighth grade team bested a dozen other teams Saturday to win the North Carolina Region championship in the 2010 Future City Competition, held at the N.C. State University’s Talley Student Center. It was the third straight year the school won the event, which is organized by professional engineers as part of National Engineers Week.

Read the full story

Bill Strong has lots of books to read and carpentry projects to work on...but he'd rather be teaching this fall.

It’s been a long and anxious summer for teachers in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.  The need to cut $100 million to deal with the state budget crisis has cost the public school district money for things like field trips and supplies, forced delays in building plans, and jeopardized funding for middle school athletics.  More reductions may be on the way.

Teachers and staff are bearing the brunt of cuts. The Charlotte Observer reported in July that of the 1,175 people who lost their jobs in the school district due to budget reductions, almost 57 percent were teachers.

For schools serving Davidson, these reductions have resulted in lay-off notices for at least 17, transfers for several assistant principals and a tense time of waiting to see whether a job will be available when school opens Aug. 25.

Read on for more about whose jobs were cut, who is transferring where, and how cuts are being managed by the four local CMS schools: Davidson Elementary, Davidson IB Middle, Bailey Middle and North Mecklenburg High. Read the full story

Pomp and Circumstance for local high schools officially begins this season with commencement at Cannon School today. We have a list of Davidson graduates from Cannon, along with a recent honor for a senior at Davidson Day (which holds graduation May 29).

The Davidson IB Science Olympiad team at the national competition in Georgia.

Also this week, we have news of the Davidson IB Science Olympiad team‘s success at nationals, a bottle cap recycling project at Davidson Day, and a number of end-of-year events at Children’s Community School.

UPDATED MONDAY, MAY 25, WITH A NEW PHOTO OF THE IB TEAM.

Read the full story

A customer picks out some student-grown mustard greens at the farmers market. Teacher Cameron Swallow (right) and her Problem Solving class at Davidson IB Middle School have a garden at Ada Jenkins Center.

Davidson Farmers Market attracted local food lovers downtown Saturday morning with the opening sale of the 2009 spring/summer season. The market continues Saturdays through October.

Opening day included a ceremonial bell-ringing by Mayor John Woods, tours and information, and a table of student-grown produce. Students in Cameron Swallow’s Problem Solving class at Davidson IB Middle School have been tending a garden behind the Ada Jenkins Center, on Gamble Street. All proceeds from sales on Saturday went to the center. Read the full story

Davidson IB's winning team. Click to enlarge.

Davidson IB Middle School’s Science Olympiad team is headed to national championships in August, Ga., next month, after placing second of 44 at the middle school division at the state finals April 24-25 in Raleigh. Adviser Tiffany Sabin, a Davidson sixth-grade teacher, said she thinks the team has a shot at improving on its 13th place finish of last year. Read the full story