Pine Lake Preparatory will have its own football team starting next school year, the school’s Booster Club announced this month. Meanwhile, the W.A. Hough High PTSA will benefit from a Barnes & Noble book fair starting Thursday, Davidson Elementary seeks volunteers for special student/parent nights, and J.M. Alexander Middle School IB students take another state Future City title. Also, North Mecklenburg High School will host an IB open house, and North Meck principal Matthew Hayes received special recognition from the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce last week. And, CMS has begun planning its 2013-14 calendar, Cannon School students won writing awards, St. Mark Catholic School will observe Catholic Schools week, and both Cannon and the Levine Jewish Community Center offer college admissions advice. Read below for details. Read the full story

The J.M. Alexander Middle School Future City team celebrated after winning the N.C. championship and qualifying for a trip to the national championship. (Rachel Stewart photo)

A team of eight graders from the J.M. Alexander Middle School IB program on Saturday won the North Carolina Future City Competition at N.C. State University in Raleigh. Their alternative-energy powered “future city” of Mahali Kuwa, South Africa, was judged tops among more than two dozen schools.

It was the fifth straight year a north Mecklenburg International Baccalaureate team won the competition, continuing a tradition that began when the IB program was housed at Davidson IB Middle School. Read the full story

The team competed this morning in D.C. for the national title, which it won in 2010.

Davidson IB Middle School's North Carolina champion Future City team posed for a picture in January. From left: adviser Ruth Swallow, Juan Williams, competition co-coordinator Chris Kreider of NCDOT, Nick Macri, Jimmy Haberburger, Anika Agarwal, Brandon Lang, coach Jay Hager, Emma Boraks, Dane Horna, Sharad Wertheimer, and state co-coordinator David Simpson. Not pictured: Ian Magee. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

Updated 4:20 p.m.
Davidson IB Middle School’s Future City team wasn’t able to defend its 2010 title, but the group of eighth graders finished as the third best in the U.S.

Awards were announced just after noon at the competition, at the Hyatt Regency hotel on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

With a presentation Monday, the Davidson team qualified for a chance to defend its crown. The team was picked as one of five finalists. Read the full story

Davidson IB Middle School's N.C. champion Future City team accepted their award. From left: adviser Ruth Swallow, Juan Williams, competition co-coordinator Chris Kreider of NCDOT, Nick Macri, Jimmy Haberburger, Anika Agarwal, Brandon Lang, coach Jay Hager, Emma Boraks, Dane Horna, Sharad Wertheimer, and co-coordinator David Simpson. Not pictured: Ian Magee. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

RALEIGH – Davidson IB Middle School has done it again. For the fourth straight year, a Davidson IB team has won the North Carolina Regional National Engineers Week Future City championship. The team was crowned after a day of competition against 20 other teams from around the state Saturday, Jan. 15, at North Carolina State University. Read the full story

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

The 3 presenters for the Davidson IB Middle Future City team posed with judges and their winning model. From left, judge Catherine McKalip-Thompson, Emily Yue, judge Kenny Warren, Luke Churchill, judge Sanna Gaspard, Ruth Swallow, and judge Blaine D. Leonard. (Vera Yue photo)

By LAURIE DENNIS
DavidsonNews.net

First came the breathtaking news that they were in the top five, announced at a gathering in a hotel conference room in Washington, D.C. and immediately passed along by emails and cell phones to friends and family back in Davidson.

Then came a final round of presentations before a panel of judges. Finally, at a mid-morning awards ceremony Tuesday, Davidson IB Middle’s Future City team was named the best in the nation. 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