PCES recognizes HEROs and Upstanders

GUILFORD — Well over a dozen students in the younger grades at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are now HEROs for their outstanding conduct during the month of March. The HERO honorees were recognized with the presentation of certificates during the school-wide morning meeting on April 6.

PCES pupils earn recognition in honesty, effort, respect or responsibility and others — showing concern and caring for other — and by doing so they get to be HEROs (the honor is an acronym for the criteria). Several HERO students are chosen per grade by the teachers.

With the entire student body gathered in the gymnasium to the start the day on the first Friday of the Month, Principal Anita Wright called each HERO honoree down from the bleachers to receive their certificates and be recognized by the audience.

The latest HERO recipients are Bradley Allard, Colby Avellar, Knolan Berry, Lilly Burgess, Brianna Choiniere, Jazmynn Davis, Hannah Firth, Emma Folsom, Alex Hall, Mya Knight, Chase Lander, Viviana Lang, Zoe McInnis, Kiara Moore, Conrad Rollins, Bella Tarsook and Ezra Thomas.

The morning meeting included the recognition of PCES “Upstanders,” students who have stood up for their peers and/or others over the previous few weeks.

Guidance Director Jason Schriver said the latest honorees include a student who stood up for a friend who was being picked on, one pupil helping a peer find a lost item outside, another who assisted a classmate during a time of grief and several “for being nice helpful kids with other students.”

All Upstanders are presented with a personalized boomerang made by Schriver, hung on the wall in the main lobby and scheduled to go home with the recipients at the end of the school year. The boomerangs signify that good deeds come back to you.

After the assembly Wright said that the PCES recently received a gift of 50 Kindles from the Galen Cole Family Foundation in Bangor.

“The Cole Family Foundation has a grant where you bring a classroom of students, or say 50 students, to visit the Cole Land Transportation Museum,” Wright said. She explained that not only will the museum in Bangor host the pupils, but the foundation will give back to the school with PCES’ gift being the collection of Kindles.

Wright said the Kindles arrived earlier in the week. “We’re going to take the Kindles to the library and load books on them and kids can check them out of the library,” the principal said.

“The HUGS (parent teacher) group has stepped up and will pay for the transportation for them to attend,” she said as on May 30 third-graders are scheduled to head down Route 15. Wright said the students will spend the day in Bangor, having a junior museum curator give them a tour of the various exhibits and artifacts showcasing a cross section of the state’s transportation history. The principal said the third-graders will also enjoy a picnic lunch.

“So that’s a great opportunity for the kids,” she said.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
HEROS OF PCES — Seventeen HERO honorees in kindergarten through grade 4 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School in Guilford were recognized during the April 6 morning meeting. Students are selected for exhibiting honesty, effort, respect or responsibility and/or showing concern and caring for others. HEROs are front, from left, Mya Knight, grade 1; Viviana Lang, grade 3; Knolan Berry, kindergarten; Bella Tarsook, grade 1; Kiara Moore, grade 2; and kindergarten Bradley Allard. Back, Emma Folsom, grade 3; Ezra Thomas, grade 4; Chase Lander, grade 3; Lilly Burgess, grade 3; Zoe McInnis, grade 4; Alex Hall, grade 4; Conrad Rollins, grade 3; Colby Avellar, grade 1; Jazmynn Davis, grade 3; Hannah Firth, grade 4; and Brianna Choiniere, grade 2.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
PCES UPSTANDERS — Each month Piscataquis Community Elementary School recognizes Upstanders, students who have stood up for their peers or others over the previous few weeks and honorees are presented with customized boomerangs to signify that good deeds will back to them. The latest Upstanders were recognized during the April 6 morning meeting.