As the principal I am very proud of our 7th Grade! They are off and running with an amazing team of teachers and students. We have seen the enthusiasm that comes with hands-on learning as teachers incorporate this into their lessons. Enjoy what our 7th grade teachers have to share!

Sincerely,

Shelly Camp, Principal

7th Graders Shine!

What’s that in the sky? An engineer?! An artist?!! A designer?!!! YES, and it’s an AVMS Eagle! This month the AVMS 7th grade team wants to shine light on some of the amazing things our Eagles have been accomplishing over the past few months.

We kicked off the month of September with all of Ms. Montierth’s first quarter 6th, 7th, and 8th grade art students preparing to compete in the 20th annual Student Design and Build Contest: KidStruction 2021. This exciting annual competition is open to Tucson area middle school students. Their structures are built using only toothpicks, recycled business cards, and glue.

“I was so thrilled that Ms. Montierth was willing to anchor this project in the art room,” explains Mrs. Venglarcik, “I have done this project with students myself over the years and it was great to have such collaboration with Art, Math, Writing, and Science departments this year!”

“The Path Ahead” is this year’s theme. Competing teams of students had to first learn about how the COVID-19 Pandemic has changed where we learn, work, play, and live. They then began to design and create a structure in one of five categories:

• “Residential”: Living spaces

• “Gathering”: Restaurants, theaters, sports facilities, parks/gardens

• “Education”: Educational facilities

• “Work”: Office space, retail, or commercial

• “Healthcare”: Medical or assisted living facilities

Our students were encouraged to create thoughtful designs and to consider the element of scale when researching and implementing initiatives such as sustainable design or the consideration of technologies that can be utilized to offer protection to the users and spatial planning to allow for social distancing.

Out of 125 teams that competed from over 15 Tucson area schools, AVMS had 2 teams place! Congratulations to our 7th Grade Team, Killua, for placing 2nd in the Workplace category with a news station protype.

"My experience in Kidstruction has been fun, exciting, and challenging as well,” commented Jacob from Team Killua, “it was so exciting that we got to build using cards and know that we were going to represent AVMS in competition."

Another 7th Grade Team, BTS, deserves praise for placing 3rd in the Residential Category with a school bus converted into a mobile tiny home.

"Kidstruction was a very fun and exciting project. Even though it was challenging, my teammates and I pulled through and won 3rd place. When I heard the news,” explains seventh grader Keren, “I felt very proud and honored. I've also learned a lot of things during the process. My teammates helped me understand the theme more and we came up with great ideas. I learned how to work with a team, and I also learned how to listen to other people's opinions.”

We are so proud of our kids! All of the projects were on display at Park Place Mall after judging by professionals in the fields of architecture, building, and engineering. We await word as to whether our winners will be able to participate in the Kidsbuild Competition for which they qualified. It has been on hold during the pandemic!

"My experience while doing our Kidstruction project was amazing. With this project, I was able to do what I love most out of school and bring it into school,” adds BTS member Jordan, “Kidstruction was an amazing experience for me and I think all my classmates. It was an honor getting the chance that I got with this competition."