| Sam H. Lawson Middle School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Cupertino, California |
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| Information | |
| Principal | Jeff Bowman |
| Grades | 6-8 |
| Color(s) | Maroon, Navy, Silver |
| Mascot | Lightning |
| Website | http://www.edline.net/pages/Sam_H__Lawson_Middle_School |
Lawson middle school is a public three year middle school located in Cupertino, California, USA. Lawson opened in August 2001 for the 2001-2002 school year. The school was named after Sam H. Lawson, founder of many events and groups in the city of Cupertino, including the Tournament of Bands, the Cupertino Lions Club and the Cupertino Historical Society. Sam Lawson also introduced the Turkey Trot and the sport of wrestling to Cupertino and encouraged the practice of sports.
In 2006, the students were mainly drawn from Collins Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary School, Garden Gate Elementary School,Faria A+ Elementary, and Eaton Elementary School, along with students from other schools in the Cupertino Union School District. Lawson is the only school in the entire district to have grass in the middle of its school and have a two story building. Lawson's official colors are maroon, navy, and silver. Lawson's mascot is the thunder cloud. Their first principal was former Eaton Elementary principal, CC O'Donell. CC O'Donell retired after the 2005-2006 school year ended. The current principal of Lawson is Jeff Bowman. Anne Hubbard is the assistant principal.
On June 15, 2007, Lawson graduated the Class of 2007, its first graduating class, composed of approximately 250 eighth grade students. Lawson alumni usually elevate to high schools in the Fremont Union High School District(FUHSD) like Cupertino High School, Monta Vista High School, and Homestead High School. Most attend the first two school listed above.
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Homework Club: After school help for kids until 4:00. Can study with friends and get help from teachers.
Tech (Scratchers) Club(Discontinued): This is a club dedicated to programming in Scratch environment. Its advisor is Mr. Jonathan Entous.
FBLA: The FBLA club is a middle school extension of the Future Business Leaders of America club from Cupertino High School.
Red Cross Club: Students participate in projects related to the Red Cross, such as volunteer opportunities.
E - Club: This club is dedicated to the environment. There is a WOW program where students walk, bike, or carpool and earn points and earn prizes. Its advisor is Mrs. Beena Menon
Lawson is ranked in the top 10% of the middle schools in the state according to the Academic Performance Index, with a score of 966 during the 2007-2008 school year, placing Lawson third in the Cupertino Union School District and fourth overall in California.[1] There are an average of 30 students per class. Most teachers at Lawson were previously employed at other middle schools in the area around Lawson.
Lawson Middle School offers various electives for students.
Instead of taking a full-year elective course, students may choose to take Electives Wheel. In seventh grade and eight grade, there are two; beginning Arts Wheel (for 7th Graders) and advanced Arts Wheel (for returning 8th Graders). The electives wheel is a series of three trimester-long courses, covering Art, Woodshop, and Cooking. Art is taught by Ms. Crane, Woodshop is taught by Mr. Abell, and Cooking is taught by Ms. Constant.
There is a separate Electives Wheel, known as Exploratory Wheel, for sixth graders, covering Art, Technology, Public speaking, and Life Skills, such as learning how to advertise products. These are a few examples for there are more units.
Starting from 2010, LMS offered a new elective, Online Journalism, in which students learn to publish an online newspaper and run announcements. There is also the Yearbook elective, where students design the school yearbook, and Student Technology Leaders (formerly S.W.A.T) where students learn about advanced technology and help teachers with technology problems. Students in the Student Technology Leaders elective also create the online portfolios for incoming sixth graders and other new students. They will also offer the Thunder wheel (which was changed to beginning arts wheel in 2011).
For the 2011-2012 school year Lawson changed the name of Thunder and Lightning Wheel to Arts, Food, and Woodshop 1 (or beginning arts wheel) and Arts, Food, and Woodshop 2 (or advanced arts wheel). They also combined S.W.A.T, Yearbook, Online Journalism, and added a new drama. This new elective is called "The Creative Media Wheel". This wheel consists of 60 or so students who are in charge of announcements, the school yearbook, and a new online magazine.
Lawson Middle School is one of two middle schools with a program called CLIP (Cupertino Language Immersion Program) This program is for 6th to 8th graders who are experienced in the Mandarin language, most of which previously attended the CLIP program at Meyerholz Elementary School. CLIP classes are two periods a day, Chinese Language and Chinese History, however, starting from the 2011-2012 school year Chinese History will be replaced with Chinese Exploratory Wheel. Chinese Exploratory Wheel is Lawson's Elective Wheels except taught in the Chinese language. CLIP students attend either zero period physical fitness or zero period Chinese. Students who have zero period classes start school at 7:20 every day, excluding Wednesday when school for zero period students begins at 9:05.
Starting from 2010, the CLIP program began the process of moving entirely to Miller Middle School. However, only the 6th graders that year attended Miller's CLIP program. The 7th and 8th graders who attended Lawson's CLIP program in 2008 and 2009 remained in the Lawson half of the program in 2010. CLIP plans to leave only one grade of 8th graders in the 2011-2012 school year; the 6th and 7th graders will be at Miller.
Lawson also offers Mandarin I elective for 8th grade Chinese beginners.
Many students want Spanish to be offered, but it was never part of the program.
Lawson has chosen to name their athletic course Physical Fitness(P.F), instead of using the common course name Physical Education(P.E) or Gym class. All Lawson students are required to take Physical Fitness for all three years while attending the school. Students participate in usual fitness warm-ups like pushups, crunches, and running.[2] A variety of units are offered each year depending on grade level, such as speedball, lacrosse, flag rugby, soccer, basketball, tumbling, line dancing, swing dancing, track and field, and volleyball. These activities promote teamwork by having students play in teams and playing team sports often.
Run and Fitness Days: Students participate in a fitness day or a run day during their Physical Fitness period twice a week. During most run days, students run around the track and/or school and attempt to meet the required amount of laps. On fitness days, students perform physical exercises in the cardio or exercise room, or out on the blacktop.
Sixth graders normally participate in the current P.F. unit on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, while Wednesday and Friday are the fitness days and the run days.
New units: The P.F. teachers at Lawson middle school may have a diablo (Chinese yo-yo) unit next year offered to seventh graders.
Some sixth grade P.F units are Tumbling , Track and Field, Dance, Pickleball.... Sixth grade P.F. focuses mostly on motor skills.
Some seventh grade fitness Physical Fitness units are Ringo, Golf, Hockey, Cultural Dance.... Seventh grade P.F. focuses mostly on team sportsmanship.
Some eight grade fitness Physical Fitness units are Football, Lacrosse..... Eight grade P.F. focuses mostly on team sportsmanship/
Lawson has a Social Studies program designed to prepare students for today's global world. It teaches different cultures, histories, and geographies. The classes are filled with simulations and activities instead of having students read and memorize facts all day. Students enjoy these simulations and learn at the same time.[3]
Lawson has a mathematics course designed to challenge students. For sixth graders, two courses, Math 6 and Pre-Algebra, are offered. The placement is based on the student's results on a placement test taken in 5th grade. Pre-Algebra is a math class for students that pass the placement test, taken in 5th grade. Math 6 is for the lower level students who fail to pass the placement test for pre-algebra. Over the summer of any year at Lawson, students may take a challenge test to skip a course in mathematics. Seventh graders take either Pre-Algebra A, Pre-Algebra AB, or Algebra I. Eighth graders will be assigned classes based on their seventh grade mathematics class, and their performance in it. Most Pre-Algebra A students advance to Algebra IA, while Pre-Algebra AB students advance mostly to Algebra I. Algebra I students will advance to Geometry in eighth grade. Lawson's Mathematics constantly involves hands-on learning, involving experiments and creative assignments.
Lawson has an English class that teaches students the English language. Students were engaged in making movies, radio broadcasts, doing projects, and reading books. Technology from the EETT fund also helped to modernize Language Arts. Notebook computers in the classroom allowed students to better understand the material studied in the class through technology.
Lawson's science classes teach students about the world surrounding them. Students participate in hands-on experiments and activities to gain a deeper understanding of their curriculum. Students in sixth grade learn earth science, while students in seventh grade learn biology. Eighth grade students learn a wide variety of subjects ranging from electricity to astronomy to physics. The curriculum for eighth grade students is designed to prepare them for the high school science courses.
Lawson has a choir, three bands (beginning, intermediate, and advanced), and three orchestras (beginning, intermediate, and advanced). Unlike other middle schools, LMS does not have a "cap" on its music program, a large reason why there are roughly 500 students in the music program. Students must be in a previous class to be eligible for a more advanced class; however, a student who demonstrates ability can audition for a higher class. All advanced music classes and students that have been in choir for two years or more take an annual trip to Disneyland, to perform in a studio. Lawson has two outstanding music directors Mr. Dave Lewis; who has won the teacher of the year award at Lawson, and in the Cupertino union school district and Ms. Jessica Vaughn Marra
Lawson's music program makes many performances during the year for both the student body and parents. The students participating in the music program practice year-round for these performances.The first performance is the Lawson Boosters Concert. Beginning band and orchestra don't participate. It is mainly to help the music program earn money. The year's first official performance is usually the Winter Concert, followed by a Pops Concert. The last performance is the Spring concert. Every Friday, the student cabinet puts music in the quad, such as Dynamite by Taio Cruz, Break Your Heart by Taio Cruz, Crank Dat by Soulja Boy, and the Cha Cha Slide. For a few songs, students go into the quads and dance.
Lawson's school newspaper, The Lawson Current, won first place in the 2007 Scholastic Corporation Press Association Contest. They were one of the three middle schools in the United States to win this special award. The Current is published by seventh and eighth grade students in the Journalism class. Originally an after-school club with fourteen members and one issue a year, journalism became an elective course in 2006-2007 and published three issues that year. In the 2007-2008 school year however, journalism became an after-school club once again, with one circulation that year. However, beginning in the 2009-2010 year, journalism became an elective course once more.
The Lawson Yearbook, first produced in the 2005-2006 school year by the Yearbook club, is entitled "The Bolt". Yearbook became an elective class in 2006-2007. The Lawson yearbook is separated into 4 sections that cover the different aspects of the school year: Student Life, People, Sports, and Academics. It is published by Herff Jones.
The Lawson Yearbook staff produced a Video Yearbook for the first time in 2007. It will be in DVD format and a supplement to the regular yearbook, which was in full color that year. Due to technical difficulties, the Video Yearbook was not available for sale as planned, however, the video was broadcast over the school and each member of the yearbook staff received a copy. The 2008-2009 yearbook staff produced another video yearbook, which was available for sale for 5$.
Lawson Yearbook Themes
2006 - First Impressions [Inspiration: This was Lawson's first year of being a school]
2007 - The Secret's Out [Inspiration: People knew that Lawson was a good school, and the secret was out]
2008 - 3's a Crowd [Inspiration: This was Lawson's third year in being a school and it was more crowded than thought so]
2009- On [Inspiration: Lawson Middle School was always on to something, and the student activities and curriculum kept going on.]
2010- From Inside Out [Inspiration: Exposing the unique parts of Lawson that outsiders do not notice.]
2011- Make a Scene
Daily Life at Lawson is mostly the same as that of other schools. School starts in the morning throughout the week at the same time, except that on Wednesdays school start is delayed approximate one and one-half hours, due to teacher meetings. The six periods last from 40 to 50 minutes each day, and cover the student's selected Electives Class, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, Language Arts, and Social Studies. Students have two periods in the morning before a 20 minute break known as Brunch, and two more periods before a 35 minute lunch. The remaining two periods take place before dismissal in the afternoon. Twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday, the Advisory Class takes place after sixth period for approximately 30 minutes. The Advisory class is unique to Lawson, where students "talked about their lives, played life games, and did group activities", according to the Second Edition of the Lawson Yearbook. Also, advisories did fundraisers and activities like the Pep Rally. They participated in Hoops for Heart, a program to raise money for the American Heart Association.
There is also a Lawson Student Store, open on Tuesdays and Thursdays to the student body. It sells three items to the students, water bottles for $8.50, keyholders for $2.25, lanyards for $4.00, and smencils for $3.99. The student council members manage the store.
The student stores regular hours returned for the 2009-2010 year
Lawson has various socials and dances to reward students for their hard work. The first two dances of the year are just for seventh and eighth graders, but later, they are open to sixth graders. To be eligible to attend, you must have your Lawson Student Identification card, and have no U's in citizenship, which is graded by Lawson. There is usually one dance per month, held on a Friday most of the time. Various themes of dances include Mexican Fiesta, Lu'au, Hollywood, and the Valentine's Dance.[4]
W.E.B. (Where Everyone Belongs) is an orientation program for new sixth grade students. Each student is assigned a WEB Group and a WEB Leader, who were originally in the first year teachers, but now eighth grade student volunteers. WEB Groups meet to discuss the new student's experiences about once a month for their entire first year. This program is designed to help sixth grade students transition from elementary school to middle school, and help to make the struggling students feel better about the transition.
WEB leaders are typically described to be the leaders of the school. They are fun, crazy, and role models to other students.
The Lawson Student Cabinet consists of 2-3 elected representatives who control a variation of things at Lawson. The Student Council is advised by an eighth grade teacher, and the members of the Student Cabinet are volunteers who attend Lawson themselves. The Student Council organizes dances and socials, controls the school budget, holds events, and helps make major decisions at the school. The Student Cabinet represents the student body, and helps to decide what is best for all of the students. There is also a Student Council, not to be mixed up with the Student Cabinet.
Approximately around the end of the year, a talent show is held where Lawson students can express their talents and passions to Lawson with the necessary props. The talent show is a great way for students to truly reveal their backgrounds. Although it is held earlier in many other schools, Lawson's Talent Show becomes the spice for the average school routine. However there was no talent show in the 2007-2008 school year.
In the 2008-2009 year, the talent show was held in March. It featured 13 acts, consisting of one piano player, one cultural Chinese Instrument player, two traditional Indian dancers, 2 rock bands, one karate group, one solo guitarist, and 5 dance groups. The talent show was approximately 1 hour 30 minutes long. The Talent Show was featured in the video yearbook.
In 2011, Lawson's council decided to combine the Lawson Idol and Talent show to make the Lawson's Got Talent.
Lawson plays against schools such as Cupertino Middle School, Kennedy Middle School, Hyde Middle School, Miller Middle School, Columbia Middle School, Blach Middle School, Egan Middle School, Graham Middle School, and Sunnyvale Middle School. Lawson has teams in the following sports: Cross Country, Track and Field, soccer, basketball, wrestling, volleyball, tennis, and softball. In the 2006-2007 school year, Lawson won its first Cross Country Championship. Additionally, in the same school year, three of Lawson's volleyball teams made it to the finals. Two of which being the 6th-7th and 8th grade boys, as well as the 6th-7th grade girls. The 8th grade boys that year also placed 2nd in the track and field sectionals and only lost by 1 point. In the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year, the 8th Grade Boys Volleyball team won their first-place Championship in the VJHSAL, with an undefeated record of 11 wins and 0 losses. Last year, the boys 6/7 and C team made the playoffs, but the 8th grade team did not. The 6/7 team made it to the championships, but lost to Cupertino.
C Team:
Lawson currently has a "C" team available for boys and girls under 5'3' who are interested in playing basketball or volleyball. The C team is open to players in any grade, as long as they are under 5'3'. In the 2009-2010 school year, it won first place in the VJHSAL basketball championship.
6/7 Team
The sixth/seventh grade team is for players in 6th or 7th grade, with no height limit.
8th Team:
The eight grade team is open to any eighth grader in the school, and there is no height limit. In the 2009-2010 school year, it won first place in the VJHSAL basketball championship.
Intramural Basketball: Lawson marked its first year of Intramural basketball at the school, which is open to boys and girls of any grade. The Intramural Basketball league's main mission is to help students become confident in basketball, and gain a sense of teamwork. The coaches, Mr. Jeren Jensen, and Mr. Nate Ramezane divide the students into 4 equal teams, which play 2-3 games each week.
FAQ: Lawson's first ever team sport league champion came in the sport of volleyball. In the 2008-2009 sports season, the Lawson 6/7 boys basketball team reached the finals, but lost to Cupertino Middle School by 8 points.
Lawson Middle School has many school trips, for students who behave well and commit themselves to academic study during the year. These include:
Every year, eighth graders have the opportunity to take a one week trip to Yosemite National Park. They leave on Sunday and return on Saturday the following week. The trip begins planning in the winter of the year, and students who wish to go on the trip must attend a series of meetings. The cost for the trip is $600, however, financial assistance is provided to those who cannot afford the cost. To be eligible, students must exhibit good behavior.
Starting with the Class of 2008, eighth graders will have the opportunity to take a trip to Washington D.C. during the summer, led by an eighth grade social studies teacher.
Every year, members of the advanced Band, Orchestra, and Choir get the opportunity to go to Disneyland and participate in the Magic Music Days program there. Also included in the fee is a visit to Medieval Times (a Medieval themed restaurant), and a 2-day park hopper pass at Disneyland.
Beginning Band and Orchestra members take a trip to UoP once a year to visit the Lawson Band teacher's University and have a two to three hour session with the UoP conductor.
Intermediate Band and Intermediate Orchestra members get a visit to San Francisco to watch the Nutcracker Ballet and tour Pier 39. Students are allowed to walk free around the pier, and must meet at the Hard Rock Cafe at Pier 39 at a specific time set by the teacher. After eating lunch, students board the bus and drive across the city to reach the War Memorial Opera House, where they view The Nutcracker.
Germany And Austria 7th grade teacher Ms. Orlando takes a few students to Austria and Germany during a spring break.
In 2011, Ms. Nolan hosted a trip for a group of kids. to go to Costa Rica. This was a one-time only trip. Its activities included ziplining, beachcombing, and others. Ms. Nolan plans to host a FLorida trip in 2012
Lawson students have a change to visit Hsinchu, Taiwan, as part of Cupertino's sister city program with the Taiwanese city. Earlier in the 2009 year, a few selected students came from Taiwan to tour Cupertino, California, and stayed at Lawson for three full days. Lawson students will get a change to visit Hsinchu during Lawson's spring break. The fee of the trip has not yet been disclosed.
Every year, Lawson hosts a Geography Bee, where students from Lawson take part in. Students have to qualify for the bee by taking a written test, and the top ten best answerers get to perform in front of the school. In the 2010-2011 school year Geography Bee,the first place winner beat out Rohan Pandit, the coolest Indian ever, (really?) 7th grade, in the finals to advance to the California Geography Bee in Sacramento. If he can win statewide, he can qualify for the nationwide Geography Bee in Washington, D.C.
Ethnic/Racial[5] Percent
African American (not of Hispanic origin) 0.4 American Indian or Alaska Native 0.2 Asian (including Indians) 69.9 Filipino 0.9 Hispanic or Latino .3 Pacific Islander 0.0 White (not of Hispanic origin) 26.8
Parent Education Level
Percentage with a response 185
Of those with a response:
Not a high school graduate 33
High school graduate 25
Some college 44
College graduate 74
Graduate school 61
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