Mountain Valley Middle School seventh-grade student Tia Gray works on her team’s snowman during the school’s Renaissance Program awards ceremony. About 30 students received awards for scholastic citizenship, academic achievement or school attendance during the ceremony. Snowman building and snowball pastry-eating competitions were also included in the festivities. (Rumford Falls Times photo by Marianne Hutchinson)

MEXICO — Students at Mountain Valley Middle School participated in an awards celebration on their first day back from school vacation Wednesday afternoon.

The celebration, called the Renaissance Program, has been a tradition at the middle school since 1989, said eighth-grade Teacher Ryanne Prevost, who is also a member of the Special Events committee that prepares the events for students to participate in during the awards celebration.

According to MVMS Principal Ryan Casey, the program was created during the first few years of the middle school’s existence. He believes that the educators at that time thought that “Renaissance-era men and women were well-rounded in the areas of art, literature, science and culture. We believe that the early intentions of the program were to recognize the well-rounded students of MVMS. We have continued with the Renaissance tradition although many things have changed, as we continue to recognize our well-rounded students and their achievements,” Casey said in an email on Thursday.

Nineteen sponsors, most of the local businesses in the area, provided cash prizes and gift certificates for thirty awards for the sixth- through eighth-grade students who have met the criteria for either scholastic citizenship, academic achievement or a school attendance record of 95 percent for the trimester.

Mixed in with the students stepping down from the gym bleachers one at a time to be recognized for their achievement and accept their prizes, was an indoor “snowman” building contest that pit fourteen randomly picked students from each grade level to build their cardboard box snowmen the fastest.

Another competition for students who were randomly selected from each homeroom was a “snowball” eating contest where the students competed to eat a snowball pastry cake in the quickest time.

The Wednesday school day was the first Wednesday of the year to add an extra hour to the school district’s mid-week school day to make up for cancellations from two storms in November. The district plans to make up the two days in 10 weeks’ time, unless they have to continue with the added hour on Wednesdays due to more school cancellations this year.

The MVMS students who received a scholastic citizenship, academic achievement or attendance award were: Lilly Bedard, Ethan Gilbert, Aiden Arsenault, Jakob Silver, Matthew Spring, Bryce Dyer, Daemon Murphy, Paisley Clukey, Carly Baker, Tameara Webber, Ethan Gilbert, Jake New, Abigail Jones, Zachery New, Colton White, Oscar Never, Samantha Roderick, Tanna Gammon, Maisy Chase, Kathryn Rice, Fallon Gammon, Brooke Atkins, Caleb Bernard, Haley Brown, Emily Schisler, Madison Dow, Aiden Arsenault, Josh McLean and Ben DeSalle.

mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net

Mountain Valley Middle School eighth-grade student Deamon Murphy races to finish his team’s snowman during the school’s Renaissance Program awards ceremony. About 30 students received awards for scholastic citizenship, academic achievement or school attendance during the ceremony. Snowman building and snowball pastry-eating competitions were also included in the festivities. (Rumford Falls Times photo by Marianne Hutchinson)

Mountain Valley Middle School sixth-grade student Emily Carver races to work on her team’s snowman during the school’s Renaissance Program awards ceremony. About 30 students received awards for scholastic citizenship, academic achievement or school attendance during the ceremony. Snowman building and snowball pastry-eating competitions were also included in the festivities. (Rumford Falls Times photo by Marianne Hutchinson)