Pine Grove Middle School

Viking Family,

At last night's board meeting, the Lowndes County Board of Education voted to amend the 2024-2025 Calendar.

Notable changes for students include:
-Students return from Christmas Break on Tuesday, January 7th
-Students release for Summer Break on Wednesday, May 21st

We hope you are having a great summer and will see your student on Wednesday, August 7th, to begin the new school year!

Congratulations, Mrs. Hill!

Congratulations to Felicia Hill, who has been named Assistant Principal of Pine Grove Middle School

Mrs. Hill is well-acquainted with PGMS, bringing both experience and dedication to her new role. With 16 years in education, six of which have been spent as a Viking, she has built a strong foundation as a math and social studies teacher, progressing to team lead and then to her most recent position as an instructional coach.

Her proven ability to collaborate effectively with administrators, teachers, parents, and stakeholders reflects her loyalty to achieving academic excellence and promoting student success. As a former team leader and member of the PGMS leadership team, she has consistently demonstrated her leadership skills and dedication to upholding high standards of integrity, equity, and inclusivity in all school operations.

Mrs. Hill holds a Bachelor’s degree in middle grades math and social studies from Valdosta State University, a Master’s degree from the University of Phoenix, and has completed EDd (level 6) coursework at Walden University. She also obtained an Educational Leadership Tier 1 certification from the University of West Georgia. Her passion and education, along with her extensive qualifications, make her a valuable representative of Pine Grove Middle School.

✅Summer Check-in!

ℹ️ Now is the time to make sure your information is accurate in Parent Portal so you don't miss any important news for next school year.

🖥️Log in here: https://campus.lowndes.k12.ga.us/campus/portal/lowndes.jsp

📧Forgot your username or password? Email [email protected] to reset!

Welcome, Dr. Maxwell!

Congratulations to Dr. Kevin Maxwell, who has been named the Principal of Pine Grove Middle School!

Dr. Maxwell has 28 years of experience in education, 19 of which have been in administration. He began his career in his home state of Indiana, spending his first 20 years at Lafayette Jefferson High School as a social studies teacher and head baseball coach, later becoming the director of student services. He then served as assistant principal, including two years as the freshmen principal and five years as principal of Lafayette Sunnyside Intermediate School.

After moving to Atlanta, Dr. Maxwell became principal of Inman Middle School, which moved into a new building and became David T. Howard Middle School. He served in that role for four years and was then named assistant superintendent for Innovation, Improvement, and Redesign, leading a new department in Atlanta Public Schools.

Dr. Maxwell believes it is critical to value and capitalize on the talent and influence of every individual on the team, including students, staff, parents, and community partners. His philosophy of leadership is based on the belief that leaders must model expectations and treat everyone with dignity and respect all the time, every day. He believes in the power of public schools to open the door of opportunity to all children through effective instruction, high expectations, and collective, continuous, student-centered effort.

We are excited to welcome Dr. Maxwell to the Family!

🏀 Looking to improve your basketball skills this summer? PGM is hosting a basketball camp for our rising 7th grade girls who are interested in improving their technique. Camp will be held in the PGM gym and will run July 8 through August 1, every Monday - Thursday from 8:00-10:30 AM. 🏀

Students must have physical, consent, concussion, and ISSPP forms on record to participate. Forms are available on the PGM football website: https://sites.google.com/lowndes.k12.ga.us/pgmfootball/home

Our FFA members had a great time at camp!

🏈 Summer football workouts for rising 6th, 7th, and 8th graders will run July 8 through August 6, every Monday - Thursday from 8:00-10:30 AM. Students must have physical, consent, concussion, and ISSPP forms on record to participate. Forms are available on the PGM football website: https://sites.google.com/lowndes.k12.ga.us/pgmfootball/home 🏈

2024 STEM Camp was a blast! We asked, imagined, planned, designed, tested, improved, and shared! Students created creative products, participated in fun challenges, and learned along the way. 😊

There is still plenty of time to join our summer reading challenge! This year's challenge is to log 1,000 minutes spent reading over the break. Students who attended PGM last year can log their minutes on Beanstack or on paper. Rising 6th graders - if you did not pick up a paper log at parent night, check the PGM website for the link to print one. 😊📚☀️

This year's STEM Camp is off to a great start! Students participated in a variety of engineering challenges, built cars to explore Newton's Laws, designed tessellations, and learned about bees!

On the last day of post-planning, our staff surprised Dr. Clemons by wearing shirts with their favorite "Clemons-isms" -- phrases we've heard frequently over the years. 😊 Dr. Clemons has been ALL IN since PGM opened in 2009, serving as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, and then principal. We will miss his leadership, his dedication to doing what is best for students, and his contagious laughter. But most of all, we wish him the best on the next step of his journey in education!

Keep the learning happening this summer with Clever! Simply visit www.clever.com/in/onelowndes and choose to sign in with Google to have access to ALL digital instructional resources, including eBooks and magazines! ☀️

As a PBIS reward, 6th and 7th grade students enjoyed spending time at Recoil on Monday. We appreciate these students for showing great behavior all year! 😊

More honors day celebrations! So proud of these students. 😊

We enjoyed shining a spotlight on the remarkable achievements of our incredible students at Honors Day last week! From academic excellence to outstanding leadership and everything in between, we are proud of their dedication, hard work, and passion. 😊

As a PBIS reward, 8th grade students from Pine Grove Middle, Lowndes Middle, and Hahira Middle gathered for a block party at the LHS multipurpose field. Students had fun playing games encouraging them to meet new people and get ready for high school. We appreciate these students for showing great behavior all year! 😊

7th grade had fun at Wild Adventures on Friday's field trip! 😄

Georgia Studies students continued to show out as they presented their decades projects last week! 😊

☀️🌊😎The countdown to summer break is finally almost over!

While we will miss our students over the summer, we hope everyone has a safe, relaxing, and enjoyable break. All schools will release early tomorrow following this schedule.

Students in Mrs. Hopkins' 8th grade social studies classes researched and presented on colleges they are interested in attending, with a special focus on their admissions processes. Students researched UGA, VSU, Wiregrass, GMC, UF, FSU, LSU, UNC, Harvard & more! 🎓

Mrs. Kiefhaber's social studies students closed out the year by working together to break out of a continents escape room! 🌎🔓

Dr. Gatz's ELA students wrote odes to their favorite snacks! ✏️

The PGM Military Club held its year-end party today. They celebrated with cake, ice cream, games, and Mario Kart. It was a perfect opportunity to get the contact info for and say goodbye to friends who will be stationed at new bases next year.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to the McKnight family for providing lunch for our staff this week! It was absolutely delicious and very much appreciated! 😊❤️

Upcoming Freshman and New to Lowndes High students, Mark your calendars for SPARK. SPARK is an opportunity for incoming students to meet and interact with other new students while touring the campus with their new mentor. Our mentors are experienced juniors and seniors eager to share our Viking values and traditions with new students. With over 100 extracurricular activities, LHS has something for everyone. Join us at the LHS Performing Arts Center on your assigned dat and time to explore your new school.

Yearbooks have arrived and will be distributed May 21, 2024. Extras will be available until sold out. Students can pay via cash or card in person. Please see Ms. Kenny in Room 308 to purchase. First come, first served!

🐸 Our 7th grade scientists dove into hands-on learning with frog dissections this week! This activity extended their knowledge of body systems and adaptations.

The PGM 6th, 7th, and 8th grade choirs all gave marvelous performances at their spring concert, Livin' in the Real World, on Tuesday. We even had some 5th graders join in! 🎶

Mrs. Justice’s accelerated ELA students collaborated and conducted research to create posters over Greek gods and goddesses. 🔍💻🎨 They enjoyed spinning the wheel to select their topics! 😊