Waterbury Civic Pride Day

The Wallace Middle School Marching Band participated in the Waterbury Civic Pride Day parade on October 25, 2009

Wallace Opens Doors to Red Ribbon Week

"Dream, Believe, Achieve, Succeed." With this theme of Red Ribbon Week, Wallace Middle School students decorated the doors of their home room classes to show their support for a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

Red Ribbon Week, which ran from October 22 to October 29, is "a unified way for communities to take a stand against drugs and show intolerance for illicit drug use and the consequences to all Americans," according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Red Ribbon celebration pledge is “no use of illegal drugs, no illegal use of legal drugs.”

"This is an important message, and this was a worthwhile, enriching activity for students as well as for the whole school community," said Building Principal Louis Padua.

The door decorating exercise was the second of a two-part event. "The impetus of the first part of this event involved getting the students to have their parents write messages to them about living a healthy, drug-free lifestyle," said Prevention Specialist Jackie Davis. She added that statistics show that students whose parents directly address the issue of drug abuse with their children are 50 percent less likely to become drug abusers.

For the second part, homeroom classes decorated the doors "to make a visible commitment as a school to live a drug-free, healthy lifestyle and to communicate to students that we have high expectations for them," Davis said.

The hardest part of the whole project has been judging the students work, she said. "They all did a great job." The doors were judged on overall creativity, the message conveyed, and student involvement in creating the final product. "Collectively, the doors that were chosen contained attention-grabbing messages, exciting graphics, 3-D figures, pictures of the students, and analogies that connect everyday experiences with the decision to choose positive futures over a life of substance use," Davis said. Ultimately, she did select three doors as the best. From Rapuano House, she chose the homeroom of Jessica Dizenzo,

from Yeshion House, the homeroom of Jennifer Magnavice,
and from Huckins House, the homeroom of Robin Davitt.


Special Education teacher Vincenct Dizenzo's class also received special recognition for their door. “They are not technically a homeroom, but they did a phenomenal job and won a pizza party along with the other three homerooms,” Davis said.

Click here for more information about Red Ribbon Week.

The Run-a-Thon Goes On: Cross Country Team's Is Undaunted by the Downpour

The cross-country team wants to order hooded sweatshirts, so the team held its first-ever Wallace Run-a-Thon after school on Wednesday, October 28, to defray the cost for each team member. The team ran despite the chilly downpour and raised more than $800.

Origami Club Sees Stars

Students who participate in Wallace's Origami Club teach each other how to fold various types of stars at the October 28 meeting. The club meets every week, and the students teach each other different patterns as well as learn them from their teacher.

Wallace Student Has Cameo on TV Show

Michael Puffer reported the following story in the October 11 edition of the Sunday Republican.

WATERBURY - Wallace Middle School student Jordan Booker's friends have started asking for autographs after learning he'll appear in an upcoming episode of "Law and Order SVU."

It's not a big part. Jordan, 11, will appear for a few seconds on a Nov. 11 show, said Julia booker, his mother. He'll be in the background while detectives grill a girl.

The gig only paid $75, but it's building Jordan's resume. He has been asked to appear in another episode of "SVU" and has already participated as an extra in a filming for a future episode of the Showtime series "Nurse Jackie."

Julia Booker signed her charismatic son up with a talent agency this summer and the offers for extra work came rolling in. Nov. 11 will be the first time any of Jordan's work has made it to the screen.

Jordan, who is the grandson of Waterbury Alderman Cicero B. Booker, said he hopes to become a movie star like Will Smith. For the meantime, he's enjoying the bit parts.

"I like that I'm on TV and I get to meet new people," Jordan said.

Wallace Announces Students of the Month for September

Wallace Middle School has started a student-of-the-month program. Each month, one student per grade per house is selected based on the following criteria.

P ositive - Is respectful
A ttitudes - Accepts responsibility
W orking - Completes a high percentage of class work and/or homework
S afely - Follows school rules

Wallace Middle School's September Students of the Month

Yeshion House

Grade 6 – Manuel Paniagua

Grade 7 – Meagan Mancini

Grade 8 – Robert Eason


Accelerated Program

Grade 6 – Nivonchel Bramble


Huckins House Grade 6 – Moises Navarrete

Grade 7 – Dominiqua Bethea

Grade 8 – Christina Singh


Rapuano House
Grade 6 – Amber Ruiz

Grade 7 – Mahogony Williams

Grade 8 – Joshua Batista


Art Department

Student 1 – Christian Davis

Student 2 – Wilfram Beniquez