Dock librarian Mrs. Missy Camilleri invited Dock 5th grade student Avelynn Myers as guest reader and author this week to read to Mrs. Bonita Ness's Kindergarten students. She read her book, "Isadora! Take That Thumb Right Out" to the class and talked with students about how she became an author when she was just six years old! She explained how she wanted to write the book to help others that might struggle with stopping a bad habit. Several of our Kindergarten students were excited to go home and become authors themselves. Others wanted to try the techniques used by the main character in the story to help stop a thumb sucking habit. Avelynn's book is available in the library for check out.

For your Labor Day weekend reading enjoyment, we present the Summer 2022 issue of Dock's Lamplighter magazine—with lots of photos and coverage of the Class of 2022's Commencement, Senior Presentations, Academic Awards, Spring Drama, Campus Happenings, Alumni News and a fascinating little feature about Dock students' visit to a unique educational "ecosystem" at Fluxspace in Norristown. Don't forget—the digital version of Lamplighter includes lots of bonus content, including links, photos, video, and more. Happy reading!

We are pleased to introduce our new Dock Faculty for the 2022-2023 school year (l to r):

Dr. Matthew Ramage, Instrumental Music Teacher; Miss Rebecca Edenfield ('17) 2nd Grade teacher; Mrs. Samantha Brannon, EC-8 Music teacher; Mrs. Sarah (Hart) Garges ('13), EC-8 guidance counselor; Mrs. Jenna Rhodes ('13), 2nd Grade teacher; Mrs. Stacey Dubost, Early Childhood teacher; Mr. Matthew Speck, Early Childhood teacher; and Mr. Jason Hackman, Middle School Social Studies/Bible Teacher. We are glad to have you on the Dock team!

Dock 5th grade writers triumph! Even though it is late May, 5th graders and their teacher, Ms. Alice Wolfgang, are still excited about the writing process. Students recently researched chocolate milk, conducted surveys, and also interviewed their parents about strawberry milk and lemonade. They strategized and wrote letters to Chef Bill Lorah in the hopes of bringing back the strawberry milk that they remember from their early school years, and/or possibly even lemonade. Chef Bill graciously read the letters, and the hall was filled with excitement when word got out that lemonade was in the cafeteria for the end of the school year! Students “ran” all the way back from the cafeteria to report this excellent news to Ms. Wolfgang! Congratulations, students, for finding yet another way to make learning fun! #persuasivewritingrocks 

Dock 8th grade student Trace Scavetti led a Middle School Chapel recently, encouraging his fellow students to have faith in God and not to "sit on the fence" (Matthew 12:30) with their faith. Trace is obviously not sitting on the fence—he did an amazing job using his God-given gifts to tell others about Jesus and to encourage them to use their unique God-given gifts. Trace hopes to become a pastor someday! #TheFutureLooksBright

Dock 8^th grade students (l to r) Madison Afanador, Amy Muhlfeld, Gretchen German, and Matthew Mast pose with their musical achievement awards that they received at this week’s Middle School Spring Concert. These students showed exceptional leadership, skill, and musicianship, and have shown tremendous growth throughout their time in the music program at Dock. Congratulations to these young musicians!

Mrs. Claire Wanamaker's current Family & Consumer Sciences students wanted to learn how to make wonderful cupcakes like the ones they see on the show "Cupcake Wars." After researching cupcakes and cupcake decorating, the students decided to create designs that would appeal to our younger Pre-K students. These creative middle school students even invited their younger friends up to vote on the cupcake theme they liked the best, and then enjoyed a cupcake together. Our Pre-K students even got a few cupcakes to take home to share with their families!

How can words push us apart or bring us together? Dock Middle School Discover students explored this question, researched and wrote an assortment of articles, then worked in small groups to design and publish their work as a magazine. During EXPO Night, parents, grandparents and friends listened to group presentations as students displayed their finished products. Congratulations to our promising young publishers! #projectbasedlearning

Dock Mennonite Academy's tagline is "Learning for lives of purpose." On Tuesday night at the EC-Grade 8 Campus, students and their families were serving for lives of purpose. Dock's Family Fun Service Night combined kickball, sunflowers, and ice cream into an amazing evening that raised nearly $8,000 to support vulnerable and displaced families in Ukraine as well as here in the United States.

"We can't adequately thank our Dock faculty, students, families, friends and staff for stepping up to make our Dock Family Fun Service night a huge success," said EC-Grade 8 Principal Mrs. Bronwyn Histand. "We had so much fun that many families didn't want the night to end."

The event featured sales of "Max's sunflower bombs"—seed starters created by Middle School student Max Brannon—some delicious ice cream courtesy of Souderton's very own Downtown Scoop, amazing music, and some awesome kickball. More than $7,800 was raised, with donations still coming in. The money will be used to support Mennonite Central Committee's humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine, as well as disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts closer to home, which are coordinated by Mennonite Disaster Service. We are deeply grateful for the Dock community's support of this event. 

The only thing brighter than Dock middle school student Max Brannon's hoodie is his sunny disposition and smile. While having a casual conversation with his mom at home this past week, he mentioned that he wanted to do something to help the people of Ukraine. With just a few words of encouragement, Max was off with a bright idea—Sunflower Bombs!  

Why that name? Well, for starters, Max wants his sunflower idea to explode with positivity, just like his passion for this project! Max did his research and is creating these sunflower seed starters so that families and friends can buy them, plant them, and watch them grow! 

Did you know that the sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine? This provides an even more meaningful reason to get people excited about buying sunflower "bombs" and planting them in support of the vulnerable and displaced people of Ukraine!

Here are the details:

Sale Dates: March 14-18, 2022

What: Sunflowers for Ukraine!

Where: Dock EC-8 Campus Main Entrance Lobby

When: 8:00 - 8:20 AM

Price:  $5 each