Our choirs will perform Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the auditorium.

Orchestra II attended the Performing Arts Festival at Desert Hills High School, on Monday.

Our student council did a great job with Spirit Week. We appreciate all their efforts to increase our school spirit through some great activities.

Congratulations to our co-ed basketball team that defeated Cedar Middle School on Feb. 10.

One of our teachers, Sharon Wasden, and her daughter, Anna, an eighth-grader, got to experience the “Snowmageddon” in Washington, D.C. firsthand. They were there with the Utah Safety Coalition. Although the snow altered some of their plans, they still enjoyed their meetings and had a private tour of the Capitol building by Sen. Bob Bennett’s, R-Utah, office as well as a tour of the White House.

Our eighth-grade students begin their writing assessments this week. Good luck.

Cedar Middle School

The MathCounts Region competition was held in St. George at Dixie College on Feb. 5. Competing against 14 other regional schools, our A team – Josh Palmer, Riley Wilson, Matthew Stewart and Greyson Hulet – took second place overall. We had two students place in the top 10 high scores and a few who came very close. Palmer came home with two individual trophies, and Wilson came home with one other individual trophy. CMS was given a trophy to represent these students to put in the display case. In all, we came home with eight trophies and one plaque. Others who participated were Madeline Bertoch, Jaren Forsyth, Seth Palmer and Kole Dotson. We are very proud of the hard work these students do and how well they represented our school.

Some were won by former Citizen employees who now work for the Arizona Daily Star, and I eventually sorted those out, walked across the courtyard, and dropped them off at the Star’s front desk so my friends could have some keepsakes.

But I was fascinated by the mystery of an old trophy and lugged it back to my work area last Tuesday.

There was no mention of the Citizen on the engraving, and I wondered why The Diamond Bill’s Sportsmanship Award, given during the Tucson Soap Box Derby in 1950, is in our custody and why only three names are on the award.

I probably should be busy hunting for a job in my spare time, with the closure of the Citizen looming. But that part of my brain that has made me a good reporter and editor just wouldn’t let this go.

I found out the Citizen used to be one of the sponsors of the Soap Box Derby. I’m still trying to find about Diamond Bill’s, so maybe some longtime Tucsonans can enlighten me because I couldn’t find anything in our archives.

I looked at the last name on the trophy, 1955 winner Tommy Ricksecker, and told my podmate – the immensely talented page designer Jennifer Lum – that I was going to use the enormous font of information available at my fingertips (the phone book) to see if any Rickseckers were listed. I discovered two.

I got Tom’s number during the first call, and the 66-year-old Ricksecker laughed last Wednesday when I got him on the phone and told him about my discovery.

“I didn’t win the local title, so I didn’t get the chance to go race in the nationals in Ohio,” Ricksecker said.

The Citizen had the trophy, he said, because he had to give it back before the 1956 races. I couldn’t find out if the sportsmanship award was ever given out.

I was only able to give Ricksecker half of his memories. The trophy had been topped with a big Soap Box Derby insignia and mounted on a wooden base, he said.

But that’s not the end of the story. Early last Wednesday, former podmate M.J. McVay, an immensely talented page designer, mentioned that she knew some Rickseckers back in her hometown of Findlay, Ohio.

And, yep, the Tucson Rickseckers have cousins in Findlay, and, yep, M.J. went to the same church as cousin Paul.

It’s a small world after all.
Originally posted by Dave Petruska.

Remember the days when all you got for winning that intense tournament were dinky basketball medals?

Well, boring now you can say goodbye to boring basketball awards!

Basketball trophies have come a long way! I’m talking about trophies that have bobbleheads, spinning sports balls and movable arms and legs!

Can’t decide which image or design to use for your basketball team? Let them choose! Use a different image insert for each medal! Use a different saying or logo on each trophy! Not one has to be alike!
Want to go with a more formal approach? Get basketball plaques! You can engrave anything you want on them or even insert a photo of your basketball team. Either way, a basketball plaque mounted on a wall is sure to create memories that will last for generations.

Going along with a classy theme, you can get acrylic basketball awards, glass basketball awards and crystal basketball awards. The crystal awards feature a basketball player lasered inside to create an interesting unique 3-D look.

Maybe you don’t want to make a big deal out of a win or even a loss! So you can opt for basketball pins, basketball pins, basketball ribbons, or basketball certificates. This way nobody is forgotten and everyone will have a little souvenir of from the good times or the bad times!

So remember, you shouldn’t have to feel obligated to get basketball trophies & awards for your team, but rather, you should want to! Designing and building a basketball trophy has never been more fun!

trophies & awards

The prize? Bragging rights.

“We don’t race for money,” said Charlie Ashton, co-owner of Tea’s Hobby Shop and R/C Raceway Park. “It is all for bragging rights, trophies and plaques.”

And there ought to be plenty to brag about.

“(The nationals are) the biggest thing up in this area as far as R/C racing,” said Ashton. “It’s a big get-together of some of the top drivers in the Midwest.”

As of Monday, they had 70 drivers registered and 150 entries for the three-day event that will start Friday. Racers will be traveling from as close as Rochester, to as far away as Nashville, Tenn. to compete in the dirt-oval racing event.

Ashton is very happy with that number considering the track just opened in September and hosted its first event in November.

“We are excited to have this many people coming,” he said. “For us, it’s our first big race, since we have only been here for a few months. First of many, hopefully. We are aiming to grow to over 200 entries in the future.”

But for now, he is just excited to host the event and get in a little racing of his own.

“It’s all about the friendships and camaraderie of racing,” Ashton said.

He is also looking forward to seeing some of the talent that the racers will bring.

“That’s probably the funnest part. Seeing the level of racing that they can do, just seeing that all in one place is really fun.”

Originally posted by Sarah Doty.

Just what your basketball team needs

basketball trophies

Ever wonder what will give your army of basketball-ers that extra boost to win those lovely basketball trophies & medals? Maybe it is the basketball trophies & basketball medals themselves! By designing and building your very own trophy you can cater to the needs and likings of your squad of basketball players so that every game is a victory and every award is one of their most prized possessions.

Start here: Begin with what type of award you want. You can choose from trophies: gold or silver, basketball sculptures with with hand painted colors or bronze finishes, or
basketball plaques which are offered in wood acrylic or rosewood, among others. Let us also not forget the ever ubiquitous basketball medals & basketball ribbons. You can choose from a selection of styles that include 3D medals, a really unique flip-sided design, or even choose from one of many images to easily insert.

You can also opt for a classier look for your basketball award by choosing crystal or the more affordable, acrylic. These glass basketball awards and acrylic basketball awards can feature a male or basketball female player holding a basketball or if you prefer, an engraved basketball on the award to stand alone.

Finally, don’t want to spend an exuberant amount on your basketball trophies & basketball awards? Look into some cute and simple basketball pins that can easily be uniformly donned by a proud basketball team.

Trophies are treasured prizes — whether bestowed on professional athletes who have just helped their team win a national championship or presented to a youth soccer player who showed up for every game and played his heart out. Corporate executives and third-grade spelling bee winners alike gratefully receive these awards and proudly display them in their offices or bedrooms at home.

“People like to be recognized for their accomplishments, what they’ve done in the workplace or on the playing field and other avenues,” says Jay Stelmach, the maker of monuments and owner of Colonial Trophy in Lakeville.

The family owned and operated business first opened in Taunton in 1955 and has been at its current location next to Mucky’s Liquors on Route 44 since 1968.

Stelmach offers a huge selection of trophies, plaques, medals and other commemorative items for a vast variety of sports and activities. Trophies for every major sport are available and if it’s not, Stelmach takes special orders.

“I had a guy today pick up 15 cricket trophies for his cricket club, and we’ve done trophies for a chicken show, pigeon racing, stuff like that,” he says.

While youth sports teams and adult leagues make up a large portion of his clientele, jobs for local businesses and corporations keep Stelmach busy as well.

“We do a lot of work for Ocean Spray and Johnson & Johnson,” Stelmach says, while removing a Customer Focus Award plaque made for an Ocean Spray employee from the laser engraver in his shop. The engraver, which Stelmach invested in this year, has cut down on the time it takes to etch the plates for plaques and trophies. Production improvements like that help Stelmach keep up in the face of various online competitors.

Keeping up with the latest trophy trends does, too. For instance, a new soccer trophy featuring a soccer ball that spins around in the mounting, rather than the traditional soccer player figure, has been very popular this season, Stelmach said. Plug-in or battery-operated trophies that glow and flash in pastel colors are another hot item, he said. Stelmach is also doing more work in acrylic and glass engraving, which is now in greater demand with his business clients.

Originally posted by Alice Coyle from the Taunton Daily Gazette.

Trophy News from ESPN

Kobe Bryant recently said he would rather win an Olympic gold medal than the NBA championship. Was he merely saying what was politically correct before the Olympics? Did he say it only because it sounds better than “I would rather win an Olympic gold medal than lose the NBA championship”? Or does an Olympic gold medal really mean more to him than a professional championship?

Only Kobe knows for sure but what about you? What sporting trophy means the most to you? Of all the things you could win in sports, which would you choose? A Super Bowl ring? The Masters green jacket? The Heisman Trophy? The Cy Young Award? A World Series? A Final Four? There are dozens upon dozens of championships and awards to win, but which would you most want to claim?

Here are a few quick caveats on my rankings:

The form of the award matters. Trophies top plaques, and the bigger the better. After all, you want the damn thing to look impressive in your trophy case.

Names count, too. Awards named in honor of a person (such as the Cy Young) just resonate more than those that, while prestigious, are named something boring and generic like the “MVP award.”

Durability counts. Generally, the longer the award has been around, the more it means.

Originally Written by Jim Caple for ESPN