What is the best school lunch? What is the first thing you do when you get home from school? What is a popular TV show for people your age to watch? On April 5, student teams had the opportunity to guess the responses to these questions in Family Feud-style assemblies at the middle school. All students had previously answered select questions during Advisory and these results were used for this event.  Grades seven and eight had individual assemblies with representatives from each team competing on stage.  The final round included a student team vs. a teacher team.  There were many laughs and applause shared during the time together.  Special thanks to our host, Mr. Worley, and the Student Council leadership that facilitated the event. 

By S. Dacheux

Envirothon is an after school activity where participants learn about nature and the environment.  There are 4 main categories for study: forestry, aquatics, wildlife, and current issues.  In forestry, students learn about plants and how to identify trees and other characteristics of trees. In aquatics, students learn about bodies of water, animals that live in water, and macroinvertebrates. In wildlife, students learn about mammals, birds, skulls/teeth structure, and habitats. Current issues changes topics from year to year, but it teaches students how to keep themselves and the wildlife safe. In the spring, the Envirothon teams go to John Rudy Park to take a test with other schools in York County.  The CYMS team of 20 participants will compete on May 16, 2023.  

     Knock, knock! Guess what? The door decorating contest took place on Friday, December 9th, 2022, our first half day of the month. It took place from 8:05-9:00 A.M. The theme was winter wonderland. All advisory classes were hard at work. As many took the competition too seriously, many ran through the halls, and others sprinkled glitter on their heads. No wonder everyone was sparkling after that day!
     Our Central York Middle School principal Dr. Harper and the vice principal Ms. Van had lots of challenges for our participants. The first challenge was the “first come first serve” challenge. The second challenge was a “first to call a number gets a prize” challenge. One of the ladies came on the announcements and gave us a Christmas related clue to solve. Students needed to solve the clue and call a specific number to answer. If the class was the first to answer, they received a prize. 
     Congratulations to the winners of the door decorating contest! Mrs. Christy’s advisory won 1st place, Mr. Decker’s advisory won 2nd place, and Mrs. Graham’s advisory won 3rd place. 
     Every door around the school is now festive and crafty. The door decorating contest was a fun way to get involved (and be competitive). Plus, the students got a chance to relax. Hopefully everyone at Central York Middle School can enjoy all the doors as they walk by. Great work, Central!

Central York Middle School offers an opportunity to students about once a month on a Friday to stay after school and spend time with their friends. We like to call these Fun Fridays. On these days, students can participate in an after-school event that costs four dollars. There are many activities that are then offered to the students like games, basketball, chalk, bingo, and other activities depending on the month's theme. The theme for October 28th was Halloween and there were some spooky things that happened during Fun Friday. These activities are run by Student Council and funded by the PTO and supported by many parent volunteers. Student Council brainstorms ideas each month to try to incorporate something new into the next Fun Friday. In conclusion, Fun Friday is an activity that is worth a small expense to stay after school and have a fun time with your friends! Come join us!

The Panther Pen is an online publication with content from the seventh and eighth grade learners of Central York Middle School.  This website serves as the school newspaper, with reports from academic areas of the school, extra-curricular activities, and student perspectives.  

The different sections of this site include:

• Art & Creative Writing featuring creative stories, poetry and drawings; 
• Panther News and Views featuring insights on innovative lessons and projects across our teams and specials classes, as well as clubs, special events, and athletics happening at the middle school.

Our "staff" consists of any student who wants to publish a piece of writing or artwork, or report on happenings throughout the school with other media such as photography and videos. All voices are welcome.  Please see Mrs. Brown or Mrs. Carlisle with questions.