Charleston Middle School competes in girls' and boys' interscholastic athletics.  At the end of all seasons teams are involved in Illinois Elementary School Association (I.E.S.A.) sponsored state tournaments.  Students participating in these programs must abide by the CUSD#1 Athletic Code. 
An updated physical is required prior to participate in any athletic event.

Jon Hanner

Karen Karch

Blain Mayhall--7th Grade
Randy Harpster--8th Grade

Barb Heitka--7th Grade
Robert Lynn--8th Grade

Phil Glosser
Lew Hankenson
Blain Mayhall
Gene Nance

Amy Niebrugge--7th Grade
Beth Anne Lancaster--8th Grade

Kristi Lowell

The Little Trojets Pom and Dance Team is made up of approximately 18 girls.  They promote school spirit and perform at home boys' and girls' basketball games using choreographed dance routines.  They compete at Illinois Drill Team Association (I.D.T.A.) regional competitions beginning in January and ending in February with state finals.

Breanna Way

The major objectives of cheerleading are to promote school spirit through good citizenship, leadership, and cheering at athletic events.  The cheerleaders also compete in cheerleading competitions. Two squads--one 7th grade, one 8th grade--are selected, for a total of 16 girls for the combined squad. 

Randy Harpster

Prior to the start of each school day, from 8:05-8:40, all students may participate in various
intramural athletics held in the gym.  Throughout the year students can compete in
3on 3 basketball, Hot Shots, 3 Point Shooting, Home Run Derby, badminton, volleyball,
table tennis, pickle ball, kickball, tug of war, and other organized activities.

Non-Athletic Activities

Mrs. Beals

Miss Garrett

Classroom Courier is a quarterly newsletter created by students at Charleston Middle School.  Once each quarter each journalist writes an article about an activity at Charleston Middle School.  Each student also visits one of our elementary schools and writes an article about an activity there.  The articles are combined into a professional newsletter distributed in the Times-Courier.

Students interested in participating in Classroom Courier can sign up at the beginning of the school year.  A staff of 12-14 students from both seventh and eighth grade  will be chosen based on writing samples and teacher input. 

The CMS News team prepares, tapes, and broadcasts the daily announcements for CMS.  The program is also uploaded to the web for parents and others to view.  Students may be invited to join this team after successful completion of the video production module in the Careers & Applied Technology classroom.

Miss Grimes

Miss Rappe'

 CMS offers multiple music performance ensembles--Concert Band, Choir, Jazz Band, Percussion Ensemble, and Show Choir.  Band and Chorus are classes within the student's daily schedule.  Students may register to take both Band and Chorus.  Students participating in both would attend Chorus on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Band on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with alternating Fridays. 

Jazz Band and Percussion Ensemble are auditioned groups for gifted and talented students.  These activities meet before and after school on select days. 

CMS Show Choir auditions are held in September.  Rehearsals begin in October, meeting after school throughout the year on Mondays and Wednesdays.

CMS Spring Musical auditions are held in January and are open to the entire student body.  Rehearsals are after school Monday through Thursday.

Mrs. Brenda Foster

Ms. Karen Murphy

Scholastic Bowl is a game played by two teams of five players each who will try to answer a combination of toss-up and bonus questions. Points are scored by the team who buzzes in first and answers a toss-up question correctly. That team then has the opportunity to answer a bonus question.

All seventh and eighth grade students are eligible for Scholastic Bowl.  Tryouts are held in December.  Competitions with other schools are scheduled January through May.

CMS Scholastic Bowl team at the 
2009 State Competition
 

The purposes of the Student Council are to develop attitudes of and practice in good citizenship; promote harmonious relationships throughout the school; improve school morale; promote responsibility and dependability in the student body; represent the students and promote the general welfare of the school.

Student Council is involved in such activities as dances and concessions at events.  Elections are held at the beginning of the first semester.

Mr. McCollum

Mr. McCollum

The purpose of this team is to learn about the nature of snowflake crystal formation and how weather conditions determine snowflake shape. This is accomplished by having the students capture digital images of snowflakes during snowfall events using laptop computers and digital microscopes. "Frosted Flakes: The Science of Snowflakes" is now a component of NASA's Global Snowflake Network.
 

Teams of dedicated CMS eighth grade students produce a series of weather reports for broadcast. These high quality reports are shown as part of the daily announcements via the CMS closed-circuit television system.