What are the good things happening in Asbury Park Middle School? According to History teacher David Wronko, a lot of great things are going on. But chances are, you will never know about them because the media tends to overshadow the good things going on in Asbury Park by the ‘undesirables’.

If you know the history behind Asbury Park, you know it’s rich with a happy and an unfortunate story. The city is considered one of the toughest to live in, in New Jersey.

You may think Asbury Park, NJ is a terrible town plagued by the influx of drugs, gangs, and violence. It is needless to say that Asbury has its work to do, but don’t let the media fool you.

There are a lot of great things going on in Asbury Park, and one of them is Mr. David Wronko’s history class and the Asbury Park Middle School.

Because Veterans Day was interrupted by Hurricane Sandy, Mr.Wronko and his students organized an assembly for the Veterans of Foreign Warsand of the Middle School. This took place on November 16, 2012.

During this assembly, Mr. Wronko’s students presented videos that were dedicated to the soldiers of World War One, World War II, Korean Conflict, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, War in Afghanistan,and War in Iraq.

From there, his students read power point presentations on women in the airforce and the bravery American soldiers demonstrated in all of the wars.

In addition to the power point presentations, another student read a document about the meaning of Veterans Day. Finally, veterans Lou Parisi, George Reed, Richey Barksdale, Mr. Williams, Mr. Barry, and Mr. Parham answered questions posed by the students concerning their experiences in the military.

A special thanks goes out to Mr. Kames for taking pictures during this assembly and Ms. Haraz for preparing the technology needed to isplay the videos.

Every year, students from Asbury Park Middle School wrote a message wishing the U.S. Soldiers’ overseas happy holidays. Despite the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, the APMS students were not thrown off track and wrote over two hundred cards to our country’s heroes. This effort proved that the soldiers fighting for our country will always be in our thoughts and prayers.Below are some samples of the cards that were done by the students.

Student Publication of The Patriot’s Pen (Part One)

The Patriot’s Pen contest took place and this year the students had to write a paper based on what would I say to the Founding Fathers.

Ny’Ree Byers wants to share his paper.
Download paper

Student Publication of The Patriot’s Pen (Part Two)

The Patriot’s Pen contest took place and this year the students had to write a paper based on what would I say to the Founding Fathers.
Download Dear Found Fathers Day

Student Publication of The Patriot’s Pen (Part Three)
The Patriot’s Pen contest took place and this year the students had to write a paper based on what would I say to the Founding Fathers.
Download Patriot Paper

Student Publication of The Patriot’s Pen (Part Four)

Lorne Pierce

Lorne Pierce, security guard and mentor for students at the Asbury Park Middle School was given recognition for his participation in The City of Asbury Park’s Annual National Night Out Celebration.In addition to this event, Lorne Pierce’s dedication to keeping the community safe has made a positive impact for the Asbury
Park Middle School’s staff and students. Below his a letter from Su Chapman, National Night Coordinator, and a few photos showing Lorne Pierce’s involvement at this event.

Download PDF

Saturday Program

Asbury Park Middle School saturday program

Hurricane Sandy had caused the Asbury Park School District to close down for two weeks. To make up for the time lost, many students on their own accord attended Mr. Wronko’s Saturday Program at the Asbury Park Middle School.

Besides completing work for their classes in Math, Science, and Language Arts,the students participated in lessons given by Mr. Wronko in world history. Some of those lessons were about Herodotus, ancient Greek historian who wrote about the Spartans’ last stand at the Battle of Thermopylae, and Thucydides, Greek historian who wrote about The History of the Peloponnesian War, a war between Athens and Sparta.

Publications: Past,Current, and Future

Mr. Wronko’s students from Asbury Park Middle School had their artwork published in numerous issues of Prehistoric Times Magazine and G-fan Magazine. Recently, Mr. Quick, computer teacher at Asbury Park Middle School and High School along with Jean Johnson, Asbury Park High School’s art teacher, had their students work also published in Prehistoric Times Magazine. In addition, in the near future students work will be seen in more issues of Prehistoric Times and a school magazine called Dig.

Besides the students’ publications, Mr. Wronko shared with his classes’ information from his own publication from Guggenheim Library,located at Monmouth University, James Francis Byrnes. James Francis Byrnes was the subject for Mr. Wronko’s master’s thesis.Through out his thesis, Mr. Wronko showed his students that James Francis Byrnes knew how to handle economic situations. However, when it came to foreign policy, James Byrnes did not have a clue.

Halloween Fun: Sleepy Hollow

Students from Asbury Park Middle School had to endure Hurricane Sandy during Halloween. After Hurricane Sandy, Mr.Wronko showed his students images of the Headless Horseman from his recent trip to Sleepy Hollow, located in New York State. From there, Mr. Wronko had his students write a story involving the Headless Horsemen. After writing the story, the students were inspired to celebrate Halloween despite the wrath of Hurricane Sandy.

Lake Champlain/Cryptozoology project

Egypt

In August of 2009, Mr. Wronko took a trip to New York State’s Lake Champlain. According to legend, there issue opposed to be a sea serpent in the lake. To inspire his students to learn about the European Explorers, Mr. Wronko brings up about his trip to Lake Champlain and explains that the lake was discovered by French navigator Samuel de Champlain.

In addition, to add spice to his story, Mr. Wronko told his students that he saw a strange wake that had a huge object. This object may have been the sea serpent. Because of this story, his students wanted to do research on all the crypto creatures in the world.

Mr.Wronko thought this was a great idea and now to this day has his students do research on the Lake Champlain Monster, the Loch Ness Monster, and Bigfoot.

Amazing images of Egypt and Pearl Harbor

Egypt

Peter Oehlberg, Mr. Wronko’s brother in-law, took these amazing pictures from his trips to Egypt and Pearl Harbor. Mr. Wronko showed these images to his students to enhance his lessons on Ancient Egypt and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that took place on December 7, 1941. These images are here now for everyone to see.

Super Science Saturday: May 4, 2013

The Great Things Happening at Asbury Park Middle School Part 2

For the past three years, student projects from Asbury Park Middle School had been put on display at the Museum in Trenton.Currently students are preparing a trip to present their projects on May 4,2013 for Trenton Museum’s Super Science Saturday. Asbury Park Middle School students will be there.