Middle school to host lip sync competition

When Berg Middle School social studies teacher Tyler Stewart went before the Newton Community School District board of education on Dec. 14, he didn’t go alone. He had three members of the school’s student council with him.

Berg student council officers Blake Sevenbergen, Molly Coy and Jenna Smith went with Stewart to present a fundraiser idea to the board. The board heartily supported their fundraiser — a Feb. 25 evening lip-sync competition for students and teachers.

“We plan on making this a spectacular event that is looked forward to each year by the community in Newton,” Stewart told the Newton Daily News. “To ensure that the acts who perform do a great job we will be holding tryouts in early February.  We will select 12 student acts and five teacher acts to perform. It will take place at night so we can invite parents to come.  We will be selling tickets in advance (shortly after students get back from holiday break).”

Stewart said the lip sync project started to come together after national anti-bullying speaker Kirk Smalley came to BMS for a powerful Nov. 11 presentation. The event was a poignant bookend of a long series of anti-bullying activities on campus, but it’s expensive to bring in speakers of Smalley’s caliber.

In order to continue to bring in powerful, effective speakers, the student council brainstormed for fundraising ideas.

“I brought up the idea of a lip sync competition because it was something I did in middle school,” Stewart said. “However, we did it just for fun.”

Stewart said turning that kind of assembly into a fundraiser took some thought and discussion.

“I knew there could be a way for us to put on a lip sync competition that would be fun and also allow us to raise some money,” Stewart said. “So the student council officers helped me brainstorm ideas.

Stewart said the 17 entries will be judged in the Feb. 25 competition.

“We will have a panel of judges — who have yet to be named,” Stewart said. “We will also have a couple of hosts for the night.”

Once the plans were solidified, Stewart and the student council officers — Coy, the president; Sevenbergen , the vice president, and Smith, the secretary, went before the board on Dec. 14 to talk about the event.

All three spoke to the board about either activities the council is involved with, or why the fundraiser lip sync will be a fun and important event.

Newton Schools fundraisers and other public events have not always been run by the board in the past. However, a recent board request for such presentations, along with an external audit recommendation, have led to more such events being discussed publicly before the board.

The board unanimously voted to approve the Feb. 25 event. Superintendent Bob Callaghan praised Stewart for jumping into his new role this year as advisor at Berg, where there are a number of staff members in their first year at the school.

Stewart said there might be a opening for a board member to participate in the lip sync; the board had a good chuckle about who would be the most suited.

Coy talked about the visit from Smalley, and why the council wants to bring in more passionate speakers.

“Kirk had a major impact on the school,” Coy said. “We’ve set up our own local chapter of Stand for the Silent, the organization he started in memory of his son Ty, one of the kids who were bullied and took their own lives. We want to have more speakers come to Berg, and help prevent bullying here, in Newton, and, hopefully, throughout Jasper County.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com