- John Muir MS
- History / Trivia
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Awards and Recognition
Student of the Month:- Each teacher has the opportunity to select 1-2 students to honor
- Award can be given for academics, effort, improvement, etc.
- Usually held 3rd Thursday of every month from October – May, at 7:30 AM
- Parents of honorees are invited
- Breakfast is served
- Each student is presented by his/her teacher. They receive a Student of the Month certificate
Semester Awards:Teachers recognize students academic achievement and celebrate student success. Recognition is also given to students who have earned at 3.5 GPA or higher and a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Character Counts Awards:Students receive recognition for moral qualities and integrity.
Scholarship Club:Students receive a membership invitation who earn a minimum GPA of 3.0 and have received no F's or U's in citizenship on their semester report cards. Students are required to pay dues and complete service hours to for full membership requirements. Students are recognized for their participation and achievement.
8th Grade Awards Night:The is an end of the year awards assembly to honor 8th grade students accomplishments and achievements. Awards are presented for attendance, grade point average, straight A's, Junior Scholastic Scholarship Federation, and Character Counts.
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Fun Facts About Muir
Haunting
Rumor has it that there is a ghost inhabiting the 200 Hall. Her name is allegedly “Susan” and she has been seen in the boys and girls bathrooms right in the middle of the 200 Hall. Does she exist? You make the call…
Famous Alumni
- Randy Rhoads (1970’s)– lead guitarist for Ozzie Ozbourne.
- Blake Lively (1998 – 2000) – Everyone’s favorite “Gossip Girl”.
- Kelly Blatz (1998 – 2000) – Star of Aaron Stone on Disney XD
BTW, Blake and Kelly dated throughout middle and high school…
Memorials around Muir
Pat Wallace – Long time teacher has a tree planted in her honor right next to the media center with a plaque commemorating her.
Arias – Muir Teacher who volunteered to serve in Vietnam and was killed in the line of duty has a memorial and rose display in front of the media center, next to the library.
Mr. Allan Burnside – Muir Principal for 20 years has the auditorium dedicated in his honor with a plaque outside the main entrance. He also had the ficus tree in the auditorium dedicated to him by his last promoting class and there is also a plaque commemorating him under the tree.
Lower field memorial - there is a mural exemplifying the pillars of character we espouse at Muir.The Bruce Osgood Pavilion
The area under the canteen is used by the 6th grade students to hang out and eat lunch. This used to be an old dirt corridor that housed old desks and scraps of metal. During reconstruction in 2003 – 5, the principal at the time, Mr. Osgood came up with the idea to dig the area out and make it into the lunch shelter it is today.
Teachers and Staff who went to Muir
- Mr. Di Donato
- Mr. Steven Moos
- Mr. Rod Rothacher
History
1922 - John Muir Intermediate School opens for the 7th and 8th grades at 220 E. Grinnell Dr. with less than 200 students and 6 teachers.
1929 - The school's name is changed to John Muir Junior High when ninth grade is added.
1952 - The opening of Muir at its current location on Kenneth.
1962 - Allan H. Burnside becomes the school's principal and stays until 1980 - the longest of any principal at Muir. Our auditorium is now named after him.
1988 - Muir becomes Burbank's first California Distinguished School.
1991 - The school becomes John Muir Middle School and gains sixth graders while losing ninth graders.
2000 - Mr. Hacking joins the Muir staff as an assistant principal after many years at Burroughs High (where he was Mr. Riner's teacher for the Psychology elective).
2004 - The school buildings are renovated and modernized.List of Principals
1960 – 1980 – Allan Burnside
1980 – 1985 – Vera Vigness
1985 – 1989 – Madge Lamb
1989 – 1997 – William Kuzma
1997 – 1999 – Joanne Starkey
1999 – 2003 – Bruce Osgood
2003 – 2010 – Daniel Hacking
2010 - 2012 – John Paramo
2012 - ???? – Greg Miller -
John Muir Song
Lyrics
RAINBOW DUST
VERSEGlorious mass of rainbow dustFine crop of frost crystalsLong snow streamers just like hairSparkling snow-spiculesCHORUSJohn Muir sat next to a treeThe tree sat next to John MuirJesting on the invisible armThe forest was the cureVERSEThe cloudless sky grew garish whiteThe gale gave no sign of dyingI was seeking another placeSafe from branches flyingCHORUSJohn Muir ran next to a streamThe stream ran next to John MuirJesting on the invisible armThe water was the cureVERSEThe air was full of fine snow dustScores of arrowy cometsFrom fountain basins near and farMelting into musicCHORUSJohn Muir sat down next to meI sat next to John MuirJesting on the invisible armThe music was the cure
The Making of "Rainbow Dust"
by Lynn RothacherOn April 21, 2014, John Muir's birthday, Mr. Moos and I decided to pass fourth period celebrating the eloquent words of John Muir. First, we read and discussed several of his quotes. Then we read a passage called "Winter Storms and Spring Floods" from The Yosemite. Before we read, we passed out sentence strips and instructed our students to keep their eyes and ears out for phrases that jumped out at them and captured their imagination. We explained that at the end of the reading, each student would write his/her favorite phrase on his/her sentence strip, and with those strips, we would compose a class poem.For the actual reading, Mr. Moos chose a musical selection by Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring, which we played in the background. It was majestic and matched Muir's beautiful prose perfectly. After the reading, students selected their favorite phrases and wrote them on their strips. Next, we asked each student to read his/her phrase and place it on the floor wherever (s)he thought it belonged. As more students came up, we instructed them to consider the placement of their phrases in relationship to the other phrases. One student read his phrase, "the gale gave no sign of dying," and set it at the very bottom of the poem, explaining, "Dying comes last."When all of the lines were in place, we asked our students to stand next to their lines on either side of the poem, and we read the poem from beginning to end, once more with Aaron Copland's music in the background. After we read the poem, a choir student noticed that no fewer than five people had selected the phrase, "rainbow dust," and that the repetition of the lines reminded her of a chorus. "We should create a song!" she exclaimed.Luckily, Mr. Moos is a professional musician and songwriter, so the next day he tried to set our poem to music. "This isn't a song," he proclaimed after trying to find an appropriate melody. "The song exists–it's in the universe, fully formed. We just have to find it." We spent the rest of the period trying to find it, selecting phrases from our poem, as well as previously overlooked phrases from our Muir packet. We also used our own words in the chorus. Mr. Moos said that we had to find a rhyme for "Muir." A student came up with "cure," which perfectly encapsulated one of the quotes we had discussed: "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike." It was a true collaboration. By the end of the period, we had found our song.Mr. Jaffe, our faculty computer guru and musician, was kind enough to give up a few of his lunches to record "Rainbow Dust," as did computer and music instructor Ms. Southward, whose angelic voice was a perfect match for Mr. Moos’. -
Survey
Survey Says…
At the end of the first semester, all John Muir students took a 36-question survey to gauge their opinions on different elements of school life, as well as questions geared toward understanding their life outside of school. The results are used to gain understanding of the students’ perspective, as well as address issues that are highlighted by the survey. Here are the overall results as well as responses broken down by grade level and by students in GATE.Overall results - all 1,410 studentsSub groups: -
Muir's Murals - Hall of Heroes
John Muir Middle School has created a place where historical figures can be honored and art can be revered. The Hall of Heroes opened in the fall of 2015. It is a series of murals that includes portraits of historical figures painted by local artist Randall Williams. The Hall of Heroes can be found in the 100 hall corridor of the main building on campus. Each of the historical figures and accompanying quotes were chosen by John Muir staff members to showcase different people who have made a difference and some who still continue to improve the world. The project was sponsored by Logix Federal Credit Union.
Be the inferior of no man, nor of any be the superior. Remember that every man is a variation of yourself.
- William Saroyan
In his lowest swoop, the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar.
- Herman Melville
I wrote a book! It's called, He Got What He Wanted And He Lost What He Had.
- Little Richard
Nothing is worth more than laughter. It is strength to laugh and to abandon oneself, to be light.
- Frida Kahlo
One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen, can change the world.
- Malala Yousafzai
Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.
- Helen Keller
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.
- Elie Wiesel
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
- Harriet Tubman
Get action. Do things; be sane; don’t fritter away your time. Create, act, take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action.
- Theodore Roosevelt
The history of the past is but one long struggle upward to equality.
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Organize, agitate, educate, must be our war cry.
- Susan B. Anthony
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community. Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.
- Cesar Chavez
Keep close to Nature's heart and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.
- Young John Muir
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
- Older John Muir -
Osgood Pavilion
The 6th grade lunch pavilion was built while Bruce Osgood was principal and the elevators were being installed on the campus. The pavilion seats approximately 300 6th grade students everyday who sit at the tables and on the slope. The pavilion provides a great place to hang out and have lunch for our newest students, but it is made completely out of concrete and was not very attractive.
In 2013, Muir decided to beautify Osgood Pavilion by having a mural painted. Paying tribute to the contributions made by John Muir, local muralist Randall Williams painted a mural of the entire Yosemite Valley, including Half Dome and Angel Falls. There is also a portrait of John Muir and a scene of Ansel Adams taking pictures. The mural was sponsored by Logix Federal Credit Union and is the largest mural in the city of Burbank at over 5,200 square feet.
