School Highlights

2021-2022 Highlights

Excellence 

  • The William S. Cohen School was rated the third best middle school in Maine by the U.S. News and World Report.  Congratulations to our students, faculty and staff, and school community for this wonderful recognition.  The school received a congratulatory email from Secretary William S. Cohen! 

  • 64% of sixth grade students met the Advanced benchmark in January.

  • 92% of Cohen students were At or Above State Expectations on the Spring State Assessment (NWEA).  

  • 91% of Cohen students were At or Above State Expectations on the Spring State Assessment (NWEA). 

  • Over 150  students were honored for their high academic achievement during the Academic Awards Ceremony.  

  • Accelerated Coursework: Cohen School students embraced the challenge of participating in accelerated coursework. The following data represents students participation across the content areas – 

  • Accelerated English/Language Arts: 30% (115 in Grades 6-8)

  • Accelerated Mathematics: 26% (97 in Grades 6-8)

  • Accelerated Social Studies: 26% (99 in Grades 7-8)

  • Accelerated Science: 18% (69 in Grades 7-8)

  • World Languages: 52% of Grade 8 students 

  • A Grade 6 student won first place at the Middle School Science & Engineering Fair  in the Engineering and Computation category.  The student has been nominated to apply to the Broadcom MASTERS Competition  

  •   The William S. Cohen School’s MathCounts Team competed in the Eastern Maine round of the MathCounts competition.  The team was highly competitive and four students combined for the highest score in the state.

  • Eastern Chapter of Math Counts 

  1. William S. Cohen School – Total Score of 41.5

    • Pemetic Elementary – Total Score of 28.5

    • Conners Emerson School – Total Score of 24.75

  • The fall sports season was very successful at William S. Cohen. The girls soccer team finished the season at a perfect 10-0!  The boys soccer team completed the season with a 7-1-1 record. The Cross Country team was the 2021 Champions of the PVMS Large School Invitational and the Eastern Maine Middle School League!  The middle school football team had a successful fall and completed the season with a 7-1 record.  The middle school field hockey team had a successful, competitive season. And, congratulations to the students that participated in the instructional soccer program this fall. Thank you to all our coaches and students for a very successful fall season! 

  • Grade 8 traveled to Bangor High School for a Step-Up Day program to help with the transition to Grade 9.   

  • The William S. Cohen School band, chorus, and orchestra performed two concerts at Peakes Auditorium during the second semester of the school year.  

  • The Cohen School library set out to improve book circulation to promote a culture of readers. Circulation was up 60% from the previous year.   

  • The Cohen School Rocket Club blasted into action once again this fall.   According to the club’s advisor Mr. Bilancia, “The Rocket Club is open to all students and is a fun, exciting, hands-on experience where students learn about and launch model rockets. We have a long tradition with this program here at Cohen, and we have been very pleased to be able to offer it again this year.” This year the club met on Mondays during the month of October.  We look forward to offering the program again next year and well into the future. 

  • The use of technology as a tool has continued to develop at the Cohen School. The expansion of Google Classroom remained an important instructional feature in all classrooms 

  • Teen Trendsetters began this month at William S. Cohen.  Student mentors are reading with students at the Abraham Lincoln School on a weekly basis throughout the year.  This exciting program is part of the Barbara Bush Foundation. Mrs. Trisha Martin is leading the student group at Cohen and Abraham Lincoln.