mchurella@altoonamirror.com

EBENSBURG — Central Cambria Middle School was designated one of the 2025-26 Don Eichhorn Schools: Schools to Watch for the first time this year, an honor students and staff celebrated during an assembly Friday.

The Schools to Watch program recognizes outstanding middle schools throughout the nation for their academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity and organizational structure — all of which are qualities exemplified by the district’s students and staff, Superintendent Jason Moore said.

“This distinction belongs to the entire Central Cambria community,” Moore said. “It reflects the commitment of our educators who go above and beyond, our students who rise to meet high expectations and our families who support learning both in and out of the classroom.”

Mirror photo by Matt Churella / Central Cambria Middle School art teacher Donna Kirsch talks about her sixth grade advisory class during an assembly Friday, while eighth grader Leah Rainey stands with her.

Moore also recognized the school district’s board of directors, some of whom attended the assembly, during which students were presented with a banner commemorating the achievement by Bruce Vosburgh, Pennsylvania’s Schools to Watch director, and Laurette Eades, a regional agent for Horace Mann Insurance, which sponsored the awards this year.

The school board’s continued support and “clear prioritization of middle level education has been essential” in making the achievement possible, Moore said.

“They understand something that research and experience both confirm: the middle school years are not simply just a transition; they are a critical period of growth that requires intentional focus, resources and care,” Moore said.

While speaking to the students, Vosburgh asked anyone involved in athletics, music or chorus band, drama performances and musicals and any other after school-related activities to raise their hands, to which nearly every hand in the auditorium went up.

“This is what makes a great school,” Vosburgh said, noting a lot of school districts across the commonwealth look to cut those programs when funding is tight because they don’t see the value they have in improving test scores.

Extracurricular activities build a student’s connection to their school community, making school a place students want to be, which in turn improves academic growth, Vosburgh said.

“If you want to come to school, you’re going to learn, and if you have teachers that are passionate about what they do, you’re going to learn,” Vosburgh said to the students. “Your teachers have done a fabulous job.”

The Schools to Watch program is a three-year designation, and the application process for the redesignation process will be more difficult, Vosburgh said, noting he hopes Central Cambria reapplies so he can return to celebrate the school’s continued growth.

Joe Strittmatter, the school’s principal, said being named a school to watch means that Central Cambria Middle School is a place where students are challenged, supported and given opportunities to grow.

“We’re proud of what we have accomplished and even more excited about where we’re going,” Strittmatter said, noting the recognition affirms what he sees every day — that the school has intelligent and talented students as well as passionate and caring teachers, who all go “above and beyond” to ensure their students succeed.

Art teacher Donna Kirsch said her sixth grade advisory class painted windows for breast cancer awareness month at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown for their service learning project this year.

The students had fun, were fed a delicious meal and even sang songs together on the ride back to school, Kirsch said, noting every student understood the purpose of their paintings and came away with a deeper empathy for others by the time they left the hospital.

“As a teacher, that gives me enormous satisfaction because teaching empathy to my students is priceless; even more important than teaching them art,” Kirsch said.

Several students spoke during the assembly to highlight Central Cambria’s academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity and organizational structure.

“When we compare ourselves to schools across Pennsylvania that are similar to us — same size, similar communities — we don’t just keep up. In many cases, we’re leading,” student Alyssa Hite said.

Students Nora Stevens and Emerson Rakar said the school’s unified bocce ball team is a great example of how every student at Central Cambria is made to feel valued, supported and is given the opportunity to be part of something.

The friendships made during bocce ball go well beyond the game, Rakar said, noting team members recently went to a movie theater together to see “Michael,” the biographical film about Michael Jackson.

“This wasn’t a school event,” Rakar said. “This was just friends who got to know each other through bocce ball choosing to spend time together.”

“That’s what inclusion really looks like,” Stevens added, noting the students enjoy listening to music and dancing together.

Jackson’s song, “Beat It,” then played over the loud speaker as Stevens and Rakar began to moonwalk and dance with their bocce ball partners on the stage.

The assembly closed with a group of students performing a snippet of the school’s musical, “The Lion King,” and closing remarks by Strittmatter, who thanked the students for making Central Cambria one of 71 other middle schools in the commonwealth to receive the Schools to Watch designation since the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform launched the program in 1999.

“I know we have talented kids. I’m almost teary-eyed seeing them do that up on stage,” Strittmatter said. “We have artists who can create art that would blow your mind. I get to see that every day; I’m just happy that other people get to see it.”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.