JCIB is proud to announce that senior Alan Cortes Pacheco has been selected as a Gates Scholar and member of The Gates Scholarship Class of 2025.
Alan is only one of 750 Scholars chosen from a pool of over 48,000 applicants from across the nation. This ... "group of young leaders... represent the very pinnacle of academic achievement, service, and commitment." The Gates Scholarship provides funding not just for undergraduate education, but also provides resources for study abroad, technology, leadership development and more.
Excellent job, Alan! A prime example of hard work being recognized.
Congratulations to our debate team for their second place finish this year in the Birmingham Area Debate League, sponsored by Samford University. The team of Carson Douglas and Sofia Nunez finished runners up in the season ending championship tournament, and Emma Lawley was recognized as the top speaker in the league.
Today was JCIB's annual International Festival. We had 67 countries represented by over 150 students presenting the culture and geography of the world. Students also got to sample some tasty cuisine from all over the world. Thanks to seniors Elizabeth Harris and Ella Jones for organizing this annual tradition!
Congratulations to these JCIB students who were winners at the state FBLA competition this week. They have advanced to the national FBLA competition this summer in Anaheim, California!
1st Place in Banking and Financial Systems
Kayce Murray
Julia Gray
3rd Place Cybersecurity
Madison Bridges
1st Place Website Design
Ibbie Zou
Joydin Bishop
Congratulations to JCIB senior student athlete Elizabeth Harris who has signed a track scholarship with Columbus State University!
The following students were awarded recognition by the Alabama Writers' Forum in the 2025 Alabama High School Literary Arts Competition.
Madeline Riseling (9th grade) - 2nd place fiction
Zane Wright (10th grade) - 3rd place creative nonfiction and poetry certificate of merit
Willow Barkley (10th grade) - creative nonfiction certificate of merit
Kahina Laouzai (10h grade) - poetry certificate of merit
Rachel Tucker (12th grade) - poetry certificate of merit
Counterpane also received a certificate of merit in the literary magazine category.
Please congratulate these students when you see them. There were hundreds of submissions from all across the state so these awards are really special!
Seven JCIB High students travelled to Montgomery for the Future Problem Solvers State Bowl, and they took home seven first place trophies, sweeping every category in which they were entered. Each one received an invitation to advance to International competition in June. (They are pictured here with the many champions from the JCIB Middle School) If you see any of them this week, I know they would appreciate a congratulations on their hard work:
Scenario Writing, senior division: Kahina Laouzai (her second year as State Champion in this event)
Team Global Issues Problem Solving, senior division: Aubrey Lake, Ashleigh Cox, Adrien Chavez, Declan Sitzman
Individual Global Issues Problem Solving, middle division: Mikayla Fielder
Individual Global Issues Problem Solving, senior division: Rachel Tucker
JCIB Honors Night will be next Thursday, March 13, at 5:00 PM in the Shades Valley Auditorium. Our students will be recognized and inducted into many different academic honor societies.
Our Model UN team participated in the University of Alabama’s Model United Nations conference this weekend, and we had 3 seniors and a freshman take home awards! If you see these students, please congratulate them on their hard work!
Best Delegate in Cleve’s Court: Sammie Poarch
Verbal Commendation in AdHoc: Joydin Bishop
Verbal Commendation in WHO: Simon Kimani
Best Position Paper in Remember the Alamo: Dorian Bridges
Congratulations to Mrs. Sport and Counterpane, our own literary and arts magazine, for having last year's edition ranked as a REALM (Recognizing Excellence in Art & Literary Magazines) Superior publication by the National Council of Teachers of English. This is the second year in a row that Counterpane has received a REALM award, and we very proud of the student staff for their achievements!
Congratulations to JCIB junior Jamie Small for being named the Shades Valley Mountie Football Complete Scholar Athlete of the Week! This is a great example of our IB Learner Profile trait of Balanced!
🎉💙Happy National School Counseling Week 2025!💙 We're celebrating our amazing school counselors and their vital role in helping students thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. Thank you for all you do! #NSCW25 #ThankYouCounselors
Saturday was a great day for our JCIB Ethics Bowl team at the state tournament in Tuscaloosa. It was our teams' first time to compete. The seniors went 4-0 in round robin play. Their first match was against defending champ Hoover, a team that is in their third year of competition. Winning that opening round set the tone for the day, and our senior team rolled. We had to face Hoover again in the finals, and it's hard to beat a good team twice. The seniors brought it again, but came out with a 2-1 loss to Hoover and are the state runner up in their debut season. Our juniors are going to be a force next year. They won a ballot against the eventual winner.
Seniors:
Layla Anderson
Simon Kimani
Jackson Masters
Katherine McClellan
Faith Migwi
Valencia Spivey
Juniors:
Morgan Durant
Alivia Hood
Josie Motes
Ugo Orji
Jonah Oldendorf
Micah Shipman
Congratulations to our Shades Valley/JCIB girls bowling team for finishing runner up in Class 6A/7A Region 6. They will advance to the AHSAA North Regional next week in Trussville. This is a first for our girls bowling team!
Many of us went to sleep on Thursday night, thinking it wouldn't happen after all. And then it did!! The JEFCOED family enjoyed a beautiful snow day on Friday.❄️☃️ Thank you to all of those who sent in pictures. Your smiles and joy warmed our hearts. Here are just a few of the many fantastic pictures we received.
The second semester starts on Wednesday, January 8 at 7:55 AM. We will start the day in 3rd block. We hope everyone had a great break and we can't wait to see everyone back at school!
Construction continues on the Shades Valley campus. We will continue with our arrival and dismissal plan from last semester. Car riders should be dropped off and picked up at the Shades Valley tunnel. Busses will depart from school 15 minutes earlier than normal.
Students were once again very generous for our annual Giving Tree competition, especially the class of 2025. They have edged out their competition for the third year in a row with well over 100 items for the food pantry. Thank you to Frau Bruce and the German Club for sponsoring this event and demonstrating our IB Learner Profile trait of caring!
This morning, the Alabama Department of Education approved a resolution recognizing Dr. Walter B. Gonsoulin, Jr. as the 2025 Alabama Superintendent of the Year!! Dr. Gonsoulin serves State School Board Districts Three, Four, and Seven with heart, vision, and determination. We couldn't be prouder of his leadership.
Congratulations, Dr. Gonsoulin! You've made us all #JEFCOEDProud!
Important Bus Dismissal Time Change
I'm sure everyone is aware of the construction that is taking place on the Shades Valley campus. A construction project of this magnitude requires that we are flexible as the project progresses. As a result, our afternoon buses will be loading and departing school fifteen minutes earlier than normal from Monday, December 2nd, 2024 through the end of the first semester. December 20th, 2024. Car riders and Shades Valley bus riders will be dismissed at the usual time. Car riders must be dropped off and picked up at the Shades Valley tunnel. No drop offs or pick ups will be allowed at the IB Commons door.
Please make arrangements to be at the bus stop fifteen minutes earlier than normal in the afternoons during this time period. Thank you in advance for your flexibility and understanding.
Our annual Giving Tree sponsored by the German Club is back for the holiday season. The grade level who brings the most food donations will win a cookie party! See Frau Bruce for more information.
