C.W. Ruckel Middle School

CONGRATULATIONS to our 2025–2026 Art in the Capitol Winners!

Ruckel Middle School is proud to celebrate two outstanding student artists whose talent and creativity earned top recognition in this year’s Art in the Capitol competition.

2nd Place – Ahymn Kim
Self-Portrait (drawing/graphite)
Teacher: Ms. Watson

3rd Place – Emma Hilleary
Untitled (drawing/chalk/pastel)
Teacher: Ms. Watson

We are incredibly proud of Ahymn and Emma for representing Ruckel Middle School with excellence in the visual arts. Their hard work, artistic skill, and dedication truly shine. We also extend sincere appreciation to Ms. Watson for her guidance and commitment to nurturing our student artists.

Congratulations to both students on this remarkable achievement!

Wow, what a great turn-out! 24 of our awesome Ruckel ram Speech and Debaters showed up this Saturday for the Florida Civics & Debate Initiative (FCDI) Northwest Regional tournament at the University of West Florida. The team participated in the Impromptu and Extemporaneous Debate events with six of these awesome debaters placing in both categories! Let's give it up for 6th place Faith Cotterman, 3rd place Benjamin Marquez, and 2nd place Finley Holden in the Impromptu event. For Extemporaneous Debate, the team swept the top three awards, 3rd place Issac Tavarez, 2nd place Benjamin Nusimow, and special congratulations to 1st place winner, William Donaldson! Finally, a huge round of applause to all participants for their hard work and special props to Mrs. Brenneise for all of the support, dedication, and commitment she brings to the team. Our team demonstrated critical thinking skills, teamwork, and great sportsmanship throughout the competition. GO RAMS!

December 19, 2025
Early Dismissal Schedule

Ruckel, coached by Emma Langston and Jack Morrison, traveled down to state to compete in what was the most stacked and deep field in FLYRA history.
Boys narrowly missed the championship, finishing 2nd in their division by just 12 points, edging out the #3 and #4 teams by 2 and 3 points, respectively. The team delivered an impressive performance, posting the fastest team average in school history, led by Christopher Dinan's 4th-place finish (10:00), followed closely by Liam Jopling in 6th place (10:01), and Jake Burpee rounding out the top 10 with a 10th-place finish (10:22).

Girls earned 4th place in their division in the most competitive FLYRA field ever assembled, posting the 3rd fastest team average in school history. The team was led by Anais Almonte with a 19th place finish (11:52), with Sophie Clapp (12:00) and Katherine Dwyer (12:10) just barely missing the podi

Our students have been loving Glow Math this week! Classrooms have been glowing—literally—as students review key math skills in a fun, engaging, and high-energy environment. Learning shines bright when Rams LEAD the way! ✨🖤💛

Ruckel Middle School NJHS Induction Ceremony, we proudly welcomed 16 new members into the National Junior Honor Society and recognized 73 returning members who received their second-semester awards. These students exemplify the pillars of scholarship, leadership, service, character, and citizenship. Congratulations to all of our NJHS Rams on their outstanding achievements! 🖤💛

Ruckel Middle School is wrapping up Red Ribbon Week with Character Day! Our students are showing their school spirit and creativity by dressing as their favorite characters while celebrating the importance of making positive, drug-free choices. It’s been a fun and meaningful week promoting healthy decisions and Rams LEAD values! 🖤💛

Ruckel Middle School is wrapping up Red Ribbon Week with Character Day! Our students are showing their school spirit and creativity by dressing as their favorite characters while celebrating the importance of making positive, drug-free choices. It’s been a fun and meaningful week promoting healthy decisions and Rams LEAD values! 🖤💛

𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁! 𝗗𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱.
OCSD Family—be sure to set your clocks back one hour before going to bed on Saturday night, November 2. We “fall back” at 2:00 AM on Sunday, November 3. Enjoy the extra hour of rest, and we’ll see everyone bright and early on Monday!

Time to shine RAMS 🐏 We are approximately $2,500.00 away from our goal! We have 10 days to go! Popsicles will be handed out next week to the student body for reaching our $10,000.00 goal this week! Let’s close this out Ruckel!

Congratulations to our outstanding Ruckel students who achieved a perfect score on their Math or ELA PM3 assessment! 🎉 Your hard work, focus, and commitment to excellence have truly paid off. Scoring perfectly on such a rigorous assessment reflects not only your academic skill but also your determination and perseverance. You exemplify what it means to be a Ruckel Ram—striving for greatness in all you do. We are incredibly proud of your accomplishment and the example you set for your peers. Keep reaching for excellence—you are the reason Ruckel continues to shine! 🖤💛

Congratulations to our Ruckel Core Value Winners! 🎉 Your dedication, positive attitude, and consistent demonstration of what it means to be a true Ram Leader set a powerful example for others. Each of you embodies the values we strive to uphold every day. We are incredibly proud of your hard work and the way you represent Ruckel Middle School with pride and integrity. Keep shining and inspiring those around you to live out our core values each day!

NJHS is hosting our annual Canned Food Drive to benefit Sharing and Caring. They are asking for non-perishable food items and have also requested items like shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent, dish soap, feminine care products, deodorant, and diapers, especially the larger sizes.

The drive will run from November 5th to November 20th through 1st Period. The classes who donate the most in each grade will win a donut party! Please help our community by donating what you can! Remember: Rams Lead, Cans Feed!

Join the 67 fun and hop on the 67 RAMs express 🐏 We reached our second goal early- impressive Ruckel! We are currently at $11,600.00 towards our $15,0000.00 goal! Let’s try for $16,700.00 to end this campaign on a final 67 number! The RMS PTO will be providing popsicles next week to the student body! Prizes are being sent home in waves and will come directly from homeroom teachers. We’ve got scooters, chick-fil-a, 7Brew, tshirts, neon sunglasses and more! Remember only $6.70 gets you a shiny dishwasher safe water bottle sticker!

Congratulations to Coach Chaffee for being our Education Support of the Month! She’s a coach, mentor, educator and all-around amazing support for our students and staff. Thank you for everything you do to make our school community stronger!

Congratulations to our Teacher of the Month, Mr. Bilderback! Your dedication, creativity, and care make a difference every day. Thank you for inspiring our students and embodying what it means to be a true educator!

We are at the halfway mark of our RMS fall fundraising campaign! We met our first milestone last week ($5,000.00!) and were able to award open lunch seating! This week we are trying to hit $10,000.00 and we are at $9,897.40! We need $102.60 to reach our second goal! Let's do this RAMS!
*When we reach this goal, we will be providing popsicles to the student body (date: TBD)

If 15 students get a $6.70 donation (the price of a midday snack!) we will hit our next goal!
If students hit the $15,000 goal we will pie Mr. Jannazo at a pep rally.

Students can earn individual prizes for meeting the following donations.
$6.70 - RMS water bottle sticker
$67.00 - a pair of RMS "67" sunglasses
$167.00 -Ruckel "67" Spirit wear t shirt
$367.00 get chick fil a lunch delivered by Principal Jannazo
$670.00 - get SIX - 7Brew gift cards (total of $60 value)
$1,670.00 - get an electric scooter ($150 value)

Current facts:
- We have approximately 92 students registered in Vertical Raise, with approximately 50 of those students having received a donation (with a student body of 1,100: 5% have contributed)

Congratulations to our Academic Team for their performance at today's competition at Rocky Bayou. Junior Varsity once again came in 1st place, winning all five of their matches! Varsity didn't place today, but both teams competed with a lot of great sportsmanship and stayed positive throughout, which is a lot to be proud of. Our next competition is December 13th at Liza Jackson. JV Silas Cotterman Emily Hull Benjamin Marquez Rex Neel Charles Oberliesen Alora Tucker Varsity Nina Adams Joslyn Bozarth Hayleigh Crimmins Gia Fuentes Aila Hurwood Amelia McAdoo

🌟 Big shoutout to our PTO Teacher Appreciation Committee - they are seriously rocking it this year! Today our faculty and staff enjoyed a BBQ picnic with some delicious meat provided by 98 BBQ. Here's a little peek! rmd.me/Goo18pgRR1s

🏈 Congratulations Ruckel Rams Football! 🏈 Our Rams are the 2025 District Champions! Your hard work, teamwork, and dedication paid off in a big way. We are so proud of you for representing Ruckel with pride, perseverance, and heart. 💛🖤