Urbandale Students Create Way to Celebrate Accomplishments of Peers

Keep your eye on your mailboxes, Urbandale residents.

Recently, Urbandale Middle School students created a new, annual publication called 'truly U', a magazine that will highlight the literary and artistic accomplishments of fellow students, according to Urbandale school district's website.

Urbandale Middle School students Maya Sims and Karin Sickles managed the project from concept to completion. They had the help of Matthew Onstot with the Optimist Club of Urbandale, and Ben Hoffman, seventh grade language arts teacher at the middle school.

Middle school Optimist Club members helped format and print the final publication. They also sponsored an honorary breakfast on May 24, where students received achievement awards. 

Copies of the truly U publication will be distributed throughout the district, local community organizations, and in waiting rooms of medical offices and local businesses.

Onstot originally brought the idea of truly U to middle school principal Dan Meyer. A multitude of submissions were received from UMS students with a total of 13 being selected for publication.