Informational Publication - Harrisonburg City Schools

Transcription

Harrisonburg City Public Schools
A Place Where Learning Has No Limits
and Together We Work for the Success of All
Fall 2013
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
1- Cover
2- Superintendent’s
Message
3- Technology
4- STEM Academy
5- Individualized
Instruction
6 - 7 Diversity
8 - Fine Arts Academy
9- Spotswood Elementary
10- Stone Spring Elementary
11 - Keister Elementary
12- Waterman Elementary
13- Smithland Elementary
14- Syline Middle
School
15- Thomas Harrison
Middle School
16- 18 Harrisonburg
High School
19- 20 Community
Involvement
21- Poet in the Schools
22 - AVID
23 - Alumni
This publication was
written and designed by
the students of the 20122013 Harrisonburg High
School Newsstreak Staff
and members of the AP
English Language and
Composition
Course:
Sukriti Adhikari, Joshua
Byrd, Julexus Cappell, Austin Coffey, Ben DiNapoli,
Anthony Duong, John Earle, Celia Ehrenpreis, Bryndal Fulginiti, Luke Gibson,
Paul Hairston, Salar Haji,
Kerri Hofacker, Ana Hunter-Nickels, Nishat Jamil,
Mia Karr, Mary McMahan,
Maggie Siciliano, Dylan
Bontrager, Paige Baedke,
Orion Churney, Morgan
Neary and Aurvan Koyee
Table of Contents
MISSION
STATEMENT
page 2
Harrisonburg City Public Schools:
A place where learning has no limits and
together we work for the success of all.
Kizner believes in the power of a great education
W
elcome to Harrisonburg
City
Public Schools,
located in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, a
school system of excellence educating 5,300 students in grades PK-12.
We believe that the
strength of our school
system comes from our
highly diverse student
population where over 50
languages are spoken by
our students.
Our school system also
prides itself in our commitment to providing a
rigorous academic curriculum that includes many
advanced placement, dual
enrollment and honors
level courses, a regional
Governor’s school for science, and outstanding foreign language, arts, music,
journalism, and sports
programs.
Harrisonburg City Public Schools has outstanding vocational, business
and technical education
programs including advanced computer labs,
and a wide range of computer application oppor-
“In our
pursuit for
continuous
improvement, we
face many
challenges. But
behind each
challenge is an
opportunity.”
tunities for all students.
We are also very proud
of our fine arts departments from our bands to
our theater productions
and everything in between.
Harrisonburg City Public Schools is also glad
to offer a broad range of
programs and services for
students who would benefit from additional support or challenge and/or
be taught in an alternative
learning model. We take
satisfaction in our inclusive programs for children
with disabilities, a full day
preschool that sets the
Dr. Scott Kizner,
Harrisonburg
City Public
Schools
Superintendent
stage for life long learning
success and district-wide
gifted and talented programs.
We are very fortunate
to have a supportive local government and community that values the
importance of educating
children and providing
them the experiences and
resources needed to be
successful learners and
be prepared for the challenges that lie ahead.
Partnerships with local
universities, business and
civic and nonprofit organizations give our students
and teachers a breadth of
opportunities to improve
teaching and learning
that is not often found in
many communities.
Education is impacted
by the limits of fiscal resources, time and belief,
but learning has no limits. Organizations like
Harrisonburg City Public
Schools, who understand
the concepts of unlimited
opportunity, are the ones
who seize the day. This is
what makes Harrisonburg
City Public Schools one of
the best.
In our pursuit for continuous improvement, we
face many challenges. But
behind each challenge is
an opportunity.
We are fortunate in
Harrisonburg to have a
community that supports
public education and a
school board and staff
who are committed to the
highest levels of professionalism and excellence
for all children. Harrisonburg City Public Schools is
an exciting place and the
best is yet to come.
-Scott Kizner, Ph.D.
Technology
page 3
HCPS
Tech
Facts
• Current ratio (division-wide) of computers to students is better than1:2.
• All core classrooms
have projectors and
document
cameras.
Most classrooms at elementary and middle
have SMART Boards
or other interactive
whiteboards.
Many
classrooms at HHS
have some type of interactive whiteboard
or interactive projector.
• There are over 400
iPads available for student use. There are
also minilabs of iPod
Touches, iPod Nanos,
and iPod Shuffles available throughout the
division.
• A partnership with
Rosetta Stone provides
accounts for all students and staff to learn
different languages.
• All teachers have web
pages to share information with parents
and the community.
• Parents have access
to student grades
through the Parent
Portal.
• All division libraries
are online and there
are many resources
available to students.
• Online SOL testing is
done at the elementary, middle, and high
school levels.
• Teachers and students are exploring
innovative (and fun)
ways to use existing
and new technology,
such as QR codes, to
make learning more
meaningful.
PHOTO BY BRYNDAL FULGINITI
A NEW WAY OF LEARNING Sophomore Delshana Shifflett works on finishing the yearbook’s index before it gets
sent off to be published. “I really like having the computer to use for the yearbook because it gives me more opportunities to make the yearbook look great,” Shifflett said.
HCPS work to integrate new technologies to aid students
by Bryndal Fulginiti
We all remember those
stories that our parents or
teachers told us that began with “Back when I was
a kid...” and went on to tell
us how different their lives
were as compared to our
modern lifestyle. That’s
exactly how things are in
schools today.
Teachers are now the
ones explaining to us how
they didn’t have the technological advantages we
have. They talk of things
such as floppy discs, electric typewriters and dot
matrix printers.
These
things are foreign to our
vocabulary.
Today, teachers and
students have a ton of
technological advantages
such as smart boards,
iPads, iTouches and portable laptop labs that they
can use to make learning
easier and a lot more fun.
Director of Technology
for HCPS, Karen Campbell,
takes care of all the technological resources that
the students and teachers
use. She makes sure all the
computers, laptops, MacBooks, iPads, etc. are all
working. She also works
with different web pages
and software applications
along with making purchases for the division and
coming up with new ideas
for future learning.
Each school year HCPS
has a budget that is used
to purchase different technological resources.
“There is $470,000.00
spent on technology that’s
used for instructional use.
That includes the hardware and software that is
needed for the devices,”
Campbell said.
With all the technology
that is in the school system, something is bound
to crash or need to be
updated. The technology
team doesn’t throw stuff
away quickly. They make
good use of it.
“If something has happened to one of the devices, we always try our hardest to fix it ourselves before
we send it off to get it fixed,
but if it’s at the point where
nothing else can be done
to it, we send it away to be
recycled,” Campbell said.
With all the technological resources in the
schools, the teachers and
the students receive many
benefits.
Teachers are able to
do more hands-on activities and classroom games
while using either an iPad,
a smartboard, or even a
MacBook. They are able to
stay on the cutting edge of
the technological world as
it rapidly changes.
Students and teachers
are able to work with people all around the world on
different learning websites.
Teachers can also individualize instruction for
each student.
“With the online advantages that are provided,
it’s easier for students to
have a better understanding of what they are being
taught. It’s also easier for
teachers because they are
able to go online and put
their grades in and students (as well as their parents) are able to log onto
the student/parent portal
and look at their grades,”
Campbell said.
Students in eight classrooms will have a new set
of mobile devices this year
through the Transforming
Classrooms into Communities of Learning grant. The
students will be using the
devices, which include
iPads, Junos, Chromebooks
and laptops, for increased
access to information and
to engage in collaboration,
criticial thinking, and realworld activities.
TOTAL NUMBER
OF COMPUTER/
MOBILE
DEVICES PER
SCHOOL
Harrisonburg
High School
970
Thomas Harrison
Middle School
635
Skyline
Middle School
595
Keister
Elementary
School
256
Smithland
Elementary
School
240
Waterman
Elementary
School
257
Spotswood
Elementary
School
278
Stone Spring
Elementary
School
230
STEM Academy
page 4
STEM Academy pushes students to excel
STEM
Quick Facts
This is the second
year that HHS has offered the STEM program.
STEM is currently
being offered to
freshmen and sophomores
attending
HHS.
STEM works to push
all students to their
fullest
potential
while providing special education in the
science, mathematics and engineering
fields.
The STEM Academy
offers a more hands
on
environment
where students have
the opportunity to
apply their knowledge from the classroom to the real
world.
Freshmen
STEM
classes include: Introduction to Engineering, Honors Physics,
Honors Algebra II
and Honors English
9.
Sophomore
STEM
classes include: Advanced Placement
(AP) Statistics, Honors English 10, Engineering II, and a combined Honors Earth
Science and Honors
Chemistry course.
HHS STEM teachers
are: science teacher
Andy Jackson, math
teacher
Geoffrey
Estes, career and
technical education
teacher Seth Stratford, and English
teacher Sheila Antonnicola.
by Austin Coffey
This school year marks
the second that Harrisonburg High School will be
offering the Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) Academy.
This program is supported
by an advisory board of a
dozen community science
and engineering leaders,
along with a few HCPS
staff members.
Launching the STEM
Academy for seventh and
eighth graders through
Thomas Harrison and Skyline Middle schools, the
STEM program is quickly
progressing in the educational world. Continuing
with last year’s excitement
in introducing the academy to HHS, the incoming
freshmen are responding
to the program with a very
gratifying tone going into
their sophomore year of
high school.
“I liked it. We did do
more hands on activities
than what we would have
done in a regular or even
an honors class,” rising
sophomore and current
STEM student Christian
Gehman said.
“STEM is a definite success. We learned about
the little things and in the
end that influenced the
big picture. It’s like when
you look at individual
pieces of a puzzle, and are
able to put them together
to make up the whole picture,” rising sophomore
and current STEM student
Austin Engle said.
In the STEM academy,
freshmen students dedicate half of their school
day to the program. The
classes include Introduction to Engineering, Honors Physics, Honors Algebra II and Honors English
9.
Sophomore students
should expect to commit
half of their school day
to classes like Advanced
Placement (AP) Statistics,
Honors English 10, Engineering II, and a combined
PHOTO BY AUSTIN COFFEY
STEADY NOW. Freshman Jaymie Inouye and Austin Engle work on a project during a
STEM class. STEM Academy was established in 2012 for interested math and science
students.
Honors Earth Science and
Honors Chemistry course.
Classes outside of STEM
academy are incorporated
into the other half of the
day, and are not geared
toward the engineering
field.
In addition to the student’s schedule, all STEM
students
can
expect
many hands on activities
through the engineering
class, such as designing
and building models for
cars, rockets, working on
a project known as Carmegeddon, along with
many other experiential
activities that allow students to apply what they
learn in the classroom to a
real life situation.
With such an extensive curriculum, students
are able to get a sense of
preparation for further
education in college and a
life full of success.
“The STEM program
prepares you for success
later on, helping us understand how what we
are doing in the classroom
integrates with a job and
more importantly our lives
in the future,” Engle said.
The STEM Academy
classes
are
currently
taught by science teacher Andy Jackson, math
teacher Geoffrey Estes, career, technical education
teacher Seth Stratford,
and English teacher Sheila
Antonnicola.
“I love integrating
physics, math and engineering. Making sure that
students have a strong
background in all of these
categories gives us a
chance to enhance these
areas in the future,” Jackson said.
STEM teachers communicate with one another on a weekly basis,
allowing the classrooms
to be connected and integrating the same material into each subject.
This method of education
engages students on an
engineering background,
while allowing them to excel on one particular topic.
“The teachers talk with
each other and make everything flow,” rising sophomore and current STEM
student Robert Heitsch
said.
HHS STEM administrators are also in the beginnings of planning for big
things next school year.
“We will be doing proj-
ects such as a few James
Madison University (JMU)
field trips, Carmegeddon,
Team America, and the
Rocket Challenge. I also
am in conversation with a
JMU professor who works
with soft materials such as
mayonnaise, glass, motor
oil, mudslides, avalanches,
and toothpaste. Hopefully
we will be able to visit his
lab and do an independent
study with the students
there,” Jackson said.
In addition, students
will have the opportunity
to enter into a research
competition known as the
Virginia Junior Academy of
Science (VJAS). These competitions encourage scientific aptitude among students in seventh through
twelfth grade. Hopefully it
pushes students to continue educating themselves
in the science and engineering fields.
“Students do not have
to want to be an engineer
to attend this program. I
believe that this is too narrow of a field for a 13-yearold to decide. However, I
hope that the STEM Academy prepares students for
what they choose to do in
the future,” Jackson said.
Individualized Instruction
page 5
Online classes open up possibilities
Joshua Byrd
American Popular
Music
History of
Photography
International Business
Investing in the Stock
Market
Personal finance
German Language
Russian Language
Biotechnology
Engineering Principles
Forensic Science
Criminology
Constitutional Law
Democracy in the U.S.
DNA technology
Shakespeare in films
Sociology
Screen writing
Fundamentals
Sports and Society
The Holocaust
The Vietnam War
Web design
The Human Body
Psychology of Crime
Biochemistry
Bioethics
Business and Personal
Law
Nuclear Physics
Pre-veterinary
Medicine
High School that saying
goes away when it comes
to class choices. HHS offers many classes for
students, from Advanced
Placement to honors
to regular high school
courses.
In addition to these,
the options are endless
for students who take online courses. Around six
years ago, Harrisonburg
High School signed onto
Virtual Virginia, the Virginia Department of Education’s online program that
offers classes unavailable
to students through faceto-face learning. Students
benefit from classes that
are often highly suited to
their interests and needs
through individualized
learning.
In Virtual Virginia
courses, students work
with teachers and peers
from all around the area.
Teachers are not burdened with maintaining
classroom peace or even
a set schedule and are
often free to answer students’ questions on an
individual basis through
phone calls and the website’s messaging group
that acts like instant messaging.
Sometimes, this way
of learning can be a disadvantage to students.
According
to
senior
Emma Peifer, the teacher
couldn’t always get back
to you right away, unlike
a regular classroom.
Students must do their
Amin Kraimeche, 12
Emma Peifer, 12
Sukriti Adhikari, 12
“My favorite part of taking
an online class is working
at my own pace,” Peifer
said.
“I like the fact that I can
finish everything in a
short amount of time,”
Adhikari said.
It is often said that
you can’t always get what
you want. But, when you
come to Harrisonburg
Virtual
High School
Some of the over 300
offerings include:
“The best benefit of
online classes is that
you are able to work
at your own pace,”
Kraimeche said.
work alone. This isn’t a
problem since the reason
they are taking the class
is because the school
doesn’t offer it. Also, unlike other classes, students are quite eager to
take these courses. Peifer,
for example, was excited
to take AP Art history this
year.
“I felt like I had enough
resources to be prepared
[for the AP test]” Peifer
said.
Peifer also liked the
“laid-back” nature of Virtual Virginia as opposed
to a regular classroom.
Gail Collins, Harrisonburg High School’s online
“mentor”, has seen the
program expand greatly
over the past half-decade
under her watch.
“When it began, it
was three students and
it wasn’t as active as it is
now,” Collins said. Now,
there have been as many
as 20 students enrolled
in Virtual Virginia courses
during one semester.
Collins has been glad
to see that HHS’s students, particularly its
gifted and motivated students, have an opportunity to take classes suited
to their passions as well
as having individualized
instruction based on both
their needs and motivation to learn.
Though she says that
students “prefer the faceto-face format over the
online environment,” Collins notes that programs
such as Virtual Virginia offer a “means to an end” to
take somewhat unusual
classes such as Arabic or
Macroeconomics, and for
this reason, they’re expanding.
“It allows students to
take a class that we don’t
offer at the high school,”
Collins said.
One advantage that
students have is that
there is flexibility in completing assignments. Also
it gives students more
class choices.
“Well, it expands opportunities and provides
choice,” Collins said. “Every student should have
the opportunity and
experience of an online
class.”
HHS also offers classes through Virtual High
School. By being a member of this international
consortium, we provide
one teacher to teach a
course for Virtual High
School and in return get
50 seats in any course
they offer during the
academic year. Virtual
High School offers unique
electives, AP courses and
even courses for remediation purposes. Students
do collaborative projects
and get to virtually ‘meet’
students from all over the
world.
Taylor Swan, 11
“I’ve met a lot of
people from all over
the country who are
taking the class as well,”
Swan said.
Virtual Virginia
AP Art History
AP Biology
AP Calculus AB
AP Calculus BC
AP Chinese Language
AP Computer Science
AP English Language
and Composition
AP English Literature
and Composition
AP Environmental
Science
AP European History
AP French Language
AP Comparative Gov.
AP U.S. Government
and Politics:
Comparative
AP U.S. Government
and Politics: US
AP Human Geography
AP Latin
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
AP Physics B
AP Psychology
AP Spanish Language
AP Statistics
AP U.S. History
AP World History
Arabic I
Arabic II
Arabic III
Chemistry (Advance)
Chemistry (Honors)
Chinese I
Chinese II
Chinese III
Chinese IV
Creative Writing
Earth Science
Earth ScienceAstronomy
Economics
Economics and
Personal Finance
French I
French II
Introduction to Game
Design and
Development
Latin I - IV
Physics (Honors)
Pre-Calculus,
Mathematical Analysis
Psychology
Spanish I
Spanish II
Spanish IV
Survey of World
Language and Culture
World History and
Geography
World Mythology
Diversity
page 6
Moving to America presents challenges What Makes
Uniquely
diverse
culture in
city schools
adds to wellrounded
education for
students
by Nishat Jamil
As freshman Saruha
Demirtas studies beside
his fellow classmates, he
cannot help but fondly
remember his old life
in Turkey. Leaving with
his mother and stepfather, Demirtas traveled
to America so his stepfather could work at his
new job. He expected
America to be like the reality shows that premiere
on television, with buildings that touched the sky
and bustling with colorful
characters, similar to his
lifestyle in Turkey. However, Demirtas was slightly
disappointed when he
arrived in Harrisonburg,
with only a population
of 50,862 people while
Turkey has roughly about
75,627,384.
“[I was in] shock. I
expected more people,”
Demirtas said. While Harrisonburg hasn’t quite lived
up to his expectations,
Demirtas enjoys living and
studying here in this Virginian city. “The education
is better here [than it is in
Turkey],” Demirtas said.
The population was
not the only thing that
astounded Demirtas, but
culture was rather new to
him as well.
“People in Turkey
were more friendly, more
touchable [compared to
Americans],”
Demirtas
said. In Turkey, a kiss on
the cheek constituted a
greeting while Americans
prefer handshakes.
America took more
than just getting a little
used to for Demirtas as he
could barely speak English.
“[My first year was a]
disaster. Learning English
[was challenging],” Demirtas said.
Coming to America
made Demirtas self-conscious and reserved, worried that he wouldn’t be
able to fit in with his classmates. However, Demirtas studied hard and
learned the language for
six months, finally coming
out of his shell.
“Once I learned English, I could communicate
easily,” Demirtas said. “I’m
a very friendly guy, so I
made a lot of friends.”
Junior Tianying Zhang
also had a difficult time
adjusting to America
when she arrived in 2009.
“[I sometimes] can’t
understand what people
say [in English],” Zhang
said.
Zhang had studied
English in her home coun-
PHOTO BY NISHAT JAMIL
PHONING HOME. Tianying Zhang talks to her boyfriend, who still lives in China, before her first class.
try, China, before moving
to America to live with her
father, but the language
still proves to be difficult.
Unlike
Demirtas,
Zhang found America
much better than China,
despite the great cultural
gap, especially in terms of
education.
She also likes that students can work part time
in America, allowing them
a chance to earn some
money.
“You can’t work part
time in China, you aren’t
allowed to,” Zhang said.
However, no matter
how much she enjoys her
new life in America, Zhang
still wishes she could see
her friends in China.
“I left a lot of relatives
[in Turkey],” Demirtas said,
who, like Zhang, still feels
homesick.
Even though America
promised many opportunities for them, both
Demirtas and Zhang
found it hard to leave everything that was familiar.
Fortunately, with today’s
technology, they can still
communicate with their
friends and families.
No matter where students come from, be it
from Turkey or China, they
will face difficulties such
as the language barrier or
the culture shock.
However, it is not impossible to adjust and
overcome these challenges like Zhang and Demirtas had. There are many
students from different
corners of the world who
come to Harrisonburg for
new and better opportunities, working their way
around these challenges.
HCPS offers English as
a Second Language service in all schools since
there is such diversity in
every student body. Generally speaking, students
find it to be a great benefit that they get to learn
beside people from such
varied worldwide cultures.
Your Culture
Interesting?
Hispanic culture: “I
think it’s festive, [especially] the holidays,
parties, and birthdays.”
- Keyla Jennifer
Martinez
Kurdish: “The language,
the people [are what
makes my culture
special]. They are all
nice to each other.”
-Mohammed Ahmed
Korean and
Vietnamese: “Korean
[culture] is more
modern [but] traditional, while Vietnam is
more political. [But] the
women are stronger [in
attitude].”
- Heisun Minh Ho
Moroccan: “Just the
infusion of European,
Mediterranean, and
Middle Eastern
influence [makes my
culture interesting].”
-Amin Kraimeche
Diversity
By the numbers...
HCPS’ diverse community is home to one of
the highest Limited English Proficient (LEP)
populations in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Approximately 36% of our students are
LEP.
Within that 36%, students represent 47 different countries and speak 49 different languages. 63% of them were born in the US.
As of March 31, 2013:
current current LEP
enrollment enrollment
HHS
1353
332
THMS
876
229
SKMS
607
192
Keister
455
200
Smithland
461
222
Spotswood
413
240
Stone Spring 306
130
Waterman
426
217
% LEP
25%
26%
32%
44%
48%
58%
42%
51%
1993-1994 vs. 2012-2013
Year
LEP Students
1993-1994 160
2011-2012 1,729 % LEP
5%
37%
Percentage of LEP students
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
8 10 11 12
04 6
20 200 200 20 20 20
As of Jan. 31st, 2012, LEP students
enrolled are...
From...
And they speak...
1 US - 64%
2 Iraq - 8%
3 Puerto Rico - 7%
4 Mexico - 4%
5 Honduras -3%
1 Spanish 76%
2 Arabic - 7%
3 Kurdish - 6%
4 Russian - 4%
5 Otomi - 2%
39 countries are
represented in
the other 14%
42 languages
represented in
the other 5%
Graphs courtesy of www.harrisonburg.k12.va.us
page 7
Language exam helps HHS students advance
Julexus Cappell
If there is one word to
describe the population at
Harrisonburg High School,
it could be diverse. With a
plethora of cultures, religions, and races, HHS has
a lot to offer students.
This past school year a
new program was created
for bilingual students.
HHS’s Language Credit by
Exam offers students who
speak more than one language a chance to earn a
credit by taking an exam
to test their abilities in
more than just English.
“The exam was the
end of April through May
this school year. It was
after school from 2:45 to
around 4:45,” guidance
counselor Lisa Warren
said.
Students were told
to expect to be taking
the exam for about two
hours. One half would be
the speaking exam which
would last 30 minutes,
and then the writing exam
for 80 minutes followed.
This year was the start
of the language exam opportunity, and there were
approximately 50 students who took it.
The plans to start giving the exam came about
early this year.
“In January or February of this year we started
talking about it. The reason is because we have a
lot of students who speak
another language fluently
and could be given the
opportunity to receive an
Advanced Studies Diploma,” Warren said.
To obtain an Advanced
Studies diploma at HHS,
you have to finish three
foreign language courses.
“A lot of times a barrier
for these students is to get
three language courses,
so the language exam is
here,” Warren said.
Sophomore Cindy Villatora chose to do the language exam to possibly
get a credit toward her
diploma.
“It was extremely hard,
but definitely worth it,”
Villatora said.
Villatora needed the
credits to get higher than
a standard diploma, and
also to help her graduate
with her class in 2014.
“I took the language
exam so I could graduate
next year. Also, now I am
able to get an Advanced
Diploma because I passed
with the three new credits,” Villatora said.
The language exam
will be offered at Harrisonburg High School again
next year.
Q&A with Tim Meyers, HHS Guidance Counselor
M
eyers has been
working in the
Harrisonburg
High
School
Guidance Department for
twelve years after putting
in 25 years as a Government
and Social Studies teacher.
Being in the area for so long,
Meyers has seen it all in the school
system. “When I first got here, we
were lucky to have one ESL teacher,
and now at HHS we have seven,” Meyers said. “That’s a testament to the
investment that HHS has made in
increasing literacy amongst the vast
immigrant community.”
Q: How does the wide range of diversity benefit the student body?
A: “Real world experience, that’s what
it is about. When you understand
peoples’ differences, you immediately
become a less ignorant citizen.”
Q: How do you think this diverse
atmosphere prepares students for
later in life?
A: “The real world isn’t always going to have people you are comfort-
able with. Growing up
and being educated in
an environment like HHS
prepares you for that. I’ve
seen people show up from
other countries with nothing more than the shirt on
their back and a suitcase.
That dedication to a better
life is really inspiring.”
Q: How is the school system reflective of the Harrisonburg community, and how do students benefit
from that relationship?
A: “When I started working at HHS,
the town was much more rural and
only three to five percent of the student body was African American. This
city has grown up a lot since those
days and our school reflects that
growing up.”
Q: What makes Harrisonburg a
comfortable place to settle in?
A: “The school system is really adaptable to the growing immigrant population, and the job availability is really
good compared to some other places
in the state.”
Fine Arts
Academy
by the
Numbers:
43
37
20
24
4
applications came in
students were
accepted
students will study
strands
dual-strand students
Fine Arts Academy
page 8
Fine Arts Academy debuts at HHS
Multiple strands open to both academy members and traditional students
by Maggie Siciliano
This upcoming school
year will present slightly
different opportunities
to the students of HHS.
Alongside the STEM
Academy begun this past
year, Fine Arts Academy
will become an option for
students.
“Fine Arts Academy
is an adventure into an
interdisciplinary, collaborative, and experimental
study of art. It will allow
students to look through
the lens of all six strands
- instrumental music, choral music, drama, dance,
visual arts, and creative
writing - with a focus on
community
learning,”
Fine Arts Coordinator J.R.
Snow said.
The initiative was taken by Superintendent Dr.
Scott Kizner, who brought
to Snow’s attention the
possibility of a Fine Arts
Academy.
Snow then
began a vision which he
shared with lead program teachers Bethany
Houff, Stan Swartz, Jauan
Brooks, Richard Morrell,
and Suzanne Miller-Corso
from JMU, who helped
the idea to expand.
Students have the opportunity to keep a similar schedule to non-Fine
Arts Academy students
with one exception.
“The only difference in
scheduling with students
in the Fine Arts Academy
will be the requirement to
take a Community Learning class that they will
continue throughout all
four years at HHS. The six
lead teachers will rotate
through teaching different lessons and giving
different
perspectives,”
Snow said. The students
in the Fine Arts Academy
will also be required to
take 11 Fine Arts courses
during their four years.
The Fine Arts Academy
will require HHS to add a
part time dance instructor, and a couple other
full time positions. One
of the main draws of the
Fine Arts Academy is its
ability to get all kids to
show interest in the arts.
“For example, we
added a dance class to
the HHS course list and although only two students
from the Academy are in
the dance strand, 90 students are already signed
up for next year,” Snow
said. This encourages the
faculty that there’s interest. It also gives those
students who aren’t involved in the Academy a
chance to dabble in the
specified fields.
There was an audition required for Academy applicants, as well
as teacher recommendations, and it was preferred
that the applicant had
some experience in the
field, although it was not
necessary. Each audition
process was different: visual art had a live draw,
drama had an improvisation activity, creative writing had a live write, dance
had an improvisation activity, and instrumental/
choral music asked for
two previously prepared
and contrasting pieces to
be performed.
“Our goal is to create
critical thinking, problem
solving artists with the
most creative minds in
the building. The community will present new
ideas, and allow the students to be exposed to
a variety of art that they
might not have been able
to be exposed to because
they had their blinders
on; they were strictly focused,” Snow said.
The Fine Arts Academy
plans to present students
with various art forms
outside of their particular strand to take back to
their own art form to see
how similarities or ideas
can be applied.
All the classes that the
Academy will bring to the
high school, such as the
new dance class, will be
open to all students, not
just those in the program.
This will give all HHS students the opportunity to
find out what they like,
or give something new a
try. The Academy teachers are excited to experiment with, as well as develop, this new method
for growth at HHS.
BRAVE SINGERS. HHS sophomore Dalton Whetzel (left)
and Hidayat Vaapir (right), sing with the Men’s Choir at
the winter choir concert.
REACHING OUT. (left) The HHS Jazz Band reaches out to
the community by playing at the local restaurant downtown, Clementine’s. The Jazz Band meets after school
and is open to all grades - anyone who might be interested.
Spotswood Elementary
Murray inspires kids through library
Celia Ehrenpreis
Over a decade of reading the same children’s
stories over and over again
would be considered monotonous by many, but
not for Spotswood Elementary librarian Diane
Murray. Murray has been
the librarian at the school
for 14 years, and before
that taught fifth grade.
“My favorite part of the
job is sharing stories with
students. I love to read to
kids! I also like that I get
to know every person in
the building [through the
library],” Murray said. “No
two days are the same at
the library. There is almost
no down time!”
Each
grade
at
Spotswood (kindergarten
through fourth grade) visits the library daily. They
check out books, have
quiet reading time, and
listen to Murray read them
a story. Murray’s planning
block is typically filled
with tidying the library after the students leave.
Murray’s responsibilities increase during the
winter months when the
library hosts the scholastic
book fair and the winter
knight bucks store.
The book fair is a week
long event that allows children and their families to
buy affordable books in
their very own library.
The knight bucks store
is unique to SES. This annual ‘store’ gives students,
who have won knight
bucks for good behavior,
an opportunity to spend
their hard earned bucks on
books and other donated
items.
“I do not really have a
least favorite part of my
page 9
job,” Murray said.
There seems to
be a shift in the literary preferences
for this younger
generation. While
Murray’s
favorite
children’s book is
Anne of Green Gables
by L.M. Montgomery, Murray says that
her kids love scary
stories. Mary Downing Hahn is a favorite
among the kids for
her novels As Ever,
Gordy and Anna on
the Farm.
Spotswood Elementary
Fast Facts
PHOTOS BY CELIA EHRENPREIS
LISTEN CLOSELY. Long time librarian Diane Murray reads the second graders a story in the
library. All five grades at Spotswood visit the library daily.
READING ROCKS! This colorful display welcomes students
to the library.
aSpotswood’s school colors are purple and gold
aSpotswood was founded in 1960
aSpotswood Elementary was named after Governer Alexander Spotswood
aThe school mascot is the Knight of the Golden Horseshoe
aThere are over 500 students at Spotswood
aSpotswood has met the benchmarks for Virginia accreditation since 2007
FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY. Students smile while Murray reads them the story
Hitty by Rachel Fields.
Stone Spring Elementary
page 10
The
Instruments
Musical instruments used at Stone
Spring Elementary School vary
from grade to grade. The following
instruments can be found in the
classroom for daily use.
ALL PHOTOS BY LUKE GIBSON
FIRE! Niki Lendvay acts as a fire fighter while students participate in a sing-a-long activity.
First year music teacher Niki Lendvay expands musical potential
Ben DiNapoli
Fifth-year teacher Niki
Lendvay is in her first year
teaching at Stone Spring
Elementary School. Lendvay teaches students ranging from kindergarten
to fourth grade. In class,
Lendvay works towards a
curriculum that exposes
students to all genres and
aspects of music, leaning
away from what students
hear most frequently.
“I do a lot of things with
what we call art music, like
classical jazz, or anything
that is very instrumental.
We do a lot of folk songs
and singing, or music that
includes a game or some
kind of activity to it,” Lendvay said.
Sometimes, even rock
and roll can be found playing in class, but rarely rap,
country or pop.
“I try to expose [my students] to things that they
might not always hear,
just because they receive
so much exposure to that
at home,” Lendvay said.
Lendvay also has the
added challenge of teaching five different grade
levels, unlike middle and
high school, where music classes are usually
available for three or four
grades. As the ages of
students vary with their
grade level, so do Lend-
vay’s methods.
“Older kids can definitely get more in depth
because you can do a
longer activity. We have
third and fourth grade for
an entire hour, so we can
spend a lot more time
on one concept. For the
younger kids in kindergarten to second, I only have
30 minutes, and in that
time I might go through
ten or eleven activities,
each thing only a few
minutes long. I try to keep
them moving and their attention shifting,” Lendvay
said.
In all her classes, Lendvay makes sure that students are introduced to
a wide array of musical
instruments. Instruments
include Orff instruments,
which are the kid brothers
of xylophones, marimbas
and glockenspiels and
metallophones, an instrument that is similar to the
vibraphone.
The school is also
stocked with a full line-up
of rhythm instruments,
like hand drums such
as congas and bongos,
as well as many smaller
percussion instruments
like the tambourine and
triangle. For students in
the fourth grade, Lendvay teaches the recorder,
the plastic relative of the
flute. Most instruments
are grade-neutral as well.
“The big kids are pretty
much like the little kids,”
Lendvay said. “They love
to hit on stuff, so whenever they have the opportunity to do that, they get
pretty excited. The instruments stick with [the students] as they go.”
The “big” kids are not
always the easiest to
teach, however.
“I’ve student taught
with middle schools, and
I’ve done marching band
camps with high school
kids. I actually think that
younger kids are more
easily
excited
about
things, so it’s actually pretty easy to get them to do
something. You don’t really have to reason out why
this is cool, or why they
need to do that. As long as
they get to do something
actively, they are really excited,” Lendvay said.
Lendvay also tests students for their musical
abilities. These tests allow
her to develop strategies
that will help students be
as successful as possible in
music, and ones that are
very individualized.
“There is such a thing
as musical aptitude,” Lendvay said. “I give the kids
something resembling an
aptitude test called ‘Gordon’s PMMA’, which measures musical aptitude.”
This is not a test that
can tell whether a stu-
dent will be more musically successful later in life,
however.
“Just because a kid
has low musical aptitude
does not mean that the
kid cannot be musically
successful,” Lendvay said.
“Research studies show
that a child’s musical aptitude is actually liquid until
they are about nine or ten,
so if they are really low in
their aptitude, I can try to
raise that. I can definitely
see potential at this age,
but that does not necessarily mean that they are
going to go somewhere
in music, just as if they are
really low, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t
get better.”
Since Lendvay teaches
students preparing to
enter middle school, she
tries to prepare students
for playing music later in
life.
“While I definitely try
to prepare students, at the
same time I am very aware
that the majority of kids
that I teach are not going
to go into band or choir.
That’s usually a smaller
group,” Lendvay said. “I really want to give the kids
an overall better sense of
being musical and what it
means to sing something
well. If they grow up to a
sing a lullaby to their baby,
then I have done my job. It
is good enough for me.”
A lot of mallet instruments require
a lot of mallets! On top of the cabinents that line the room can be
found containers full of mallets,
from hard plastic ones used for
bells, to the soft yarn-covered ones
used for wooden instruments.
The glockenspiel shown above is
just one of many Orff instruments
located in the music room. Orff
instruments are the miniature versions of bells, marimbas and xylophones, and are ideal for teaching
young children how to play mallet
instruments.
Often times, games are played
while in music class, offering a fun
way for young students to learn
music. The “Taco Bout Fun!” board
offers a way for students to select,
at random, activities regarding
singing, moving, conducting, instruments, improvising, dancing
and composing, to name a few.
The recorder is taught to fourth
grade students, and is an easy way
for rising middle schoolers to be
introduced to a wind instrument
before they have to decide whether the band route is the right route
when entering middle school.
Keister Elementary
page 11
Keister initiates “Farm to School” Program
Mary McMahan
“The challenge for us
[at Keister Elementary is]
keeping a clear mission,
and providing learning
materials to a larger set of
students and people.” Lauren Arbogast, Preschool
Instructor said.
Andrea Early, the HCPS
Director of Food Services,
wrote The Fresh Foods and
Vegetable Program Grant
which was later put into
effect at Keister in 2008.
Because of the grant, students were able to try
different fruits and vegetable that they had never
even heard of including
grapples, a combination
between an apple and a
grape.
The FFVP grant was
preceded by Harrisonburg
City’s Safe Routes to School
Grant that provided for
sidewalks and bike routes
placed around Keister.
Both grants aided in the
effort to teach young children healthy eating habits
and the benefits of daily
exercise. Exposing the students to new and healthier
types of food opened up
many doors for more diverse programs and activities to take root at Keister.
“It’s a combination of
changing an environment
that has an impact on both
the school and the community,” Keister Principal
Anne Lintner said.
Keister Elementary held
their first “Farming in the
City” day on April 30 this
year to allow students, parents, and teachers to interact closely with different
aspects of agriculture present here in the Shenando-
ah Valley.
Preschool
instructor
Lauren Arbogast was responsible for initiating and
organizing the event.
“Last May (2012) after
returning from [Buffalo
Gap High School], I decided that I would like to initiate a similar experience at
KES,” Arbogast said. BGHS
held a “Farm Day” last year
which invited students
from multiple counties in
Virginia. “I asked Anne Lintner, our principal, and she
was completely on board
with [starting the program
at Keister].”
This year, not only did
all 500 students in grades
K-4 attend, but 13 Harrisonburg City Preschools
also brought around 220
children to the “Farm Day”
event.
“I wanted to expand on
just a “look and see” field
trip and make it relatable
to multiple grade levels
and tie into the SOL’s and
curriculum.”
Arbogast collaborated
with Keister Instructional
Coach Patti Studwell to
adapt the program to all
grade levels.
Before the actual event
began, packets were distributed to teachers that
included sample agriculture lesson plans. Included
was How did that get in
my lunchbox? The story
of Food by Chris Butterworth, which was provided
through the Virginia Council on Economic Education
Grant.
“The response to the
event was overwhelmingly
positive from the staff,
students, volunteers and
guests,” Arbogast said. Stu-
dents were able to learn
where their food comes
from in a fun and learningenriched
environment.
“Teachers are still telling
me how the children are
using the knowledge they
gained that day for use in
the classroom.”
The County Extension
Agency also partnered up
with Keister to provide a
6-week program to teach
both students and parents about making healthy
food choices. They had the
opportunity to cook and
eat a meal during the program using those foods.
“I think that interactive
hands-on opportunities
like this, when paired with
appropriate
curriculum
and a clear mission, spark
creative learning in the
classroom and beyond,” Arbogast said.
Capstone at Keister
PHOTOS BY MARY McMAHAN
LET IT GROW. The Keister garden is home to a variety of vegetables, fruits and flowers. During recess, students help
teacher Mitch Yoder tend the garden.
Geographic Science- capstone students at JMU, under the direction of Amy
Goodall, partnered with
Keister to provide students
with a broader understanding of nature. The capstone
students:
1. Improved the Keister nature trail
2. Planted certain flowers to
attract butterflies that Keister students wanted to see
3. Helped tend the Keister
garden
Yoder shares passion for gardening with elementary students
Mary McMahan
To third grade teacher
Mitch Yoder, gardening is
more than just a job; it’s
a passion. His career goal
is to share his love of gardening and teach skills to
children who have never
experienced
gardening
and agriculture before.
Yoder is the primary
teacher at Keister Elementary who tends and grows
the garden located outside
of the school’s North wing.
“In all honesty, I keep
up the garden because it’s
a lot of fun. I feel happy
when I’m in a garden, and I
think that’s worth sharing,”
Yoder said.
The garden has been
expanded over the past
couple of years because
of Yoder’s dedication and
Keister’s emphasis on agriculture and teaching students how to eat and be
healthy.
Last year, Yoder planted
a “Three Sisters Garden”
which consists of corn,
pole beans, and squash.
Students were able to
learn about the common
gardening strategy used
by Native Americans in
which all three “sisters” are
grown within in the same
garden plot. They have
also used caterpillars and
butterflies found in the
garden to teach students
about life cycles.
“I used produce from
the garden to help develop vocabulary for observations during science
classes. Looking at, touching, smelling, and eating
a jalapeno can be a great
way to think of different
adjectives that describe
observations,” Yoder said.
The gardening tied in
with the second grade
SOL curriculum. The Keister garden is also home
to a butterfly garden consisting of many types of
flowers, radishes, lettuce,
tomatoes, watermelons,
strawberries, and different
herbs.
“We had a school assembly where some JMU
students came and described what was happening in the garden, and
then the children went out
to help plant some of the
seedlings,” Yoder said.
While Yoder does most
of the work in the garden,
some of his students willingly forfeit their recess
time to help weed, plant,
and harvest the garden.
Yoder had his class help
harvest the garden and
use the freshly-grown produce to make a salad. Students were able to vote on
which vegetable they liked
best in the salad.
“There are lots of other
students in the school, and
I think it could be developed into something that
all of them get to experience.”
Yoder plans to incorporate other teachers and
classes into the garden
tending process in hopes
to expand the garden.
“If our goal is to make
our
children
excited
about learning, we’ll rarely
achieve it; but if excitement
is our impetus for teaching,
we have a chance of cultivating excitement in our
students.”
Waterman Elementary
page 12
City strings program flourishes at Waterman
Mia Karr
When Megan Tiller announced that today was
the last violin class, she was
met with a chorus of “no!”
from the assembled third
and fourth graders. The 24
students present had piled
into Waterman Elementary
School’s music classroom
moments earlier, lugging
violin cases and bursting
with noise and energy.
Tiller, or “Miss Megan”
as she is known to the
children, and her assistant
Christa Hoover take a few
moments to help tune
each child’s violin. Then
Tiller reviews details of the
group’s upcoming concert.
This is met by lots of nervous questions about concert logistics and excitement when it is revealed
there will be snack and
pizza involved.
The concert is the culmination of a year of free
violin lessons offered to
students in all five HCPS
elementary schools and
two middle schools.
“We are trying to give
something a little different to the students. We
feel like that opportunity
should be open to everyone,” Tiller said.
The program was ini-
tially started by teachers
at Eastern Mennonite University, as a grant funded
outreach program for students who couldn’t afford
music lessons. After the
grant money ran out, the
teachers approached the
city schools who adopted
the program. It is currently open to all students
in grades three through
eight, and it has been
made a goal to implement
it in the high school in the
future. About ten teachers,
all coming from EMU, take
part in the program.
“It’s mostly financed
through the city schools.
Students who can pay, but
the point is to be open to
all students,” Tiller said.
Some donations are also
collected.
The program offers cello and viola, but most students, including all those
at Waterman, play the violin. According to Tiller, this
instrument was chosen
because the city schools
already have a strong band
program. She envisions
there someday being a
thriving orchestra within
the city schools.
“It has expanded a ton,
especially since the city
schools have adopted the
program,” Tiller said. She
PHOTOS BY MIA KARR
STEADY NOW. Two participants in Waterman’s strings
program tune their violins at the beginning of class,
which took place in Waterman’s music room.
currently teaches 30 kids
at Waterman, the biggest
enrollment at any school,
and also teaches nearly
that many at Spotswood
Elementary School. Tiller
has been with City Strings
for seven years and says
that just two years ago 10
students would have been
a big class.
Some might be daunted by teaching 30 children
to play an instrument at
once- especially when one
boy starts using his bow
to play a xylophone, or
an argument breaks out
about who is doing what
the right way- but Tiller enjoys it.
“I love having a really
big class. It’s so exciting,”
Tiller said. She has had
plenty of preparation for
this role; Tiller is a Sukuzitrained violinist who began playing at age four
and has taught for nine
years.
The classes at each elementary school except
Spotswood meet one day
a week, and the classes at
Spotswood (which had the
biggest program last year)
and the middle schools
meet twice a week. The
goal is to eventually have
all classes meet twice a
week.
During the final practice before the performance, the kids play all
the songs that they have
learned in a “play down.”
The songs progress from
most difficult to least difficult, with a small number
of students being able to
play the hardest song, and
everybody playing the easiest. After each song, Tiller
urges the students to smile
wide and “show her their
teeth.”
One student who can
play every song is third
grader Isabelle Wickenheiser. Wickenheiser started playing this year and
thinks she will probably
take private violin lessons
in the future. She said she
is excited for the performance.
“[I’m excited about]
showing my mom and my
family that I can play the
violin well,” Wickenheiser
said. Her favorite song is
“Go Tell Aunt Rhody” because it is a challenge.
Wickenheiser is just one
of many students reaping
the rewards of the City
Strings program.
“All the kids are so
great,” Tiller said. “It’s so
nice to have the support
of music teachers and the
administration at school.”
STRINGS. Third and fourth graders in the program practice for their final perfomance at the end of the year. The
performance was a culmination of a year of free classes.
Q & A with
THMS City
Strings teacher
Maria Lorcas
Q: How long have
you been participating in the program?
A: Since 2002
Q: Have you seen
the program grow
a lot?
A: Yeah, definitely.
We started with one
class at Stone Spring
Elementary
and
now we’re in all the
schools- all the elementaries and two
middle schools.
Q: What’s your favorite part about
the program?
A: Probably working
with the Hispanic
kids. Just because
I know families, especially the parents,
feel comfortable because I speak Spanish.
Q: What would you
like to see change
about the program
in the future?
A: Definitely more
instruments...more
violas, more cellos.
Q: How has it been
working with the
schools?
A: Great. They’re
very supportive of
the program. The
relationship
with
the EMU program
and the schools has
improved over the
years.Whenever
we have a concert,
they’re willing to
provide what we
need.
Something
that’s improved is
us being able to use
the school’s various
facilities.
Smithland Elementary
Dual language immersion thriving at Smithland
Paul Hairston
The dual language
immersion program at
Smithland
Elementary
has long been a proud
academic establishment.
Gary Painter, the principal
of Smithland Elementary,
holds an expression of
pure contentment when
reminded of the successes
of the dual language immersion program as of
2013.
The program began in
2010, and was created to
bring the complex benefits of bilingual individuals
to children in kindergarten through fourth grade
during their developmental linguistic stages, not
after they’ve solidified the
basics during middle or
high school.
The dual language program was originally created as a method to more
easily engage foreign language speaking students
in an all-English speaking
classroom. There existed
an academic divide between native and nonnative students in terms
of their ability to read
and write English. This
prompted Harrisonburg
administrators to remedy
the situation with a school
wide barrier breaker, and
thus the dual language
immersion program was
born.
Far more developed
than its original intentions, the program has
now crossed its sole utilization in English classes to
implementations in math,
content music, art and
physical education. A wider variety of course material has been infused into
the teaching of Spanish
and English across a wider
variety of curriculums, truly giving a “dual” nature to
the program that defines
more than just the languages taught, but also
the methodology behind
how they’re taught.
The program operates
in a mutually beneficial
page 13
Highlights
of Dual
Immerson
Program
Smithland Elementary School’s Dual
Language
Immersion Program began
in 2010.
Program
supplements aid in developmental
English
and Spanish from
K-4th .
PHOTOS BY PAUL HAIRSTON
LEARNING IT YOUNG. Students review the basics of Spanish grammar with notecards and peer to peer activity.
Utilizes
subjects
like Language Arts,
Math, Content, Music, Art and P.E. as
vehicles and opportunities to allow students to better their
skills tangibly.
Children ultimately
will speak, read and
transcribe
interchangeably between
two languages.
DOUBLE TONGUES. The dual language immersion program is a pinnacle achievement of the cultural and lingual diversity that HCPS provides.
manner. Native English cess among students, ing bilingual also tends
speaking students and their family and staff. The to improve standardized
Spanish speaking stu- children ultimately gain test scores and academic
dents are both taught the skill to comprehend, prowess in a variety of
their respective new lan- speak, read and transcribe subjects through a schoolguage. This provides a interchangeably between ing career.
linguistic immersion for two languages.
The students’ classLessons involve exer- rooms are plastered with
the Spanish speaking
students and a cultural cises beyond simple trans- labels of common housebroadening for the Eng- lations, but utilize the hold items in their complilish speaking. More than omniscient ambience and mentary Spanish name. A
a dozen bilingual teach- consistent communica- card with “hundirse” neaters and administrators run tion of another language ly written under the sink is
the program which oper- to push comprehension. a constant reminder of its
ates over three years for a This method is expected respective Spanish name,
select number of students. to reveal benefits academ- as well as translations on
The opportunity isn’t giv- ically beyond the fourth the classroom computer,
en to every student in at- grade and into middle and door, chair, table, pentendance, and the process high school. While this will cils and even windows.
for how a student is select- allow certain students to Truly the students are “immore actively immerse mersed” in the literary and
ed is a random drawing.
The program has seen themselves into foreign spoken realms of another
an exponential growth language classes beyond language
throughout
in its popularity and suc- elementary school, be- their class period.
Students are exposed to the cultural
and historical backgrounds of a variety
of cultures beyond a
textbook summary.
Studies have shown
that bilingual students will deliver
higher standardized
and specialized test
scores in a variety
of subjects through
their academic career.
The dual language
immersion
program model taught
in Smithland is a
“50/50” curricululum;
an even divide between English and
Spanish is taught.
page 14
Skyline Middle School
Skyline Middle School preparing young men for future
Ana Hunter-Nickels
The Eighth Grade
Academy program is an
after school program that
helps young eighth grade
men prepare for their future. In the two years that
8GA has been available,
approximately 45 young
men have attended.
“The Academy teaches
valuable lessons that every young man should
know and basic fundamental principles that you
should carry on throughout life,” Alexander CeruzRios said.
Skyline Middle School
liaison Rick Castaneda
helps the boys after
school to achieve 8GA
goals.
“One of the main purposes is to help prepare
the boys for high school
and beyond, academically, but also socially and
maturity-wise,” Castaneda
said.
After school, the boys
can get help with homework. Another goal of the
Academy is to prepare
the boys for the writing
SOL at the end of the year.
8GA meets twice a week
on Mondays and Wednesdays after school, while
field trips are usually on
Saturday.
Castaneda leads character development sessions on what it means to
PHOTOS BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELS
MAGIC TRICK. Math teacher Ron Perry (on the far right) showing a magic trick to the Eighth Grade Academy boys.
be a young man entering
the stage of manhood.
“It’s one of their first
steps into that life-long
journey,” Castaneda said.
The group visits colleges to start imagining
themselves in that setting.
This past year 8GA
has gone on academic
trips to UVA, EMU, JMU
and Bridgewater College.
They also do fun activities, such as playing out-
doors, watching movies
and eating pizza.
Despite the fact that
8GA is just for eighth
grade boys, there are
other programs for young
women. Skyline Middle
School has Impact, which
works with seventh and
eighth grade young
women and Ruby Slippers for fifth grade girls.
The Academy’s success is becoming apparent. We look at “their
RELAX AND ENJOY. The 8GA boys taking a break at their last meeting of the
school year to watch videos on Youtube.
results on the writing
SOL, improvements in
their grades, grade point
averages, attendance in
school and attendance
in eighth grade academy
sessions,” Castaneda said.
There is an 8GA at
Thomas Harrison Middle
School as well that has
a group of 10 boys. Skyline Middle School has a
group of 20 boys this year.
“We have had 45
young men who have
gone through this program that are now going
to the high school, and
we’re hoping to bring
them back to be models for next year’s eighth
grade class,” Castaneda
said.
8GA is sending a team
of mature young men
that can be role models
to other classmates in the
high school and can have
a positive impact at that
next level, too.
ALAKAZAM. Perry finishes his magic trick with a flourish.
The 8GA boys watch with anticipation.
Thomas Harrison Middle School
page 15
Q&A
with
William
Stansberry
BUILDING BRIDGES. Eighth grade students watched in
shock while their bridges fell apart.
PLAN. Students drew
out models of their prototypes before they constructed the final project.
IN THE WORKSHOP.
Seventh grade students
worked hard to construct
realistic models of scooters.
STEM program starts at THMS
Kerri Hofacker
As the Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Math (STEM) program
kicked off at Harrisonburg
High School, Thomas Harrison Middle School instituted their own program
to benefit students who
also had a desire to study
science and mathematics
with more depth.
Don Vale, principal at
THMS, said that the program has greatly benefitted the younger students, and he also added
that the faculty had to
augment the program
for next year to accommodate more students
because of the increased
interest in the STEM program.
“[The staff ] ended up
splitting the program into
two sections so that more
students could participate,” Vale said.
The application process is a competitive, objective and blind process
so that no student gains
an advantage over another student. Selection is
based on a student’s success in areas like science
and math classes. If the
student has consistent
grades in those subjects,
then they may be selected for the STEM program.
There are only 40
seventh grade students
that get accepted to the
program each year, and
throughout the remainder of the students’ middle school career, they
apply the things they
PHOTOS BY GREG CORDER
REAL LIFE PROBLEMS. STEM students create wooden
boards to build a structure to solve a problem presented in their briefs.
learn in the classroom to
real world situations.
STEM is a two-year
course during seventh
and eighth grade that
is taught by a science
teacher and a technology
teacher. The curriculum
is determined by what
year of the program the
student is in. If they are
a first-year student, then
they would study STEM
physical science and a
high school course related to technology, and if
they were a second-year
student, they would focus
on STEM Life Science and
Introduction to Technology.
At the beginning of
each school year, the students are presented with
a “Design Brief” that they
must solve using the ma-
terial that they studied
throughout the year. They
apply their knowledge to
their briefs and see if they
can successfully construct
a model that will solve
the problem presented in
their briefs.
“Everything is handson. We work with real life
situations that I know I
can use in the future,” seventh grade STEM student
Lucie Rutherford said
about the briefs the students work with.
As the STEM program
continues to grow at
Thomas Harrison, the program’s success will also
keep expanding.
“STEM is the best thing
that happened to this
school,” STEM student Corin Vogel said.
PRECISION. A STEM student measures the corners of
his scooter to make sure he has the correct dimensions
that will allow it to move properly.
Q: Was it difficult to get the
younger students to understand the
material?
A: The kids did
fine. It took
a few adjustments, but they
figured it out.
Q: What was
the most popular project with
the students?
A: They really
liked the bridge
testing project
because they
got to see how
their
bridges
held up under
pressure.
Q: How difficult
is the selection
process?
A: It’s a difficult
process
because the kids
have to have
good grades in
the areas of science and math.
Q: How does
the STEM program benefit
students?
A: Students are
able to take
what they learn
and apply it to
real life situations.
Harrisonburg High School
page 16
AP Biology
Test Scores
(Scores are out of 5)
2011:
HHS Average:
4.1
National
Average:
2.70
2010:
HHS Average:
3.7
National
Average:
2.65
EXPERIMENTING. Juniors Rachael Kerley and Jason Tran work together to pour solution into a semi-permeable
membrane for a class experiment.
HHS offers intensive AP Biology class
Paige Baedke
Harrisonburg
High
School was proud to offer
more than 15 Advanced
Placement classes to its
students in the 2012-2013
school year.
These classes are the
equivalent of college level
classes and give students
the opportunity to get
college credits.
One such course was
Advanced Placement (AP)
Biology, taught by Gehrie
Bair.
“I designed the class
to mimic a college course,
and I hold the students
to those same standards,”
Bair said. This difficulty
showed in the workload
presented to the students
on a daily basis.
“It’s definitely a lot
more work than any other AP class I’ve taken, but
I think that it pays off in
the end,” junior Jason Tran
said.
“It covers two semesters of information, instead of the normal one
semester, so the students took it were ready for the to decide whether they
wanted to pursue a career
have to learn double the challenge.
“I was really into biol- in science in the future.
information than in any
“It made me really
ogy last year when I took
other AP class,” Bair said.
While the national av- the honors class, and I was think about what I wanted
erage for scores on the AP inspired to take the AP this to do with my life, but I got
Biology exam was 2.5, HHS year,” junior Ellen Upton a lot out of the class. I definitely developed a better
students soared above said.
This class pushed the work ethic by taking it,”
and beyond. The average
student earned a four on students when it came to junior Rachael Kerley said.
studying, causing them
the five-point scale.
This
data
showed the vast
amount of work
these students
put into their
studies.
“I really hope
to be able to use
this class as a
credit in college.
It will help me
get right into
the classes that
interest me and
not have to take
the introductory classes,” Tran
said.
The amount
of take homework was intense, but the MEASURE UP. Junior Sydney Little and senior Sukriti Adhikari pour
students who water into a flask as part of an experiment in AP Biology.
2009:
HHS Average:
4.0
National
Average:
2.71
2008:
HHS Average:
4.3
National
Average:
2.68
DIFFUSING. Junior Sarah Scribano carefully
uses a pipette to put the
correct amount of solution in a beaker in her
AP Biology class where
they were doing a lab
on diffusion.
page 17
Big Blue Botics squad builds disk launcher
Orian Churney
The Harrisonburg High
School robotics team, Big
Blue Botics, is a hands-on
engineering program that
is part of the First Robotics
program. The team chiefly
designs robots to compete against other teams
from around the country
in order to compete in
challenges ranging yearly
from basketball shooting, soccer, and this year’s
challenge: disk tossing.
Big Blue Botics meets
in the spring to work on
designing the robot. They
do this by splitting the
team into subteams that
each work on one aspect
of the robot.
There were subteams
for the drive system, programming, disk launcher,
and wiring. Each team
member joined the group
they thought fit them the
best.
After designing each
part, the subteams meet
together to see if each
part works cooperatively
with the other.
A member of the team,
Dean Koo, said he “helped
out well” with the other
members, forming a larger companionship with
the team overall.
The robot had to shoot
disks, as well as have a
hopper to funnel the disks
into. An optional part of
the robot was a lifter that
could let the robot climb
up to different rungs on a
jungle-gym-like structure.
Big Blue Botics decided
to have the optional lifter
because it would let them
earn more points while
not really affecting their
speed or launching. They
used hydraulic pistons to
lift the robot to the lowest
rung of the structure.
The shooter launched
disks by having a wheel
that spins the disk’s side
and launches it out of
the hole in the front. The
launcher is fed by a ramp
the human members of
the team can put disks
into.
The whole system
was bolted onto the
main body of the robot.
The robot had to move
around to aim. The team
practiced hours with the
robot, changing how fast
it shot and how it was oriented.
After the robot was
finished, team adviser Geoff Estes and the
team wrapped it into a
box to ship it to the tournament. The three-day
tournament, in Charlottesville, attracted teams
from around the state, as
well as some from neighboring states and even
one from Florida. The
robots competed in two
alliances of three teams
in launching disks into
slots to score points. The
climbing structure was
centered in the middle of
the field, with the slots at
either end.
The team competed
well in the tournament.
The first day was for testing the robot and seeing
if it worked well. The next
was the preliminary qualifying rounds, where the
team earned 12th place
by the end of the day. The
final day, though, the robot started being buggy.
The team eventually fixed
it, and finished 29th place
out of 65 teams.
In the past, they’ve
placed in the top 25, but
this season was still good,
Estes said.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF GEOFF ESTES
Clockwise: Students work on the launcher of the robot;
Team members Kidane Gebrejesus, John Marks, Robert
Heitsch, Khashayar Dashtpour, Jordan Leaman, Stuart
Baker, Kayla Leaman, Amin Kraimeche, and Premal Patel;
Drivers of the robot wait for their turn in the fray; The
main competition area.
Thurman building varsity team
Anthony Duong
H a r r i s o n b u rg’s
tradition of dominating
opponents
around the Valley District has been a trend
for as long as students remember. After the departure of longtime head coach
Tim Sarver, others were hesitant
to take the coaching job at HHS.
Head coach Chris Thurman was
ready to take the lead as he filled
the opening.
“I’ve always wanted to coach
at Harrisonburg, the class and
tradition they have here is what
made me want to coach here,”
Thurman said.
In 2011, Thurman resigned
from Virginia High School and
took charge immediately at
HHS. He lead the Blue Streaks to
an 8-2 record in his first season
at HHS. With a new offense and
defense, Valley District fans got
a taste of what Thurman was
bringing.
“It was definitely a completely different offense from
what Sarver ran. We learned the
offense and started to flow with
it,” former player Jhamari Fields
said.
After losing in the first round
of the playoffs, Thurman focused
on getting right back to work for
next season. But in 2012, the
STATE
1933
Boys Basketball
1937
Boys Basketball
1943
Football
1944
Boys Basketball,
Football
1952
Boys Basketball
1968-1976
Tennis
1978
Boys Basketball
1979
Boys Basketball,
Girls
Track
1980-1982
Girls Tennis
Blue Streaks finished
the season with a 5-5
record.
“Part of the reason
why we didn’t do as
well the season before
is because of injuries
and leadership,” Thurman said.
Junior quarterback Ryan
Nixon broke his fibula during
a regular season game against
district opponent Broadway. After experimenting with different
quarterbacks and wide receivers, the coaching staff ultimately
chose first year wide receiver
Matt Shifflett to be quarterback.
Although the Streaks struggled
with their new quarterback,
they still managed to upset
Liberty Bedford in what was
thought to be a lost game.
“Beating
Liberty-Bedford
was definitely a big morale
boost for me, it was one of the
turning points of the year,” Shifflett said.
After defeating the rest of
their regular season opponents,
the Blue Streaks were on the
brink of a playoff berth but never made it. Thurman admits mistakes were made but is still continuing to work at a state title.
“The whole team and coaching staff is working hard to get
another ring. We want to succeed,” Thurman said.
page 18
Dod leads Lady Streaks to
successful soccer season
Anthony Duong
Among the many successes
that HHS has with athletics, the
girls soccer team has recently
taken over the district with their
spectacular play and teamwork.
Over the past years, the HHS girls
soccer team has won five out of
the last six district championships. Success was not an issue
this year as they completed the
regular season first in the district.
One of the girls soccer team’s
leaders is sophomore forward
Maddy Dod. Dod completed an
excellent soccer season for Harrisonburg as she racked up goals
and lead her team to a regular
season district championship.
Along with her successful season,
Dod notes that the strong communication and teamwork from
her teammates was the deciding
factor of their season.
“Without my teammates, I
wouldn’t be able contribute as
much as I did to the team, they’ve
helped me every step of the way
and that’s why we had a good
season,” Dod said.
During this soccer season, Dod
led the Lady Streaks in goals (11)
and was first team all-district.
The Lady Streaks continue to
dominate the district in soccer
and with a very young team, HHS
could be a deadly opponent for
years to come.
PHOTO BY SUKRITI ADHIKARI
DEFENSE. Sophomore forward Maddy Dod battles for a ball when
playing against Spotswood in a regular season district game.
Sports Championships at HHS
1991
Boys Tennis, Girls
Tennis
1992
Girls Tennis
1994
Girls Track
1996
Golf
2001
Football
2007
Boys Track
REGIONAL
1968
Boys Basketball,
Boys Tennis
1968-1972
Boys Tennis
1973-1974
Football, Boys
Tennis
1975
Football
1976
Boys Basketball,
Boys Tennis
1978
Football
1980
Boys Tennis, Girls
Tennis, Boys Basketball
1981
Boys Basketball,
Girls Basketball,
Girls Tennis
1982
Girls Basketball
1983-1984
Boys Tennis
1986
Boys Tennis
1987
Boys Cross Country
1989
Golf, Boys Basketball
1990
Golf
1994-1995
Football
1996
Golf, Football
1997
Boys Cross Country
1998
Boys Track
2005
Golf
2007
Boys Track
2008
Girls Soccer
Boys Tennis
2009
Boys Indoor Track
2010
Football, Boys Soccer
2012
Competition
Cheerleading
DISTRICT
2000
Boys Track,
Volleyball
2001
Girls Soccer, Boys
Track
2002
Boys Track
2003
Football , Girls Indoor
Track
2004
Girls Indoor Track,
Girls Track , Boys
Soccer
Football , Golf
2005
Football , Girls Cross
Country
2006
Girls Track , Golf
Football , Girls Indoor
Track , Boys Indoor
Track
2007
Girls Indoor Track,
Boys Indoor Track,
Boys Basketball, Girls
Soccer
Golf , Football , Boys
Indoor Track
2008
Boys Indoor Track,
Boys Basketball ,
Girls Soccer
Boys Tennis , Football
Girls Cross Country,
Boys Indoor Track
2009
Boys Indoor Track,
Girls Soccer, Football,
Girls Cross Country
2010
Football, Golf, Boys
Soccer, Girls Soccer,
Boys Track
2011
Boys Indoor Track,
Girls Indoor Track,
Girls Track, Boys
Soccer, Boys Tennis,
Girls Cross Country,
Competition
Cheerleading
2012
Girls Soccer,
Competition
Cheerleading
Community Involvement
page 19
Key Club organizes tetanus eliminate project
Salar Haji
Fourteen years ago,
Key Club was introduced
to Harrisonburg High
School as a voluntary club
to help the community.
Not only did the club keep
its motive and stay intact,
but it also grew to an
extraordinary size. Today,
Key Club is one of the
largest clubs at HHS.
Like any successful
club, Key Club has big
goals they expect to reach
each year.
This year, their biggest
focus was raising money
for a project known
throughout the school as
the Eliminate Project. This
project’s focus was geared
towards
wiping
out
maternal and neonatal
Tetanus. Tetanus is a very
serious problem if it’s
untreated.
Every year,
about 60,000 women and
babies die because of a
lack of this vaccine.
However, the Eliminate
Project had more than
just one main focus. The
money raised also went to
Hurricane Sandy victims
and relief efforts.
Club leaders placed
milk jugs in all the
classrooms within the
school. On each jug was
a description of what the
fundraising was for and
where the proceeds went.
Every day on the
intercom announcements
students were encouraged
to donate as much as they
could.
A competition
soon arose. The class who
collected the most money
received a pizza party. In
the end, Key Club raised
around $7,000, all thanks
to the generosity of the
students and teachers
wanting to help others in
need.
“The Eliminate Project
was a great thing for us
here in Key Club. It felt
really nice being able to
help out all those needy
people and it made not
only me but the entire
staff feel good about
helping the community
in the way we did,” active
member Irvinn Paz said.
The Key Club’s motto,
“Caring... It’s our way of
life,” are the perfect words
to describe the members
of this club.
“Any time you can raise
as much money as we
did for a cause like this,
Key Club and the school
should feel very proud of
themselves for providing a
helping hand,” club adviser
Maurizio Antonnicola said.
Every active member
puts forth time and effort
to help out when needed
and the club always gets
good feedback from the
community. Key Club is
a great opportunity for
students with big hearts to
help out the community
and it’s a wonderfully
active club at HHS.
The Key Club is a
subsidiary of Kiwanis
International, a group
dedicated to service for
others.
Past projects have
included collecting old cell
phones, shoes, Nothing
but Nets and a variety of
money collections to help
with disaster relief efforts
in the United States and
around the world.
Key Club
Activities
This Year
-Kiwanis Pizza &
Pepsi Booth at
County Fair
-International
Festival Parking
-Jeremiah Bishop
Grand Fondo
Prostate Cancer
Fundraiser Bike
Race
-Trick or Treat for
UNICEF
-Childrens’ Fun
Day Carnival
-Sherry Anderson
5k Run/Walk
-Salvation Army
Bell Ring
-Lego/Robotics
competition
-Buck Berry Food
Drive
-Eliminate Project
Bake Sale
-MS Bike & Walk
Fundraising
Brochures
-Kiwanis Pancake
Breakfast
-STEM Fair
-Blacks Run Clean
Up
PHOTO BY TONY ANTONNICOLA
MAKING A DIFFERENCE. Key Club leaders Madison Ward, Ruayda Qadir, Thomas Abebe, Paula Leddma, Giancarlo
Antonnicola, Omar Gutierrez, Kendall Bailey, and Krutarth Patel get their milk jugs ready for the Eliminate project.
Jugs are placed in every classroom at HHS so that homerooms can raise money for service projects such as the Eliminate project which is designed to help get rid of Tetanus. Club members also spontaneously raised money to send to
Hurricane Sandy victims to help with the relief effort. As a student chapter of the Kiwanis International organization,
club members learn quickly how to make a difference in our community, the United States and the world.
-Home Game
Concessions
-St. Judes
Childrens’
Hospital Fashion
Show
Community Involvement
page 20
Yearbook staff helps orphanage in Cura
Aurvan Koyee
The saying ‘one person
can make a difference in
the world’ certainly applies
for Yearbook and English
teach Mary Strickler. With
her Advanced Yearbook
class and English class,
Strickler created friendships that would last a
lifetime with a village in
Nairobi, Kenya called Cura.
Children in Cura already
struggle with getting
enough nourishment and
clean water, not to mention receiving an education. With the help of her
son Ty Strickler, and many
other kind-hearted people, Strickler created the
first ever yearbook for the
children.
“I came up with the
idea when I realized how
many children in the orphanage had lost their parents to AIDS. I wanted to
put a face on these faceless
kids and help them create
an identity for themselves,”
Strickler said.
Through pen pals, the
high school students in
Strickler’s classes communicated with the kids of
the orphanage and aided
them in creating their own
yearbook. The Internet
was not very strong in the
village, so the process was
long and tedious.
“We used layouts from
our former yearbook, and
the orphans wrote short
stories,” junior Paige Baedke said. “We used these
stories as a basis and elaborated off that to form
something beautiful.”
Strickler’s son took
Faces
of
Cura
Caroline Wambui
Muthoni
John Njoroge Kamau
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TY STRICKLER
LIFE IN AFRICA. Children in the village of Cura perform a traditional dance to
welcome the volunteers from America.
the photos used in the
yearbook while filming a
documentary about the
groundbreaking of what
people can do when they
come together. Ty and the
crew he traveled with built
a school in the village to
provide a stable learning
center for the kids.
“This three week long
experience was life-changing for Ty. He realized the
value of life and appreciated what he had,” Strickler said. “He became very
close with these kids.”
Thirteen tons of used
textbooks were provided
from Harrisonburg City
FUN WITH LEARNING. The kids of
Cura Orphanage have a chance for education in the newly built school.
Schools, along with old
school supplies, and were
shipped to the school built
in Cura.
Many donations aided
in the helping of Cura, including a grant from the
Harrisonburg Education
Foundation and contributions from the Rotary Club
and EMU. Students in the
Advanced Yearbook class
also sold rubber bands to
help raise money, and with
the $750 collected, new
soccer goals and uniforms
were purchased for the
children to play with.
Strickler started a shoe
donation since many kids
LIFETIME FRIENDSHIP. Volunteer
Ty Strickler takes pictures with Minnet, a resident he helped in Cura.
in Cura did not own a pair.
She also sent two refurbished computers and Life
Straws. The orphanage
now shelters 50 kids ranging from age 4-13.
The final yearbooks
and other supplies were
shipped person-to-person
until finally reaching Cura.
The director of the orphanage personally handed the
yearbooks out to the children.
“I wish I could have
seen the looks on their
faces. After months and
months of hard work, we
helped make the world a
little better,” Strickler said.
BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM. Strickler purchased soccer uniforms and
shoes for the children.
Sophia Wambui Kagura
Maxwell Muturi
Poet in the Schools
page 21
Poet-in-the-Schools fosters young writers
Dylan Bontrager
From Star Wars to
Swedish fish, poems of
all kinds are written every Thursday for several
weeks in April and May.
The Poet-In-The-Schools
group meets in the Skyline
Middle School library. This
year’s theme, “Poetry In
Our Everyday,” has led the
budding poets to write
about food, art, books,
music, movies, and nature.
“I like the atmosphere;
it’s pretty relaxed, generally,” Harrisonburg High
School junior Madeline
Leach said. “You do things
you don’t really do in a
typical English class.”
The meetings are indeed loosely structured.
They usually open with
examples of other poets’
work and a group activity meant to stimulate the
students’ creativity. There
is then time for writing, either about the focus of the
particular meeting or any
other topic the students
choose.
In addition to the SKMS
library, meetings have taken place at Massanutten
Regional Library, the Edith
J. Carrier Arboretum and
OASIS Art Gallery. These
meetings are some of the
favorites of PITS writers.
“I like going to the arboretum, that’s always
fun,” HHS sophomore Morgan Heckman said.
“I look forward to the
meeting at OASIS every
year,” Leach said.
“I really believe that
it’s important to create
experiences for kids to
write about...so I try to
organize workshops that
build in some hands on
experience prior to the
writing such as viewing
the stars in the planetarium, wandering around
the gardens of the arboretum, making art or writing
about others’ art in a gallery,” adviser Jen MacRae
said.
MacRae participated in
the group when she was
in high school.
“At that time, the instructor was Dr. Margo
Figgins, a professor of En-
glish in the Curry School
of Education at UVA. When
Margo retired from the
program, I had just been
hired to teach in Harrisonburg City Schools, and
she asked me to take over
the program which was a
huge honor for me. She
is a phenomenal teacher
and poet, one of my all
time heroes.”
MacRae has led the
group for the past 11
years. “What I love about
PITS is, of course, the students,” she said. “I have enjoyed working with amazing young poets… HHS is
home to so many talented
young people.”
PHOTOS BY DYLAN BONTRAGER
POETRY NIGHT. Poet-In-The-Schools instructor Jen MacRae speaks about the potential interactions between poetry and art to poets and parents at the final meeting,
held at OASIS Art Gallery. The final meeting every year is open to the family and friends
of the poets. The writers read the works they have created at the seven sessions. The
subjects of the poems range from trash cans to tigers, from landscapes to literature.
What is your favorite thing about Poet-in-the-Schools?
“Being able to express
myself and write freely,
not just the way we do in
school”
-Chloe Richard, sophomore, HHS
“Being able to
express yourself
in an environment
that gives you an
opportunity that
you can’t get
anywhere else.”
-Amber Peake,
7th grade, SKMS
“Being able to take time
to write creatively”
-Brenna Cowardin,
sophomore, HHS
“It’s fun; you can
be creative in your
own way”
Iris O’Hara, 8th
grade, THMS
AVID
page 22
AVID program preparing kids for college
Morgan Neary
The class that prepares students for college
eligibility through critical reading skills, Cornell
note-taking, and other
skills necessary for college entrance and success is known as AVID.
AVID was first introduced to the Harrisonburg City Schools district
in 2010 and was offered
to those who were willing to apply and power
through their high school
years in order to successfully enroll themselves in
college and, most importantly, stay there.
AVID is meant for students who want to go to
college and be successful,
such as Mauricio Triminio,
(currently a senior at Harrisonburg High School),
who started
AVID as a
freshman.
“I
was
put into [the
class], and
it
taught
me binder
organization. It also
got me into
the habit of
being organized,” Triminio said.
His initial opinion was
that he had “no hopes,” for
the class, but as he continued the course “it got
better.”
When Triminio was offered a place in the AVID
community, he had a plan
for attending college, but
“that dream became a
goal” after his acceptance
in AVID.
There are many oth-
er students who have
had similar experiences
and first generation AVID
graduates are well into
their years of the college
of their choice.
AVID has not only had
impact on individual students, but the teachers
as well. Cathryn Soenksen was originally the
freshman AVID teacher,
but this year switched to
teaching juniors.
She initially got in-
volved with the
AVID curriculum
and class when
she was “invited”
into the course
and, in order to
get a feel for it,
“visited schools
in Orange County and observed
the students.”
She
“was
very impressed
with the students,” compared to the
students she was then
teaching, who were “very
unfocused, lacked goals,
and were not [going to
be] college ready.”
“The main focus of the
class is on study skills,”
AVID teacher Tracey Barr
said.
“Unlike a lot of programs, it focuses on finishing the education,” Soenksen said.
What type of
influence do you
hope to have on
your students?
“I hope that students
will be far more
prepared, more organized when it comes
to notes, and more
independent with
study groups” -Peter
Norment (AVID 10)
What has the
impact of teaching
AVID been on you
as a teacher?
“I’ve never taught
ninth graders before
and I’ve gotten a
better understanding of the variety of
students.” -Tracy Barr
(AVID 9)
What have you
gained from teaching
AVID?
“Relationships with
really awesome kids
and being part of a
journey that can be
celebrated in the
end. I’ve also become
a better teacher in
general from the AVID
training.” -Cathryn
Soenksen (AVID 11)
What students
think
“I have learned some
things [in AVID] that
will help me throughout my life.” -Mauricio
Triminio (AVID 12)
PHOTOS BY MORGAN NEARY
TAKE NOTE. Clockwise from bottom left: Virginia Santana, AVID 11 student, works on her final essay for the class;
AVID 10 student Julexus Cappell works on organizing her notebook and planning her week. AVID 10 teacher Peter
Norment works with Acacia Ingle on studying for her final Geometry exam; and AVID 11 teacher Cathy Soenksen
works with Michael Osorio on his final project for AVID.
“AVID is the place to
be, it will help you with
your education and I’m
glad that I stuck with
it.” -Jeury Gardinet-Garcia (AVID 11)
Alumni
page 23
Hairston finds passion in filmmaking
Graduating
videographer
makes mark
before going
to New York
University to
study film.
Luke Gibson
Senior Paul Hairston
has already left his mark
on both his school and
community.
Hairston’s passion lies
in the field of cinematography. He has made countless films and is a self-proclaimed cinephile.
“My interest for film
was sparked by my
grandfather’s
constant
artistic cultivation in me,
and from innumerable
amount of films I watched
as a kid,” Hairston said.
Hairston started off
making films for a hobby,
but branched out into creating projects for the local
community, such as Harrisonburg’s Eastern Mennonite University and his
own school, Harrisonburg
High School.
In the past two years,
Hairston shifted from
making films solely as a
hobby and started his
own business as a wedding cinematographer.
“In my sophomore
year, I was asked to film
my first wedding for $200,
and I kept at it knowing I
could make more money and it would be more
profitable than minimum
wage. It was relative to my
long term career interests
in film and would be a way
to continue practicing
my art while also making
money,” Hairston said.
Hairston works alongside long-time friend
and photographer Gaelen Smith. The two have
helped each other develop their skills as they have
grown up.
“Our base interests are
the same essentially. We
both are pursuing creative
fields and so we definitely
relate on that note. Even
though he does film, and
I do music and photography, we still started from
the same place, and were
in each others lives from
the start of it all, so we
always understand what
the other is going through
with his business,” Smith
said.
FOCUS. Hairston runs his own wedding cinematography business.
His business, Paul Hairston Cinematography, has
further perpetuated his
hobby by allowing him to
purchase higher quality
equipment.
“I think the real key to
his success was his switch
to DSLR cameras, something which I suggested in
order to develop my own
photography business,”
Smith said.
Paul also brings film
into his schoolwork whenever he can. In his senior
year, he was chosen to
be the producer for the
broadcasting class. Responsibilities of this role
include assigning jobs and
serving as the chief editor.
Junior Jake McDaniel feels
that Paul has helped him
improve his skills in the
broadcasting class.
“I’ve observed Paul at
work in class and he’s definitely given me a goal to
work toward,” McDaniel
said.
Paul’s video skills were
also picked up by the
HHS Newsstreak where
he served as the staff videographer for the past
year, working alongside
online Editor-in-chief Ben
DiNapoli.
“The Newsstreak won
a large number of awards
for video packages at
SIPA. Paul’s videos focused on interesting topics have certainly helped
newsstreak.com maintain
its high standard of content this year,” DiNapoli
said.
Hairston has been accepted to pursue film and
television in college at
New York University, one
of the world’s top film
schools.
“I feel accomplished,
thinking back to the
doubts I had about getting in and generally understanding its selective
nature. It will educate me,
but also more importantly give me opportunities
to connect and expose
myself in both a commercial and artistic way,” Hairston said.
He is optimistic about
his future in this particular field. For Hairston,
tranquility in life comes
from an indefinite career
of telling stories.
“Essentially, I just want
to tell stories to people
who want to hear them,
and leave them the emphatic satisfaction and
wonderment that led me
to want to create my own
stories. If I leave someone
with that feeling, I’ll feel
accomplished as a storyteller,” Hairston said.
PHOTOS BY CARA WALTON
ON THE JOB. Gaelen Smith works as a second shooter
on weddings.
A Place Where Learning Has No Limits
and Together We Work for the Success of All

Informational Publication - Harrisonburg City Schools

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