VENI VIDI VICI - Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School

VENI VIDI VICI
Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School
Volume 4, issue 1
Inside this issue:
FALL 2014
Page
Executive Director’s Message
1
IB Programme
2
Music Department
2
Art Department
2
Athletics Department
3
Fall Music Performances
4
Contributors to this issue:
Kathleen Greenwood
Grace Howard-Donlin
Steven Hunt
Matthew Lemire
David O’Brien
Designer:
Amanda Durkin
This periodical of
Abby Kelley Foster
Charter Public School
is published in the
fall and spring.
Visit our website at
www.akfcs.org
Continued Success
The fall season is upon us and we have had a great start to this year. We had great attendance
at our “Back to School Nights” in all three schools. Our mission statement is to assist parents
in their role as primary educators of their children. Parental involvement is a key factor to the
continued success of our school and our student’s development. Our school is committed to
working with every child and family by offering academic as well as social emotional support
when needed. Our vast array of after school club and athletic offerings across all three schools
provides opportunities for students to find something they are interested in that will contribute
to their character development and make them a well rounded citizen in our community.
Once again we have been rated a Level 1 school based upon our spring 2014 MCAS results.
We are proud of this accomplishment and applaud the hard work and perseverance of our
students and staff. Teachers and administrators are focused on ensuring that our students
make yearly progress and show growth. We continue to align our curricula with the common
core standards and concentrate professional development efforts on ways to increase student
achievement. We analyze data continuously and use those results to inform our instruction.
We are researching, piloting and analyzing a new math program that is aligned with the
common core standards for grades K-8 and will recommend a purchase for next school year.
Wishing everyone a continued successful school year!
Mrs. Kathleen Greenwood
Executive Director
Page 2
AKF and IB Work Together to Graduate Excellence
By Mrs. Grace Howard-Donlin, IB Coordinator
Our 2014 International Baccalaureate Programme cohort consisted of 14 diploma candidates and 41 course
candidate students. We were proud to graduate each and every one of them, and pleased to receive their scores in July,
which boasted a 95% success rate for certificates earned in our IB classes, showing an increase from 89% the previous
year. As we continue to work towards improving our diploma rate and expanding our program, we have added an
additional science and language course as well as started efforts to make
IB more known in our Middle School. Our hope is for our seventh and
eighth grade students to start preparing themselves now for the IB path in
High School, if they so choose to take it.
Many of our full diploma graduates have been in touch with us
to let us know the positive impact IB has had in preparing them for the
college experience. At the heart of both the Abby Kelley Foster Charter
Public School and International Baccalaureate Programme mission
statements exists the desired result of producing model citizens ready for
this ever changing world; and it is wonderful to know we are making this
shared mission a reality.
AKF Music Reaches Out to the Worcester Community
By Mr. David O’Brien, Music Department Chair
The 2014-2015 school year holds some wonderful events for our K-12 Music Department. From kindergarten
through high school, various student and faculty ensembles will perform here at school and throughout the community.
Our various ensembles will be featured at the Worcester Sharks and Providence Bruins local American Hockey League
games, Barnes and Noble PTO fundraisers, and fundraisers for the March of Dimes and St. Gobain/United Way. We will
also be partnering with other schools such as Notre Dame Academy for performances. Please continue to check the
AKFCS website for these performance schedules. We hope to see you at an upcoming event!
Abby Kelley Visual Arts Creativity
By Mr. Steven Hunt, Art Department Chair
The Abby Kelley Visual Arts Department is proud to announce that students in Grade 9 now have classes in the
Visual Arts! This is the result of an initiative created to help students in high school become more advanced with their
skills in different mediums, more well-rounded in art history, and more prepared to take International Baccalaureate
Visual Arts classes. Additionally, grades 9 and 10 are pioneering a new portfolio-based
assessment system, which mimics the assessment process of the International Baccalaureate program more closely. If successful, all high school visual arts classes will shift to
the portfolio-based assessment system.
At the Middle School level, our students are busy with their focus on the
Elements of Line and Shape, and are expanding their knowledge by learning the
Principles of Pattern, Repetition and Variation. Students are also examining self-portraits
and still life painting. We’re excited to announce that Grade 6 students are participating
in The Quinsigamond Community College’s Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Art
Contest. Students are challenged to esign a unique piece of art that answers the question
“What do you think Dr. King (if he were still alive) would say about President Obama's
visit to Worcester in 2014?”. To help students generate ideas, they have been studying
Martin Luther King, Jr. and watching parts of his speeches as well as watching clips from
President Obama’s speech at Worcester Technical High School.
In the Elementary School, Ms. Kelley is coordinating a fundraiser called “Art to Remember”. Students will be
able to purchase a variety of merchandise with their artwork printed on the item to help raise funds for the Elementary
School art classroom. Currently students are focused on both seasonal artwork and the artwork of historical artist Grant
Wood and his landscape paintings.
Page 3
AKF Football Kickoff
By Mr. Matthew Lemire, Football Coach
Abby Kelley launched its inaugural football season this fall. This season the team is competing at the freshman
level. It is the third year of a seven year plan that will ultimately result in a varsity program. The goals of the previous
two years were to develop a logistical plan that would allow the school to accumulate the necessary equipment and
resources, as well as begin to build the skills and knowledge of the players that will ultimately play during that first
varsity season. The administration and coaching staff targeted this year’s freshman class as the group to focus on. The
coaching staff has spent the past two fall seasons working with students who, at the time, were in the sixth, seventh, and
eighth grades. These students are now older and the team is comprised of players primarily from the eighth and ninth
grade, with a handful of players from the seventh and tenth grade. The football program will continue to develop as
these students grow older. Next season the football program will compete at the junior varsity level and eventually at the
varsity level.
First row (kneeling) left to right: Mitchell White, Erick Stone, Isaiah Burnett, Cyrus Bonsu, Delvin Attafah, Elijah Ashmore,
Noah Christo, Greg Asare, Matt Kerr, Ife Ogunleye.
Second row (standing) left to right: Danilo Nunes, David Osei-Acheampong, Hommi Diaz, Sam Nelson, Berima Owusu,
Desmond Ampomah, Chris Civil, Carlos Casillas, Nate Manley, Spencer Annis, Christian Rivera.
Third row (standing behind) left to right: Ofili Egwuatu, Telvin Tito, Casper Parafinowicz, Rich Greene, Emeka Egwuatu,
Nick Sargent, Bush Tran, Efrain Vega, Owen Russo, Hemmi Osei-Poku.
This year’s team played a seven game schedule, facing teams like Doherty, St. Peter-Marian, Gardner,
Westboro, Grafton, and Bay Path. In addition to the fact that it is our first year of competition, this schedule offered the
added challenge of playing primarily Division 4 schools. Abby Kelley will ultimately compete at the Division 6 level,
which is determined by school enrollment. The team opted to play seven games rather than a typical full schedule of
eleven games. Instead, the team started with a six week long preseason this year. The coaching staff felt that extra practice time would be a great benefit to the team because only a few of the players had ever played real football before.
On September 29th Abby Kelley played its first ever football game against the Doherty High School freshman
team at nearby Kendrick Field. The game turned out to be quite the event as the team enjoyed the support of several
hundred people from the school community. The Bears didn’t disappoint as they came away with a thrilling come from
behind 14-8 victory. Running back Berima Owusu scored the first touchdown in school history with a 17 yard run in the
third quarter. Quarterback Nate Manley connected with receiver Emeka Egwuatu on a 46 yard pass with less than two
minutes remaining in the game to secure the victory. The Bears continued to build positive momentum this year in order
to lay the foundation for the years to come.
Fall 2014 Music Performances
Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin,
sexual orientation, disability, or homelessness and all students have equal access to the general education program
and the full range of any occupational/vocational education programs offered by the district.