portland high school press
Transcription
portland high school press
PORTLAND HIGH SCHOOL PRESS Principal’s Corner WINTER EDITION Happy 2014 to Everyone! CONTENTS Principal’s Corner 1 NHS Inductees 2 Art Show 3 Key Club 3 Student Senate 4 World Languages 5 Counseling Center 6 Science 6 English 7 Business/Finance/FBLA 7 Robotics Club 7 Social Studies 8 Veterans Day 8 Library 9 Technology 10 The second semester will be another busy time at PHS. In March, our sophomore students will take the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) for Science only. The State has changed our testing requirements so now all juniors will take the Smarter Balanced Assessment. This test will cover the areas of language arts and math. The entire test is computer generated. It is the first year that all schools across the State must take this exam. Here are some exciting highlights from our first half of the year: Congratulations to our three January graduates, who are starting their college careers early: They are: Ben Eiss, Jackie Waller and Brittany Vogt. They are starting their college careers early. (see photo, page 2) Marisa DiMare and Megan Errichetti were honored at the Middlesex Superintendents’ Luncheon in November. The following students auditioned and were accepted into the CT Music Educators Association Southern Regional Band and Chorus. For vocals: Dan DeBarge, Autumn Dupuis, Megan Errichetti, Nick Fazzino, Briana Oakliff, Alina Pantano, and Jessica Wilcox. For band: Emily Guilmette-trombone and Abigail Sweet-tuba. These fine musicians are now eligible to audition for All State in February. We wish them the very best. Jackie Otake signed a letter of intent to play Division I soccer at Wagner College! (see photo, page 2) We had a successful Holiday dance with over 80% of our students attending. Each couple brought an unwrapped toy to donate to the Portland Youth Holiday Toy Drive. November Students of the Month were: Senior-Jessica Durkin and Sean Muff, JuniorBrooke Unikewicz, Sophomore-Sophie McArdle and Freshman-Matt Breece December Students of the Month were: Senior-Amanda Ghent, Junior-Jose Rivera, Sophomore-Dana Doonan and Freshmen-Grace Winakor and Roland Thivierge. January Students of the Month were: Senior-Maddie McDougal, Donahvon LaPointe, Junior-Danielle Cote Sophomore- Isabel Dupuis and Freshman-Emma Fantoli. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” - Nelson Mandela We hope we can all stay healthy and we ask that you encourage your teenager to get plenty of rest, fresh air and exercise during these bleak winter days. Most seniors have submitted their applications to colleges. Now they have to wait for that special envelope to arrive in the mail! Parents: don’t forget to fill at the FAFSA report. Remember: You can always call or e-mail me anytime if you have concerns or questions. Andrea PORTLAND HIGH SCHOOL PRESS Page 2 uates d a r G y r Janua N AY DIVISIO L P O T e k Ota I SOCCER Brittany Vogt, Ben Eiss and Jackie Waller Assist. Coach Realjo, Mr. Otake, Coach Booth and Jackie Otake NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY INDUCTEES: Jordon Balskus Weston Balskus Holly Bauer Michael Bordonaro Daniel Cavanaugh Danielle Cote Emilly Dillon Jonathan Dolan Kelly Flanagan Kayla Hardesty Emilie Hernandez Airieanna Lane Emilie MacKinnon Brooke Marconi Cole Ogorzalek Ryan Osak Alina Pantano Mason Rambarose Kelsey Springer Emma Stoker Haley Townsend Gavriella Varela Mark Waldner Melissa Wysocki ROBOTICS CLUB The Robotics club, "Portland Cybernetics", is a new club to Portland Secondary Schools. The team is building a robot to the US First competition's specifications in order to gain experience. Due to time constraints, the team will be unable to compete in official competitions this year, but they plan to compete next year. The President is Jonathan Dolan, Vice President is Amanda Murphy, Secretary is Kevin Ferguson, and Treasurer is Emilie MacKinnon. PORTLAND HIGH SCHOOL PRESS Page 3 Students work on display at Portland public library Portland High School Portfolio Art Show Front Row- Jessica Durkin, Jenna Rudewicz, Brooke Unikewicz Back Row- Brianna Felt, Maddi Smith, Will Cohen, Jaclyn Waller, Lena DeJong, Holly Hetzel, Maddie McDougall The Portland High School Portfolio Art Show opened on February 6th in the Mary Flood Room of the Portland Public Library. The Portfolio Show is new for the high school featuring ten of its best art students. Several works from Will Cohen, Lena DeJong, Jessica Durkin, Brianna Felt, Holly Hetzel, Maddie McDougall, Jenna Rudewicz, Maddi Smith, Brooke Unikewicz, and Jaclyn Waller are on display. There are approximately 40 works in pencil, colored pencil, charcoal, pastel, oil, and acrylic. Several students are going on to pursue careers in the art field. The show will be up for the entire month of February and is available for viewing during regular library hours. Key Club News The PHS Key Club continues to show their support of others through the following initiatives: Midterm Exam Hugs and Kisses The bundles of kisses sent by parents to wish students good luck on midterm exams were a huge success. We were thrilled with the positive response and were so pleased with the excitement shared by the students. We will be doing this again during final exams so please keep your eyes open for the order notice as we head into the end of the year. Care Packages for PHS Military We are collecting items to send to our PHS graduates who are now serving in the military. Any tasty treats, toiletry items, magazines, books or goodies will gladly be accepted. The care package drive will be held through the month of March. 5K for 5k Road Race The PHS Key Club is gearing up for the annual 5k road race. Last year’s race was an enormous success and we expect to have the same participation and enthusiasm this year. Details will follow. PORTLAND HIGH SCHOOL PRESS Page 4 Student Senate The fall was a busy, but exciting time for the Portland High School Student Senate. During the days before Thanksgiving, Student Senate ran the P.H.S. Food Drive. Students, faculty, staff and Portland families donated twenty four turkeys and a truck load of food. The food was donated to the Portland Food Bank. Ruth Mayo, Director of the Portland Food Bank, responded with a wonderful letter thanking the Portland High School Student Senate for its efforts at P.H.S. On December 7th, 2013, the 26th annual Holiday Dinner Dance took place. Again this year, the “Snow Ball” was a huge success, with over 280 students in attendance. D.J. Doug O’Rourke had students dancing into the night. Students also enjoyed taking funny photos with friends in the photo booth provided by Conway Photography and more formal pictures by Ted Milardo Photography. This was another opportunity for P.H.S. students to once again prove their generosity by donating a truck full of toys for children in their community. Ruth Mayo was happy to report that every child on her list received a Christmas present. The Student Senate finished its December agenda with a salute to winter sports at the Winter Sports Pep Rally. There was a close competition in the “Wrap a Teacher” race, with Mrs. Miller taking the win (and being a good sport along the way). A fun time was had by all. The seniors won the caroling contest with a strong performance by Jess Wilcox, Meghan Erichetti, Andrew Donahue, and Josh Labella. The last event of the rally was the “Pie a Teacher” fundraiser sponsored by the freshmen class. Some of P.H.S.’s finest were “pied” by lottery winning students. The recipients of the “Pie in the Face” were the amazing Mr.Kuckuka, the very brave Ms.Rahmy, and the dynamic duo of Mr. and Mrs. Stotler, the strong Mr, Cunningham and the exuberant Mr. Giegerich. All agreed the contest was a great way to start the winter break. On February 26, 2013, Student Senate will host the 4th annual “Golden Oldies” dinner dance in the P.H.S library. Through the help of the Portland Senior Center, Portland Seniors are invited to a dinner dance hosted by the P.H.S. Student Senate. Senate Adviser and culinary teacher, Charlie Ryan, and Senate members will prepare and serve a delicious meal while PHS senior Chris Leslie will play some lively tunes for all to enjoy. In the past, Senate members, and the seniors, have enjoyed a night of good food, good company, and lots of dancing. Please contact the Portland Senior Center for more information. Student Senate is also looking forward to a trip with the honors 10th grade US History/American Studies students to Boston on March 25th. The Students will visit many historic sites and go on the famous “Duck Boat Tour”. PORTLAND HIGH SCHOOL PRESS Page 5 WORLD LANGUAGES Mrs. Badulescu’s French and Spanish students are learning about different cultures and languages through research, projects, and real-life situation, presentations. The Halloween French and Spanish Film Festival was an opportunity for all students to demonstrate creativity and enthusiasms in learning the target language. The students loved working in groups to create and present their projects. UCONN French students are proud of the award received at the Quiz Bowl in Storrs, where they participated in a contest with other CT schools. They are now more motivated to learn the language by reading French novels like: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Le Petit Nicolas By Sempe & Gosciny, and 20000 lieus sous les mers by Jules Vernes and others. The students also watched and discussed French films (Les Miserables, Le petit Nicolas, Les parapluies de Cherbourg, Les Intouchables) and compared some of them to the novels they read. The students’ favorite assignment was doing a presentation about technology and robots. Each student “created” a new robot and presented it to the class. French 3 students created projects about daily routines and art. They learned about the Impressionism era and some students used the impressionist techniques to recreate their preferred art work. Spanish 2 students learned about the culture of Costa Rica, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Mexico , then compared them to their own culture. They learned vocabulary about travel preparations, daily routines, sports, health, clothing and legends. Critical thinking, problem solving and the use of technology are some of the skills students have used to create their photo stories and video projects. Yearbooks are on sale. Buy one today!!! $60.00 Contact Krista Karch for more details: [email protected] 860-342-1720 x 2029 PORTLAND HIGH SCHOOL PRESS Page 6 School Counseling Blurb The 2014-2015 scheduling process is starting. We will be using Naviance, a web-based planning and advising system to have all students submit their requests. After requests are made, you will be able to view your child’s requests on Naviance. Since this is a long process, final schedules will be mailed home in August. The week of February 24-28 is designated to anti-bullying. We will kicked off the week with Michael Bogdanski’s presentation on Monday. Throughout the week, our Safe Haven group gave messages of kindness and empathy to all students. The week ended with everyone wearing BLUE to support kindness. Freshmen should be planning for their sophomore year is important and a challenging course of study is recommended. March Sophomore Seminar is underway and allows the counselors to meet with small groups of sophomores to discuss a variety of topics, to start some career planning, and to work on their student success plans. Sophomores will attend a career expo at Wesleyan University at the end of April too! April Juniors are busy exploring all of their options for post secondary education. Many are registering with www.collegeboard.org to take the SAT or www.actstudent.org to take the ACT. **Remember to write down your login information! All juniors will May attend the NACAC College Fair in Hartford on Thursday, April 3rd. Seniors are busy checking the mailbox every day! College acceptance letters and Student Aid Reports should be on their way. Once you have all of your information, it is time to make the big decision of where you want to go next year. Make sure you are applying for every possible scholarship appropriate for you! March 6- Science CAPT Testing for all sophomores March 7 – Registration deadline for April ACT March 8 – SAT Testing Date April 3 – NACAC College Fair – Hartford Connecticut Expo Center (All Juniors attend on the 3rd during school) April 4 – Registration Deadline for May SAT April 12 - ACT April 24 – Sophomore Career Expo – Wesleyan University May 3 – SAT May 5 – 16 AP Testing May 9 – Register for June SAT and ACT May 16 – “Ready for Hire” day at MxCC May 22 – Awards Night – 6pm Science Department news The Science Department will be conducting after school review sessions prior to the CAPT (Thursday March 6). Sophomores are highly encouraged to participate in these sessions as they prepare for the test. The schedule is as follows: The Chemistry students have finished up the forensics unit with a midterm exam involving such suspects as Colonel Mustard and Miss Scarlett! Students learned to use critical thinking skills, forensic laboratory skills and technical writing skills to complete the midterm exam which was a formal technical report of lab results as part of Feb 27 (Thursday): Biology – room 213 the investigation, suitable for support of testimony in court. They did a great job. As we move ahead to the second semester we will foMarch 4 (Tuesday) Physics – room 216 cus on chemistry in the environment and apply concepts to global March 5 (Wednesday) Chemistry – 214 climate change, renewable energy resources, chemical impact on The BODIES Exhibit- Anatomy and Physiology students were able to focus the environment and the importance of minerals and vitamins (elements and chemical compounds) to nutrition. on every organ system in the human body by observing real, sectioned specimens. Some of the students favorite exhibits were the dissection of The AP Chemistry students and some of the advanced students will the heart and dyed blood vessels, which displayed the arteries, veins and travel to UCONN to participate in the Chemistry Olympiad, a full day capillaries we have in different areas of our body. Students also enjoyed of college-bowl type competitions for chemistry students from seeing how a fetus grows from conception to birth. around the state. In our upcoming nervous systems unit, students will learn the anatomy and On a different note, our new science department member Kevin physiology of the brain and which parts are "in charge" of which actions. Cunningham is the freshman boys basketball couch! He is pleased Students will apply these concepts to several labs including dissection of to announce that the boys freshmen basketball team has had a very the sheep brain and learned movements. successful 2013-2014 season so far. Led by starters Austin White, The Biology classes are participating in multiple genetics labs, focusing on Nick Piersall, Roland Thivierge, Nick Coman, and Jacob Kostraba, dominant and recessive trait inheritance and family pedigrees. Their CAPT the Highlanders have gone 6-3 in the past several weeks. The Highexam is coming up in March and the students are well prepared with a vast landers have also been helped by strong play off of the bench from Drew Tammaro, Jeff Albert, and Leo Salcedo. The team looks to knowledge of Biological concepts. We look forward to their hard-earned improve upon their record even further as the season goes on. scores. PORTLAND HIGH SCHOOL PRESS Page 7 ENGLISH Mrs. McCormick's freshman classes are beginning their study of non-fiction. They will be reading Mitch Albom's memoir Tuesdays With Morrie and Elie Wiesel's memoir Night. Their reading of Wiesel's Holocaust memoir will coincide with students' study of the Holocaust in their Global Studies classes. Students will also be exposed to a variety of non-fiction books during their Friday reading period, books that range in topics from Chemical Chaos to Andy Warhol's paintings to crazy 911 phone calls. The Creative Writing junior/senior elective has begun this semester with 20 students. Students are currently sharpening their observational skills using their five senses and experimenting writing in various perspectives. Mrs. Wood's American Literature classes are in a miniunit on small town life at the turn of the century (1900). We are reading Our Town together in class and students are also reading a variety of poems and short stories. The British Literature class is finishing up Frankenstein and will be starting the Victorian age soon. All juniors are working on college essays. Ms. Rahmy's honors ninth graders have finished up Romeo and Juliet and are beginning their Holocaust unit. During this unit, we will be reading Elie Wiesel's Night and Markus Zusak's The Book Thief. The college prep ninth grade section has finished Tuesdays With Morrie and is just beginning Romeo and Juliet. The tenth graders have begun a nonfiction piece: Getting Away With Murder, which is the story of Emmett Till and the start of the American Civil Rights Movement. This will serve as an effective precursor to the seminal classic, To Kill A Mockingbird. BUSINESS & FINANCE TECHNOLOGY Introduction to Business students have been preparing for a job interview as a part-time sales associate with Men’s Wearhouse. Students prepared resumes, practiced interviewing skills, and researched the company in an effort to prepare for the mock interview process. The Men’s Wearhouse High School “Dress for Success” presentation emphasizes that first impressions are EVERYTHING! The most important thing a student can do on a job interview is to make a good first impression. This begins with preparing for the job interview and dressing professionally. The Men’s Wearhouse High School “Dress for Success” program is designed to help young adults transition into the college and working world. Some of the topics covered during their presentation included: Mock interviews. Interview preparation tips. How to make a positive first impression. Appropriate interview attire. FBLA Future Business Leader’s of America (FBLA) is on its way to Boston this spring!!!!! First stop is the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Students will be attending the educational program “Currency and Counterfeits” which is designed for grades 9-12. This program describes the production, distribution, and anticounterfeiting security features of U.S. currency. The program compares images of genuine currency with examples of counterfeit money, and outlines the history of paper money in the U.S. The next Red Cross blood drive will be coming up in April. Please contact Ms. Jones at [email protected] if you would like to donate! MUSIC Congratulations to Emily Guilmette (Band) and Daniel DeBarge (Chorus) on their acceptance to 2014 CT All-State Festival Ensembles. The concert will be held at the Bushnell on Saturday, April 5th at 3:00 p.m. The Portland Secondary Schools music staff launched a department website in an effort to improve communication. All pertinent information and documents are available at this time! The site can be accessed through the district website or directly at pssmusic.weebly.com The Portland High School music department is traveling to Virginia Beach, VA, April 10-14. A mandatory parent/student meeting will take place April 1st at 6:30 in the auditorium. VIRGINIA OR BUST! Upcoming performances: Band Extravaganza: March 14th at 7:00 PM - HS Gym CT Wolfpack: March 21st Game time 7:00 XL Center Spring Concert: May 14th at 7:00PM - DWG Auditorium PORTLAND HIGH SCHOOL PRESS Page 8 SOCIAL STUDIES As the fall semester came to an end, Social Studies students took finals and completed project-based assessments. The spring semester kicked off with exciting new units, projects, papers, and the beginning of new electives for upperclassmen. Mrs. Stotler’s Civics students’ town meeting assignments finished in December. These assignments were handed out on the first day of school. Students had most of the first semester to attend a town meeting of their choice and complete a worksheet which had to be signed by a town committee member. On the worksheets, students explained three observations they made about the meeting, the political affiliation of the participants, and drew a picture of the room set-up. For many students, this was the first time they had ever attended a town meeting and many found them to be both informative and interesting. Hopefully, it won’t be their last. Spring semester students just received their town meeting assignment sheets and have until May to complete them. Global Studies students have started their spring semester classes. Many freshmen have a new Social Studies teacher and class, so please ask your student about his or her new experience. This semester’s units start with World War I and will cover World War II, the Cold War, creation of religions, and the development of and current topics in the Middle East, Asia, and South America. U.S. History students are studying the 20th Century and the impact of the emergence of the United States onto the world scene. Psychology students start the second semester looking at the basics of Psychology before moving on to in-depth studies of learning, human development, and personality as part of their overall survey in this course. Finally, Current Events students have been keeping abreast of national and world events through formal units and the CNN Student News Program – which provides the information that appears each Friday on the “news quiz”. VETERANS DAY On November 8, 2013, the P.H.S. Social Studies Department proudly hosted its fourth annual Veterans Day assembly. Four veterans, representing Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, provided brief reflections on their time in the military to an audience of U.S. History students in the Donald W. Gates Auditorium. In order to personalize the presentation for the students, an effort was made once again this year for speakers to have a connection to Portland. Portland resident and P.H.S. substitute teacher Reg Farrington (U.S. Army/Vietnam), P.H.S. teacher Wayne Kukucka (US Navy/Iraq), P.H.S. teacher James Stotler (US Navy/Iraq), and P.H.S. alumni Nick Caisse (US Army/Afghanistan) – provided students with first-hand accounts of life in the military, serving overseas, and dealing with the challenges of separation, combat, and loss through a panel discussion format. This event continues to be an important part of the US History curriculum and the department was pleased that many students reported attending or viewing other Veterans Day events on November 11. PORTLAND HIGH SCHOOL PRESS Page 9 It’s Library Lovers Month!! We’re celebrating by showcasing a community of readers! Teachers have proudly displayed their recent reads and now Students have begun to create Literacy Lockers ~ displaying covers of favorite or recent reads. Stroll through the halls and you’ll see that PHS READS!! We’ve begun to offer students the chance to take Accelerated Reader quizzes online. After reading a book, stop by the library to log in & take a quiz. Share the results with us for a chance to win an iTunes gift card! Ask your English teacher about the possibility of receiving extra credit points, too. Seniors 2014 FOLLOW US… phslibraryct Portland High School Library PORTLAND HIGH SCHOOL PRESS Page 10 TECHNOLOGY The second semester is underway and those of us in the multimedia department are happily immersed in our classes with many exciting projects ahead. We have a productive and innovative semester planned for each course and thus far each student seems very excited to be participating. Civil Engineering and Architecture The students are putting their finishing touches on their beautiful dollhouses that they have constructed from the ground up. Each group selected their unique dollhouse design and had the daunting task of assembling and designing. The students worked diligently and should be very proud of the final products. Many thanks to Mr. Szyd for allowing us to use his shop in order to complete this project. CONGRATULATIONS to the students for their collaboration, perseverance, and ingenuity.” As we look ahead, the class will explore famous architectural structures of the world and will design ecofriendly renderings using Revit. Electronic Publishing The yearbook is taking shape and is developing into a beautiful publication. The class is focused on producing a book that is representative of the entire study body and encapsulates the essence of PHS. Editors, Brittney DiCioccio and Marisa DiMare, continue to lead and inspire the class, ensuring each spread is appealing. Many thanks to all parents and businesses who contributed to the success of the book by placing ads: we are appreciative of your generosity. Yearbooks are on sale for $60. Be sure to visit our school blog at: Portlandhighblog.blogspot.com Please let us know if you would like us to add items! TV Production Studio Kudos to Jordon Balskus for managing WPHT and creating and implementing a successful vision for our broadcast studio. Each day, the students are eager to participate in the show and serve as part of the team. This semester we are excited to add new segments such as: Shout Out Tuesday, Joke of the Week, and Trivial Trivia. Production Studio II students are designing graphics and special programming that will continue to enhance the production. In addition, it is our goal to incorporate radio broadcasts as a preliminary phase to our collaborative project with Middlesex Community College, which involves developing a FM radio station. Digital Video The class has started their first film project which requires them to develop a script geared toward conflict resolution that adheres to the three phases of design: introduction of character/conflict, conflict heightening, conflict is resolution. As the students work collaboratively to meet the guidelines of the project, they will also complete the pre production, production and post production processes. The class is looking forward to screening final products. In the weeks ahead, the class will be watching select movies to analyze various elements of film design, evaluate plots, and examine camera techniques. The students are enjoying the class and are eager to put their creativity to work. Animation & Gaming Students are implementing animation design techniques in Flash and creating 2D & 3D drawings and bringing them to life through the various features of software. As their skills progress, they will develop more elaborate animations and stories. As the class progresses, the animation and design elements will be incorporated into video game design which is sure to be a hit for all. If you have any questions about the Multimedia Department, please feel free to contact Krista Karch at [email protected] at any time.