Newtown High School Blog

Congratulations to both the Boys and Girls Outdoor Track Teams for each winning the Southwest Conference Sportsmanship Award, which is presented by the conference to the one team in each sport that best demonstrates outstanding sportsmanship during the spring season.

Congratulations to Newtown High School Seniors Cam McCleary and Yossi Kohrman-Glaser, who each won SWC Boys Tennis Individual Championships yesterday at Weston Racquet Club.

Sonya Stanczyk has been selected as an Outstanding Student to receive a Personal Achievement Award from the Newtown Rotary Club. This award is a result of the partnership between Newtown High School and the Newtown Rotary Club in order to recognize outstanding young people. Sonya will be honored at the June 3, 2013 dinner meeting at the Inn at Newtown hosted by the Rotary Club. Congratulations Sonya!

Congratulations to the Newtown High School Girls Tennis team for sweeping all seven SWC singles and doubles championships yesterday at the Middlebury Racquet Club! SWC singles champions were Caroline Kelly, Lauren Beier, Mia Terracino, and Aimee Alexander. SWC doubles champions were Stephanie Roman/Julia Frattaroli, Lauren Frazzetta/Annie Beier, and Grace Winans/Meghan Logan. This was an incredible accomplishment by an outstanding group of student-athletes.

A group of thirty Newtown High School ninth grade students traveled to Eastern Connecticut State University on Thursday, May 23, 2013 for College Knowledge Day. Newtown High School students met students from other high schools in Connecticut and participated in numerous activities and workshops throughout the day. Some of the favorite workshops included, “When I Grow Up…”, “The College Knowledge Game”, and “Preparing for the Future.”

Students gained a greater understanding of the college application process, financial aid, choosing a major, college athletics, and much more. Overall, it was a very informative day.

Chip Dumais, Leah Clark, and Katherine Matz attended a Self-Study Seminar on Thursday, May 23, 2013 at Staples High School in Westport, CT. Sponsored by the Committee on Public Secondary Schools of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), the Self-Study Seminar is designed to orient principals and steering committee members of schools scheduled for evaluation in 2015 about the evaluation process and the critical components of the Standards for Accreditation.

Have you ever dreamed of walking in the footsteps of the ancient Romans? Have you ever dreamed of seeing world renowned Renaissance artworks or strolling across the Ponte Vecchio in Florence while enjoying a gelato? Have you ever dreamed of going on a gondola tour on the Grande Canal in Venice? Western Studies classes, in conjunction with the Italian languages classes, are planning a school sponsored field trip to Europe next year where we’ll visit Rome, Florence, and Venice. Join us for an informational meeting on Thursday May 30, 2013 at 6:00pm in room B-150/152 to learn more about this exciting educational opportunity for Newtown High School students! Contact Lisa Meyer at meyerl@newtown.k12.ct.us for additional details. Ciao!

Newtown High School students enrolled in Ms. Kristin Violette’s CTIA and App Development classes recently traveled to the Microsoft store in the Danbury Fair Mall. The store is intended to be an eduction center and employment gateway, as well as a distribution outlet for company products.

Students learned about the Microsoft corporate history, entry-level job and career opportunities at the corporate and retail levels, as well as current products and those intended for future release. The timing of the visit was perfect in that it coincided with the official live, streaming global announcement of the ‘X-Box-One’ from Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA. Our students witnessed the formal announcement along with Microsoft employees worldwide.

Store managers also introduced the topics of Marketing and Sales, setting up a few scenarios with different ‘customers’ entering the store, and challenging our students to find appropriate store products, and present them to those ‘customers’. Timing for this challenge was also perfect in that our CTIA student’s extemporaneous speaking skills are finely honed following their win at this year’s Innovation Expo. Store managers were very impressed.

The store is finalizing plans for a free course introducing app development for the various Microsoft Windows 8 platforms. The class will run from June 8, 2013 through June 12, 2013 and be held at the store from 3pm-5pm. Interested students should contact Ms. Violette to reserve a slot.

Newtown High School students who missed the informational meeting for Advanced Placement Literature must attend a brief meeting after school on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 in room B232. Summer assignments will be explained.

Why?
Because this is the weekend that traditionally begins the “safe to plant anything” season.

Hope to see you there!

Newtown High School Video Production teacher Miss Staci Stamm has her finger on the pulse of the freshest generation of tuned-in and tech-savvy directors. Students pictured here are completing final edits on original interpretations of existing tunes.

Students were allowed to select a tune from any musical genre, by an original or cover artist, and then create a video to offer a fresh interpretation of the piece. ‘School Appropriate’ and ‘Professional Standards’ are primary considerations, but beyond that students have a great deal of creative latitude.

One student, Brianna Caberson (12), has promised to release her project on this blog next week.

We can’t wait!

Students enrolled in any of Mr. Dave DeFeo’s Graphics Technology courses quickly realize that there is always something more to learn. Our last visit to the Graphics Lab produced excellent examples.

Screen printing with modern materials and equipment is a complex, multi-step process that many students master with Mr. DeFeo’s expert guidance. Considerable complexity is added to the challenge when more than one color is required for the design. Each color must be printed separately, requiring two screens, and perfect alignment of each with the item being printed upon. Evidence of success is visible on the cotton t-shirt pictured above.

Of course, there is more. Only after mastering multi-color prints on cotton can students consider applying those prints to synthetic fabrics, and after that – textured synthetics. Clear evidence of success is also evident above on the textured synthetic athletic pinny. See it? The one with the multi-color print?

What’s next, Mr. DeFeo?

Mrs. Carol Pelligra’s Ceramics lab is always home to a range of activities related to clay. A recent visit allowed us to see several clay vessels in different stages of development. One student is pictured working a lump of clay into alignment on the potter’s wheel, while Ms. Pelligra discusses finishing details with a student nearby. Pots can bee seen sun-drying in an adjacent space, while other students are “burnishing” dried pots with smooth stones in preparation for a natural firing and finishing process using wood coals and foliage.

Additional students are seen using engraving or glazing techniques to decorate other pots in preparation of final firing in the NHS kiln.

Students in grades 9-12 are invited to enroll in our Ceramics classes.

For some problems in some courses in high school there is only a single correct answer. For other courses, there is no such thing. Mrs. Carol Skolas’ Mixed Media Design Studio (MMDS) definitely falls into the second category. There are as many approaches to the current creative challenge as there are students in the room. Students have developed skills and techniques working with a wide variety of materials during the semester, and now have the option of drawing from that entire pool of knowledge when composing their solutions to the last few projects.

These works in process may look a bit chaotic now, but we can’t wait to revisit after a few sessions and see the creative expressions that evolve from that chaos. MMDS is a new course for us this year, and was introduced this semester only. Interested students in grades 9-12 are encouraged to consider enrolling.

Annually, Newtown High School Choral Parents present graduating seniors who have made a significant contribution to the Newtown High School Choral Program with scholarships to assist in furthering their education. This year’s recipients were announced at the Spring Choral concert on Monday, May 20, 2013. The 2013 recipients are (l to r) Brianna Bauch, Taylor Varga, Alison Kron, Nick Madden and Austin Isola.

Newtown High School biology teacher Susan McConnell took part in the National Center for Case Study in Science Workshop at the University of Buffalo from May 13 -17, 2013. This five-day workshop focuses on training science faculty to teach with case studies, to write their own cases, and to assess their students’ learning with cases.

The first three days of the workshop focus on learning the case study method, with demonstrations and time to prepare cases of your own. During the final two days of the workshop, all participants are required to teach a case before a student audience using a case they have developed during the workshop.

In addition, workshop participants are expected to produce a case study within six months of the workshop for our national, peer-reviewed case collection.

Intramurals is now into Ultimate Frisbee season! Come join the fun every Friday after school on the back fields. If you have any questions, please see Mr. Nichols or student Matt Barra.

Newtown High School Culinary Chef Brian Neumeyer is pictured meeting with a small group of his Advanced Culinary students to begin planning their end-of-year extravaganza. Responding to Principal Chip Dumais’ encouragement to ‘explore rigorous creative alternatives to traditional final exams’, the Culinary Dept. will be producing a spectacular showcase of high quality offerings produced from food items donated to the CT Food Bank as “un-sellable”.

The event will be attended by district leaders, media, representatives from area shelters/soup kitchens, and teachers and student representatives from area culinary programs. The plan is to make others aware of how valuable a program can become when students are engaged in authentic creative work that has identifiable value to others.

This is a very lofty and commendable goal, and everyone on our campus is confident that success is well within the grasp of our outstanding Culinary Dept. students and their teachers, Chef Brian Neumeyer and Chef Lori Hoagland.

Newtown High School students taking Advanced Placement Physics C in the 2013-2014 school year must attend a mandatory meeting from 2:15pm – 2:35pm  in A211 on Tuesday, June 11, 2013. Course expectations and summer assignments will be explained and textbooks will be handed out.  Contact Mrs. Lowell if you have any questions.

Young artists enrolled in Diane Dutchick’s Drawing class enter with a sense of their own creative process, and leave with much more. Their process evolves with coaching and practice, and evolves even further as they invest in critical self-reflection on each project, and present their work to the class in a formal critique session.

Photos from a recent session showed evidence of every step in this process. Some students were completing the creation of authentic work in response to a challenging prompt. Other students were completing a self-assessment with the Common Art Standards Rubric developed by our NHS Art teachers, as their neighbors wrote a brief reflection on their solution to the creative challenge at hand. Meanwhile, Mrs. Dutchick is leading two students through a peer-critiquing session.

When students think critically about their creative process they are more likely to retain new information and to realize important connections with their learning in other disciplines.

On Thursday May 23, 2013, Newtown High School’s Animal Concerns Club will be hosting a workshop after school in the library at 2:15pm for students who are interested in learning about a variety of different concerns such as conservation, adoption, endangered species, and more. This is a great community service opportunity and snacks will be provided!

Study Tour applications to China, Japan, Spain, and France are available to all current eighth through eleventh grade Newtown students. Professional study tour opportunities are also available to Newtown educators. An interview process will begin in early June, followed by an informational meeting that will highlight program components and student responsibilities as ambassadors to Newtown and the United States. Selected delegates will be responsible for submitting a non-refundable deposit at the informational meeting. It is recommended that students and teachers note their first and second choice of study tours on their application.  Applications are due June 7, 2013.

On Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 7:00pm, the Newtown High School Wind Ensemble, members of the Symphony Orchestra and Choirs will perform the world premiere of GLORIFICARE, a major musical work by internationally renowned composer Samuel R. Hazo. Music teachers from the Newtown Public Schools, musicians from the Newtown community, and members of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Hartford Voce Singers will join in the performance. This original composition is dedicated to those who lost their lives at Sandy Hook School on December 14, 2012.

Samuel R. Hazo became the first composer in history to be awarded the winner of both composition contests sponsored by the National Band Association. He has composed for the professional, university and public school levels in addition to writing original scores for television, radio and the stage. His original symphonic compositions include performances with actors Brooke Shields, James Earl Jones, David Conrad and Richard Kiley. He has also written symphonic arrangements for three-time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams. Mr. Hazo’s compositions have been performed and recorded world-wide, including performances by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. His music has been featured in full-length programs on National Public Radio. In 2004, Mr. Hazo’s compositions were listed in a published national survey of the Top Twenty Compositions of All Time for wind band. In 2007, by request of Virginia Tech University, Mr. Hazo composed Bridges, a beautiful tone poem honoring their fallen students.

Mr. Hazo has communicated that his emotional connection to writing GLORIFICARE has resulted in “the best work of my career”. Our Newtown High School musicians have been rehearsing GLORIFICARE with sensitivity and care and are performing this emotionally powerful piece with great expression and maturity. Mr. Hazo will be a guest conductor for the Wind Ensemble rehearsal on May 21, 2013 and conduct the premiere at the May 22, 2013 concert.

Congratulations to the Newtown High School drama program for their eight nominations from the Connecticut High School Musical Theater Awards for their spring musical, How to Succeed in Business. The nominations included Outstanding Hair & Makeup, Outstanding Set Design – Tom Matson, Outstanding Direction – Jane Matson, Outstanding Choreography – Jane Matson, Outstanding Music, Outstanding Ensemble – The Secretaries, Outstanding Lead Actor- Taylor Varga –J. Pierpont Finch, and Outstanding Production. The Award Ceremony will take place on Tuesday June 4, 2013 at the Palace Theatre in Waterbury, CT.

The Newtown High School National Honor Society will be hosting a Ford Explorer car smash fundraiser! The event will take place on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 during the last three periods of the day in back parking lot behind the cafetorium area. Purchase a $5 sledgehammer strike or a $1 small hammer strike and smash the car. All proceeds will be donated to Relay for Life.

As a quality performance assessment, ninth grade Newtown High School science students had to develop a stance on whether they think single use plastic bags should be banned from Newtown. As part of the project they had to research pros and cons of using plastic and then do a persuasive presentation trying to convince others of their point of view. The presentation could take any form. Students submitted: websites, videos, letters to the editors, posters, power points, prezis, mini-magazines, rap songs, acoustic songs, plays, and more. The students were very creative and very persuasive. Above left are Maddy Bridges and Julia Wiberg doing a play.  Above right is a picture of a magazine submitted by Catie Ingersoll.  Here is a website by Dori Farley and Katie Reilly.  Below is a video by Tim Mammen and Jacob Branchflower.

Joe Chabot, Director of High School Admissions for Porter and Chester Institute, presented Newtown High School Senior Jack Zahansky with a Snap-on Cordless Drill for winning the spark plug replacement contest at the recent Connecticut Construction Career Day Expo (8 plugs taken out and replaced in 38 seconds!).

On Friday, May 24, 2013, Newtown High School’s National Honor Society will be holding a babysitting event! From 5:00pm – 8:00pm, Newtown residents and NHS faculty can drop their children (of all ages) off in the NHS cafetorium and enjoy a nice Memorial Day dinner! Newtown High’s Honor Society students will host the event. Snacks and age appropriate games will be provided, along with adult supervision by someone with CPR and First Aid training. Please RSVP to Lauren Frazzetta, National Honor Society Vice President, at lfrazz@charter.net.

Newtown High School Advanced Placement Environmental Science students did some field work for Project Periphyton, a project funded jointly by NOAA and Education Connection. As part of the project, students go to a local river to do water quality tests and to collect biological data in the form of diatoms. Students from NHS went to Kettletown Brook on May 14, 2013. Another group is going to the Still River on May 21, 2013. Maddy Good and Cassie Ekstrom are scrubbing cobbles to collect diatoms. Katie McManus and Kelley Baylis are testing dissolved oxygen levels. Kelsey Packer and Jenny Morrissey are looking at the river bottom using a quadrat. Also seen is a group measuring stream width and depth and a different group of students with consultant Alberto Mimo, a scientist, naturalist, and a consultant for Project Periphyton.

On Sunday, May 19, 2013, Newtown High School Feeding the Need club members Daisy Zheng, Trystan Wagner, and Sonya Stanczyk participated in the Connecticut Food Bank’s Walk Against Hunger at Library Park in Waterbury, CT to raise awareness of hunger in America. Team Feeding the Need raised $278 to support the CT Food Bank. Every dollar raised provided three meals to those in need. There was a great turn out even with the rainy weather, and approximately 400 people came to have fun and walk against hunger. Generous companies donated food and refreshments for all of the participants. It was a lovely event and it was great to see all of the support from local organizations based in Waterbury. Team Feeding the Need was proud to represent Newtown and Paul O’Leary, the Chief Operating Officer of the CT Food Bank, was glad to see us there.

Congratulations to Anna Northrop and Matthew Mossbarger for being selected by the faculty of Newtown High School to receive the annual William Honan Lions Award (formerly the Lions Club Past President Award and Trull Award). The award recognizes the “Best All Around Junior Students” and is based upon a strong academic record, extraordinary leadership skills, a commitment to community, and outstanding character. The students were honored at a dinner and were presented with a monetary gift. Congratulations, Anna & Matthew!

As part of Newtown’s Turning the Page, New Stories for Newtown author event, the Newtown High School Library Media Center hosted bestselling authors Christopher Paolini and Neil Gaiman on May 17, 2013. Mr. Paolini and Mr. Gaiman gave engaging and inspiring presentations to captivated audiences. Between presentations, the authors graciously met with students, faculty, and staff to answer questions, autograph books, and pose for photos. It was a wonderful visit that will not be soon forgotten.

Newtown High School students taking Advanced Placement English Literature in the 2013-2014 school year must attend a mandatory 30 minute meeting immediately after school in the Lecture Hall on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Course expectations and summer assignments will be explained.

The Newtown High School Humanities class is discussing the essential question How are individuals defined and perceived? Through understanding Surrealism in art and literature, students read Jean Paul Sartre’s play No Exit, designing sets, acting and producing in front of their peers. The artistic component will be an artwork depicting their interpretation of heaven or hell using a surrealistic device of their creation.

The National Honor Society (NHS) is the premier service organization, which is based upon a student’s exemplary performances in the areas of: Scholarship, Service, Leadership, and Character. These areas are known as the pillars of the organization. Students will be notified after the completion of their fourth semester and/or sixth semester regarding eligibility for the National Honor Society. This posting will explain more about the area of Service Read the rest of this entry »

On Wednesday, May 16, 2013, the Newtown and Brookfield Varisty Softball teams competed in their first annual Sandy Hook Memorial Game. The teams raised $1500 for the Sandy Hook Elementary Fund through The Newtown Lions Club. The money will go towards covering the cost of counseling for Sandy Hook students, staff, families, and first responders. A big thank you to everyone who came out to support the teams and the cause! Brookfield came out on top on Wednesday, but the teams will see each other again on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 4:15pm in the first round of playoffs in Brookfield. Come out and support Newtown!

Faculty, staff, and alumni – get more information here.  Spread the word.

Forty Newtown High School students recently attended the Connecticut Construction Career Day Expo held at the Durham Fairgrounds. The expo offered an introduction to a variety of industry careers, the skills required by them, and the training methods and institutions available for those interested.

Many techniques and demonstrations offered strong visual and conceptual connections that go beyond classroom learning. The expo also proved to be a great networking opportunity to foster business relationships for future field trips and guest speakers at NHS.

Students enjoyed speaking directly with industry professionals, but the favorite part of the day was the opportunity to get hands-on experience with several tools and large pieces of power equipment!

This trip was offered by the Career Center staff, Peg Ragaini and Kitty Latowicki, Business Education and CWE teacher Vivian Sheen, and Technology Education teacher Steve George. Student reflection on the bus ride home indicated this was a very worthwhile day.

The first ever Letter Writing Frenzy will be hosted by the Junior Newtown Action Alliance on Friday, May 24, 2013, 7:00pm – 8:00pm in the Newtown High School Cafetorium. Young and old are welcome to join the fun! Bring a laptop, tablet, cell phone, or even the good ol’ pen and paper. We’ll reach out to our legislators together. Bring the whole family! There will be a bake sale and games table to keep the kids busy.