Newtown High School Blog

Last year the PTSA Reflections Program theme was “Beauty is…” Students are invited to interpret this year’s theme of “together we can…” using their area of expertise. The rules for each area – Photography, Visual arts, Literature, Music Composition, and Dance – along with Student Entry Forms and General Guidelines are available in each department.  Keep an eye out for posters in the halls. The deadline for entries is November 19, 2010.

For the first time, Newtown High School science students competed in the Connecticut Envirothon, where teams of high school students from the state compete to test their knowledge about environmental science and related issues. The Newtown High School team consisted of Sara Benson, Kristin Lynch, Kira Reed, Wending Lu, and Meghan Loose ( Megan Preis helped but didn’t come). They answered questions and identified specimens in the categories of Forestry, Wildlife, Soils, and Aquatics, and they gave an oral presentation on Watershed Management. They came in twelfth out of 29 teams and won Rookie of the Year. You can expect NHS to send another team next year and beyond!

Two of the students, Kristin Lynch and Kira Reed were interviewed by Comcast TV … you can see their interview at the following link: Interview

Junior Terence Lee and music theory teacher Chris Lee traveled to Hartford on April 8, 2010 to attend the annual Music Composition Festival hosted by the Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA). Participants took part in several break-out sessions covering such topics as melody writing, song writing, jazz composition, and mixing of drum beats. In addition, students were briefed on the steps they will follow to submit their original compositions online. In addition to Terence, senior Patrick Harris will be submitting a composition for consideration for the 2011 Festival.

Aless Delia and Valeria Ramon, students in Mrs. Davidson’s French classes, are participating in a statewide poster contest. Sponsored by the CT Coalition of Language Teachers (CT COLT), the contest is based on the theme, “The Look of Language.” Aless and Valeria’s fantastic original artwork will be judged against posters created by world language students from around the state. Prize money will be awarded. Good luck, Aless and Valeria!

The results are in for the American Mathematics Competition. The average score for all students was 65.4. The winner of the AMC – 12 was Amar Agashe with a score of 94.5 and for the AMC – 10 Brandon Luxkaranayagam and Ajit Singh tied for first place with a score of 94.5. Congratulations!

The top three scorers on the AMC – 12 have been invited to compete in the American Invitational Mathematics Examination. Amar Agashe, Justin Domhan, and Amy Kung will be compteing on March 16th from 7:30 to 10:30. Congratulations and Good Luck!

The Quiz Bowl team went to Long Island on Saturday, January 9, 2010 to compete in the 17th Annual Half Hollow Hills West High School Invitational and made it to the quarterfinals! The team finished in the top 8 of almost 100 teams, qualifying them to once again compete in the NAQT National Championships in Chicago in May 2010. The all-senior “A Team,” consisting of (from left to right in the picture) Sam Norcross, Amar Agashe, Louis Belanger, Linea Kemsley, and Steven Rollo will be traveling to Chicago with their coach, Jacqui Kaplan, for the 2nd year in a row. Congratulations Quiz Bowl team!

The Physical Education staff would like to congratulate all the students who participated in the first Annual Holiday Volleyball Extravaganza. All Physical Education classes came together for this tournament and were divided into mixed grade level teams.

The Class Champions were: Read the rest of this entry »

The results are in !!! The winners of this year’s Reflection Program sponsored by the PTSA are: Melissa Destefano - Photography, Dan Trock – Film Production, Yossi Kohrman-Glaser – Music Composition, Laura Hunter – Literature, Sara Currier for Visual Arts.

The Theme for this year’s competition was, “Beauty is…”. Each entry had to be an original work. The program is designed to encourage and recognize students’ individual creativity. Congratulations!

Tags: Reflections

The juniors in Mrs. Lombardo’s Physical Education classes recently finished a doubles badminton tournament. Each class declared a champion. The champions from the four classes played a final championship tournament to determine the ultimate doubles team. Congratulations to Conner Donnelly and Kyle Hanlon for being named the Ultimate Doubles Team in Badminton.

Emily Kimball, Newtown High School senior, stands beside a self-portrait she created with pastels in Carol Skolas’ Art Portfolio class. The NHS Art Department has selected the portrait for entry into an upcoming national art contest.

Members of the Newtown High School Debate Team attended the Princeton Invitational Debate Tournament from December 4 – December 6, 2009, where they competed against top schools from 21 states. Special commendation goes to Linda He for competing in her first major tournament, and Nicole Vournazos for being the first member of the Newtown team to compete in Original Oratory, a speech event where she delivered a ten minute oration of her own creation. Congratulations to Justin Villamil for a 5-2 record during preliminaries in Varsity Lincoln Douglas debate and reaching the elimination rounds, where he lost on a closely contested divided ballot.

The Rotary Club of Newtown is offering our students the opportunity to participate in a “4 Way Speech Contest.” You must prepare and deliver a 5-7 minute speech. The contest will take place on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 2 PM in the lecture hall with each entrant presenting their speech. All entrants must sign up with Mrs. Latowicki in the Career Center by Monday, December 14, 2009. One student will be selected by a member of the Rotary Club to represent Newtown . Read the rest of this entry »

For more information, click here.  Contest flyer – CSUS News Release Contest

Judging of the PTSA Reflections Entries will begin after Thanksgiving and we expect to announce judges’ decisions before the winter break. The Newtown High School PTSA has received 21 entries in the fields of Literature, Music Composition, Visual Arts, Photography, and Film Production. Congratulations to all entrants for their effort and good luck!

Entries for the PTSA “Reflections” competition are due to Mrs. Sherman in the Math Department by Monday November 16th at 2:00. Any information can be found at: www.ctpta.org/programs/reflections/index.htm Please remember to include all necessary entry forms with signatures (see website to download).

Attention Connecticut high school students – this is your chance to shine in front of a statewide audience, promote safe driving and have a little fun! Read the rest of this entry »

Peer Leadership is hosting the 10th Annual Co-Ed Intramural Flag Football Tournament this Saturday October 17, 2009 from 5-7:30 at Newtown Youth Academy. The tournament is 5v5 and costs $25 to enter. Eight teams will compete for the coveted Championship Cup. Sign up with your money with Mr. Tolson in Guidance.

Peer Leadership is hosting the 6th Annual Co-Ed Intramural Ultimate Frisbee Tournament this Saturday October 17, 2009 from 5-7:30 at Newtown Youth Academy. The tournament is 5v5 and costs $25 to enter. Eight teams will compete for the coveted Golden Frisbee. Sign up with your money with Mr. Tolson in Guidance.

Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope Offers Technology Donation Competition for U.S. Schools Students, parents, and teachers across the United States are invited to help improve technology in classrooms by submitting a brief essay for the opportunity to receive a portion of over $1 million in technology from Samsung Electronics America’s Four Seasons of Hope campaign. Read the rest of this entry »

The Connecticut Bar Foundation James W. Cooper Fellows 2009 – 2010 Essay Contest is open to all students in private, public, parochial, and vocational/technical high schools, and high school age home-schooled students in Connecticut. The winner receives a $3,000 savings bond and the two runner-ups receive $1,500 savings bonds to be used for educational purposes.  The 2009 – 2010 topic is “The Trouble with Texting.” Students are asked to prepare an Opinion Piece, not to exceed 1000 words, supporting or opposing the prosecution set forth in the hypothetical.

Download the PTSA Reflections Flier Here

Newtown High School’s Connecticut Technology Innovation Academy traveled to Hartford May 9th to compete with 25 other schools challenged to develop a computer-based learning game that teaches a concept related to sustainable energy and environmental responsibility. Read the rest of this entry »

In April, twenty-one Newtown high School physics students competed in the American Association of Physics Teachers PhysicsBowl exam. This exam is given each year to the top physics students in the nation. Newtown High School had students competing in both Division One (first year physics students) and Division 2 (second year physics students). Newtown earned first place in the northeast region for Division 2 students. This team was lead by Haotian Zheng, who was not only highest scoring individual in the northeast, but received the highest score of any student in the nation who took the division 2 exam.  Here are the results – see page four: aapt physicsbowl results

The American Mathematics Competition results are in!!

The high score on the AMC for juniors and seniors was Haotian Zheng with 102.0.  The high score for the AMC for freshmen and sophomores was Greg Campbell with 121.5.  Both of these students have been invited to compete in the AIME (the international level) on April 1, 2009. Congratulations, Greg and Haotian! Read the rest of this entry »

Over the February break, 26 members of the Newtown High School Debate Team travelled to Cambridge, MA. to compete in the Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament. Over 4000 students from 42 states participated in this event. Special congratulations go out the our varsity captains, Paul Garofalo and Mark Fernandes, who dominated the field in the preliminary rounds by earning 5 -1 records. Their performance in the prelims earned them a spot in the final elimination rounds where they earned awards for finishing in the top 30. These students will finish their season next week when they travel to Palo Alto, CA to compete at the Harker Invitational.

On Monday, December 1st, the Math Team competed with six other schools in the Litchfield County League at New Milford High School.  Our 6 students had a perfect score on the team round, had one perfect score on the individual round, and came in second place overall.  Nice job!   On December 3rd they will compete in Wilton as part of the Fairfield County League.