Weekly Update 12/2

Dear NCHS Family,

Dr. Marc Brackett

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving sharing good food with family and friends. Dr. Marc Brackett from the Yale University Emotional Intelligence Center spoke to staff and families this week on the important role that emotions play in the education of our children. Dr. Brackett was a wonderful speaker and the audience learned about the science of emotions, the skills of emotional intelligence, practical strategies, and tools to develop emotional intelligence.  A big thank you to the PTC’s and our PFA for bringing in Dr. Brackett.  We are so fortunate to be a part of a community that values education.

Scholarship Foundation

The New Canaan High School Scholarship Foundation is celebrating its 50th Anniversary! NCSF represents a broad-based community effort to provide financial aid to deserving NCHS graduates pursuing higher education at the undergraduate level.

We are announcing new and exciting changes to the Foundation. We will continue to have general scholarships and now have new named scholarships. These scholarships can be funded annually or by endowment. In addition to our scholarships, our annual appeal will change this year. Instead of the annual NCHS Scholarship Drive, the New Canaan community will be invited to participate in the first-ever NC Color Run to be held on April 29. It will be a fun-filled event open to all ages. We hope that you can join us; stay tuned for more details.

For more information, please visit our new website at www.nchs-sf.org. Thank you for your support.

From the Nurse’s Office:

Just a friendly reminder that when students are ill or injured during the school day they must be dismissed through the nurse’s office.  The nurse, with parental agreement, will make the decision to dismiss the student from school.  Missing class to go home sick without checking in with the nurses will result in an unexcused absence.  This policy is for safety reasons.  

As we head into cold and flu season please remember to WASH YOUR HANDS and get enough sleep!

Pictures from around NCHS:

I tried my hand at badminton this week.  It did not go well….

Upcoming Events:  

12/5 Senior Internship Program applications open(close end of school day 12/12)

12/5 State Semi-final Football Game 6:30 p.m

12/6 PFA Grade 9 Networking 9:30 am Wagner Room

12/6 NCHS & Saxe Orchestra Festival 7:00 - 8:30pm NCHS Auditorium
12/9 Guidance Junior Parents Night - 7:30 pm (meet in Main Lobby)

12/12 Senior Internship Applications are due at the end of the school day.

Wishing you all the best,

Bill Egan

Department News:

VPA News:

New Canaan High School has eleven students that were chosen for the CMEA Western Regional chorus and five students for the orchestra:

CHOIR:

Melissa Beck - Alto

Caroline Callahan - Alto

Lauren Carlson - Soprano

Cassidy Little - Alto

Kate Murphy - Soprano

Maria Oliveira - Soprano

Logan Otis - Bass

Alessio Pantaleo - Tenor

Tessa Piontkowski - Soprano

Sadie Seelert - Alto

Finley Vigliotti - Tenor

ORCHESTRA:

Jason Campe - Cello

Bart Codd - Violin

Clare Herzog - Oboe

Cella Kove - Viola

Brian Sandor - Clarinet

Also, three of our NCHS All-State Choir students were just selected for the NAfME All-Eastern Choir to perform in Atlantic City in April! This choir is comprised of auditioned students from Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Connecticut All-State Choruses in the year prior. There were only 28 students chosen from the state of CT for the Mixed Chorus and we proudly have three of them! This is a huge honor and accomplishment for Finley Vigliotti, Lauren Carlson, and Tessa Piontkowski.

THE GRAPEFRUITS HAVE ARRIVED!!  The New Canaan High School Choral Program’s traditional GRAPEFRUIT FUNDRAISER has begun! The grapefruit sale has been a staple during the holidays in New Canaan for many years and this year will directly fund the Concert Choir’s performance at Yale University’s Woolsey Hall in December and our Music in the Parks festival performance in May.

Each box contains between 16-20 delicious “Ruby Red” grapefruit and the cost is still only $22.00!

Want to help, but don’t know what to do with a whole box of grapefruit?

We’d love to DONATE a box on your behalf to a food bank in Fairfield County. We’ll be making deliveries in person to various food banks and would love to include your box as a donation. It’s a great opportunity to help our extended community and our Choral Program at the same time!

Contact us if you have any questions!

NCHS Choir Room: 203-594-4690

Our Choir email: nchschoir@ncps-k12.org

Social Studies Department News:  

Civics classes had interesting questions and discussions about the Electoral College after watching the documentary "Electoral Dysfunction" and analyzing the history of it. They reached out to Professor R.B. Bernstein, who is a Constitutional historian, distinguished adjunct professor of law at the New York Law School and lecturer in political science at CUNY. He wrote a brilliant response back and classes looked at it on Monday and drafted a response back. Ms. Goldhawk recently met Professor Bernstein at a workshop at the NY Historical Society and he was generous enough to share his email so the attendees could continue asking questions.

AP European History students discuss European current events once a month.  Each student chooses a country to follow throughout the year, and connects the news to our study of history.  This month they examined European responses to the U.S. Election and were able to understand a range of viewpoints.

AP European students demonstrated their understanding of contributions of the Scientific Revolution by conducting “mock interviews” of many of the major thinkers.  Using Powerpoint presentations as a backdrop, including graphic organizers to illustrate the key ideas, students taught their classmates about changes in astronomy, philosophy, and literature, and analyzed how the major thinkers created a paradigm shift in attitudes of the 17th century that had long range impacts.

The picture depicts Robert Hoover and Jack O’Connor playing the role of Sir Isaac Newton and his interviewer.

Students in the Model UN Club attended two conferences.. At William and Mary, delegates were recognized with several awards:

• Best Delegate in Kurdish State Formation Committee - Maddy Culpepper
• Best Delegate in Joint Crisis Committee (Buccaneers vs. British East India Company) - Dana Lurie
• Verbal Commendation in San Francisco, 1945: The UN Charter - Chase Peregrini and Luke Crowley.

The Model UN Club awards for Brown University's 20th annual conference (BUSUN XX) were five of our delegates recognized for their diplomatic skills:

• Verbal Recognition - Thomas Suthons
• Commendation (Honorable) - Shea Smith, Sydney Kend
• Outstanding Delegate - Cat Levine
• Best Delegate - DJ Morse

The NCHS Debate Team hosted its annual CT Debate Association tournament with 252 debaters from 15 public and private schools from across western CT. Eliza Farley finished 14th out of 126 varsity debaters and Drew Pohle finished 37th out of 126 varsity debaters. Our 2-person teams finished 30th, 34th, and 43rd out of 63 varsity teams, and 44th and 45th out of 63 novice teams.  Five of our debaters were competing in their first tournament. The NCHS Debate Team would like to give thanks to the parents and all who made this day possible.

Athletics News from Jay Egan, Athletic Director:

Most of our fall sports wrapped up in November. Congratulations to our Class M State Champion Field Hockey Team.

We also had some standout student athletes who received the highest honors awarded.

Girls Swimming: Caroline Sweeney, (All FCIAC), Lizzy Colwell (All State), Bridget Haley (All State), Maddie Smith (All State), Caroline Sweeney (All State)

Girls Diving:    Katie Kushner (All FCIAC, All State), Claire Ross (All State)

Field Hockey:  Ellery Baran (All FCIAC, All State)

Boys Soccer:  Sam Stoner (All FCIAC)

Girls Soccer:   Madison Starr (All FCIAC)

The NCHS Football team suffered a heartbreaking loss at the Annual Turkey Bowl, but showed true grit and determination keeping the game very competitive. We wish them luck in the upcoming State Championship tournament.  They Outlasted Masuk high school 31-28 in the first round and now have a state Semi-final football game Monday Night at 6:30 at Dunning field.

Lastly, the winter sport season is upon us. Registration is now open. Please register as soon as possible and turn in a physical form if needed. If you're not sure if you need an updated health form, please contact Kristina Bell @ kristina.bell@ncps-k12.org. Below are the key start dates for sports for our upcoming season.

	Practice Start Date	1st Competition
Girls Basketball	11/28	12/12
Boys Basketball	12/3	12/17
Boys/Girls Indoor Track	12/3	12/17
Boys Ice Hockey	12/3	12/17
Girls Ice Hockey	11/21	11/21
Wrestling	11/28	12/12
Boys Swimming & Diving	12/3	12/17
Gymnastics	12/3	12/17
Squash	11/28	12/3

Here's to an excellent Winter Season!