4/28 Weekly Update
Dear NCHS Family,
NC Color Run is tomorrow!
The NC Color Run is quickly approaching – taking place tomorrow on Sat, April 29th. This event is a fundraiser for the NCHS Scholarship Foundation. We had a goal of raising $100,000 and we are getting closer to that goal. As of this morning we were at $83,852. Thank you for contributing to this important cause. Donations may be made through student pledge pages, or simply by clicking below:
The NC Color Run takes the place of the door-to-door campaign of years past.
Click below for more information on:
Junior Prom:
The Junior Prom was a tremendous success. I was so proud of our students. They packed the Water’s Edge in Darien and enjoyed the evening. I was especially proud that they stayed for the entire evening and enjoyed a safe environment with their friends. See below in pictures around NCHS for some pictures from the prom!
Graduation:
NCHS Graduation is set for Tuesday, June 20 outside at Dunning Stadium at 5:00 pm.
If needed, there will be a rain date on Wednesday, June 21.
Outstanding Arts Awards recipients honored at CAS Banquet
Jason Campe and Connor McDevitt were two of 297 top Connecticut seniors who excel in the arts that were honored at the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) High School Outstanding Arts Awards Banquet held on April 4th at the Aqua Turf in Southington, with over 1,400 in attendance. The CAS Outstanding Arts Awards Banquet annually recognizes two seniors in each member high school for their outstanding ability in the performing or visual arts. The students are selected by their school to receive this honor.
The Connecticut Association of Schools is a non-profit organization located in Cheshire that serves Connecticut’s K-12 public and parochial schools in all areas of inter-school activity. The association represents over 1,100 schools in the state.
Jason Campe and Connor McDevitt were two of 297 top Connecticut seniors who excel in the arts that were honored at the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) High School Outstanding Arts Awards Banquet held on April 4th at the Aqua Turf in Southington, with over 1,400 in attendance. The CAS Outstanding Arts Awards Banquet annually recognizes two seniors in each member high school for their outstanding ability in the performing or visual arts. The students are selected by their school to receive this honor.
The Connecticut Association of Schools is a non-profit organization located in Cheshire that serves Connecticut’s K-12 public and parochial schools in all areas of inter-school activity. The association represents over 1,100 schools in the state.
The exam schedule for the end of the year has been set. For more information about the exam schedule, click here.
Senior Prom:
Senior Prom tickets will be available for sale during lunch all of next week only. Please make sure that you buy your tickets.
As always, thank you for your support!
Be well and stay healthy NCHS!
Bill Egan
Upcoming Events:
4/28, 29 Annual Drama Festival 7-9:30 pm NCHS Auditorium
4/29 Scholarship Color Run, 9:00 am Waveny
5/1 Board of Ed meeting 7pm Wagner Room
4/29 Scholarship Color Run, 9:00 am Waveny
5/1 Board of Ed meeting 7pm Wagner Room
5/9 NCHS Band Concert 7pm
5/10 PFA Annual Meeting with Bill Egan 9:30 am
5/10 Concert Choir and Madrigal Ensemble 7pm St. Marks Church
5/11 NCHS Orchestra Concert 7pm
Pictures from around NCHS:
Department News:
World Language:
On Friday, April 21, the World Language Department hosted their seventh annual Panel of Hispanic Professionals in the Wagner Room for all Spanish Level 5 students. This year, the following professionals from the Greater Stamford area participated: Miguel Rueda, an attorney specializing in professional athletes; Ingemar Heredia, an attorney whose practice in civil and criminal cases is evenly divided among Hispanic and non-Hispanic clients; Yamil Ceballos, assistant manager at Peoples Bank in New Canaan; Matthew Tolentino, Business Development Manager, Morgan Stanley; Officer Adriana Molina, Stamford Police Department’s Officer of the Year; and Michelle Saldivar, Building1 Community, whose community outreach projects this year will include four NCHS senior internships.
Students were given an inside view into the highlights of panelists’ personal and professional experiences as Hispanics in their respective professions. Following the initial presentations, there were break-out sessions in three different classrooms in which students were able to engage in smaller groups with the professionals, asking some penetrating questions about their career paths as Hispanics, including their most difficult moments and favorite aspects of their daily responsibilities. The entire event was conducted in Spanish by both the presenters and the students, as panelists offered encouragement to the students regarding the value of bilingual skills in the workplace. In past years this interaction has occasionally led to a summer internship.
Students were given an inside view into the highlights of panelists’ personal and professional experiences as Hispanics in their respective professions. Following the initial presentations, there were break-out sessions in three different classrooms in which students were able to engage in smaller groups with the professionals, asking some penetrating questions about their career paths as Hispanics, including their most difficult moments and favorite aspects of their daily responsibilities. The entire event was conducted in Spanish by both the presenters and the students, as panelists offered encouragement to the students regarding the value of bilingual skills in the workplace. In past years this interaction has occasionally led to a summer internship.
English Department:
Poetry Fest is in the books! NCHS' Eighth Annual Poetry Fest was held this past Tuesday, April 26th in the evening in the Wagner Room. Bhaskar Abhiraman and Siobhan Naughton were the Masters of Ceremonies and about 100 students and parents were in attendance. 34 student poets from all four grades performed 36 poems and recognition was awarded to the following students: Best Poem awarded to Kate Reeves for "Surrender"; Best Performance of a Poem to Bhaskar Abhiraman for "Sleep"; Best Use of Imagery to Vivian Ding for "sweet"; and Most Artful Use of Language to Christy McGough for "Coffee and Tea."
Thank you to all who made Poetry Fest a success this year, especially the PFA for their generous support of student poet awards.
Mark your calendars; Conor Grennan is visiting the morning of May 26th. If you haven’t had a chance to read Little Princes yet, copies are on reserve in the library. The author will share his experiences creating a nonprofit organization that helps displaced children, and his continued work in Nepal.
VPA:
NCHS Presents 27th Annual Drama Festival tonite!
The New Canaan High School Theatre program presents the 27th Annual Drama Festival. Students write one act plays, cast, direct and make costumes. The winners of the festival this year are: First Place: The Republic of Lorania by Bhaskar Abhiraman, Second Place: The (Not So) Common Mistake by Wyatt Lysenko, Third Place: The World's Most Dangerous Card Game by Joseph Turner, Fourth Place: An Anarchist In Paradiso by Nick LaMorte and an honorable mention goes to Oops! Did I Really Just Say That? by Emma Turner.
Please join us for performances tonite, April 28 and April 29 at 7:00pm at the NCHS auditorium stage.
Tickets are $12 and will be sold at the door only (cash or check only). The Lobby Box Office opens at 6:30pm.
Art Field Trip
We had a successful trip to the city to see the Art Expo on Pier 94. The Advanced Art classes all enjoyed this unique experience.
Concert Choir and Madrigals
The NCHS Concert Choir and Madrigal Ensemble will perform at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in New Canaan on Wednesday, May 10 at 7:00pm. They have been studying music this semester that highlights events of struggle and celebration from Bach's Come Sweet Death, to Famine Song inspired by Sudanese basket weavers in the 1980s, as well as a piece in Estonian poetry and a celebration of Kanaval in Haitian Creole. We invite you to join us for a beautiful, emotional and exciting hour of music, supporting the musical work of our talented students!
Math Department: M2 Algebra 1 students completed a large quarter 3 benchmark exam covering sequences, rules of exponents, operations with polynomials, and factoring polynomials. They supported each other during the cumulative review and articulated their strengths and weaknesses and targeted the topics they felt they needed clarification with additional review. They worked on their individual goals and saw the results on the benchmark.
M3 Algebra 2 students realized how fractions and factoring never truly disappears in mathematics as they worked to simplify and perform operations on rational expressions. Students saw the connection between the process of adding and subtracting whole number fractions with unlike denominators and adding and subtracting polynomial rationals with unlike denominators. Several students immediately started reminiscing about their elementary school mathematics class when they learned fractions and enjoyed seeing material from their foundation brought back into their current curriculum.
Students in M4 Algebra 2 did a problem based learning experience to determine how much revenue would be generated by a full house in a theater. This involved calculating the number of seats at different price points within a orchestra, mezzanine and balcony sections, where each row had more seats than the previous row.
AP® Calculus AB students took their final exam to prepare for the upcoming AP® Exam. Good luck to them on May 9th!
CTE Department News:
Advanced TV - NCTV was lucky enough to have NBC's lead sports anchor Bruce Beck visit the studio and watch a live Friday broadcast. Afterwards, students sat down with Mr. Beck to review the show and get helpful tips on ways to improve.
Today, NCTV also aired their regular live, weekly news show, The Morning Announcements. Watch today's broadcast here.
Graphics - Students are busy finishing up the Notepad project. After finalizing their design on the computer, students 'tile' multiple notepads onto one sheet of paper to minimize the amount of waste. Final steps include separating each notepad on the mechanical paper cutter, then binding them with chipboard and adhesive.
Intro to TV Broadcasting - Students have started to learn about GoPro cameras and how they have revolutionized the broadcasting industry. They are now shooting their own videos with them and trying out the wide range of GoPro accessories.
Journalism - Seniors are working on stories for the senior issue of the Courant, which comes out right before seniors leave for internships. Returning students just finished up presentations on ways to make the Courant and nchscourant.com even better. They are now learning how their smartphone can be an all-in-one reporting device.
This week in Ms. Zilly's Foods & Nutrition classes the students got really heated up playing a review game as they prepared for an upcoming test. They also got some great cooking inspiration from Chef Jeff Trombetta, who came to visit from the Culinary program at NCC. Chef Trombetta whipped up a delicious soup and focaccia bread for all to try. To finish out the week, the students got back in the kitchen as they began a new unit in Beef & Poultry; cooking up a tasty chicken stir-fry!
Business Principles
On Tuesday, Miss Martinich took 47 students to the Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge held at King School. The Stock Market Challenge is a technology based simulation of the stock market in which every 60 seconds represents a day of trading. Beginning with a hypothetical account balance of $500,00, teams participated in fast-paced trading action. Onsite traders provided trading and selling in real time and the trades were instantaneously projected onto three projector screens. Many New Canaan teams were in the top 5 at some point during the challenge. Although none of the teams won, the students still had a lot of fun.
Library update:
