Weekly Update 3/29

Dear NCHS Family,


We held a practice lockdown today. The new protocol is to establish that all lockdowns will be announced to the students and staff. We are aware that there was an issue with the intercom and some students and staff could not hear the announcement. Maintenance has been notified and will have the intercom system fixed for Monday morning. I hope that everyone has a wonderful long weekend!

2nd Annual NCHS HACKATHON:


This year's HACKATHON will take place in the Wagner Room on Tuesday, April 3rd, from 7:30 AM - 4:30 PM. This event will involve students working in teams to create a coding or robotics project, which they will present at the end of the day. Professionals from tech fields will speak at several points throughout the day and judge the projects. This is open to ALL NCHS students.


For further information, contact Mr. Rothman. Individuals and teams are welcome to join the action, whether they are coding or building and programming a robot.

A completed permission slip is all that's needed to register.


Innovation Night:


Formerly known as "Tech Night" we are proud to announce this year's event as the NCPS Innovation Night. This is the 13th year in which the NCPS provides students and educators an opportunity to showcase how their innovations enhance and encourage learning. Innovation is not solely the use of technology, but rather a spark that captures our imagination. Innovation Night is an evening that highlights our sparks, the students, as they demonstrate their innovative projects created outside of school and within their classrooms. Innovation Night will take place on Wednesday, April 4th from 6:30-8:00 PM at New Canaan High School.

Debate:

Hannah Suthons and Johnny Renda competed in the CT Debate Association State Finals on Saturday, March 23rd held at Joel Barlow High School.


Hannah and Johnny finished 9th out of 43 teams in the novice division.


Johnny earned the top spot for novice speaker, beating out 85 other competitors, earning his first state championship trophy.

As always, thank you for your support!

Be well and stay healthy NCHS!

Bill Egan




Upcoming Events:

4/2 Board of Ed Mtg - 7:00 pm - Wagner Room

4/3 Hackathon 7:30 am - 4:30 pm Wagner Room

4/4 NCPS Innovation Night - 6:30 pm NCHS

4/6 Professional Development - No School

4/9-13 Spring Vacation!


Department News:


School Counseling:

Some of the counselors have hit the road, touching base with college admissions folks and finding those hidden gems for our students! Ask about their travels to U Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Sewanee, Belmont, Florida Atlantic, Lynn, U Miami and more.



Athletics:

The physical education department has started their spring activity units. Most of the 9th and 10th graders are playing volleyball and working on the skills of passing, setting, spiking and serving while learning how to work together to be successful in playing the 6 person game. The unit will culminate with a class tournament, and the winners of each of these tournaments will go on to participate in the whole school tournament.


The 11th and 12th graders are beginning a curling unit. They are learning the skill, strategy and teamwork that goes into being successful in this sport. Maybe one of the students will one day win a gold for the U.S.A.!!!!











English Department:

Poetry Fest is coming!

When: April 26th at 7:00 pm

Where: The Wagner Room

How: Email a copy of your original poem to kristen.brown@ncps-k12.org no later than Monday April 23rd


Several of Kristen Brown's freshman students have been selected for recognition by the The Connecticut Writing Project. The CWP has selected the following students' personal narratives for honorable mention in Connecticut Student Writers magazine:


Jake Walter's "Music to My Ears"

Julia Carpi's "I'll Break the Pasta"

Oliver Russell's "A Face Filled with Kindness"


Their work was chosen from more than 1500 entries from all over the state! They will be recognized at the Student Recognition Night on May 10th at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.


They will join their peers Hannah Swimm and Elyssa Grogan whose original poems will be published in the Connecticut Student Writers magazine. They will be honored at the Student Recognition Night as well.






Science:

Honors Chemistry students performed a titration lab to determine the unknown concentration of an acidic solution.









This week in AP Chemistry, students will be "battling it out" with a music video competition. Students had to write, perform, and record a music video that makes an AP Chemistry chapter, concept, skill, or formula more memorable. Topics chosen include ideal gases, periodic trends, and thermodynamics, among others. This provides a great opportunity for students to showcase their creativity while reviewing for the AP Chemistry exam. Here are some screenshots from their videos:

















Students in Physics classes used probeware to measure light intensity as a function of distance. Their experimentation demonstrated the inverse-square law and they related this to our study of gravity.









CTE:

Weekly Broadcast:

Graphic Design & Communication - It's all about buttons! Students are finishing up their designs on the computers and will begin assembling them next week. They first started with hand drawn sketches, then scanned their favorite one onto the computer to use as a template. Finally, they created all the graphics, text and backgrounds from scratch in Adobe InDesign.

Journalism - Next week, the April issue of the Courant comes out, so students are busy laying out pages on the computer. This issue includes a special section on school safety, so be on the lookout for that.

Advanced TV Broadcasting - Last Friday night was the Senior Prom Fashion Show and not only did NCTV help produce the event, they also live streamed the 2-plus hour show. So if you missed the show or you'd simply like to purchase a copy, more specific information will be available soon.

Ms. Zilly’s Foods & Nutrition class has just completed the “Yeast Breads” unit. They have surpassed the long process of dough fermentation and kneading making delicious pizza and cinnamon rolls. The Art of Bread Making class is always fighting the time of fermentation. This week they excelled at sweet doughs, making everyone’s favorite “Monkey Bread”.














VPA News:

The photography classes are exploring the shutter speed function with their cameras and observing the world of motion through a unique lens. Rotation stations were set up to brainstorm “action” compositions and practice this difficult technique. They used their camera’s ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation and flash to ‘freeze the action’ and defy space/gravity.







Congratulations to NCHS students, Paige Stein, Will Besgen and Mary Joyce, for having their artworks accepted into the 4th Annual Westport Arts Center High School Exhibition!!




EXHIBITION DETAILS: https://westportartscenter.org/exhibitions/




PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD: Vote for NCHS by clicking here … https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QGG5BTH




Photos from the opening…





(A Faith Ringgold Quilt is also on display at the Westport Arts Center!!)





World Language:

On Friday, March 23 all Spanish students from Level 5 classes (AP Spanish, Honors Spanish 5 UCONN, and Spanish 5 Film & Culture) had the opportunity of attending and participating in the World Language Department's eighth annual Panel of Hispanic Professionals.

In an opening session in the Wagner Room, each panelist - an attorney whose clients include many Hispanic athletes, two policemen including one from the New Canaan Police Dept. and one from Norwalk who is also a school resource officer, a Stamford Hospital education specialist, three financial professionals with extensive international exposure, and a community activist from the immigrant resource center Building 1 Community in Stamford - spoke briefly about his/her personal and professional experiences. Following this initial session the students were divided into three small groups for close-up conversations with the panelists, with two or three of the professionals at a time rotating from group to group. Students asked questions, some spontaneous and some prepared ahead of time, and the panelists offered answers, advice, and encouragement regarding the benefits of being bilingual.

The entire event was conducted entirely in Spanish by both panelists and students.