4/20 update
Dear NCHS Family,
I hope that everyone enjoyed the break and feels refreshed and ready to take on the end of the school year. I look forward to the celebrations that make up the end of the year and look forward to seeing you at many of the events.
I have included several articles about vaping in my weekly update, but it might be time for another. Please see this article on vaping https://nwhc.net/blog/dangers-of-vaping
The exam schedule has been posted. If you would like to see it, click here.
The Junior Prom is tonight. I sent this letter to Juniors and Parents.
The NC Color Run is coming. Every Year NCSF holds an annual fundraiser to support our students through the New Canaan High School Scholarship Foundation. Please click on this link to learn more about the Color Run and click here to learn more about NCSF. A link to the video from last years NC Color Run is below. Please watch to see the fun for people of all ages.
SAT Schedule:
4/24 In-School SAT
Juniors report to school at 7:30 AM for testing (lunch will be available)
A modified Day D school day -- for all grades -- will begin at 12:24 PM
Pd 7 12:24 – 1:12 PM
Pd 8 1:17 – 2:05 PM
The daily announcements have a new look. Remember to check out our daily announcements on the website or broadcast tv's each day. Click here to go to the website and below for a glimpse of what they look like.
Current Events Café Guest Speaker U.S. Rep. Jim Himes April 30 at 2:15pm AmStudies Room
On April 30, Congressman Jim Himes will come in to talk to the Current Events Cafe after school.
Jim Himes represents Connecticut’s 4th District in the U.S. House of Representatives serving his fifth term. He is a member of the House Committee on Financial Services and serves as the ranking member of the NSA and Cybersecurity Subcommittee of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.This is an extraordinary opportunity for NCHS to learn about current events.
Visit www.currenteventscafe.org for upcoming topics and speakers.
BOLD Food Drive
Next week from April 23 to April 27 the Rams are participating in the Bread Of Life Drive (BOLD) food drive, coordinated by the National Honor Society and sponsored by the University of Notre Dame. Bring in your non-perishable food donations to fill the boxes in classrooms, the main office, the attendance office and the athletic office. Donations will be collected from schools throughout Fairfield County and delivered to shelters in Fairfield County. Your support in this time of great need is very much appreciated. Food items most requested are coffee, cereal, sugar, pasta, rice, condiments, peanut butter, and jelly. As always, thank you for your support!
Be well and stay healthy NCHS!
Bill Egan
Upcoming Events:
4/20 Junior Prom 7-11pm Giovanni’s Water’s Edge
4/24 Staff Be Well Expo 2pm - 6pm Cafeteria
4/26 Senior Art Show 5 - 7 pm Main Foyer
4/26 Senior Music Showcase 6:30 - 8pm Auditorium
4/26 Poetry Fest 7pm Wagner Room
4/27,28 Drama Fest 7 - 8:30pm Auditorium
4/28 Color Run
Department News:
English Department:
Quarter 4 is upon us, and while students were away on the Friday before April break, the English department conducted another professional learning session of “Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance.” The session was made possible when several department member (Robert Darken, Mike McAteer, Arri Weeks, Jessica Cullen, Ellen Fitzpatrick, Megan McCauley, and Kristin Lee) attended a professional conference offered by the Globe Theater in NYC. Department members instructed one another in the best strategies of teaching Shakespeare while working through their own performances!
In classroom news, Mrs. Stiedl’s sophomore student Michelle Gachelin recently received honorable mention by the Connecticut Writing Project amongst a 1500 submissions for her “ genre piece, “Icarus”,... honorable mention in the 30th issue of Connecticut Student Writers (CSW) magazine. “ Congratulations to all!
Ms. Cullen’s juniors are finishing a satire competition and are submitting these entries to the Mark Twain House. Speaking the Mark Twain House, Ms. Cullen’s and Mr Gallo’s juniors classes will be visiting the iconic Hartford landmark next week!
And last but not least, Poetry Fest is next Thursday, April 26th in the Wagner Room starting 7pm. All students are encouraged to submit their original poetry! Please email your submission to Mrs. Brown by April 23rd. Kristen.Brown@ncps-k12.org
Science:
Honors Anatomy and Physiology students are shown doing medical case study presentations and dissections.
Students in Biology are studying viruses and bacteria, and how they can cause diseases. Bacteria are treated with antibiotics. In this week's labs students grew 3 strains of bacteria and tested two types of antibiotics (the white discs) to see which were effective and which ones the bacteria were resistant to. This is leading to a discussion of antibiotic resistance and "Superbugs."
Learning chemistry explosively! filmed by Brian Campe
Students in Honors Biology are shown using restriction enzymes to digest DNA as they run gel electrophoresis.
CTE:
Business/STEM Education:
On Wednesday, Miss Martinich took 30 students to King School to participate in the Stock Market Challenge. They competed in a virtual market and bought/sold shares in 26 fictitious companies. Student teams were issued $500,000 of virtual cash and competed to accumulate the highest possible net worth in their investment portfolio by the close of trading.
One of our teams placed 2nd out of 40 teams at the Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge! They grew their portfolio to $952,229.50. Members of the team were (From left to right) Alex Urbahn, John Frey, Drew Pohle, and Cole Kammerer
Family and Consumer Sciences:
Ms. Zilly’s Foods & Nutrition class has stirred up some delicious poultry dishes this week! They learned how to dredge and bake chicken tenders and sautéed chicken and vegetables making a tasty chicken fried rice. The Art of Bread Making class has spent the entire week perfecting the art of laminent dough with an amazing croissant recipe; it takes 14 hrs. to make one batch!
The Interior Design class has had a busy week teaming up with the amazing Makerspace staff. The students have been collaborating with the staff to help develop a better spatial plan and traffic flow for the space. We also had Megan Wunderlich, Lead Designer and owner of the DesignDot, a New Canaan based design firm visit our class. Megan talked with the students about some of the amazing opportunities there is in the Interior Design field, from the industrial design of airports and hotels to residential designs of all scales. It was a wonderful experience for the students to meet a local designer who could emphasis the important of certain skills needed for these careers.
Mrs. Sapienza’s Baking & Pastry Art classes are learning about the different types of cake preparation techniques. The students started the new trend of semi-naked or naked cakes. It would appear that cake with less frosting would be easier than a traditional cake but in fact it is more difficult to master the leveling of the cakes and placing just enough frosting to achieve the effect. The following photos show some of the cakes. The flavors varied from molasses to chocolate cakes, caramel to strawberry pastry cream fillings and some delicious cream cheese frostings.
The UCONN and Individual and Family Development students are using the CoLab to prepare their presentations on teen topics as they relate to early adolescent development.
The Child Development II students have been working on a Makerspace for the preschool students to explore math, science, and technology as they problem solve through some of the activities.
Technology Education:
TV Broadcasting - Students from NCTV teamed up with the CTE department to recorded the first ever episode of Chopped! Based on the actual TV show, this one features teachers and administrators as chef teams competing over multiple rounds to see who's dish "rains supreme." The judges included Morning Announcements anchors and Family & Consumer Sciences teacher Donna Sapienza. The show is currently in post production being edited and will air in May. On top of that, NCTV also had a live Friday morning broadcast which can be seen here.
Graphics - Students just finished making buttons! First, they sketched several designs and picked their favorite to create on the computer. Buttons had to have a theme, a foreground and background graphic and text. Now students are working on the next project - custom T-shirts. They'll create another original design, cut it out using a vinyl cutter, then use a hot press machine to adhere it to a shirt of their choice.
Journalism - With the April issue out, it’s now time to work on the next one. For the May issue, seniors are working on the annual Senior Issue, while the rest of the class is putting together the regular issue. If you didn’t get a copy of the April issue, you can always visit nchscourant.com
VPA News:
NCHS Band, Choir and Orchestra students traveled to Disney World April 5-8 to participate in Festival Disney competition and workshops. The choir students performed at the Saratoga Springs Resort and worked with Dr. Russell Robinson, past director of Music Education at the University of Florida. They achieved a Superior rating and trophy and ranked 5th out of all of the performing choirs. The band and orchestra students worked with Disney producers to perform and produce a movie soundtrack of Disney music in a recording studio. Congratulations!
NCHS Band/Orchestra recording session at Disney:
NCHS Students Write, Produce and Perform One Act Plays
NCHS Theatre program presents the 28th Annual Drama Festival “Heaven Knows". Students enter one act plays based on this year’s theme “Heaven Knows” and 4 are chosen and performed. In addition to writing the original pieces, the students are in charge of all aspects of the productions such as casting, directing, and costumes.
The winners of the festival are: First Place: Heaven Knows How To Party by Wyatt Lysenko, Second Place: Waiting Room by Fiona Stevens, Third Place: Bruce Hammer-Private Investigator by Jackson LaMorte, and Fourth Place: My Lady by Lynaea Pace. Honorable Mentions go to Summer’s End by Nicolas LaMorte and The Heavenly Trading Company by Emma Turner.
Please join us for a wonderful evening of performances on Friday, April 27 and Saturday, April 28 at 7:00pm at the NCHS auditorium. Tickets are $12 and will be sold at the door only (cash or check only). The Lobby Box Office opens at 6:30pm.
World Language:
On April 19th a representative from Duke Kunshan University came to visit our Level 4 Mandarin class. Ms. Sarah Evans shared with students a new opportunity. This is a university founded by Duke University, established in China. The university has been around for four years, but the 2018-2019 school year will be the first time they offer a Bachelors Program. For this first year, one of our current Seniors has been accepted to attend Duke Kunshan University. Spencer Reeves is actually going to visit the school next week!
There is a virtual tour you can take on their website: https://dukekunshan.edu.cn/en
