Perspectives
HALF HOLLOW HILLS HIGH SCHOOL EAST PRINCIPAL’S NEWSLETTER
Volume V, Issue II
January 24, 2013
A Special Message from Dr. Woodberry Hello HS East Community,
The Insider’s View
Page 3 Supporting Our Community & HSE Music
Page 5 Beyond Classrooms of HSE
Page 7 Architecture Club
Page 9 Winter Pep Rally & Holiday Show
Special Thanks to Contributors: Laura Anderson Joseph Cappiello Dennis Grunbeck Lori Horbach Marianne Mead Rose Suarez
Happy New Year everyone! It is hard to believe that we are halfway through the 2012-2013 school year. This has been a unique school year thus far with cancelled school days, changes to the calendar and the elimination of the midterm testing period. We are adapting to the challenges presented and I am sure we will successfully navigate the remaining portion of the school year. I appreciate the cooperation of the students, parents and staff throughout it all. Our staff has been engaging in meaningful professional development activities to ensure that we continue to provide the best learning experiences for students. As you may know, New York State has committed to adopting Common Core Standards, which are learning standards developed nationally to ensure that students receive an education which truly prepares them for colleges and careers. Learn more about this topic at http://engageny.org/parent-and-family-resources. Teachers and administrators have received training to adapt to this shift in teaching and assessment. I have no doubt that our students will continue to achieve at the very highest level through this transition. Students are excelling in academics, the arts, athletics and altruism! One of the highlights of this year is six High School East students being named semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search competition. Intel is the most prestigious science research competition for high school seniors, recognizing the top students in the nation. High School East has the most semifinalists on Long Island and the third highest in the nation! As is always the case, our students dedicate an extraordinary amount of time to a variety of activities. Whether it is concerts, plays, sports competitions or fundraising for charities, the result of their efforts is learning, growth and success. We have a lot to be proud of, as you will see in the following pages. Although we are still entrenched in this school year, we are preparing for the upcoming school year as well. Students have been presented with electives, received recommendations from their teachers and are meeting with their counselors to finalize their class choices for next year. I encourage parents to view their children’s course requests on the Parent Portal and use this opportunity to discuss educational matters as a family.
Allyson Uttendorfer And Photographers: Felice Crystal Olivia Traina
As always we thank the Board of Education, the Superintendent and Central Office Staff, the High School East PTSA and of course the parents of our community for making it possible for us to provide the best educational experience for our students. Remember: Respect, Responsibility and Excellence! J. A. Woodberry
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Perspectives
High School East Sandy Relief Helping Our Own More than 20 clubs and school organizations came together to “help our own”. Hurricane Sandy ravaged the east coast in October impacting several of our High School East community members. Spearheaded by our student government, High School East raised over $8,583.00 for those impacted by the hurricane. These funds were distributed before the December vacation to bring some holiday cheer during hard times. Our High School East community has demonstrated resilience and strength in a time of need. We are grateful to all who have donated and give special thanks to the following groups and individuals for their contributions. Student Government PE Department Cheerleaders Fall Musical National Art Honor Society Architecture Club Art Club Amnesty Indian American Club National Honor Society Key Club AASO French Club Mrs. Jacobs’ Classes
Volleyball Fundraiser by Mrs. Horbach In response to the devastation faced by many families, the Physical Education department decided that it would be a great idea to get the students involved in fundraising efforts for the victims. Having one of our own Physical Education teachers highly affected by this storm provided even more motivation for us to do something. The students came together with the staff and organized a Volleyball fundraiser. During their Physical Education classes all students participated and raised $1363 for disaster relief. The Physical Education department is very proud of the students at High School East and would like to congratulate them on such a great accomplishment.
Mrs. Lykos Mrs. Stafford Spanish Club Mrs. DeStefano’s Classes ACSL Chess Club Computer Club Mathletes Yearbook FBLA Newspaper Varsity Club Thespian/Mr. Wiley
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Supporting Our Community & HSE Music need this Thanksgiving. As always our school community came together to support those in The Amnesty International Club held its annual need. We thank all organizations and individuals for their efforts to support our community. food drive for Island Harvest from October to November. This year the drive was essential as the food directly benefited families who suffered losses due to Hurricane Sandy. The drive was a true success as they collected over 1700 food items for families in need. Ms. Satnick/Mr. Pitman’s classes collected the greatest amount of food with 844 items! Coming Together
This drive was essential and helped families in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. In addition, the High School East Guidance department worked with the Rotary Organization to distribute 15 turkeys and vouchers to families in High School East Music on the National Stage The Music Educators’ National Conference has selected High School East students to represent New York State in the 2013 All-Eastern Honors Ensembles. They will be performing on April 7th at the Bushnell Center for the Preforming Arts in Hartford, Connecticut. All-Eastern Honors Ensemble students are selected from a proficiency list by NYSSMA and participation in an All-State performing group. Students are selected from New York, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. Congratulations to the following students! Cara Jacobson Mixed Chorus – Soprano Voice Carol Lee Orchestra – Viola Alexa Spiegel Mixed Chorus – Alto Voice
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High School East Achievements DECA Honors National DECA held their annual Suffolk County Regional Competition at Suffolk County Community College on January 9th. High School business students across Long Island competed in various business categories. The High School East DECA Business team won 46 awards and 4 Honorable Mentions. Included in those 46 winners were (5) First Place, (7) Second Place, and (2) Third Place winners. The remaining winners finished among the top percent in all of Suffolk County in their category. The students competed against every High School in Suffolk County in a variety of business topics such as finance, sports marketing, and management. All 46 winners qualified for the New York State DECA Competition. We are extremely proud of their hard work and dedication to the club and the business program at Half Hollow Hills.
Mathletes Tournament by Ms. Suarez Congratulations to High School East's top scorers at the 20th Annual Suffolk Math Tournament held Friday, January 4th, 2013. Out of 155 students who attended the tournament from 22 schools at the lower level, 77 participated as 9th graders. Of these individuals, West Hollow's 6th grader Rinni Bhansali, who is currently enrolled in Honors Geometry at High School East, won 3rd place. This is Rinni's first time participating in the tournament and is the first middle school student I have asked to participate among high school peers. Out of 255 upper level students from 26 participating schools, 133 participated as 12th graders. Of these individuals, senior Kris Pang won 2nd place in his grade level. Kris is
First place winners were Jeff Cherkin, Ted Goshman, Alex Pae and Gerald Lizzo. Second place winners were James Litchhult, Bailey Kaston, Bradley Weltmann, Matthew Diamond, Bret Bierman, Sabrina Schnapp and Katie Farello. Third place winners were Zach Gillam and John Bavaro. State qualifiers were Paul Eliasinski, Lauren Aronson, Alyssa Rothman, Letitia Asare, Justin Dubler, Natalie Haebich, Scott Gelman, Areeta Shah, Jake Gans, Elyse Lee, Drew Greenberg, Eric Steinberg, Tyler Hecker, Vivek Mehta, Jesse LaFauci, George Bekheet, Michael Ferranti, Zach Leff, Dana Craig, Danielle Rubenfeld, Justin Heller, Matt Tisch, Ian Heller, Sanaj Naval, James DeFillippo, David Targett, Cole Siegenfeld, Hailey Katz, Brett Dowler, Robert Greenfield, Casey Barone and Matt Taylor. Honorable Mention students were Harrison Rubin, Dean Schmigelski, Lee Hochheiser and Kyle Heller. Congratulations to all the students!
a veteran at this tournament and has won two consecutive top team awards prior to this year's top individual award.
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Beyond the Classrooms of High School East the food donations to all staff and students in order to be able to donate the most food that we December marked the 16th Annual Can Rolling can. The food was donated to the St. Hugh's Contest for Mr. Grunbeck's physics classes (AP Parish Outreach Program Food Bank in HuntingPhysics B and AP Physics C, this year). Students ton Station. Thank you to Mr. Rendon and the Interact Club for the food they contributed to must bring in two cans of food (suitable for donating to a local food bank) to participate in this this worthy cause. contest. The cans rolled down a small ramp. In each class, the student whose can rolls the farthest gets a chance to win the contest. In order to win, the student must submit a written explanation as to why his or her can rolled the furthest. If the explanation is incorrect, then the second place student gets a chance to win, and so on. As such, this competition allows students to practice social responsibility while learning physics. Fun in Physics by Mr. Grunbeck
This year, in light of all that is going on in the world, we thought that it would be nice to open
ESPN at High School East by Mr. Cappiello On October 23rd the Hills East Sports Marketing students were part of a fantastic event. ESPN NFL Analyst Adam Schefter was a special guest speaker for the day. He shared his career path with the students, what he does for ESPN, and also some great NFL football stories. It was a great opportunity for the students to hear and learn from a person whom they see everyday on ESPN. His advice about college and careers was immeasurable to our business students. After Mr. Schefter’s presentation, the students got a chance to ask questions on a variety of topics from football to careers as well as proper communication skills. One student commented that “this will be one of the most memorable days for me as a high school student”. It truly was a memorable day for all students and faculty who were lucky enough to attend this event.
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One Step at a Time
2013 AP Art History Installation by Mrs. Uttendorfer This year the purpose behind the annual AP Art History installation was to showcase how time management and stress affects high school students. Although many people would say that most students do not overcome the stress that they are under, the Art History class believes that students can achieve their goals and overcome daily pressures. French Artist, Arman, created a towering sculpture of stopped clocks. This piece inspired us to look at what we had here at school, both in terms of materials and inspiration. Just like his clock sculpture, none of the faces show the same display, as if to suggest that “time stands still.” In our installation,
the clocks were placed randomly on a pyramid structure. A school desk was placed at the top, showing that with balance, time, and taking "one step at a time", success can be achieved. Each student comes out at the top and is ready to start his or her own journey. The sculpture has received positive reviews from faculty and students alike and was even featured in a News 12 “Cool at School” segment. A Twitter feed and Instagram account was used to track the progress both during the school day and after hours to utilize social media.
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Architecture Club Creates an Inviting Space Architects Design a New Student Center by Mrs. Mead bench legs, shopping
and inventory for the In an effort to brighten up the student center and furniture and paint for the walls. provide our students with an inviting space, the school’s Site-Based Management Team proposed renovating the student center last year and the architecture club was recruited to facilitate and complete the project. Our students and parents have donated an enormous amount of time and resources to help aide in completing this project. In particular, The Steck and Daleo families have donated extensively to our club and we are very appreciative. Last year, the senior class also donated a monetary gift to help fund this project. This year, Mr. Cappiello along with the school store is also working with the architecture club to help see this project through. The school store already purchased new display cabinets to showcase their products and is donating toward the purchase of tables and stools for the students to enjoy in a cafÊ-like setting. Our members, including Joshua Siev, president, Jagger Steck, construction manager, Calli Katzelnick, secretary, Alexandra Simon, CoVice President, Nick Fondacaro-CoVice President, James Kuo, Public Relations and Treasurer, Alex Needelman have all worked tirelessly to create a unique, design friendly environment for our students to enjoy. Some of the tasks involved were construction of the benches, upholstering the benches, sanding benches and bench legs, painting the
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Perspectives
HSE Makes a Statement in the Intel Competition! The Intel Science Talent Search is the oldest and one of the most prestigious science competitions in the United States. This year fifty-three seniors from Long Island are among the semifinalists. Of all Long Island Schools, High School East was number one with six semifinalists who will each receive an award of $1000. We are extremely proud of the following students and wish them much success! This year’s semifinalists truly embody our High School East vision by committing themselves to lifelong learning and becoming productive citizens in our global society. Congratulations! Puja Bansal
Three Dimensional Molecular Imprinting for the Detection of Viral Pathogens Rohan Goyal
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Induces Pro-Apoptotic Features in Renal Cells through the Down Regulation of Vitamin D Receptor Tammy Jin
Variable M3-S2 Linker Tension Modulates N-Methyl D-Aspartate Receptor Activity in a Subunit Specific Manner Jonathan Kim
Determining the Cell Cycle Stage of Cells in Developing Hair Follicles Abhinav Patil
Geometric Phase as a Systematic Error in the Proton EDM Experiment Robert Tannenbaum
Enhancement of Graphene-based Supercapacitor Devices in Both Symmetric and Asymmetric Electrochemical Cell Environments
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Winter Pep Rally & Holiday Show Spirit and Cheer Despite the delay, the winter pep rally proved to be a success. The rally, held on January 4th,was filled with cheers of support for our winter teams, amazing performances and another pie war. This year, Mr. Del Giudice and Mr. Seely took the honors of receiving pie. All proceeds went to our Hurricane Sandy relief. While the pep rally had to be postponed until after the vacation, many of our performers had the opportunity to take the spotlight twice. In December High School East performed for the students of James E. Allen School with holiday carols and lively dances. This annual Hills East tradition brought joy to the performers and their audience. The students and staff of James E. Allen truly enjoyed our students and were extremely appreciate of their efforts. Highlights of both our winter pep rally and the holiday show are below.
HALF HOLLOW HILLS
Winter Sports Highlights
HIGH SCHOOL EAST PRINCIPAL’S NEWSLETTER
High School East 50 Vanderbilt Parkway Dix Hills, NY 11746
Produced by: Roberto Trigosso Assistant Principal Phone: 631-592-3128 Fax: 631-592-3121 E-mail: rtrigosso@hhh.k12.ny.us
Visit Our Website: www.halfhollowhills.k12.ny.us
High School East
Prominent Winter Athletic Season for Hills East Thus far, the winter season has been a successful one for Hills East Athletics. Our basketball, fencing, swimming, track and wrestling teams have been very competitive and are truly making us all proud. While all of our teams have made strides this winter, special congrats are in order for our girls track team. The Hills East Varsity Girls Winter Track Team has had a record breaking season to date. The 4x200 relay team of Amanda Ribeiro, Tivoni Taylor, Christy Perrier and Mary Chimezie broke the Hill East record by 3 seconds running a 1:48.02 at the Stanner Games on January 12th. The 4x400 relay team of Lauren Keschner, Christy Perrier, Mary Chimezie, and Tiffany Perrier re-broke their record at the Millrose Games Trials on January 16th. The time of 4:03.97 qualified them to run in the Millrose Games on February 16th. The team has also had some outstanding individuals: Christy Perrier running the 600m, Mary Chimezie and Amanda Ribiero in the 300m and the 55m, and Yael Golan in the 1500m. We wish the girls luck in the upcoming League Championship meet. In recognition of outstanding fall seasons two T-Bird football players were honored at the All-County dinner in December. R.J. Nitti received the Boomer Esiason Award, Most Outstanding Quarterback Finalist and AllCounty Selection. D.J. Paul received the 12th Man Award, Player Who Has Overcome Serious Injury. Congratulations!