Perspectives2fin

The Principal’s Newsletter December 18, 2013

Volume VI, Issue II

A Message From Dr. Woodberry Greetings HS East Community,

We are almost at the halfway point in the 2013-2014 school year. The majority of our students have been working very hard to meet and exceed our expectations in every area. Already this year, a number of our students have been acknowledged for their achievements. Please check the High School East website for continuous updates of student and staff accomplishments.

I am sure everyone has heard the conversation regarding the implementation of Common Core Standards in New York State schools. Regardless of our personal philosophies on the subject, we have been ahead of the curve in planning and preparing our students to meet the new rigorous demands with success. Teachers and administrators have been participating in professional development over the past two years to ensure that curriculum and teaching strategies are aligned to the new standards. I have observed lessons grounded in the new standards and witnessed the higher level of cognition taking place. Although some people may not have completely embraced these changes, I believe that eventually more will realize the benefits of this approach to teaching and learning. We will continue to work hard to make sure our students are ready for the new New York State assessments, which are being phased in beginning with Algebra and English Language Arts in June.

HSE Identity Project....Page 2 Safe Halloween............Page 3 “The Arts” News.....Pages 4-6 Meeting a Soldier.........Page 7 Cancer Research..........Page 7 Holiday Fundraising...Page 8 Interact Club................Page 8 The Art of Cooking......Page 9 Student Awards............Page 9 HHH Robotics...........Page 10 Peer Ambassadors......Page 11

In addition to earning good grades, our students have been excelling in other activities as you will see in this issue. A number of clubs and individuals have been benevolent this holiday season and continue to contribute to good causes. The High School East community always finds the time to give and share with others.

Finally, as we bring in the New Year, I encourage students to make the necessary adjustments to be even better in all of your endeavors. I wish all of you good health, success and happiness in 2014!

Remember Respect, Responsibility and Excellence in all you do!

Sincerely, Dr. J. A. Woodberry, Principal

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VI, Issue II

The High School East Identity Project Who are we? The Thunderbirds!

What do we look like? It depends on who you ask.

Here at High School East a number of logos, emblems and colors have been used to represent the Thunderbirds over the past decade. Clubs, sport teams, community/school organizations and even administrators use different logos for High School East. Really good designs have developed over the years, some evolving from the majestic traditional logo and others are brand new ideas from talented artists. Is there an official logo for the school? Would adopting a new logo be disrespectful to those who walked these halls before us? If there is one accepted logo, would we have to paint over all of the other designs found throughout the building?

Our logo is the central identifiable visual element that helps members of the school community, past and present, discover, share and remember High School East. We believe uniting the school in this very visible, observable way will contribute to building a stronger sense of community and raising school spirit. The High School East Site-Based Management Team is spearheading an effort to answer the questions above and hopefully move the school along in the quest to create a more positive, collaborative environment, as stated in our school vision statement. We will enlist the help of students, faculty members, coaches, graduates and community members to explore this topic more thoroughly and hopefully come to a consensus on ONE High School East logo for the future.

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VI, Issue II

SAFE HALLOWEEN A Fun Filled Night For All

On October 31st, student organizations came together for another successful Safe Halloween here at High School East. The fun-filled night was full of colorful costumes, candy, and elaborately themed ‘trick-or-treat’ rooms for children of the community to enjoy. The Thunderbird was in attendance, greeting young super heros, princesses, ghosts, and goblins in the hallways. The night’s largest attraction was our own “Enchanted Forest” Haunted House, created by the students of the Art Club for everyone to enjoy. A special thanks to the following clubs, advisors, and extra-curricular activities, for making the night a great success: African-American Club (AASO), Society of Asian-American Students, Amnesty International, Animal Friends and Advocates, Art Club, Art Honor Society, Architecture Club, Cheerleaders, Dixettes, Expressive Movement Crew, Fashion Club, French Culture Club, Honor Society, Future Educators of America, Ichtus, Interact, Indian American Club, Italian Club Honor Society, Key Club, National Honor Society, Peer Aids Educators, Spanish Honor Society/Culture Club, Speech & Debate, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), Thespian Society, and Yearbook

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VI, Issue II

“THE ARTS” NEWS Fashion Club in High Gear

Fashion club kicked off this year designing and creating unique costumes for Safe Halloween.

The girls showed off their headpieces and capes at the entrance to the Haunted House. Fashion club members created tree-sprite costumes to complement Art Clubs “Into The Woods” theme.

Each costume was inspired by the four seasons, in which the girls used materials such as fabrics, rhinestones, flowers, icicles, twigs, feathers etc. to complement fall, winter, spring and summer.

Our girls have been cutting, hemming, painting, and crafting each week, often working on their off periods. Club members really came together as a group and had a great time with each other.

They worked hard to reach this goal and I was both excited and proud to see them show off their talents to our Trick-or-Treaters.

-Article Submitted by Ms. Marianne Mead

Art & Olives

The High School East Art Club, with the help of the National Art Honor Society, collaborated with Art Teachers Allyson Uttendorfer and Janice Nelkin to add some artistic flare to the Divine Olive. The Divine Olive is a new store in Farmingdale Village owned by Jo Magri and Paumanok Elementary School Physical Education Teacher Andi Liebling. Student artists transformed the simple olive shape into artist reinterpretations, taking the style, colors and main design elements from modern and contemporary artists. Students were recognized at the store on December 8, 2013.

- Article submitted by Ms. Allyson Uttendorfer Page 4

Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VI, Issue II

“Our Town” at High School East On Friday, November 1st, and Saturday, November 2nd, the community of Half Hollow Hills was privy to a steller performance of Our Town, put on by our own talaneted cast and crew of Hills East. The show was directed by Mr. Ken Smyrk and Ms. Lauren De Stefano, with a number of individuals working behind the scenes. Ms. Viktoria Reres headed up the stage crew, as her daughter and son, Torry and J.D., assisted with set construction and lighting design. Our Town is a 1938 three-act play

by American playwright Thornton Wilder. Set in the fictional American small town of Grover’s Corners, it tells the story of an average town’s citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives. The play is performed with a minimal set and the actors mime their actions without the use of many props. The leading roles were performed by Jen Bender, Brian Tolep, Veronica Fox, Nathaniel Bear, Anna Levy, Josh Karmel, Hayley Lovett, Michael Worshoufsky, Ashley Johnson, David Lerner, Brandon Kaplan, Katherine Thompson, Elizabeth Thompson, Elee Wolf-Sonkin, Jeremy Cohen, Brianna Serra, and Angela Bruzzi.

Art Show A.P. Students

Six H.S.E. students were accepted into the Huntington Arts Council show called ‘Nightmare on Main Street’.

Kaitlyn Gomez’s Black Moon, Madelyn McNierney’s Black Diamond, Amanda Milberg’s Look into my Eyes, Kelly Mulholland’s Lost in the Woods, Sehar Sra’s Bloody Mary and Jasmine Weber’s Corpse Bride. The show opened on Tuesday, October 29th and a wonderful time was had by all.

Keep up the hard work and congratulations to all!

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VI, Issue II

Cross-Campus Choir Goes to NYC

Music students here at HHH had an incredible opportunity to perform with Broadway stars at a concert at the famed Highline Ballroom in NYC on November 11.

HSE Alumni Zack Zadek (‘11) presented a concert of his original music, directed by Hunter Bird with musical direction by Benjamin Rauhala. “The Music of Zack Zadek” was a mix of musical theatre, pop, dance, and selections from Zadek’s full-length musicals 6 (New York Musical Theatre Festival 2012) and The Crazy Ones (NYMF Reading Series 2013).

Of course, we take great pride in the accomplishments of our graduates from HHH, but the evening was particularly special for current students. Zack invited the Cross Campus Chamber Choir to sing back-up on two of his original compositions, and created arrangements specifically for the 55-voice group. Zack and our singers were backed by a full band and acclaimed Broadway guests such as Emma Hunton (Spring Awakening, Next to Normal), Drew Gasparini (Smash) and Marla Mindelle (Cinderella, Sister Act, South Pacific) headlined the concert.

The Cross Campus Chamber Choir is a highly select, auditioned vocal ensemble that includes students from both HSE and HSW. For this event, the singers learned the challenging music in one rehearsal, and sang to a sold-out crowd at the Highline.

-Article Submitted by Dr. Danielle McRoy Page 6

Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VI, Issue II

Holocaust Students Meet Child Soldier On October 16th, students from Ms. Kane’s (HSE) and Mr. Cascio’s (HSW) Holocaust classes attended a program at Suffolk County Community College’s Center on the Holocaust, Diversity and Human Understanding. The program featured speakers Emily Amick, from the organization Sanctuary for Families, and Stacy Skirupa, an Assistant District Attorney with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. They presented a program on Human Trafficking and the impact on families in the Long Island area. Keynote speaker Denis Okema, a former child soldier, electrified the students. Denis shared his story of being captured into the army of Joseph Kony in Uganda at the age of 9. Denis escaped after some time, worked in Africa for various aid organizations and eventually made his way to the United States, where he is currently enrolled in graduate school in Pennsylvania. He continues to work to raise awareness on human rights violations around the world.

- Article Submitted by Ms. Lisa Kane

Youth-to-Youth Going Gold

Many people are not aware that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. When this event was brought to my attention by one of my students and Youth-to-Youth member, Jordan Belous, I jumped at the chance to do something to help raise awareness for this very tragic disease that affects children. Jordan and I, with the assistance of the members of Youth-to-Youth, decided to turn High School East Gold during the month of September. Youth-to-Youth members sold gold ribbons to the students and staff for a dollar and encouraged everyone to wear their ribbons throughout the month of September. As a survivor of childhood cancer, I was touched by the outpouring of support that everyone at High School East displayed. For Jordan, this cause also held a lot of meaning as the proceeds of the ribbon sales went to the Spencer Reid Foundation, a New York non-for profit organization that provides financial and social assistance to families of children with cancer in the tri-state area. Since Jordan is close friends with Spencer and his family, she was able to arrange for him to visit HSE during a Youth-to-Youth meeting and presented his mother a check for $1100 to go towards Spencer’s organization. Youth-to-Youth worked extremely hard to make Gold as recognizable as Pink this past September as well as raising money and awareness for childhood cancer and the Spencer Reid Foundation.

- Article Submitted by Ms. Cortney Silberman Page 7

Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VI, Issue II

Holiday Pajama Drive

Amnesty Club led a pajama drive to benefit The Pajama Program which serves to provide a million children with warm pajamas and books.

They have centers all over the country. The 300 pairs of pajamas we collected are going to a network of shelters that deal with victims of domestic violence in Nassau/Suffolk Counties.

Many individuals - both teachers and students made donations but we were also assisted by a number of clubs when we asked for help.

Mrs. Nolan’s Future Educators, Mrs. Silberman’s Youth-to-Youth, Mrs. Davis and the newspaper, Dr. McRoy and her students, Mr. Rendon and Interact, Mrs. Cunningham and AASO, Mrs. Liegey and her students, and the PTSA. The bonus is that when we donate them by December 14th, Scholastic Books has pledged to donate one book for every pair of pajamas.

-Article Submitted by Ms. Cynthia Cullen

Interact Club

This fall, High School East’s Interact Club has been busy with its charity work. The club participated in its 3rd Movember -- sporting real and fake mustaches to raise funds and awareness for men’s health causes such as prostate and pancreatic cancers.

The team raised over $1400 in the month, and was one of the top school-based teams in the country! Throughout December, Interact members have been holding toy drives and accepting donations for Project T.O.Y., a charity that provides toys to local families in need so they can have some presents for their children during the holiday season. Interact’s involvement with Project T.O.Y. was sparked

by East alum Lauren Crupnick, who still returns to spearhead the month’s work.

-Article Submitted by Mr. Patrick Rendon

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

The Art of Cooking at the Ronald McDonald House

The High School East Chapter of the National Art Honor Society will be going to the Ronald McDonald House in New Hyde Park this year to volunteer their time to families in need. One such activity will include cooking dinner for the up to 100-house guests on two different nights: November 20, 2013 and January 22, 2014. This home-away-from-home for families of seriously ill children who are undergoing critical medical treatment in area hospitals needs our help. As members prepared for the first dinner service in November, the entire society ran a food drive and collected non-perishable Thanksgiving items for this special dinner. While at the house, students lend their artistic talents and draw pictures to celebrate the season on the over 10’ chalk board wall. Art teacher and advisor, Allyson Uttendorfer, is a weekly volunteer at the House and volunteers her time as a hospitality host assisting the families in need.

She is happy to get her students and the Half Hollow Hills community involved.

-Article Submitted by Ms. Allyson Uttendorfer

Suffolk Zone- Senior Awards

Congratulations to Sean Grossman and Lauren Meltzer, who have been been honored for outstanding Physical Education achievement through the Suffolk County Zone Chapter of the New York State Associate for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. A job well done!

Mathematics Scholar Congratulations to David Morales, for being named a Long Island Scholar of Mathematics. Great job, David!

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VI, Issue II

Half Hollow Hills Robotics Team Update

The Half Hollow Hills Thundercolts are diligently working to return to the National Competition in St. Louis, Missouri for the second time in their four year existence. The team attended the National tournament in their first season after being awarded the “Rookie All-Star” honor at the annual School-Business Partnerships of Long Island Regional at Hofstra University. The Thundercolts recently received another generous donation of $25,000 from The Science Academy at Park Shore Day Camp and School this past September after a donation of $25,000 the previous year. The Thundercolts are working extremely close with other Long Island robotics teams to put forth a joint effort in fundraising for the program on the Island. The team is anxiously awaiting this year’s kickoff event, at Stony Brook University, where the new game for this build season will be revealed. It is a shared belief amongst the group that the team has grown intellectually within the last four years, and they are excited to begin work this season. In addition to preparing for the build season ahead, the team is also finalizing their application presentations for awards such as the Chairmans Award and Engineering Inspiration Award. These two awards are extremely prestigious, as they are given to a team who is both active in the community, and spreads the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math in everything that they do. These two awards also give the recipient team a chance to compete in the National Competition held in Saint Louis.

The team hosted the Second Annual Half Hollow Hills Invitational on November 16 and the results were truly fantastic. In addition to there being a huge crowd on hand that day, the team sold Frisbees used in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) events and collected empty water bottle donations. The proceeds will go directly to the Red Cross and the Philippine Relief effort. Half Hollow Hills is honored to have hosted this offseason event for the last two seasons and is excited to do so again next year. Many in the community came out to support the team, which was appreciated by all. The Thundercolts are working hard in preparing four FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) teams that have started this year. They are using FTC as a preparation for their freshman members before the start of their FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) season. In closing, the Half Hollow Hills Robotics Team, with its continuous community support and goal orientated workethic, will continue to strive towards a National Competition qualifying award this season. We wish them luck!

- Information Submitted by Justin Greene Page 10

Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VI, Issue II

Peer Ambassadors

Half Hollow Hills High School East 50 Vanderbilt Parkway Dix Hills, NY 11746

On Wednesday, December 11th, the High School East Peer Ambassadors hosted its annual community wide Peer Alliance Day. Each year, the Peer Ambassadors host the event to bring bullying to light and encourage the High School East Community to take a stand against bullying. A table was set up near the cafeteria where students and faculty were able to sign a pledge against bullying as well as large paper hands, which symbolized ‘Helping Hands’. Blue lollipops were given to those who participated. At days end, more than 1100 pledges were signed. The High School East Community stood together and sent a message that bullying will not be tolerated. The Peer Ambassadors would like to thank the High School East Administration for their support and a special thank you to REACH CYA for donating the lollipops.

-Article Submitted by Mr. Matthew Miracolo

Principal’s Newsletter Volume VI, Issue II Produced by: Mr. Ben Wiley Assistant Principal High School East bwiley@hhh.k12.ny.us Phone: 631.592.3115 Fax: 631.592.3454 Interested in submitting an article to Perspectives?

Want to share wonderful news about High School East?

Go to the High School East website, click on the Newletter Tab found in the left column, and follow the link to submit.

You can also email Mr. Wiley directly.

All prospective articles and ideas will be reviewed, but not all submissions will be published.

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