Perspectives3

The Principal’s Newsletter February 28, 2015

A Message From Dr. Woodberry Hello High School East Community, This school year seems to be going amazingly fast. Believe it or not, even though the fields are still under snow and ice, the spring sports season will begin in a few days. We will also be reaching the midpoint of the third quarter around the same time.

I am proud to share the accomplishments of our students as we move through the second half of the school year. As always, a significant number of our students are on High Honor Roll and Honor Roll, there were several early acceptances to prestigious colleges and we have 11 National Merit Scholarship Finalists! All of the winter sports teams have performed exceptionally well, earning trips to the playoffs and invitations to complete at the state level in several sports. High School East students have also earned recognition in the Arts with the National Art Honor Society’s work being exhibited at Long Island University’s Tilles Center for the Arts and students’ work reaching the State level in the PTA Reflections Contest.

Although we are still entrenched in this school year, the scheduling process for the 15-16 school year is underway. The start of the process was pushed back from early January to the beginning of third quarter to give students and teachers more data to make decisions regarding course selections for the upcoming year.

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. Student course selections will be available to view on the Parent Portal of Infinite Campus as students meet with counselors. Parents should speak to students about their appointments with counselors and check the Parent Portal to review course requests with students. If there are any questions or concerns, please contact the Guidance Office to speak to a counselor. Requests to change a course request will be considered until March 6th.

Volume VII, Issue III

Principal’s Message.....Page 1 Student Spotlight.........Page 2 Business Awards..........Page 3 “The Arts” News.....Pages 4-5 Chess Star.....................Page 6 Ocean Bowl Team........Page 6 Finalists........................Page 7 Thunderbrains.............Page 7 Senior Experience.......Page 8 Science Olympiad........Page 9 Math Scholars............Page 10 Science Winners.........Page 10 Volleyball Champs.....Page 11 Winter Sports.............Page 12

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 Principal

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Student Spotlight: Henry Mancera

Volume VII, Issue III

Many students who walked the halls of High School East four years ago may not have known his name, but students and teachers today certainly know who Henry Mancera is. Henry in many ways is like a number of other students here; respectful, kind, involved in a number of activities, and works hard in all of his classes. Henry’s story differs from many in regards to his extraordinary drive to represent students of both underprivileged and underrepresented minorities of High School East and beyond. He comes from a family of five, with two younger siblings and two supportive and loving parents. He will be the first of his family to attend college this Fall, and has spent a great amount of time caring for his younger brother and sister at home.

He accomplished his goal of representing students by joining both the Half Hollow Hills Legislative Committee, and the Huntington Youth Court. The Legislative Committee gave Henry the opportunity to meet government officials during a variety of Legislative events, and speak with them about the importance of equitable education. As the Legislative Committee student liaison his senior year, he was able to speak about his experiences on the committee at the annual Legislative Brunch; attended by many local officials and school district administrators.

Legislative Committee, to Henry, gave him the opportunity to flourish as a young adult, meet new friends, face his fears of public speaking, and advocate for students regarding the importance of educational funding and student enrichment programs. The Huntington Youth Court consists of Suffolk County high school students who run trials of actual teenagers who have committed minor crimes. This program is geared towards rehabilitating behaviors of teenage offenders, and attempts to ensure they become successful patrons of our community. Henry is on the steering committee of this court, and serves as a translator in many cases.

Additionally, Henry has been a member of Fordham University’s Science and Technology Entry Program during his senior year. The Fordham University STEP program gives students the opportunity to experience Science and Technology courses, as well as provide them with meaningful field trips that encompass relevant and current fields of study. This year, the program invited Henry to Albany to advocate on their behalf to state Senators and elected officials. This trip was special to Henry, as he was notified that he had been nominated for the prestigious title of one of the NYS Hispanic Coalition’s “40 Under 40 Rising Latino Stars” during his travels. This program recognizes members of the Hispanic/Latino community under the age of 40 who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments and achievements in the areas of business, educations, politics, non-profit sector, community service, and more.

Early on in his High School career, Henry was given some advice from a previously graduated senior in a form of a note in his locker; he would like to pass along this advice. The note stated “ The next four years will shape you as a person, and every decision you make will determine what your future holds.” Henry has taken this message to heart, and has continuously attempted to do all that he can while in high school. From tutoring students outside of school, to representing underprivileged or underrepresented students of High School East and beyond, Henry Mancera is one of a kind. Upon his graduation, and his future years of success as a student at Fordham University, Henry will be missed in the halls of High School East.

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Winning Continues for the H.S.E. Business Department

Every year New York State DECA holds their annual Suffolk County Regional Competition, where business

students from high schools across Suffolk County compete in a variety of business categories. The Hills East

DECA team has always done well in the annual tournament, and this year was no exception. High School East

had 55 Suffolk County regional winners and 13 honorable mention awards. All winners are eligible to move on to the New York State DECA Competition. Congratulations to all!

Regional Winning Students Samta Abrole - 1st Place Natasha Bajaj Casey Barone Brooke Bavaro Nolan Berkenfeld - 1st Place Mantej Bindra Alexander Blatt - 2nd Place Jared Breakstone Justin Dubler Alexander Feldman Nicholas Ferranti Ryan Fishbein Alec Friedman - 3rd Place Justin Fuchs Matthew Goetz Max Goldberg Howard Goldsmith Justin Heller Daniel Hiltzik Zachary Homler Drew Jacovsky Bailey Kaston Chad Katzelnick Jacob Kaufman Dylan Keane Brian Kenigsberg Aaron Klein Zachary Kleinbaum Robert Klemcheck Jamie Kreinces Jesse LaFauci - 2nd Place Zachary Leff Jared Leff Ryan Lelis - 3rd Place Zachary Lion

Honorable Mentioned Students Nia Mays Brett Peskin Leah Pesso Jordan Resnick Haley Resnick Eric Rothman Matthew Rothman Harrison Rubin Skyler Sands Dean Schmigelski - 3rd Place Brandon Sekler - 1st Place Parker Siegel - 2nd Place Michael Sivin Arnav Srivastava Jacob Sycoff - 3rd Place David Targett Matthew Taylor Matthew Tisch - 1st Place Sahil Varma - 3rd Place Michael Weisman

Zayan Ahmed Harris Ayaz Hunter Berman Stavros Chironis Alex Cohen Mustafa Ebad Jacob Ellis Lee Hochheiser Kyle Jenkin Hunter Kaplan Bailey Klein Seth Kunoff Daniel Serpe

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

“THE ARTS” NEWS

Volume VII, Issue III

Killer Heels at Hills East

One of fashion’s most exciting accessories is the high heel shoe. This past November the High School East fashion classes had the opportunity to visit the Killer Heels exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The exhibit took students through a journey of the ages and exposed them to a plethora of shoe designs from a variety of designers and countries across the world.

Students returned to class with an abundance of resources that inspired them to design their own original footwear. These included glamorous high heels, wide wedges, and fancy flats. The illustrations incorporated themes from art history, music, nature and pop culture that enabled all students to communicate their unique personalities.

- Article Submitted by Ms. Tania Godoy

LISFA Chamber Music Festival

High School East Orchestra students, violinists Judy Chen and Michelle Zhao, violist, Angela Bruzzi, and cellist Natalie Bruzzi, auditioned and were selected to perform at the 4th Annual Suffolk County LISFA Festival at Stony Brook University. High School East Orchestra Director, Ms. Strom, and her students participated in coaching sessions with the world renowned Bryant String Quartet. At the culmination of the day the very talented young ladies of the “ChaoRuzzi String Quartet” performed the Beethoven String Quartet No. 1, Op. 18, Movement 1 on the Staller Center Stage. Congratulations to them on a beautiful performance.

- Article Submitted by Ms. Leeanne Strom

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Stories of Hurt & Hope

The High School East’s National Art Honor Society collaborated with the Tilles Center for the Arts, in connection with students from Queens United Middle School and The Alvin Ailey Dance Company, to explore the theme of STORIES OF HURT & HOPE.

Through this collaboration, the unique middle school students who were involved wrote stories based on the theme of Hurt and Hope, drawing from stories heard from current college students. In addition, the dance students presented original works of choreography.

The National Art Honor Society was asked to explore this theme using the visual arts. Thirty works were selected to be exhibited as the backdrop for the culminating performance entitled ‘Revelations’, set to be performed by the Alvin Ailey Dancers. Our students work will be on display for one month, and will hopefully become a topic of discussion for many functions in the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts.

- Article Submitted by Ms. Allyson Uttendorfer

Visitors from Vanderbilt

As part of the Heckscher Museum collaboration with High School East, the Advanced Placement Photo students recently mentored a number of Vanderbilt Elementary students from our district. The AP students and the elementary students both explored FLIGHT through multiple disciplines, one of which was Photography. The high school class was able to visit the Heckscher Museum before the holidays and experienced an amazing exhibition on experimental photography. The Vanderbilt students are set to visit the Museum soon, and were in need of a brief photography lesson prior to their visit. In order to better prepare the elementary students to see and comprehend a photography exhibition, the High School East AP students invited them here to see the photography studio, view student work examples, and even create a photograph of their own. Overall, the visit was a success for everyone involved.

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VII, Issue III

H.S.E. Rising Chess Star: Cory Levin The High School East Chess Team competes in the Suffolk County Chess League. It is coached by our former mathematics teacher, Mr. Joseph Del Guidice. The team is full of wonderful High School East students, who enjoy playing chess for fun as well as competing against their peers. One student in particular, happens to be a “check” above the rest. As a freshman, Cory Levin joined the Chess Team and immediately made an impression. He played his way onto varsity his first year, and has been winning ever since.

During his freshman year, Cory’s team finished in second place in both the regular season of the league, and the Championship tournament. His sophomore year, Cory was placed at first board (the best player) and led the team to a first place finish in the regular season, and second (just points away from first) in the Championship tournament.

Cory finished the regular season undefeated, and was the League MVP. This year, Cory led the team to a second place finish in the regular season, and third at the Championship tournament. Cory was undefeated again for the regular season, and was once again named the League MVP. Other than chess, Cory Levin is an overall well-rounded student. He is involved in both the Mathletes and Robotics Clubs. During these events, Cory puts his mind into action solving math problems, building robots, and engineering moving parts from scratch. He is an Honors and AP student, who credits a large amount of his success to two great teachers; Mr. Del Guidice and Ms. Liegey. He competes in outside chess tournaments and enjoys a good video game every so often. He comes from a loving family with two sisters, and would like to pursue a degree in engineering after graduating from High School East.

Congratulations to Cory on all that he has achieved, keep up the wonderful work!

Ocean Bowl Team Update

On February 7th our HSE Ocean Bowl Team travelled to Stony Brook University for the 14th regional competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl sponsored by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership at 25 sites across the country. Students must name facts and identify concepts of oceanography, marine biology, weather, ocean chemistry, technology, geology and physics. We are very proud of our team that went five incredibly intense rounds against teams from all over NY State! Congratulations to Captain Jonathan Caen, Hope McDavid, Melanie Gershman, Theresa Bitetto, Natalie Memarsadeghi, and Coach Susan Hirschmann!

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

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Congratulations to the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Finalists

Grant Berland Judy Chen Justin Estreicher Jacob Goldberg

Zachary Goldstein Anja Kenagy Heesu Shin Jenny Truong

Thunder Brains Excel

Joanna Wang Akash Wasil (not pictured) Michelle Zhao

A big congratulations to both the JV and Varsity High School East Academic Teams! The Thunder Brains Academic Teams consist of a group of students who compete against students from other schools in jeopardy-style trivia competitions.

Currently the JV Thunder Brains sit in 1st place in the Western Suffolk Division of Regional Quiz Bowl and they rank #1 out of all fifty-five teams that compete across Long Island! The Varsity Thunder Brains are currently in 2nd place in the Western Suffolk Division and are ranked 9th overall on Long Island! With only one match remaining in the divisional rounds, both the JV and Varsity teams are looking to have strong finishes in order to secure one of the sixteen available playoff berths. Good luck the rest of the way!

The Academic Team will also be celebrating its successful season by hosting the 3rd annual Thunder Brain Classic later this spring. Students, teachers, and faculty members across the district will have a chance to compete in a jeopardy-style trivia competition themselves. Prizes will be awarded!

- Article submitted by Mr. Christopher Maiorino

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VII, Issue III

THE SENIOR EXPERIENCE CORNER Written for the students, by the students...

Recently the Senior Experience class of 2014-2015 took a trip to The Museum of the City of New York.

The trip was amazing. There were so many amazing exhibits, but we focused on four of them: Activist New York; Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao New York: Assembled Realities; Gilded New York and Timescapes.

Activist New York analyzed social activism in New York from the 17th century to the present.We spent most of our time focusing on the protests of the past, like Women’s Suffrage, but also learned about more modern protests like the movement for bike lanes in NYC.

The second exhibit was Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao’s New York : Assembled Realities. This was by far the most exciting and interesting exhibit. The exhibit featured more than 40 works by the Taiwanese artist. The museum website states, “the photographs are often fantastical, complex, hyper-real views that no single shot-or the eye- could capture.” Liao captures spaces throughout the five boroughs by taking hundreds of shots of the same location throughout the course of a day and then painstakingly stitching each photograph together.

The results are beautiful and perfectly capture the essence of the neighborhoods he shoots.

The next exhibit was the Gilded New York. It explored “the visual culture of elite New York in the late 19th and early- 20th centuries”. While we weren’t in this exhibit long, I believe due to the anxiety of not wanting to break any of the priceless diamond-encrusted artifacts of New York’s wealthy elite, this exhibit was very interesting.

The last exhibit, a film called Timescapes, was definitely the most packed with information. This video traced the growth of NYC over 400 years into a total of 22 minutes.

Lastly, one of the reasons why I love Senior Experience field trips is because of the smaller exciting moments that you get to share with your classmates. During a break from the museum, we were able to enjoy the Central Park Conservancy Gardens. All in all this field trip was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to go back.

- Written by Jada O’Neal

On Wednesday, January 21st, The Senior Experience class at Half Hollow Hills High School East went on a field trip to Sky Zone in Deer Park. Sky Zone is the world’s first indoor trampoline park. It’s a place for fitness, that’s actually fun, where trampolines are practically covering all of the floors and walls. It’s also a great place for workouts that are both healthy and awesome. I experienced the weightlessness of bouncing, flipping, and landing in a pit filled with what seemed like an endless amount of foam cubes that it was so hard just to get out of it. This park also includes a SkySlam court and an Ultimate Dodgeball. What’s nice about Sky Zone is that it is for people of any age, shape, or size.

The class attended SkyZone as both a team building exercise and as a lesson on marketing. After trying out the trampolines, the SkyZone staff assigned the students to work as teams to develop a marketing strategy to promote the park. Each team presented its marketing strategy to the class and the managerial staff gave us feedback. We learned a lot about the ways a business such as this is able to make itself appealing to the community. The winning team received a gift package. The trip was a really fun and interactive learning experience that we will never forget.

- Written by Rachel Gerson

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VII, Issue III

Science Olympiad Strikes Again!

We are pleased to inform you of the successes of the Hills East Science Olympiad teams at the Eastern Long Island Regional competition this year. Our three teams placed second, third and tenth out of 49 teams from 27 Suffolk County schools. These achievements have qualified the team for the State competition for the ninth straight year. Students, formed into teams of up to fifteen, competed in pairs or occasionally triplets in 24 different science and engineering events. Medals were given for the top ten teams in each event, and our students earned a total of 45 medals. In all, 36 of our 42 students earned at least one medal, and all three of our teams earned medals in six different events. Award winners include: Rachel Anszelowicz: 6th, Technical Problem Solving; 8th, Mission Possible Justin Becker: 5th, Invasive Species; 8th, Mission Possible Aaron Charlack: 5th, Oceanography; 6th, Astronomy; 7th, GeoMapping Gary Chen: 9th, Astronomy Judy Chen: 3rd, Compound Machines; 3rd, Green Generation; 3rd, Invasive Species Catherine Costanzo: 1st, Forensics; 9th, Technical Problem Solving Benjamin Edwards: 1st, It’s About Time; 3rd, Epidemiology; 9th, Technical Problem Solving Karena Etwaru: 3rd, Anatomy; 3rd, Protein Modeling Cheryl Feig: 6th, Technical Problem Solving; 8th, Scrambler Joshua Feig: 9th, Astronomy; 9th, Green Generation Sabrina Gallego: 1st, Forensics; 1st, It’s About Time Daniel Giame: 3rd, Mission Possible; 9th, Air Trajectory Cassandra Grello: 2nd, Cell Biology; 3rd, Anatomy; 3rd, Protein Modeling Dominique Iacarino: 2nd, Oceanography; 4th, Protein Modeling; 6th, Chem Lab Bailey Kasten: 5th, GeoMapping; 6th, Green Generation Anja Kenagy: 3rd, Green Generation; 10th, Entomology Marc Klinger: 10th, Entomology Edward Li: 4th, Protein Modeling; 5th, Anatomy; 5th, GeoMapping Ryan Li: 10th, Fossils David Morales: 2nd, Entomology; 3rd, Mission Possible; 4th, Fossils; 10th Invasive Species Isaac Morales: 3rd, Air Trajectory; 10th, Fossils Aaryav Nagpal: 5th, Invasive Species; 9th, Green Generation Cynthia Pang: 1st, Astronomy; 5th, Epidemiology, 6th, Green Generation Nathan Perfetti: 2nd, Entomology; 4th, Fossils; 10th, Invasive Species Divya Rao: 4th, Protein Modeling; 5th, Anatomy; 5th, Technical Problem Solving Viren Sabhnani: 3rd, Epidemiology Ravjot Sachdev: 3rd, Green Generation; 5th, Oceanography; 6th, Astronomy; 6th, Fossils; 7th, GeoMapping Amanda Salemi: 8th, Scrambler Ishan Sethi: 9th, Bridge Building Hyunsu Shin: 4th, Epidemiology Joanna Wang: 2nd, Oceanography; 5th, Epidemiology; 5th, Technical Problem Solving Akash Wasil: 4th, Epidemiology Benjamin Wolfram: 1st, Bridge Building; 6th, Wright Stuff Jacob Wolf-Sonkin: 9th, Air trajectory Anton Wu: 1st, Astronomy; 6th, Chem Lab Tiffanie Yang: 2nd, Cell Biology; 3rd, Compound Machines; 3rd, Protein Modeling

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VII, Issue III

Math Students Shine Congratulations to top scorers at the 22nd Annual Suffolk Math Tournament 11th Grade Level Individual Winner: Anton Wu, 3rd place (10th grader) 10th Grade Level Individual Winner: Shiv Patil, 5th place Lower Division (9th/10th grade level) Winning Team: Jesse Blatt, Ray Chang, Kyle Kampta (8th grader), Shiv Patil, Brett Peskin: 1st Place Upper Division (11th/12th grade level) Winning Team: Rinni Bhansali (8th grader), David Morales, Brian Rhee, Akash Wasil, and Anton Wu: 2nd Place

National Science and Math Bowl Contestants

On a frigid but sunny Saturday at the end of January, our HHH HSE Science Team ventured out to Brookhaven National Lab at 7am. There they competed in the Long Island-New York City area regionals of the National Science and Math Bowl sponsored by the US Department of Energy. To claim the points, students must buzz in before the other teams in the tournament to answer questions on every topic in math and science, including physics, geology, chemistry, and biology within a strict set of rules.

Congratulations to Coach Sue Hirschmann, Captain Jonathan Caen, Natalie Memarsadeghi, Zack Steier, Hope McDavid, and Sambit Sharma for scoring 2nd in their division!

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VII, Issue III

Half Hollow Hills Volleyball CHAMPIONS

Congratulations to High School East for winning the first Hills Foundation Staff Volleyball Tournament!

All proceeds from this event supports the Hills Foundation for Enhancement and Enrichment of Children, a not-for-profit organization of community members whose goal is to provide additional financial support independent of the Half Hollow Hills School District. The foundation raises funds and develops resources for educational items which are not normally part of the school budget, such as cultural arts projects and general scholastic enrichment. The foundations objective is to enhance cooperation and understanding while encouraging innovation and creativity in meeting the challenges facing the public education system.

The team was spectacular, winning all 6 games in which they competed! Congratulations to all!

Alyssa Abulencia Tim Belz Chris Blummenstetter Gary Campanelli Kerry Guarriello Don Herr Sharon Holzman Kate Horan

Chris Maiorino Ed Manly Melinda McCormack Luca McNeil Chris O’Brien Megan Pfaeffle Tim Sassone

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Perspectives: The Principal’s Newsletter

Volume VII, Issue III

WINTER SPORTS RECAP

Half Hollow Hills High School East 50 Vanderbilt Parkway Dix Hills, NY 11746 Principal’s Newsletter Volume VII, Issue III Produced by: Mr. Ben Wiley Assistant Principal High School East bwiley@hhh.k12.ny.us Phone: 631.592.3115 Fax: 631.592.3454

It was another successful season for the Thunderbirds during the 2014-2015 winter season. Every team competed in post season play and numerous students received individual honors. The Girls Fencing team finished the season 10-3 and qualified for the county championships. The Hills Boys Fencing team won a bronze medal at the County Championship. Gary Armyn placed 5th in the County and Charles Wells became the first men’s individual county champion in Hills history. Both Boys and Girls Basketball went 9-5 in the league and qualified for the playoffs. Wrestling was undefeated league conference champions and qualified 8 wrestlers for County Championships. Philip Spadafora placed 2nd in the County and was given a wildcard bid to wrestle in the state championships. Boys swimming and Diving was once again crowned County Champions for the 9th consecutive year and senior James Gordin was named MVP of the meet. The Swimming team also made it to the top of Newsday’s “Big 10” as the best team on Long Island in any sport. Boys track finished 3rd in their League 2 Team Championship this year, and is excited to be sending two runners to the State Championships this year; Blair Braxton and Sam Chimezie. The Girls Track team also had a number of success stories this season, as Mary Chimezie earned all county honors and qualified for state meet in March, for the 300 meter dash. Doyin Ogundiran also earned all county academic honors for her GPA and was 5th in the county for her event, the 600 meter dash.

Congratulations to all of our student athletes!

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 Newsletter 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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