Issue 5 | Volume 8 | 2015-2016
Perspectives The Principal's N ewsletter A M ESSAGE FROM DR. W OODBERRY Dear High School East Community, Another great year at High School East has come to an end! We could not have had a finer group of students, educators, parents and community members working together to achieve success in academics, athletics and the arts. Our students? truly remarkable accomplishments are a direct result of our professional learning community?s (K-12) efforts to educate our children and the Half Hollow Hills community?s dedication to excellence. Reflecting on this year, I can fondly say that it has been a pleasure serving as the principal of this great school. Good luck to the Class of 2016! I wish everyone an enjoyable and safe summer! Remember Excellence,
Respect,
Responsibility
and
Dr. J. A. Woodberry Principal, HS East
High Honors for High School East This May, High School East was honored to learn that it received a Silver Medal from US News and World Report, finishing in the Top 3% of approximately 21,500 high schools in the United States. Rankings are based on class sizes, graduation rates, English and Math proficiency rates, Advanced Placement course enrollment, and Advanced Placement exam success rates. The Washington Post also ranked High School East in the Top 3% of American high schools on its annual "Most Challenging High Schools" list. This ranking is derived from the number of AP exams the graduating class has taken. 1
Issue 5 | Volume 8 | 2015-2016
Perspect ives - The Principal's Newslet t er Half Hollow Hills High School East
East Earns Anti-bias Honor The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has designated High School East among only 87 New York area schools from across the five boroughs, upstate, Westchester County, Long Island and Northern New Jersey as ?No Place For Hate? for its efforts in creating safe learning environments, bringing awareness to the issues of bullying and bias, and promoting unity and respect. During a ceremony on May 24th at The Skirball Center for Performing Arts, ADL recognized student representatives from East. The event included keynote remarks by the Chancellor of New York City Schools Carmen FariĂąa, who expressed the importance of standing up against bullying. No Place For Hate, an ADL initiative offering students, teachers, administrators and family members the opportunity to work together to enhance a culture of respect in the school community, encourages schools to complete various activities and projects to promote unity and reduce bullying, name-calling and other expressions of bias. ?If there was ever a time we needed ?No Place For hate,?it?s now,? said Chancellor FariĂąa in her remarks to the students and educators. ?We must stand up for what?s right and sometimes it?s hard. We must be inclusive in our schools and the cafeteria is a great place to start. There is always room for one more at the table.? ?The ceremony really shined a light on the tremendous impact the initiative has on young students? experiences at school,? said Evan R. Bernstein, ADL New York Regional Director. ?Students shared various personal stories about stereotypes and bullying incidents and how No Place For Hate helped them understand why an inclusive school community is so important for a healthy learning environment.? This designation was possible because of yearlong efforts by our extracurricular activities, especially the Gay-Straight Alliance, Peer Ambassadors, and African American Student Organization. - adapted from ADL press release
Congressional Art Competition 2016 This spring, several High School East art students competed in the annual Congressional Art Competition. Jed Chizner, Sarita D?Sa, and Amanda Greenfield entered their art work. The three were honored at an exhibition held at The Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington where they had the opportunity to meet Congressman Steve Israel. Congressman Israel has been a tremendous supporter of the arts during his tenure in Huntington. Sarita D?Sa placed second in the competition with her beautiful photo entry. 2
Issue 5 | Volume 8 | 2015-2016
Perspect ives - The Principal's Newslet t er Half Hollow Hills High School East
DECA Partners Shine at International Contest Hills East DECA brought four students to the DECA International Career Development Competition in Nashville, Tennessee. The competition invites over 12,000 students to present their projects to judging panels of business figures, each respected in his or her field. Two students, Leah Pesso and Natasha Bajaj, finished in the Top 10 in the World in their category, Business Growth Plan. They each received 2 medals. Leah and Natasha competed against over 100 teams from around the world in this category. This is an absolutely fantastic accomplishment. Please join me in sharing this news, and congratulating both of them, and our DECA chapter. - submitted by Mr. Cappiello
Seniors Secure State Scholarships The State Education Department has announced the Holders of 2016 Series Scholarships for Academic Excellence. High School East's Class of 2016 fared incredibly well. Casey Barone Mackenzie Kagan Drew Quint o Mat t hew D?Al essandro Bail ey Kast on ***
Brian Rhee ***
Karena Et waru
Chad Kat zel nick
Ravjot Sachdev
Cassandra Grel l o
David Moral es
Brandon Sekl er
Shel by Gosset
Cynt hia Pang
Mit chel l Siegel Bailey Kaston and Brian Rhee are $1,500 scholarship recipients, and the remaining 13 students were each awarded a $500 scholarship. The scholarships can be applied towards tuition at any college or university in New York State.
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Issue 5 | Volume 8 | 2015-2016
Perspect ives - The Principal's Newslet t er Half Hollow Hills High School East
High Honors for Hills East's Student Paper As the school year comes to an end, The Thunderbird student newspaper's staff has been receiving tremendous accolades. The American Scholastic Press annually ranks and awards high school and college newspapers from across the country. Our newspaper is once again near the top! The Thunderbird received a Silver designation for large high schools at the national level. Hills East found themselves listed among the best as it was one of only 14 schools nationwide who received this award. Ms. Dalton, co-advisor of the newspaper remarked, "We are incredibly proud of the work done by our editors and staff." The staff of the paper also attended the annual Long Island Press Journalism Awards at Hofstra University. While they have always been successful at this event, co-advisor Ms. Davis noted that "this year was, by far, our biggest success yet, and we couldn't be more proud. We came home with 20 awards in total, 10 of which are First Place!" This year also marks the first time that the paper hosted a web format. The online edition, available at www.thunderbirdhse.com, contains separate articles from the print edition. -submitted by Ms. Dalton and Ms. Davis
Wild Wins Poster Prize HS East would like to congratulate Leo Wild on second place in the American Statistical Association?s National Poster Competition: Grade 7-9 category. The poster competition, directed by the ASA/ NCTM Joint Committee on Curriculum in Statistics and Probability, requires students to create a display containing two or more related graphics that summarize a set of data and draws a conclusion. The statistical project competition was especially useful for these students because it provided them with opportunities to apply all the statistical skills they had acquired throughout the school year to solve real-world problems of interest to them. This year, Leo wanted to investigate people who say ?thank you? when a door is held open for them. He did a great job combining creativity with presentation, earning him a $100 prize and certificate. Way to go, Leo! - submitted by Ms. Mancini 4
Issue 5 | Volume 8 | 2015-2016
Perspect ives - The Principal's Newslet t er Half Hollow Hills High School East
County Honors for Anton Wu Junior Anton Wu takes advantage of every opportunity to work on math problems for fun. His impressive list of math accolades the past three years includes being recognized as a top scorer in the Suffolk County Senior High Interscholastic Mathematics League, the New York State Mathematics League, the American Regions Mathematics League, the New York Math League, the Mandelbrot Competition, the Sino-American International Mathematics League Competition, and the American Mathematics Competition. He is also excelled when applying his reasoning skills in the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad and Who Wants to be a Mathematician? while earning accolades in science research competitions due to his ongoing math research. Anton is one of Mathletes? well-respected members and is part of the heart of the club. Congratulations for being awarded the well-deserved distinction of Outstanding Junior in Mathematics by the Suffolk County Math Teacher?s Association!
Success Grows Exponentially for East's Mathematicians Individuals from High School East were honored at the Suffolk County Math Teachers Association Awards Dinner. Awards were given to top individual scorers in the Suffolk Math Contest, top individual scorers in the Suffolk Math League, and top team in the Suffolk Math League. High School East?s B Team won 3 rd place in the Suffolk County Senior High Interscholastic Math League. High School East's Jared Bank, Brandon Baraban, Rinni Bhansali, Ray Chang, Cory Levin, Jade Long, David Morales, Raymond Weisbrot, and Anton Wu all received honors at the event. -articles submitted by Ms. Suarez
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Issue 5 | Volume 8 | 2015-2016
Perspect ives - The Principal's Newslet t er Half Hollow Hills High School East
Architecture Club Donates Their Talent to Local Kids Architecture club members at Half Hollow Hills High School East built and constructed a child?s size picnic table and playhouse for Madonna Heights, an SCO Family of Services. Nicolette Molloy, construction Manager for the HSE Architecture Club, contacted Madonna Heights in hopes that they would provide a home for the playhouse and picnic table. This facility offers services ?for women in recovery and homeless mothers and their children.? Dean Chironis and Jordan Weinstein helped Architecture Club members reach their goal of designing a modern playhouse and matching picnic table. Each week they worked with their groups, teaching them how to properly use the tools and construct a sound structure. Club members Maxwell Abramson, Justin Becker, Hallie Dale, Michael Daleo, Samuel Gosin, Austin Holzer, Zachary Kobi, Seth Kunoff, Michael Lehmann, Wilfredo Mateo, Sam Messinger, Daniel Meltzer, Jared Meltzer, Matthew Pam, Alec Schmigelski, and Benjamin Strong, stood out as dedicated club members helping to make these goals possible. Officers Mary Bekheet, Sabrina Goldman, and Amman Malik designed the windows and crawl holes, while Diana Dinowitz helped tape off and design the geometric patterns on the walls. Kelli Jablon and Nicolette Molloy organized members to paint the playhouse with cheerful colors and a chalkboard on the interior. The Architecture Club at HSE has a long tradition of giving back to its community. It is our hope that this project will help others find comfor t in their
time of hardship. - submitted by Ms. Mead 6
Issue 5 | Volume 8 | 2015-2016
Perspect ives - The Principal's Newslet t er Half Hollow Hills High School East
Life Imitating Art The Advanced Placement Art History class has been busy since taking the exam in May. Artist Jeff Hamada, who published the book entitled Remake: Master Works of Art History Reimagined, inspired this lesson. Students in the class were grouped and had to select one of the new required art history images to recreate through photography. The course test and curriculum changed this year for the first time in 10 years. Students are now responsible for knowing 250 works of art and architecture that were preselected by the College Board. These works are global and range from prehistoric art to contemporary pieces. Groups selected artworks such as Da Vinci?s The Last Supper and Jan Van Eyck?s Arnolfini Wedding Portrait. Each group had at least one student enrolled in another art class to act as the team leader and help with camera operations and painting backgrounds or props. Most groups photographed in school, but some utilized local parks or outside settings to capture their images. The final photographic recreations did allow for artistic interpretation; however, some groups copied the masterpieces very accurately. Groups presented their finished photos in class, discussed the artwork and shared the final photo on Flickr. The class enjoyed this project and it acted as a great way to close out the year. Students were able to reflect on the learning that took place throughout the year in an original way. - submitted by Ms. Uttendorfer
Top Left: Lindauer's Tamati Waka Nene Top Right: Da Vinci's The Last Supper Bottom Left: Van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding 7
Issue 5 | Volume 8 | 2015-2016
Perspect ives - The Principal's Newslet t er Half Hollow Hills High School East
Amanda Greenfield: LongHouse Creative Scholarship Winner Amanda Greenfield is the recipient of one of two scholarships granted annually by The LongHouse Reserve. The LongHouse Reserve is located in East Hampton. It is a 16 acre estate and outdoor sculpture museum, owned by internationally renowned textile designer, Jack Larsen. It exemplifies living with art in all its forms including art collections, gardens, sculpture and educational opportunities that reflect world cultures and inspire a creative life. Amanda visited The LongHouse on a field trip this past fall with Mrs. Norris and her AP Studio Art class. She was inspired by the estate and the collection of sculptures it is home to. She submitted a portfolio and a lengthy application, which led her to be a finalist granted an interview. She blew them away in the interview and was their one single recipient on all of Long Island. Amanda is continuing her study of fine arts at New Paltz in the fall.
The Memory Project and AP Studio Art with Mrs. Norris This is the seventh year that Mrs. Norris and her AP Studio Art students have donated their time and artistic talents to working with the Memory Project. The Memory Project is a not-for-profit organization that unites artists with orphaned children living in poverty around the world. Artists create portraits of the children based on photographs. The portraits are then delivered to the children in the hopes that they generate feelings of self-importance and worthiness in the world. The goal is two-fold with the idea in mind that the recipients of the portraits will be made to feel valued and cared for, while the art students who create them gain a broader understanding of how to utilize their talents as artists to practice kindness as well as global awareness. This is an extremely valuable lesson as many of Mrs. Norris?s students head out of the doors of High School East to college. - articles submitted by Ms. Norris
Habitat for Humanity On May 17th, a few of the Interact Club?s students went on a Habitat for Humanity build in Mastic, Long Island. With hard hats, goggles, tool belts, and hammers in hand, off to work we went. A few of the eleven students applied Tyvek and foamed the outside of the home; the remaining students built the interior walls of this modest three-bedroom home. The students were able to meet the intended homeowner, who was very grateful for their hard work. - submitted by Ms. Zarkadas 8
Issue 5 | Volume 8 | 2015-2016
Perspect ives - The Principal's Newslet t er Half Hollow Hills High School East
Spring Sports Review The spring season at High School East closed in a favorable manner for the T-Birds with five teams making the playoffs. The playoff run was highlighted by another Suffolk County championship title captured by the Girls Badminton team. The Boys Badminton team also had a strong showing with a league title and a second place finish in the county tournament. Under new leadership, the softball team finished a very respectable 7-6 in the league. Baseball finished the season with an 11-7 record in the league and earned a trip to the playoffs, where they beat Commack in the first round. Boys Lacrosse finished 12-6 and hosted a home playoff game in which they beat Bay Shore. Girls Lacrosse ended the season strongly, winning three of their last four before hosting and beating Commack in the opening round of the playoffs. Once again, Boys Tennis was dominant. They finished the season 17-1 with their only loss coming in the Suffolk County championship to High School West. Girls Track finished the season 3-3 with the season highlighted by a close victory over Whitman. Meanwhile Boys Track also battled through a very close meet, squeaking out a victory over Riverhead by just three points. Girls Golf had big victories over Northport and Hills West during the season. Overall, it was another successful season and year for Thunderbird athletics.- submitted by Mr. Kindelmann
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Issue 5 | Volume 8 | 2015-2016
Perspect ives - The Principal's Newslet t er Half Hollow Hills High School East
Awards and Honors
This year, 36 members of the Class of 2017 were recognized at the Junior Awards Ceremony. Hills East is incredibly proud of all of their accomplishments. We are proud to announce that Cassandra Grello has been awarded the National Merit Chico's FAS, Inc. Scholarship.
High School East is proud to announce that Zachary Baumgartner and Ravjot Sachdev were named National Merit Stony Brook University Scholarship winners!
Cassandra also earned 4th place in the Biomedical and Health Sciences category at this year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, AZ.
Congratulations to Brian Rhee on receiving the National Merit $2,500 Scholarship. Congratulations to Jed Chizner and Sydney Levine for being selected as April's Students of the Month!
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