PHOENIX NEWS. The Gift Of Giving SINGING WITH THE SENIORS OUR FOUR-LEGGED FRIENDS NEED US TOO. January 16, 2015

Transcription

1 PHOENIX NEWS January 16, 2015 There is so much truth in the adage that the giver is actually the receiver. When a gift comes from the heart it makes all of us feel good. As we mentioned in the last newsletter, there were several holiday activities happening at HMTCA that celebrated the true spirit of the holidays. It is our pleasure to share some of the highlights with you. SINGING WITH THE SENIORS The Gift Of Giving On Wednesday, December 10th a group of our students earned service learning hours by raising their voices in holiday song, at the Avery Heights Senior Living Community. A bus brought our eager volunteers to the facility in Hartford where they sang with the senior residents. The smiles on the faces of the audience was worth far more than the hours of service learning our students earned. OUR FOUR-LEGGED FRIENDS NEED US TOO The National Junior Honor Society was also busy on Saturday, December 13th at the Double Dog Rescue. The NJHS decided that, since the school already had two toy drives going on, they would try to do something special for the abandoned dogs and cats in area shelters. Their first stop was the Double Dog Rescue in Manchester where the officers had a chance to meet and greet the residents. It is so hard to see the extreme need and not walk out with a new pet but our students stayed strong. The rest of the supplies they collected will be delivered to the CT Humane Society and the Fox Memorial Clinic in the near future.

2 The Gift of Giving (Continued) SANTA GOES TO SCHOOL What a joyous scene it was when Santa visited the HMTCA café on Saturday morning, December 13th. Approximately 200 people, from our school family and the surrounding community, were treated to a scrumptious breakfast, dancing, arts and crafts and, best of all, a visit with Santa. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE (see the pictures!), had the opportunity to sit with Santa and tell him their wishes for the holiday season. MAKING CHILDREN HAPPY IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT Over the past two years Ms. Cavanaugh and her high school Girls Club have established a special relationship with the Marshall House. The Marshall house is a shelter in Hartford especially dedicated to single moms and their families. As they did last year, the Girls Club conducted a toy drive, wrapped all the presents and then delivered them to the eagerly awaiting children on Thursday, December 18th. The smiles on their faces and the squeals of joy were all it took to understand that these children might not have had such a merry Christmas were it not for the generous donations the HMTCA students collected. The joy in the room was definitely two sided and the givers got as much as they gave.

3 Important Happenings At HMTCA TAKING IT NATIONAL AT HMTCA When the National Science Foundation (NSF) recently asked Trinity College to nominate high school teachers who are leaders in the field of computer science, our own James Veseskis was on their list. Jim trained for 168 hours at Trinity College over the summer of 2013 and has collaborated with Professor Ralph Morelli to teach computer science to our students. As a result of their exposure to the subject at the college-level, several of those students have gone on to win the following awards: United States House of Representatives App Challenge Hartford Stem Fair Expo Trinity App Expo Four students worked in a paid internship developing apps for the City Of Hartford last summer and two students are currently taking a college level computer science course at Trinity College. The National Science Foundation chose Jim as one of 100 computer science teachers to attend their national leadership conference in Washington D.C. in early December. There, they strategized about how to help address the fact that 90% of all high schools in this country do not teach computer science. There will be 1,400, 000 jobs in computer science over the next ten years with only 400,000 qualified people to fill those positions. Invitees were also trained extensively to bring girls and underrepresented minorities into computer science to help close the achievement gap. Having received extensive training there, attendees were charged by NSF with helping to build computer science programs across the nation. Jim is now back home at HMTCA, doing his best to make our students 21st century ready. As part of Mr. Veseskis implementation plan, he guided the entire Middle School through their participation in the national Hour of Code. About 16,000,000 students worldwide, have joined in this internatio1nal initiative. It has been an added benefit to see some of our high school students, helping our middle school students, navigate the Hour of Code. If anyone is interested in learning more about coding here is the website for more information: code.org/

4 Focus On Our Students THE GR8 ESCAPE TO TRINITY COLLEGE Each year our eighth grade students have two days that they spend on the Trinity College campus. The theme is A Day in the Life of a College Student and it gives our kids a brief glimpse into the feel of what it is like to be on a college campus. They have their classes in the actual classrooms, they are treated to lunch in the Trinity cafeteria and they are given time to ask questions about college life. The hope is that the day will spark some interest and excitement about pursuing a college education. As our eighth grade class begins to solidify their choices of where they are going to go to high school, it is nice to see where the next step is leading. In Ms. Lopez s Spanish class, she turned the tables on the kids and asked students to become the teachers and lead small group discussions about Spanish speaking countries. Perhaps someday one of them will become a professor at Trinity?!? JANUARY WORLD HISTORY NEWSLETTER UPDATE The 7th grade World History teachers would like to welcome our students back to school after a long, and hopefully, rejuvenating break. Students will jump right back into the swing of things with a new unit on the Byzantine Empire and the Empires of the Middle East. During this Unit, students will focus on the power shift from Rome to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire, the rise and spread of Christianity, the Empires of the Middle East, the rise and spread of Islam, and the conflict over territory between the two religions. They will also study how ideas (religion, technology, etc) spread because of trade.

5 THE FOOD PANTRY IS OPEN Community News It is with great pleasure that we announce that the HMTCA COMPASS food pantry is officially open! The pantry is designed to serve the needs of both our school community and the surrounding community. Each grade will be assigned a food group from the food pyramid, with a very specific list of non-perishable items that they will collect. We ask that you send in ONLY those items on the list. The items can be dropped off at the COMPASS office. Sixth Grade has the Bread, Grains and other Starches category and the desired items are: Rice, Pasta, Mac and Cheese, Oatmeal, Pancake Mix, Graham Crackers, Granola Bars and Flour. Seventh Grade has the Fruits and Vegetables category and the desired items are: Canned Fruit, Raisins, Applesauce, Canned or Boxed 100% Juice, V-8 Juice, Spaghetti Sauce, Canned Vegetables, and Vegetable Soup. Eighth Grade has the Meat, Proteins and Milk category and the desired items are: Canned Tuna, Canned Chicken, Canned Beef Stew, Bean Soups, Canned Chili, Canned or Dried Beans, Canned or Boxed Pudding and Powdered Milk. High School has the Fats, Oils, Sweets and More category and the desired items are: Jelly and Jam, Honey, Sugar, Syrup, Boxed Cereal, and Muffin Mix. If you are in need of assistance and would like to receive food from the pantry please call the COMPASS office at We hope you will consider joining this school wide effort and help in the battle against hunger. CONNECTIKIDS OFFERS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO MENTOR COMPASS was able to place twenty five of our high school students in the ConnectiKids mentoring program which will enable them to earn twenty service learning hours while helping students from the M.D. Fox Elementary School. The ConnectiKids mission is: Inspiring Hartford s children to make positive choices, embrace high expectations and fulfill their potential by providing successful mentors, individualized tutoring, enriching activities and stimulating environments. The mentors must complete all twenty weeks and will meet with their student for 75 minutes each time. They have the freedom to design their own sessions combining help with homework, reading, providing support activities around difficult topics, as well as taking time to have important conversations about life, education and futures hopes. Being a role model is so vital to our young people s lives and this is a win/win situation. Good luck to our volunteers!