The New Rochelle High School Planetarium will present four sessions of the "Season of Light" planetarium show free for the community. In addition to the recorded program, high school Astronomy teacher Mr. Bruce Zeller will point out the highlights of the December sky, which include a Blue Moon on New Year's Eve, the Winter Solstice on December 21, the Geminid meteor showers on December 13 and 14, and the return of the bright stars of Winter. Doors open 15 minutes before the show. Once the show begins, there is no admittance. "Season of Light" will be shown Saturday, December 19 at 4:00 PM, and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, December 21, 22, and 23, at 7:00 PM. The New Rochelle High School Planetarium entrance is located at the corner of Flandreau and Argyll Roads at the corner of McKenna Field. For more information call Bruce Zeller at the high school planetarium, 576-4589.
2009DECPlanetariumShow.pdf

The Classic fairy tale-ballet, "The Nutcracker" comes to life this season in a production by the Ajkun Ballet Theatre and student dancers in the PAVE (Performing and Visual Arts Education) program. Performances will be Friday, December 4 at 7:30 PM, and Saturday, December 5 at 2:00 PM, in the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Auditorium at New Rochelle High School. The ballet remains a fixture in the repertoire much as it was at its premier in December 1892. The story is retold each December about a young German girl who dreams of a Nutcracker Prince and a fierce battle against a Mouse King with seven heads. The traditional dances are heard including some of Tchaikovsky's most enchanted music: "The Russian Dance," "Waltz of the Flowers," and "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies." Begin the holiday season by attending a spirited performance from the Ajkun Ballet and the children of New Rochelle Public Schools. Tickets are $10, general admission. Tickets can be purchased at www.SmartTix.com, or call 212-868-4444 (mention New Rochelle Nutcracker).
2009 Dec Ajlun Nutcracker Ballet Print Flyer.pdf

Acclaimed author and New Rochelle resident Cynthia Ozick and Molly-Thomas Hicks, Literature Specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), held a discussion about the novella, The Shawl, before an audience of students in eleventh and twelfth grades at New Rochelle High School on Tuesday, November 17. The classes have been reading Ozick's the book The Shawl as part of New Rochelle’s Big Read. Audience members had the opportunity to pose questions to the engaging author and Ms. Thomas-Hicks, who has facilitated similar Big Read events in communities across the country. Cynthia Ozick reminisced of her high school days. Her advice to potential writers was to also be readers. She discussed the "seed" for the novella, as well as historical context, and character symbolism. New Rochelle is one of 269 communities nationwide participating in The Big Read which began in September 2009. New Rochelle began its focus on The Shawl on October 18. The lunch-hour discussion at New Rochelle High School was one of many events hosted by the New Rochelle Public Library that have been taking place throughout New Rochelle during the project, which will conclude at the end of November.

About 50 junior and senior high school students presented their art portfolios to representatives of colleges, universities and art schools during an Art Portfolio Review Day hosted by the Art Department at New Rochelle High School on Friday, November 13. During a preliminary moderated assembly program, representatives each gave an overview of their institution, which was followed by a discussion of the commonalities and specialities of various art education programs. After the presentations and discussions, representatives met with students for individual portfolio reviews, giving students advice. Several students' art portfolios were accepted at the Portfolio Review event.

Carlotta Walls LaNier, author of "A Might Long Way" spoke to seventh and eighth grade students at the Albert Leonard Middle School in New Rochelle on Thursday, November 5, about her personal experience as a student at Little Rock Central High School during 1957. According to Mrs. LaNier, it was one of the most gripping watershed moments of the Civil Rights Movement when she and eight other students integrated Little Rock Central High School. She spoke to students of what it was like to attend school with a military escort, as well as the painful experience when her family home was bombed. Carlotta Walls LaNier is a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, and sits on the board of the University of Northern Colorado.

Senior citizens from the Hugh Doyle Center in New Rochelle joined Mrs. Mary Monteleone's "Young Readers' Group at the Isaac E. Young Middle School as students participated in a video conference in conjunction with the Cleveland Museum of Art on the topic of the Mexican observance of the Day of the Dead. As a prelude, students visited the Hugh Doyle Center on November 2 to read their original poems, or calavera, to seniors at the Hugh Doyle Center.

New playground equipment has been installed at the Barnard Early Childhood Center in New Rochelle. On Friday afternoon on October 30 members of the Barnard school PTA including Karen Hessel (left) joined Principal Patricia Lambert (center) and Board of Education President Sara Richmond in officially cutting the ribbon to ceremonially open the play space behind the school. Superintendent of Schools Richard Organisciak and Vice President of the Board of Education Chrisanne Petrone attended the ceremony. The PTA and School District Administration worked jointly on the project.

When the Board of Education needed to dispose of over 150 cartons of obsolete records in accordance with State guidelines for records disposition, Clerk and Secretary to the Board of Education Lisdalia Saraiva contacted the Westchester County Shredmobile for assistance. The County service, available through the Westchester County Department of Environmental Services, saved the School District approximately $1,200 during this single visit. Members of the School District custodial staff brought cartons marked for destruction out to the Shredmobile parked outside of Board of Education facilities in City Hall.

On Friday, October 23, 2009, the New Rochelle High School English Department celebrated of “The Life and Works of Edgar Allen Poe” The annual event is sponsored by the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence. The festival, now in its tenth year, celebrates the life and works of noted authors, with a day of educational and engaging activities created by the NRHS English Department under the direction of Department Chairman Leslie Altschul. Students participated in the festival have studied each of the authors as well as the times in which they lived and wrote. There were various events including a seminar by renowned scholars. The symposium began with an honors seminar in the Kelly Theater with presentations by distinguished guests, including Barbara Cantalupo, who is Associate Professor of English at Penn State, Lehigh Valley. Professor Cantalupo spoke about “The Poe You Might Not Know.” Also presenting was David S. Reynolds, who is a Distinguished Professor of English, at CUNY who lectured on “Poe in His Times.” Returning to moderate and lecture for the tenth consecutive year was Richard Kopley, a graduate of the NRHS Class of ’67. Mr. Kopley is Professor of English at Penn State University, who lectured on “The Secrets of The Purloined Letter.” Following the honors lectures was a unique game show, “What Do You Know About Edgar Allan Poe?” Students in the PAVE (Performing and Visual Arts Education) program presented a skit based on Edgar Allen Poe. Students in English classes also participated in a computer-based multi-media scavenger hunt based on the Life and Works of Edgar Allen Poe.

The arts-based interdisciplinary approach in Social Studies for fifth grades at the George M. Davis Jr. Elementary School recently received support through a $10,000 grant from the New York State Council of the Arts. The grant will be used to highlight instruction about Latin America and the Amazon Rain Forest. Through the grant fifth grade teachers will participate in training workshops at the school. Participating faculty include Constance Jackic, Jeffrey Longo, Michelle Perdoncin, Jill Cole Walker, Carmelo Bueti, Regina Talbot, Lauren Sinacore, Deirdre Sugrue-Ferrara, Susan Bouchard, and Carol Kelly.

Davis also received a grant of $2,000 from Partners for Arts Education to underwrite a Strategic Foundation Building Retreat, during which faculty will develop long-term planning and grant concepts. Also planned is a culminating activity in March, highlighting activities and student participation.

The New Rochelle High School Planetarium will present "Astronaut", a fulldome experience like nothing on Earth. The free planetarium show is Thursday, November 12. Doors open at 6:45 pm. The show begins promptly at 7pm. Come to the New Rochelle High School planetarium and get a "heads up" view of the November sky as seen from New Rochelle. Mr. Zeller, his crew and Irving, the planetarium projector will point out all the important celestial events coming up, as Jupiter still dominates the evening sky as the Sun sets earlier and earlier. For star gazers, the Leonid meteor showers should be a good show this year during the early hours of November 17.

The Bersaglieri Military Marching Band from Italy performed for students at the Jefferson and William B. Ward Elementary Schools and the Isaac E Young Middle School on Friday, October 16. Students gathered for an Italian-American Cultural Day Celebration where the visiting marching band make a running entrance while playing their brass instruments. Once in standing formation, the band performed traditional classic pieces, as well as the national anthems for both Italy and the United States. At Jefferson Elementary School, students in the CILA Italian classes made Italian flags for the occasion.

On Tuesday, October 13, 2009 Advisor of the New Rochelle High School Future Business Leaders of America Club Chris Drake, and high school club co-presidents Alexis Ganley and Jannet Rangel, visited the Cablevision Studio in Harrison, where they were interviewed for the cable program: "Health Talk." Each December, the high school clubs provide community service at the Sound Shore Medical Center's holiday gift-giving event, which serves children within the New Rochelle area.

The Friends of Music Concerts of Westchester County sponsored the Carducci String Quartet as the ensemble visits elementary schools in the New Rochelle City School District. On October 13 and 14 the quartet performed for string students in the third, fourth and fifth grades at the Trinity, Jefferson, and Daniel Webster Elementary Schools. The Quartet is based in England, and is touring the East Coast.