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District News and Announcements

• Forrest, Manns Sign with Holy Cross, UMaine

  Huguenot running back Jordan Forrest had already announced that he would attend College of the Holy Cross next year, but teammate Khairi Manns kept followers in suspense until the signing ceremony.  

   

  On Wednesday - National Signing Day - Manns, the football team's defensive end, revealed that he will attend the University of Maine. They held a ceremonial signing in the New Rochelle High School library, applauded by family, friends, teammates and supporters. Several reporters captured the event.

   

  Forrest, Manns and the entire team have spent much of the year in the spotlight, mainly when they fought their way to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association state championship in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse in November. Ultimately, Aquinas Institute - a private school in Rochester - won the game, but the Huguenots' performance captured the hearts of New Rochelle.

   

  Last month, Forrest was named Player of the Year for Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters Association. Last week, he was named one of the "Golden Dozen" by the Westchester Chapter of the National Football Foundation for his excellence on the field and in the classroom.

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• NRHS AP Government Class Visits Washington

  New Rochelle High School's AP Government class, led by teacher Debbie Minchin, took a four-day trip to Washington D.C. to learn about the workings of our government.  

   

  Also accompanied by teachers Timothy Kuklis and Timothy Orlando, they toured the Capitol and met with U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, whose Congressional district includes New Rochelle. They visited the U.S. Supreme Court, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Library of Congress and the United States Holocaust Museum.

   

  They also took a nighttime tour of the monuments and placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. The trip included a performance of "Twelve Angry Men" in Ford's Theatre, where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.

   

  "Sitting in the gallery of the House of Representatives made me tear up," said senior Dylan Klein. "I want to be there as a legislator one day."

   

  Student Alexander Gonzalez said; "The trip was a wonderful opportunity to learn and explore in an exciting new environment, and to enjoy being with my friends to experience a place where many of us have never been before."

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• Food Ed Students Serve Schoolmates 'Mindful' Lunch

  Forty New Rochelle High School students were treated to healthy dishes including beet bruschetta with hummus and sweet potato and parsnip soup served by their schoolmates recently. The student cooks in the Science of Food class whipped up dishes from their own recipes with farm-to-table, sustainable ingredients as the culmination of a semester-long "Food Ed" program with the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. They studied personal and cultural connections to food as well as topics of sustainability. The lessons focused on many facets of agriculture, even caring for the soil itself. "They studied how to maintain healthy soil, how to restore depleted soil and how the foods that you choose to grow have an impact on that living skin of the earth," teacher Julia Chillemi Kouyoumdjian said. For the lunch event, Chillemi Kouyoumdjian's 30 students prepared, cooked and served the meal to two other classes in Room 207. The focus was "mindful eating," which "increases your awareness of the positive and nurturing opportunities that are available through food selection and preparation," their menu explains. It continues, "Eating mindfully is a practice that uses all your senses in choosing to eat food that is both satisfying to you and nourishing to your body." They chose ingredients from the Stone Barns farm; others were sustainably sourced. In addition to the bruschetta and the sweet potato soup, there was kale risotto, "classic farm soup" and a seasonal salad. With each course came a story about how people can share their cultures by sharing foods, how food can be a form of medicine and how healthy soil leads to more nutritious ingredients. Students who took the class said they planned to eat healthier and to spread the word about the connection between how we grow food and the world around us. "I commit to eating healthy foods and staying away from bad foods that may be detrimental to my health," Gillian Okaiteye wrote in an action plan questionnaire. Several said they would start their own gardens or join a community garden. Nick Calderone said he would like to help his mother cook and perhaps even make the family dinner on his own. Colin Logan, like many others, said he would let others know what he had learned. "I will spread awareness about issues with the food system, such as unfair distribution and non-ethical production practices," Logan said.

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• Jake Logan Wins Con Edison Athlete of Week

  New Rochelle High School senior wrestler Jake Logan won last week's Con Edison Westchester Scholar Athlete of the Week. Logan won the County Championship on Jan. 19, going 3-0 and being named Most Outstanding Senior at the event. He also had a victory in a dual match win vs. lona Prep.

   

  Logan won the Eastern States Wrestling Tournament's 182-pound class on Jan. 12. It is the second year he has won that tournament. He also won the Shoreline Tournament earlier in January.

  
  

  His record for the season is 26-0. He has a career record of 161-29 and is 67-0 the last two years. As a junior, he went 41-0 and won the state championship in the 182-pound class. He has not given up a takedown since his sophomore year.

  
  

  He has earned a scholarship to Lehigh University, one of the top Division I wrestling programs in the nation.

  
  

  "Jake has outstanding character and leads by example in every practice," Wrestling Coach Eddie Ortiz said. "He consistently demonstrated a positive attitude and work ethic that the younger kids on the team look up to.  It is for these reasons that he was named captain of the team his junior year."

  
  

  Listen to an interview with Logan on 100.7 WHUD.

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• Meteorologist Teaches Students Science of Weather

  While many of us complain about bad weather, the third-graders at Daniel Webster Magnet School can talk about it more knowledgably, thanks to meteorologist Erica Grow of NBC TV's Storm Team 4.

   

  Grow and a team of helpers stopped by the school on a recent (very rainy) day to teach the students about hurricanes, tornadoes and flash floods.

  
  

  "Flood water, when it's in motion, is more powerful than a tornado," Grow said. "Just six inches of water can knock you right off your feet if it's moving fast enough."

  
  

  With a can of shaving cream, Grow sprayed depictions of clouds on the arms of students who had volunteered to help with the demonstration. She created horizontal stratus clouds, puffy cumulous clouds, tall cumulonimbus clouds and, finally, high-in-the-sky cirrus clouds, which are "very thin, delicate, wispy even."

  
  

  "Our approach is to get students excited about science, to create lifelong learners," Grow said before the lesson. "It's important to bring STEM education to students in a way that they might not get otherwise, and that will hopefully spark a newfound interest."

  
  

  Principal Melissa Passarelli added, "This fits perfectly with our strategy of offering inquiry-based learning centered on real-world applications."

  
  

  Consider that interest sparked.

  
  

  "It's fun to explore what it feels like to be in that weather," said student Addison Kurtin.

  
  "When it's over," schoolmate Clara Garcia-Gallet added, "you can see what's left from the bad weather and you can study it."

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• Alumni Join Choral Students in NRHS WinterFest Tradition

  It's a tradition in the New Rochelle High School WinterFest Choral Concert for alumni to return and join the students on stage in singing the climactic number, the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. The song raised the roof last night in the Whitney M. Young Jr. Auditorium and capped two days of concerts - instrumental on Wednesday, choral last night. Over the two evenings, audiences enjoyed music celebrating the season's holidays and other joys. (And other songs and instrumental pieces that are just fun.)

  "Our students are simply amazing," said Interim Superintendent Dr. Magda Parvey. "These concerts really showcase the diversity, the talent and the dedication that make the New Rochelle community so special."

  Watch the performance of the Hallelujah Chorus, conducted by Choral Director Jeremy Barbaro with piano accompaniment by Co-Director David Jutt here.

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• Trinity Love Committee Knows Everything You Do Matters

  At Trinity Elementary School, the holiday season is the perfect time for the Love Committee to spring into action.

   

  Not that this group of teachers waits for winter before spreading their message of appreciation for all. The committee was formed during a school book fair last February, when Physical Education teacher Troy Millings saw the need to make books available for all students, even those whose families could not easily afford them.

  
  

  Soon, he was working with several other teachers - Ivette Herrera, Kelly Hawkins, Patricia Thomas and Jillian Ritacco.

  
  

  They made books accessible to everyone in a subsequent sale, and they continued to spread random acts of kindness to colleagues and others to keep school spirit high. For Mother's Day, all female teachers received lollipop flowers. On Father's Day, it was construction paper bow ties with candy centers for the male teachers.

  
  

  "If we love our students and we love what we do, we need to reach out," Millings said.

  
  

  "The Love Committee has become part of the fabric of our school," said Principal Michael Hilderbrand.

  
  

  Just this morning, the committee held a surprise breakfast for school monitors, the unsung heroes of the school, with carol singers, a photo booth and more. With the holidays arriving, they started an "Amazon Toy Drive" that brought in more than 100 wrapped presents - which was so many that they were able to donate 25 to a local church and to families that were affected by recent fires in New Rochelle.

  
  

  "Whether it's Christmas or Hanukkah - whatever they celebrate - these kids need gifts," Hawkins said.

  
  

  The committee's initiatives have also expanded, with outside organizations joining in.

  
  

  "It has spread to the entire community. It's more than just Trinity," said Herrera.

  
  

  At one point, the members may have been easy to identify with their distinctive Trinity blue T-shirts. But the shirts caught on, and now many others have them as well. On the front of the shirt is a paw with heart in the center. The back sports the words "Everything you do matters," something Hilderbrand is known for saying.

  
  

  "It's now the school mantra," Millings said.

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• Volunteer New York! Provides Calming Neck Pillows

  Students at Jefferson Elementary School received a calming gift on Wednesday when the organization Volunteer New York! donated 45 therapeutic neck pillows fashioned out of fluffy socks weighted with rice.

  "I like it because you can take it anywhere, even on an airplane, and it will keep you calm," said fifth-grader Amira Bedell.

  It was a thoughtful offering handmade by the organization's RISE job-readiness program with residents of Garito Manor, an independent living facility in New Rochelle. Each pillow is filled with two pounds of rice and can be microwaved for a warm neck comforter or lap band.

  "They are calming and great for grounding," said school psychologist Dr. Michelle Memoli. "This helps our children re-focus and increase attention."

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• Teachers and Students Game Earns Donations for Organizations

  Is it really important who won the recent teachers-versus-students soccer game? (OK, it was the students.) The true winners were the organizations that received donations from the more than $1,000 raised by the 13th annual event through small admissions fees paid by participants and fans.

  The game was organized by the Hispanic Culture Club and the New Rochelle High School varsity boys soccer team. The teams met in the NRHS gymnasium on Dec. 8.

  "Having the soccer game allowed us to be able to donate to many different people that truly need it," said Hispanic Culture Club President Veronica Hernandez, a junior. "The money that we were able to donate can help people afford warmer clothes for the winter or bring toys to kids who do not know what it's like to receive presents this time of year."

  Recipients were: the New Rochelle Youth Bureau Give a Gift program; the Casa Verde Home of Hope orphanage in Colombia; Una Sonrisa Para Cotija in Mexico; and support for children of immigrants from Venezuela traveling through Colombia.

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• Secondary School Principals Report on Accelerated Classes

  The December 18 Board of Education meeting in the Linda E. Kelly Theater at New Rochelle High School featured a presentation on accelerated and advanced classes available to students in the secondary schools.

  
  

  The presentation was offered by the principals of Isaac E. Young Middle School, Albert Leonard Middle Schooland New Rochelle High School. In the middle schools, advanced students are able to take high school courses such as Living Environment, Algebra and Geometry. More than 99 percent of eighth-graders who took high school Algebra last year passed the state Regents test in the subject.

  
  

  New Rochelle High School offers more than 30 Advanced Placement courses and 13 college-level "dual enrollment" courses, Interim Principal Joseph Starvaggi said. The high school is expanding its advanced offerings in computer science, the intensive research AP Capstone program and mathematics offered through Syracuse University Project Advance.

  
  

  The programs in all three schools are in line with the District's Strategic Roadmap. Objective D in the roadmap says the District will strive to make rigorous coursework accessible to all and to increase the percentages of students in accelerated courses.

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