Charlie Macunas - Principal

 

 

 

Hello and Welcome to Spring!  I hope you find the follwoing articles informative.

 

 

SCHOOL COUNSELING UPDATE - MARCH 2011

 

Sophomores - Please join us on Monday, March 21, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the HKHS Auditorium for Sophomore Parent Night.  The School Counselors will be discussing College and Career information, the Career Expo Field Trip, Standardized Testing, Naviance and more. We look forward to seeing you there! 

 

The Middlesex Consortium of Schools will host a Career Expo on Thursday, April 28^th, 2011 at Wesleyan University.  Approximately 100 careers will be represented at this great opportunity for students to get a large amount of information in a short period of time.  Counselors will be administering a Career Interest Inventory to all sophomore students prior to this event.   This will help them focus on their potential career avenues.  A permission slip was mailed home.  Please sign and return with $4.00 (to cover the bus fee) by April 22, 2011.

 

Juniors - The Princeton Review will be offering a Free Strategy Session to review the content of the SAT exam, walk through some sample questions and learn score-raising strategies.  Additionally, if your child took the SAT practice test last Tuesday, March 9^th at HKHS, the results will be given out during this session.   Please join us on Monday, March 21^st from 5:30 - 6:45 p.m. in the HKHS Auditorium.

 

Seniors - A reminder to Seniors that you need 30 hours of community service to graduate.  Please be sure to complete your community service forms (available in the Counseling Office) and return them to your School Counselor.

 

Additionally, please be sure to stop by the Counseling Office to view our Scholarship List. (It is also available on our website, www.rsd17.org, click on High School, then School Counseling Office.)  Many of our local scholarships have deadlines of March 31, 2011.  Please be sure to complete the application and request a transcript with Mrs. Voytek in the Counseling Office by Monday, March 28^th, 2011, to ensure that your application reaches the organization before March 31^st.  Most organizations are strict on the application due dates & will not accept any late submissions.

 

 

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER:

 

2^nd Annual College Fair - HKHS 2^nd Annual College Fair will be held on Thursday, April 14, 2011 from 11 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. in HKHS's Fieldhouse.  Please view our website for a list of colleges that will be coming to the College Fair.  This will be updated weekly.  In the next several weeks, the School Counselors will meet with students to distribute a flyer, "Making the Most of the College Fair", to give students ideas and questions to ask the colleges during the Fair. There will also be a "Students with Disabilities" presentation that evening with local colleges from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.  More information to follow.

 

 

Summer Reading

 The summer reading committee has begun looking for a few good books. If you can think of a great book that students would enjoy reading this summer, please email the committee with the title(s) at dmatthews@rsd17.org. We welcome suggestions from all members of the community - teachers, parents and students. If you think your son or daughter would like to serve on the summer reading committee - please have them contact me (Mr. Dave Matthews) in the media center.

 

Extended Hours

The media center is now open on Monday and Wednesday mornings at 7 am. Students may sign out from the café to come to the media center to complete homework, return a book, print an assignment, etc.  The media center is also open Thursday afternoons until 5 pm. Please encourage your children to advantage of these extended hours.

 

Free SAT Preparation Course

If you are a Haddam/Higganum/Haddam Neck resident you may take advantage of a free online SAT preparation course (40 hours) from Brainerd Memorial Library in Haddam. Please go to www.brainerdlibrary.lioninc.org to register for this course.

 

What Makes a Good Website?

All ninth graders have been recently trained as to what makes a good website. These students have learned it is a simple as A, B, C (author, bias and currency). Your ninth grade son or daughter should be able to explain that an author of a website should be an accepted expert on the subject that he/she is writing about. This expert should also have published written works on the subject. Students also learned that most websites have a degree of bias. An example of this are the two vastly different interpretations of President Obama's health care policy that are found on the Republican Party's website and the Democratic Party's website. Students have realized that these biases exist and they need to make their own conclusions about issues by reading both sides of an issue. Lastly, when looking for information students must check as to when the site was last updated. If you were looking for information on earthquakes and found a site last updated on March 1^st, it would not have information on the massive quake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11^th.  Happy googling!!

 

ATTENTION PARENTS OF THE CLASS OF 2012:

 

Junior Prom is right around the corner:   May 14, 7- 11pm at Beckham Hall (Wesleyan University).

*Dues must be paid in full prior to purchasing a ticket.  Questions about dues can be directed to Mrs. Kelly Brown (brownk33@rsd17.org).

 

In an effort to keep tickets reasonably priced, we are looking for parents to volunteer refreshments (cheese/crackers/fruit/cookies/soda/water).  If you are able to help, please contact Mr. Ettlinger (ettlingerp33@rsd17.org) or Mrs. Brown (brownk33@rsd17.org).

 

Thank you for your continued support!

Mr. Ettlinger and Mrs. Brown

 

 

Freshmen Dues

Freshmen class dues  are ($60).  The advisors are getting ready to order our freshmen class shirts. All class members who have paid their dues will receive a t-shirt at no cost.  The students voted for the winning t-shirt design which was drawn by Delaney Vumback.  If students wish to purchase a shirt and not pay dues the shirts cost $10 each.  Please send in the $10 with the students t-shirt size ASAP as we will be placing the order within the next couple of weeks.  Additional long sleeve shirts are available for $11.95 if anyone is interested. 

 

 

Haddam-Killingworth Wrestlers Attain Remarkable Milestones

 

The 2010-2011 wrestling season set school records that have set the bar extremely high for following years' teams to aspire to. The team's record of 22-6 begins the litany of significant accomplishments of this season. Twenty victories, for any wrestling program, is a significant feat, but for a team that was 0-16 in its first year only 5 years ago makes it that much more monumental. The list of programs bested by H-K  has to be mentioned to fully appreciate the quality of the wins this season. Platt High, who was H-K's first dual meet team five years ago, fell to the Cougars this year to give the program its 50^th victory. Other notable wins came over programs that are much larger than H-K , which is an "S" class school or small  as designated by  student enrollment. The larger programs to fall to H-K; Staples "LL", Platt of Meridan "L" , Fairfield Ludlowe"LL", Foran"M", Branford "M", New Caanan"L", E.O. Smith"L" and Waterford "M".  Almost every athletic conference in the state yielded at least one loss to Haddam- Killingworth this season. Even as the season wound down and injuries and illness challenged the team to continue its winning ways  H-K saw many teammates answer the call to step up and fill in where the team needed the help the most. Many underclassmen earned their varsity letter helping their team in this fashion this season.

Prior to the State tournaments H-K hosted its own tournament for the teams in the state, like H-K, who do not have their own conference or league to prepare and showcase their athletes at the league/conference level. The Cougars were runners up to Westbrook-Old Saybrook by only 5 points in the tournament. The following week  at the class "S" Tournament the team posted its highest finish ever, with 7th place at 104.5 points, which eclipsed the teams previous best finish of 12^thplace with 88 points. This was the first season the program was able to enter a representative in each of the 14 weight classes, the line-up responsible for this outstanding performance at the States were (along with their dual meet record):

            103 Nate Fair (29-3)

            112 Matt Revis (16-16)

            119 Ryan Henderson (14-14)

            125 Griffin Hammel  (6-6)

            130 Seth Reagan (23-5)

            135 Garrett Bremer (16-10)

            140 Zach Roth (18-12)

            145 Taylor Jacobs (29-4)

            152 Joey LaRosa (21-11)

            160 Ken Markwat (17-8)

            171 Ty Soobitsky (20-13)

            189 Kevin Rand (7-6)

            215 Ryan Silas (10-8)

            285 Greg Murray (18-14)

 

This was also the only time that all of the H-K wrestlers made into the championship round of the 16, the starting point for the best wrestlers in each weight class. This year's team achieved this through seeding  which is based on the wrestler season's dual meet record  performance or wrestling from the round of 32 to attain the illustrious position to continue into the later rounds of the tournament. Almost every wrestler posted a victory in the two day event. By the end of that second day three of H-K wrestlers had been awarded top six accolades which insured the trip to the State Open. Nate Fare at 103 with a second place finish, Taylor Jacobs at 145 in third place and Nate Silas at 215 as an alternate in sixth place.

The transformation of the program over the past few seasons has many sources that should be credited. Most significant has been the Middle School's contribution of producing quality wrestlers prior to their entrance into the High School's varsity ranks. Head Middle School Coach Matt Thomas and assistant coach Sy Soobitsky should be praised for their commitment and alignment with the high school's varsity program vision. Both coaches devoted time to be present at varsity matches in addition to the Middle School's already hectic and competitive schedule. Their efforts are witnessed in the large number of varsity starting freshmen who have been critical in transitioning immediately into the lineup.

Beyond the tutelage of the varsity coaching staff which boasts a highly competent group of core coaches has been the aid of clinicians and parents with wrestling backgrounds. The parent group has been growing steadily and been active in helping the team create a foundation that will be critical in allowing the program flourish in the years to come. The H-K bleachers have been filling to near capacity with committed parents and fans that are finding great enjoyment  with the wrestling matches and this exciting sport's actions. Haddam-Killingworth is fast making a name for itself in the school district and in the state's wrestling ranks as a solid and quality program.

 

CAPT

Administration of the Connecticut Academic Performance Tests began on March 8^th and regular testing concluded on Thursday March 17^th.   Make-up testing will occur on Friday March 18^th and the following week.  All sophomores and select juniors will test in Reading, Writing, Math and Science.  Students can expect their scores early in the 2011-2012 school year.  Meanwhile, freshmen have been taking practice CAPT tests designed and scored by individual academic departments. 

 

 

Final Dues Deadline - Class of 2011

The final deadline for paying class dues is March 31, 2011.  Seniors have been notified as to what, if anything, they still owe.  Please make checks payable to HKHS, and send payments to one of the class advisors, Mrs. McGee or Ms. Rowe.

Some students do not wish to participate in every senior activity and opt out of paying dues.  They are welcome to pay separately for anything they want.  If any of those students would like us to order yearbooks for them, the $70 yearbook payment is due by March 31, 2011.  If that represents a hardship for you, see Mrs. Rowe to set up a weekly payment plan. (We know that paying all four years at once is a heavy burden, but all students had a "Work off your dues option" each year to ease that burden.)

There have been students wondering about where their dues money goes.  Here is a breakdown of estimated expenses.

Class Tee Shirt - $10

Junior Prom - $10

Yearbook - $70

Senior Breakfast - $15

Senior Outing - $50

Senior Prom - $90

We will discount the senior prom ticket as much as we can.  Class tee shirts were ordered during freshman year.  After the March 31 deadline, we will do a final order of tee shirts for students who have paid off their dues during junior and senior year.  Please contact Mrs. McGee or Ms. Rowe with any questions you have.

 

 

NEASC Report

 

The Commission on Public Secondary Schools has issued the final report from the visiting committee. As you may recall, the high had spent the better part of two years preparing for the accreditation visit that took place last October. A copy of this report has been placed on the high school web page.  I think you'll be pleased by the committees

 

  

Moody's Mega Math Challenge

 

 

Four HKHS students; Emily Berman, Sarah Otis, Connor McDonald, Andrew McCurdy and math teacher Wendy Adamczyk showed an extraordinary commitment to learning on Sunday, March 6.  Our dynamic foursome formed a team to enter the Moody's Math Challenge.

 

The M³ Challenge spotlights applied mathematics as a powerful problem-solving tool, as a viable and exciting profession, and as a vital contributor to advances in an increasingly technical society. Scholarship prizes total $100,000. The Challenge is entirely Internet-based. Each high school may enter up to two teams of three to five junior and/or senior students.. Students choose which day they wish to work on Challenge weekend and have 14 hours (7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.) to solve an open-ended, realistic, applied math-modeling problem focused on a real-world issue. Teams can work from any location they choose and can use any free and publicly available resources, but they may not discuss any aspect of the problem with, or seek help from, their coach or anyone other than their teammates.

Mrs. Adamczyk and the team will be notified in April of the results of the triage (first) and contention (second) judging rounds of the M³ Challenge. Teams selected for the top six prizes are required to present their papers at the confirmation (third) judging round to determine final rank-order of those papers. Panels of Ph.D.-level applied mathematicians serve as judges. An awards ceremony immediately follows the presentations.

The top six prize-winning teams receive scholarship awards ranging from $2,500 to $20,000, which are divided equally among team members and paid directly to the colleges or universities at which the winning students enroll. Finalist and honorable mention winners receive team prizes of $1,500 and $1,000, respectively.

The M³ Challenge has received numerous awards and recognition, including: 2010 Graphic Design USA's American Inhouse Design Award (internet design); 2009 ASAE Associations Advance America (AAA) Award of Excellence; 2008 Excellence Award Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP); 2006 Graphic Design USA's American Inhouse Design Award (print creative).

Mrs. Adamczyk provided students with the nourishment they would need during this intensive contest. The team, working out of the conference room in the lower media center, found out the details of the challenge at 7:00 a.m. and had until 9:00 p.m. to submit their solution.  That a Sunday commitment of 14 hours.

 

The prompt our scholars tackled was :

 

"The Department of the Interior has asked your team to develop a mathematical model to estimate the impact of the current drought on Lake Powell (located in Colorado and the second largest reservoir in the United States) to develop a mathematical model to estimate the impact of the current drought on Lake Powell. Based on the model the team had to prepare a report on the likely implications of the current drought on Lake Powell, in light of the Colorado River Compact of 1922, which prescribes the distribution of water from the Colorado River. The report also had to address the impact on Lake Powell over the next five years, assuming the provided inflow predictions persist for the next five years, and provide estimates based on how low, high, and most likely inflows, of Lake Powell's percentage of capacity at the end of the five year period."