Charlie Macunas - Principal

 

 

                                 

MISSION STATEMENT
 
       The mission of Haddam-Killingworth High School is to provide a personalized and collective experience through which students are challenged to develop the knowledge, skills, and work ethic to contribute to a global society.

                       

                              

Expectations for Student Learning

 

Academic: The  Haddam-Killingworth High School graduate will:

 

            1. access and analyze information
            2. problem-solve
            3. communicate effectively
            4. apply information

 

 

Hello Everyone, 

 

I don't know about you but I'm ready for spring. While it hasn't exactly been business as usual, there is still much to report on.

 

 

Freshmen & Sophomores

-   Student Course Request Sheets are due back to your School Counselor by Wednesday, February 9^th.  Please be sure that your course selections add up to 7 credits and that you have selected 3 alternate courses.  Students and Parents must sign the back side of this sheet.  

 

Juniors - Student Course Request Sheets are due back to your School Counselor tomorrow, Friday, February 4^th.  Please be sure that your course selections add up to 7 credits and that you have selected 3 alternate course.  Students and Parents must sign the back side of this sheet.

 

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.)  It contains local, regional and national scholarships that are available to students.  New scholarships are announced to students through the morning news, as well as posted on a bulletin board outside the Counseling Office. 

 

Incoming Freshmen - 8^th Grade Parent Night was held on January 31, 2011.  HKHS School Counselors met with parents of incoming high school freshmen (class of 2015) and discussed course selection, as well as what to expect next year.  Student Course Request Sheets are due back to Mrs. Hill at HKMS on February 9, 2011.

 

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER:

 

Parent-Teacher Conferences - Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on Wednesday, February 9^th & Thursday, February 10^th from 12:35 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.  Please contact Mrs. Voytek at 860/345-8541, ext. 348 to set up an appointment with your child's teacher. You may also email her at gvoytek@rsd17.org. 

 

Sophomore Parent Night - Sophomore Parent Night will be held on Monday, March 21^st, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.  Counselors will be discussing College and Career Information.

 

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.  More information to follow.

 

The BOE has approved 3 international travel tours for 2012. Italy & Greece with Mr. Regan (April break); Costa Rica with Mrs. Ferrer (February break); and France with Mrs. Kehrley (April break). Enrolment is ongoing. Pricing incentives of $150 off each tour extend through Feb 28^th. Please contact the tour leaders for more information about these exciting travel opportunities!

 

Mrs. Ritter's US History classes, Constitution Unit:

 

In order to learn more about the amendments and the judicial system, Mrs. Ritter's history classes researched and presented a variety of Supreme Court cases that specifically dealt with student rights. Mrs. Priscilla Luoma came into the history classes to engage in a discussion about student rights here at HKHS.  The students asked many thoughtful questions pertaining to freedom of speech, search and seizure rights, due process, and freedom of religion in a school setting. Of particular interest was the interpretation of the First Amendment pertaining to Facebook posts and text messages. Mrs. Luoma's candor and humor while sitting in the "hot seat" for a few minutes was appreciated. The class would like to thank her for taking the time to speak with us.

 

Mrs. Borzain's Spanish Students Make Contributions

 

Mrs. Borzain's Spanish 3 and Spanish 5 classes have been working together to build a sense of community.  Together these classes donated over $26.00 to the Holiday Show fundraiser to help Finley's Fighters combat blindness. Mrs. Borzain is proud of their compassion and generosity.

 

Senior Activities

 

Final preparations for senior year activities are now under way.  The prom will be June 4 at Water's Edge in Westbrook.  We will go to the Brownstone Quarry Exploration and Discovery Park in Portland for our outing, but the date had not been finalized yet.

As we plan for the prom, outing, breakfast, and yearbook, we need to know exactly how many students will participate.  All seniors who have paid their class dues in full will be able to attend all events for free or at a reduced cost.  The class will order their yearbook.  We need everyone's dues paid by Friday, February 18 so that we know the exact number of students to include in our plans.  We will also do one last order of class tee-shirts at the end of February for dues-paying students who never received one.

During the week of February 7, all seniors will receive a form that tells what their current dues status is and how much they owe if they wish to pay in full.  If you have any questions or concerns about dues, please contact Lesley Rowe at 860-345-8541, ext 210, or rowel33@rsd17.org.

 

School Spirit Store

The creative talent of Cody McLean is happening at the HK School Store!  Over the past month, Cody has taken on the challenge of expressing the vibe of the store.  His wall art exemplifies the spirit of our school community.  Check it out!

 

HK PROJECT GRADUATION NEEDS YOUR HELP:  We are seeking Decorators for our Decorations committee. No creative experience required. Come join our committee for Project Graduation for the class of 2011. Please contact Kaycee Blancaflor at KCCallahan@uks.com if you're interested in joining this committee. Watch for dates, time and location very soon to help on the Decorations Committee. Please check HK Project Graduation website dates/times and location at High school.

 

Chaperones needed:   Please contact Sue Craffey at jcraffey@snet.net     or 860-345-3908 or Marianna LaRosa at malarosa@comcast.net  if you are able to help out with chaperoning for a few hours on the evening of Monday, June 20, 2011(depending on more snow days).  We need lots of volunteers to help make this event a success.

Food volunteers:   Please contact Stacey Grimaldi at ssgrimaldi@comcast.net or Joan Cizek at joancizek@comcast.net  if you are able to help making phone calls and/or picking up food at local businesses.

Clean up Volunteers:  Please contact Laura Roman at Landdroman@aol.com  or 860-345-3583 if you are able to help out with clean up. All volunteers will be greatly appreciated.

HK Project Graduation is continuing with the recycling fundraiser so please look for the green bins in all of RSD 17 schools, Haddam Town Hall Brainerd Library, Killingworth Town Hall, Killingworth transfer station & Killingworth Library. Please consider donating used cell phones, ink jet cartridges, digital cameras, laptops, etc.   Any questions, feel free to contact Kathy Strom, 860-345-3398 or KSSTROM@aol.com.   Updates will be added to the Project Graduation link on the district website. 

Our meetings are the 2^nd Tuesday of each month at 7pm in the Lower Media Center. The dates are as follows:   2/8/11, 3/8/11, 4/12/11, 5/10/11 and 6/14/11.  Come and join the fun on the Project Graduation Committee!!!

 

PATCH.COM

 

There is an on-line site that covers the towns of Haddam and Killingworth and often contains information on our district's school. The web site is Patch.com.  Once on the main page, click on Connecticut and locate your town.

 

 

Ms. Susan Cornell, a writer for the Patch recently interviewed two Chinese educators who were visiting the schools in the district. The following article appeared on durham.patch.com a local website covering Killingworth, Durham, and Middlefield.

 

 

How were you selected for the program?

 

21 of us were selected by the provincial education bureau from 50,000 teachers who wished to improve our teaching methods. Thus the Bureau sent us to the United States to study the differences in teaching methods between the U.S. and China, and by studying these differences improve our teaching, and the overall quality of education in Shandong.

 

Do you visit only schools in Connecticut, or are you visiting schools in other areas of the country?

 

For this trip, we are only visiting schools in Connecticut, primarily schools in the Haddam-Killingworth school district, although we also visited one school in East Lyme.

 

What grade levels do you teach?

 

We both teach second-year high school students (Chinese high schools have three grades, not four).

 

What have been some of the highlights of your trip?

 

While visiting the high school, we visited a TV production class in which a student was interviewing Superintendant Mala. We were struck with how at ease the student was in conducting the interview; she appeared to have experience well beyond her years.

 

How are the two education systems similar?

 

On the high school level, the teaching methods employed by teachers are very similar, especially in mathematics. American teachers are also faced with the same large workload as their Chinese counterparts.

 

How do they differ?

 

The largest differences are in how curriculum is prepared. American schools have a much larger variety of courses. We have also discovered that because American schools have smaller class sizes, teachers are able to offer much more individualized instruction.

 

What do you personally expect to gain from this experience, and how will your students benefit?

 

This experience has changed our views on education, which in turn will affect our own methods in the classroom. Our students, in turn, will gain greater respect for their individuality, as well as receive more individually tailored instruction.

 

What did you do on the three snow days during your visit?

We spent those days writing reflections on what we had seen so far, as well as contacting our colleagues in other districts to hear their impressions.

 

What has most surprised you on your journey so far?

 

Our impression before visiting the United States was that schools here were very relaxed. Since then, however, we have discovered that American high schools in particular are also quite intensive in terms of curriculum and workload.

 

 Math Students Evaluate New Algebra 2 Text

 

Recently a small group of volunteer students from Mrs. Adamczyk's classes had the unique opportunity to be involved with an editing project for a book titled "High School Math Made Simple."  The publisher requested that math classes "Adopt A Subject" for review.  They chose only two classes to adopt each subject (Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Precalculus, and Calculus).  High School Math Made Simple is written for students and their parents as a guide to the core

 

Nick Cerini, Christine Deldonna, Chad Golembeski, Nick Powers, Rachel Roberts, Alex Simms, and Ana Tarbetsky reviewed the exercises and examples in the Algebra 2 chapter to ensure they were correct and relevant. In addition to reviewing the text for mathematical correctness, the students also made suggestions that would help students learn the material better and make this resource student friendly.  Their comments and edits were well thought-out and quite insightful.  I am sure that the publisher will be impressed by their work.

 

The third edition of High School Math Made Simple will be out in February. The edition was written by a New Jersey high school math teacher. Once the book is published, the students will receive an acknowledgment in the book recognizing their participation in the review.  Additionally, the school will receive a printed copy of the book. 

Great job to those involved!

 

 

Scholastic Art Awards

 

Twelve students participated in the Connecticut Scholastic Art Awards Program. This is a non-profit, all volunteer activity which is sponsored by the Connecticut Art Education Association. Scholastic Art Awards of Connecticut is an affiliate of The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. This program recognizes the work of talented young artists in Grades 7 to 12. Student artwork is juried by professional artists and university art faculty and is selected on merit for inclusion in a state-wide art exhibition held at the University of Hartford Art School. Beyond the honor of being selected for this high quality exhibit, students may be awarded gold or silver keys and honorable mention places in each of 17 media categories. The winners of the gold key award will have their artwork submitted as a digital image to the National Level Scholastic Art Awards Jury at the close of the exhibit. The national jury will choose works for exhibit in the National Show held in June, 2011. Adrianna Foreman (mixed media), Rebecca Mainetti (painting), and Megan O'Brien (photography) received Honorable Mention, and Ian Prishwalko (mixed media) received a Gold Key. The Scholastic Art Awards Ceremony will be held at the Hartford Art School, Silpe Gallery and Lincoln Theater, which is at 200 Bloomfield Ave. West Hartford, Ct. 06117. Congratulations to all of our fine art students. 

 

 

CAPT ACADEMY

 

CAPT Academy is scheduled for Saturday, February 5 (Reading and Writing) and Saturday February 11 (Math and Science).  Sessions will run from 8:00-10:00 and 10:15-12:15, with a fifteen minute break in between sessions. Juice, water, bagels, and muffins will be provided to all participants.

 

Parent Conferences

 

Parent Conferences will be held on Wednesday, February 9 and Thursday, February 10, from 12:30-3:00.  To schedule a conference with your child's teacher, please contact Gina Voytek in guidance (860-345-8541, ext 348).  You may also contact teachers directly to set up mutually agreed upon time to discuss your child's progress.

 

 

Student Participates in Music Festival

 

Lee Wagoner, a senior in the H-KHS jazz band, participated in the Southern Region High School Music Festival on January 14-15 at Maloney High School in Meriden.  Lee played violin in the orchestra.  The students were chosen to participate in this festival by audition in November.

 

Music students from approximately 30 high schools in the southern region of Connecticut rehearsed for two days under the direction of guest conductors, culminating in a public concert in the Maloney High School auditorium.  Music teacher Tim D'Amato accompanied Lee to the festival, which is an annual event sponsored by the Connecticut Music Educators Association.

 All Area Athletes Named