Message from House Principal

Mr. Peter Parisi:

The school year ends but the work does not! As we all make the final sprint toward graduation there is still much to do.

Summer school prep is moving along. If your student wants to improve a grade and needs to gain credits to graduate please encourage them to attend Summer School. Attending Summer School can help a student who has struggled during the year to get back on track! Please contact the Guidance Office for details about Summer School.

Let me include one final thought as we close out the year. No community can thrive unless the members of the community trust, respect, and support one another. Yes, at times we may disagree about some detail, idea, or action but in the end we all have the same end in mind.

Good luck to our graduating Seniors!

GE TOP TEN Senior Scholars

Jennifer Nechamen, Alexandra Weisee, Aliyya Christiani, Ethan Brooks-McDonald, Marcia Rahiman, Hemavattie Ramtahal, Haley Vanbellingham, Amanda McLean, Jami Russell, and Peter Shapiro.

Students of the Month

March:
9th Sean Brown
10th Nick Colangelo
11th Mariah Rosenberger
12th Eric LaMalfa

April:
9th Ashmini Singh
10th Sandra Delvalle
11th Kervin Alcindor
12th Taylor DeThorne

May:
9th Rebecca Doodnauth
10th Zoeliz Santos
11th Shana Joseph
12th Samara Butler

GE House provides Senior with Shadowing

Mrs. Valerie Palmieri’s Introduction to Psychology class inspired Kendall Delgado to learn more about the field of School Psychology. After discussing this interest with Mr. Parisi, an internship experience was created with GE House School Psychologist, Mr. Rafael Medina.

Over the past year, Kendall has spent 3 hours per week shadowing Mr. Medina. He has been exposed to all aspects of psychology and its application within the school and community setting. According to Mr. Medina, “Kendall Delgado has defined himself within the high school milieu as a natural leader. Kendall’s ability to apply what he has learned regarding theory and practice has been formidable. Kendall has shown deep interest in the causes of human behavior, including social, biological, and psychological factors.” This experience has inspired Kendall to pursue his interest in the field as he will be attending Union College this fall majoring in Psychology. Kendall added, “Mr. Medina really knows what he is doing. Mr. Medina is persistent with students and goes the extra mile with students. Mr. Medina’s passion for his job has motivated me to get involved in the field of School Psychology. I really thank Mr. Parisi who made this happen for me.”

Awards

Several GE House Seniors and Undeclassmen received awards on May 27th or June 3rd. The GE Top Ten Senior Scholars (see above list) walked away with several awards. Jennifer Nechamen and Alexandra Weisse were also in the Class of 2009 Top Ten Scholars and along with Aliyya Christiani and Ethan Brooks-McDonald received a Scholarship for Academic Excellence Award. Nechemann added the Biology & Wind Ensemble Awards, Weisse added the Nelson Ripley ’51 Memory Book and Blue Roses Awards, Christianni added the Business Law Student of the Year Award, and Peter Shapiro added the national Merit Scholarship Commended Students Award. Hemavattie Ramtahal and Christia Shelton received the Girls Inc. Scholarship with Ramtahal adding the Citizenship Award, Ethan Brooks-McDonald earned the French Speaking Award. Other GE Seniors earned awards: Kendall Delgado (Rotary of Schenectady, Ralph Boyd), Bojana Jankova (Kiwanis, American Red Cross), Katarina Lassiter (Pat Wolcott), Marse Pulley (Phoenix), Haley Van Bellingham (SSFA Creativity), Davon Williams (Business Department of the Year, Financial Literacy), Marcia Rahiman (Financial Literacy), Arielle Turner (Hudson Valley Book). Athletic awards went to Amanda McLean, Samara Butler, Dan Desbians, Mark Blair, Megan Devlin, Heather Joslin, Nick Ottati, Joe Ripp, Ryan Zielinski, and Taylor DeThorne. At the Undergraduate award ceremony, students taking home awards included: Kervin Alcindor (RIT Computing Medal), Grace Janiszewski (St. Lawrence University Book Club), Grace Liebers (Brown Book), and Stephanie Mariapen (Wellesley Book Club). We are so proud of the accomplishments of the GE House Scholars! This list is not exhaustive– the awards are still being given out!

FACS

Children have participated in the GE House’s Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) Life Studies core classes: Child Development or Pre-K where high school students have direct observation/experiences with young children. This Spring, newborns, infants, toddlers, and pre-school children provided hands-on learning for students enrolled in these classes.

FCCLA Team headed to National Competition

GE House’s own Johanna Stone and Meranda Bell from the School of Global Commerce will compete in the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) National STAR (Students Taking action for Recognition) Events Applied Technology category in July at the National FCCLA Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Good luck!

International Women’s Writer’s Guild

Ivan Cruz, Fatima Elibass, Crystal Keenan, Katarine Lassiter, and Amanda Avuso have been invited to the Skidmore College writing conference June 15-17th. This conference supports creative writing and gives girls healthy creative exchanges with adult women. They will be exposed to published authors, artists, and poets who use writing for social action and personal development. The students experience campus life and many workshops within the literary genre.

Pointbreak

GE Students participated in a nationwide program designed to help develop student leaders on Friday May 1st and May 11th. The training took place on Ontario Avenue, in Schenectady. The daylong session bonded most that attended as a family away from home. There were lots of hugs and tears which doesn’t work for everyone, but got a lot of students in touch with their emotions

High School Students Tour State Museum Thanks to Target Grant

Thanks to a grant from Target Field Trips, 41 SHS students had an opportunity to visit the New York State Museum last month. GE Students from Ms. Michelle Lax’s special class (SC) enjoyed many exhibits: the Rockwell Kent Great Arts series, the Adirondack wilderness, and the 911 Rescue and Recovery exhibit. The group also enjoyed the interactive discovery center where they participated in hands-on learning experiences and utilized state-of-the-art technology.

On June 5th, GE students enrolled in SC classes went to Collins Park in Scotia for a picnic. They enjoyed a day of fun, games, and food. This day was a celebration for the students in the program to show what a successful school year they had. An event across High School Houses, there were over 70 students who participated. Fortunately the weather cooperated and everyone had a great time!

THE COUNSELOR’S CORNER

Summer School registration will be held on June 29th from 9 am- 12 pm and 5 pm—7 pm at Schenectady High School. You need to be present in order to register for summer school. We can not do it for you. If you fail any classes, you should attend summer school so that you can stay on track for graduation.

If you don’t get your report card by June 29th, please call the Guidance Office at (518) 370-8200 to see if you need to attend Summer School.

You should be reviewing your course requests for next year. See your Guidance Counselor ASAP or call the Guidance Office over the summer at (518) 370-8200 to make any changes before the next school year begins.

Try and get a summer job if you are old enough. If not, then consider volunteering or enrolling in an educational summer camp.

For college bound Juniors, about to be Seniors, the summer time is a good time to research and visit colleges and explore your career interests. Don’t wait until the last minute! We suggest that you get your college applications out by December 1st.

Key Club

Congratulations to the SHS Key Club for sponsoring the American Red Cross blood drive that collected 194 units!! Because of the dramatic increase in collection since the last drive, the Red Cross offered a scholarship to Boni Jankova, a deserving Key Club member. Congrats!

12th Grade Field Trip

GE seniors toured the international “Bodies” exhibit in NYC’s South street seaport. They saw real human bodies that are preserved in siliconized rubber and used to teach about the various systems including; muscular, skeletal, vascular, etc…

Career Day 2009

Over 200 upperclassmen from the GE School spoke with representatives from 6 local employers about future career opportunities. Participants included: Schenectady ARC, Sunmark Federal Credit Union, Schenectady Police, Schenectady Fire Department, US Army, and Local Salon Owner- Esthetician.

GE SENIOR ATHLETES

Goodbye to:
Baseball: Alexander Jurczynski, Nick Ottati, Dante Shafer, Ryan Zielinski;

Crew: Seaton Drebitko, Sarah Wells;

Women’s Lacross: Brooke Comley, Karlee Cyr, Taylor Dethorne, Meghan Devlin, Kathryn Killian, Lauren Osborne;

Men’s Lacross: Johnathan Best, Ethan Brooks-McDonald, Kendall Delgado, Daniel Desbians, and Jack Montgomery;

Softball: Arielle Turner;

Men’s Track: Brandon Johnson, Peter Shapiro, Josh White;

Women’s Track: Brienna Chillious, Louisa Reichenback, Naytia Robinson.

Congrats!

Mock Trial Team

Congrats to GE’s Peter Shapiro and Julian Delgado, Bill Landis, Aubree Heydrick, Anthony Staccone, Laura Weiskotten, Mercy Alila, Josh Mlodzianowski, Anthony Hazlett, and Mario Mascaro. Advised by Mr. Gerry Chapman and Mrs. Polly VanNostrand the team lost to eventual champion Bishop Gibbons. The team will participate in a dinner/bowling event on Friday, June 19th.

Safe School Ambassadors

On April 28th & 29th, several GE students received training to be Safe School Ambassadors. This program was started following the April 20, 1999 Columbine High School massacre to make schools safer. Safe School Ambassadors empowers leaders from diverse groups and cliques on campus and equips them with nonviolent communication and intervention skills to STOP school bullying and violence.

GE Visits HVCC

GE Students attending college visit at Hudson Valley Community College on April 2nd.

AFJROTC in Action!

C/Capt Glen Butler, Corps Commander, and C/1LT Michael Gonzalez spent a some time with a group of Staten Island cadets in Norwich, New York, learning survival skills, navigation, and starting campfires with no matches. This was a great experience for both cadets!

The unit participated in the Scotia Memorial Day Parade, commanded by C/1Lt Dylan Boyer, and our Color Guard participated in the Bellevue Veterans Memorial Service with “America The Beautiful” sung by C/SrA Michael McLean.

We are preparing for a great summer! 12-14 cadets will be attending Summer Leadership School in Ft. Dix, New Jersey, July 5th through July 29th followed with an encampment with CAP in Scotia, New York.

GE Peer Mediators have a BUSY year!

GE Students involved in Peer Mediation:

Seniors: Kendall Delgado, Naytia Robinson (Treasurer), Le'Asia Thomas (President), Ryan Zielinski

Juniors: Samantha Barone (Historian), Brandon Lewis (Secretary), Taiesha Spottswood

Sophomores: Shakieya Brunson, Deyondre Byrd, Abigail Cevallos, Alexis Gary, Okenya Hickson, Kareena Narine

Freshmen: Andrea Clark, Trishala Jailall, Keturah Vics, Javasha White

To date, Peer Mediation has received 308 refferals, running about 50 more than last year for the same time frame. GE students have consistently made up at least half of the trained mediators. As we wrap up the school year, we say goodbye and good luck to our graduating Seniors. Kendall Delgado will be attending Union College to pursue a Psychology degree. Naytia Robinson is looking into joining the Air Force after 3 great years in the JROTC. Le'Asia Thomas will be attending Morgan State in Baltimore pursuing her dream to become a Nurse. Ryan Zielinski will be attending Castleton State in Vermont, pursing a Business degree. We hope that their time spent in Peer Mediation will help them in their future endeavors. We will miss them all!

QUILT donated

Mrs. Pat Johnson teaches GE House’s University Women’s Literature classes. Students in her class have been busy making a quilt to donate to the City Mission Women’s Shelter in Schenectady. This activity has become a tradition as it has been done over several years. The shelter staff appreciates home made items, since each one donated suggests the care and compassion of the community for women and children in crisis.

Spelling Bee

Ms. Josephine Sorensen’s GE reading classes joined together during mod 1 on May 27th in the Black Box theatre for a spelling bee. The words were based on the corrections made in all of their journals during the school year. The word that narrowed down the competition was definitely. The word leprechaun brought Sean Brown and Dwight House into the final two eliminating 3rd place winner, Teekarran Ramjag. Finally, another championship went to Sean Brown who has won eight other spelling bees during previous school years. Embarrassing was the word that knocked Dwight out of 1st place. Fun was had by all, and Mr. Parisi furnished generous gift certificates from Barnes & Noble for the top 3 winners.

Field Trips

On April 29th GE 9th graders & on May 5th 10th graders traveled to Boston, MA. They went to the New England Aquarium, Quincy Market for shopping & lunch, the Boston Museum of Science, and Mugar Omni Theatre where they saw the show “Amazon.”

International Night at SHS

On April 23rd, students from all Houses celebrated cultural diversity. Performances included the Schenectady Pipe Band (Traditional Bag Pipes), Spanish Club Dancers featuring Arabic Belly Dance by Rushka Kalicharan, Korean Martial Arts featuring Tackwondo by Youjin Chung, Classical Indian Dance by Kimberly Ramsundar, Spanish Club Salsa Dancers, and Chinese Dragon presented by the students of ROTC. A delicious potluck followed the entertainment.