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Clifford R. Kasson, Principal Board Report – June 2018

Principal’s Message

For our seniors, a huge thank you for an awesome prom and All-Nighter event. The students were great ambassadors of VHS. The staff at the McKinley complimented our seniors for the best prom this year. Thank you to the senior class advisors, Mrs. Gaylord and Mrs. Harrington – great job! Also the chaperones, Mr. Arbuiso, Mr. & Mrs. Weisse, Mr. & Mrs. Ewing, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Persley, Mr. Green, Mrs. Restuccia and Mrs. McAllister.

The All-Nighter After prom party was equally as successful. A huge thank you to our parent volunteers who organized the prom promise and after prom party – this includes any donations from our local businesses.

Art

The HS Art Club has work hanging in Carol's Coffee and Art Bar in Owego, NY for the entire month of June. This exhibit is featured for Owego's First Friday Artwalk.

The District Art show came down June 30 - it was enjoyed by many and featured an outstanding array of Art K-12.

The Vestal School Foundations is awarding a grant to the art department to add permanent signage to the permanent art collection outside the auditorium. Additional framing will be done with the monies as well.

The IB-2 year students are finishing up their high school experience with the annual Vestal Bear legacy project- students create works based on the Golden Bear and leave the works to be displayed in the school for future generations to enjoy.

Biology

Chemistry

Counseling & Guidance

The Counseling and Guidance Office has been busy throughout the month of May. Counselors met with local scholarship organizations to help pick winners for the 2018 Honors Night ceremony. Many organizations invite counselor input for decision-making purposes. We are pleased and honored to be included in helping our students secure scholarships for their futures.

Sophomores participated in the Career Expo field trip at Binghamton University on May 23, 2018. Four buses of 140 students spent the afternoon listening to different career speakers talk about education, salary and job requirements. Popular speakers included the New York State Police Forensics specialist, Delta Engineers, UHS Health Services and BAE Systems. Next year’s trip will be in March. We hope to include more students for this informational day.

The School Counselors are busy as the end of the year approaches, both with support of the graduating seniors and with helping the underclassmen to prepare for 2018-2019. For the seniors, this means reviewing their graduation status, diploma types, mastery designations, and future plans. For the underclassmen, counselors are finalizing course requests and reviewing their high school and career

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goals. High School Counselors are working directly with the VMS counselors to smooth the transition to high school for our incoming freshmen.

Earth Science

English

The 11th grade IB English students of Mrs. Drexler-Smith and Mrs. Benjamin have recently completed the IB Individual Oral Presentation assessment. This assessment, which is unique to IB, requires students to develop an idea for a topic related to The Great Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, or The Woman Warrior. Students may then use various methods of presenting their ideas to their classmates and actively engaging them in a follow-up discussion. For example, students may perform a musical composition that is related thematically to one of the works and then present a commentary on the process of composing the music and explaining how it relates to the literature. A student performing a surprising musical composition on a saw is among the photographs attached!

Mr. Malejs reports that his sophomores are enjoying their unit-ending project for The Catcher in the Rye. The objective is to bring Holden Caulfield to life by characterizing him through a faux social media page (created on Google Slides). The students must show their understanding of the character by building a presentation that captures all of his likes, dislikes, and inner thoughts revealed within the text.

Seniors in Mr. Dunham’s IB English classes recently participated in the annual IB “Day of Service” in which students volunteered at either CHOW or the Discovery Center. At CHOW, students put together care packages that will be provided to children over the summer. Vestal students worked in an assembly line to package over 12,000 pounds of food! At the Discovery Center, students refreshed and repainted displays in their popular “story garden” (photos attached).

Health

IB Honors

Math

On May 1 the math department presented three awards at Academic Awards Night. Seniors Harrison Barnes, Walter Yacynych, and Kelsey Horn all received an award. Kim Schofield presented the awards on behalf of the entire department.

This has been a busy month getting ready for end of the year testing. The following courses had AP/IB tests this month: IB/SL2, AP Calc and AP Java. Other courses within the department are busy preparing for final exam and Regents review. Algebra 2, Algebra 1, and Geometry have all been working hard reviewing for their Regents Exams in June.

FBLA also had an exciting month. On May 24, 12 VHS students from FBLA along with Annette Mezzadonna traveled to BU for the Greater Binghamton Scholastic Challenge. They put their entrepreneurial skills to the test before some of the top business leaders in the area. Students from all over the area submitted their ideas for inventions, services, and products that can make life easier. They created a detailed business plan with budgets and marketing strategies, and then presented their ideas to local business leaders. The VHS GroupFCD Electrochemistry (students Kaimana Lum, Xandria Heidrich, Jessie Luo, and Catherine Deskur) won 1st place in the Human and Education Division. That team also won the most innovative in the entire area.

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Music

Physical Education

The Physical Education Department finished up the year with culminating activities including: Spring Fitness Testing, Frisbee Golf, Softball, Walking Fitness, and Lifetime Recreational Activities. We would like to wish everyone a safe and relaxing summer.

Physics

Social Studies

Special Education

As the school year comes to a close, the Special Education department has been working diligently on helping students prepare for Regents and final exams, as well as scheduling test accommodations. We are also looking forward to next year as we continue to develop our Direct Consultant Model with our content area teachers.

On Friday, May 24, students took a break from rigorous studying for Regents and final exams to talk about a postsecondary option: college. Two former Vestal High School students, who are currently attending SUNY Broome, came to speak with current juniors and seniors. They shared their experiences at college and discussed their reflections. They also described the differences between high school and college--some subtle, some apparent--in a plethora of ways. To list a few:

o accessing accommodations and services at the college level (compared to how they're provided in high school IEP's)

o the amount of responsibility and the expectations they had to assume when they started college

o balancing work/sports/recreation with long-term assignments, studying for tests

o the importance of planning ahead, staying organized, and seeking help from college faculty and programs when necessary

o supports available at College and how students can take advantage of them (i.e. tutors/advisors, math/writing labs, the library)

Students were highly engaged and asked several insightful questions, eager to learn more about college life.

The Special Education Department is preparing to say goodbye to two of our valued colleagues—Patricia Saunders and Marcy Hendrix. Both women have contributed so much to our department, and have touched the lives of countless students through their teaching careers. We will miss their expertise and leadership, and wish them all the best in their retirement.

Technology

Introduction to Engineering Design students are completing their reverse engineering projects and will and improved part or parts using the 3-D printer to reassemble the project with the improved part or parts. IED students have also been reviewing for the College Exam.

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Principles of Engineering students have completed constructing Machine Control Devices using the VEX Kits programmed using RobotC to control them and have also been reviewing for the College Exam.

Digital Electronics students have been reviewing for the College Exam.

Civil Engineering and Architecture students have just finished Surveying and are starting Soil Testing and have also been reviewing for the College Exam.

World Languages IB Day of Service at the Discovery Center Photos

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1 Prom Promise Picnic 1 BOE Report Due from Dept. Chair 1 Voce Basso/Voce Alto Dress Rehearsal, 3-4:30 p.m. 1 VCSD Retirement Dinner, 6:00 p.m., The Binghamton Club 2 SAT’s (Area Schools) 2 Senior Class Prom – The McKinley 9 p.m. – 1 a.m. 3 Chem-Free All Nighter Midnight – 5 a.m. VHS 4 Honors Night, 6:30 p.m. Auditorium 5 RtI Mtg., Periods 2-4 5 Senior Class Trip – Six Flags, New Jersey, 5:30 a.m. – 10:30 p.m. 5 Regents Exam – 10th Grade Students only 6 Vestal Voices Senior Solo Night – 7 p.m. 8 Early Release Day, 11:04 a.m. 9 ACT’s (Vestal) 10 Voce Basso/Voce Alto Spring Concert, 3 p.m.

11 Last Day of Classes Gr. 9-12 11 District Council Dinner, 6:30 p.m. VHS 12 RtI Mtg., Periods 2-4 12 BOE Meeting 6 p.m. 12-22 Regents Exams 14 Band Boosters Mtg., 6 p.m. Vestal Library 15 Vestal Marching Arts Banquet – 5 p.m. 23 GRADUATION! 1 p.m. BU Events Ctr.

26 BOE Meeting 7 p.m.