Tiger Leaps Progress Update from Tenafly High School March 28, 2012 English



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Tiger Leaps

Progress Update from Tenafly High School

March 28, 2012



English

The English department would like to congratulate Emily Waltman, a junior, for being selected as a finalist in the Profile in Courage Essay Contest sponsored by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.  This is a major accomplishment:  only 10 essays were selected as finalists out of over 2,000 submissions, and Emily received a prize for being among the top 7 finalists in the nation. According to the JFK Presidential Library, the contest asks students “to consider the concept of political courage by writing an essay on a U.S. elected official who has chosen to do what is right, rather than what is expedient.” Inspired by the biographical stories of President Kennedy’s book, Profiles in Courage, published in 1956, a successful contest entry must be rigorously researched and detailed in its explanation of “how an elected official risked his or her career to take a stand based on the dictates of conscience, rather than the dictates of polls, interest groups or even constituents.”


On March 23, 2012, Ms. Lauren Malanka, Ms. Jessica Rosevear, and Mr. Gary Whitehead took creative writing students in grades 9-12 to the ninth annual Sticky Notes Writing Conference at Clarkstown North High School in New City, NY. This innovative conference included workshops offered by students, teachers, and professional writers. Topics included online publishing, the writing and performance of slam poetry, creating strong characters in fiction, the literary merit of Dr. Seuss, truth and lies in poetry, and emulating the work of major women poets such as Maya Angelou, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, and Emily Dickinson. The day began with a welcome and breakfast, followed by three consecutive morning break-out sessions. After lunch, students took part in a café-style reading of their original work—kicked off courageously by our own Dennis Levy, a THS senior. We would like to thank the Clarkstown North High School administration, faculty, and students for holding this inspiring and memorable event.
On Thursday, March 29, Dr. Michael Cohen, English supervisor, was a call-in guest on Smiley and West, a weekly radio show produced by Public Radio International (PRI). The show, which PRI describes as “a fusion of thought provoking, intelligent and stimulating dialogue on every subject from news and politics to entertainment and culture,” is hosted by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West. Each week, the show includes a segment called "Take 'em to Task," during which a listener is invited to debate the hosts on a topic from the previous week's broadcast. After writing a letter to Dr. West regarding his recent radio conversation with Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, Dr. Cohen was invited to participate in a five-minute segment about education reform. The recorded show will be sent out to PRI member stations (including WNYC) on Friday, March 30. It will also be available on the Smiley and West website and via podcast.
The English Department would like to highlight the following current samples of innovative instruction designed to engage students in critical and creative thinking:
Ms. Lauren Malanka’s senior students in War and Literature have begun contributing to a wiki and blog on their SchoolFusion site.  Working independently at this stage, they are collecting various sources, including newspapers and other periodicals, that inform their views, feelings, and opinions about war and the essential questions that guide the course. Collectively, they will create an electronic scrapbook of sorts—with a wiki and a discussion blog—that will include at least these two types of information from each student: 1) quotations from the novels, stories, and poems they have studied that, in some way, attract them, speak to them personally, or help them to form a new understanding of war and literature; and 2) collections of, and commentary on, the following sources: news articles; editorials and columns; cartoons; statistical data such as bar graphs, diagrams and charts; and photography. On April 26, Ms. Malanka’s students will join Ms. Hampson’s and Ms. Liu’s students on a field trip to the New Jersey Vietnam War Memorial in Holmdel.
Ms. Moia Packer’s and Ms. Lori Hampson’s sophomores, who recently finished reading selections of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, are currently crafting their own, modern versions of the Tales.
Ms. Packer’s students are emulating the style of Chaucer’s masterpiece. Each class as a whole decided on a single frame and a narrator’s persona, and each member of the class is contributing a tale written from the perspective of their created character—resulting in a collection of tales that satirize modern society in the way that Chaucer poked fun at the follies of his own time. Ms. Hampson’s students are engaging in a people-watching experiment that will result in each student’s composition of a short story—in verse or prose—that provides vivid description of at least three people. Adopting a satirical tone, the students are expected to provide a snapshot of life in 2012—in much the same way that Chaucer depicted the diversity of life through his pilgrims in Medieval Europe. With an eye toward describing the finer details of their selected people and their respective accessories, Ms. Hampson’s students will attempt to elicit from their readers the same kind of thoughtful laughter that Chaucer did in the 14th century.
Social Studies
The department welcomes back Mr. Ken Lacy, now serving as a long-term substitute for Mrs. April Celli after having served in the same capacity for Ms. Barker in the fall. Mrs. Celli gave birth to Dylan on March 7th, and both are doing great.
Tenafly students have done us proud in a number of venues lately. The Model United Nations team under the leadership of Ms. Cristina Cutrone competed at George Washington University’s High School Conference with about 1500 other high school students from all over the world. They were perfect ambassadors of both the countries they represented and of Tenafly High School. Individual awards were taken by

  • Daniel Blumin: 4th place in NATO (representing Slovenia)

  • Yutaka Kawakami: 4th place in the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Committee (representing Tunisia)

  • Zachary Kovar: 4th place in the African Union Committee (representing Tunisia)

  • Alina Yaman: 1st place for her position paper in the League of Arab States Committee (representing Tunisia)

At the Bergen County Debate League Junior Varsity Invitational Championship Debate on March 8, Tenafly’s Malcolm LeClair and Lulu Jin won their first two rounds and then went on to win the final championship round to become the best JV team in the tournament. In addition to their singular achievement, the entire JV Squad secured FIRST PLACE JV PROGRAM for the school for the TENTH year in a row. While we have had to share 1st place with other schools at times, no other school in the BCDL has had such an excellent record for as long as Tenafly. Tenafly’s Varsity program took Second Place Team and Second Place Program for the year and Tenafly concluded its debate season winning Second Place Overall School Program in the League. The BCDL Varsity Championship Debate is scheduled for April 17 at Becton Regional High School. Go Tigers.


Exciting things are happening inside the classroom as well. In Ms. Barker’s senior classes, our own Mrs. Cloie Biscaldi, athletic department secretary and 1955 graduate of Tenafly High School, will be speaking about teenage life in Tenafly in the 1950s.
Mr. Schlavis is planning a field trip for the AP United States History classes to the New York City Tenement Museum in May, following the AP Exam.  The students learned about the urbanization and industrialization of the United States, emphasizing the plight of immigrants upon arrival in the country as they struggled to make a living and assimilate into American society.  The Tenement Museum has restored and preserved numerous apartments to reflect the living conditions of several families from different parts of Europe that immigrated to the United States throughout the course of the 19th and early 20th Centuries.  This will give the students the opportunity to immerse themselves in the time period and gain a better understanding of the daily lives and hardships of these groups.
Mathematics
Numbers continue to define our lives both in and out of THS:
Republicans are vying for enough delegates to clinch a nomination, The Hunger Game broke multiple records at the box office, this winter we experienced the fourth least snowfall on record (but October was high!), and airlines are raising fares at an astonishing rate.
At the THS Olympics, the freshman out-pulled the other classes in tug-of-war - same weight just more feet on the floor for traction and the senior margin of victory, one of the smallest ever, represented a single event. Mr. Johnson and the Olympic committee are to be commended for an outstanding job. It is the day that more than any other builds class camaraderie and spirit.
THS thespians and musicians recently produced another top-notch performance in “West Side Story”. The show, which first debuted on Broadway in 1957 and in movie theatres in 1961, is celebrating 50 years.

All 318 seniors have successfully completed the HSPA or ASHA assessments required for graduation.



On February 8 and February 23, Ms. Wissler and Dr. Hu administered the AMC-10 and AMC-12 tests, each a prerequisite for the prestigious AIME contest. Based on those tests, Jennifer Ha and Lawrence Choi completed the AIME competition on March 15; results from that test are pending.
Also on March 15, the Bergen County Math League held its final competition and culminating awards dinner at Tenafly High School.  Three Tenafly tigers tied for third place in Bergen County - Matt Lee, Yun Hoo Kim and Jenn Ha.  After the county winners are determined high scorers in each of six groups are recognized.  In Tenafly's group, David Kim took first place.  School winners included Dayalan Rajaratnam, Jiayi Li and Howard Yim.  The Bergen County Math League has over 1000 participating students; these results indicate a high level of achievement for each of Tenafly's mathletes.
Students who have completed the one semester Trigonometry course with Mr. Johnson and Mr. Megdanis participated in the TRIGSTAR competition administered by the New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors. This competition promotes the study and mastery of trigonometry in high school. The individual school winner was Caitlin Nehila.
We are six weeks from the administration of the AP Calculus and Statistics exams; under the tutelage of Mr. Murray, Mr. Laux, and Mr. Johnson, students in these courses are completing the last chapters of material prior to preparing for the exam.
The geometry classes are using converse theorems to prove that quadrilaterals are rectangles, parallelograms, rhombuses, kites, and squares. Connections to architecture have proven exciting. Students have now mastered 68 theorems.
Precalculus classes are studying exponential functions, calculating how much money their parents should have deposited in a high yield account at their birth to pay for their upcoming college expenses.

Science
Tenafly HS Science Department is participating in the NJ Science League competition, and after two exams- midway in the competition, our standings so far are:


Biology I -

20th

Out of 136 teams

Biology II -

33rd

Out of 131 teams

Chemistry I -

12th

Out of 143 teams

Chemistry II -

13th

Out of 132 teams

Physics I -

4th

Out of 130 teams

Physics II -

10th

Out of 63 teams

Environmental Science -

10th

Out of 50 teams

Congratulations to Mrs. Anat Firnberg and her Chemistry Club. On March 3rd, 12 Tenafly students took the American Chemical Society Chemistry Olympiad Local Exam. This is a preliminary step, in the process of qualifying for the USA team for the 44th International Chemistry Olympiad.   This year the competition is held in the US, in Washington DC- July 21-30th. To qualify for the second round in the competition, students had to correctly answer at least 49 out of 60 challenging questions.


One of our students, Ho Jae Shin, qualified to move on to the second round. Ian MacArthur came within one point away from qualifying as an alternate. Most other students came close to the qualifying score. We were very impressed with their performance in this year’s competition.
Participating students: Hyun Lee, Ho Jae Shin, So Yeon Kim, Green Ahn, Stephanie Huang, Kevin Xu, Brett Sherman, Emaad Siddiqui, William Guo, Ian MacArthur, Won-Moon Joo, Matt Lee (Hyuck Ju).
Congratulations to Mrs. Helen Coyle and her Physics Club. The Physics Club teams gave another excellent performance in our second participation in the TEAMS Science and Engineering competition on March 12 at N.J.I.T. The competition theme this year was "Engineering Healthier Lives". The Physics Club students had been studying Biomedical Engineering and Pharmaceutical issues. They worked in teams to solve engineering challenges during the competition.
In the 9/10th grade level, our team placed 2nd in the state.
In the 11/12th grade level, our Team A placed 10th and our teams B and C tied for 11th place in the state.
Here are our 32 Physics Club team members that competed:
9/10th Team:


  • Lawrence Choi (Captain)

  • Jiyoun(Jennifer) Ha (Captain)

  • Arun Kingan

  • Michael Lee

  • Masahary Ono, YoungMin(Mike) Park

  • Sirui (Sara) Sun

  • Sunny (Mingwei) Yin

11/12th Teams:


Team A:

  • Matthew (Hyuck Ju) Lee (Captain)

  • Tetsuji Ono(Captain)

  • Timmy(Tung-Shu) Chu

  • Brian (Min Hang) Lee

  • Hyunmin Park

  • Micah Shelley

  • Youngho Yoon

  • Attila Yaman

Team B:


  • Leo(Ji Woo) Lim,(Captain)

  • Yanni Dongaris(Captain)

  • Stephen Coyle

  • Justin Han

  • Tieran Hu

  • Carolina Knepaite

  • Andrew Shimm

  • Wesley Yon

Team C:


  • Harry ( Hyun) Lee (Captain)

  • Rohan Kingan (Captain)

  • Annie Chen

  • Neil Coleman

  • William Guo

  • Jeremy Kao

  • Sally (Boyung Yeon) Kim

  • Emaad Siddiqui

Other in-class interesting events include our AP Biology classes. The AP Biology students created bioluminescent E. Coli colonies through bioengineering transformation techniques. They are all now expert geneticists under the tutelage of Mr. Adam Rendell and Dr. Robert Kennedy.


World Languages
In late February, the department welcomed two new teachers of Mandarin Chinese: Ms. Jean Chao and Ms. Jackie Sung. Ms. Chao teaches Chinese I, II, and II Honors while Ms. Sung handles the upper level courses of Chinese III, III Honors, and IV Honors. Ms. Chao has previously taught in heritage language schools and at the HOLA Dual Language Immersion School in Hoboken. Ms. Sung also teaches in the afternoons at the middle school in River Vale. Any student who is interested in the 2012 China Institute—STARTALK Summer Language Academy should visit www.chinainstitute.org for more information. The general application deadline for the 6 week intensive program is May 1, 2012.
On April 18th, students in Mr. Paris’ III, IIIH, IV H, and AP classes will be taking a field trip to Mitsuwa Marketplace, the largest Japanese supermarket on the East Coast. During the trip, students will be divided into four groups and will be required to use their Japanese to navigate their way through the market and converse with store employees in Japanese in an effort to complete a group task. Students will also engage in a cooking demonstration and peruse materials in the Japanese language bookstore adjacent to the market. Meitoku Gijuku High School in Japan is offering a 12 day summer program this July which incorporates language and cultural instruction. Any student who is interested in this program can visit www.meitoku-gijuku.ed.jp/sc for more information or visit the World Language office.
Students in Ms. Caust’s and Ms. Sesti’s Spanish IV classes recently visited the Museum of Metropolitan Art to culminate their unit on Spanish art. Students discussed different works of art, such as those of Velázquez, Goya, and Picasso as they made their way through the museum. Ms. Bilali’s AP French students attended the Met on the same day and examined paintings that related to their unit on L’Esthetique. Students in Ms. Williams’ French V Honors class recently created video essays in the language lab and had the opportunity to critique their peers.
On March 15th, students in Italian levels I-IVH participated in the National Italian Exam. Le Grand Concours—The National French Contest—took place on March 27th, with students participating from level I through AP and the National Spanish Exam runs from March 28th through April 4th for levels II –AP.
Finally, congratulations are in order for THS sophomore May Fong Shum who was recently awarded a National Spanish Exam Global Citizenship Scholarship to study for two weeks this summer in the Spanish immersion program at the Concordia Language Villages in Minnesota. May was selected from a large pool of applicants from across the country and will represent THS well this summer. ¡Felicidades y buena suerte!
ELL
Ms. Derdemezis’ beginner ELL class focused on a unit dealing with traffic conditions around the world and solutions to problems caused by traffic. After reading two articles about traffic problems, students categorized problems and solutions. Students interpreted their findings and decided which solution works best. They researched and discussed traffic issues in their native countries. Ms. Edelman’s intermediate ELL class was working on a unit dealing with homeschooling. After reading two narratives on the topic, students worked in groups to compare and analyze the two texts. Her advanced ELL students were working on compare and contrast essays. Students identified forms of comparison/contrast essays and their organizational patterns. Students interviewed each other with questions about their culture and completed Venn diagrams comparing their own culture with their partner’s culture.
Ms. Grady’s beginner language arts class has completed The Last of the Mohicans. Students researched information on a Native American tribe from the Northeast region of the country. Using the information they found, students wrote an essay and prepared a Power Point presentation about the tribe they selected. The culminating feature was their oral presentation to the class. The intermediate language arts class read a biographical essay and analyzed the main character. The students also examined the use of symbolism in the story. The advanced language arts students read The Woman Warrior. Students created a timeline of the events of the story. They also identified passages from the story, analyzed them and drew conclusions based on their analysis.
Ms. Kim’s beginner ELL HSPA class worked on using data in visual form (e.g. graphs, table, maps) to extract pertinent information and use this information as supporting details in their writing. The intermediate/advanced ELL HSPA worked on their expository essay writing. Students began to organize complex ideas and concepts in order to make important connections and distinctions with regard to the prompt. They added to their web by using specific examples from history, science, film, literature or personal experience to make connections to their topic.
Special Education
The special education department will be utilizing the progress tracking feature of our new, web based, student data system, IEP Direct, to report on IEP goals and objectives for the first time this year for marking period 3.
All of our sophomores and juniors taking Study Skills are conducting a Career Project to explore a post-secondary interest. Teachers are exploring the features of Naviance to further these goals with students 9-12.
Music and the Performing Arts
West Side Story premiered for the first time ever at Tenafly High School March 21st through 24th. We were pleased and excited to add a 4thshow to this year’s performance. The show was directed by Samuel Ahn-Cooper and Conducted by Jim Millar. Our new choreographer, Lori Alexander handled the dancing.  The Orchestra included many of our own Honors Orchestra musicians. Alongside several professional musicians they played one of the most challenging scores in musical theater. The play was brilliantly performed by 39 of Tenafly’s student actors. The show was performed with many lines in Spanish and parts of two songs, “A Boy Like That” and “I Feel Pretty”, also sung in Spanish. The turn-out for the show was fantastic with packed houses all four nights.
Visual Arts
Ms. Nagel’s Portfolio Honors class worked on creating a successful composition when drawing a narrative which tells a story or myth. Students visually created a composition in which the story line served as the dominant feature. In Painting, her students learned the difference between non-objective and abstract painting. They took photographs of interesting architectural features or interiors of the high school. These features were used as subject matter which were simplified, broken up or stylized to develop into an abstract painting. Two students, one in Ms. Nagel’s Portfolio Honors and one in AP Studio Art, won awards.  They are:
Jaeyong Sung ‘13/Silver Medal

Drawing: Unknown Fear

Overcoming Fear
Wonpyong Yu ‘12/Silver Medal with Distinction

Art Portfolio


2012 National Scholastic Art & Writing Award Winners
Ms. Pacheco’s Art Experience, students created a photo sequence book. They took sequence pictures or created sequence scenes to photograph with a partner. They created a template in Word that was filled with photos and text to create the sequence book. In 3-D Design, her students created reed baskets which have been created by different cultures. Students soaked reeds and weaved the reeds into baskets.
Ms. Kirschbaum’s Computer Graphics classes designed a logo for the TEF 5K walk/run that will take place in June, 2012. The winning logo will be printed on tee shirts worn by the participants in the 5K run. In Computer Animation Honors, her students learned how to create a video and use the “scale” property in Adobe After Effects to help them tell a story. Students worked in pairs. One student engaged in an activity. The second student will be part of the scene, but scaled down into miniature (e.g. one student holding the other student in the palm of his hand).
Technology
Students in Mr. E. DiGregorio’ s Wood and Stain Glass Design classes continue to work on their projects which include pens, wooden signs, cutting boards and stained glass creations. The Invention, Design and Technology classes looked at various manufacturing techniques used in industry. They also focused on how plastics are manufactured and the process of injection molding. They are now working on the measuring, cutting and sanding phases of their acrylic photo frame project.
Family and Consumer Science
Ms. Johnson’s Creative Cuisine classes worked on a unit about salads and dressings. Students discussed how and where salads had first been prepared in Roman times, the different classifications of salads, nutrient contributions in the diet and versatility in menu planning. Students selected the type of salad they wanted to prepare. Working from the recipe obtained in class or from one of the cookbooks available to them, they worked collaboratively in their kitchen groups following the plan made.
Ms. Acocella’s Child Development classes talked about the differences between speech and language. Students compared language characteristics among preschoolers. They identified characteristics of language development and supported their ideas with news articles dealing with language development. Her Child Psychology class worked on key concepts involving emotions. Students learned how emotional development takes place and how children become skilled at regulating emotions.
Business
Ms. Baker’s Global Business class learned how to describe how the market sets up prices. Students were able to explain the causes of inflation. They also worked on the main factors of production and they understood how different countries made economic decisions. In her Marketing class, students learned how to define risk and describe the categories of risk. They named the four stages for risk management and defined ethics and financial analysis.
Mr. Alesandro’s Accounting I students learned how to distribute earnings to stock holders. Students worked collaboratively to complete entries to distribute earnings to stock holders. Students also learned how to record inventory adjustments and allowances for uncollectible accounts. His Sports and Entertainment Marketing classes developed an understanding for business ethics and how to apply them to sports marketing. They worked on an assignment on the decline of the video rental stores and compared them to internet companies such as Netflix.
Athletics
The 2011-12 winter season was the most successful winter season in Tenafly athletic history. Two teams were named Bergen County “Team of the Year” (Boys Swimming & Hockey), three teams won divisional titles, the boys swim team was the first boys swim team to win back-to-back county championships, our hockey team reached the state finals for the first time and the boys basketball team went to the “final four” of the BCCA Jamboree for the first time in 55 years. Quite a season!
The boys swim team was led by Harvard bound, Leo Lim. Leo was named Swimmer of the Year by the Bergen Record for the 3rd consecutive year. During his four years in the pool for the Tigers Leo never lost an individual dual or county meet race. He accumulated 12 county gold medals over his career. He set new county records in the 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 200 and 400 freestyle relays. He is the first swimmer in the history of Bergen County to swim under 50 seconds in the 100m butterfly. He is a two time state individual champion, in the 200 individual medley in 2010 and the 100 breaststroke in 2012.
Leo was joined on the first team all-county team by senior fellow captain and Bentley College bound Alex Liulakis and juniors, Jin Roh, Kevin Guo and Greg Spiropoulos. Lim, Roh, Liulakis and Guo set a new county record in the 200m freestyle relay.
Our boys basketball team under the tutelage of head coach, Joe Finizio, won its 3rd consecutive league championship and returned to the Bergen County Tournament semi-finals for the first time in 55 years where they lost to eventual champions Teaneck HS. Seniors Chris Orozco (1st), Marco Baratta (HM) and junior Kyle Hioki (HM) were named to the all-tournament team.
In a year filled with many exciting games, plays and moments shared by the whole team this basketball season was punctuated by the play of New Hampshire bound senior Chris Orozco. Chris brought an end to a record shattering career here at THS. During his 4 years Chris scored an incredible 2062 points to become only the 11th boys in Bergen County history to break the magical 2000 point threshold. He was named to the first team all-county team for 3 consecutive years and this year was named to the 3rd team all-state by MSG Varsity Sports. Chris also became the first Tenafly player to win the Record’s Ron Fox Award as the overall athlete of the season (all sports) for his accomplishments on the hardwood this season.
Our ice hockey team brought a close to the winter season in dramatic fashion. Playing 4 straight overtime games, including 2 shoot-out victories, these Tigers made it to the state finals for the first time in school history. Playing before thousands of people at the Prudential Center they lost in overtime to Summit HS by a score 2-1 yet their journey to get to “The Rock” brought our school and community together. The atmosphere and fan support for the final game will not soon be forgotten. During the course of the season the Tigers went to the finals in the Big North Tournament, the finals of the Bergen County Tournament and won the league championship. Besides being county team of the year the ice hockey team was also named North Jersey Team of the Year
Tiger coach, Andy Escala was named Bergen County and All North Jersey Coach of the Year. Defenseman, Jordan Lang, was named first team all-county and first team All-North Jersey. Jordan was joined on the first team all-county team by senior goalie, Jon Winawer. Jon also joined senior, Eli Markowitz, on the second team All-North Jersey squad.
Congratulations go out to our boys and girls tennis coach, Anthony Zorovitch who was inducted into the New Jersey Coaches Hall of Fame. Anthony has an incredible 463-66 record as a coach. His teams have won 9 state championships, 13 county championships and too many league championships to count.

Go Tigers!!!!


School Counseling
Spring 2012
The school counselors have finished meeting with all current high school students and all incoming 8th graders and course selections for the upcoming school year have been completed. Supervisors are reviewing appeals and decisions on those courses are pending. In the next few weeks the master schedule will be developed and then counselors will meet with students if there are conflicts that need to be resolved. Unfortunately, there is growing trend among students to delay taking required electives until their senior year. As a department we strongly urge students to meet high school graduation requirements in 9th and 10th grade as it is inadvisable to delay mandatory courses and risk not being able to graduate. Next year Tenafly High School will only award credit upon successful completion of a course. Therefore students taking 5 or 6 credit courses will receive credit only on their June transcript. Students are strongly advised to review their course selections for next year and the add/drop policy in the 2012-2012 Program of Studies.
College conferences are in full swing with the class of 2013.  Counselors have been busy meeting with our juniors to discuss the college selection process.  Helping our anxious juniors (and their parents) navigate the sometimes confusing maze of applications, college visits, SAT’s, ACT’s, Naviance, and the FAFSA has been a priority.  Helping to calm student nerves and assuage parent concerns is as important as the information we impart.   As counselors, it is wonderful to hear about the college campuses that our students have visited; it is equally interesting to hear their (and their parents’) opinion about the campuses.  Our students are very savvy about what it is that they are looking for in a college – they want the whole package: challenging academics, great dorms, quality food, engaging social activities, and a place to “call home” for those four very important years.
Mrs. Hourdajian was invited to attend a counselor fly-in workshop at the University of Tampa earlier this month. The campus has grown tremendously in the last few decades. The biggest academic growth areas have been Marine Biology and Business, especially International Business. This mid-size school seeks independent students who will take advantage of the excellent mentoring and internship opportunities. Tampa is an easily accessible and “safe” city, with a vibrant cultural life, great climate – and a 30-minute drive to the beach!
Mr. Santoro, Ms. Thomas and Ms. Weisfelner will be visiting numerous schools over the next several weeks. We are always ready to share our knowledge about the college process and look forward to our College Night for Parents of Juniors slated for Thursday March 29th, 2012.
As the process gets under way for the Class of 2013 some in the Class of 2012 are still anxiously awaiting a response. Colleges and universities release their admission decisions by April 1st. Students have until May 1st to send in their deposits. It is unethical to submit a deposit to more than one college. In order to make their final decision, seniors should revisit the campuses of their top choices and take advantage of “admitted student days” and other open houses. Counselors are available to help guide this decision process if necessary. All seniors need to notify the guidance office about where they will be attending in the fall.
Student Support Services
TEENS AND SOCIAL MEDIA
In helping teens to navigate the challenges of adolescence, a concern that is often raised is how can parents help to monitor their children’s use of social media. In addition to the normal social pressures of high school life, adolescents today have to contend with the cyberworld. Facebook and Twitter have become de facto teenage culture. Some statistics indicate that teens spend as much as half of their day on these sites. Although the use of social media sites can provide greater access to information and increased socialization and connectedness to one’s peers, sometimes simple adolescent problems can mushroom when gossip, hurtful messages or rumors (often sent anonymously) spread rapidly throughout these sites. Too much time spent on media sites can have a negative effect on a teen’s emotional well-being and may lead to anxiety, depression or social isolation. Dr. Brian Primack, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine explains, “Technology is an extension of what goes on in the real world. Bullying was around before the Internet, but cyberbullying makes it easier.” (Health.com: 3/28/11)
On her blog “How to Prevent Bullying and Monitor Kids’ Online Activity” (2/12), Dr. Michele Borbin, NBC’s renowned parenting expert, advises parents to teach their children to communicate online with others with respect, just as they would in person. She believes that parents must warn their children that inappropriate online activity can result in serious consequences. Dr. Borbin offers several tips for parents – her “6 P’s of Internet Safety”:


  1. Parent Presence – Let your children know that you will monitor their online activity. Dr. Gwenn O’Keefe, CEO and editor-in-chief of Pediatrics Now suggests that parents have a Facebook account and that they “friend” their children.(Health.com:3/28/1




  1. Public – Remind your children that the computer is public. Anything they post is for all to see.

  2. Posts – Advise your children that once something is posted, it is forever recorded. Future employers, college admissions officers, etc. may access that information.

  3. Privacy- Encourage your children to keep passwords secret from everyone but you. Remind them never to give out personal information to someone they meet on line.

  4. People – Warn your children to never meet anyone in person that they have met only online.

  5. Please – Please insist that your children tell you or a trusted adult if they feel that they are being cyberbullied or if anything occurs online that makes them feel uncomfortable.

Dr. Borba suggests that parents limit their children’s daily Internet usage; that they frequently monitor online activity by “walking by” while their children at the computer or on other electronic devices; that they periodically review personal posts, texts and e-mails for inappropriate activity and that, if necessary, they contact the social website and request that the page be taken down.


Education and awareness are key when dealing with adolescents and social media. Teens need to learn how to use Internet sites appropriately and communicate in an acceptable, respectful manner with others. Although parents cannot be omniscient regarding their children’s online activities, they can set boundaries and help to guide them in making good decisions about their use of technology.
Additional information regarding the NJ Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights and our district policy may be found on our district website.

Attendance Office
As we begin the final marking period of the school year, please be mindful of our attendance policies and procedures as outlined in the THS Tiger Q which can be found on the THS website. Please remember that students are limited to 9 absences per semester, not including college visits, field trips, religious holidays or bereavement. Parents are reminded to check the parent portal to monitor their child’s absences and/or tardies to classes. Again, please call the Attendance Office at 816-6625 before the school day begins to report your child’s absence or late arrival that day. Absences unverified by a parent or guardian will result in cuts. Students who receive 3 class cuts in any particular course or who exceed our attendance threshold will risk losing credit in that course.
The Tenafly High School prom is scheduled for Thursday, June 7th. On June 7th, all students attending the prom must be in full attendance prior to being dismissed from school that day to attend the prom. Absences from school on June 8th will count toward the 9 day absence limit.
If you have any questions concerning your child’s attendance, please do not hesitate to contact our Attendance Office.

If you have an opportunity to visit our Attendance Office, please take note of the Tenafly tiger spirit in the inspirational signage designed by our THS Art Club.



A MESSAGE FROM THE THS HOME SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
Happy spring! The following is some brief news from the THS H.S.A.

 
Sticks and Stones Screening (Wednesday, 5/2):  Mark Your Calendars: On Wednesday, May 2nd at 7:00 p.m. in the THS Library Media Center, the THS H.S.A., in conjunction with the Tenafly Public School District and the THS Student Assistance Counseling program, will host a screening of Sticks and Stones, a moving film about the dangers of cyberbullying. A trailer for the film can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb4AA1hv4YE. The screening will be followed by a brief discussion with Andy Yaeger, Counselor at Park Ridge High School, who was involved with the creation of the film. The event is free of charge and all parents are strongly encouraged to attend. (Please note: this screening will replace the H.S.A. meeting previously scheduled for May 3rd).


If you have any comments or questions for the THS H.S.A., please send us an email at THSHSA@aol.com. Your input and involvement are important to us.
Naomi Waltman and

David Schussel

THS H.S.A. Co-Presidents

(THSHSA@aol.com)


THANK YOU FROM THE H.S.A.
Many thanks to the H.S.A. Olympics Committee for doing such a spectacular job on this year’s luncheon. The faculty and staff greatly appreciated all the hard work and effort of the many parent volunteers. Our deepest gratitude to our fabulous committee chairs who did a great job organizing and executing the luncheon: Helene Berenbaum, Kim Halman, Nadia LaMastra, and Susan Suchoff Hershbein.
Our kudos to the following families who contributed food or money to help make the event a success (we apologize in advance if we inadvertently left anyone’s name off the list):
The Alpert Family, The Aronson Family, The Basista Family, The Berenbaum Family, The Bolkin Family, The Brisman Family, The Cadmus Family, The Dweck Family, The Furer Family, The Glasser Family, The Grossman Family, The Gurland Family, The Halman Family, The Herrmann Family, The Icliyurek Family, The Kang Park Family, The Kiselev Family, The LaMastra Family, The Mackler Family, The Mayerson Family, The Nachum Family, Joon Sung Oh and Family, The Rocco Family, The Rosato Family, The Rubach Family, The Schults Family, The Schussel Family, The Simotas Family, The Small Family, The Steiner Family, The Stern Blady Family, The Strompf Family, The Suchoff Hershbein Family, The Tomizawa Family, The Tucker Family, The Vidra Family, The Waltman Family, The Waxman Family, The Wiecek Family, The Weingast Family, The Zingler Family




Directory: modules -> groups -> homepagefiles -> cms
modules -> Final accepted manuscript published in Atmospheric Pollution Research, October 20, 2015, doi
modules -> Information assurance program manual table of contents
modules -> Paralympic Sport Information
modules -> This project has been funded with support from the European Commission (226388-cp-1-2005-1-de-comenius-c21). This publication reflects the views only of the authors
modules -> New Zealand crews qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics regatta in all 10 events
modules -> Ορολογία στην Ξένη Γλώσσα Ενότητα: cad/cam & cnc παναγιώτης Τσατσαρός Τμήμα Μηχ. Αυτοματισμού ΤΕ Άδειες Χρήσης
modules -> Module specification
modules -> University of kent module specification template
cms -> Model school – visitor’s guide

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