FRIDAY FALCON
December 2019 - Volume 1:1
PRINCIPAL'S NEWSLETTER
Dear AHS Community,
Welcome to the return of the Friday Falcon. I want to acknowledge and thank Kelly Tubridy for putting this in motion. You can expect the Friday Falcon on the first and third Friday of each month.
Families of 2020 graduates save the date: Wednesday, June 17, 2020, 5:30 PM. Public Act No. 19-195 allows the Board of Education to set a graduation date, not earlier than the 180th school day of the originally approved school calendar. As result, the Avon BOE approved the graduation date of Wednesday, June 17, 2020. Regardless of the number of snow days, graduation will take place on this date. The school year for all other students will continue to be 180 school days.
Two snow days earlier this week means the new last day of school is now pushed out to Tuesday, June 16, 2020 .
Yesterday Shawn Elizabeth George presented "Our Struggles Have Purpose" to the AHS students and staff. Shawn is an AHS graduate, town resident, mother of three, former health and PE teacher, volunteer, published author, and presenter. Shawn's message focused on two main messages. "Our struggles can be used as stepping stones to help us to rise up into our best self, and help others do the same." (The story behind the safe resources we had printed on AHS IDs.) The origins of Mental Health Matters, a group of concerned people in the community who are working to make resources available to those in need. Shawn shared her story of several challenges she has faced and her approach to work at handling those challenges.
Thank you to all who supported the SOUPer Bowl! Your efforts led to Avon beating out Simsbury this year in our respective support of local food banks. The friendly competition allows each community to remind us of the need of some of our families.
Quick Links: Easy access to information.
· Each day the AHS Daily Bulletin is emailed to all students and posted to our website.
· PTO Parent Teacher Organization
· Booster Club for athletics.
· FAME Friends of Avon Music Education
· CIAC schedule: Interscholastic sports teams. Once on the site, click on “Schedules” at the top of the page and follow the instructions.
Avon Honors All Who Served
On November 11th , we honored our veterans at the annual AHS Veterans Day assembly, organized by Mrs. Mascoli and Mr. Brochu. Veterans from Avon's GILDO T. CONSOLINI VFW Post 3272 were honored with a luncheon, and members of the senior class, pursuing military options after high school, joined the veterans. Following the luncheon, students and staff attended the school-wide assembly. VFW Commander, Col. Roy Walton delivered the opening message and Ms. deGolzzaldi, former Commanding Officer of Helicopter Training Squadron EIGHT, was our guest speaker. The AHS bands played the Star Spangled Banner and Camerata singers sang America, The Beautiful. It was a wonderful way for our school to pause during the school day, and take time to pay our respects to those who’ve served.
- Please remember that there is NO PARKING OR DROPPING OFF in the front circle of the high school. This is a FIRE/EMERGENCY ZONE. Drop off is behind the building in the morning and if you are picking students up during the day you MUST park in the VISITOR lot.
- Spirit Wear is sold in front of the cafeteria, every Wednesday between 10:30am and 12:30pm. Cash or checks made out AHS Booster Club are accepted. Contact Nicole Leavens at nicoledlox@gmail.com with any questions.
NURSE'S CORNER
- As we head into cold and flu season your friendly AHS Nurses would like to remind parents that we do NOT stock cold or allergy medication. If your child has an upper respiratory infection please administer cold or allergy medication at home before school starts. Furthermore, we are unable to administer Tylenol if a parent or guardian has not filled out the E Collect form on Powerschool under "Health History/Medication Administration" or passed in a "blue" Emergency card.
- LOST AND FOUND!!!! Please remember to check the Lost and Found in the Nurse's Office. All unclaimed items will be donated after the Winter Break.
Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season!
Ms. Lane and Ms. Twohig
EVENTS AND HAPPENINGS
CONGRATULATIONS DUE!!
STATE CHAMPS!!!
AHS Happenings...
Avon High School's Student Government once again participated in the Jack Bannon Turkey Trot Thanksgiving Food Drive, sponsored by Foodshare. Students collected money which they used to purchase frozen turkeys for sixteen families in the Farmington Valley. To encourage donations, faculty and administrators volunteered to wear some unusual styles of facial hair for a day (students voted on the beard styles they wanted to see when they made their donations).
From left to right: Mr. Pellegrino (the Tony Stark); Mr Dyer (the Franz Josef); Mr. Schumacher (the Elvis); Mr. Tinker (the horseshoe moustache); Mr. Dridi (the Honest Abe); Mr. Mooney (the Klingon); Mr. Renkawitz (the Wild West).
- Next Friday, Dec 13th is PJ Day - Thousands of children each year spend days, weeks or longer in PJ’s at the hospital while receiving care. PJ Day for the Kids will help us show our support for brave kids!
Avon High School students & staff are encouraged to wear PJ’s to school in honor of kids at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Wear your pjs and make a donation. Donations will be collected in front of the cafeteria, at lunchtime on Friday, December 13th
Avon High School Theatre
The Avon High School Theater Department, lead by Ms. Paterson, presented "The Dining Room" over the weekend of November 15. Please see the link below for fabulous pictures of the performance.
The Avon High School Theatre Department is holding auditions for their spring production of Shrek the Musical on January 2nd and 3rd from 2:30 - 5:30pm. Questions can be directed to Theatre Teacher Jill Paterson at jpaterson@avon.k12.ct.us. Shrek will be presented in the Avon High School auditorium on Friday and Saturday, April 24th and 25th, at 7:30pm and Sunday, April 26th at 2pm.
Avon PTO
The AHS PTO would like to extend a huge thank you to Valerie Gordon for presenting her workshop, "Everyone has a story, Learn how to tell yours!" at AHS on 11/21. We received a lot of positive feedback and thank Val for sharing her strategies with our community. Thank you also to all of the families that attended.
The PTO One & Almost Done fundraiser has officially come to a close. We had a strong final push with numerous people making donations during conferences. Thank you so much to all of the families that donated this year. We will announce the final amount raised at the next PTO meeting and on our Facebook page. Be sure to join our page, Avon High School PTO (CT), if you haven’t already. Even though the fundraiser is officially over, if you forgot to donate, we will always accept donations of any amount at any time!
Project Graduation
Project Graduation 2020 Update - Although it's not exactly time for graduation, our Project Graduation Committee (part of the PTO) is already busy planning and fundraising for the end of year party. It’s a big undertaking and we could use all the help we can get. Whether you are interested in planning, decorating, running errands, fundraising, or simply helping out the night of the party, there is something for everyone. It’s a late night drug-and-alcohol-free party for our seniors that’s held the night of graduation. We provide food, entertainment, games, and prizes until the wee hours of the morning. It’s a great night for the students to celebrate their Avon High School years before heading on to their next adventure and you don’t have to be a senior parent to help. In fact, underclass parents are preferred, especially the night of the party, as the senior parents are usually busy hosting family for their graduating senior. We meet at the school monthly and we would love to have you come and get involved. Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 19th at 7pm in the AHS Community Room. If you cannot come to the meeting but would like to help or learn more, you can email our chairperson Wanda Dawiczyk at wdawiczyk@comcast.net . Also, like our facebook page AHS Project Graduation and check it out for upcoming meetings, fundraisers and information.
- Please support Avon High School Project Graduation all day Tuesday, December 10, by dining in or taking out lunch or dinner at The Elephant Trail. Fresh Thai food is available for dine in or take out all day, and if you mention Project Graduation 20% of the sales will be donated to our all night graduation party. Mark your calendars and meet friends at The Elephant Trail on December 10. Thank you in advance.
FAME
The AHS Music Service Society is proud to have donated the proceeds of their November 8th Acoustic Night, $860, towards Avon's SOUPer Bowl win over Simsbury! Get in the mood for the holidays by attend our Orchestra Concert on Wednesday the 11th and our Choir Concert on the 18th.
IN THE CLASSROOM
World Language Department
FRENCH 3 - Ms. Brand
Congratulations to Aaradhya Kumar in Ms. Brand’s French 3. Aaradhya is the winner of the “Let's find French in our Books” Amazon gift card for Quarter 1. Among the finds were:
Je suis l'amour (Kings, Queens and Inbetweens, pg 159)
Bonjour êtes-vous malade? (Birthday, pg 38)
La mort est ici et ils ne sont pas pardonnés (Song of the Dead, pg 266)
Pamplemousse (Supermoon, pg 147)
Nous sommes des stars (we contain multitudes, pg 201)
AP SPANISH - Ms. Brand
The General Consul of Peru, José Eduardo González, presented on the topic of Alienation and Assimilation followed by a Q& A in the AP Spanish Language and Culture class , Thursday November 21. Le agradecemos muchísimo su visita!
AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE - Ms. Bravin
The ASL 1 classes learned about the significance of art as a medium to convey one’s culture and life experiences. Art that focuses on Deaf culture is called De’VIA (Deaf Visual Image Art). Students learned to make cards that actually sign “Thank you” and wrote special messages of thanks to give as a Thanksgiving cards to friends or family. Here are a few of the students showing their final piece.
Language Arts Department
FRESHMAN HONORS ENGLISH - Ms. Killelea
The beautiful pieces of art below were produced by Sandy Lu and Jack Calatayud (from left to right) from Ms. Killelea's Freshman Honors English class. The artwork illustrates several themes from The Odyssey.
Science Department
Life happens in the darndest places. Someone dropped a bean plant seed into the lab sink before break and this has sprouted! - Ms. Kane
Internship Department
After a highly successful summer with 65 student interns, the Achieve Internship program keeps growing with more and more placements every week. There are 33 student interns having internships this fall and winter. Some of the placements are DeManche Law, Avon Police Department, The Cancer Institute, Ironik Design, Jackson Labs, Star Meadow Animal Clinic, Berkshire Hathaway, AfterGlow and Bemis Associates (Engineering). We have begun to work with students who are interested in a spring internship. It is not too late for juniors or seniors to elect the internship class for a spring or summer internship in 2020. Please see Mrs. Brisco (office is in the library) for further details. - Ms. Brisco
Business Department
Entrepreneurship - Mr. Schrag
Students taking Entrepreneurship have all been diligently working on their businesses this semester. One group already held a charity basketball game between the varsity basketball team and teachers which raised over $400. Continue to support your fellow classmates as they embark on this entrepreneurial journey. Be on the look-out for more events coming up like "Battle of the Bands".
Mathematics Department
- Girls Who Code: The Girls Who Code Clubs Run on Monday Nights. Come join us to celebrate the national Hour of Code in Honor of Grace Hopper, the mother of computer programming.
3rd-5th grade from 5PM to 6PM
6th-12th grade from 6PM to 8PM
We meet every Monday in the Distance Learning Lab in the high school library media center. Come for the cookies stay for the code!
- Math Team: The Avon HIgh School Math Team is currently in first place in the Capital Area Math League after winning the first two meets of the 2019-2020 season. Wish the team well at for their continued success. The next meet is Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at Glastonbury. GO TEAM!
- AP Computer Science A: The AP Computer Science A classes are working on the last two of the four core concepts of Computer Science, conditionals and loops. At the beginning of using conditionals the truth is not always evident but with practice and implementation all becomes clear, With loops it often seems that programming can go on and on but memory is not limitless and programs will crash. No worries we are just practicing. - Ms. LaBrosse
Social Studies Department
Carl Wilkens, the only American to stay in Rwanda during the genocide in 1994, will be visiting and sharing his story with students in the Human Rights in a Modern World classes. He will be presenting to students and faculty on Wednesday, December 11. - Ms. Sanborn
Wellness Department
WELLNESS CLASS - Ms. Edwards
Wellness class special program with the Avon Police Department.
UNIFIED SPORTS
The Unified Sports program will start on December 16 with Farmington High School. Practices will be Monday and Wednesday. Through this program, special athletes join peer mentors and make friends with partnering with Farmington High School's students. Mr. Curtis and Mrs. Parsons welcome all students to participate in this winter's basketball program and join the fun be apart of amazing sportsmanship. - Ms. Parsons