Sociology & Global Ethics
Sociology & Global Ethics
By Sophia Di Domenico
(Video produced by Sophia DiDomenico and Hamilton Granger)
This year Comsewogue has a new class, Sociology and Global Ethics. Sociology is the study of the development, social life, and behavior of today’s human society. Global Ethics is questioning if there should be moral values everyone should follow, no matter the society they live in. Mrs. Fischetti connected these two subjects into a class for students to take during the year 2024, and further on.
A lot of people might be wondering why was this class made. Mrs. Fischetti said, “ We did not have any courses like it here at the high school and by studying sociology it helps us better understand different cultures, groups, and the workings of different societies. Global Ethics is a topic that is important to help us understand we all have an obligation to better society as a whole.”
Mrs. Fischetti decided to include many projects into this class, including projects on societies in other regions, and topics relating to students. Students researched topics such as, “What’s the driving age?” and “What sports do these students play in High School?”. The class has also done “Prison Projects”, learning about different prisons around the world. A fun project included in the class was different menus around the world. Students brought international food into class and learned different food etiquette.
Simone and Aidan, Seniors in Sociology and Global Ethics, explained how much they like the class. They both really enjoyed the international food project and learned more about food etiquette. Aidan said, “The class is a super fun class, and it helps me get a perspective on different cultures”
As well as Sociology and Global Ethics, Mrs. Fischetti also teaches Global 2; this helped to build a foundation for the new class. As well as Psychology, helping to explain why society interacts the way it does.
Sociology and Global Ethics is a good class to take if wanting to know more about society and global issues.
Photo property of Marissa Piombo
Video producted by Marissa Piombo and Matthew Pyzikiewicz
Mindfullness
Mindfullness
in motion
in motion
By Marissa Piombo
Photo property of Marissa Piombo
Mind and Body Wellness is a different type of gym class in Comsewogue High School; founded and taught by Ms Kidd. Mind and Body Wellness was created in the 2020-2021 school year and has been a huge hit.
Instead of playing sports this class focuses more on mental health and is based on fitness, nutrition, yoga, and journaling. It is very different from a regular gym class because in the gym we don't journal or meditate, it is mainly based on playing sports. We spoke to some students about how they feel about the Mind and Body Wellness class and the response is quite as we expected. Simone Puleo, a student we spoke to said she loves this class because “it is tight-knit and we all work together.” She also stated, “Journaling is my favorite because it makes me feel good”. We can see here that journaling can be very effective for the students' mental health.
We also spoke to student Emily Silva about her thoughts on the new gym class and she said “I wanted something different from regular PE because I am not the biggest athlete”. This gym class is for anyone. Students feel more comfortable in this class based on the evidence provided by 2 students currently enrolled in the class. The teacher Mrs. Kidd really enjoys teaching the class too; she says “I love teaching this class because I'm very passionate about the topic”. We believe you won't have a good experience in a class if the teacher isn't excited about it too so It's glad to hear Mrs. Kidd loves teaching it to make sure the students have the best experience.
Students can choose to opt into the class and take it instead of regular PE. The class is first opened to 10th-grade students and you can take it for the rest of high school. You still get the credits for gym needed to graduate when you take this class, you're basically getting credit to meditate and sleep. It's a win-win. The class is slow-paced and very revolved around the students and what they are comfortable with. They get a better understanding of mental health, nutrition, and how to better themselves. From all the information we have received, we can see that Mrs. Kidd's Mind and Body Wellness class is a fan favorite that students should all take advantage of.
Photo property of Mrs Kidd
Photo property of Mrs Kidd
Rock 'n' Roll High School
By Riley Candreva
History of Rock is an elective taught by Mr. Wilbur. Despite the name “History of Rock” the class covers a wide variety of genres including rock, pop, jazz, funk, hip-hop, and classical. During the class, Mr. Wilbur will play music videos, live performances, and interviews with the artists. So far, the class has done the heavy metal, grunge, Jimi Hendrix, and punk rock units. Which units are done are decided by the students who get to vote on what units they want to do.
This is a class that requires a teacher who really knows the subject and is passionate about the topic. Mr Wilbur was asked why he teaches the class. He responded “I thought it would be a very fun elective for the kids to take. To learn about the greatest music ever made. I teach it every day, we get to go really deep, and it’s just the most fun I’ve had”
The class is also beloved by all of the students who take it. Two students who took this class, Tom McGuire and Jacob Lapolla, were interviewed for this article. They were asked what their thoughts on the class were. McGuire responded, “I love it. I’m a huge music guy myself and learning about something that I’m super passionate about, especially what’s happened and the people who’ve made my whole experience with music amazing”. Lapolla responded, “I love it. The teacher’s great. I love learning about music. I’m a big fan of a lot of different types of music, so it’s nice being able to learn more about what I’m listening to.”
With half the school year left, there is still plenty of talk as to what units to do next. Mr. Wilbur, Tom McGuire, and Jacob Lapolla were all asked what units they would like to do next. McGuire responded, “We covered the grunge and heavy metal units before and it’s just amazing. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, a little bit of Janis Joplin in there, Metallica, that's all my stuff. I’m also really looking forward to the Piano Men unit with Billy Joel and Elton John.”
Lapolla responded, “I’m excited to cover the [David] Bowie unit. I’m very interested in his stuff and I want to learn about it. I’m a big fan of grunge. I was very happy learning about that.” Mr. Wilbur responded, “I’m actually very excited about every unit available and I have three years worth of stuff that I’m trying to jam into one year. So I’m very excited to teach whatever the kids want to learn about. I honestly don’t know what’s next and I don’t care”.
The class has decided to do the Beatles unit to kick off the new year but anything after that is up in the air. Some artists not mentioned here that are options are Queen, Radiohead, Led Zeppelin, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Video produced by Riley Candreva and Dylan McCumisky.
All photos property of Jim Stolworthy
Video produced by Emily Silva and Maeve Micheline.
All photos property of Comsewogue Business
Inside Virtual Enterprise
Inside Virtual Enterprise
By: Emily Silva
The much beloved virtual enterprise class at Comsewogue High School has become one of the most popular and interesting classes to take. With over one hundred students demanding to have it on their schedules next year, and wanting to get a glimpse of how the business world works. Virtual Enterprise has risen so much in popularity that many students have decided to take the prerequisite classes just to get an opportunity to be in VE. So with this popularity, many may wonder: What is so fascinating about Virtual Enterprise?
Virtual Enterprise is a class that is through an online experience where students are given the opportunity to form their own companies at school and then get the opportunity to sell their products to other companies within the VE world. Students then get to participate in both online and in-person trade shows where they not only try to sell their products to other students and network but they also get to compete in competitions! By taking Virtual Enterprise, students not only get to see what potential careers they might want in business but also get to have an advantage in an experience that other students might not get until college.
Virtual Enterprise runs like a real-life office system within the classroom. There's a CEO, COO, CMO, CFO, and CPO at the top of the company. Following that in the lower divisions are Human Resources, Marketing, Sales, Social Media, Finance, etc. The current companies at Comsewogue this year are Pampered Paws, Gimme Golf, K.O Combat, and Premier Lawns which are all performing fantastically.
The CEO of the company Pampered Paws is Michael Canudas. This was Michael’s first year in Virtual Enterprise. Michael says that being CEO has taught him that “It takes a strong mindset and drive of every employee to make the business work.”
Virtual Enterprise really allows students to form deeper relationships with each other in order to succeed and be successful with their competitions and trade shows. The CEO of K.O Combat Brandon Birmingham is also a first-time VE student with his company recently winning three awards at the in-person trade show Brandon shared his joy as CEO saying “Hearing K.O Combat being announced brought me such joy and made me feel like a proud CEO”. Earning awards comes with a great amount of effort and preparation from everyone involved within the company. Being the CEO to a bunch of high schoolers can seem a little scary to some, but not for Brayden Arias. Brayden is the CEO of Gimme Golf and he absolutely loves it! Brayden is a second-year VE student who previously held the COO position at his old firm Usecure. When asked why he chose to be CEO this year he said “It was just the perfect fit for me. I worked really hard last year and have a lot of knowledge on how to run a company so it was a no-brainer.” It's very cool hearing from a second -ear student's perspective especially knowing that becoming CEO comes with interviewing with the principal! Being CEO also comes with working with many different personalities which can be challenging to navigate. The CEO of Premier Lawns Aryana Spence gave a little insight into how she navigates with everyone despite having different points of view, “Honestly it's all about creating a close-knit group of chief officers and then working together to stabilize everyone else.” It's honestly very impressive to understand how teenagers treat their business like the real deal and work through problems just as if they were working an office job.
Mr.Ketter the teacher who runs the class has expressed how awfully proud he is of all his students. The class has been running for many years now and he chose to expand the business department at Comsewogue so students could have a better understanding of the business world, “I personally saw a lot of potential and thought the VE class would be a perfect elective for many students that are interested and want to learn more about business.” Over the years VE has expanded in so many ways here at Comsewogue and has allowed a lot of students to be better leaders, and have good presentation skills.
This Virtual Enterprise year is definitely off to a great start. We have had very successful firms, and most importantly kids have gotten the chance to get a lot of opportunities and be able to grow as people. Everyone who is excited to take the class next year should be because Virtual Enterprise is an amazing class!
Video produced by Donovan Hunt and Alexa Kallmeyer
Child Development class
Child Development class
By: Alexa Kallmeyer
In the child development class at Comsewogue High School, students work with robotic babies and do projects focused on different aspects of Child Development. They learn about how babies develop and the responsibilities of taking care of a child. This class was created by Ms. Hutter and Mr. Hall has made a huge impact on Comsewogue students.
Learning about the different stages of development, allows us to create a healthy environment for their physical, cognitive, and emotional growth. “We study different types of psychologists who have shaped our understanding of children and students get to take that point of view by creating projects to explore different haptics”, said Mr. Hall.
A popular project that the students enjoy is taking home their very own baby. The robotic babies are set up to cry until it is treated correctly.. “My favorite part about taking this class is taking home the robotic babies”, said Tristen and Damien.
This project is giving students the opportunity to learn how to care for and meet a child's needs, which is very important. This class is a huge benefit if you are looking to work with children as a future career. Jobs such as school teachers, babysitters, or even as a parent. “I really enjoy teaching this class, it allows me to teach kids the importance of caring for a child and to meet all of their needs,” said Ms Hutter.
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