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Pumpkins with character!
Pumpkins with character!
By Camila Perez
By Camila Perez
Video by: Camila Perez
The life skills class brought their creative abilities afloat on the occasion of Halloween. A Pumpkin Carving Contest was held among the students in the class, where everyone in the High School was encouraged to take part and vote for their favorite.
"This project has been going on for some years now that it has become a tradition," said Ms. Dornicik, teacher of the class. She also explained the objective of this activity: "the pumpkins are used as a sensory component. We open the pumpkins, we feel the seeds, take out the stuffing, and then, we worked on a project with Mr. Brown, who is our art teacher. They had to carve the pumpkins and pick their designs to really make it meaningful to them."
Some students in the class were eager to talk about their work process.
Mathew, the owner of one of the pumpkins stood out the most. Said, "First, I chose the face design. I chose this one because it looks fantastic. With help from my amazing art teacher Mr. Brown, I plugged out the eyes and the mouth. Then I painted it blue to resemble a superhero."
De Andre, the owner of a pumpkin with star eyes, said, "First, I imaged how to make a pumpkin with stars, then I carved the pumpkin, thanks to my teacher Mr. Brown who helped me out."
Julian, another student in the class, shared his pumpkin process. He said: "I cut the top of my pumpkin and took all the seeds out with my hand. That part was very yucky, and then I did my design. I think mine is the best."
After the carvings were done, the voting for the contest was communicated through the announcements. All high school members were invited to participate.
Billie's mud mask pumpkin and Anthony's tongue-out pumpkin were the most voted. However, we loved everyone's designs. The students had a lot of fun doing this activity to fuel their Halloween spirit, and we all enjoyed seeing the amazing job they did.
Internet Safety With Officer Grimes
Internet Safety With Officer Grimes
By Riley Candreva
Former NYPD detective Officer Grimes came to Comsewogue in November to hold an assembly in which he talked about safety on the internet. Officer Grimes was an experienced detective and officer with the NYPD. Currently, Officer Grimes works as a speaker with the NY Finest Speakers organization. This organization, which is mainly composed of retired NYPD officers, works with schools and other organizations to build awareness of internet safety.
Officer Grimes came to Comsewogue to hold an assembly, during which he told the students about how dangerous of a place the internet can be and how to stay safe while surfing the web. Officer Grimes talked about many facets of internet safety, including how to identify when you are being harassed, what to do if you are being harassed, and how to prevent yourself from getting harassed.
The assembly became a lot scarier when Officer Grimes showed real people who were harmed both mentally and physically due to online predators and cyberbullies. He showed a variety of people that ranged from average teens to popular TikTok influencers. This nailed in the message to the audience that being careless on the internet can have real-world consequences and that this could happen to anyone
I interviewed a student who was at the assembly and I asked her two questions. First, I asked her what her thoughts on the assembly were. She responded, “I thought it was pretty good because he mainly stuck it to us, especially with how many people have offed themselves, how it’s affected so many people, about how it can affect people in this school, [so] I thought it was pretty good.”
I then asked her if the assembly had affected the way in which she used the internet. She responded, “A lot of my privacy settings I already have on from personal experience because I was an idiot and left it public, but now everything’s private and I guess I’m more careful and more selective about who I call and stuff.”
Based on this interview, Officer Grimes’ assembly accomplished its goal of warning students of the dangers of social media and convinced them to be more careful online. The messages and warnings that Officer Grimes shared stuck with students after the assembly had ended and will likely continue to stick with them for years to come.
Bond Between Two Teachers and their Students
By: Haley Garafola
Everyone arrives at their first class of the day except for this one special class, Mrs.Dornick’s class. In this class, they spend most of their time in one room. This classroom consists of a kitchen, sinks, tables, and chairs, as well as a sensory room for the students to go to when they need to. They occasionally leave the classroom for classes like gym, art, lunch, and some other classes but not all students go together. In this article, we will have a closer look at Mrs.Dornick’s class and their relationships with Mr.Brown and their teacher Mrs.Dornick.
Since the start of high school Mrs.Dornick’s class has been like a tight-knit family. She loves what she does to help them prepare for the real world outside of high school. Her students care a lot about her and they make class interesting every day.
On another note, Mrs. Dornicik’s class had captured the heart of a very goofy, kind, outgoing art teacher. Mr. Brown was his name. Throughout this school year so far Mr. Brown and Mrs. Dornicik’s class has developed their bond a lot. The projects that he does with the students are fun, interesting, and creative. The students love them, they have a lot of fun working with Mr. Brown and Mrs.Dornicik. From observing her class, she engages with her students in multiple different ways.
She puts her students in small groups of either three or four and has them either working together or individually. After she presents her lesson she will go around seeing if any student needs help. She says encouraging words and each student has a little gesture or handshake that they and Mrs.Dornicik have.Mrs.Dornicik’s students who have captured the heart of a very goofy and kind art teacher Mr. Brown.
Let's take a look at their relationship. In an interview with Mr. Brown, he says, “My bond with Mrs.Dornicik’s class runs deep due to them just being themselves and not caring about what other people think”. And due to that he holds that deep bond with the students and that it doesn't mask their emotions like, “If they are happy they show it and if they are sad they show it”. He goes on to say that “I have two sons who have autism”.
Mr. Brown knows what these kids are going through in a school setting due to his sons. Mr. Brown also says “I am very involved in the autism community to help in any way I can”.
Overall, Mr. Brown and Mrs.Dornicik have very deep bonds with their students, and they care a lot about them.
in a class of its own
in a class of its own
by Alexandra Cross
Comsewogue High School offers an awesome Life Skills Class! The class is dedicated to managing time, emotions, communications, and much more. This class decided to participate in the Halloween fun in October and carved pumpkins. They had a contest on who was the best pumpkin carver.
Each student carved and decorated a pumpkin and put it out on display for the high school staff to vote on which was the best! The pumpkins really brought out these kids' inner creativity and fun! There were all different faces, some with smiley faces and some with their tongue out! They were colorful and very unique.
This class has a lot of fun and learned many different things within their classroom. They have Dory’s corner, which Matthew explained, it's exactly like working at a supermarket! You take task cards that have different brands with different numbers and the student's goal is to match the number of cards with each brand. This is a great life skill that is useful and beneficial in many situations.
On Thursday, January 12th, the skills class took a trip to Chick-Fil-A! They helped make 3 different salads, put them into the containers, and helped the staff clean the tables. The class enjoys going to Chick-Fil-A every week and helping out! This is an awesome experience for the skills class as they learn how to work at a real fast food place and will set them up for success later in life.
As we get older in life, we have certain skills we need to survive. This is what the life skills class is for! The class has a central station cart containing multiple skill stations that provide different skills to learn.
I had the amazing opportunity to interview Julian about one of these skills. This skill station had different screws connected to a wooden truck and they had to find the matching screwdriver that fits into the screw. They learn which way to twist the screwdriver to get the screw out and how to screw it back into the truck. Julian showed us another skill with multiple different locks. The goal is to find the number key that matched the number of the lock and unlock it.
I am so grateful I could observe the things they do, it was so insightful. Every single one of those kids is truly amazing! This is such an awesome class and I admire how they support each other, just like family.
Video by Alexandra Cross. Photos property of Anthony Ketterer.
Video by Tyler McGill. Photos property of Comsewogue High School
Power of Powderpuff
Power of Powderpuff
By: Tyler McGill
High school events are fun activities that students will remember for the rest of their lives. The Powderpuff game is one of those activities. A few girls from the junior class form a football team to beat the senior girls in a flag football game. Along with the football team, the junior and senior boys form a cheerleading team to perform at halftime.
It all started with the practices. The girls' team had a few practices before the game was set to happen in order to create plays and assign positions. With the help of the coaches, two varsity football players, the senior team was looking sharp and ready to win against the juniors.
However, the juniors held practices as well and were prepared to give the seniors a good fight. With the game about to begin both teams were fired up. They started their warmups with route running and it was clear the hard work had paid off.
Along with the two football teams, the junior and senior boys had also held cheerleading practices and were ready to compete against each other for a better routine. The practices were difficult but with the help of the varsity cheerleaders the cheer squads quickly became prepared and ready for the game.
Now finally the game had begun. The senior team was quickly advancing downfield and did a great job picking apart the junior defense. Unfortunately, the seniors were unable to land the ball in the endzone and in response the junior team quickly ran up the score.
Going into halftime the juniors had held the advantage with great chemistry and speedy plays. Now it was time for the cheer performances. The seniors went first and won over the crowd with fan-favorite songs and a great dance to accommodate the music.
Unfortunately, even with the great dance movements they lacked stunt sequences which the fans were eager to see. However, the junior team's routine held multiple stunt sequences with flying air time with a balance of a great dance and music selection. The crowd cheered for both cheer squads but it was apparent the juniors had won over the audience.
Not only did the juniors win the cheer competition, but the football game as well. We spoke to Mrs. Danisi about what the seniors could have done better. She said, “I think the seniors could have worked better as a team, maybe communicated a little more”.
The seniors were unable to come back against the juniors who quickly ran away with the game. In the end both teams had fun and had a great time at the event.
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