EGO

SPIRIT WEEK

Throughout the week of October 12th through the 16th, the Eastchester High School celebrated Spirit Week. On Monday/Tuesday both cohorts wore pajamas, while on Thursday/Friday we wore eagle spirit. In the morning, EGO members gathered by the front entrance, playing music and dancing which set an amusing tone for the rest of the day. Though we were not awarded a pep rally, or a homecoming football game, the students of EHS came together to keep the spirit alive while still maintaining proper safety.


Candy Drive Highlights

This year EGO had another successful candy drive and raised over 220 pounds of candy. The sheer volume of the collection required boxes to be set up near the gym, front entrance, and cafeteria. For the entire week leading up to Halloween, the boxes were filled to the brim, and EGO officers and volunteers took multiple trips to carry and organize the treats. All of the candy is shipped to armed forces personnel abroad, as a thanks for all of their sacrifices and to provide an opportunity for them get into the Halloween spirit. Each EGO officer wrote a letter to a soldier, to thank them for everything they do for our country, which was a great way to wrap up such a worthwhile service activity!


Toy Drive

Each year, Eastchester High School’s Government Organization hosts an annual toy drive, which allows students to participate in community affairs. This year, EGO plans on amassing a large amount of toys- allowing for many less fortunate families to enjoy this holiday season. Many families cannot afford to purchase holiday gifts for their children, and often work overtime during the holidays. On behalf of the EGO, we request that everybody donates a toy, and help a family during these difficult times.

Government in Action

The EGO for excellence in keeping a strong and deep connection with the student body. As the digital world continues to evolve and become more implemented in our lives, the means by which the EGO connects to the student body must also evolve. As such, they have added three amendments to their constitution to fundamentally change their structure of communication to the student body.

The first amendment establishes an entire new branch of officers to the student led organization, known as the Videographers. The Videographers are tasked with creating short films to advertise upcoming school events, activities, or fundraisers. It is the hope that with the help of these film makers, the EGO can not only better advertise its events, but also build more of a direct connection to its students.

The second amendment creates a more active and streamlined string of social media accounts and establishes a new position to the EGO known as the Public Relations officer. The social media accounts will be created to, again, build a more direct connection between the organization and the student body. The Public Relations officer position has been created in order to serve as the head of all publicity relating to EGO. This officer is tasked with having a continuous idea flow relating to how to better publicize EGO and how to better connect with the student body.

The third amendment was put into place to better define the internal structure of EGO. It clearly defines exactly how an officer can propose an idea for an event, and how many approvals are needed by other officers.

It is the direct goal of these three amendments to have the EGO. better connect with its student body through more effortful publicity and through a more active involvement in the digital world.



WISE SPONSORS WANTED!

One of the capstone experiences of a high school student’s academic career is the opportunity to complete a 4-6 week WISE Internship at the end of his or her senior year. Each year over 200 students are placed in high quality, meaningful internships in career areas of interest. While EHS has one of the most robust WISE Programs in Westchester County, we need your help to continue to provide such a meaningful educational experience for our students. In a time when the number of available WISE sites has diminished due to COVID-19, it is more important than ever for members of our community to support this worthy program.

Please consider serving as a WISE Sponsor and hosting a HS Senior Intern at your workplace for 25 hours a week, for 4-6 weeks from May-June. Sponsors are needed in all areas (Business, Medical, Education, STEM, the Arts, the Trades, etc.) Students would be expected to follow all COVID protocols required by your organization. Please complete the WISE Sponsor Interest Form if you wish to serve as a Sponsor or would like more information. Please email the WISE Coordinator, Julie Meyers at jmeyers@eufsdk12.org with any questions.

Please consider volunteering to serve as a WISE Sponsor as so many have done already and will do for your children when they reach their senior year.


forensics fun with mrs. lockwood

Mrs. Lockwood's Forensic crime scenes go virtual! Students created a mock scene to present their reconstruction of evidence to the opposite cohort via Google Meets. Fully virtual students have a digital scene to sketch for practice.

Seniors Isabel Speropoulos & Nick Piro are pictured.



THE ART DEPARTMENT WELCOMES A VERY SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER

Announcing our first visiting artist lecture this fall... Alum Rebecca Rampersaud gave a virtual artist / entrepreneur talk on November 24, during 2nd period. Her bio / website is below.


Originally from New York, Rebecca Rampersaud is a designer in the Creative Industry. An Alumni of Eastchester Senior High School she took short courses at the Fashion Institute of Technology before studying at London College of Fashion (Course Representative), after a year studying in the UK Rebecca returned to New York where she took a short course at Parsons the New School and interned for designers (Hayley Paige, Olivine Gabbro) before continuing her education at Middlesex University in London graduating with a BA Honors in Fashion Design (Dean's Award for Outstanding Contribution, Student Voice Leader 3 Years) . After studying and interning (Julien Macdonald, Andrea Hawkes) in the UK she migrated back to the States where she worked for Brands such as Anthropologie and Aeropostale before migrating from Fashion Design to Creative Direction.


Published as a Creative Director, Art Director, Graphic Designer, and Photographer, she worked with Fashion, Jewelry, Skincare and Food brands on branding and content creation. Rebecca currently works as a Graphic Designer for PepsiCo and is in the middle of launching her own fashion brand Covn, based on creating customizable dresses made of eco-fabrics that are ethically manufactured.


https://www.rebecca-rampersaud.com/



ALUMNI IN THE NEWS

Many of you will remember Peter Watson, an Eastchester student who graduated five years ago.


Peter has continued to thrive, and has created a website for his beautiful paintings. His mission, as he writes on his website, is “selling art to raise funds for environmental organizations.”


Peter’s artwork, initiative, and mission are truly uplifting. If you’d like to look at some of his prints and help the environment, you can go to paintingsfortheplanet.com . These luminous prints will feel like a breath of fresh air during these stifling times.


Go Eagles!


Business Department News


  • Guest speaker in Business Law class--One of the Assistant District Attorneys from the Westchester County Courthouse presented the inter-workings of their business/financial crimes unit. The ADA provided examples and shared case law that she prosecuted at the state level. She additionally emphasized how the everyday citizen can protect themselves from financial scandals.


  • Guest speaker in Investing and Finance class-- A Family Wealth Director from Morgan Stanley presented information regarding financial goals; investing in stocks, mutual funds, bonds; risk, return, diversification; and answered any questions that the students presented. This invaluable experience provided an opportunity to learn about investing from someone in the profession and strengthened the students' interests in the field.


  • The Investment and Finance Club is now up and running! It is never too late to join! The club will be electing their officers in the coming week! The club meets every 2 weeks to discuss current events, strategies for investment, and anything else related to the business field! Students use a simulation called, "The Stock Market Game", which is currently available until April. Students build a fictitious portfolio based on $100,000 and practice investing as if it is their money.


Virtual All State Ensemble

Two Eastchester High School Seniors have been chosen to participate in the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) All State Festival.

Over 7,000 student musicians from across the state compete for a spot in one of the eight All-State ensembles. Trombonist Michael Fang and violinist Kyoko Saito were both accepted into the All-State Symphonic Orchestra. This is Michael’s second year at All-State and Kyoko’s first year. The festival will be held virtually.

“Participating in such a prestigious event benefits our students significantly,” said Eastchester Band Director and Music Department Chair Mark Dodge. “While we wish our students could meet fellow musicians and perform to an in-person audience, the experience still offers an opportunity to learn and play challenging material.”

Orchestra Director Katelyn Odierna also congratulated both students. “We are very proud of Kyoko and Michael who are both fantastic musicians! Over the years we’ve had the pleasure of watching them grow and flourish. We look forward to their All-State performance.”



Trombonist, Michael Fang

Violinist, Kyoko Saito

ENGLISH 9 AND THE LIBRARY EXPLORE WATERSHIP DOWN

Andrea Yahia’s ninth grade English class worked with librarian Nancy Brown to analyze a variety of presidential campaign posters from 1880-2008 using the primary source analysis format developed by the Library of Congress.

“The students designed their own campaign posters for Hazel in Watership Down,” says Andrea. “This exercise gave them the tools to critically think about what features they needed to include to create an effective message, and, because Richard Adams’ 1972 novel portrays an allegorical band of rabbits founding a new society, it allowed them to explore ideas about leadership and community in a way that was free from the potential divisiveness of the U.S. elections.”

“Primary sources allow students to think about history and society in ways that can be personal and engaging,” Nancy says. “We discussed each poster in terms of the choices that the artist or candidate made, and how those related to the themes and characters of the novel. What makes it really fun and exciting is that every time a class analyses an image or a document, the students always discover something that I haven’t thought of.”



Jazz Co.

Jazz Co. is back and better than ever! Our dancers are back on their feet this fall with virtual classes spanning from African to Ballet to Hip Hop. Dancers along with choreographers are getting creative with new and fun pieces hopefully to be broadcasted to our Eastchester community in these next coming months. Jazz Co. is working hard and dancing even harder to keep this year exciting and full of movement, even inside our own homes. All Jazz Co. members are as enthusiastic as ever to finally be dancing again and eventually show our community what we’re brewing. Despite the pandemic and all the curveballs that have been thrown at us during this crazy year, Jazz Co. is still moving, learning, and all that jazz.



MATHEMATICS HONOR SOCIETY VIRTUAL INDUCTION

The New York State Mathematics Honor Society Virtual Induction took place on Monday, November 23rd at 7:00 pm. Fourteen students were inducted into the 2020 class. Dr. Capuano and Dr. Blair provided inspirational speeches to open the ceremony, followed by short speeches from each of the inductees.

Requirements for the inductees were to maintain above a 90 in their math classes and above an 85 on their overall averages through the end of last year. Additionally, all members consistently tutored students from Nov 2019 through March 2020.

Mrs. Barbara developed a new, technology based requirement for all prospective members, required them to create a video teaching a topic that is covered in either Algebra I , Geometry or Algebra II to assist struggling students.

2020 Inductees :

Lianna Boiano Frank Capasso Cameron Clark Caroline Coughlin

Kara Fendrich Klei Hysaj Eloic Lacomme Lauren Mazzella

Miriam Nefesh Daniel Orlando Cindy Pepaj Anna Racioppo

Kanta Sakabe Daniella Schneider




League title for Girls' varsity tennis

Although 2020 has been a year upended by so many changes, the Girls’ Varsity Tennis team was able to reclaim some normalcy in their year by participating in the full Girls Tennis season. While we began the season a month later than usual and were beset by a few quarantines, the team showed its true colors by winning the League title again. We also sent a doubles team off to our modified sectional tournament, senior Sophia Lotto and 8th grader Grace Sheehan. While they were not able to make it to the finals, they did win their first round match against some tough competitors from Rye. Finally, Freshman Selma Petrie crushed her opponents in the singles bracket to win the tournament for the Eagles. Congratulations to Selma and to all of the Eagles who played on the team this year!




Freshman, Selma Petrie

The Players Club is turning the stage lights back on!


After the heart break of canceling last year’s Spring Musical, the EHS Players Club is excited to be rehearsing again. The cast of 11 is meeting four days a week online, preparing, "The Winter Comedy" (the play formerly known as, "The Fall Comedy").

The as of yet unnamed production is breaking new ground for the club. Rather than their traditional two act comedy, this year’s show is comprised of 10 very short, very funny plays. Currently, The Players Club is looking towards presenting the evening as either a series of limited capacity, socially distant, live performances, or a highly produced YouTube premier. While an exact date has not been set yet, they are targeting late January for opening night.

Additionally, the club is spearheading a special winter project with the music department and Eagle Media Video productions for release before the holiday break.


Giving Thanks: Powerful Words of Wisdom

A proverb is a simple saying that shares powerful words of wisdom. Some of the earliest known proverbs trace back thousands of years ago to Mesopotamia. In anticipation for Thanksgiving, Mr. Manganiello’s global history class discussed the power of proverbs and the timeless wisdom they share. Students were required to choose an ancient proverb, interpret its meaning/message, create an illustration, and connect the message to their personal life experiences. It is customary to share with those around the dinner table, what we are thankful for. With that tradition and the challenges we have all faced during the pandemic in mind, Mr. Manganiello encouraged his students to share their work with their loved ones on Thanksgiving.




Teacher Helps Promote Toys For Tots By Eating The World's Spiciest Tortilla Chip


On Wednesday November 23 2020, Michael Goldstein spiced things up for the Thanksgiving holiday by owning up to his promised incentive to eat the world's spiciest tortilla chip if all his students submitted their film projects on time with no mistakes. Additionally, he helped to bring awareness to the EGO's Toy For Tots fund drive. It was extraordinary to note that this was the first time in Mr. Goldstein's career that all of his students' projects were in on time. It seems as if there is a strong correlation between incentives where teachers risk danger and the completion of assignments!


View video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh4XCdNC3bY&t=7s