February 18, 2022

Around the Building

Room 310 Gets a Makeover!

Before

After

Room 310 at the high school just got a HUGE makeover! Many parents and students have had the experience of either a class or a club meeting in the huge room with the tiered stairs, the former chorus room of the original RHS footprint. Jeff Nyhuis generously funded this impressive upgrade out of the building's annual budget for classroom renovations. Stefanie Gigante and Amy Mason, whose Latin classes and clubs use the space primarily, worked with the furniture company to design the space. The resulting product is incredible, incorporating larger desks that can accommodate Chromebooks and notebooks, soft seating for a relaxed work environment, standing desk options, and infinite possibilities for collaboration. The teachers and students are deeply grateful to Mr. Nyhuis for creating this amazing opportunity for Room 310!

ELA Participates in African American Read-In

English classes at RHS participated in the National African American Read-In (AARI) on February 15th. AARI is a groundbreaking effort to encourage communities to read together, centering African American books and authors. It was established in 1990 by the Black Caucus of the
National Council of Teachers of English to make literacy a significant part of Black History Month.

Students in Ms. Tolve and Ms. Richards' English 10 classes looked at Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise." The poem was chosen in conjunction with broader lessons on social justice, including writings by Bryan Stevenson. The work ties in with the classes' exploration of the historical fiction novel, The Kitchen House.

Mr. Rathgeber's English 9 and LWV classes read Richard Wright's autobiographical sketch, "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow." They worked in small groups to create response-and-analysis webs on poster-paper. The groups explicated the text by identifying relevant quotes, noting imagery, and jotting personal reflections. Groups then shared-out their findings to the class. This reading was selected for the National African American Read-In because it supplemented the Of Mice and Men unit the classes are currently engaged in, widening their historical and racial understanding of Steinbeck's character Crooks.

Juniors in Ms. D'Elia's class watched Amanda Gorman recite her poem about the pandemic, "The Miracle of the Morning." Students also read and listened to Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise" and Clint Smith's poem, "what the cicada said
to the black boy."

Classroom Happenings

MET Trip

On Tuesday, February 15th, Mr. Cronk and
Mrs. Gigante took their AP Art History and Latin IV students to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The classes worked on a group project teaching each other about classical Greek & Roman sculpture and searched the Museum for AP Art History images.

Walt Disney World Trip

Students from Advanced Marketing and Merchandising Level 1 and 2 and Architecture 1 and 2 went on an exploratory study of Walt Disney World in Florida, to research theme park design. There, led by Karen Mendez and Paul Cronk, the students were taken on educational programs behind the scenes talking with real Walt Disney Imagineers. Students also observed transitions between areas, the use of the senses in building atmosphere, and the incorporation of Disney’s core principles in every aspect of the parks, hotels, and transportation. The students would like to thank all of the chaperones, and everyone responsible for offering this awesome educational experience. Upon returning home, the students in each class shared their primary research with their classmates and are working on the design process for the theme park redesign project. Architecture students have created ride concepts and the Advanced Marketing students are working on the branding and merchandising elements. By the end of the school year, students will have created models of the redesign and an integrated marketing campaign to launch the new area/updates.

Student News

National Society Daughters
of the American Revolution

Isabella Harelick was the winner of the Saddle River Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Good Citizen and Scholarship contest. She then went on to compete against all other chapter winners and won the State competition for the DAR. It is the first time the Saddle River chapter had a candidate who won at the state level. Isabella will now be entered in the National competition representing New Jersey!

The DAR Good Citizens Program and Scholarship Contest is intended to encourage and reward the qualities of good citizenship. The student selected as the DAR Good Citizen must have the qualities of dependability, service, leadership and patriotism. Congratulations, Isabella!

Pictured from left to right: Mr. Nyhuis, Ms. Turano, Isabella Harelick, Mr. Bailey

National Merit Scholarship Finalists

Seniors, KRISHA ANANT and LYDIA HAN, have been named finalists in the 2022 Competition for National Merit Scholarships. To be considered for the Finalist level of the competition, students must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the high school principal, and submit SAT scores that confirm the earlier PSAT/NMSQT performance.

Pictured from left to right: Mr. Nyhuis, Ms. Salerno, Lydia Han, Krisha Anant,
Ms. Alpaugh, Mr. Bailey

Clubs

Maroon & White

On February 17th , the 2nd Maroon & White Exhibition of the season featured talented student musicians (pictured below) and beautiful and inspiring artwork. The concert was enjoyed by a large and enthusiastic crowd in the Learning Commons followed by
a reception with refreshments in the Carroll Art Gallery.

Maroon & White Musicians

Pictured left to right are:

Paul Nasr, Zack Boesch, Ashley Kim, Olivia Grace,
Michelle Hashem, Spurthi Setty, & Aditya Udeshi.

Not pictured: Andreas Pelekis.

Maroon & White Artists

Pictured is a sampling of the artistic work by Kate Minn,
Grace Park, Johnna D’ecclesiis,
Hannah Kim, Christina Huang & Julia Sands.

DECA

RHS DECA students practice their impromptu role plays and paper presentations during a recent prep night. Students are required to attend at least one session of practice to ensure they are better prepared for the upcoming competition.