Embedded Files
UPCOMING EVENTS
UPCOMING EVENTS
Jake Ortiz is a Cayuga Native who grew up on a reservation outside of Buffalo, NY. He will visit and talk about his people and their customs, and if we are lucky, he will sing some traditional songs in his native tongue.
Scott Laudati is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominated poet and writer. He will visit to discuss his work and write poems with students about everyday life and the things that matter to us.
Colleen AF Venable is a YA and children's author as well as New York Times bestseller. She has written the LGBTQIA+ graphic novel Kiss Number 8 and is writing the ongoing Katie the Catsitter, both of which we have in the library.
2024-2025 School Year Event Pictures
Photography Trip
Photography Trip
Mr. Bastien and Mr. Sarkowicz took our budding photographers to LaGuardia Community College on Monday, October 21st, 2024. While there, students learned about the science and math behind photography and were allowed to experiment with multiple cameras. Additionally, our shutterbugs staged a photo shoot, working with lighting and also developed their photos in a professional darkroom.
Fall Festival Reading Trip
Fall Festival Reading Trip
Maxwell students visited PS7 in Cypress Hills to read Ten Little Pumpkins to kindergarten classes on October 25, 2024. In addition to the reading, they helped the elementary school children celebrate autumn by escorting them into the pumpkin patch to pick a pumpkin and decorate it as well as gave the children temporary tattoos and helped them color their gift bags. A good time was had by all, and we will be going back in December for Winter Wonderland!
Japanese Press Interviewing Our Students
Japanese Press Interviewing Our Students
On Monday, October 28, 2024, NHK Media, the Japanese Associated Press, came to record footage of Mr. Sarkowicz and his students discussing last year's event where Hiroshima survivor Mr. Mimaki visited Maxwell and shared his life experiences. Mr. Mimaki belongs to a group that has fought for peace and against atomic and nuclear weapons for decades, and they are now the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE winners for 2024! This is incredible news, as Maxwell was the ONLY high school visited in the USA this year, and it is the last trip to America Mr. Mimaki will make due to his advancing age. Mr. Sarkowicz and select students were also interviewed one on one, and all of this footage will be aired across the entire country of Japan when Mr. Mimaki and his cohorts officially receive the award in a ceremony.
Jake Ortiz Vanevery
Jake Ortiz Vanevery
On November 15, 2024, Jake Ortiz Vanevery visited the library to discuss his heritage as a Cayuga Native American with our students. Jake explained how the 5 nations came together at the convincing of Hiawatha, and he shared some songs in the Cayuga language that were celebrations of all things in the natural world. Jake also introduced the Robin dance, demonstrating how women in the culture would shuffle their feet while keeping them firmly planted on the ground to show their connection to the Mother Earth. Students got a short but highly informative course in Cayuga culture for Native American Heritage Month.
Author COLLEEN AF VENABLE visits.
Colleen AF Venable came to discuss her new graphic novel, The Swayze Years. The premise of this book is that sometimes it takes a while to discover what you are great at doing or to be a success as what you love. Actor Patrick Swayze didn't gain true fame until 35, late in life by many people's standards. Colleen shared her own road and the obstacles she encountered, many failures along the way, until she finally came to her current age (never ask a woman her age --ha) where she could quit working and become a full time writer! She offered advice on becoming a writer as well as explained why it is important to never give up. Success can come at any age.
Colleen AF Venable came to discuss her new graphic novel, The Swayze Years. The premise of this book is that sometimes it takes a while to discover what you are great at doing or to be a success as what you love. Actor Patrick Swayze didn't gain true fame until 35, late in life by many people's standards. Colleen shared her own road and the obstacles she encountered, many failures along the way, until she finally came to her current age (never ask a woman her age --ha) where she could quit working and become a full time writer! She offered advice on becoming a writer as well as explained why it is important to never give up. Success can come at any age.
WINTER WONDERLAND AT PS 7
WINTER WONDERLAND AT PS 7
Maxwell students helped spread holiday cheer by, once again, visiting Public School 7 in Cypress Hills and reading Elf to second graders. This visit was extra special as one of our students played Santa and another dressed as his elf, and this dynamic duo visited over 100 classrooms, delivering each child a present. The younger grades experienced the magic of the holiday and greeted Santa with roars of joy and laughter.
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