Summer 2024: Notes and Accolades

May 10 and 15- East’s Year 9s went on the annual horseshoe crab field trip at Long Pasteur. Here the students learned about the importance of horseshoe crabs, explored life on the coast, and participated in some community science by tagging the crabs for monitoring. A special thanks to the naturalist at Audubon of Cape Cod Below are some pictures:

East’s Collaborative Group Science Project

East’s Collaborative Group Science Project (formerly Group 4 Project) took place in May. Students worked across science disciplines to develop an investigation relating to one or more of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Below are some images from the day:

Counseling office East and West

Cape Cod 5 Bank came to 529 and taught Seniors from both East and West about real-life financial skills with a program called “Credit For Life”. Each student chose a career and based on that career, they received a “salary”. Students then proceeded through 10 stations where they had to choose housing, career wardrobe, transportation, healthcare and other tasks that mimic the realities of living and working as an adult. All while trying to maintain a balanced budget. After they completed all of the stations, they sat with a banker and received financial counseling to learn more about what to be aware of, both opportunities and pitfalls. Volunteers from the bank and Sturgis helped to make this event a very hands-on and practical experience. Students who came “dressed for success” were entered into a raffle to win gift cards to local eateries. The students were treated to breakfast and even more gift cards for correctly answering financial trivia. A huge thank you to our volunteers and Cape Cod 5 for this opportunity.

Senior Service Day (CAS Teams at East and West) and Senior Week

This wonderful annual tradition was again a great success. All seniors gave back to their community at a variety of locations around the Cape, including the Maritime Museum, the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Veterans Outreach, Resilient Roots, Family Table Collaborative, and multiple libraries.

Senior from both campuses also had the opportunity to participate in special activities for the senior class. They went to the Whydah Pirate Museum and mini golf, visited Camp Burgess, had a beach day, went to Provincetown, went to Boston to Boda-Borg and ended Senior week with a Cruise around Boston Harbor.

ELD East + West (Iona Masil & Alyssa Timoh)

In lieu of a final exam, English Learners in ELD plan and lead conferences with their family, their ELD teacher, and an additional teacher or staff member that they invite to speak to their academic performance and growth over the school year. Students spent their last ELD classes of the year planning these conferences by reflecting on their learning from the past year--including successes and challenges, English language development goals they have met and plan to work towards, and moments of pride and growth--and organizing their presentations. The students all selected pieces of work from a variety of classes to be used as evidence for their learning process over the year, and conferences took place during the last week of classes. Our students’ families loved the opportunity to hear directly from their students about their growth and performance, and, despite the natural nerves that our students feel beforehand, they enjoyed the opportunity to lead and participate in a discussion about their own learning. We are so appreciative of our students’ families for taking the time to participate in these conferences, the teachers and staff who also participate per students’ requests, and, of course, our students’ willingness to take risks and challenge themselves in this way.

April Break trip to London (East and West)

Over April break, Marsha Moynihan, Anna Botsford, Megan Briggs, and Meg Morris traveled to London, England with 25 Sturgis East and West students who love theater. The group saw four amazing performances (The Duchess of Malfi, A Mirror, Witness for the Prosecution, and Standing on the Sky’s Edge), traveled to Stratford-Upon-Avon, and visited so many other famous locations around London that it’s impossible to list them all here!

April Break trip to Germany and Switzerland (East and West)

32 students went on a sustainability tour to Berlin, Freiberg, and Lucerne. Students were exposed to 3 kinds of sustainability– environmental, social, and economic. Some highlights of the trip were students got to experience an urban garden, took a tour of Berlin’s graffiti art, visited the eco-district of Vauban, rode a cable car up to Mt. Titulus, took a hike in the Black forest, went sledding on a glacier, visited a protected biosphere, and made Flammkuchen (German pizza)!

Galapagos Adventure, Sturgis East and West

Over April break, 35 Sturgis students traveled with Kristine May, Zoe McInerney, Joel Tallman, Heather Murphy, and Robin Saudade to mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Students stood on the Equator in the Andes, hiked to the second-largest volcano caldera in the world, explored a lava tunnel cave, visited a tortoise breeding center, and snorkeled with sea lions, sea turtles, Galapagos penguins, and blue-footed boobies. It was quite an adventure!

Latin/History Departments (West and East–Dr. Wright, Mr. Bihl, Ms. Ward, Ms. Mecca, Mr. Churchill, Mr. Adams, Ms. Milligan)

During February break, members of the East and West Latin departments and history department led about 45 students to Rome and Pompeii–the latter a particular highlight for students. We also saw the Vatican, the Colosseum, catacombs, and the gardens of Castel Gandolfo. We finished the week with a pasta making class by the Pantheon.

Sturgis East & West Trip to Belize (Kaitlin Doherty, Rachel Todoroff, Stacey Reese and Stephanie Robinson)

During February Vacation 23 students from both campuses traveled to Belize on a STEM Ridge to Reef travel adventure. There were experiences and adventures for everyone to find something they shined in. Students had the opportunity to learn about lionfish as an invasive species, identifying and collecting nurdles, and snorkeling on Tobacco Caye as well as Snake Caye. Not only did we learn about all the important research people are doing on these marine reserves, but we also explored what other NGOs are doing to protect the rainforests. There was something for everyone! Towards the end of the trip we had some wonderful experiences learning about sustainable farming and eating a traditional Mayan meal prepared for by a Mayan women’s group. For the more adventurous and thrill-seaming traveler we zip-lined through the Belizean rainforest. Another highlight of the trip was learning how to play the drums led by a Garífuna drumming instructor. It was a trip of a lifetime for many and many travelers further developed their world views because of all the people and experiences we had while in Belize. If you haven’t traveled to Belize, we would all recommend you visit!

Field trip to Waquoit Bay National Estuary Research Reserve - Biology 9 (West)

As a part of our Ecology unit and as a great opportunity to learn more about connections between western science and indigenous traditions, all freshmen went on a ½ day field trip to WBNERR in East Falmouth on May 7th. Staff members from DCR, educators from the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and volunteers from the science community in Woods Hole, gave us an enriching experiential experience discovering more about ecological relationships and Wampanoag traditions and indigenous people’s approach to nature and living organisms. We also got the chance to do some seining in the water for living organisms and determine trophic levels and food chains in real time. In addition, students conducted water sampling tests related to ocean acidification, temperature, salinity and pollution, followed by discussion of how the fragile ecosystem in the bay is already affected by effects of climate change. We had a beautiful day in nice weather and hopefully we get the opportunity to come back next year!

Chemistry 10 - West (R. Saudade)

Students observe the properties of metallic bonds by heat-treating a metal bobby pin over a bunsen burner and either slowly (annealing) or rapidly cooling (hardening) the metal.

Multilingual Learner Department (East + West)

ELD & MLS students from both campuses visited the Boston Public Library for a curated visit to Teen Central tailored to our students’ multilingualism on Friday, May 17. BPL librarians gave our students a private tour of the Teen Central space (including a Makerspace Lab) and the World Language Collections before presenting a YA Recommendations Booktalk based on the interests and requests students shared beforehand. Each student also received a physical BPL card, and they were so excited to learn about this public resource available to them to create freely and conduct scholarly research in a way that capitalizes on their entire linguistic and cultural funds of knowledge. Of course, students were also amazed by the beauty of the library’s architectural design. Our multilingual students always appreciate having the opportunity to connect and reconnect with one another, and it was a particularly joyful day of celebrating multilingualism and fostering community between students with shared identity aspects. Thank you to the Boston Public Library and Teen Central for accommodating us and providing such a wonderful experience to wrap up the school year!

College Fair

On Thursday, March 21 over 45 colleges, universities and military institutions came to 529 for our annual college fair. Local community colleges, state colleges and universities from abroad were here to talk to over 300 of our Juniors and Sophomores about their application process, campus life, and academic expectations. It was very well attended and students walked away with brochures and lots of things to consider. At this time our counselors have also been meeting with our Juniors and some of their parents to talk about the college planning process and what to do after graduating from Sturgis.

English 10 (East)

Marsha Moynihan and Joel Tallman who teach English 10 at East recently ordered a new text for the sophomore curriculum: True Biz by Sarah Novic. The main character, Charlie, a 15-year-old girl with a faulty cochlear implant and dismal grades in public school, who enrolls in the fictional River Valley School for the Deaf, in a postindustrial Ohio city, after a judge's order in her parents' custody battle. There, Charlie finally learns to communicate through the use of sign language. While studying the novel, students have learned a lot about the Deaf community, learned some basic sign language (thank you, Stacey Locascio!), researched famous deaf people (picture 1 below), and created projects that included fictitious movie posters for the novel (picture 3 below). Most students didn’t know anything about Deaf culture and sign language before beginning this unit and have had a lot of fun learning about others in the world around them.

DEIB

Students from East and West attended the Barnstable County Human Rights Commission Human Rights Academy. 9th graders Lucy Sims and Evelyn Ramirez-Santos presented to other Cape Cod schools and human rights community members about the M.A.R.C.H. (Making Anti-Racist Change Happen) conference scheduled for 4.27, and all students participated in round table discussions on the impact of social media on social justice movements.11th grader Jackie Holmes facilitated the discussion at one table, and reported back to the assembly. Paul Marble gave a welcoming address to the assembly, which located the conference at 529 Main St for the first time ~ they will be back next year!

Student Panel on Immigration Experiences (DEIB)

Students from East and West shared their stories about coming to the United States. The students were from Brazil, Philippines, Spain, Egypt, and Colombia They were from East and West, and represented all grade levels. The audience was so grateful for their honesty and vulnerability. They were certainly IB risk-takers for sharing their stories!

Mock Trial Team - East

The Sturgis East Mock Trial Team has successfully completed their season. This year’s case involved a criminal prosecution for Burglary and Larceny. The team argued the case in the Orleans and Barnstable District courts, sometimes as the Prosecution and sometimes as the Defense. Congratulations to all involved!

Math Team East/West

On Wednesday, the Math team competed in the Southeastern Massachusetts math competition playoffs. Both the East and the West teams were invited to compete against the top scoring schools from around the region. West won an award for coming in first in the Cape Cod math conference, and the East team won some individual awards as well. This was the culmination of all of their scores from five math meets across the whole school year. They worked hard and are very proud of their accomplishment.

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