Juniors Attend Columbia Summer Business Program

Hi Aimee/Annette,

Hope you both are having a great summer spending time with your family! I wanted to share some exciting news with you on Samantha and Gerald's business camp at Columbia U that began 2 weeks ago. Their assignment was to analyze Medco, a pharmacy benefit management company and prepare an analysis with a shareholder's report on how to acquire Express Script. As you can imagine, this is a whole new territory for them, but they managed to learn the meaning of mergers and acquisition, EDITDA, Market Cap, etc. There were 7 students to each team and each one held a Management position. They spend from 12-16 hours a day doing research and preparing reports. Sam said Gerald didn't sleep for 3 days. Samantha was the CFO and she had to prepare a Shareholders Report. By the end of the first week, they had to dress up in business attire and go into negotiations with another team. They won the round at negotiations.

During the 2nd week, they stayed at Crowne Plaza in Secacus. They got bused into Manhattan to visit and "network" with law firms and brokerage houses, Goldman, Deutsch Bank, Shearman and Sterling, etc. On Thursday, they found out that they were amongst 1 of 4 teams out of 24 teams in NY that will proceed to the Championship competition next week back at Columbia U. There will be teams from Chicago and Nashville next week. Can you believe your kids are working on M&A? Maybe they could do a presentation for you when they return to school....Aimee: I want to thank you for your leadership skills in shaping CSI HSIS into what it is today with its comprehensive program. I think it's given Samantha the foundation to move onto College and someday be successful in her career. Annette: Thanks for always being on top of all the programs out there and sending out all the notices to parents. I would have never known about this if it wasn't for your resourcefulness and great communication skills.

By the way, Sam and I went to take a look at the new school and we think it's beautiful. She likes the big football field. Her first reason for being so happy about the new school is that she will get her own locker. We will be heading up to Boston on 8/29 thru 8/31 to see Sam's #1 choice of school- Northeastern. It's her birthday so we're taking her to see a Red Sox game (her favorite team). I'm still a Yankee fan. Enjoy the rest of the summer!

Best regards,Debbie

08-08-08

I hope you all don't mind me posting here, but I wanted to reach out to the community on this auspicious evening. As I watch the television replay of the Olympic Opening Ceremony I am awe-struck by the beauty of the performance, the number of people involved in the art and in the sports in the weeks to come, and the variety of color and culture you can see as the delegations enter the arena. The commentators for NBC are sharing interesting tid-bits about certain countries (i.e. there has never been a female athlete from Saudi Arabia, at least partially because no female can travel without the permission of a male guardian) and the athletes are gathering in the center of the field, creating a colorful tapestry of costumes and smiles.

I hope that everyone in the CSIHSIS community will embrace the Olympics and this amazing time not only as a chance to see greatness in athletics, but also as an opportunity to learn about some countries, cultures, and people currently unfamiliar to us. The world is a truly magnificent place with secrets tucked away in places you might not even recognize as countries, and we all have a lot to learn.

Lot's To Be Proud Of!

In the past few weeks our many of our students have won awards, been selected for scholarships, and participated in community service.

First, I would like to congratulate junior Tiffany Cho for being honored with Congressman John Liu's Outstanding Asian American Student Award. Tiffany is an exemplary student and has served our school, our local and our global communities. Bravo Tiffany!

Secondly,through our partnership with Asia Society freshman students Jessica Mallozzi, Jasmine Mansour, and Clarisse Concepcion have all been awarded scholarships to attend Concordia Language Village this summer. Jessica will be doing a Chinese Language immersion program while both Jasmine and Clarisse will be studying Japanese. Congratulations to these wonderful young ladies on their outstanding achievement in second language study! (Of the six scholarships awarded throughout the ISSN Network, CSIHSIS students received three!)

Finally, our students once again demonstrated their support for our local community. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation was overwhelmed with the support and the
number of kids that gave up their Sunday to support the Foundation. Many thanks to our incoming PTA President Lisa Mc Sherry and to our Parent Coordinator for getting the word out and for organizing our students. The mother who let us know about the event had tears in her eyes when she saw all the kids. Thanks to all our freshman, sophomores and juniors who participated:

Kate McSherry
Mike McSherry
Breanna Pizzolo
Briana Kohm
Jessica Mallozzi
Jaclyn Mallozzi
Melissa Laurore
Vanessa Kreytak
Paulina Plata
Carolina Jimenez
Danielle Ianazzi
Lisa Borzi
Clarisse Concepcion
Glenn Kugelman
Dana Pistilli
Marissa Mule
Brianne Hannafey
Michela Infantino

As you can see from our long list, CSIHSIS students continue achieve at high levels and make a difference in the lives of others! We are proud to call them our own!!!

Junior Student Lands Internship at Digital Edge!

Internship Successes!
Junior Students Explore Careers and Fields of Interest

One of our junior students who is interested in computers recently began his internship at Digital Edge. Matt is currently working with Digital Edge to design and implement an emergency notification program and system if something of high importance occurs at colleges and other large institutions. Matt is one of three student interns selected to collaborate on creating this notification system. Additionally, Matt will be invited to attend an awards luncheon and to meet with the other students to collaborate and create this program. Congratulations Matt!

If you still need assistance in securing your internship, please communicate with Ms. Zinn, Ms. Lentini or your advisor and work with one of them to look through our book of internship opportunities or to secure an internship in a field of your interest.

We look forward to hearing more about this wonderful experience as well as about the experiences and challenges our other student interns are having. Please share with our community by posting about your internship experiences.

Farewell to our French Students

Our French exchange concluded with a wonderful Potluck dinner planned by students, teachers and parents and truly demonstrated to our French exchange students what a vibrant learning community and partnership we have established. The afternoon was marked with fond words of farewell, great conversation, delicious food, the exchange of parting gifts and lots of hugs as well as a caravan to the airport.

Many thanks to our wonderful teachers, Nancy Kaplan, Heather Prevosti, and Chris Chieh for working so hard to organize this unique learning experience for our students. Thanks also to our wonderful parents who opened up their homes and graciously hosted the French students, chaperoned our trips throughout the week, and contributed and participated in our Potluck dinner. Thanks also to our wonderful PTA who supported the exchange by subsidizing the trips and activities as well as volunteering their time on an as needed basis. You all have made it possible for our students and for the French students to learn about and experience one another's cultures and to establish long lasting friendships. I know that when our students travel to France next year, they will build on the memories and experiences as well as deepen the relationships and the learning that took place while the French students visited New York.

If you were fortunate enough to host or somehow connected with the French students/teachers through in class, trip, or social experiences, we would love to have you comment and post pictures about the exchange. Looking forward to hearing from you!!

CSIHSIS Welcomes Our French Exchange Students!

On behalf of the CSIHSIS community I would like to extend a warm welcome to our French exchange students and their teachers. Although they have only been here for three days, along with their hosts, our visitors, who have been studying United States History, have already experienced Ellis Island and furthered their learning about immigration to the United States. Today, along with our sophomore class, our visiting students toured the United Nations, learned about international relations and diplomacy, and experienced firsthand the heightened security at the United Nations and the delays it causes. The French delegation was then formally welcomed to our school in a ceremony planned by our student hosts.

While in the States the French students will shadow their CSIHSIS counterparts in classes, make presentations about French culture to our advisories, visit Ground Zero and the Museum of the American Indian, dine in China town, and experience American culture with their host families. We know that this will be a great learning experience for all students, teachers and families involved and hope that it will also be the start of some life long friendships.

Once again, we welcome you to our school, to our city, and to our country. We hope you enjoy your stay here and look forward to visiting you and your school next year.

DESTINATION QITO, ECUCADOR!

Thanks to a generous grant from CUNY, last week along with two students, Miriam and Khadijat, our very own Spanish teacher, Ms. Elissa Garcia and a professor from College of Staten Island, Dr. Susan Sullivan, traveled to Qito, Ecuador in an exchange with students from the Collegio Menor school. While the trip included language immersion and service learning, its main purpose was to have our students begin the process of establishing a relationship with the students of Collegio Menor so that we can arrange for language immersion exchange.

While there both Khadijat and Miriam loved phys ed - salsa dancing and truly enjoyed their hosts' hospitality. Bargaining in Spanish at the market let them use their Spanish language skills in a real life setting as did going to class with their hosts.

We are hopeful that this was a the start of a long relationship with Collegio Menor and that we will participate in a two-way language immersion exchange with them during the next school year.