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.

CSI JUNIORS AND SOPHOMORES VISIT COLLEGES

Forty two sophomore and junior students returned today from a three day college tour. Along with Ms. Mammaro, Ms. Lentini, Mr. Livaccari and Ms. Horowitz our students traveled by coach bus throughout the New England area to visit, tour and learn about five different colleges; UCONN (University of Connecticut), UMASS (University of Massachusetts), Boston University, Northeastern, and Tufts.

Thanks to a generous contribution from our PTA as well as grant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, these students experienced firsthand large public and private universities, universities located in suburbarn and urban areas, campus schools and schools located in the city without a campus, as well as a mid-sized private university. Students learned about admissions requirements; spoke with college students who currently attend these schools; learned about financial aid opportunities, study abroad and internship opportunities, residential life, the various majors and other programs each school has to offer, Greek life and other extra-curricular activities; and how they can help to make their college applications stand out from others.

This experience will help our students realize the type of school they are interested in attending as well as the setting they are looking for as they begin or continue their college search. We are also hoping to offer another college tour (to different schools) in November of next year.

However, as our Spring break approaches, I encourage all of our juniors to plan to visit other schools that you may be interested in attending. Sit in on a class, walk around the campus, arrange for a tour, get a feel for who attends the school and whether you feel like its a good fit for you, learn about whether the school has programs that interest you and what the admissions requirements are and think about what you need to do to ensure your acceptance.

On behalf of all the students who participated on our college tour, I would like to thank Ms. Mammaro, our guidance counselor, for putting together a fabulous itinerary and for making all of our travel and tour arrangements. I would also like to thank our other chaperones, Mr. Livaccari and Ms. Lentini for helping to keep our students safe and for giving of their personal time to accompany us on this trip.

If you have any questions about college, please feel free to speak with Ms. Mammaro!

PENNIES FOR PATIENTS UPDATE!

Many thanks to the Lima and Biancoviso advisories for organizing this year's very successful Pennies for Patients Campaign as well as all those who participated and helped to raise money for children suffering with lymphoma, leukemia, and other life threatening diseases. As a school we raised $1352.00.

Congratulations to Mr. Barrett's advisory who raised $450.00. Students in this advisory got our parent community involved in Pennies for Patients by creating boxes parents took to their workplaces so that they too could collect pennies to help find a cure for these deadly diseases. We are proud of their entrepreneurial spirit, their creative thinking in engaging other members of our community, and their interest in helping others.

We are also proud of our entire CSIHSIS community as they continue to make a difference in our local and global communities.

PENNIES FOR PATIENTS

This year the Biancoviso advisory has undertaken a CSIHSIS tradition byb organizing our Pennies for Patients campaign to help raise awareness about leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and myeloma and to help raise money to find a cure for this deadly disease. So far they have helped to raise over $450.00 and the campaign is still going strong as advisories compete to see who can raise the most money.

Since 1994, millions of dollars have been raised in pennies and other spare change by more than 10 million elementary, middle and high school students throughout the country. The funds, collected during a three-week period, benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Everyone who participates is a winner!

Students across the country are collecting pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters during the Pennies for Patients campaigns benefiting the Society. Help our students make a difference and support this charity by sending in your spare change!!!!

ATTENTION PARENTS: PLEASE COMPLETE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT SURVEYS

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

This week Learning Environment Surveys are being mailed to your home. It is very important to our school for each parent to complete and return this survey.

You can also fill out the survey online if that is more convenient for you.

If you have questions or need help please contact Annette Lentini,
our Parent Coordinator at
718-982-3475 or
347-563-4597

PLEASE HELP US REACH OUR 100% RESPONSE GOAL!

Students Podcast About Global Issues

To prepare for their interviews with immigrants to Staten Island, which will be pod casted and will be exhbited at Ellis Island, CSIHSIS junior students are working in their Global Technology classes to create pod casts about global issues. Students work in groups to select a global issue or problem, research the issue and work collaboratively to create a script on the issue. Check out the first podcast to be completed.

Learn what you can do to make a difference!

Listen to our podcast to find out more about World Hunger and more!

Congratulations to Tiffany, Thomas, Heather and Qadeem on being the first to complete this project! Great job!

Click here to go to free rice and help stop world hunger.

Let us know what you think!

CSI STUDENTS ACHIEVE RECOGNITION AT MODEL UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE!

On Saturday, March 1, our Model United Nations team participated in the first annual Global Classrooms New York City Model United Nations Conference held at UN Headquarters in Manhattan. The event drew several hundred students from all over New York City, offering students the chance to play the roles of Ambassadors from different countries debating, negotiating, and drafting resolutions on the some of the most critical problems facing the world today. And students got the chance to do this in the very rooms used by UN delegates themselves.

Ten CSI students represented Indonesia. John Harden and Veronica Geager won an "Honorable Mention" their very first time at a Model UN Conference, for their work on the CCPCJ (Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice). A very impressive performance indeed!

Michelle Shed and Ashley Aydin, our team's returning stars and co-leaders, sat on the Security Council, and our ninth and tenth graders staffed the three other committees: Carolina Jimenez and Paulina Plata on ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), Amna Baig and Marisch Perera on UNCTAD (UN Conference on Trade and Development), and Robert Keller and Kamylah Bennet on WHO (World Health Organization).
For most of our students, this was their first experience with a Model United Nations conference, and they were excellent representatives of our school -- they were composed, enthusiastic, and dynamic.
-Chris Livaccari
MUN Advisor

From CSIHSIS to Ellis Island...Exploring Immigraion Through Technology

CSIHSIS is proud of an ongoing collaboration between the National Park Service and Save Ellis Island Inc. This collaboration has been made possibe through a grant from the History Channel and will preserve the history of immigration within student's communities.

Our Students have been working in teams to interview immigrants within their community, while also researching census records, ship manifests and immigration documents to locate and learn about specific Ellis Island immigrants who lived in the same Staten Island neighborhoods.

Following their interviews and primary source research, students will compare and contrast the experiences of immigrants then and now by producing 3 - 5 minute Vodcasts (video podcasts) as part of their Global Technology course. Oral history transcripts and recordings will be made available to Staten Island museums and The Oral History Project at Ellis Island, while podcasts will be available for download online.

We are proud to announce the Opening Ceremony of the exhibit at Ellis Island has been scheduled for Saturday June 7, 2008 and will be on display to the public, which includes visitors from around the world, for the duration of the summer.

Celebrate Our Students Attendance!

We are proud to share our attendance data with our school community. As of today, 34 students have perfect attendance! That is approximately 12% of our student body. 115 students have attendance at 95% or better and 76 students have attendance of 90% or better. We are very proud of these 215 students.

Additionally, three advisories have 100% of their students having attendance of at least 90%. Congratulations to Ms. Burgos' advisory, to Ms. Lentini's advisory and to Ms. Francis' advisory. Keep on coming to school!

SAVE THE DATE: ANNUAL FASHION SHOW!

PTA Fashion Show/ Fundraiser

Wednesday, May 7^th, 2008

The Vanderbilt at South Beach, Staten Island, NY

7:00 to 11:00

The PTA fashion show committee is currently in need of donations to support our raffles and gift baskets for auction at the show. Please send any of the following in to school, addressed to the PTA Fashion Show:

Baskets/decorative box type containers - empty or already made

Gift certificates

New items that can be used to make baskets

Monetary donations

The Fashion Show is our main source of fund raising income, and the money raised goes directly to benefit the students of CSIHSIS. The support of our parents is the key to our success, so any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. If you are a business owner or know of a business that would donate, we have a letter on school letterhead that can be sent to the business. For more information, contact Jackie Mc Clean at 718-983-6535, or Anne Matrone at 718-698-3322.

More information about tickets and models to follow…….Hope to see you there!

SLT Reaches Consensus on Ranking Issue

At our last School Leadership Team (SLT) meeting, which includes students, parents, teachers, administrators and representatives of our partner organizations (Asia Society and College of Staten Island), the team heard the voices of each constituency regarding the issue of publicly ranking our senior students and indicating each student's rank on his/her transcript. To ensure that we had an accurate assessment of each constituency's opinion on the matter, prior to the meeting many team members spoke with members of the group they represent to become more informed about their opinions on ranking. In fact, junior student SLT members Ama and Elizabeth visited to junior advisories to discuss the issue with their class mates; our soon to be first seniors! Additionally, the entire team reviewed previous blog posts by students, parents, teachers and administrators.

Although the SLT does realize that public ranking may benefit a few students, the consensus was that those benefits are greatly outweighed by the risks this creates for our entire school community. Since we are such a small school, with an even smaller graduating class, very few students would be in the top 10% of the graduating class. Also, with this information being public, many of our students who work very hard every day to do their best, but who still might not be in the top of the class, will feel like their hard work has not paid off. Further, we have worked very hard to create a learning environment and a school community that is nurturing and supportive. The SLT strongly felt that public ranking would undermine that culture and create competition between our students and has thus decided that we will not publicly rank students.

However, the SLT does realize that certain colleges and universities do ask about student's standing in relation to their class (although most colleges rank applicants on their own scale). As such, on senior transcripts that are sent to colleges we will note that if the school is interested in knowing a student's rank, they can contact our school and we will share that information with them. All members of SLT felt that this policy does not discriminate against students who are applying to schools that want to be informed of their relative ranking, yet does not undermine the culture of community, caring, support and nurturing we have worked so hard to establish at College of Staten Island High School of International Studies.

CSIHSIS Travels the World!

CURRENT PROGRAMS!

It is February break and while most high school students are home sleeping late, playing video games, and relaxing, 54 CSIHSIS students, seven teachers, and four parents are deepening their knowledge of the world and their appreciation of diverse cultures through travel.

Our first group of students have safely arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica where they are experiencing life in the rain forest. Students participating in this program will be involved in a cultural immersion program while performing community service. Students are experiencing the rain forest climate and will meet, interact with and get to know Costa Rican children.

Following in the tradition of our first group of students who I was fortunate enough to experience Italy with last February, in conjunction with EF Tours, our second group of world travelers are touring England, France and Spain From the historic Tower of London to the Eiffel Tower, to the wonders of Madrid, our students will experience three cultures, see historic sites that they have studied, and gain an appreciation for how life in European cultures is similar to and different from our life in the United States.

Finally, we have started what I hope is a new CSIHSIS tradition - cultural exchange programs. Although we did previously have a one way exchange during which students from Bahrain visited our school and did home stays with our students, our exchange program to Germany is our first two way exchange that will allow our students to both live with and host students from Germany. Right now and for the next two weeks, our students are living with their host families in Berlin while attending the John Lennon School. Students will visit and tour the Bundestag (Germany's Parliament), Checkpoint Charlie, Sachsenhausen (a former concentration camp), and a variety of museums. Students will also tour Potsdam and see a performance of the Symphonic Orchestra Berlin. While in Germany, students will also spend weekends with their host families and experience life in Germany as a teenager living with a family. We know this will be a remarkable experience for our students and they will be waiting impatiently for their German counterparts to visit us early next year. See our students in Germany and read about their experience-- log onto http://www.berlinexchange2008.blogspot.com/

LOOKING AHEAD!

In the Spring, we will host thirty students from France as part of another two way exchange. Our students will then visit France during February of next year.

We are also working with College of Staten Island to establish a two week Summer Program that involves a language and cultural immersion in Ecuador. We are hoping to have our students involved in organizing this program.

READ ON!

Read on to hear more about our students experiences!

CSIHSIS Students Awarded Travel & Study Scholarships

ADC HENRY WOLF SUMMER PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP AWARDED!

Junior student, Michela was recently awarded a scholarship to participate in the Art Directors Club Gallery Henry Wolf Summer Photography Workshop. This program gives 25 students from all over New York City the opportunity to learn from top New York City Photographers. Participants learn about careers in photography, get to know and work with a different top photographer each day, and produce a variety of photographic pieces that they can include in their portfolios.

Each day of the workshop begins with a photographer discussing his or her career, education, and other experiences. He or she shows samples of their work and engages students in a conversation and a question/answer session. Then, the project for the day is introduced. Students spend the rest of the day shooting, editing and printing the project. The workshop culminates with an exhibition of student work!

GLOBAL LIVES, GLOBAL FUTURES AWARDS SCHOLARSHIP TO CSIHSIS STUDENT!

This summer along with students from each each of the ISSN schools, junior student Ama will travel to China. During her stay, Ama will expereince Chinese culture first hand as she tours different cities in China, lives with a host family, does community service, and of course practices and enhances her Chinese language skills while getting to know students from our sister school all over the country. Global Lives, Global Futures helps promotes and facilitates cross-cultural tolerance, understanding and appreciation through experiential learning.

Ama is the fourth junior and the fifth student at CSIHSIS to receive a travel-study scholarship to China. We look forward to her coming back and sharing her experiences with the entire CSIHSIS community at a Global Seminar early next year!

FRESHMAN STUDENT WINS SCHOLARSHIP FOR AN EXCHANGE IN SPAIN!

During March, to deepen her knowledge of Spanish and to delve into and experience Spanish culture, one of our freshman will participate in a week-long exchange program in Spain. While in Spain, she will live with a host family, attend school with her host sister, get to experience family life in Spain and tour as well. We look forward to the April Global Seminar in which she will share photographs and insights from her experience!

If you have had the opportunity to travel, please share your experiences with us. If you know of other opportunities available to our students, please share with us as well. We look forward to each of you joining us at our next Global Seminar, when some of our students who have traveled internationally over the February break will be presenting.

Concert & Letter Writing Campaign Raise Over $7,000.00 for St. Jude

Congratulations CSIHSIS! You have made a difference in the lives of children who are suffering with cancer. Thanks to the Garcia advisory our school wide letter writing campaign and the Rock-N-Roll Jam featuring NO STANDARDS has already raised more than $7,000.00 for this very worthwhile cause.

Planning for these events began way back in September when the Garcia advisory decided that as part of their community service they wanted to help people with cancer. Their desire inspired them to contribute their time to these two important fund raising events and to educate the CSIHSIS community about the mission of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

To help make these events a reality students have been involved in selling tickets, posting flyers, getting raffle prizes donated, writing letters, preparing the program, and writing speeches.

All of us at CSIHSIS would especially like to thank NO STANDARDS, a band made up of three young men who donated their performance at the February 1, 2008 concert with the hope of FINDING A CURE! Steven Di Salvo, Chris DiSalvo, and Chris Stark entertained us all with great music that people from every age group enjoyed. NO STANDARDS dedicated their performance to the memory of their mother, Joanne DiSalvo, who they recently lost to cancer, but who continues to be an inspiration to them.

To the Garcia advisory: Alex, Sam, Andrea, Rob, Rosa, Laurel, Anthony, Harold. Ric, Cory, Tremika, Brianne, Jisup, Wingsum, Allison and Jazmin -- you did an amazing job! It was wonderful to see your advisory come together and unite around a cause. Once again, I am reminded that you all can do anything you set your minds to. You are powerful individually and even more powerful when you work as team! Thanks to Ms. Garcia for helping get you to that point and for inspiring you to get connected to a great cause! You guys ROCK!!!!

CSIHSIS Beads For Life!

On January 30, 2008, thanks to the Burgos Advisory, through a bead party, the CSIHSIS community helped to raise money for BEADFORLIFE. By selling beads and beaded jewelry made by Ugandan woman from colorful recycled paper, we helped impoverished African women leave poverty behind.

Each bead is handmade and unique. Beaders are woment living with HIV/AiIDS as well as refugees displaced by a devastating civil war in northern Uganda. Many are widows caring for their own children as well as AIDS orphans. In spite of what seem to be insurmoutable challenges, the beaders are resilient, hard working, and resourceful.

Beaders are hopeful that with people like those from our school community, they will "eradicate poverty one bead at a time." All proceeds from our sale of beads and beaded jewelry, as well as from the lunch sale (with delicious food cooked by our very own Mr. Aziz) will help to support community development projects in health, education, employment, and housing to the impverished in Uganda.

To help our community eradicate extreme poverty by creating bridges of understanding between impoverished Africand and our students, who are concerned world citizens, join us on February 7, 2008 at Report Card Night where our BEADFORLIFE party continues!

To learn more about BEADFORLIFE and how you can help, visit their website: http://www.beadforlife.org/index.html

WELCOME TO THE NEW SEMESTER!

Our new semester began today with an abbreviated class schedule so that we could have time for a BIG TEACH! Teachers planned a BIG TEACH so that our whole school could gather together to celebrate our students' first semester achievements, discuss the special programs and events we are looking forward to second semester (international travel to Costa Rica and Europe and an exchange with Germany; French students visiting our school; the start of the CSIHSIS Chapter of National Honor Society; a Craft Club; our annual Talent show; and more!) and so that our staff and students could share words of wisdom, encouragement and inspiration.

For this BIG TEACH staff was asked to select a favorite quote, poem or original writing to share with our school community. I would like to share with you some of our words to students. We welcome students, parents, friends to share additional thoughts, quotes and poems with us as we embark on what we hope will be a fun, interesting, and successful semester for each of our students.

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put foundations under them."
-Henry David Thoreau

"I am only one, but still I am one.
I cannot do everything, but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to something that I can do."
-Edward Everett Hale

"It is hard to fail. It is worse to have never tried to succeed." -Teddy Roosevelt

"Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools are the work of many generations. All this is put into your hands as your inheritance in order that you may receive it, honor it, add to it, and one day faithfully hand it on to your children."
-Albert Einstein

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away."
-Anonymous

"Every million mile journey begins with just one step." -Lao ZiI

"Minds are like parachutes, they only work when they are open."

Mrs. Krikorian

She saved me. When I arrived in 6th grade,
a known criminal, the new teacher
asked me to stay after school the first day, she said
I’ve heard about you. She was a tall woman,
with a deep crevice between her breasts,
and a large, calm nose. She said,
This is a special library pass.
As soon as you finish your hour’s work—
that hour’s work that took ten minutes
and then the devil glanced into the room
and found me empty, a house standing open—
you can go to the library. Every hour
I’d zip through the work in a dash and slip out of my
seat as if out of God’s side and sail
down to the library, solo through the empty
powerful halls, flash my pass
and stroll over to the dictionary
to look up the most interesting word
I knew, spank, dipping two fingers
into the jar of library paste to
suck that tart mucilage as I
came to the page with the cocker spaniel’s
silks curling up like the fine steam of the body.
After spank, and breast, I’d move on
to Abe Lincoln and Helen Keller,
safe in their goodness till the bell, thanks
to Mrs. Krikorian, amiable giantess
with the kind eyes. When she asked me to write
a play, and direct it, and it was a flop, and I
hid in the coat-closet, she brought me a candy-cane
as you lay a peppermint on the tongue, and the worm
will come up out of the bowel to get it.
And so I was emptied of Lucifer
and filled with school glue and eros and
Amelia Earhart, saved by Mrs. Krikorian.
And who had saved Mrs. Krikorian?
When the Turks came across Armenia, who
slid her into the belly of a quilt, who
locked her in a chest, who mailed her to America?
And that one, who saved her, and that one—
who saved her, to save the one
who saved Mrs. Krikorian, who was
standing there on the sill of 6th grade, a
wide-hipped angel, smokey hair
standing up weightless all around her head?
I end up owing my soul to so many,
to the Armenian nation, one more soul someone
jammed behind a stove, drove
deep into a crack in a wall,
shoved under a bed. I would wake
up, in the morning, under my bed—not
knowing how I had got there—and lie
in the dusk, the dustballs beside my face
round and ashen, shining slightly
with the eerie comfort of what is neither good nor evil.
-Sharon Olds

There are 24 hours in a day. Do what you have to do with 8 of them (school). Do what you want to do with another 8 (homework and fun) Do what you need to do with the remaining 8 (sleep) and you will find that your life will run smoothly. TRY IT.

I Never Said I Wasn't Difficult -Sara Holbrook

I never said I wasn't difficult,I mostly want my way.

Sometimes I talk back or pout and don't have much to say.

I've been known to yell, "So what,"when I'm stepping out of bounds.

I want you there for me and yet,I don't want you around.

I wish I had more privacy and never had to be alone. I want to run away.

I'm scared to leave my home. I'm too tired to be responsible.

I wish that I were boss.

I want to blaze new trails. I'm terrified that I'll get lost.

I wish an answer came every time you asked, "why?"I wish you weren't a know-it-all.Why do you question when I'm bored?

I won't be cross-examined. I hate to be ignored.

I know. I shuffle messages like cards, some to show and some to hide.But, if you think I'm hard to live withyou should try me on inside.

“Prayer For The Children”

We pray for the children who sneak Popsicles before supper, who erase holes in math workbooks, who through tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food, who like ghost stories, who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire, who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers, who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead in, who never go to the circus, who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children who sleep with the dog and bury the goldfish, who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions, who get visits from the tooth fairy, who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.

And we pray for those who never get dessert, who have no safe blanket to drag behind them, who watch their parents watch them die, who can't find any bread to steal, who don't have any rooms to clean up, whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser, whose monsters are real.

We pray for children who spend all their allowance before Tuesday, who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse out the tub, who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool, who squirm in church or temple and scream in the phone, whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for those whose nightmares come in the daytime, who will eat anything, who have never seen a dentist, who aren't spoiled by anybody, who aren't spoiled by anybody, who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep, who live and move, but have no being.

We pray for children who want to be carried and for those who must, who we never give up on and for those who don't get a second chance. For those we smother and...for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

-Ina J. Hughes (an American school teacher)

Pause and Reflect

Conversation is the natural way we humans think together.
We can't be creative if we refuse to be confused.
It's not differences that divide us. It is our judgments about each other that do.

There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.

Am I becoming someone I respect?

Reality doesn't change itself. We need to act.

Please inspire our community by sharing your thoughts with us!

WE'RE PROUD OF OUR STUDENTS' SUCCESS!

Share in our joy as we celebrate our students' success on the January Regents Exams! 96% of our juniors passed the Regents Examination in English Language Arts, a two day, 6 hour exam, with two students achieving scores of 100% and 30 students achieving scores of above 90. All of these students were first time takers. We had an 82% passing rate on the Living Environment Exam, with 88% passing for first time takers. On the Regents Examination in Math A we had 65% passing with 71% of first time takers passing. Congratulations to all our freshman, sophomore, and junior students who took and passed Regents and RCT Examinations and to all of our teachers who support their learning everyday.

We thank both our students and our teachers for all of their hard work and look forward to more success in June. Please congratulate your children on their success and continue to support them.

CSIHSIS Wins World Savvy Grant!

World Savvy, an organization whose mission is to educate and engage young people in community and world affairs, has just gone national with its Global Youth Media and Arts Program. World Savvy is currently building partnerships throughout the Big Apple and, thanks to our very own Clara Gagliardi, they are building a partnership with CSIHSIS. The 2008 Media and Arts Program, which will be implemented in our sophomore art classes, focuses on Immigration and Identity. Throughout the Spring, our sophomore students will create new works of art based on the global theme and will then showcase their work in the culminating Festival in June, 2008.

Through this program Ms. Gagliardi will be supported with professional development, our students will have the opportunity to work with World Savvy educators and other guests who will visit their art classes, and will deepen their knowledge about immigration while creating their works of art. We are very excited about the rich learning opportunities our participation in Global Youth Media and Arts Program provides and about having our students participate in this program.

For more information about World Savvy visit http://www.worldsavvy.org/.

PHOTOS FROM PERU: CATHERINE'S VISIT TO OUR SCHOOL!

Catherine having dinner with one of the Peruvian families she lived with while on exchange. Family time is sacred in traditional Peruvian families. It is important for all family members to eat dinner together.

Catherine also worked with Peruvian children to teach them English. Aren't they beautiful?

Check out the prize winning sheep!!!

Catherine really helped all of understand what it is like to live as a member of another culture and truly experience it as opposed to just being a tourist and seeing the sights.

We hope that you too will be willing to share your international experiences with our community. b

CSIHSIS EXAM HONOR CODE!

The following Honor Code will be in place for all in-class, final, and Regents Examinations. We are confident that all students will abide by the code and complete their exams to the best of their ability with integrity.

CSIHSIS EXAM ADMINISTRATION HONOR CODE

All CSIHSIS students who participate in exams must agree to the following policies, as originally laid out by the New York State Board of Regents.

· Students must agree to show proctors all materials they bring into the examination room as they enter, or at any time during the exam. At no time may students use or obtain any unauthorized notes or printed material that would give the student unfair advantage.

· In other words … DO NOT, FOR ANY REASON, ATTEMPT TO USE ANY NOTES OR OTHER MATERIALS DURING THE TEST.

· Students are not permitted to obtain information from or give information to other students in any way during the examination. If you suspect that such an attempt has occurred, warn the students that any further attempts will result in the termination of their examinations. Students may be moved to a different location if necessary. If these steps fail to end attempts to obtain or give information, the principal will be informed immediately and the students’ examinations will be terminated … No score may be earned by a student who has attempted to obtain aid from or give aid to another students or has otherwise committed fraud during an examination.

· In other words … DO NOT, FOR ANY REASON, TALK WITH ANOTHER STUDENT OR COMMUNICATE IN ANY WAY WHILE IN THE EXAMINATION ROOM.

· Students may not use any communication device while taking an examination, either in the room or while on a break. This includes, but is not limited to cellular telephones, pagers, MP3 players, etc. If you have a device that rings or vibrates during the exam, DO NOT ANSWER IT or look at it. You must turn these devices off and store them away from you for the duration of the exam. Your examination will be invalidated and no score may be earned if you use any such device while in a testing room.

· In other words … DO NOT, FOR ANY REASON DO ANYTHING THAT COULD LOOK LIKE YOU ARE USING A TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICE WHILE IN THE EXAMINATION ROOM.

· Students must only turn in their exams if they are able to honestly state “I do hereby affirm, at the close of this examination, that I had no unlawful knowledge of the questions or answers prior to the examination and that I have neither given nor received assistance in answering any of the questions during the examination.”

· In other words … DO WHAT IS RIGHT TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU CAN HONESTLY SAY YOUR EXAM IS YOUR WORK, AND YOUR WORK ONLY.

Please sign and print your name below to record that you have reviewed this honor code and will abide by these expectations at all times during exams throughout your time at CSIHSIS, including finals, class tests, and Regents Exams.

__________________ ___________________ ____________
Printed Name Signature Date

JANUARY REGENTS SCHEDULE

January 22 Tuesday	January 23 Wednesday	January 24 Thursday	January 25 Friday
9:00 am	9:00 am	9:00 am	9:00 am
Global History & Geography RCT in Writing	Spanish Earth Science RCT in US History & Government	US History & Government RCT in Reading	Living Environment Mathematics B RCT in Global Studies
1:00 pm	1:00 pm	1:00 pm
ELA Session One RCT in Mathematics	ELA Session Two RCT in Science	Mathematics A Chemistry Physics

JANUARY FINAL EXAM AND SCHEDULE

January 2^nd – January 16^th - Regular Classes

January 17^th

8:30 – 11:15 – English Final (with review time)

11:15 – 12:30 LUNCH and studying

12:30 -3:20 – Science Final (with review time)

January 18^th

8:30 – 11:15 – Social Studies Final (with review time)

11:15- 12:30 LUNCH and studying

12:30 – 3:20 Math Final (with review time)

January 21^st – NO SCHOOL

Please remember that in order to help you prepare for Regents exams, all final s contain Regents style questions. You will need to bring both #2 pencils and pens to each of your exams.

Good Luck!

ABORIGINAL ART AT CSIHSIS!

If you have been fortunate enough to visit our school recently, I am sure you have noticed the beautiful new displays of student art work. Recently, under the tutelage of our talented art teacher, Ms. Clara Gagliardi, our freshman students learned about aboriginal art, the art of the indigenous people of Australia. Throughout this unit students not only learned about the typical images and colors the Aborigines use in their art and why they use these natural images and colors, but also learned about and discussed the concept of social justice and how it relates to indigenous populations using the Aborigines of Australia as a case study. Interestingly, during this time, on two different occasions our school was visited by Australians; first by a group of 16 superintendents and other educators and then by a girls basketball team from an Australian boarding school. This also gave our students an opportunity to engage in discussions with Australians and have some of their questions about the land down under answered.

This is just one example of how our teachers internationalize the curriculum in each subject area and of how our students are delving into important global issues and learning about them from diverse perspectives. If you have not as yet seen this beautiful display, please come in and visit when you drop your child off in the morning or when you pick him/her up in the afternoon.

I invite our 9th grade students to share with us what you learned or what you enjoyed about this unit and creating "aboriginal" art . I thank Ms. Gagliardi for beautifully exhibiting our students' works of art, for empowering and motivating our students to be creative, and for helping them learn about the concept of social justice.

INTERNATIONAL HAPPENINGS AT CISHISIS!

This has been an exciting time for CSIHSIS!

Recently our girls basketball team hosted a visiting team from a girls boarding school in Australia. Our visitors shadowed girls in classes and had a chance to speak with our students about life and school in Australia, what it is like to go attend a boarding school, the similarities and differences between their school and CSIHSIS, and to just share teenage experiences before participating in basketball games with our girls and boys teams.

Our junior student, Kasey Fausak just returned from her Students on Ice scholarship trip to Argentina and the Antarctic. Kasey was accompanied by four other students from New York City (one from each borough) as well as students from many other countries including Israel and Palestine and scientists from all over the world. Kasey will be sharing her experience with our school community at an upcoming Global Seminar, which we hope you all will participate in.

Some of our advisories as well as Spanish classes were recently visited by a friend to CSIHSIS, Catherine Schwenkler, who recently returned from a year long exchange in Peru. While there Catherine had the opportunity to live with two different Peruvian families, to study and learn the indigenous language, and to work with children, teaching them English. Through a beautiful slide show, Catherine shared her experience of living in Peru and how living with a family in another country, from another culture really helped her to experience the culture and the country in deeper way than she could have as a tourist. Our students in Spanish also benefited as Catherine presented to them in Spanish and they asked questions in Spanish.

We are excited as we look forward to the many additional international experiences our students will have this year including our upcoming trips to Costa Rica, where students will be involved in service learning, to Germany, where each student will live with a German family for two weeks and then host the student who s/he lived with when the German students come to the United States, and to Europe, where students will experience Spain, France and England. In the Spring we will be hosting a delegation of thirty students from France. Then, next February, our students will have the opportunity to live with the students we host from France. There are still a few openings for hosting the French students and traveling to France next year. If you are interested in experiencing French culture by participating in this exciting two way exchange program contact Nancy Kaplan at our school.

Student Parliament is Looking for Student Voice

Students ... have you ever wished that your student government would listen to what you have to say? Please use the new blog, csihsisparliament.blogspot.com, to post your suggestions, comments, and questions of your student leaders.

Parents and other community members ... what do you think Student Government should do for a school? What experience do you all have with successful Student Government?

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! ASIA SOCIETY PUBLISHES INTERNATIONAL INSIDER REPORTERS!

Good news. International Insider reporters Dominique, Ann, Ashley A., Ashley F, Sarah and Veronica are published reporters! The articles these reporters wrote covering Asia Society events have been published on Asia Society's website.


Read their articles by going to: www.askasia.org/students, then select the news and resources link on the left.

Congrats! We look forward to more great articles from all of our reporters!