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.