INTRODUCING OUR COLLEGE SUMMIT PEER LEADERS!!

Check out our senior peer leaders and how they use video to tell the story of their College Summit experience this past summer. These students will use what they learned this summer to help their peers and our underclassmen get involved in the college process and be college ready!!!!

IGNITE YOUR LIGHT!! MAKE SURE YOU SHINE!!! YOU HAVE POSSIBILITIES!!!!

SUMMER FRESHMAN ACADEMY

Groups of freshman academy students were assigned to decorate a cake that represented our school's graduate profile. Our group's cake was original. We tried symbolize the graduate profile as much as we could.

The gummy bears around the figure of the earth mean that we are all together as a family no matter our race or religion, trying to help the world as much as we can in helping our communities and our global society.

The peace sign also shows goodwill and care towards the planet earth and its people as well our hope for peace.

The math equation represents the math we do in high school as well as skillfully and creatively facing and solving each problem.

CSI'14 is the year us freshman graduate too(:

All of us had a great time in the freshman academy; no one wanted to leave and we all became such close friends!

by Clarissa Bernardo

CSI Heads for the Summit!

As a feature of our new partnership with College Summit, an organization that partners with schools to help strengthen the college going culture so that all students graduate career and college ready, this week twenty five rising seniors headed to Yale University where they participated in a four day residential workshop. At the workshop, while experiencing a college envioronment, our students continued their college searches and got a head start on the application process as they worked with Writing Coaches on their personal statements. These students were also trained as peer leaders. As peer leaders, along with their senior adviosrs who will also participate in professional development this summer, these students will lead the way and inspire their peers to persevere through the college process. As they work with their peers as well as with freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, they will be instrumental in helping to reinforce the college going culture we have worked hard to create.

We are very excited about our new partnership with College Summit. To find out more about how to support this program so that we can bring it to our 9th-11th graders as well, please contact our school.

Why I Love CSI High School

A picture is worth a thousand words! Check out this video statement by one of our students:

Why I love CSIHSIS - Future Now NYC from Sean Fisher on Vimeo.

Human Rights Issues Inspire Senior Film Trailers

For their Comparative Government Through Film course, to inform and educate others about pressing and urgent human rights issues, through their Human Rights Trailer Production Project CSI High School seniors created original film trailers. As part of this project students researched the political history of a nation and produced a trailer for a film exploring the impact of a modern problem on the people of the nation. Films were screened in classes as well as at our orientation for incoming freshman and exhibited at Asia Society's Partnership for Global Learning and International Studies Schools Conference in early July. View some of our students' best work and learn more about what is going on in our world!

Unique Leadership Lessons for CSI High School Senior

CSI High School rising senior Jessica Mallozzi was chosen among hundreds of candidates to be one of the five Bank of America Student Leaders from New York City to pariticpate in a Leadership Summit. This summer along with students from across the country Jessica has the unique opportunity to learn about and continue her community activism while collaborating with business and political leaders as well as peers from New York and throughout the country. Read more about Jessica's experience: http://www.silive.com/westshore/index.ssf/2010/07/a_lesson_in_leadership_for_bul.html

Interview with Don Proffit

On June 3rd, Mr. Proffit stopped by to interview the students who worked and are still working on the "Change for Climate" project that started as a result of the Senior Capstone project. The information relevant to the efforts is mentioned in the video. Enjoy!!!!

Change for Climate from Donald Proffit on Vimeo.

VOTE FOR CSIHISIS!

We need your help!

Vote for CSI High School for International Studies!

Your vote can help us reach our goal of winning $20,000.00. Tell your friends and family to VOTE for CSI!!!! Let's show the world the power of a small group of DRAGONS!!!!

Cut and paste the link below into your browser! It only takes a minute!

http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/3608/338/?refer=24969.01.1272321158.121078

CSI/McCown Dragons top McKee/S.I. Tech 14-12 in Girls' Softball

Yesterday, April 12, 2010, the CSI/McCown Dragons topped McKee/S.I. Tech in girls' softball. CSI sophomore Antoinette Galbo went 4 for 4 and had six RBI and scored twice to lead CSI/McCown over McKee/Staten Island Tech 14-12 in PSAL softball action in New Springville. CSI Junior Katherine Kelly had three hits and three RBI and scored twice and excelled behind the plate, while CSI sophomore Jamie Lepard contributed three hits, two RBI and a run and Danielle Kearney provided three runs and stole two bases for the Dragons (1-3 PSAL). CSI freshman Ally Conanan picked up the win.

Our girls played hard, played well and really looked like a team out there. It was great to see them work as team and support one another. It was also wonderful to see all our parents there supporting our team! Many thanks to their coach, Rosario Miano, who inspires them to achieve at high levels both on and off the field.

GO DRAGONS!!!

Counting Down--The CSIHSIS Annual Poetry Slam is Coming!!!!

To celebrate National Poetry Month our sophomore students have begun their original poetry portfolios. To honor their work and to engage them in spoken word poetry and oral delivery of poetry today they began their work with guest performance poet and teaching artist Lamont "Napalm" Dixon. Lamont will be working with all sophomore English classes for a week long residency that will culminate in our Annual Poetry Slam, featuring the work of our sophomore poets, our percussionists and all other members of our community who would like to participate, including teachers, parents, and students. We look forward to our students' performances and hope that former slam winners Darlene Akanmu ('10) and Priscilla Torres ('11) will once again captivate us with their poetry.

NAPALM", aka Lamont Dixon, http://www.napalmdabomb.com/index.html is a regular on the jazz-poetry scene. He infuses jazz, hip hop, blues, and drama with his performances and workshops.A Philadelphian, Napalm trained at Freedom Theater and the Phila. Univ. of the Arts, as well as a tenure with Temple U.'s Full Circle Improvisational Troupe. Napalm's poetry has been published in African Voices, The Phylaxis, New Poet's Revolution and Essence Magazine. _He is a recipient of the Phylaxis Society's Excellence in Literature Award and John G. Lewis Medal of Excellence for Art. Napalm is a teaching artist for Perkins Center for the Arts, the NJ & PA State Council for the Arts, and Rutgers and Rowan University.Napalm appears on African Rhythm Tongues with jazz musicians Khan Jamal and Byard Lancaster, Po-Jazz Connection with Arpeggio Jazz ensemble and others.He also served as co-executive producer for the Russell Simmon's 2001 Def Poetry Jam Tour in Philadelphia. In the past our students have loved working with Lamont and look back at it as a highlight of their sophomore year. We are confident that this year will be no exception.

Looking forward to having you and your family join us at our

Annual Poetry Slam!

Wednesday, April 28th at 6:00 PM

CSIHSIS IN THE NEWS!

Check out our Dragon Drum Circle in the Staten Island Advance!

htthttp://www.silive.com/westshore/index.ssf/2010/04/catch_the_beat_in_new_springvi.html

My first drum circle experience was with the school last year.

I took percussion freshman year and went to the community drum circle. I liked it a lot, and this year, I got to work as a facilitator for the circle."

Drums are a universal language of communication.

Every culture uses its own specific kind of drums. We're in the process of trying to acquire Japanese Taiko drums to add to our arsenal.

If you are interested in helping our school raise the funds to purchase Taiko drums, please contact us!

Catch the beat! Join us at our next Drum Circle!

DRAGON DRUMMERS LEAD COMMUNITY DRUM CIRCLE!

On March 25, 2010 CSI High School Dragon Drummers facilitated a Community Drum Circle for members of our school and our local community. This gave our students an opportunity to put the leadership skills they have learned into practice while sharing the drum circle experience with the Staten Island community. Through the drum circle experience students also educated community members about the various types of drums and other instruments that our part of our percussion ensemble while raising money to enable us to purchase Japanese Taiko drums. Many thanks to our wonderful student facilitators and to their teacher, Ms. Melissa Packowski, for providing the community with this experience.

CSI High School Drum Circle

MARCH MADNESS AT CSIHSIS!

CSI Students with Carole Perry at our First Annual Career Day
March has been an amazingly busy month for teacher and student learning and for celebrations of achievement at CSIHSIS. Today we celebrated more than 100 students who had outstanding academic achievement at an Honors Breakfast. These students were each encouraged to "pay it forward" by adopting a buddy that they can help so that at our next honors breakfast, we can celebrate 200 students!

After breakfast, our entire junior class headed off to the Bodies Museum, where they are continuing their learning for their various science classes including Forensics and Chemistry. Tomorrow night students are hosting a Community Drum Circle. Come with family and friends to experience a drum circle, have fun, and help us raise funds to purchase Taiko drums for our Percussion Ensemble. Our students and teachers participating in our Swiss Exchange Program depart for Switzerland tomorrow evening.

Looking back, the month began with our sophomore students participating in the Jewish Heritage Museum Lipper Internship Program. Interns visited our school and engaged students in lessons about the roots of discrimination, prejudice, anti-semitism, and genocide. Students then visited the Jewish Heritage Museum to continue their learning. The experience concluded with museum interns returning to their classes to debrief the experience.

The weekend of March 12th marked our second annual Senior Trip. Forty five seniors went to Honors Haven in Ellenville, New York. The weekend included tennis, basketball, rollerskating with Mr. Canale, a scavenger hunt, an indoor winter carnival, Karaoke, dancing, and more. A great time was had by all!!!!

Students who are part of the Impact Broadway program saw Fela and participated in the Broadway League Seminar at the Dance Theatre of Harlem. At the Seminar students learned about the various career opportunities in the theatre and entertainment industry.

This month, thanks to the hard work of our School Leadership Team, we hosted our first Annual Career Day for juniors and seniors. The day began with an advisory workshop and continued with an inspirational message from Dr. Jerald Jones-Woolfolk, Vice President of Student Affairs at College of Staten Island. Each student then participated in a series of three workshops, based on careers of their choice. They day concluded with students creating career maps and writing thank-you notes to the person that most inspired them. Presenters included: John Ross of MetLife; Matt Signore, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Warner Music Group; Dan Ferraro, Analyst at Warner Music; Laura Margiotta, Special Events Coordinator at Warner Music Group; Chris Signore, Manager of Digital Sales and Marketing at Warner Music Group; Adam Wandy, Director at Warner Music Group; David Sassano, Executive Assistant at Warner Music Group; Thomas Wilson, Physical Therapist; Carole Perry Parker for careers in radio, Vienna Profeta, Senior Vice President of the Eger Foundation (fundraising, marketing, and public relations); Bill Reich, Principal Sales Consultant for Oracle Corportation -an information technology professional; Vincent Gagliardo, Emergency Medical Technician FDNY; Vincent Arcello, firefighter-FDNY; Sara Lupin, Paramedic-FDNY; Professor Diedre Armitage, Director of Fieldwork-CSI on careers in education; Dr. Anthony Barone, Neonatologist; Joseph Battista, President of J&B Plumbing Company on careers in the plumbing and heating trade; Diana Brobmann, Senior Executive, Rights Representation, Advertising & Merchandise Licensing; David Businelli, architecht, owner and founder of Visions of Space; Lisa Donovan, attorney, Corporation Counsel, NYC Law Department; Michelle O'Brien, Spa Owner of the Grotto Spa; Elaine O'Keeffe, Auditor/CPA, Price Waterhouse; Amy Padnani and Tevah Platt, journalists at the Staten Island Advance; Daniel Mammaro, air traffic controller; Lauren MacDuffie, occupational therapist; Charles LaGanga, Managing Director/Marketing for Direct Access Partners-Tading on the floor of the NYS stock exchange; Jisu Kim, interpreter/translator; David Giampola, Chef at the Waldorf Astoria; Paige Frothingham, Health Educator at Staten Island University Hospital; David Frey, Assistant District Attorney Richmond County; Tony Rho, Natural Resources Manager for the City of New York Department of Parks and Recreation; Robin Dublin, Executive Direcotr of the Greenbelt Conservancy-Enivronmental Educator and Recreation Specialist; Leah Ferencz, Speech Pathologist; Denise Taylor, retired Police Officer; Lorraine Marin, Police Officer; Vinny Marino, Radio; A Lifestyle Not A Job; and Ron Mannaice, business owner Yearbook Innovation, Inc. on owning and operating a small business.

While juniors and seniors enjoyed Career Day, our freshman and sophomore classes continued their science learning as they experienced the Museum of Natural History and the Liberty Science Center. During this month we also had very successful and informative Student Led Conferences, during which students spoke with their parents about their learning, their goals, their strengths and weaknesses, and showed them work from each of their classes. The folowing day we had very productive parent-teacher conferences providing parents with the opportunity to conference with their childs' teachers.

While all this was taking place, teachers participated in Japanese Lesson Study; an ongoing process in which teachers work collaboratively to plan lessons, observe one another teach the lesson, provide fedback, and revise the lesson. This was part of our Inquiry Team work to help strengthen students' inferencing skills.

We are all looking forward to Spring break and coming back to school well rested and rejuvenated for our April Poetry Slam and for our PTA Chinese Auction on April 24th. We look forward to your participation in these events.

WRITE ON! $3000 GRANT RECEIVED FOR INSPIRING STUDENTS TO WRITE

Each year the College Board recognizes exceptional teachers of grades 6 through 12 for the innovative methods they use to develop their students' writing skills. Grants of $3,000 each will be awarded to teachers who are doing an inspiring job of teaching their students to write and who will benefit most from a grant to enhance a successful project.

The award was named for Bob Costas, the Emmy Award-winning broadcaster and author, for his dedication to the craft of writing and his generous public service work on behalf of the National Commission on Writing.

Recipients of the 2010 Bob Costas Grants for the Teaching of Writing
Middle States Region Nancy Kaplan of the College of Staten Island High School for International Studies in Staten Island, N.Y., teaches journalism and English. Her students collaborate with student-writers from other nations to produce an international report on topics including the war in Iraq, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and teen life in various cultures.

Western Region
Eric Gutierrez, a history teacher at Whitney High School in Cerritos, Calif., uses blogging to encourage his seventh-grade history students to organize and articulate their ideas about historical and current events. Posting their work online gives added incentive, he said, for students to improve their critical thinking and writing skills.

Southwest Region
Lynne Dozier of Klein Forest High School in Houston sponsors the student art and literature anthology called the Aquilas Stilus, which means “the eagle’s pen” in Latin. The student publication is in its 17th year, and manuscripts are chosen in order to reflect the diverse voices and creative talents across the high school.

Midwest Region
Keri Grady of Saint Martin de Porres High School in Cleveland, Ohio, teaches multimedia journalism and assigns her students a variety of stories chronicling life at their school and in their community. Students write and produce stories to educate their audience and illustrate their perspective on contemporary issues.

New England Region
Patricia Pflaumer of Abington High School in Abington, Mass., leads an effort called Students Write to Be Heard, or SW2BH. The goal she sets for her students is for them to have written work published during the school year, whether in a literary magazine, school newspaper or writing conference or contest.

Southern Region
Gabriel Ortiz, education program director at Oasis Middle School in Bradenton, Fla., leads two major projects in the Writing Workshop at Oasis: a school book and a theatre production. The school book, Seen but Not Heard, allows students to share personal stories and serves as a mentor text for other children.

CELEBRATE THE YEAR OF THE TIGER WITH NENGAJO!

Nengajo is an important tradition in Japan. It refers to the New Year’s greeting cards that people write in December to relatives, co-workers and friends, and that are delivered altogether on January 1st in the entire country. They usually include the customary greeting, a well as a representation of the animal of the year according to the Chinese Zodiac.

Every year the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers organizes a Nengajo design contest in which hundreds of students studying Japanese participate. This year, thanks to our Japanese teacher Natalia Higashide and the talents of our students taking Japanese, our school had the pleasure of being among the schools that received an award from the NCJLT. Special congratulations to MELANY YUIN for this honorable recognition! We also congratualte all our students who participated in this Japanese tradition. See the beautiful cards they created displayed on the second floor in our school!

CELEBRATE THE YEAR OF THE TIGER!

Sophomores to Participate in Museum of Jewish Heritage Partnership Program

Thanks to a grant from the Gruss Lipper Foundation, CSIHSIS sophomores will particpate in The Lipper Intern School Partnership Program. This program provides the opportunity for public schools to have a Museum Intern enhance their students' curriculum with a three-part introductory Holocaust/genocide education program. On March 3, 2010, museum interns will conduct a pre-visit session in our students Global History classes. Then on March 10, 2010 the interns will guide our students through the Museum where they will learn first hand from museum exhibitions. Their museum visit will be followed up with a post-visit session in the classroom.

This program will extend our students' classroom learning about the Holocaust and other genocides throughout history. Through experiential learning they will learn about how prejudice and racism are taught and can lead to genocide. We are most excited to be one of the schools chosen as a Lipper Intern Partner School.

The cost of admission, transportation, and workbooks is covered by a generous grant from the Gruss Lipper Foundation.

DRAGONS INDOOR TRACK SUCCESS!

During witner break our school's indoor track team competed in the PSAL Staten Island Championship. Junior Justin Castro and sophomore Megan Davis became our team's first championship finalists finishing in the top eight in the 300 meter run and 55 meter dash respectively. Junior Shivanna Duncan, freshman Angela Guarino, and freshman Diana Estrada teamed with Davis to form the girl's 800 meter relay that set a new school record. Sophomore Samantha Bruno earned a new personal record in the 55 while freshmen Joseph Rodriguez and Patrick Bonoan and senior Shawn Cybulska set new personal records in the 300 meter run. Congratualtions to all of our athletes and many thanks to Coach Cosentino for all of his hard work and dedication to our team!!!

GO DRAGONS!

CSIM Dragons Wrestling Profiled in SI Advance

After a successful inaugural year, as a PSAL wrestling program, our Dragons were the subject of a Staten Island Advance feature story in the Shore Section. The CSIM Dragons finished 8-1 this season, good enough for a 2nd place finish in the developmental division of New York City.

Please visit our website - DRAGONS WRESTLING - to see latest updates, information on joining, and to order team apparel.

Read the SI Advance Article - CLICK HERE

Expanding Global Awareness

To expand their own awareness about the plight of child soldiers, this month during independent reading our junior advisories have chosen to read A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Baeh. Ishmael's memoir is an account of his life as a child soldier in Africa. Join them in learning more about this pressing issue and in what you can do to help rescue child soldiers. As they read this stunning first hand account, they will be designing a service learning project to help rescue child soldiers and to educate our school and local communities by creating awareness about this growing problem.



The Kaplan Advisory is reading Three Cups of Tea and, through tea sales and penny collections, participating in the Pennies for Peace Project. Pennies for Peace is an international service-learning program with tens of thousands of participants around the globe. Pennies for Peace empowers communities through education in Pakistan and Afghanistan by helping to build schools in those countries! Did you know that while a penny is virtually worthless in the United States, in impoverished countries a penny buys a pencil and opens the door to literacy?

Join the Kaplan Advisory in reading The #1 New York Times Bestseller Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace, One School At A Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Read about the remarkable journey that led Greg Mortenson, Central Asia Institute co-founder, from a failed attempt to climb Pakistan’s K2 to successfully establish dozens of schools, and promote girls’ education in rural Afghanistan and Pakistan. Visit www.threecupsoftea.com for more information.

Digital Storytelling CRAZE!

Our 10th grade 21st Century Communications class dove into their creative sides to tackle storytelling. Our classes completed a variety of projects, ranging from "All About Me", to "Family History", and "Going Green" and "Climate Change".

Here is a link to our STUDENT BLOG page. You can see individual student websites by clicking a student name. On their site, feel free to watch their digital stories.

Want a lesson in family history? Check out Andrea Puno's project using Google Maps or Amanda Perdoma's FAMILY ROOTS story. Want to know about Matt Prevosti's family? Well, listen to his DIGITAL STORY RAP!

Want a lesson in Climate Change? Then be sure to look at Jamie Miller's Climate Story.

All of our students did a fantastic job in Semester 1. Be sure to look them all over. The only question now will be if this Semesters batch of sophomores can match the level!

CSIHSIS Students Support Haitian Relief Effort!

In the spirit of supporting fellow human beings in need, this week, thanks to the efforts of students who performed in our Annual Winter Concert, CSIHSIS raised $250.00 to support the rescue and relief effort in Haiti, which was recently devastated by a 7.0 magnatude earthquake as well as by sizeable after shocks. Students decided to donate the monies raised to Unicef to support children who have been revaged by the earthquakes in Haiti.

Dragon Wrestling moves to 4-0!

The CSIM Dragons have moved into first place in their PSAL division with a recent win over Frederick Douglas Academy HS in Brooklyn. The team won its fourth consecutive match 54-24. Sophomore Steven Urcinolli had a first period win to help lead the way!

Come down and support the team in their quest for 1st place! Next home matches are:

Saturday, 1/6 at 11:00 am vs. Erasmus Hall HS
Wednesday, 1/20 at 4:30 pm vs. New Dorp HS