Summer Freshman Academy!

This week marks the third and final week of our newly formed Freshman Academy. For the past two weeks this group of twenty five freshman have been introduced to our school building, our faculty, and to the culture of our school through a variety of collaborative learning experiences. They have amazed us with their creativity and, tomorrow, Thursday, July 30, 2009, will demonstrate their learning for their parents as they engage them in an interactive workshop demonstrating how learning looks at College of Staten Island High School for International Studies.

During these three weeks students have delved into the meaning and interpreted our Graduate Profile; have learned about one another's cultures, likes, and dislikes through the use of Power Point; engaged in team building through a drumming circle; have learned graduation requirements for their cohort and have engaged in discussions about the story they will author through their high school transcripts; and have had an incredible bonding experience with their peers and teachers. As students complete the Academy and organize and facilitate our Freshman Spirit Day, they will earn elective credit for their work.

As the culmination to our Freshman Academy, these freshman students will share their experiences with the remainder of our freshman class through Freshman Spirit Day to be held in October. We are hoping that Summer Freshman Academy and Freshman Spirit Day will become part our our school culture and will the CSIHSIS traditions established by our new class of freshman. We hope all our incoming freshman will join us in establishing this new tradition by participating in our Freshman Spirit Day.

For those students and parents who have been a part of the Summer Freshman Academy, we would appreciate your sharing your thoughts via this blog! Looking forward to your feedback!

Congratulations to Inaugural Class

As we reinstate our blog as a form of communication and a forum for feed back from parents, students, and alumni, I proudly congratulate our inaugural graduating class, the class of 2009. Your academic and personal achievements over the last four years have certainly been remarkable; together with our staff and faculty you have created a community of learners that is accepting, respectful, tolerant, creative and one that strives to be the best it can be! Through the culture you established and the traditions and rituals you began, your legacy will live on. I am confident that our current seniors along with our juniors, sophomores and freshman will continue to solidify the culture CSIHSIS has become known for while building on and adding to the rich traditions you have established. As you reflect on your four years at College of Staten Island High School for International Studies I hope you realize what a remarkable journey you had and how much you learned not only through your classes but through the co-curricular activities and projects you participated in such as The Giving Project, Key Club, our international travel and exchange programs, college visits, Girls Learn International, SILC, The International Insider, Rock-n-Knit, International Fair, your internships, your podcasts of immigrant interviews exhibited at Ellis Island, the movies you made for your Comparative Government through Film course, your portfolio and senior capstone projects, and of course, your experiences with advisory. I also hope you realize how special and unique you are as a group and as individuals and that you take that creativity and drive with you into your bright futures as you continue your learning. Keep in touch with us! We miss you already!

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!!