A Wildcat Thank You to Jennifer Rommel of the
Otis Library.Armed with her camera,
Jennifer arrived on campus in the fall, snapped pictures of about 40 willing
NFA students, and then, using special computer software, placed student images
on assorted backgrounds to create unique posters promoting the value of
reading.These posters, in the style of
the “Got Milk” posters published in popular magazines, hang all about campus
and have created quite a sensation.What a great way to celebrate and promote the wonderful gift of
reading!Where else can you see senior Casey McGarvey, Red Sox
shirt and all, projected against a backdrop of the Green Monster?Or, how about the poster of imposing NFA
Basketball forward James “Wes” Murphy” with a book tucked jauntily into his crossed
arms!Smiling widely, a trio of 9th
graders – Tiela
Page Ryder, Catariny DePina, and Lotoya Ortiz -- pose with their copies of
David Lubar’s Sleeping Freshmen Don’t Lie, one of two titles read by NFA
Freshmen.
Wildcat
Congratulations to the music teacher Dan MacDonald and the following students
for their recent participation in the Connecticut Eastern Region Music
Festival last weekend at UCONN: Paige D'Alessandro, Ashley Deveny, Peter Gamble, Kyle Guertin, Cori Henk, Nate Hogg, Sara Ingle, Zack Kuzel, Becca Powell, and
Nick
Smolenski.Nice work folks!
Five teachers have
received Pfizer SMART! grants for various projects.Science teacher (and NFA Teacher of the
Year!) Heather
Botelle received funding for an Heirloom Breeds Agricultural
project, as did her Science Department colleague Jason Croteau for
his project “PCR Informatic and Biotechnology.Also receiving Pfizer support were Mat Jacobs’
project CSI:NFA-Integration of Mathematics to Teach Forensic Science and Susan Saracini’s project
“Pest Paparazzi:Using Digital
Cameral Traps to Monitor Wild SECT Coyote Populations.Traci Hage received funding for her
Special Education Science Fair and Explorations project.
Liz
Tylawsky and Nina
Barclay, Latin Teachers, have
news about last weekend’s 16th Annual Junior Classical League
all night readathon in the Land Library.From four o’clock Saturday evening until seven Sunday morning, 27
students (and alumni) read aloud Virgil’s Aeneid.Raechel Surprenant and
Kate
Knoblauch win kudos for reading above and beyond the call of
duty, while Latin Club officers Bethany Potter and Tom Chiovoloni
fortified the crew with healthy snacks. Alumna, Becky Cherouny
created a stencil of the statue of Laocoon with which students made
t-shirts during a break (just before Aeneas' descent to the underworld!).
A special Wildcat High Five goes to Jim Laudon for all his extra efforts.
The overnight is an awesome reminder of the joy and pleasure of sharing
ideas with others.
As the first semester
closes, NFA’s faculty, staff, and students will choose the second Top Cat of
the year.Alumni will remember
this award.Under the direction of
English teacher Amy Rygielski, the programhas been reinstituted to reflect the Academy’s focus upon character
education.Students are nominated
in writing for outstanding leadership, scholarship, and citizenship.First quarter’s winner was deserving
senior Jonathan
Justiniano.One
nomination for Jonathan read, “He is the President of SHA (Successful
Hispanics' Alliance). He is the heart and soul of the group. He is an
example for the other members…. He also ran and organized the Cape Verdian
Prime Minister visit. He is active in the community… He has outstanding
work ethic and strong goals.”We
cannot think of a better example of a Top Cat!Jonathan received a gift certificate to the BrickView Inn.
As
things settle in for next week’s Midyear Examinations (Jan. 17-21),
the Student
Activity Board presents its annual breakfast for students
before school on Jan. 18.The
aroma of warm maple syrup and pancakes will be more than enough to lure
students to the cafeteria for a free hot meal before they head out to
their first exam of the day.Faculty and administrators will dish out the grub as SAB officers Sana Samnani, Nikki Rubin,
and Julia
Gookin supervise.Before we leave the subject of food, just a note that the cafeteria
is open 7 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. during exams to serve breakfast, grinders,
and soup.
As Martin Luther King Day approaches,
we recall the wise words of the Olympic Gold Medalist Jesse Owens:“The only bond worth anything between human
beings is their humanness.”See you next week in NFA World….until then direct your
comments or questions to serrag@norwichfreeacademy.com
