City School District of New Rochelle
News & updates
January 17, 2020
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Middle and Elementary School Students Explore Science In Research Fair
The lobby of the New Rochelle Public Library was filled with the fruits of scientific research from middle school and elementary school students last Saturday.

Students in the first annual New Rochelle Research Fair presented their explorations of sound, vision, autism’s challenges and the trajectories of golf balls, among other topics.

“It is genuinely amazing that they all reached this point,” said Jeff Wuebber, director of the New Rochelle High School Science Research Program, who emceed the fair. “A lot of college students have not presented original research. This is a very impressive group of students.”

The fair was organized by the Foundation for Science Research in New Rochelle. The New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence contributed support, and the library hosted the event in the lobby as well as the Ossie Davis Theater.

ALMS seventh grader Elena Adams studied the challenges faced by people on the autism spectrum, finding, for instance, that they can be both hypersensitive and hyposensitive.

“It really helped me to understand them a little better,” said Adams, who came in first place in the middle school division. Seventh grader Juliette Thomas came in second while eighth grader James Palermo came in third. Among the elementary school students, Lia Seelenfreund of Daniel Webster Magnet School came in first. NRHS students in the Science Research Program volunteered as judges for the contest.

In addition to the science, the students discovered the importance of verifying their information.
“You have to go to a lot of sources to make sure that what you give as facts are actually facts,” said Kareem Nasr, an ALMS seventh grader whose research looked at the connection between sunlight and prevention of myopic vision (nearsightedness).

Already, the lessons they learned have been invaluable. Thomas, the second-place winner, interviewed 40 students, grades 4 through 7, to determine the age at which they understand Piaget’s Theory of Conservation. She found that older students understood, for instance, that the volume of water does not change when poured from one container to another of a different shape.

Beyond that, the project taught Thomas perhaps the most fundamental lesson of all.

“I’ve discovered that there is always more you can learn,” she said.
Participants in the New Rochelle Research Fair.

Above: Elena Adams explains her research into autism.
Counsel's Opinion
On Gift-Giving

Given the interest and questions surrounding practices of gift-giving as it relates to wine or alcohol to teachers and administrators in schools, the District asked counsel to issue an opinion. Please click here to read the opinion in its entiret y and please be guided accordingly. The opinion, in summary, is that alcohol should not be given as a gift on school grounds, which are defined as within a thousand feet of a school.
NRHS Senior's Artwork Displayed in Beijing

A New Rochelle High School senior became an internationally-featured artist recently when her work was displayed at the Joy Museum in Beijing, China. Annie Hessel’s digitally created artwork, “Purple Sky,” features a woman interacting with a constellation of planets from a rocky outcropping.
 
“The girl in my piece in the exhibit is based on one of the characters that I created,” Hessel said. “These characters live in my head, but I like to bring them to life sometimes. In my mind, she is connecting with the aliens from space.”
 
Hessel has completed the PAVE (Performing and Visual Arts Education) program at NRHS and takes figure drawing classes at the Mamaroneck Artists Guild gallery in Larchmont. She credits the PAVE program with her success. “The PAVE program definitely pushed me in ways I didn’t expect,” she said. “I grew more in my art than I think I would have in any another program.” 
 
Hessel is still getting used to the idea of having her work displayed in a museum 6,800 miles away. “It feels pretty surreal to be an internationally-featured artist,” Annie said. “I never expected something like this to happen while I’m still in high school.”
 
The Joy Museum collaboration was initiated through the BIZ G87 Gallery in Larchmont. The Beijing museum’s website says it is "the first visual arts space in the world dedicated to young children under the age of 18, with children acting as curators, operating and managing in accordance with the international museum's professional structure, … showing children's visual art works, showing young people's aspirations, and a brand new visual arts space platform.”
 
In addition to digital art, Hessel has created works with oil paint, water colors, pencil and other mediums. She hopes to work as a professional animator on television shows and movies while inspiring other students to become artists. 
NRHS senior Annie Hessel's digitally created work, 'Purple Sky.'
New Rochelle Fund
Awards Grants

The New Rochelle Fund for Education Excellence (NR Fund) has announced more than $30,000 in funding for 18 awardees in 2020. NR Fund awards grants to programs and initiatives beyond the current school curriculum that help students find their inner voice and build their self-confidence. 
 
This year’s grants include funding for the New Rochelle High School Robotics Club, a research fair for both middle schools, and the Columbus Elementary School chess team. More than half of the awardees in the three-year-old program are first-time recipients.

“There is a great need for very well-rounded and enhanced educational experiences for students. Sometimes that includes things that are not in the traditional school budget,” said Sabrina Toback, Executive Director of NR Fund. “These Fund grants can pick up where people’s imaginations take off.”
 
Toback says every school that applied for grants had at least one awardee. In addition, the NR Fund received grant applications from all four accepted categories: students, teachers, parents and administrators.

The NR Fund the NR Fund doubled this year’s budget from last year.

"The programs that these grants fund help to offer our students a richer educational experience," said Superintendent Dr. Laura Feijóo. "We are grateful to the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence for this invaluable program."

The complete list of grant awardees is as follows:

  • Trinity Elementary School and Hudson Park Children's Greenhouse - Amaryllis Bulb Gardening Project
  • Henry Barnard Early Childhood Center/WABSE Black History Month Celebration: 2020 Exploring Africa
  • Columbus Elementary School – Marine Education Center in Mamaroneck
  • Columbus Elementary School – Chess Team
  • Columbus Elementary School – Calming Boxes in classrooms
  • Davis Elementary School - Story Pirates Changemakers program for acting, music, and writing
  • Davis Elementary School - Mindfulness Staff Professional Development
  • Albert Leonard Middle School – Theatre in a Trunk program
  • Albert Leonard Middle School – Music in the Parks
  • Albert Leonard Middle School – Escape Room Challenge Kits for French classes
  • Isaac E. Young Middle School and Albert Leonard Middle School – Research Fair
  • Isaac E. Young Middle School – Jazz Hands Musical Theatre Workshop
  • New Rochelle High School – New Rochelle Junior State of America (JSA) chapter
  • New Rochelle High School – Science Research Program
  • New Rochelle High School – Robotics Club
  • New Rochelle High School – My Brother’s Keeper NR
  • New Rochelle High School – LatinX Youth Leadership Conference
  • New Rochelle High School - TheatreWorks
Installing a #lightpainting in the House IV cafeteria.
NRHS Students Create Art
With Sunlight, Found Objects
Almost 100 art students at New Rochelle High School are creating works out of objects found at their feet, and the light of the sun above. These projects are inspired by the work of visiting artist Susan Luss.

In window installations on the House IV bridge and in the cafeteria, sunlight is the key element, tinted and shaped by colored gels, but free to stretch across the floors, tables, even the people passing by. Their works join those created by Luss, whose sun-tinting pieces, denoted as #lightpainting, fill the east-facing windows on the bridge.

“Student are walking down the hallway with rainbows on them,” said art teacher Alexi Brock.

Luss has been working with PAVE Visual Arts 1,2,3 and 2D and 3D Advanced Placement classes.

Tomorrow, Jan. 18, the Museum of Arts & Culture in House IV will hold a reception from noon to 4 p.m. for a solo exhibition by Luss entitled “today, I am…” The entrance is off North and Braemar avenues. The works in hallway and cafeteria complement the main display.

In the museum’s smaller gallery, the students and Luss have created another installation, this one of found objects. Denoted as #asphaltforensics, the items include jewelry, toy cars and other trinkets, empty crayon boxes, beads from a broken necklace, even a plastic sandwich bag with its colored band gathered together like a bow. Senior AP Art student Maura Kelly-Yuoh was chosen to design and install the wall composition for the installation.

Students in PAVE 3 were given a prominent venue – the large, arched windows of the House IV cafeteria. Senior AP Art student Molly Weckesser was chosen to create a solo window in the center.

They used only gels in primary colors, but could overlap them for secondary and tertiary hues. Junior Natalie Alonzo’s piece depicts two hands – one red, one blue – with a purple area where they touch, representing a new relationship. 

“It’s subtle,” she said. “They’re getting to know each other.”

Julian Quintero’s work created a frame of geometric shapes, leaving a large circular clear area in the middle. He and the students helping him had to adapt his original design according to what worked best in the actual space.

“We’re just doing it as we go, changing the colors a bit,” he said.

Luss began creating the works using colored gels in 2014 because of how elemental sunlight is.

“Now I consider that I collaborate with the sun,” she said.
Installation by artist Susan Luss
VashtiDance Musical Director David Alston leads Columbus students in African drumming.
Columbus 4th Graders
Learn African Music, Dance

The fourth graders at Columbus Elementary School picked up the exuberant movements and powerful rhythms of West African music like naturals.

Starting Monday, they learned from VashtiDance Theater company, drumming on djembes and junjuns, shaking shekeres, and stepping and spinning ancient dances.

 “They’re making huge strides every day,” music teacher Dr. Christina Romano said on Wednesday.

That’s probably because they were having so much fun.

“I like the energy in the dance,” said student David Braithwaite. The movements woke him up when he came to school tired. “It makes me more excited and happy,” he said.

His class was learning a dance from the Mali Empire, which flourised in West Africa from the 13th to the 16th century. Fatima Logan-Alston, Artistic Director of the Manhattan-based VashtiDance, said she chose dances that build a feeling of cooperation and teamwork. The aim is to teach the students a culture they may not know, and to foster a positive attitude.

“We want to give them a spirit of perseverance and faith in themselves,” she said. “We also want them to show a positive attitude toward each other, and finally, we want to bring a feeling of celebration.”

David Alston, the VashtiDance musical director, led them in drumming together while Logan-Alston taught the dance.

Student Elisa Crisp especially enjoyed it when the drums and the dancing come together.

“It feels good, just having fun and doing it correctly,” she said.
The ALMS village with some of students who assembled it.
To Show 'It Takes a Village,' ALMS Students Built One

At Albert Leonard Middle School, seventh graders have expressed the wisdom behind the saying “It takes a village…” by creating one of their own.

An entire village, that is. Some 175 donated shoeboxes decorated as buildings now cling to a mini hillside seven feet high. The students put it together just before the holiday break in the ALMS lobby.

“It showed the power of unity and what people can do when they come together,” said student Manasi Simpkins, who took part in the project.

Collaboration was key. If it takes a village to raise a child, as the African proverb says, it took a team of students working together to assemble the village.

 “The students were able to be architects in this project by designing their own buildings,” said art teacher Sarah Suplina, who led the project for the second year in a row. “Then they worked together to build this. It creates a sense of community.”

Suplina chose the hillside configuration to emulate communities found around the globe – in Israel, Italy, Puerto Rico and so on. Students populated their village with a variety of buildings, including stores, restaurants, even a news studio that was also a news truck created by student Hannah Klupt.

“I watch the news a lot,” she explained.

Some were one-of-a-kind entities, such as the cat café created by student Siana Mathai.

“It’s a café where there are cats and you can pet them,” she said. “I wanted to make something no one else would make.”

Even among buildings that display the same purpose, each sports a look that reflects the creativity of the student who made it.

“There are about five bakeries,” Klupt said, giving one example. “But every one is different.”
Sports Schedule
For upcoming New Rochelle athletic competitions, check out the Athletics Calendar.

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Dates to Remember
  • Monday, January 20: Martin Luther King Day – District Closed

  • Tuesday, January 21: Davis PTA Meeting

  • Tuesday, January 21: NRHS Regents Exams

  • Wednesday, January 22: NRHS Regents Exams

  • Thursday, January 23: Barnard PTA Meeting
  • Thursday, January 23: NRHS Regents Exams

  • Thursday, January 23: Barnard Movie Night, 6 p.m.

  • Friday, January 24: End of Second Marking Period

  • Friday, January 24: NRHS Regents Exams

  • Friday, January 24: Columbus Chess Night, 6 p.m.
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