High School News
February 1, 2021
Events
2/1: Staff Work Day - No School for Students
2/9: BOE Meeting, 6:30pm.
2/15: Presidents' Day, No School
2/15 - 2/19: Winter Recess
2/23: BOE Meeting, 6:30pm.
2/26: Purim
Important HS News
News: High School students should begin thinking about schedule planning for the 21-22 school year. Counselors will meet with students during the month of March to go over their academic and career plans.
We encourage you to review the Course Catalog on our website for detailed information!

SENIORS - Please check your Naviance account weekly for updated Scholarship opportunities.
Please check the Counseling and Guidance website for National Scholarship Opportunities. 

Cortland High School ACT Testing is scheduled for April 13. Contact Ms. Lauryn Abdo, labdo@cortlandschools.org, for details.

JUNIORS - Cortland will re-open as an SAT Testing Site. Visit www.collegeboard.org to register for March, May or June test dates (check your calendar before scheduling to avoid conflicts).
Cortland Bowling Team Represents The Purple Tigers

With COVID19 shutting down most athletic teams this year one team is representing Cortland; the Cortland Bowling Team is made up of seven boys and five girls. The Team doesn’t travel to other lanes this year, instead matches are held at the team’s “home” lane Cort-Lanes. The team bowls their games and scores are sent in to SCAC and they match them up with the opponent.

So far the girls team has one win and one loss, the boys haven’t scored a win yet but the rest of the season looks good. In the latest game the girls took all three games against a tough ESM team (winning the match) and the boys took one game out of three. The team should be really proud as their pin count was very high for this match.

A usual season would consist of twenty matches and then Sectionals and State Championships; but, this year Sectionals and States have been cancelled as well as the usual “Shootout” match.

Coach Annette McMahon states that the format this year is very different without the other team present, it “has a different effect on the bowlers and their competitive edge”. The coaches have more time coaching and that will be a good thing in the long run to “help them to remain competitive”. Every coach and athlete in the state will be glad when things get back to “normal” and school teams can compete against other schools. Until then everyone can cheer for the Purple Tigers Bowling team, GO TIGERS!
Public Speaking
For their last project of the semester, students in Public Speaking recently completed a ten- to fifteen-minute presentation. In these “Tiger Talks,” students dealt with issues such as food scarcity, job automation, and unrealistic societal expectations. Students spent three weeks preparing for their speeches. They crushed it!
Spanish 2
Students in Spanish 2 have finished their La Casa y Quehaceres (home and chores) unit. We have moved into our La Comunidad y el Vecindario (Community & Neighborhood) and have started learning how to use the preterite tense.
Life Skills
Life Skill Language and Culture students have been learning to sign the songs “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “I Can Sing Rainbow”. We hope to perform it in ASL next month.
French 5
French 5 students have completed all French courses available to them at CHS. They culminated their language learning by writing and presenting a “missing chapter” from the book Le Petit Prince by Antoine de St-Exupéry. I’m going to miss them very much!

French 4 students have been writing “Fractured Fairy Tales” in French by taking well known fairy tales (many of which were written by French author Charles Perrault!)and changing the stories to create new endings and giving the characters new adventures. They did a fantastic job!

French 2/3 students have been working on their daily routine vocabulary and can now describe their entire day in French. We’re going to start learning to use the past tenses very soon!

French 1 students have been working on their midterm projects. They can introduce and describe themselves, talk about their families, and talk about their classes.
Broadcast News
The broadcast news class put out another show on 1/21/21. Check it out! LINK
Global News
Global students are underway with a series of ancient Greece projects in a flipped classroom set up. Students have learned the useful school skills of utilizing databases for research and how to create a Works Cited page using Noodle Tools, in addition to creating a Google Slides project and effectively presenting that project.
Biology
Biology students will be growing plants in the dark and in the light to study the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
AP Physics
Students are performing an engineering-design project to make a hypothetical landing system for a rover bound for Jupiter’s moon, Europa. To test the effectiveness of their designs, they are using eggs dropped off the 2nd floor of the science wing. In addition to the relevant physics, they are learning about constraints, trade-offs, and optimization as part of the engineering-design process as applied to a unique, challenging, and relevant problem.
VITAMIN Z! (In Print)
“Things are being revealed to you. You are realizing just how powerful and resilient you truly are. You’re starting to have a different kind of motivation, purpose, drive, and outlook. You want better and greater for yourself and you’re doing something about it. It’s time for you to shine.” Hey Tigers, keep working hard. When this pandemic is over (it won’t last forever) you are going to be so happy that you didn’t give up. Reach out if you need help. We are here for you.
Cortland Free Library
There is always something happening at the library!

LINK to the Cortland Free Library Website.
New Media Art
Students in New Media are beginning work on Surreal Art. After learning about how Surrealism was born out of the post World War I and modern psychology, students have been tasked with creating weird combinations of things, creating visual puns out of compound words.
New Media Art 2
Students in New Media 2 are working on creating portraiture in Photoshop using text and photo mosaic.
Library Browsing During Covid January 2021
The library will now be open for student book browsing and borrowing. The following rules must be followed.  
  • Only students who truly want a book may come to the library to browse and borrow. This is not a time for students to get out of class and walk around.
  • Teachers MUST call the library (ext:1328 or 1131) BEFORE sending students to the library. Teachers must send students with a pass.
  • Only 3 students from a class at a time.
  • Students WILL use hand sanitizer when they arrive at the library before they begin to browse for books.  
  • Students will be allowed to browse for no more than 10 min. Then they need to check out their books. 
  • Students WILL use hand sanitizer before they leave the library and return to class.  
If a teacher would like to bring an entire class to browse and borrow they need to make prior arrangements with the library staff.  

We look forward to seeing more students back in the library!
Lunch and Breakfast are Provided for
ALL Students!
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