Mr. Manera's Classes Restore The Landscaping In Front Of The High School

Back row  Paige Carruthers, Sam Linnett, Kate Andrews, Meg Dusha, Mel Steinberg, Casey Marchaland, Kathleen Isgro, Dani DeGregory and Jasmine Woodard.  Front Isabelle Sipperly, Danielle Patane, Kaitlyn Culbertson, Sam Whitehouse, Courtney Towne, Emily Boddery, Meg Watkins, and Monica Walsh.  Coaches: Leslea Davis, Dawn Slater, Angie Whitehouse.

Student Council Highway Cleanup

Advisor Brenda Facin, organized a cleanup of North Greenwich Road, which is named for the the Student Council under the "Adopt A Highway" program. From left to right, bottom row: Brenda Facin, Bridget Dusha, Mel Steinberg, Megean St. John, Collin Stewart, Sarah Tuttle, Alycia Askew. Back row: Jasmine James, Jordan James, Ethan Oswald, Sam Steinberg, Chris Herbst, Ian Kelly, Cameron Cox.

Spring Cleanup 2008
On Thursday, June 5, Mr. Manera and Ms. Foote organized a day of campus rejuvenation. Mr. Manera's Biology classes landscaped and planted flowers in front of the High School, while Ms. Foote's Animal Science classes cleaned up and did maintenance on trees in back of the school.

  
       Dani Degregory, Laura Salkowe, Alicia Anuszewski, Carole Dore                             Shalyn Benway

  
                                  Megean St. John                                                                          Sierra Shorey

  
                         Richard Burch                                      Adding new soil, hanging ornaments on the Kaytlyn
                                                                                             McReynolds tree

             
               Left to Right: Kirsten MacLeod, Elizabeth Smith, Wayne Foote, Erika Mosher, Brandy Dowling,
              Alejandro Cruz-Rich, Kaitlin Fitch, Melissa Thomas, Emily Fung, Zack Jennings

      
                        Jake Houston                                           Cameron Derby, Emily Collins, Haley Graves
 

Greenwich Central School’s Bravest Bottom row (from left to right): Adam Gillis, James Talmadge, Will Lant, Matt Shissler, Alejandro Cruz-Rich,   Lucas Perkins, Jon Wilbur, Dana Marchaland. Top Row: Doug Shaw, Ben Barbur, Gary Norton, Roger Shaw, Zack Jordan, Alexis Skaarup. Not pictured: Nick Ramsey. Outside the spotlight of traditional school activities, a group of Greenwich Central High School students has begun to follow in the footsteps of their courageous mentors, the firefighters in the volunteer departments of Cossayuna, Easton, Greenwich, Middle Falls and Shushan. These students are at various stages of engagement: a few are just joining, others are actively involved in coursework and training and some are full-fledged firefighters. Still others are training to become first responders. Senior Lucas Perkins explains that each aspiring firefighter “…has to take Firefighter One, which is a one hundred and thirty hour course you need to be Interior Qualified” (certified to enter a building at a call). These GCS Volunteers attend meetings, receive training, help maintain their stations and equipment and when ready, work side-by-side with veteran firefighters on calls. Training, preparation, judgment and the leadership of local fire departments combine to minimize risks as much as possible, but firefighting is inherently dangerous, hard work. Fires and accidents occur at all hours, in all weather conditions and coming to the rescue of friends, neighbors and classmates in emergencies can be traumatic. Balancing the demands of schoolwork, activities, sports teams and firefighting is a significant challenge. High School principal and newly named Superintendent of Schools Matthias E. Donnelly reserves special praise for Greenwich Central’s bravest: “Students who volunteer as firefighters are making the highest level of commitment for their community.  They put their lives in jeopardy for us.”

Woodard and Stout Star as Greenwich Central Volunteers                                    Woodard and Stout with one of their wheelchair accessible garden boxes

GCS woodworking teacher Dan Fischer refers to Jake Woodard and Dylan Stout as his “super volunteers.” Throughout this year, Jake and Dylan have satisfied parts of their woodworking class requirements by building projects to benefit others in the GCS community. “These seniors are role models for younger students, demonstrating what it means to be volunteers and leaders,” Fischer noted.

Recently, Woodard and Stout teamed with classmate Neil Fryer to build a “whale watch” platform, which will be added to the “Initiatives” elements in the woods, behind the high school building. The "Initiatives" course provides social and physical challenges for leadership training in counseling groups and physical education, health, agriculture and technology classes. The whale watch platform rests on a fulcrum log and in various supervised exercises, students stand on the platform and work to maintain balance with both ends off of the ground.


                                                                                                  television cabinet in the Ag shop

Among other projects, Woodard and Stout have also built wheelchair accessible gardening boxes behind the      elementary school and a television cabinet in the agriculture shop.“I’m going to miss Jake and Dylan when they graduate,” Fischer says, “but they will have left a mark and a map for others.”

               
               Fryer, Stout and Woodard on Whale Watch Platform

Members of Mr. Fischer's Woodworking/Production Systems Class build the balcony for scenes from "West Side Story," to be performed at the Pops Concert.

Top:Tyler Martin, Sophie Varosy; bottom Richard Burch,
Jared Grimes, Lucas Roods

Mr. Kelly's Agriculture Engineering Classes Build Dugouts for the Baseball Field

GCS Business Students Give Back to the Community

GCS Business and Marketing Education Department teaches more than just business theory. Students of Ms. Lee’s Small Business Ownership class participate in a year-long assignment similar to the television show The Apprentice. Teams are established, given tasks, create business plans for the tasks, and then complete an evaluation of the task. The most recent task correlated with the Community Connections program and required students to develop and execute a community service event.

Team “White Lanterns” delivered holiday cheer to residents of Pleasant Valley Infirmary on December 15. Students baked cookies and presented them while singing holiday songs to the residents.

Team “Ice” collected monetary and toy donations from GCS faculty, staff, and community members. With the monetary donations students purchased toys, baked cookies, and then delivered them to Albany Medical Center’s Children Hospital on December 20.

The students’ efforts were amazing and greatly appreciated by Pleasant Valley Infirmary and Albany Medical Center Children’s Hospital.

Team “White Lanterns” – Tim Morris, Amber Waldron, Chris Monks, Carly Burns,
Adam Gillis, Will Lant, Ryan Lewis and James Squires.

Team "Ice"- Front row Cassie Hughes, Chelsea Morehouse, Liz Worthington, John Crosby.
Back row: Ms. Lee, Jesse Slater, Ross Braymer, Andy Amodio, Colleen Finan, Chevy Ely,
David Andresson
 

GCS Career Development and Occupational Studies (CDOS) Teachers
Implement New Program: Community Connections

GCS Business and Marketing, Agriculture, Technology, Home and Careers, and High School Life Skills teachers are implementing into their curriculum a Community Connections program. The goal of this program is to mobilize youth to identify and address the needs of their communities through service, to support youth on a life-long path of service and civic engagement, and to educate the public about contributions of our young people as community leaders.

Students enrolled in these courses will be introduced to the importance of community service and required to complete various community service projects each year. A record of each student’s community service activities and hours will be kept on file so that it can be added to their school transcripts, college applications, and resumes.
 

Service in Mr. Fischer's Technology Classes

    
From left to right: Joseph Dziemianzuk and Tyler Bartlett work on lighting for the Junior Prom;
Andrew Paul helps repair Sectional athletic plaque frames for school hallways

Adults Show the Way

Leslie Allen and Terri Pendergrass have helped to raise thousands of dollars for the Varsity Club
 over the years, managing the snack bar at athletic events.

GCS Leadership Group Volunteers
Greenwich High School students Colby Hoyt, Richard Jakakas, Doug Johnson, Ryan Lewis and David Sikorski recently volunteered three days for trail improvement and maintenance at Merck Forest and Farmland in Rupert, Vermont. The students honed their leadership development skills with trail clearing, trail marking, map reading, star study, back country food preparation and other essential winter camping challenges. The project involved trekking miles through mountainous trails. Merck Education Stewards Melissa Patterson and Josh Porter assisted school staff in designing and implementing the project, the first in a series of new collaborative initiatives between GCS and area youth agencies. The project was supported by donations from the Greenwich Teachers’ Association and Hannaford Supermarket.

David Sikorski, Ryan Lewis, Doug Johnson, Colby Hoyt
 

Doug Johnson clears trail
 

Richard Jakakas