Cortland High School Newsletter

November 2022

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Vitamin Z in Print

“If you are filled with anger, you create more suffering for yourself than for the other person… So you try to bring peace to yourself first. When you are calm, when you are lucid, you will see that the other person is a victim of confusion, of hate, of violence transmitted by society, by parents, by friends, and by the environment. When you are able to see that, your anger is no longer there.” -Thich Nhat Hanh


Don’t be so quick to get angry. Look at the struggles and circumstances that someone else is going through. That way you can understand and possibly work through the problem.

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News from the Nurse

News from the Nurse

Every 9th and 11th grader needs to have a current physical on file within the last 12 months. If your child has not had one, they will be added to the list of school physicals starting on November 7th. Also every 11th grader will need to be screened for hearing and near/far vision. If this information is not on the current physical, they will be added to the list of school screenings starting in November as well.

Family ID is now open for JV/Varsity winter sports which will be starting on November 14th. Each athlete will need to have a current physical on file in the nurse's office in order to be able to participate. Don’t wait till the last minute. See Vickie for any questions or help.

As always if your child is sick, please keep them home and call attendance at 607-758-4084.


Vickie Myers RN 607-758-4194

Fax 607-423-4033


vmyers@cortlandschools.org

News from the Nurse

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Student Council

Student Council is hosting a couple of activities:


  • Oct 28- Haunted Hallways
  • Nov 4- Red Cross Bloodmobile

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Important Dates for Juniors and Seniors

College reps coming to school to meet with students through mid November - check out the list on the Counseling & Guidance Website.


Nov. 5 is SAT testing - always register at www.collegeboard.org


Financial Aid Night - Nov. 2 @ 6:30 pm in the LGI. Open to parents and students of juniors and seniors.

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Students Inducted Into the NHS

Students Inducted Into the NHS

On the evening of Monday, October 17th, Cortland High School inducted 33 students into the Ferdinand E. Smith National Honor Society. National Honor Society membership is for students in grades 11-12 who embody traits in the four pillars: Scholarship, Service, Leadership and Character.


Scholarship
Per national guidelines, at a minimum, students must have a cumulative GPA of 85, B, 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, or equivalent standard of excellence. Our local chapter requires a higher GPA than the national guidelines.


Service
This involves voluntary contributions made by a student to the school or community, done without compensation. Many of the students provided tutoring over the course of the past year, assisted with local shelters or aided in events held by non-profit organizations


Leadership
Student leaders are those who are resourceful, good problem solvers, and idea contributors. Leadership experiences can be drawn from school or community activities while working with or for others.


Character
The student of good character is cooperative; demonstrates high standards of honesty and reliability; shows courtesy, concern, and respect for others; and generally maintains a clean disciplinary record.

Students who meet the scholarship requirement will have an opportunity to complete a form detailing their accomplishments. Their demonstration of the four pillars is then presented to a Faculty Council made up of 5 staff members in the high school. The Faculty Council then determines who meets the guidelines to join the current year’s class of National Honor Society inductees.

Throughout the course of the year, the members must maintain their good standing in order to wear their honor cord at graduation. This is done through completing a minimum of 30 hours of service per year, designing and completing a service project of their own, maintaining their GPA, and upholding their good character.

We would like to congratulate the 33 new members of the NHS.

Avarie Armstrong

Annette Barnes

Ashley Beams

Jadyn Beams

Brianna Bergene

Alyvia Bishop

Alexis Brown

Campbell Bush
Avery Canzano

Spenser Dodds

Gage Femino

Madison Fitch

Valerosa Gambitta

Brenna Hogan

Ethan Johnson

Kendall Keep

Ethan Kelsey
Rileigh Madden

Sydney Markoff
Karamia Montalvo

Lauren Mott

Vincenzo Perfetti

Jack Phelan

Alina Smith

Constantine Souzas

Ella Starinsky

Molly Steve

Meilynn Stoll

Maude Terwiliger
Claire Turner

Reese Whitney
Sarah Williams

Christopher Yang

Students Inducted Into the NHS
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Students Voting

The Social Studies Department was able to assist a dozen upperclassmen register to vote and be ready to cast their first vote on Election Day, November 8th. Please take time to complete your civic duty and vote on Election Day.

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Calling all authors, poets, artists, and dreamers!

Calling all authors, poets, artists, and dreamers! Cortland High School’s longstanding creative writing and art publication, Muse-ings, began meeting last month. Any high school students who have original art or writing they would like to submit for consideration for this year’s publication, should reach out to Mr. Morgan.

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English 101

Seniors in English 101 have completed a unit of study on narrative writing that has culminated in producing college essays.

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Research & Writing and AP Literature

Students in Research & Writing and AP Literature traveled to the SUNY Cortland Memorial Library on Friday, October 21st. They worked with college librarians Lisa Czirr and Jen Phelan to learn about the services that college libraries offer. Students participated in the College Freshman Library Scavenger Hunt and practiced using college library resources.

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Music


  • Members of the High School Concert Band traveled to Randall in October to work with the 5th grade band members.
  • The High School Concert Band is busy working on the music for their upcoming concert on Tuesday, December 13 at 7pm.
  • The Life Skills Music classes are finishing up their bucket drumming unit and are moving on to hand chimes.
  • Jazz Ensemble will be starting rehearsals in November. See Mrs. Sanderson for details.
  • Vincenzo Perfetti will be performing with the New York State School Music Association Conference All-State Symphonic Band, December 1-4, in Rochester, NY. Students auditioned and were selected from all over the state.
  • All-State Symphonic Band, December 1-4, in Rochester, NY. Students auditioned and were selected from all over the state.

Chamber Orchestra

Chamber Orchestra students have been working hard on their December Concert music. Several students are also going to Randall after school on Mondays to play with Randall Orchestra students.

Music Boosters

The music boosters are beginning a concert clothes closet for any students in need of concert clothes. The closet will be available as concert day approaches. Any student in need of concert clothes may take advantage of this. Likewise, if you have clothes to donate that are solid white, solid black, or black shoes, please feel free to bring them in and give them to Mrs. Phetteplace.


The next music boosters meeting will take place on Wednesday, November 2 at 6:30 in the band room. A free pep band t shirt will be given to any first time attendee at the meeting!

Congratulations to Adam Lemon and Ryan Phetteplace

Congratulations to Adam Lemon and Ryan Phetteplace for their acceptance into the 7-9 grade area all state band festival in Fayetteville Manlius. The festival and concert will take place on Friday and Saturday November 4 and 5. In order to be accepted into this ensemble, both students performed a level IV NYSSMA solo with a rating of Outstanding.

(See pic below)

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CHS Library & Makerspace

The Library and Makerspace have had lots of students enjoying the space. Here are some of the things they’ve been doing; Halloween window painting, checking out the newest books, sticker mosaics, tutoring sessions with NHS tutors, board games, reading, geocaching, 7th grade library orientation, and much more!

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Spanish 5

Spanish 5 students are finishing their unit on the Spanish civil war and just read the short story “los chicos” by Ana Maria Matute in Spanish and are now in the process of analyzing and discussing the story in Spanish.

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Earth Science

Earth Science students are starting a unit on Topographic Maps. We are exploring the “Law of V’s” with human contour lines!


Come check out our 16-Quadrangle Topo Map of Cortland County right outside room 282!

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Career Essentials

Career Essentials students have been busy planning their futures. We’ve learned about financial aid and reviewed past students’ award letters from various colleges and universities. Students also explored options other than attending a 4-year college right after graduating high school. We are now working on developing detailed plans for our lives after high school!

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New: History Club

A new club to Cortland Jr/Sr High, History Club has just recently voted for its club officers, and is excited to start planning out future potential field trips for various history classes grades 7-12. Any interested students can reach out to Mr. Colt for further information, all are welcome.

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Economics R & Microeconomics

Economics R & Microeconomics have started to trade in this semester's Stock Market Game. Cortland has a long history of successful student traders, thus far, this year Carter Baum (senior) is leading the pack currently ranked in the top 10 in the State/Region! The game allows students to invest $100,000 in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds over the duration of about 2.5 months, competing against students and schools all across New York State.

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New Media Art

New Media students are working on the element of art known as value. Their projects consist of creating a human eye in grayscale value, and an animal eye in color value and texture.


New Media 2 students worked together to make an animated Rube Goldberg machine.

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9th Grade Biology

9th grade biology students are carrying out their own experiments! Some students chose to study the effect of different liquids on the growth of plants including coffee, energy drink, soda, salt water, milk, and V8 juice compared to water. They have quickly learned that some of their liquid choices were short lived in their experiment due to the fact that they spoil/rot quickly and needed to be thrown away after only a few days of testing. Science is messy and sometimes smelly!

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Personal Health

Personal Health students have been working on reducing their risk of chronic diseases through their nutritional choices. They created a healthy food truck item and analyzed their diet for ways to incorporate the dietary guidelines into their food choices.

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Join the Athletics Booster Club

Join the Athletics Booster Club

CHS Athletic Booster Club Membership is open to all parents, friends, teachers, coaches and administrators who desire to participate in

encouraging and supporting athletic activities.


Membership is only $5.00 per family.


A membership form can be found on the CHS Athletics page or by emailing cortlandboosters@gmail.com


We are always looking for volunteers at the various concession stands we run as well as new ideas for ways to support CHS Athletics. This is a meaningful way in which you can play a role in CHS Athletics – please consider joining us!


November 9th at 6:30pm is the next CHS Athletic Booster Club meeting in the Jr/Sr High Library.


The mission of the CHS Athletic Booster Club is to encourage and support the interscholastic

athletic programs of the Cortland Junior/Senior High School as well as the children enrolled in these programs.

Join the Athletics Booster Club

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