Friday Falcon
Avon High School Newsletter - April 2018 - Volume 1:13
Principal's Newsletter
Dear Students, Parents, Guardians, and members of the Avon High School Community,
While most weeks go by fast at the high school, things always seem to accelerate this time of year. Suddenly there are just ten school weeks left, and graduation plans are well underway.
This week’s Falcon is an abbreviated version of our typical letter, but we have some important news to share that could not wait another two weeks.
Please enjoy a restful April break.
Best Regards,
Dave Peling Sr.
Avon High School loses a friend
Preparing to welcome the Jewish holiday of Passover, it was with great sadness that the Avon High School community learned of the passing of Holocaust survivor Margot Jeremias.
Not long ago Margot was diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer. At 92 years old Margot decided, heroically, to forego any treatment.
In March of 2017, Margot shared her unimaginable, compelling and inspiring story with the entire Junior and Senior classes of Avon High School following the film, "Fanny's Journey." The reaction of students to Margot's story was, as expected, reverential.
Margot's passion to share her testimony of the Shoah will be remembered by the entire Avon High School community as well as the thousands of other school children throughout the Greater Hartford area whose lives she touched for years to come.
The theme of the festival of Passover is one that celebrates the concept of freedom. In that spirit, let us cherish our loved ones and all the freedoms we do possess. As we enter this Spring season of renewal, let us keep the memory of Margot Jeremias in our hearts and minds as a woman who tirelessly promoted peace and connectedness among and between people of all faiths in our mutual pursuit for global understanding.
May her memory be a blessing.
Check Out Our Students
Making a Difference - Holocaust Education in Connecticut
Two weeks ago, three Avon High School students, Julia Shufro, Anna Szekeres, and Zoe Quinones and Avon High School social studies teacher Stuart Abrams testified before the Connecticut State Senate last week. Their collective testimony was instrumental in helping to pass Senate Bill 452. Click here for the press release.
Science Olympiad
UpComing Events
- April 6th - Early Dismissal - Teacher In-Service
- April 9th - 13th - No School - Spring Recess
- April 24th - SAT Test - reschedule
- April 26th & 27th - Early Dismissal - Parent/Teacher Conferences
- April 27th & 28th - AHS Spring Musical - Crazy For You - 7:30pm
- April 29th - AHS Spring Musical - Crazy For You - 2pm
- May 22nd - Career Expo - AHS Gymnasium
- June 2nd - AHS Prom
- June 5th - Awards Night - AHS Auditorium
- June 19th - AHS Graduation - 5:30pm
Congratulations Due
Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair Honors
Dheepa and Jaya Hari took second place in the CT Science and Engineering Fair in March and received 2nd place honors for the app they designed - Mymedwallet. Please read the abstract below describing the new app.
There are many people who visit multiple doctors, have to balance multiple prescriptions and experience difficulty keeping all of their information organized such as blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. Literature review shows that 10-38% of seniors, ages 65-85+, have difficulties managing their medications. Around 50% of medications for chronic diseases aren’t taken as prescribed and 20-30% of prescriptions are never filled.
According to Medline.gov, 30.3 million people visit physician offices for diabetes and 40.3 million for hypertension. Related research on the Google Play store shows that currently there is not one application that keeps all of an individual’s medical information together. We developed the MyMedWallet app to help keep all the medical information of an individual organized in one place. The app was developed using Android App Inventor, mysql and TinyDB databases. The app provides the following features to the user: it can organize and store all medical information, including physician contact information, appointment reminders, prescription details and dosing reminders, and prescription refill reminders. In addition, it provides opportunity to track blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar on a daily basis with an option to generate charts that display these personal statistics in an easilyaccessible way for personal use and physician review. We conducted a survey to collect feedback from adults and senior citizens. 91% of the 32 people surveyed found MyMedWallet to be helpful to them, highlighting the top features as the Reminder and Graphing systems.
Click here for more information about the Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair.
Click here for the Science Fair results.
Reminders
AHS Science Olympiad - April 7th
Attention Seniors: Avon Dollars for Scholars applications are available now. Please create an account and begin the application process.
Follow this link: ADFS for directions on how to set up your account for scholarships.
Specific scholarship info includes:
At least 3 scholarships for students going into the military.Rotary Vocational scholarship - student going directly into a career path (ie job), trade school, or 2 yr associates program.
Scholarships for students interested in: law enforcement; elementary education; performing arts Scholarship - second generation immigrant, or going to Trinity
Parents & Students: Be sure to "like" the Avon Dollars for Scholars Facebook page to stay up to date on deadlines, events, and fundraisers.
Link to the Facebook page: ADFS Facebook
Save The Date
- CT School Day SAT Test has been rescheduled to April 24th. All juniors will sit for the SAT test during the school day. No preregistration is required.
- On May 22nd, all grade 9 and 10 students will attend a Career Expo hosted in the AHS gymnasium.
PROM!
Avon High School Updates
National Honor Society
Attention all juniors
Those that have obtained a 3.4 GPA have been sent a letter in the mail which invites them to apply for National Honors Society. If you believe you should have received a letter and you have not, or you have any concerns or questions, please contact Mr. O’Sullivan.
Additionally, for current NHS members - We look forward to our group spring project in which we help run a soccer tournament here in Avon! Please keep that in mind as we move forward.
Thank you,
The NHS Officers
Avon High School Scholarships
In Our Classrooms
AP Biology
Avon High School's Athletics Booster Club
Please click here to see the latest Bulletin from the Booster Club and all of the exciting and informative news they have to share.
Avon High School PTO
The Avon High School PTO Board would like to express our sincere appreciation to the following businesses and individuals for their support of our 2018 AHS PTO 5th Annual Auction.
Our auction raised $4,800 to benefit the students of Avon High School!
We are fortunate to have YOU as a part of our school community as we all work together to excel in educating our children. Thank you for your generosity and continued support!
Entercom/96.5 WTIC
Dave Pelling, AHS Principal
AHS PTO
AHS Booster Club
Amici Italian Grill
Angel Tips
Avon Driving School
Avon Motophoto
Bridgewater Chocolate
Chili's
da Capo
Hartford Yard Goats
Huntington Learning Center
Hoyts Simsbury Commons 8
Jill Paterson, AHS Drama Teacher
Liquid Nirvana
Max Restaurant Group
Milkcraft
My Secret Garden
Noella Nail Spa
Oasis European Skin Care
Power 10 Indoor Rowing Center
Shihan Skin Pro & Day Spa
ShopRite
The Hair Loft
The North House
Recently funded projects granted by the AHS PTO
Avon Athletic Records Boards (in conjunction with Avon High School Booster Club)
Videocam Equipment for Avon High School Internship Program
Jane Doe No More Program
Cinema Projector
Cafe Microphone
Poetry Out Loud Program
Makerspace in Library: Silhouette and Studio Heat Press and Printer
Acoustic Band Shells for the AHS stage (in conjunction with 3 other Avon organizations)
Two TV Monitors for Guidance Office to provide information to students
AHS Project Graduation’s all-night grad party
GO AVON, our upperclassmen-led Freshman Orientation program.
F.A.M.E.
F.A.M.E. will meet on Monday, April 23rd at 7 pm in the Orchestra Room. Please note room change for this month. All are welcome. Any questions? Please contact any of our board members:
Robin Lazinsk (rdlazinsk@hotmail.com), President
Gwendolyn Hahn (Gwenhahn64@gmail.com), Vice President
Lynne Zemaitis (lzemaitis1973@gmail.com) and Susan Lybeck (susanlybeck@hotmail.com), Secretaries
Meredith Jobe (the4jobes@gmail.com), Treasurer
Friends of Avon Music Education (F.A.M.E.) is a music and theater booster club at Avon High School which supports each of the music disciplines along with the theater department. Our organization was founded in 1996 by a group of parents who were interested in supporting the AHS music program.
Avon PTO
The AHS PTO introduces Konstella!
Publishing a directory is an extremely labor intensive project and finding volunteers to take it on has been difficult. It is also costly as we have had a decreased numbers of members over the years and our printing costs go up. Other Avon schools have utilized the online directory and have had great success. The concept is growing and we are in the learning stages, so I request your patience in getting this all together. So without further ado...welcome to the world of Konstella...
Konstella is a communication channel for parents of school-aged children. This website/app allows parents to efficiently reach other parents and teachers, and participate in school-wide discussions and activities. Avon High School PTO will have a secure site that can only be accessed by verified members of our school community. We hope to have Konstella used as the vehicle for communication throughout the Avon School District by next year - so sign up today! It will be so efficient to have directory information at your fingertips on your smartphone or tablet as well as on your home computer.
With Konstella, you will be able to:
- Volunteer for PTO committees and events
- Access the online student/family directory (there will be no printed directory this year!)
- Receive communications from the PTO
Steps to sign up for Konstella:
- You will first need to set up your Konstella account via computer, but after you have the account - you can download the Konstella app to your tablet or smartphone
- Type this URL into the address bar https://www.konstella.com/cd/xjg05i
- Enter your email in the provided space.
- You will then be sent an invitation email.
- Follow the directions in the email to complete the registration for Konstella.
Some notes on using Konstella:
- Please add Konstella.com to your email program's safe list..
- Once you are registered, please be sure to customize your privacy settings within Konstella by clicking your NAME, then SETTINGS. You may enter in as much or as little personal information as you prefer. In order to get PTO communications this year, you must include your EMAIL at a minimum.
- Use Konstella online and/or download the app to your tablet or smartphone.
- It is FREE to be listed in the directory, but to access other families' contact information, we request that you please contribute to the AHS PTO membership with a $30 donation by check made payable to AHS PTO.
If you have any questions, please let us know. Thank you!
Heather Maguire