MRHS FRIDAY FOCUS Weekly Newsletter
MRHS VOICE: Vision of Innovation, Creativity & Excellence
Building Connections Through Communication!
MRHS's Multicultural Fair Simply Amazing!!
#MRHS620
To highlight the fun tweet out to #MRHS620.... and just maybe you'll be featured on the World Famous "Friday Focus!" Enjoy some examples below!
Catch Someone Doing The Right Thing & Share! #MRHS620 - The Enthusiasm is Contagious!
MRHS Leading Again!
Crazy Socks to raise Awareness
MRHS students joined the staff on Wednesday by wearing crazy socks to raise awareness on World Down Syndrome Day.
Each year on March 21, people around the world wear crazy and wacky socks to observe World Down Syndrome Day. The day has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012 and encourages people around the world to raise awareness of what Down syndrome is, what it means to have Down syndrome and how people with Down syndrome play an important role in our lives and in their communities. March 21, or 3-21 was chosen to signify the trisomy (triplication) of the 21st chromosome, which causes Down syndrome.
Shark "Shout Outs" MRHS's way of Appreciating the Great People That Make Our School "A Home Away From Home" Please share any good news with us!
Many thanks to AFS exchange student, Yoshika Hida, for teaching the Creative Writing II: Global Outlook class how to make origami peace cranes (picture above). The class has been studying Japanese poetry as well as the culture. After studying the effects of WWII and the bombings on the Japanese people, the students are writing poems about peace to enter into the Annual Veterans for Peace Poetry Contest. We are making the cranes for Yoshika to bring to the Hiroshima Museum in Japan where they will be put on a rotating display. Domo Arrigato, Yoshika!
Ms. Doyle
Huge shout out to Kara Koslowsky for setting up and organizing the Tech program for one of our students. She did this all on short notice and with a smile!
He really needs this and she was able to out it all together for Monday.
Thank you!!!!!
Mr. Sowpel
Parent Shout Outs (we love these by the way-keep sharing!)
Hello Jackie (Corrigan) and Theresa (Reinwald),
I’ve been meaning to email and thank you both for the wonderful activity that you did with all of the kids a couple of weeks ago where they all had to write something nice about each other. Caitlin couldn’t wait to tell me about it when I picked her up that day. She said that you both said that since they’re all together so much, it definitely starts to become like having siblings and occasional fighting. When she brought home the paper, she was beaming. She said that it made her feel so good and knows they all do care about each other. All of the sweet comments, including both of yours, definitely touched our hearts and there were definitely happy tears. Caitlin talks about you both often and you mean so much to her.
I wanted to copy Mr. Burkhead on this because I know that as a manager myself, I love hearing wonderful things about my team and how helpful/courteous they are. Monomoy is definitely a home away from home, providing excellent guidance and love to our children.
I also wanted to acknowledge with all of the horrible weather that we’ve been having, when we pulled up last week and the custodians were out front putting down rock salt, etc., Caitlin made a comment about how hard they work and always making sure it’s safe for everyone. I told her that they would probably like to hear that as well so she thanked the custodian who was passing by my car after saying good morning to him. He responded with a big smile.
Thank you to all of you for everything that you do. We truly appreciate it!
Denise and Michael Bouvier
Dear Mr. Burkhead,
I just wanted to let you know how happy I am that Jon Bennett is my son and daughter's counselor. He is not only professional but also friendly, down to earth and realistic when it comes to each individual student.
He has helped my son immensely these past few years. He has guided him through to senior year and deserves a lot of credit!!! After meeting with him today with my daughter Erin, I was given a clear picture of where she is academically and what we need to do for her best chance at a college of her choice. Jonathan is an asset to Monomoy High School! I'm deeply impressed with all his hard work!
Sincerely,
Barbara Starkey
Hi folks,
This was certainly a week that "[tried] men's souls," but I will remember it as a great week. From teachers and staff helping each other deal with the storm to students helping students prepare for today's Culture Fair, we showed the "heart" I know our school has.
Now I must thank all those that helped make today's wonderful fair happen:
Thank you teachers for your patience and cooperation.
Thank you teachers who hosted a culture table - you are wonderful and so appreciated.
Thank you Cliff - even in a week of storm recovery and drama performances, you have been kind, patient, and helpful at every step of the way
Thank you Eric, John, Dave, and Greg: it was a lot to prepare for and a lot to clean up!!
Thank you Claire and Janet for handling Fair parents, phone calls, and Claire, thanks for putting up with my nervous pestering regarding announcements.
Thank you Peer Leaders and Ms. Coughlin for your terrific video in the morning announcements.
Thank you Spirit Club for the colorful posters to promote the fair.
Thank you Kat Szmit for squeezing the fair in your busy schedule and capturing the joy you witnessed today with your wonderful camera
Thank you Ms. Girolamo and Mr. Martin for your support and help.
Thank you Mr. Burkhead for your UNWAVERING support of the idea two months ago, for giving us a full block of time, for allowing us to cut into classroom learning time in order to promote global learning time, for giving us a chance to create authentic learning experiences for both the students who hosted tables and for those who visited tables, again, thank you.
Thank you Alison Burton and Emily Viprino for coming to meetings, purchasing prizes, making great suggestions, helping in all ways, putting together the dance component, hiring a professional dancer, and being absolutely indispensable!!! Grazie belle signore!
Finally, to two women I love (and my students will tell you that I NEVER use the word "love" lightly if at all): Elizabeth Hoff and Mimi van der Berg. This fair would not have happened without them, period. More importantly, they are the open door, the listening ear, and the warm smile that so many of our new or visiting students need. They are a huge part of our heart and soul, and they are taking us confidently into our 21st century global world.
Mille grazie Sharks e buon weekend,
Lisa Forte-Doyle
It is you (Ms. Forte-Doyle) we should thank. Incredible job! Your continued effort and joie the vie is amazing. Thank you!
Mimi
Lisa, Mimi's right. I echo all of your words of appreciation to others, but the truth is that your tenacity, contagious enthusiasm, resourcefulness, unconditional support, can-do attitude, effective communication, and words of encouragement are what really made the fair possible. We had students on the fence about participating, and you and Mimi gave them the confidence they needed to move forward. This fair is no different than what you do in your classroom and around the school every day. You are the embodiment of school spirit and student support. It is an honor to witness such greatness!
Ms. Hoff
I just wanted to acknowledge Ms. Terrenzi for a moment with a student on Friday. The student was having a bad day and asked to take the quiz in my room, which of course was fine. The student was having real difficulty with the problems, and as is usually the case in my room, my best buddies Emma and Ashley jumped right in and helped without giving answers, just helping with the process and getting the student to figure out the answers.
I was concerned when I returned that since it was a quiz if the help we gave was going to hurt the student, but Ms Terrenzi. was amazing. She thought the fact that he worked on it with someone, reviewed, and tried hard was amazing. It was a really awesome experience for this situation to become a collaboration between teachers and students who would usually not work together.
Kudos to Ms. Terrenzi, Ashley, and Emma.
Mr. Herring
I would like to give a shark shout out to Mrs. Flavell because Tuesday this week during jawsome I had to make up a test and complete work for other classes and never got the time to get lunch and that morning I was not able to get breakfast. Mrs. Flavell heard me say I was hungry and did not have time for lunch, she gave me 2 granola bars and a water. I am very thankful to have a teacher like her.
Harry Yuskaitis
Amazing work by Erik Eckman to replace a ripped piece of carpet and fix a chair situation over the weekend. I was holding off asking for help since custodians have been so busy with weather stuff. Then I come in today and its all fixed! You don't realize how important things like that are until they break. My back instantly feels better - and I am just so grateful to Erik for solving a problem without even being asked!!!!
Thank you!
Mr. Sowpel
Just came home from the fabulous matinee performance of All Shook Up!!!! HUGE Shook Up Shout Out to Deb, Rose, Amanda, and the cast, crew, and band. What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Snowstorm? What snow storm! The show looked well-rehearsed, voices were strong, and the energy was fun. Thanks folks!!
Ms. Forte-Doyle
The Harwich PTO wants to thank the following MRHS students who volunteered their time to help out at Saturday’s Shamrock Shimmy at HES – their help was much appreciated!
Samantha Dunford
Jack Jordan
Griffin Dwyer
Nate Gibson
Jarrett Strzepek
Owen Crevier
Luke Meincke
Kathleen Prescott
Caraline LaBelle
Lindsay Macdonald
Abbey Tyldesley
Thank you!
Ms. Jordan
Kudos to Maggie Dever who was buzzed in the front door, and noticed a man enter the building directly behind her. She reported it to me and described the man. I discovered the gentleman in the downstairs hallway by Ms. Hemeon's room and let him know from hereon a visitor tag is required. SO proud of Maggie; she saw something, and she said something!
Ms. Ferro
I would like to give a shark shout out to the High School Destination Imagination team that competed last week:
Here's a shout out to the MRHS Destination Imagination team. So proud of these four girls working all school year to create a performance which included a carousel that they built. To see these young ladies' teamwork and creativity has been a great journey for everyone involved. Looking forward to next year's competition! Congratulations on your hard work Caroline Davock, Samantha Mahoney, Hannah Mitchell, and Lindsay Smith!
Ms. Smith
I wanted to take a moment to share with you what a wonderful presentation Perry Comeau and two students from Mashpee High School did yesterday at the Youth Council meeting. They had selected the topic of eating disorders, which is a topic close to Perry’s heart. Both Ken Jenks and I were exceedingly impressed with the amount of effort this group demonstrated in preparation as well as in their overall presentation. They were all professionally dressed, poised and eloquent. Incorporated into their presentation was the video, that Perry’s sister had made regarding her own battle with anorexia, I applaud Perry for sharing this very moving and emotional video with the Youth Council, as I can only hope it helps bring awareness to this disease. I am quite certain, that Mr. Jenks would agree, that this group did a fantastic job in covering a difficult subject, I was quite impressed to see two young men spearhead this subject.
Thank you, for allowing Perry to join the Youth Council, he is an amazing young man. I have enjoyed getting to know him a great deal. I only hope he will be back next year! He certainly has been an asset to the Youth Council.
Best,
KG
Kara L. Galvin
Director of Youth Services
Cape & Islands Workforce Development Board
Monomoy's Student Council has a few special shark shoutouts for this week. To start off, a huge thank you to Officer Clarke and Officer Mitchell for informing students on what to do in case of an emergency and for making Monomoy Regional High School a place where students can feel safe. To go along with this, we would also like to thank Ms. Coughlin for writing her open letter to the students. These two things together show how much this school and all its staff care about the students and thank you for making us feel important and protected. Another shoutout goes to Abby Kelley for creating the kindness tree and lifting the spirit of all the students! The final shoutout for this week goes out to Monomoy Theater Company for putting on an amazing performance of "All Shook Up". Everyone did amazing, including the cast, crew, pit band, and all the adults that helped put on this performance including Ms. Richard, Ms. Donovan, and Amanda.
-Student Council
Monomoy Students are Published Authors
Several eighth grade students from Monomoy are featured in the recently published book Spine Chillers. Silver team students participated in the writing contest which challenged them to create a mini-saga in 100 words or less. We are so proud to see their work in print! Want to see it, too? Stop in at the MRHS library media center to look at our copy. Winners of this national writing contest will be announced in April.
#HistoryNeverTakesaVacation
Congrats Mr. Houston!
Globally Minded Students
In January 2018, the student-led Global Parliment Club at Kasidih High School in Jamshedpur, India wrote to Ms. Hoff and Mrs. Forte-Doyle asking for students to participate in a writing competition on "Girl Empowerment- Its meaning and importance for the development of a nation."
On March 17, 2018 we received the following news: "About 20 students from three schools, including yours, Ghobeiry Intermediate Mixed School-Lebanon, and Government 3rd School-Russia participated [in the competition]. About 135 students from Kasidih High School participated in the project. Mr. Liam Prescott's essay has been judged the best essay of the competition." Congratulations, Liam! Read Liam's powerful essay here.
Build Lifelong International Friendships and Join Us For An Unforgettable Experience in Spain
Please join us for a two-week school-to-school exchange program with our sister school in Vigo, Spain next year. The exchange is open to current MRHS students, and you don't have to be fluent in Spanish to participate. Spanish students will visit us in November 2018, and we will visit them in February 2019 after spending 3 days in Barcelona. Please click here for details, and email Ms. Hoff at ehoff@monomoy.edu if you are interested.
Visual Arts News
Foundations of Art students Felipe Da Silva, Kyla Gilley and Isabella Concordia were winning ad designers in this year's Cape Cod Times' Classroom Times contest.
Their work was selected to be used by the advertisers of the Cape Cod Times, the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History and Cape Cod Community College in this special edition. Additionally, Isabella's ad was the 2nd place overall winner in the entire Advertising division. The Classroom Times will be published the first week of April.
Also the following students' work is featured in this week's exhibit "Beginnings" at the Cape Cod Art Center. It closes Sunday, 3/25 with a reception on Friday, 3/23 from 6-8 pm.*
Noah Concordia
Halleday Perry
Max Liska
Riley Jones
Julia Messinger
Shauna Speakman
Meret Prangulaishvili
Jasmine Silva
Olivia Prisco
Shanielle Anderson
Winners Include:
1st Place: Meret Prangulaishuili, "Church"
2nd Place: Noah Concordia, "Geezer X Season 1"
Honorable Mention: Riley, Jones, Double Exposure, Street Art Style, Portrait
Music Program Continues to Thrive under the direction of Rose Richard!
*Libby Anderson(L) and Audrey Smith (R) pictured above
Isabelle O' Donnell and Isaiah Stafford flew to Pittsburgh, PA Wednesday, March 7th to rehearse with some of the best high school vocalists on the east coast for four days, representing Monomoy Regional High School in the American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division Honors Choir. The final concert was held in the Heinz Theater early Saturday evening. We are extremely proud of these two and grateful to the Friends of The Arts for paying for the flights.
Athletic Department Update
Spring Sports Are Here! Monomoy RHS Athletics Weekly Schedule
WEEK OF: March 26 - 31
MON, 3/26:
TUES, 3/27:
WEDS, 3/28: Varsity Softball scrimmage vs Nauset 4:15
THURS, 3/29: Varsity Softball Scrimmage @ Carver 4:00
Boys Tennis vs CCA 4:00
Girls Tennis @ CCA 4:00
Boys Lacrosse @ Nantucket 4:00
Girls Lacrosse vs Nantucket 4:00
JV Girls Lacrosse vs Nantucket 5:30
FRI, 3/30:
Sat, 3/31:
Varsity Baseball scrimmage @ Nauset 10:00am and 12:30pmA Special Card to a Special Young Man from a Special Group of MRHS people!
This is Kyle (pictured above w/Mrs. Cass), He just underwent a 19 hour long surgery to try to fix his spine. Initially, Mr. Cass and I were supposed to visit Kyle last weekend, but they discovered fluid from his spinal cord was going to his brain so his mother told us not to come. This past Saturday, we got to see him! While we were in the elevator, he mother mentioned how depressed he has been. She hoped our visit would help brighten his spirits. When we got there, we gave Kyle the card that students made for him and then opened it up for him to see all of the well wishes from students and staff at MRHS. His face lit up! It was so great to see him smile. After we took the picture, his parents commented that they had not seen a smile like the one in the photo since before the hospital. Our students had a hand in helping lift Kyle's spirits. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I cannot express how proud and truly touched I am that they wrote positive messages for a kid they don't even know.
Mrs. Cass :)
*card below
MRHS "Pet of the Week!"
Ms. Flint
Support Our Upcoming Athletic Booster Club Fundraiser: All Proceeds go to our kids!
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Website: https://twitter.com/MonomoyRHS
Twitter: @Monomoyrhs