PANTHER TALES

April 2006

          

                 Dates to Remember:                   

·          4/5      Prof. Development Early Dismissal 11:10

·          4/8      Mr. Plainfield

·          4/11     Music Concert PHS/PCS 7:00

·          4/14    Holiday – No school

·          4/17 – 4/21   Vacation

·          4/24    Ken Zercie Forensics Speaker  9:00

·          4/29    Junior Prom

FINE ARTS

March 17 art symposium was a success with three prize winners from PHS:  Sarah MacIntosh for her acrylic painting, Michelle Bold for her two puppets and Dacia Michon for her larger coiled ceramic vessel. Also, students made glass beads, abstract paintings, metal jewelry, artist books, photographic  pictograms and flash animation in the hands on workshops with professional artists.

·          -April 13th ‘Plein-Aire’ landscape painting field trip to Horsebarn Hill, Mansfield with PHS art students and art students from NFA, E.O. Smith, Windham, and Woodstock Academy. A professional landscape painter will present techniques to the students who will then use portable easels and acrylic paints to paint the vista from the hill.

·          May 19 and 20 PHS art students will hold a Spring Art Exhibit from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. each night with refreshments served in the PHS theater entrance lobby. (The art show is in conjunction with the play production which starts at 8 p.m. 

·          -Art II painting students will be creating the ‘kid’ paintings for the play production which is about ‘kids’. The show promises to be hilarious and full of surprises.

·          May 5 field trip to DeCordova Sculpture Park, MA with art students from Woodstock Academy

 

Rotary Student of the Month

February 2006

My name is Nate Lewis. I live in Central Village with my parents Robert and Linda Lewis and my little sister Meaghan Lewis.   I am a senior at Plainfield High School.  I take honor courses and I have been on the honor role at PHS and a Natural Helper for all four years. As a Natural Helper I am responsible for helping students in need or introducing new students to the building.  Natural Helpers also perform skits and provide informational presentations to incoming freshmen.  Natural Helpers also visits Sterling Elementary and Plainfield Central to help transition eighth graders to high school.  We sponsor Custodian Appreciation Day and also peer tutor.  My after school activities mainly consist of sports such as Varsity Football and Baseball which I have participated in for all my years at PHS. Also I am a volunteer for the Special Olympics with the Unified basketball team at PHS and the Special Olympics in Rhode Island. As a Unified basketball player I team up with special needs students for competitive basketball games with participating schools.  I have been volunteering in the Special Olympics since my sophomore year. After high school I plan on attending Eastern Conn. State University for teaching high school history or transferring to UCONN for physical therapy.

 

Rotary Student of the Month

March 2006

Sarah MacIntosh is a resident of Moosup, CT and a senior at Plainfield High School. She is the daughter of Ken MacIntosh and Trina Holub. She has been very involved with the art program since her sophomore year. Last Semester she had an independent study instead of advanced drawing. This quarter, she spends her free block working in the art room or in the graphic design room. Sarah spends much of her time painting. Last year her entry to the Voices of Democracy competition won third place in the Young American Patriotic Art Category. She participated in the Faces of Culture Art Symposium Instant Gallery this year and last year. Each year her entry was picked as one of the top pieces by her peers.

     Last year, Sarah volunteered much of her time to Foothills Theatre Company in Worcester, MA. She was an assistant scenic painter for several of the professional productions. She also helped in the management office and by selling snacks from the concession stand during Children’s Theatre shows. Sarah had the opportunity to work with children backstage for the production of Miss Saigon, and later helped the understudy of the character Chip from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast train for his part.

     Sarah has been a member of the National Honor Society for two years and is the current Vice President. With the NHS, she has collected money for Toys for Tots and participated in Homeless Awareness Night. Sarah currently works for the after school program at Shepard Hill Elementary school. Sarah plans to go to Eastern Connecticut State University in the fall. She is still undecided about her major, but hopes to earn a degree in Marketing or Advertising with a minor in Fine Arts.

                                                  

PHS        CAREER CENTER

Pamela Bessette- School to Career Coordinator 

Career guest speaker Kevin Hogan, Channel 3 Eyewitness News will present in the auditorium on April 10th for students interested in News/Media and Broadcasting.  Kathryn Montague will Job Shadow Brooklyn/Canterbury  Large Animal Clinic on April 11th for her interest as a Veterinarian. Career guest speaker Ken Zercie, State Police Forensics Lab in Meriden will present individual classrooms and the auditorium on April 24th.  Many students will have the opportunity to hear more about this popular field. An interactive field trip with the CT Army National Guard will be held at the West Thompson Dam on April 26th. Thanks to all students for their motivation and enthusiasm.

Upcoming events for the month of May:

·         Field trip/Job Shadow career program at Troop D CT State Police.

·         Field trip/Job Shadow at the Danielson Superior Court.

·         The Career Express, a mobile career center will be visiting PHS.

JUNIORS   

The Junior Prom will be held on Saturday night April 29th from 8:00 PM to 12:00 midnight.  The theme is Bright Lights Big City .Junior class dues must be paid $55.00.  The ticket price is $50.00 per couple or $25.00 single.  Music will be provided by DJ ULYSSES.  Pictures will be taken by Charlene’s Portraits.

  ON THE ROAD AGAIN!           

 Ms. Rodgers and Mrs. Lavallee will be escorting 9 students and 6 adults to Munich, Germany, Innsbruck, Austria, Salzburg, Austria, Venice, Italy, Florence, Italy, Rome, Italy, Pisa, Italy, Monaco, and Nice, France during April vacation.

VISCOM:     SURREALISM 

Art work is presently on display in the windows of the multi media center.  The work

was completed by second semester’s visual communication students.  After being introduced to the Surrealist Art Movement, students were asked to illustrate lyrics of choice with images from the internet or their own photographs. The images were manipulated by the students using photo editing software to create dream like images reminiscent of the Surrealist.  However unlike the surrealist who had no intention of making the work logically comprehensible, the visual communication students were required to illustrate the lyrics of a chosen poem or song, which is attached to the presentation.

Freshman Honors English: Mrs. Emmi

                    Shakespeare on Stage

An ultra-modern version of Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet” entertained 47 Honors Freshmen at the Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium in Providence on March 29. It wasn’t quite what anyone expected; the Prince was a police chief, the guards a S.W.A.T. team, and Tybalt was a girl!  However,   most of the PHS group said they loved the Theaterworks performance. “They took the old production and made it more visual so we could understand it better,” explains Freshman Ashley Lincoln.  Despite the lack of scenery on stage, the plot came alive through the use of laser lights flashing to the beats of modern music tracks that accompanied the dialogue.  “I’d like to have seen it in more traditional dress,” said Freshman Tyler Messier, who commented on the characters’ un-1300th century attire. For Tyler, and anyone else looking for a more traditional version of the play, good fortune doth hang in the stars. You can see Shakespeare’s most popular work this summer during Westerly, RI’s annual Shakespeare in the Park event.  “Romeo & Juliet” will be performed, for a small donation, in Wilcox Park, adjacent to the Westerly Library, from July 13 through Aug.

SCIENCE:

 

Photonics students from Plainfield High School visited TRUMPF LASERS in Farmington.  TRUMPF is a worldwide manufacturer of lasers. The tour was led Ms. Annette Doyle, training manager at TRUMPF.   The trip included a presentation on how lasers work, a discussion of job opportunities at TRUMPF, a demonstration of a laser cutting metal, and a tour of the manufacturing plant. Plainfield’s knowledgeable students asked and answered many questions about laser theory. Photonics is a growing field with a large demand for students with an associate degree.  On a recent field trip to a Photonics company all of the participants from Three River Community College received job applications. Plainfield has been working with TRCC to articulate courses on Photonics and at one time offered a one credit high school course in which students could get college credit for photonics.  Ms. Doyle indicated the need for students that can write well, do some math and have a strong work ethic.  The pictures include the cutting head of laser cutting metal.  The head contains lens which focus the light on to cut the metal.  Another photograph shows the computer controls of the laser and the training operator explain how to program the machine.  On the ride home the students stopped and had a very light lunch of chicken nuggets.

A Plainfield High graduate (2005) (center) works in an optics lab at Three Rivers Community College with Professor Judy Donnelly (left). How did he get there? He took photonics his junior year, physics his senior year, and spent part of his summer in a photonics project at TRCC. The student on the right is being recruited for a job at Zygo Corporation after completing her studies at TR CC 

Kathryn Montague and Emily Arpin attended the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium at the University of Connecticut on March 6th and 7th.  Kathryn presented her research on stream erosion.  The poster presentation showed the effect of different stream velocities on erosion of the stream bed.  To obtain data Kathryn built a wooden chute to simulate streams of different velocities. Kathryn’s poster presentation was recognized as one of the top presentations.  A book was presented to Kathryn and to Plainfield High School in recognition of her presentation. Both students had a chance to tour various labs including an animal cloning lab.

 

Mrs. Brooks Class

 My three classes are collecting tabs for the Ronald McDonald House.  It is a community service project for the semester.  Students will earn a community service grade in my class for their participation and I am trying to come up with prizes for individual high performers and a class reward for the class that brings in the most.  Each class is about equal in number (23, 23 &24).  At first I was doing it with my Modern U.S. classes.  When my freshman World Civilizations class saw the buckets filling with tabs, they inquired about them.  They also wanted to join.  Now, all three of my classes are involved.  So far Block 4 is ahead.  We will be collecting them until the June 9th.  Anyone wishing to participate could pass along tabs to a member of one of my classes.  I know that they would be thrilled to have help in collecting tabs.  I have encouraged students to solicit the help of others for a good cause as part of the project.       

                  

          HOMEWORK HELP 

Now that we have completed progress reports, please inform students (and their parents) of the available resource of homework club-bus included.  Students with one or more failures should be “encouraged” to attend this resource.  We offer it Mon – Thurs – from 2 – 3:15 PM in the library.

 

 

      

 

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Last update

April, 2006