Falconidae

John A. Ferguson Senior High, Miami, FL Dr. Lisa Robertson, Principal

Volume 11 October 2014 No Goal’s Too High Where Falcons Fly!

Julian Hernandez, a Level 2 Game and Simulation

Design student here at

Ferguson, won a $1000

grant for his entry in the

ESA LOFT Video Game

Innovation Fellowship

challenge. Due to this

win, Julian was flown out

to Washington, D.C., on

October 1st, to present

his game at the White

House and receive ad-

vice from S.T.E.M. leaders. Julian’s game is titled,

Networkaholics, and is about Internet safety. “My

goal is to make entertaining games that anyone

could love,” Julian commented.

We would like to congratulate both Karina Durand and

Vishnu Tanguturi for being named a “Commended Stu-

dent” in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Pro-

gram. Out of 1.5 million students who took the PSAT

last year, they scored in the top 3%.

Ferguson’s Thespian Honor Society participated in the One Act Festival at Hialeah Senior High School on October 24th and 25th. They present-ed The Love Doctor by Moliere to a very receptive crowd of fellow thespians and received a standing ovation for their amazing efforts with a difficult script and the physically challenging acting style of Com-media dell'arte. Falcon Thespian Troupe received an Excellent for their overall performance. Individual honors went to O'Ryan Montgomery, who received All-Star Cast and Milton Mendez, who was named Best Student Director. Out of 23 schools that participated in the festival, John A. Ferguson came in 5th! The troupe will be performing The Love

Doctor at our school during The Evening of One Acts on November 13th and 14th in the school auditorium. “Our cast was made up of 10 members with 7 of them being sophomores who had never performed at a Thespian event,” explained Ms. Loffredo, the troupe’s drama teacher.

Thespian Troupe Continues Legacy of Excellence

Gaming Guru To Be Commended

Karina Durand (left) and Vish-

nu Tanguturi (right) tackled

the PSAT with aplomb.

On Thursday, October 23rd, at the Cross Country GMAC Championship, Ferguson had a banner day for both

the girls and boys teams. The girls team brought home their 7th GMAC title, which was their 5th in a row,

and seniors Aylwyn "Aileen" Hernandez and Lauren Gavulic finished in 1st and 2nd place respectively. The

boys team had a hard-fought battle with Columbus and managed to secure the win--their 3rd GMAC Champi-

onship!

Another big congratulations goes out to the cross country teams for their impressive showings at October

17th’s Junior Orange Bowl Invitational. Our Falcons competed in six different racing divisions, running varsity

teams and JV teams. In all six races, our teams came in either first place or second place! Congratulations al-

so go out to the individual champion in the Varsity Invitational division, Aylwyn "Aileen" Hernandez.

Falconidae, Page 2

Volume 11

October 2014

The Ferguson boys and girls bowling teams won

the Youth Fair bowling tournament on Septem-

ber 26th. Senior Kelsey Buell was the individual

champion for high game and high series.

Cross Country Champions Once Again!

Congratulations to the boys and girls swim teams. On October 22nd, the girls placed 5th in the district. The boys were district run-ner-ups taking first place in the medley relay and the 100 breast-stroke. Our first place relay team members are Marcelo Lauzur-ique, Joaquin Uz, Pedro Castillo, and Orest Danyliv. The 100 me-ter breaststroke district champion is Marcelo Lauzurique.

On Saturday, October 25th, Ferguson’s Marching Band received a

superior rating at the Florida Band Masters Association (FBA).

Students from Soar, The Talon, and FBN went to Journalism Day on

Saturday, October 25th, at Florida International University. Gaby

Ruiz, Estefania Reyes-Andrade and Alec Artidiello won 3rd place in

our district for on-the-spot news reporting and Luana Yamashita

won 3rd place for on-the-spot anchoring.

Striking While Their Hot Fantastic Falcons!

The first HOSA Leadership conference was held on October 16th, where members heard candidate

speeches, and all the schools voted for the most qualified candidates to represent the region

as HOSA officers. For the first time ever, one of our

HOSA Falcons ran for regional president and was

elected by his peers to represent our region! Senior

Ruben Martinez was elected as the 2014-2015 HOSA

regional president. “Our HOSA members showed an

exceptional display of teamwork at the breakfast

when members campaigned and encouraged schools

to vote for Ruben because he was the most qualified

candidate. I am very proud of the professionalism

and encouragement shown yesterday by all HOSA members,” commented Ms. Driscoll, sponsor.

Falconidae, Page 3

Volume11

October 2014

For Our Local Youngsters, These Tricks Were a Treat!

On October 29th, Ferguson’s clubs and organizations transformed the courtyard into a Halloween

paradise for young children, complete with a petting zoo and haunted house. Fright Night, an an-

nual community service event sponsored by Ferguson, provides the opportunity to young children

from the surrounding community to dress in costume and participate in games and activities with a

Halloween theme, including, of course, trick-or-treating. The event provides our future Falcons

with a safe Halloween environment and young and old alike have a great time in the process!

Falcon Becomes H.O.S.A. Region President

Barry University

Carlos Albizu University

Edward Waters College

Fashion Inst. Of Design and Mer-chandising

Florida Atlantic University

Florida Dept. of Education

Florida International University

Florida State University

Johnson and Wales University

Johnson University

Jose Maria Vargas University

Manhattan College

Miami Dade College

Miami Dade College-Medical Cam-pus

New World School of the Arts

Nova Southeastern University

Oglethorpe University

Robert Morgan Technical School

St. Leo University

St. Thomas University

U. S. Air Force ROTC

U. S. Army Recruiters

U. S. Marines Recruiters

U.S. Coast Guard Academy

U.S. Navy Recruiters

United States Naval Academy

University of Central Florida

University of Connecticut

University of Miami

University of the Arts

Ferguson held its first College Fair of the school year on Thursday, October 30th, from 9:00 A.M. to 12:00

P.M. The purpose of the event was to provide first-hand information to our juniors and seniors about the

variety of post-secondary opportunities available to them as they plan for their futures. All juniors and

seniors from Ferguson were invited to attend as well as seniors from Varela and Sunset. For the first time

in Ferguson’s history, seniors from other high schools were invited to attend the fair by our principal, Dr.

Robertson, who thought this would be a great experience for them. In honor of the event, our faculty

even wore college t-shirts! The presenters included:

Ferguson’s College Fair 2014

Falconidae, Page 4

Volume11

October 2014

A dairy goat seminar was held at our school on October 24th. Students from Ferguson’s FFA and our veterinary program presented information on anatomy, parasites, fitting and grooming, showmanship and more to students from other Miami-Dade and Broward schools. The event was entirely student-run and followed a rotating schedule for each sub-ject. Each workshop was 20-30 minutes long. During that time student presenters ex-plained their topic, give a demonstration, played a hands-on game, and handed out guided notes for participants to take home. Lunch was provided by the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair.

Goats ‘r Us

Falconidae, Page 5

Volume 11

October 2014