Friday, January 1 New Year’s Day – School Closed Wednesday, January 6 PTSA Meeting – 7 p.m. Wednesday, January 13 Extended Homeroom for Freshmen – 8:10 a.m. Monday, January 18 Martin Luther King Day – School Closed Wednesday, January 20 Extended Homeroom for Sophomores - 8:10 a.m. Wednesday, January 27 Extended Homeroom for Juniors - 8:10 a.m.

IMPORTANT DATES DECEMBER 2013

C L A R K S T O W N H I G H

S C H O O L S O U T H

January Newsletter 2021

“Preparing today’s students to conquer tomorrow’s challenges”

CONGRATULATIONS TO MU ALPHA THETA’S ANNUAL EDIBLE MATH CONTEST WINNERS

SOUTH’S PTSA RECOGNIZED FOR STUDENT MEMBERSHIP Clarkstown South’s PTSA’s unit has successfully achieved the 2020-2021 Students Rock membership award badge from the New York State PTSA. This recognition means that students currently represent more than 30% of our membership. Students who plan to apply for PTSA scholarships in their senior year must be a member of the PTSA for at least their junior and senior years. The PTSA helps to support scholarships and programs for South’s students year long.

FIRST PLACE – “Log Cake”

by senior Christoper Thomas

SECOND PLACE –

“Math Clock” by sophomore Neha Joe

THIRD PLACE – “Trig Cookies” by sophomore Diya

Sharma

CONSIDER I.B. CLASSES WHEN YOU PLAN YOUR SCHEDULE

As a learner, do you strive to be an inquirer, knowledgeable, a communicator, open-minded, caring, principled, a risk-taker, balanced, and reflective? If you answered ‘yes’ to some or all of these, you reflect the attributes of the IB learner profile! So, have you ever considered what it might mean to earn an IB Diploma? Consider these statements from these top universities: “You can’t replicate the I.B. experience with any other program in American high schools.--Sarah

Lawrence College representative

"Send us prepared students a la I.B....It is the 'best' high school prep curriculum an American school can offer"-

- Massachusetts Institute of Technology representative "There is no other curriculum anywhere that does a superior job of both educating students and

inspiring a true and broad-based love of learning."-- Vanderbilt University representative “Students who earn an IB diploma will be awarded 30 units toward the bachelor's degree and receive sophomore standing. Some of these units may be applied toward Towson's Core Curriculum requirements; each student's IB units will be individually evaluated for Core Curriculum applicability.”

– Townson University admissions website

This is just a sampling of what college representatives tell us about the experience for a student working toward an International Baccalaureate Diploma. To earn it, an eleventh and twelfth grader needs to take six IB courses, complete approximately 150 hours of extracurricular activities including community service and write an extended thesis paper similar to what is required for college classes. Points are earned for the quality of the work done, and if a minimum number of points is gained during this two-year experience, the student is able to earn the IB Diploma. The courses have a global focus with the main thrust being “thinking for creativity” in all subject areas. The required subjects mirror what most liberal arts college programs expect, i.e., a variety of academic courses in different subjects with college-level reading and writing expectations. However, students are not expected to be ready for college when they enter the IB Diploma Program. They are merely expected to become college ready

during their last two years of high school. If interested, current tenth graders should make an appointment with Ms. Balducci-Flugger, IB Coordinator or Mr. Jeffery, Assistant Principal.

SCHOOL PICTURE RETAKES

Students who missed the

opportunity to take their school picture or wish to retake their

photograph may do so on January 25 and 29.

BACK TO SCHOOL AFTER THE HOLIDAY BREAK When school resumes on January 4, all students will participate in remote learning. Hybrid learning will return on January 19 after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, January 19 and 20, students who are in cohort A are scheduled to attend in person and students in cohort B will attend on Thursday and Friday. We will resume the in person learning for A cohort on Monday and Tuesday and B cohort on Thursday and Friday beginning the week of January 25.

JUNIOR’S LIGHT DISPLAY

SUPPORTS PEOPLE TO PEOPLE Junior Robert Giorgio spent the time leading up to the holiday season creating an amazing light display with more than 10,000 lights and decorations. Robert’s display designed for the community’s enjoyment was also created to collect food donations for People to People of Rockland County. The link below is a recent news story about Bobby’s display: https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/12/18/new-jersey-new-york-teens-program-holiday-light-shows/?fbclid=IwAR2Gi-7OUbYCSGT0NWZWiVTFcLLEhNWysVFYU29m_wZ0ahdzkJSa7aQokFI

STUDENTS AND STAFF SPREAD GOOD WILL DURING THE HOLIDAYS

STUDENTS AND STAFF ORGANIZE AND

COLLECT BACKPACKS FILLED WITH HOPE Under the supervision of Susan Solar, Gina Aversa and Heather Franco, the Assets Leadership Team, facilitated by senior Aneliz Plasencia and junior Danielle Svanter, gathered backpacks and items for the homeless as part of an incredible project called Just Love-Blessings in Backpacks. Through this project, hundreds of backpacks were filled with necessary items for those living in the streets or in shelters and are hand delivered by the organization with a beautiful note and a smile. Clarkstown South donated 145 backpacks this year, which is quadruple the amount they gave last year.

Junior Rachel Hanchar heard about a project called Socks in A Box, which centers around collecting hundreds of pairs of socks for the homeless in Yonkers. She made beautiful collection boxes and asked staff and students to donate new socks. She collected 100 pairs to donate to the cause.

STUDENTS AND STAFF SUPPORT LOCAL FAMILIES For many years, Clarkstown South has supported the United Way of Rockland’s Hope for the Holidays program.

This year sophomores Fiona Doherty and Hannah Doherty and Caitlyn Kastner participated in the United Way’s Hope for the Holidays program. As part of the program, people select children or families to support for the holiday season by purchasing items from the wish list created by the children or families. Fiona, Hannah and Caitlyn received the name of a young girl’s wish list from the United Way and bought presents to make the young girl’s wishes come true. South’s staff also participated in the Hope for the Holidays program for the 6th year in a row adopting a local family to provide gifts for a mother and her two children hoping to make their holiday brighter.

SCHOOL COUNSELING DEPARTMENT Seniors: Counselors will be accepting and processing Transcript Request Forms for

those seniors who are still applying to college.

If you are a senior and you need help with applying to college, or with making

other post graduation plans, please see your counselor as soon as possible.

Seniors should access their Naviance account to apply for scholarships.

Juniors: Register for a College Board Account and link your PSAT results to Khan Academy. If

students need help with this they should contact their school counselor.

Extended Homerooms (period 2)

January 13th: The school counselors will be meeting with the freshman in extended

homeroom to discuss the course selection process for 10th grade.

January 20th: The school counselors will be meeting with the sophomores in extended homeroom to discuss the course selection process for 11th grade.

January 27th: The school counselors will be meeting with the juniors in extended homeroom

to discuss the course selection process for 12th grade.

SCHOOL ISSUED COMPUTERS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Last fall, Clarkstown South distributed school issued laptops to all students in grades nine through twelve. These computers are protected by the school’s network and have been programmed for student to use for school related work only. As a safety measure, Clarktown’s Instructional Technology department uses GoGuardian to set up filters on the students’ devices so that students are protected from inappropriate search pages and websites. In addition, GoGuardian alerts administration if students visit pages that express harm to themselves or others or contain illicit content. Parents or guardians will receive a phone call if this is the case. Depending on the issue, assistance from psychological services or disciplinary action may ensue after parental contact.