Portland High School Parent Connections

New York Students respond with classroom "clicker"

Audience-Response "Clicking" for LCD Screen-based quiz, see "Students Click and a Quiz Becomes a Game," NYT, 1/28/08

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PHS News

PHS Award Winners Announced at May 17 Assembly:


Preti Award:  Nathaniel Walden, Maria Anania
Portland Mentoring Alliance, Principal's Award: Bob Cerf, Darko Mitrovic, David Wilson, Nasir Hirad, Lisa Esposito, Stella Otim
Portland Mentoring Alliance, Unum Award: Aaron Kiander, Sameer Majeed
US Army Reserve, National Scholar/Athlete Award: Brian Watson
Fitzpatrick Award: Hannah Ciechomski
US Marine Corps Distinguished Musical Excellence Award: Hannah Ciechomski
US Marine Corps Distinguished Athete Award:  Campbell Rico
US Marine Corps Distinguished Academic Excellence Award: Brittnay Ridge
Conn. College Book Award: Jules Szanton
Dartmouth Book Award: Brian Furey
Mt Holoyke Book Award: Rosa Romano
Unity College Book Award: Sidney Dritz
St.Josephs College Book Award: Trinh Nguyen
Smith Book Award: Margaret Swann
Yale Book Award: Leyna Gomez
Skidmore Book Award: Greer Chapman
St. Anselm's: Eoin McCarron
Williams Book Award: Joe Violette
Williams College Book Award II: Christina Moore
Wellesley College Book Award: Kristin O'Kelley
Brown University Book Award: Audrey Seitz
Harvard Book Award:  Mark Kinner
Swarthmore Book Award: Zachary Scrutchfield
St. Michael's College Book Award: Elias Cough
USM Alumni Assoc. Book Award: Laura Cowie
Navy League Award: Michee Jean
Springfield College: Kirk Jurgelevich
Math Awrd: Kayla Artinyan
Robt. Rice Memorial Award: Matt Methot, Seth Crocker
Soc. Of Women Engineers: Yanfen Wu
Am. High School Math Exam: Nathanial Walden (12); Simon Thompson (10)
Iinternational Club Leadership: Ha Tran
Frances Lombard Award: Yasmin Mahamud
Lifelong Reader Awards: Heather Leadbetter; Joe Lewis, Abbie Martin
Yearbook Awards: Danielle Heatley, Alexandra Perdomo
Co-Op Award: Mathew Mulkern
Springer Watch Award: Bosco Oringa
Gerber Memorial Award: Dewayne Albertie
Sulllivan Award: Miranda Bartlett
Ralph Corey Award: Matthew Methot
Ed Bogdanovich Award: Matti Zagnon
Athletes of the Year: Anthony Passmore, Eliz. Mosely
Art Book Award: Jordan Anderson, Erica DeMichele, Jeremy Dyer, Jule Shavirov, Lydia Swann, Jaime Wing, Bao-Anh Bui, Sara Canno
Doris Damren Award:  Liza Darvin
Latin Award:  Patricia Stoddard
National Latin Exam Awards: See list
Medusa Mythology Exam: see list
French Award: Brianna DiDonato
Dorothy Healey Creative Writing Award: Isabella Talbot
National Spanish Exam Award: Rachel Regier, Chris Pike, Brian Furey, Eoin McCarron, Leyna Gomez, Aaron Peisner, Kristin Rogers
Spanish Award: Aaron Peisner
History Award: Aaron Peisner
American History Award: Anthony Toppi
Science Award: Nathaniel Walden
John Phillips Sousa Award: Grace Batsford
 

Seven PHS Students Excel in National Spanish Exam

Seven students from Portland High School placed in their respective categories of the National Spanish Exam, according to the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. Rachel Regier and Chris Pike placed in the regular level three exam category. Brian Furey and Eoin McCarron placed in the regular level four exam, and Leyna Gomez won a bronze medal in the bilingual level
four exam. Aaron Peisner and Kristin Rogers placed in the level five exam.

PHS Math Students Win 2nd Place in Div. A:  The PHS Math team won second place in Division A at the State Math Meet on April 15 at the CCCC. Of the 94 schools competing in the meet, PHS placed fourth. Several PHS students earned individual awards. Gavin Bauer (Bronze); Kayla Artinyan and Nathaniel Walden (tied for 4th place medal);  Nathaniel Jewett (11th place); Nathaniel Walden  (eighth in the state for the 2007-2008 regular season.) Other team members are Nathan Buck, Brian Furey, Hongchuan Wang, Mark Kinner, Yanfen Wu and Tim Weber. PHS math teacher
Barbara Solomon coaches the team.

PHS Students Win First Place in Opportunity Analysis Competition:  A team of students in Shelley Burek's PHS accounting class in the recent Opportunity Analysis Competition sponsored by Students in Free Enterprise at the University
of Southern Maine (USM). The winning team - Esmirna Roman-Vasquez, Robert Boulier and Jasmine Hernandez - received $1,000 and trophies.

Burek's students worked with USM students over eight weeks to learn about business concepts. They wrote a paper and made a PowerPoint
presentation. A panel of six business people judged the competition.

Portland High School Students Recognized at Drama Festival 
The 2008 Maine Drama Festival was held at Camden Hills Regional High School the weekend of March 21-22, and two Portland High School students came home with awards. Hillary Orr, a senior, received "Judges' Commendation' for her work directing the play, "Small World."  Molly Brenerman, a junior, was selected to the "All Festival Cast" for her role as "woman three" in the same play.  
 
Earlier in March, the Portland High School Drama Club was selected to advance to the Maine Drama Festival State Finals after winning the Class A "One Act Play" regional competition held March 7-8 at Marshwood High School. Other actors in the Portland High School play were  Aaron Peisner, Seth Crockett, Sydney Dritz, Mitchell Murdock and Jesse Dziedzic.
 
More than 3,000 Maine high school students from 79 high schools are competed in the 78th annual Maine Drama Festival.  The event is sponsored by the Maine Principal’s Association and the Maine Drama Council. 

March 19:  PHS Senior Eric Andreasen was featured in a Portland Press Herald news article on his participation in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. 

February 24:   Portland High School takes third place at the New England Regional Science Bowl Competition! Three teams of students from PHS competed at the New England Regional Science Bowl held at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham. Luke Parker, Nathaniel Walden, Kayla Artinyan, and Sean Dowling earned their place among some of the areas top science and math students from Maine and New Hampshire. PHS was also awarded first place for creative design in the Mouse Trap Car Competition. Mario Martinez, Eric Medina, Eoin McCarron and Sam DiPeitrio thought outside the box to design a car named the Death Star , accompanied by the theme from Star Wars, to bring down the house.

January 26 & 27: Outstanding performance of Bye Bye Birdie by the PHS Drama Students, with a notable Prologue Video by Mitch Murdock. Congratulations to Cast members Eileen Hanley, Dewayne Donnell, Laura Cowie, Audrey Seiz, Seth Crockett, Serena Dora, Alyssa Lewis, Anthony Toppi, and also to Faculty Directors Ms. Guerra and Ms. Pendleton . 

Kudos to PHSPC Member Jane O'Connor re: her work to set up a "Word Wall" in Room 324. This from Faculty Member Tom Telarico:  "Jane O'Connor has created a beautiful Word Wall in my classroom. I am so impressed by her creativity and it has certainly breathed new life into the room! Thanks for the Parent Teacher Connections group!"

Szanton wins National Essay Contest: Jules Szanton, PHS junior and Student rep on the School Committee, won first place in
the Ancient Coins for Education national essay contest for his entry describing the Emperor Caligula's death. He will receive a silver coin depicting the Emperor Septimius Severus and a certificate.

December 8:  Shakespeare Club performs Midsummer Night's  Dream.   Vincent Canby of the Times:  "a mesmerizing, enchanting evening at PHS' Stratford-on-Avon. Tristan Rolfe's "Puck" is the finest we've seen in a long time."  We must also recognize here the other student cast members: Serena Adlerstein, Grace Batsford, Laura Cowie, Cathryn Cunningham, Sidney Dritz, Jess ziedzic, Mikhaila Fogel, Janet Matheison, Mitchell Murdock, Hillary Orr, Luke Parker, and Aaron Peisner. Also, thanks to Peter Brown, of Portland Stage.
November 14:  Members of PHS Parent Connections "Beautification Committee" plant 150 daffodil and tulip bulbs on front lawn of PHS.  Thanks to Jane O'Connor, Cathy Peabody, Gail, and Carol Schiller, as well as Jeff Tarling (City of Portland) and Skillins Greenhouses (for donating the bulbs.)

November 17:  Volunteers, including P School Committee member Susan Hopkins, help Environmental Club "Winterize Portland High":  The PHS Environmental Club members, headed by Teacher Cyndy Martin, along with three School Dept. maintenance staffers, and number of community volunteers, (including, perhaps most notably, SC member Susan Hopkins), helped insulate the windows in the third floor, SW corner Science classroom. 

Peer Tutoring Center
Kyra Adkins has developed and run a peer tutoring center needs parent's vocal support in getting a formal Tutoring Center going for next school year; she first has to go through this action team and be approved by SIT to make a structural change in the school. Parents: 1) send an email to School Committee members to support this idea; and 2) volunteer to come in after school....especially those with good knowledge of geometry or algebra. Email Kyra at  adkink@portlandschools.org.(Also, student volunteers who use a study hall to volunteer earn .5 community service credits.)

Contribute to Project Graduation:   See our Section on Proj Grad for all of the opportunities. 

The seniors are thinking about refurbishing Room 304 as their Senior Class Gift. This requires new walls, carpet, technology, chairs and tables. They are working with Doug Sherwood and more information will be coming on how parents can assist.  

Congressman Allen in Ms. Lee's History Class on Jan. 11

As described by Rep. Allen afterword, "the PHS students were eager to pepper me with questions about the international and national scene. They grilled me on Iraq and Iran, the reasons for the spike in fuel costs, the problem of illegal immigrants, health costs, trade agreements and other hot topics."

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Enviro Club's PHS De-Lamping Project Produces Clear Energy Savings

January 2008:  Energy-usage figures tracked by the School Department, at the urging of the PHS Environmental Club and its benefactor, retired USM History Prof. Fred Padula, show a drop in consumption of 20% as a result of the "de-lamping" project initiated by the Environmental Club, and completed with the assitance of the School Department staff, at the direction of Facilities Dir. Doug Sherwood. Download Excel Spreadsheet of electric data below.

PHS Students picked for All-State Music Festivals:  Marie Genova of PHS was picked to perform with the All-State orchestra. Grace Batsford, a PHS senior, has been picked to perform with the All-State Band.  Selected to the All-State Chorus were Aaron Peisner and Eileen Hanley of PHS. The band, orchestra and chorus festivals will be held May 15-17 at the University of Maine at Orono.

January 2  Installation of new PHS interior entrance "Padula Doors."  The Environmental Club had identified as one of its' priorities the installation of new interior doors, to create a buffering "foyer" of the front stair area, for energy/heat conservation purposes. Through the generous gift of Retired USM Professor/Environmental Activist Fred Padula, those doors (at an approximate cost of $22,000) were installed and ready for use on January 2, 2008.

---  View a video of (short) speech on the role of high school sports, by Univ. of Minnesota Head Hockey Coach - see below.