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Home & School Association Newsletter
November 16, 2009
In This Issue
Mark Your Calendar
Phillies Psychologist to Speak to Parents
PEACH
The Gift of Service
Not Embarrassing
Italian Opera
Smiles and Service
Bicycle Valets
269 Super Pix
Conference Tips
Quick Links
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Join Central's
Home and School
Association
We're here to support  Central students, parents, and staff with our time, talents and dollars. Let's help each other make Central High School an even greater place for our students to learn and grow.
Click HERE to read more about the Association.
 Click HERE to download a membership form.
Your student can take the completed form to the main office. 
Library: Knowledge
IS POWER


Central High School's Barnwell Library and Dr. William M. King Communication, Media and Research Center is rich with resources. Free search engines like Google and Yahoo are great for finding simple answers to simple questions, but when students want to do accurate research, librarian Loretta Burton recommends using our password protected subscription service, ProQuest, a company that has agreements with more than 9,000 publishers worldwide.

Access the five ProQuest databases from home or school at ProQuest, then use Central High School's username and password. While we are not permitted to print the username and password in the newsletter, Ms. Burton tells us that students have been given the information.


Mark Your Calendar
Parent Teacher Conferences
Parents will have the best opportunity to meet teachers and discuss their students' progress on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 23 and 24. Hours 12:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. on Monday and 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
Bring Your Photo ID
Just a reminder:
When you come to visit Central High School, you must have a photo ID.
Telephone
Main Office
215-276-5262
Welcome to the Home and School Newsletter

We dedicate this issue to a special part of the Central family -- Central parents! Parents, guardians, and grandparents serve cookies and juice to freshman, bake brownies for bake sales, hold talent show fundraisers for the orchestra, glue tiles in the halls, and chaperone seniors on Museum Day. One of the most important things families can do is to join the Home and School Association. Dues are minimal, $10 a year. Imagine what could happen if 1,000 families, less than half of the student population, joined? The Association would have $10,000 a year for enhanced software, art supplies, sound equipment, printing costs for student publications, grants to the theater programs and many other extras that make Central special. Parents: It's not always easy to find your niche, but don't give up. Try to donate your time, your talents, and, if you have it, your money. Your investment will pay you a return of pure pleasure and joy in service, as parent Laura Mantilla says below. Your most vital service? Getting your kids to school on time, well-fed, well-rested and ready to learn. Speaking of parent volunteers, this newsletter is a parent project brought to you by the Home and School Association. We hope that you enjoy reading the newsletter and that you will never hesitate to send your comments, suggestions, ideas and stories to us any time at  [email protected]

Thank you for reading and for helping. Best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Dave Kalkstein - Editor

Home and School Meeting
Guest Speaker - Dr. Joel Fish
When the Phillies returned to the World Series, the game was as much psychological as physical, with the hopes and expectations of an entire region riding on performance of a handful of men. As a psychological consultant to the Phillies, the Flyers and Sixers, Central parent Joel Fish has special insight into the pressure to succeed, a pressure keenly felt at Central High School. 
 
On Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m. Dr. Fish, director of the Center for Sports Psychology, will speak about the value of positive competition and sportsmanship at the Home and School Association meeting in the Spain Conference Center.
In our role as parents, we need to know how to understand and handle the competitive pressure that our students will encounter, whether the pressure is athletic, academic or social. How does positive academic competition differ from positive athletic competition and what kind of positive methods of encouragement can we use? How do our issues with competition impact them?
  
Dr. Fish has lectured on this topic at over 200 colleges and universities. Numerous athletes have turned to him for help in dealing with the mental aspects involved in their athletic careers.
 
As a Central parent, Dr. Fish has supported his children Ari and Talia, 269, and Eli, 266, by attending their games and helping at school, including speaking at the Home and School Association meeting. Or, perhaps he was "volunteered," albeit willingly, by his wife, Deb Aron, 269 class representative and a member of the Association's executive board.

You don't have to be a member of the Home and School Association to attend the meeting and hear Dr. Fish speak, but we'd like you to join. Also on the agenda is the election of the class representatives for 272.
PEACH, a Mother, and AIDSc-span bus
Michele Palamountain (mother of Michael, 272) had been busy all morning serving juice and goodies with the other parent volunteers at October's freshman tea. So she decided to take a break to visit the club fair in the next room and soon found herself talking to Natalie Barci, 269, a co-president of Peers Educating Against Contracting HIV-AIDS, otherwise known as PEACH. Ms. Palamountain is a hospice nurse who worked in Greenwich Village when AIDS first emerged as an unknown and terrifying killer and she offered to talk to PEACH about her experiences. Natalie eagerly agreed. Natalie admitted she first got involved with PEACH because "it looks good on a college application." But now she's committed to the mission embodied in the group's name. Is it embarrassing to talk to classmates about sexually transmitted diseases and birth control? "It can be for some people, but I don't have a problem with it because I think it is so important. I do a demonstration with how to use a condom in health classes," she said. "It's really important, so I put up with the laughs."
The Gift of Service
Several years ago, a home and school officer learned that the guidance office needed a volunteer and recruited parent Laura Mantilla to help. At that time, her older son, Javier, 268, was halfway through his Central career and her younger son, David, 270, had yet to start. Ms. Mantilla agreed to come in one day a week. "I love it," she said, "because you learn a lot." Ms. Mantilla handles copying and mailing and takes care of details in planning the college fair. Sometimes she steps in as a translator when parents visit or call. Ms. Mantilla has also translated guidance materials into Spanish. Counselor Tatiana Olmeda counts on Ms. Mantilla to help her run a college information session in the community aimed at Spanish-speaking students and their parents. "Our counselors are very devoted," Ms. Mantilla said, admiring the way they keep track of all the students, especially when it comes to processing a mountain of college applications. Ms. Mantilla enjoys the energy of the students as well as the challenge and variety of the work, and the satisfaction that comes from serving. "You are setting an example, when you serve," she said. "You can see it as a gift to the community."
picture of fenmei
Not Embarrassing
Speaking of parental involvement, is it excruciatingly embarrassing for the kids if parents show up at school? We asked the experts: two Central winners of a city-wide essay contest on the importance of parental involvement in schools. "I wouldn't be embarrassed and I'd be proud that my parents would come because it shows they care and they support me," said Fenmei Wu, 269. If children object, Fenmei said, the parents should try to convince them of the importance of parent participation. They should try to work out a compromise, she said. Are students worried that their parents won't be able to resist hugging them in the hall? "I don't find it troublesome that your Mom or Dad hugs you," Fenmei said. Fenmei, who came from China with her family 10 years ago, plans to attend college to become a dentist. The other winner was Charnice Culmer, 270, who suggested that parents share their expertise by volunteering to teach a lesson. She particularly applauded the role of the Home and School Association. "When parents attend the meetings," she wrote in her essay, "they not only voice their concerns about what it going on in the school, but the concerns of their children as well." The two girls won laptops and I-pods. 
 
Italian OperaDay at the Opera
Central Italian teacher Sharon Walker and 75  students attended the Opera Company of Philadelphia's Oct. 7 dress rehearsal of their performance of Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly," in the original Italian at The Academy of Music.

The Opera Company has a free program called The Sounds of Learning, in which they invite students to the dress rehearsals of their productions.  The visitors are given information about all kinds of topics related to the opera, the composer, the opera itself, the singers, the artists, the entire libretto, and much more. The purpose of the trip was to have an entertaining experience of Italian culture and language via the opera.

Ms. Walker, who has organized this trip for several years, praised the fine behavior of her students, most of whom are studying Italian. Before the trip, the class performed the first act of the opera at school and spent some time hearing some of the music. "I think everyone enjoyed the experience, and I hope they really got something out of it" said Ms. Walker. 
 
Lauren Rowland, 270, whose father is an opera singer and who grew up listening to opera, was happy to see her classmates get into it. "I love how other kids respond and get to know a part of our culture they've never experienced before," she said. "Everybody got really into it and appreciated the opportunity and experience. Overall, it was just a really great time".
CHS Community service walk Community Service with
a Smile
There were plenty of smiles from Central High School Students on Saturday, September 26th, as 120 of our service-oriented young men and women walked in support of the seventh annual Philadelphia Walk Now for Autism Speaks at Citizens Bank Park.  Autism Speaks is the nation's largest autism science and advocacy organization, dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism. Over $800 was donated by our students and families!
Cycling Club "Valet Service"
One of the newest clubs at Central, the cycling club, was formed just in time to lend a helping hand to students during the SEPTA strike and get front and editorial page coverage in the Nov. 5th issue of the Inquirer  The club set up a bike valet service for cycling students. Those that ride to school could register with the club and have their bikes secured in the dance gym, and they didn't even have to bring their own locks. Alex List, 270, Leah Bakely, 271 and Hector Kielblock, 272 were on hand to take in the bikes on second day of the strike. The club has about 20 students so far, and Alex and his associates contemplate rides for causes on weekends, and perhaps a bit of on-site bike repairs down the road. Hector enjoys the club and "it is a good way to get people that bike together." According to club sponsor Tom Quinn, a history teacher veteran cycling advocate, club members are arriving at 7:15 every morning.  "Some of the kids have shown up with 'strike bikes' in very bad shape.  One student had no brakes at all.  The club is fixing them up before giving them back at the end of the day," he said. The club is very diverse and has all types of riders as defined by their bikes or style of riding: road bikes, BMXs, single speed "fixies," and mountain bikes.
269 Class Super Pictures
High resolution pictures for the soon to be graduating 269 class are available via the Yearbook Office. Students have four outstanding shots to choose from: Formal Outside Regular or Laminated - the outdoor "Super Pan" shot where the students create their class number; "Spirit" Outside Regular or Laminated-students cheering; Formal Gym Regular or Laminated - students sitting quietly on bleachers; and "Spirit" Gym Regular or Laminated - students cheering on bleachers in the gym. These are truly once in a lifetime gifts for students and parents alike.

All four shots are printed as large panoramic rectangular photos. Single prints are $17.00 and $5.00 extra for lamination; two prints are $28.00 and $10.00 extra for lamination. Envelopes are available in the yearbook office. The first order will be placed the week of Thanksgiving, and if there is enough interest, the second order will be placed in mid-February.
Conference Tips
Parent-teacher conferences are intended to be short. If you need to have a long talk, you can contact the teacher for a separate appointment. Wait outside the classroom and respect each other's privacy. Make sure your child gives you classroom numbers, but there are also room sheets available. Conferences are first-come, first-served. Most teachers will have sign-up sheets and they will take parents in order on the sheet. One tip: If you have a partner and cellphones, you can wait in different lines and call each other when your turn is close. Obviously you will want to visit where there are problems, but try to also chat with the teachers in classes where things are going well. Don't forget to thank the teachers. It's a hard job and everyone can use encouragement.
 
Help Wanted
1. An reporter or two for the newsletter. Should be a 270, 271 or 272 parent that enjoys meeting with teachers and students with good writing skills. This is more fun than most any other volunteer activity at Central. Contact Dave Kalkstein at [email protected]
Acme and Target Fundraisers
Acme will give us one percent of total receipts, so please have your student deposit Acme receipts in the Acme box in the office. Target will send us one percent of what you spend on a Target Visa Card or Target Guest Card. Apply online at Target.com or at your local store. Our ID number is 90781. Last year we raised $900 from Target.
Thanks 
Thanks to all the parents who worked on this newsletter: John Newcomb for reporting the piece about Joel Fish, Kate Spellissy for the library tip, Jane Von Bergen for the stories about parental involvement and Dave Kalkstein for the pieces on community service, the Italian opera trip and the bike valet. Thanks also to Johnette Miller for her support and to Diane Luckman who makes us all look good. Most importantly, thanks to Dr. Pavel and teacher Ben Walsh for their continuing assistance.
 
Letter from the editor
We've talked a lot about what parents do to make Central a special place. But, listen up teachers and staff: They can and will do more! Many just want to be asked and if you have anything that needs to be done at night or on a weekend, the pool of volunteers is even larger. The newsletter staff would like to help. Email your requests to [email protected]. Include (and this is a must) a way that parents can reach you directly. We will publish the information in our newsletter under our Help Wanted section. For your planning purposes, we come out once a month, usually just before the second Wednesday of the month. We now have nearly 800 subscribers, the majority of whom are parents. Think creatively. Do you need chaperones, experts, mentors, an extra set of hands? We make no guarantees, but as my mother used to say, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
Jane Von Bergen, Editor Emeritus
Do you have information for the newsletter? Send updates on events and accomplishments to [email protected].
 
Sincerely,
Dave Kalkstein, Newsletter Editor
Central High School -- Philadelphia