Welcome! 

Winter doldrums indeed! A lot is going on at Central even in the midst of the doldrums! It's hard to decide where to start, so we'll note with pride that Dr. Pavel reports that Central has (at long last) been invited to apply for nomination as a Blue Ribbon School by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The Blue Ribbon Schools Program sets a standard of excellence for all schools striving for the highest level of achievement.  To be named a Blue Ribbon School is to join an elite group. Of more than 138,000 schools in the United States, only about 6,000 have received this honor over the past 28 years.

Central continues to attract the best and the brightest, and this year's applications have set another record. Teacher talent is no doubt a major factor, as was shown in the Talent Show. The window replacement program is just about complete, and exciting improvements are slated for the auditorium and the building's electrical system.

Speaking of improvements, we want to draw your attention to what we hope becomes a new tradition -- the Central High School Spring Work Party sponsored by the Home and School Association. Date and time: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 26. Bring rakes, shovels and other tools and get ready to spruce up Central's campus. And of course, volunteers are also needed to provide refreshments. Students who need community service hours can sign up with Ms. Burton. Adults, please contact CentralHSA1@yahoo.com. Also please continue to monitor the Home and School page on centralhigh.net for more information.   

Congratulations to Katherine Mateo, 270, recipient of a $3,000 grant awarded by the Association Regionale Abruzzese for excellence in Italian language study. More winners:  Diana Mesidor and Donna Zhang, 272, are winners of the Philadelphia Young Playwrights Monologue Festival. Their monologues were performed February 16 to 19 at the Adrienne Theatre on Sansom Street  professional actors associated with the InterAct Theater. Not to be outdone, Monique Dickens, 270, received the 2010/2011 Scholastic Young Writers Silver Key Award for her submissions "Damaged Goods, "  "Brains or Beauty,"  "My Daddy,"  "Sky" and "What is Black?" - chosen from nearly 300 submissions. She was honored at a ceremony and reception at the University of the Arts on Sunday, February 20. And Carlo Makarechi and Michael Vaysburd, 270, along with Rachel Weber and Phil Weiss, 271, will represent Central in the Presidential Classroom Sweepstakes in Washington, D.C. We are very proud to note these achievements.

Got news? Teaching something exciting? If you want to get the news out, the Newsletter is a great way. Let us know, and we will spread your good word - centralhighschoolnewsletter@yahoo.com.

Thanks, and don't forget to write,

Dave Kalkstein and Jane M. Von Bergen, co-editors.

This year, Broadway comes to Central!  Under the direction of music teacher Benjamin Blazer, Central High School is producing Annie Get Your Gun!  This musical, with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin, is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley (1860-1926), who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.  According to Mr. Blazer, auditions and cast selection have taken place, and rehearsals will begin soon, if they haven't already.  Mr. Blazer welcomes parent volunteers, so anyone interested in helping with the production, please email Mr. Blazer at bblazer@philasd.org.and let him know in what capacity you would like to help. Assistance will most likely be needed with makeup, set design and behind-the-scenes work. Putting on a show like this takes a lot of planning. There will be an important organizational meeting for all cast and crew members, pit band, parents and volunteers at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 8 in the Spain Conference Center. Evening performances are scheduled for May 19, 20 and 21 with a free performance planned for a Wednesday afternoon.

For the first time in many years, Central's Mock Trial Team is going to the City Championship to be held at Temple Law School on Saturday, March 12.  The team will face St. Joseph's Preparatory School.  The winning team will go to the State Championship in Harrisburg, weeks later.  Central's performance in the semi-final matches on Saturday, Feb. 26 against Chestnut Hill Academy and Roman Catholic High School was outstanding. Case victories in earlier preliminary competitions were won against Nazareth Academy, Robeson, West Chester Henderson, Masterman and Roman.

The team is led by history teacher William Graham, its teacher-coach, and Julian Thompson, 262, recent Harvard Law School graduate, its attorney-coach. Mr. Graham feels the team is "in a better place this year than last year," adding that there are 17 very committed students on the team. He said the team "has doubled in size, and doubled in dedication."

"Not everyone is cut out for mock trial," said Farzana Rahman, 271, a team co-captain. "It requires a passion and interest in the law."  To co-captain Talia Charme-Zane, 272, there is another facet. "It's a fun way to give people self-confidence," she said.

Not A Moot Point: Should Students Be Muted?

The issues raised in recent news stories about freedom of expression among teachers strike a familiar chord for Cecilia Clark, 270, the first place winner in another law competition. They are similar to issues she argued at the University of Pennsylvania Moot Court Competition. Her case turned on whether a student's decision to wear a tuxedo to school as a symbol of diversity constituted a protected form of free speech. "Obviously they design these so each side has evidence," Cecilia said. "There are a lot of gray areas."
A highlight of the program was working with Penn law students and Clark enjoyed "having a lot of people listen to me." Other participants were Lauren Lam, Joshua Lynch, James Shaw, Gabriel West and Alice Wills, all 270, all semi-finalists. Alice placed second. The national round takes place in April.

Students of Schuyler Patton's Materials Science class were featured in the "Class Acts" series in the Philadelphia Inquirer on February 7. Making a big splash on the front page of the Local News section was Ali Miller, 270, aka "Captain Melamine," decked out in melamine bowls and a bicycle helmet. The theme of the article was the class' project to demonstrate the various uses of polymers, those ubiquitous compounds we find in just about any household item. In the "Polymer Pageant" each student was required to demonstrate by way of costumes, posters and PowerPoint presentations why his or her polymer deserved to win the 2011 Miss Polymer crown.

Central is one of very few schools that offer coursework in Materials Science, now in the third year. Materials Science is an in-depth look at chemical and physical properties of all materials, how they are made and how they are tested for properties, with a focus on real-world applications.  Mr. Patton also invites guest speakers to talk with students about specific topics. These have included advanced materials research by Dr. Russ Composto from the Composto Polymer Research Group at the University of Pennsylvania and Sgt. John Roach on the importance of U.S. military materials research. "Because Materials Science is so versatile, I'm looking for some more guest speakers from other fields, perhaps culinary or construction, but all are welcome," Mr. Patton said.

The 2011 Miss Polymer crown winners were Yanni Mai, 270, who researched polyisobutylene and Viktorya Stebenkova, 270, who researched TYVEK. To read the Inquirer piece, click here. 

Students come in and take seats in the auditorium. Number Two pencils and lap boards get distributed. Then, at exactly 8:25 a.m. on February 8, silence descends on the auditorium as 180 Central students start working at the oldest national annual math competition - the American Math Contest (AMC). There are two divisions -- AMC 10 for 9th and 10th grades and AMC 12 for 11th and 12th. February's competition was the first round, and students can qualify for the second round -- the American Invitational Mathematics Examination -- by scoring 100 out of 150 on AMC 12 or getting a score in the top one percent nationally on AMC 10. A third round is called the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad, and the 250 best students qualify to participate in it. Of these, the eight best will represent the USA at the International Mathematical Olympiad. Boris Ovetsky of the Math Department said that this year's competition is the sixtieth one and that Central has participated in most of them. The Central Math Club works on AMC problems at its meetings. 

Aside from the AMC, Central's Math Team will take part in the Temple University Math Contest in May and in the Purple Comet Math Competition in April.  Purple Comet is an international online team competition open to students all over the world. Mr. Ovetsky reports that Central students have taken part in the Purple Comet contest since its inception in 2005, usually with two or three teams that have a lot of fun competing against the best students from around the world. For those that enjoy math or want to hone their skills, the Math Club has a lot of pluses, including cool T-shirts.  The club meets every Thursday after school in room 233 and everyone is welcome. Contacts are club president Si Li, 270, vice president Annie Lin, 272, or the club sponsor, Mr. Ovetsky.

In the midst of the winter doldrums, students in Mr. Daniel Ueda's junior-level physics classes turned their thoughts to a fair weather amusement. The students designed roller coasters and demonstrated that the thrills of riding them are the result of some very careful engineering.

In groups of two to four, the students came up with themes for their original roller coasters, designed the routes, included the number of passengers, and conducted calculations to meet actual government safety requirements. Each project was required to have at least two hills and one loop, as well as unique features. The larger the number of hills, loops and unique features, the higher the potential grade for the project. Students had to calculate the energy and speed at various points along the ride, among them tops of hills, bottoms of hills, tops of loops, bottoms of loops and particular points on curves.

Students began oral presentations of their projects the first week in February, and each group brought either a poster-size drawing of their roller coaster or a scale model. The class ranked each design, and Mr. Ueda committed to factoring that ranking into their project grades, so the presentations were very entertaining. Many rollercoaster models were edible attractions featuring kooky components made of tasty treats like Twizzlers and marshmallows.