February News
Technology, Artifacts, Art, and Service 

Matt F uses his Echo pen in class. Photo courtesy of Ian Morris.

Students in the Mountain Center recently received innovative pens that do more than just write. They are digital recording devices that record lectures while students take notes. Echo Smart Pens are touch sensitive and work in tandem with accompanying notebooks that allow students to activate recording, stop recording, and to retrieve specific points in their recorded lectures. These recording pens help our students rehearse and remember information that can easily be forgotten by the end of the day when students are completing homework assignments. Currently, all 9th grade Mountain Center students and several others are using these recording pens. For Mr. Morris's complete blog entry, scroll down to January 29 after clicking here.

Half a world away from the Lunar New Year celebrations in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam, Storm King students native to Pacific Rim countries shared their traditions with faculty and fellow students. The whole school turned out for a festive celebration to welcome the Year of the Dragon in Orr Commons the evening of Sunday, January 22nd. Students enjoyed a delicious assortment of traditional Asian snacks and candies and entertained themselves with Karaoke and games, including Three Kingdoms, Chinese Chess, and a Vietnamese card game. SKS piano teacher Martin Smith's students performed at lunch on Monday, January 23rd, in honor of the Lunar New Year and the festivities culminated with a family-style dinner featuring Asian cuisine that evening. The celebrations were a nice way for our Asian students to share a bit of their cultures with their classmates and teachers, and in turn, members of the SKS community were honored to be a part of the special occasion. For more on the Lunar New Year celebrations, click here.

Students and teachers clean up fallen debris at historic cemetery.

Although community service has long been a tradition at SKS, it has never been so varied, so alive, and so frequent as this year. Mountain Center Teacher Emily Boronkay has taken the reins as Community Service Coordinator. This newsletter has described many events in which approximately seventy different students and nine different faculty members have participated so far this year, ranging from Special Olympics soccer camp and Habitat for Humanity home builds to a coat drive, a Christmas party, work at the food pantry, and homework tutoring for neighbors in Newburgh, NY, to river bank and trail clean-ups to walks and races to raise funds for worthy causes.

Artwork marks an historic burial site.

There are tales of laughter, sweat, and occasionally tears inspired by each one of these events, some of which Boronkay chronicles on her blog entry here. Said Ms. Boronkay, "Every week it is a privilege to witness the transformation of students to world citizens as they step out of themselves to help others.

On January 29, SKS art teacher Amanda Penecale and eighth-graders Emma S and Livi P performed at Habitat for Humanity's "Women Performers for Women Build" fundraiser at The Falcon music club in Marlboro, NY. Ms. Penecale and Emma sang their own compositions and Emma and Livi performed a duet of "Arms" by Christina Perri. Habitat raised more than $4,700 from the event

Two busloads of SKS students and faculty spent Abraham Lincoln's birthday, February 12th, cleaning up the African-American Cemetery, known historically as the Colored Cemetery, in the town of Montgomery, NY. The cemetery is believed to hold the graves of roughly one hundred people, mostly African slaves who were brought over by the earliest settlers of the region. The graves were marked with stones supplemented by small pipes. Only two had any kind of discernable inscription, one of which dates its occupant's passing to 1756. This service activity came about when the Director of SKS's Mountain Center program, Andre Green, noticed that the historic site was littered by tree limbs and refuse, and asked for volunteers. We think that Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, would be pleased about beautification of the site on which these Americans rest. For Mr. Green's complete description of this service activity, click here. 

Photos courtesy of Scott Simontacchi.

Photo courtesy of Gail Conti.

The Storm King Wrestling Team has much to celebrate because they have earned the coveted Hudson Valley Athletic League (HVAL) Championship title! Storm King's 47-24 victory over Marvelwood and 60-18 victory over New York Military Academy not only earned them the championship, but secured their 13-0 undefeated status in the league against other Class B schools. They finished with a 13-5 record overall (includes matches against much larger schools) for the season.

Coach Graziosi writes, "Thank you for your overwhelming support for our boys on the wrestling team as they achieved their goal for the season by winning The HVAL Championship and finishing undefeated in the league and against other class B schools they met in competition. It is amazing to see the greatness of a unified community. The energy from the students, faculty, and parents was astounding and clearly demonstrated that we, as a school, can accomplish any task we set out to complete. I am proud of our boys and our community."

After a successful championship, middle school wrestlers went on to compete in the Middle School Tournament at Eaglebrook. Anthony M took home 3rd place and Tae Han L won 1st place trophies.

Mandarin character for "eyebrow"

SKS Art and Mandarin teacher Ms. Ping Moroney has designed artful representations of characters for her new book Fun and Easy Chinese Characters. Each representation provides an illustration suggesting the meaning of its character to help beginning Mandarin students recognize and remember the character.  

At the invitation of the Chinese government, Ms. Moroney, who is originally from Shanghai, China, traveled to Beijing in December. She participated in the 2011 Hanban/ Confucius Institute Headquarters Professional Training on Chinese Language Teaching and Teaching Materials. Her book is slated to be published by the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Take an Open House tour and visit the Allison Vladimir Art Center to see other creative ways Ms. Moroney and her art students are representing Mandarin characters.

Mandarin character for "person"

The Office of Admissions cordially invites you to attend an Open House for prospective students and their families. The Open House will begin in Orr Commons at the center of The Storm King School campus.

This Open House will provide an opportunity to tour our beautiful campus. After the tour, you will see a short video about the School and participate in a discussion about the application process. Families at this Monday Open House will be invited to stay for lunch with our faculty and students. There will be plenty of time to answer your questions about the School.  

Open House Schedule:
10:00   Tour of Campus
11:15     SKS Video
11:30    Overview of Application Process and General Question
                and Answer Session
12:00    Lunch
1:00       Closing Remarks
 
Please contact the Office of Admissions for more information.
314 Mountain Road
Cornwall on Hudson, NY 12520
845-534-9860
admissions@sks.org

Saturday, March 3, 10:00 AM-12:00 Noon

Saturday, April 28, 10:00 AM-12:00 Noon

Saturday, May 10,   10:00 AM-12:00 Noon  

Open Houses start in Orr Commons in the center of The Storm King School campus.  We will start with a tour of the campus after brief welcoming remarks.  You will learn about the School and its programs.  After the tour, you will see a short video about the School and participate in a discussion about the application process. For Monday Open Houses only, participants will be invited to stay for lunch.   

It is helpful if you call (845-534-9860) to register in advance.