Dear Families,

March...spring, melting snow (please), and the start of the standardized testing season

March not only brings spring; it also launches the standardized testing season. Over the next four months, students in various grades will take MCAS, PARCC, SATs, PSATs, and/or AP exams. Starting on March 18, FRCS will begin administering PARCC to all students in grades 3-8. High school students will continue to take MCAS. Please click below for the FRCS testing schedule, listed by grade or date, and some important tips to help prepare your children at home.

Testing schedule by Grade

Testing schedule by Date

Tips for Parents 

Celebrating National History Day at FRCS!

FRCS celebrated National History Day this past month! What's National History Day? Think of it as Science Fair for History!

Students identify a person, event or area of history in which they are interested. They research their topic in great depth, using primary sources, interviews, and other resources. They then develop a competition-ready presentation, delivered to a panel of judges who evaluate their research, writing, and presentation skills. Thank you to our history department for making this outstanding experience possible! The following students have progressed to the next round of competition!

• Tom Howells (Andrew Carnegie: Man of Steel)
• Isabel Koran (Mary Jane Cragin)
• Cindy Le and Mason Van Deurse (Oh Boy, Boyden)
• Sarah DeFanti, Abigail Berry and Emily Shaheen (Catharine Beecher's Fight for Feminism)
• Josie McNeil (Women & Soccer)
• Jill Birt (Winston Churchill)
• Neel Gridular, Joseph Rossi, Gavin O'Malley, Stephen Dimino (JFK)
• Elizabeth DeFanti (Chickens Coming Home to Roost)

Students and Seniors make terrific learning partners!

The FRCS Senior Center Community Service Team has not let the winter weather interrupt their service commitments, as members continue their impactful work with our local senior citizens. As you may know, our students work closely with seniors on a multitude of related projects, questions, and concerns, including: uploading aps and programs; pinning short cuts; email; cut, copy, and paste; and questions about using credit cards to order on line. In the next few weeks, the team will be teaching topics such as: How to use flash drives; How to use google maps; Security/virus clean up; Malware, browsers, and cookies; and How to use Facebook and other social media.

FRCS service leaders on this partnership include:  

Samar Ismail

Brenna Snyderman                           

Sydney Jordan

Jenna Roberts                                     

Davandra Moore                                  

Raya Jackson

Dumecia Pickett

Alexandra Belony

Monika Asomunghu

Cassie Lamb

A big shout out to Mr. Obenchain and Ms. Droste for facilitating this important learning opportunity.

Summer Enrichment- We NEED YOUR input! 

In an effort to understand the needs of our community and offer a meaningful summer enrichment program that meets those expectations, we have developed a survey to gather information and input. We will use this information to build a summer enrichment program that supports the interests, schedules and needs of our community. The survey will be open until March 14, 2015. PLEASE click here to complete survey  

Robotics

This past weekend, the FRCS High School Robotics Team represented our school at the Regional Competition! FRCS has had a middle school Robotics Team for the past three years but this was our first year fielding a high school team! A big shout out to Coach Rob DeFreitas, who led the team to a top 10 finish! Outstanding work, team! Our high school team of programmers and engineers consists of:

Tony Choma                                        

Sumit De                                                             

Sarah DeFanti

Mitchell Green                      

Tom Howels

Adam Londergan  

Andrew McPhee                 

Griffin Pratt

James Roberts

Emily Shaheen

Ben Spenciner                                     

Adrienne Vreeland

Do your children like to argue? Well, these FRCS students are outstanding at it!

The FRCS Mock Trial team, coached by our amazing Mr. Hardie, just completed their third season! I asked Coach Hardie to capture and to share his thoughts on the team's most recent competition:

"Congratulations go out to your FRCS Mock Trial team today - FRCS pulled off an upset win against defending Region champion Mansfield High School on Friday in a decisive victory. The FRCS team dominated at every level. Lawyers Fatimah "the Pitbull" Mahamed, Sumedha Sahay and Nicole "the fastest attorney on speed skates" Nassif hammered Mansfield with objections and tore apart the Mansfield witnesses on cross-examination. Briana "the Opener" Serradas set the tone with a spell-binding opening statement and FRCS witnesses Tori "Honorary Hardie" Leonard, Danielle "Quiet Storm" Akinyemi and Avanna "Egghead" Menard refused to budge on cross-examination and turned the tables on the Mansfield attorneys."

"Congratulations to graduating seniors and team founding members Avanna Menard, Fatimah Mahamed, Nicole Nassif and Tori Leonard for three amazing years of top-notch performances. We'll miss you next year!"

"The Legal Falcons have now finished with a winning record in all three of their seasons, an impressive feat in a tough division of big schools. If you see a Mock Trialer, give them a celebratory fist bump!" - Coach H Hardie

It is truly a unique and rewarding experience to watch these exceptional students in action. Congratulations to all on another tremendous season!

Annual lottery applications continue to demonstrate STRONG demand for FRCS!

This week, we held our annual enrollment lottery. We processed 528 applications for entrance to the school. Added to our existing waitlist, there are now 2,833 students on this active list. The strong demand for our school highlights the tremendous work of our faculty and staff, the outstanding accomplishments of our students, and the meaningful partnerships with our families and the community. Thank you to all who make our school such an incredible learning environment, providing exceptional opportunities for all of our students!

Sincerely,

Mark Logan, Ph.D.

Executive Director

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