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HOME & SCHOOL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER                        December  2012


In This Issue
Poet-Performer
Joyful Noise
Trekking to Haiti
Leadership Award
NASA Grant
Party Central!
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MARK YOUR CALENDAR

 

Early Dismissal: Thursday, 
Jan. 3, noon
 
HSA Meeting:

Wednesday,

Jan. 9,

Spain Conference Center, 6:30 p.m.

 
Keystone Testing: Wednesday - Friday, Jan. 9 - 11
 
School Closed, Martin Luther King Jr. Day:
Monday, 
Jan. 21

 

Midterms:
Tuesday - Friday, Jan. 22 - 25


273 Ring Ceremony:

Thursday, 

Jan. 31, 

Romano's Catering

 

College Planning Night: Tuesday, Feb. 5, Auditorium, 6 p.m.

 

School Closed, Staff Development: Wednesday, 

Feb. 6

 

HSA Meeting:

Wednesday, 

Feb. 13,

Spain Conference Center, 6:30 p.m. 

 

HELP WANTED
Newsletter staffers:
Interested in working
on the newsletter? Contact 

Dave Kalkstein 

Bring Your Photo ID
Just a reminder:
When you come to visit Central High School, you must have a photo ID.
Main Office         215-276-5262   

Welcome! 

 

We hope all hands had and are still having a joyful holiday season.

 

In case you haven't noticed, Central is getting re-wired, or at least electrically enhanced. This is a major project that will greatly improve systems throughout the school.

 

Big congratulations to Mr. Daniel Ueda of the Science Department and the RoboLancers on landing two, count 'em, two, grants. (Story below.)

And also to Hiwot Adilow, 272, winner of a $100,000 scholarship to the University of Wisconsin, and to Courtney Billig, 273, for the Widener Award.

 

There's a lot going on as we head into 2013.

 

If you don't see your news, it's because we didn't hear from you!
 Shout to us.

 

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Poet-Performer Wins $100,000 Scholarship
 
Hiwot Adilow, 272, is headed for the University of Wisconsin next year as one of two winners of the first-ever MC Lyte/First Wave Scholarship awarded by the school.

 

She received the award Nov. 25 in Las Vegas, appearing on the BET network just prior to the Soul Train Awards.

 

The CHS senior wowed the judges with her original spoken-word poem about her name, which means "life" in Amharic, her father's native language. Her father, who fled Ethiopia and eventually settled in the United States, had vowed to name his first child to celebrate life.

 

She meets weekly with Philly Youth Poetry Movement, a non-profit workshop that  explores spoken-word poetry and other arts. Poetry has given her opportunities to perform on the national stage; in California earlier this year, her team placed second in the national "Brave New Voices" competition.  

 

Performing her poetry requires that extra something special. She says: "I reach back to that place and try to share the feeling I had when I wrote it."

 

She likes all her classes, so she is keeping her options open about what she will study in Madison. But she promises she'll "always be involved in some way in the arts."

 

On Wisconsin! It's one lucky school. Hiwot will shine at whatever she puts her hand to. 

Adilow
Hiwot Adilow, 272
(Image by Chris Zweigle)
Joyful Noise

 

In a concert-turned-sing-along, the CHS Choir and String Quartet serenaded shoppers and Central fans at the Barnes & Noble Center City store Dec. 14. The special holiday treat was part of a fund-raiser in which the bookseller donated a percentage of its sales to Central.

 

The choir, formed just three years ago when director Ben Blazer joined the Central staff, rocked the children's book section with an array of traditional holiday songs. Members of the audience sang along, while Marcus Kurz, a 2011 Central retiree, joined in with his flute, and he and Mr. Blazer, on cello, played a lively duet of "O Hanukkah."

 

Soprano Rachel Meirson, 272, joined the choir after last year's musical because, she said, "I had so much fun that I just wanted to keep on singing." Said Mr. Blazer: "We are always happy to come out and share the amazing musical talents of our Central students."

 

Michael Horwits, the 273 class sponsor and himself a member of 251, lauded the non-singing students who helped in the fundraising effort by distributing coupons: "We really appreciate the students' enthusiasm, as well as the support of all the parents who bought Barnes & Noble items," he said.   

Joyful Noise

She's Trekking to Haiti

 

Fofo Mahmoud, 273, will travel to Haiti to help build a school this spring in a program sponsored by the service group BuildOn. Fofo is president of Central's chapter of Global Youth United, and was active in Central's former BuildOn chapter. Here's her description of what she'll be doing:

 

For two weeks in the spring, I'll be in Haiti with a select group of other students who are taking part in the BuildOn "Trek for Knowledge," which sends students to countries like Mali, Nicaragua and Haiti to take part in building a school with funds and materials donated throughout the year to the organization.

 

BuildOn's mission is breaking the cycle of poverty and illiteracy and making our community, and the world, a better place. It gives high school students the opportunity to get involved in their local and global communities through service. BuildOn recently built its 500th school.

 

The students going on Trek will work with the people in the village, most of whom are illiterate, to build a much-needed school building. We will be staying with host families who will teach us about the culture and village life. The students are eager to learn and the whole village will take part in the construction of the school.

 

For more about BuildOn, click here. For more on Global Youth United (founded by a Central alum, Dr. Leonard Finkelstein, 185), click here.  

Fofo
Fofo, 273
(Image by Ho Chuen Kan, 272,
Den Sweeney Photography)
 
Widener University Award for 273 Leader

  

Congratulations to Courtney Billig, 273, for winning a Widener University High School Leadership Award. The Mount Airy junior was one of 69 area student leaders recognized for embodying the university's focus on civic leadership.

 

Courtney was nominated for the award, cosponsored by Channel 10, by Principal Timothy McKenna and her class adviser, Mr. Michael Horwits. She said she wrote her essay about how she works with other 273 members on class events and projects:

 

"What I try to do is give my fellow classmates opportunities to take charge. I help them set up different events and plan them. They then would mainly run the event with my support when needed. . . . I talked about trying to help everyone succeed, not just myself."

 

"We're a very tight-knit group of kids and I feel like I am part of a family," she added.

 

"In reviewing the nominations, we were very impressed by the level of civic engagement and commitment of high school students across our region," said Widener University President James T. Harris III.

 

The winners will be honored at the National Constitution Center in February.

 

Courtney hopes to eventually go to medical school. "My dream is to become a neurosurgeon," she said. "I like how so many aspects of how the brain works are still unknown to us. I love to help people while still being able to discover something new."

The RoboLancers Grab NASA and Comcast Milestone Inventors Grants 

 

NASA has awarded RoboLancers Team 321 a $5,000 Sustaining Grant, one of only two in Pennsylvania. The funds will cover two FIRST Robotics District Competitions in March. FIRST was founded in 1989 to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology.

 

The team also was presented a grant of $3,000 on behalf of 50 Comcast IDD Milestone Inventors (inventors who have submitted 10 or more Invention Disclosures since 2008).  In addition, the RoboLancers received a corporate mentor under the Comcast FIRST Mentor Program:  Theresa Hennesy, Senior Vice President and Group Technical Advisor within Comcast's National Engineering and Technical Operations, is a welcome addition to the RoboLancers for the 2012-2013 season.

  

What do these grants mean for the RoboLancers?  Simply, the RoboLancers can continue to exist - to build robots and compete - but more importantly, spread the importance of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) programs in Philadelphia schools and communities. Others lending a hand to the club in these days of reduced funding include parents, college mentors, alumni and the Home and School Association, along with corporate sponsors Boeing and Comcast. 

 

This season, the RoboLancers are fielding a second team for the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), the first of two competitions.  Rookie Team 6676 and veteran Team 5320, with one year under its belt, are moving through the robot build and testing stages, with meets scheduled at PSD Administration Building from late January through mid-February.  The 2013 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) season kicks off Jan. 5. Do attend at least one of the meets - they are fantastic. Check out the RoboLancers. Want to contribute? Here's a list of needed items.

 

RoboLancers- 1min PROMO
RoboLancers- 1 min. PROMO
Save the Date

 

Party Central! will take place on Saturday, April 20, 2013 at the Commodore Barry Club in Mount Airy. Sponsored by the Home and School Association, this is a fun fundraising event and a great way to support your child's education.   

Correction

 

In the November 2012 Newsletter article "Media Star at Central," we misspelled Dalya Hahn's name. We apologize for this error.   

Help Wanted

 

Newsletter staffers: Interested in working on the newsletter? Contact Dave Kalkstein.

Thank You


As always, our thanks to our wonderful writers Nancy Winter, Kathie Conrad and Mary Sweeten and to Mary and Tamar Magdovitz for copy editing. And a special thanks to Mr. Thomas Quinn of the Social Studies Department for his tip on FoFo Mahmoud's (273) story (written mostly by her -- we editors love this).

 

This newsletter is sponsored by the Central High School Home and School Association, to whom we all owe thanks along with Mr. Timothy McKenna and the CHS teachers and staff.

 

Got news? Don't keep it to yourself!
Tell us.

 

Dave Kalkstein and Dan Cason, Co-Editors

 

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