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On Tuesday, June 23rd, 45 seniors graduated from Renaissance. The commencement ceremony, held at I.S. 227 Louis Armstrong Middle School was hosted by Mistress of Ceremony Lisa Maida and Master of Ceremony Curtis Anderson. Middle School Math Teacher and Big Apple Fellow Ramil Buenaventura was the Keynote Speaker. Salutatorian Anmari Guerrero and Valedictorian Quashawn Davis were presented with awards by Asheligh-Ann Southerland of Senator Jose Peralta's office. Most of our graduates are off to college and one is entering the United States Marines. We wish all of them the best of luck in the future and hope they will keep us apprised of their adventures. See below for a list of colleges and universities they will be attending.
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City University of New York - Borough of Manhattan Community College, City College, Grove School of Engineering at City College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, LaGuardia Community College, NYC College of Technology, Queens College, Queensborough Community College, York College.
State University of New York - at Albany, at Buffalo, at Canton, at Cobleskill, at Fredonia, at Oswego, at Plattsburgh.
College of St. Rose in Albany College, Iona College, Lafayette College, Wellesley College
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On Monday, June 15th our graduates celebrated with a dinner and dance at Terrace on the Park. They had a wonderful time and looked beautiful and handsome, like the grown-ups they have become. We wish them all the very best and will be sorry to see them go!
Chaperone Ana & senior Posse scholar Tabassum Chaperones - teachers Martha & Lisjane
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On Wednesday, June 24th, our 8th grade graduates celebrated with a dinner and dance at Bruno's on the Boulevard. We think you will agree that our youngsters have grown up and look ready for high school! And our chaperones look like they were having a great time as well.
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Middle School Stepping Up Ceremony
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On Thursday, June 25th, our 8th grade graduates were honored during this year's Stepping Up ceremony, marking their ascent into high school. Preceded by a PTA hosted breakfast for family members, the ceremony featured a speech by Principal Gauthier, motivational keynote speech by Science Leader Dan Fanelli, and speeches by several students. There was also a terrific performance by the 8th grade band, under the direction of Everett Boyd. Several students received special academic achievement awards and then everyone adjourned to the common area to take photos and have a piece of celebratory cake. To those students who are leaving Renaissance to attend high school elsewhere, we will miss you! To all of our new high school students - Good Luck!! For more prom & Stepping Up pix, click here. And many thanks to Carina Salvi for all the great photos she's provided us with this year!
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Field Trips and PEPsizzle Day!
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Middle School students attended a field day at Flushing Meadow-Corona Park on Tuesday, June 23rd. With testing complete and the school year at an end, it was a great way to spend the day and burn up some energy! Some kids played soccer, some ran relay races, some just went for a walk, and quite a few cooled off with water fights. Everyone was treated to a boxed lunch provided by our food service workers. Special thanks to Amanda Scott, our middle school student council adviser for organizing the event and to all of the chaperones!
PEPSizzle Day
Wednesday June 24th was PEPSizzle Day, when students join groups of their choosing and participate in various sports and physical activities at venues all over the city. Some groups went archery shooting, hiking, boating, dancing and more. Hopefully students have found a new activity they like to keep them active over the summer!
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Trampoline Fun!
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Hiking along the Palisades in New Jersey
Ice Skating | 
Hikers | 
Archery
 Bowling | 
Rock wall climbing in Long Island City |
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First Grade Art
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In the winter the first grade had a bake sale to help support arts education in rural communities. The professional arts educator we supported was Nicole Pouliot. Nicole is a highly talented artist who shares her creative genius with children all over NYC. You can check out her work by clicking the link Nicole Pouliot. Recently, Nicole donated her time to thank the first grade for their fundraising efforts by teaching them how to make Homescapes, a Nicole Pouliot original design formula. Check out some of the great designs created by our fabulous 'firsties'. What a wonderful gift it was for the children to work with Nicole. The children also learned the valuable lesson that sometimes when you do good in the world, good comes back to you.
After School Arts ProgramArtists from the Children's Museum of the Arts worked with some of the students in our After School Program and created some really interesting art projects.
Check out the video and photos below:
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Thanks to a special grant from Assemblyman Moya, a group of 4th-7th graders are going to be learning all about agriculture and gardening skills this summer. The group is being taught by educators from the Queens Botanical Garden. Besides learning hands-on skills, including planting, mapping a gardening and harvesting, students will be learning about the different parts of the plant, the root system and how to use plants for different things. They will also be preparing some snacks with fresh produce, as well as going on various trips to local farms, gardens and composting facilities. We also want to thank Benoit Papineau, father of rising 9th grader Luc, for his extra help in the garden. He has built some new planter boxes, as well as the arbor on the side of the greenhouse. If you have a special skill that might be of help to the school, please call and let us know how you would like to volunteer! 
Tasting herbs at Brooklyn Grange Farm
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Making Herb Cream Cheese Dip
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Worm Compost Lesson
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Working in the school garden
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Benoit at work
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Honeybees at the Brooklyn Grange
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First Day Back to School for All Students: Thursday, September 10, 2015!!
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HELPFUL HINTS AND COOL LINKS
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Make an investment in children, education and the future of our world. Safer, better-educated communities are great for business; they improve the quality of life for everyone. Renaissance's hard-working, high-achieving students strive to make that happen and with your help that goal is closer to being a reality: Please visit our website for more information, and lick on the red DONATE button on the bottom of each page: http://www.renaissancecharter.org/. Thank you!
Sincerely,
The Renaissance Charter School
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