Congratulations and Celebrations

 

• Congratulations to the following 14 kids who participated the All-State music festival, an incredible distinction, with performance in Boston’s Symphony Hall:

Sophia Normark

Genevieve Higgins

Thomas Jeffries

Asa Julien

Jaimon Olmstead

Sarah Martini

Carson Marshall

Dorian Elgers-Lo

Caroline Norton

Solomon Goldstein-Rose

Ejeong Baik

Seungchan Song

Kylie Prutisto-Chang

Anna Perkins

• Two of our students participated in the All-Eastern Music Festival in Baltimore, MD:  Carson Marshall and Sarah Martini. Symphonic Orchestra and Wind Ensemble performed April 6, at 7:30, featuring Haydn’s "Farewell" Symphony and Sarah Martini soloing in the Vanhal Bass Concerto.

Fun with Social Studies

Mr. Gould’s World Civilizations course has launched the Roman biography unit, and students should willingly submit to questions about their interpretations of the lives of some of these seemingly outlandish Romans.  Engage them in conversation and learn something valuable?

 

His Honors United States History classes are preparing for a 1920s trial to assess the damage done by that profligate decade and the characters that played starring roles.  We will naturally involve costumes.  Coming up we have the Living Biography project in which students interview and collect evidence from someone over the age of sixty in order to compose a 7-10 page life story.  So many stories, so little time!

Fifth Annual Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools Latino Achievement

The Fifth Annual Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools Latino Achievement Night will be celebrated on May 20, 2011 at the AmherstRegionalMiddle School, located at 170 Chestnut Street in Amherst, Massachusetts.  The event will begin at 6:30 and it is open to all families, friends, staff and community members.

 

For those of you new to this wonderful community event, this celebration was envisioned by a group of families, staff and community members from several surrounding towns and cities, six years ago when our district established the Latino Initiative.  Data revealed that, as a group, Latinos were performing at lower levels than other students in our district and a series of recommendations were formulated to address the issue and try to close this achievement gap.  One of the strategies suggested was the creation of a community celebration of the achievements of Latino students every year, as it is accustomed in the majority of the countries our students’ families come from. 

 

As a true community event, this celebration is open to the public and hundreds of people come to support our students.  In addition to celebrating every student who attends the activity by school, certificates are given to students at transition grades (K, 6, 8 and 12) who have excelled in any of the following categories:

 

Academic Achievement – This category recognizes excellence and achievement in academic work in all areas.

 

Community Spirit – This category recognizes students who are “all-around great kids”; these students are a positive influence on their peers, are thoughtful, respectful, and inclusive in a variety of settings (class room, clubs, sports, playground, etc.)

 

Effort – This category embodies students who demonstrate hard work, perseverance, determination and a great love of learning.

 

Leadership – This category embodies students who take initiative in one or more of the following areas: academics, sports, clubs and community service (school and family).

 

Progress- This category recognizes students who have shown great improvement in academic subjects, attendance and/or behavior.

 

Please contact Mildred Martinez at martinezm2@arps.org or by calling (413)362-1871, if you have any questions about the event.

Recognition Celebration!

Superintendent Maria Geryk, District Administration and Principals

Cordially Invite

All PGO, School Council and Parent Volunteers

to attend a

Recognition Celebration

Monday, May 23

4pm-5pm

PD Center at ARMS

Please RSVP to stenderk@arps.org

Together in Song

WGBY is running a 10-part series called "Together in Song", a community-minded competition that celebrates the choral tradition of western New England.

The ARHS Hurricane Singers and Chorale were selected as performing ensembles in the High School category. The Together in Song series will begin airing on March 19. Shows will broadcast at 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. A new Together in Song show will be presented each Saturday, and the series will conclude on April 16. You can watch their performances Saturday April 9th and 16th at 8:30 p.m. or view them now online at http://togetherinsong.wgby.org/. Press the "like" button to register your audience vote.

Following the series, four semi finalists from each category will be announced. A panel of judges, as well as the viewing audience, will determine the ensembles selected.  All semi finalists will perform at the Together in Song Festival in downtown Springfield on April 30th and May 1^st.  All performances will be broadcast live on WGBY.

 

Have a Great Time for a Good Cause!

Sponsored by the class of 2012:

Spring Dance - April 29, 2011   7-10 pm.  $5.00 in advance, $7.00 at the door

Student Talent Show - May 6, 2011  7pm.  $5.00 students, $8.00 Adults.

Twenty five percent of all proceeds for both events will go to the Red Cross for Japan!

Later Start Time Possible

In the fall, a Later Start Time Task Force was charged with studying the benefits of, and potential obstacles to, changing the daily schedule to include a later start time for secondary students in the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools.  They were asked to consider the effect such a change would have on employee contracts, transportation at both the elementary and secondary level, and after-school activities for students (e.g. athletics, employment, tutoring, etc.).  Input from all stakeholder groups, including students, parents/guardians, and district faculty and staff, is an important component of the task force’s research.  Surveys are available for all of these groups at www.arps.org.  The deadline for completing the surveys is Monday, April 11

Winter Sports Summary 2010 and 2011

Season Highlights

 

Girls Basketball – Won the Western Massachusetts Championship and made it to the State Final, losing to Andover 61-51.  The last time the team was in the State Final was in 1993.  Final record:  22-3 .  Suburban League Champion

PVIAC All Stars:  Kristen Ferola, Brianna Leonard, Forbasaw Nkambo

ESPNBostonAllState:  Forbasaw Nkambo

 

Boys Basketball – Qualified for the MIAA tournament with an 11-9 record.  Traveled to Longmeadow, winning in overtime to advance to the quarterfinal, losing to Northampton for the second year in a row.  Final record:  12-10

PVIAC All Stars:  Jose Allen, Basil Stewart   Hampshire/Franklin All Star team:  Jose Allen, Will Hird, Basil Stewart

 

Ice Hockey – Qualified for the MIAA tournament with a 12-4-3 record.  Won first round game against Chicopee 3-2, then lost to a strong Agawam team 4-1 in the semifinal for Western Mass.  Final Record:  13-5-3 

PVIAC All Stars:  Alex McGeoch, Corey Deres, Erik LaMotte

 

Boy’s & Girls Indoor Track –

Girls Final Record 5-4.  Won the Tantasqua Invitational in December. 

Mercedes Fissore-O’Leary broke the school record in the 1000m run at the Western Mass Championship with a time of 3:10.44

The following athletes qualified to compete in the State Championship: 

Mercedes Fissore-O’Leary 600m and 1000 run, Audrey Gould- Mile and 2 mile run, Nina Marciano 55m, Nina Allen, Ayodele Bond, Kanya Brown, Syry Mitchell, Kamillah Smith, Kailey Tobin – 800 relay team

Boys Final Record:  2-7

The following athletes qualified to compete in the State Championship:

John Latour – shotput, James Traester – mile run, Ariel Vallellanes – 55m, Conlan Brown, Gary Burnett, John Latour, Tim Nagy, Ariel Vallellanes – 800 relay team.

James Traester ran a 4:33 mile at the State meet in Boston, the fastest time of any runner from Western Massachusetts.  James placed 8^th in the meet and scored the only points for Amherst.

 

Boys & Girls Alpine Skiing –Anna Swanson, Chandler Atkinson, Alex Casey, Nathaniel Lafley, Jon Simonds, Greg Lerner, and Nicholas Burr qualified for States. 

 

Boys & Girls Nordic Skiing –competed in High School Championships, boys finished 2^nd and girls finished 6^th in the WMASS league

Boys finished 6^th in the State – Congrats to Sidney Field, Nat Jeffries, Satchel Douglas, Steven Kalt, Jesse Harris, Carlos Reyes, Tom Jeffries, and Isaac Hare-Steig

Congrats to Girl’s who finished 15^th in the State – Zoe Dillon-Davidson, Emmy Zimmerman, Shira Kaufman, Lenna Quackenbush, Tulsa Douglas, Sarah Martini, Amanda Piela, Teagan Fleiner-Etheridge.

 

Boys Swimming & Diving –Final Record:  7-3.  PVIAC All Stars:  Cairon Dillon-Davidson, Jacob Leonard, Nate Sylvan, Leo Wright

 

The following athletes qualified for the State Championship:

Jesse Coull, Nate Sylvan – Diving

Ciaron Dillon-Davidson – 100 Fly, 500 freestyle

Jacob Leonard – 200 IM, 100 Breastroke

Leo Wright – 100 Freestyle, 100 Breastroke

Walter Benson, Eric Breen, Eric Chen, Dominik Doemer – 200 FR

Ciaron Dillon-Davidson, Jacob Leonard, Chris Wallace, Leo Wright – 200 MR

Ciaron Dillion-Davidson, Jacob Leonard, Chris Wallace, Leo Wright – 400 FR

State Champion – Leo Wright – 100 Freestyle

 

Girls Swimming & Diving – Final record 5-5  PVIAC All Stars:  Quianna Diaz Patterson

The following athletes qualified for the State Championship:

Quianna Diaz Patterson – 50 Freestyle, 100 Breastroke

Emily Johnston – 50 and 100 Freestyle

Suyin Taunton – 50 Freestyle

Quianna Diaz Patterson, Emily Johnston, Laura Nunnelly, Suyin Taunton – 200 MR

Quianna Diaz Patterson, Sophia Dillon-Davidson, Mikeala Holme-Miller, Suyin Taunton – 400 FR

Corey Gerber-Dolan, Mikaela Holme-Miller, Courtney Milne, Alexander Ziomek – 200 FR

 

Wrestling – League record:  0-8  A small number of participants factored into the record with many match forfeitures due to the lack of availability of a wrestler in each weight class.  PVIAC All Star:  Nate Kane

Other Notes: 

*Cora Hirschfeld will be attending the USA Hockey Championships in Anaheim, California.  Cora skates with the U-16 New England Junior Falcons.  The team won their division of the State Tournament in Massachusetts to qualify for the national championship.

Trip to Africa

Four ARHS faculty – Oumy Cissé-Dème, Momodou Sarr, Kathy Wilkes, and Bruce Penniman – are traveling to Senegal and the Gambia April 12-25 to prepare for a potential student exchange program between ARHS and schools in those two countries.  You can follow their journey through a blog  http://blogs.arps.org/africanscholars/  that they will be keeping during their travels.  The ARHS library will have the blog up in the mornings before school begins, thanks to Ms Lomasson.

Pick Up Your Academic Folders

Academic Folders for the Amherst Regional High School Class of 2006 will be destroyed on June 1, 2011.  Folders may be picked up in the Registrars office prior to June 1.  Members of the Classes of 2006-2010 may pick up folders during regular business hours.

Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive

Please help support our neighbors in need!  Donate to the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, organized by the Post Office Workers, by putting out non-perishable foods for your mail carrier to pick up on Saturday, May 14th or bring items to the Post Office lobby. Items needed include tuna, soup, boxes of pasta and side dishes, baking items and peanut butter.  The proceeds go to the Amherst Survival Center and the First Baptist Church’s Wednesday Pantry Program.

Don't Miss These Links!