SPS Shout Outs
Autism Awareness at Stillmeadow
A big thank you to Stillmeadow paraeducator Jennifer Cerbone for coordinating a school wide event to celebrate Autism Awareness at Stillmeadow.
Stillmeadow Enjoys Nature's Classroom on Wheels
Fifth Graders at Stillmeadow Elementary School spent two days fully immersed in nature during their Nature's Classroom on Wheels field trip. The 5th grade team arranged an on campus experience and were delighted to see the joy on their students' faces as they participated in their first field trip since March of 2020. The students spent their time exploring all forms of nature in Stillmeadow's very own backyard. From exploring the woods to learning about aquatic life in the stream, the students were able to learn about their beautiful planet. A big thank you to Nature's Classroom on Wheels for this rewarding opportunity.
WHS Students win Stock Market Game
The SIFMA Foundation, sponsor of The Stock Market Game, is excited to announce that Westhill High School has a top team from the Spring 2022 game session that has placed first in the High School Division. Roy Cruz is the winner. Roy is a student in Ms. Esker's Introduction to Stock Market and Investments class this semester.
Teams of one to four students begin the simulation with an imaginary investment of $100,000 to trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds on the NYSE and NASDAQ. Students then follow current events and global news impacting the financial markets and place trades. They also compete with peers in their classroom and with teams of other students in schools across the state to increase their portfolio value.
Each student in the class participated as an individual team. There were over 1,300 teams participating in the Spring 2022 game in the state of Connecticut. Three Westhill students finished in the top ten.
First Place - Roy Cruz - $320,734
Third Place - Ralph Melia - $161,057
Sixth Place - Hanin Abo Noktah - $125,139
Note: Second place value was $192,105. Fourth place value was $152,716 and fifth place value was $129,092. The Stock Market Game is sponsored annually by the SIFMA Foundation, which is dedicated to fostering knowledge and understanding of the financial markets for individuals of all backgrounds. Congratulations WHS!
March Madness at Roxbury!
Roxbury second grade teachers created a "March Madness" tournament of books. They chose a combination of books from the curriculum, books focused on social-emotional growth, and stories centered around common themes to engage class discussion. Each class started with a bracket featuring a "Sweet Sixteen" of fictional texts and then voted for their favorite stories to move on to the next round. After each read aloud, students focused on comprehension strategies such as author's message, cause and effect, summarizing, and text-to-text connections. Students were so excited to see their favorite stories move on and compare brackets in other classes. This was Roxbury’s first year doing the tournament of books and it was a great success!
March Madness Domino Dash Celebration
Toquam Tiger Academy students and their teacher Ms. Austin organized a March Madness Macaroni and Cheese Drive as a way to give back to those in need.
Our Toquam families donated over 1,000 boxes of Mac & Cheese!
We celebrated our success with a Mac & Cheese Domino Dash. Hundreds of Mac & Cheese boxes were set up throughout the hallway and the domino train took off!
View the video here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qckp462Hbor9OOKYsno6PpWvAYjWVv9L/view
Toquam Magnet School is grateful to Filling In The Blanks for working with us to fight childhood hunger by providing many SPS students with meals on the weekends.
Westhill High School Students Place at FBLA Connecticut Competition
Students from Westhill High School competed in the Annual Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Connecticut State Competition. The competitions are held for various business, technology and Career and Technical Education subject areas. Students placing first through fourth will go on to compete in the FBLA National Competitions in June.
1st Place Securities and Investments-Jason Busch
1st Place Business Ethics-Manar Deggouj
1st Place Business Ethics-Yahya Deggouj
1st Place Coding and Programming-Aarav Gutpa
1st Place Coding and Programming-Rohan Sahu
1st Place Coding and Programming-Milind Sharma
1st Place Accounting 1-Mahathy Uppuluri
1st Place Introduction to Financial Math-Sohni Vermani
1st Place Agribusiness-Aryan Donikena
2nd Place E-business-Eden Cheung
2nd Place E-business-Maya Snead
2nd Place E-business-William Snead
2nd Place Introduction to Financial Math- Hudson Jang
2nd Place-Securities and Investments-Aryan Pandalai
3rd Place-Entrepreneurship-Adi Farber
3rd Place-Entrepreneurship-Brian Sawch
3rd Place-Entrepreneurship-David Klein
3rd Place Personal Finance-Matthew Marin
3rd Place Computer Applications-Jeremy Matloub
4th Place-Personal Finance-Michele Pannone
4th Place-Accounting 1-Dania Pinto
5th Place-Introduction to Financial Math-Aarin Basu
5th Place-Introduction to Business Presentation-Jacob Davidson
The students in the club entered the contests under the direction of their club advisors and business teachers at WHS, Karen Kurtz and Kim Kumar. More information can be found at https://www.fbla-pbl.org/divisions/fbla and https://ctfbla.com.
In addition, a group of 5 Westhill High School FBLA students participated in the Intuit Social Intervention challenge. The Challenge was to Design an innovative solution that makes entrepreneurship and business ownership accessible for all. The team of Eden Cheung, Camila Cordon, Maya Snead, William Snead and Michele Pannone finished 1st in the Region and 3rd in the Nationals. For winning they were awarded a $2,000 scholarship, Airpods and Intuit Merchandise.
Westhill Programming team wins at Quinnipiac Coding Competition
Sponsored by the Quinnipiac School of Engineering, this competition is an annual CT tradition. The Westhill Varsity B Programming team finished in 2nd place. This year, 20 teams participated in the competition. Congratulations WHS team members:
WHS Junior, Milind Sharma (Captain)
WHS Sophomore, Rohan Sahu
WHS Sophomore, Gieorgiy Zemlevskiy
A special shout out to their Head teacher Mr. Chandan Sarkar.
Westover Leap Frog After School Program
Larissa Weir, the Westover Teacher Leader for Student Support, started (with the help of a state grant) a thriving after school academic and enrichment program that enables 75 students to stay after school 4 days a week. The students get academic support with homework, have "supper" and an enrichment activity until 5:30. The students have a different activity 4 days a week, including but not limited to: baking with Nora's Ovenworks, Zumba, basketball, soccer, volleyball, Soundwaters, etc.
Westover and Westhill Communities Show Support for Ukraine
Fifth grade Westover student Katherine Curry wrote a letter to Mrs. Saba-Price, the Westover Principal, asking if there was something they could do as a school to help the families impacted by the war in the Ukraine. After speaking with Nikki Forbes, the Westover Team Leader for 5th grade, the team came up with a plan to collect donations to be sent to AmeriCares earmarked for the impacted families. Students and staff collected donations for a week for a grand total of $2,379.71! Each member of the community will get a blue/yellow (colors of the Ukraine) ribbon to wear as well as an acknowledgment on our community Sunflower, the official flower of the Ukraine. We are very proud of the entire Westover community!
Kudos to Westhill teachers Robin Konrad, Bonnie Kelley-Young and Sue Cutolo for their work to support Ukrainian relief efforts and to raise awareness. Ms. Konrad organized a Silent Art Auction Fundraiser featuring original artwork from staff and students; Ms. Cutolo and students in the Future Medical Professionals Association sold ribbons to raise funds for relief efforts; while Ms. Kelley-Young and members of the Multicultural Student Union and Interact Club organized an assembly featuring guest speakers, live-spoken word poetry, and a representative from the Ukrainian-American Association.
Thank you to all the SPS communities who are illustrating such amazing habits of heart in support of Ukraine.
What is an SPS Shout Out?
An SPS Shout Out is a special recognition that acknowledges school communities, staff members or students who have inspired us with a unique project, an outstanding job or a special effort that had a positive impact on our students or community. Each week we will celebrate a few by sharing with all SPS staff and posting on the district website. Please share any or all of these with your friends and families.
SPS Administrators can submit Shout Outs for consideration through the form shared with them in the Administrators’ Weekly.