B o l t o n H i g h S c h o o l

B u l l e t i n C a p a b l e E t h i c a l T h o u g h t f u l R e s p o n s i b l e

Bolton Parents and Community Members:

It is a pleasure to write this letter of introduction as the newly appointed Dean

of Students. Bolton High School is a wonderful school and I am so proud to

call it my new home.

My journey started as a high school special education teacher. I took a seven

year hiatus to raise my two children and then returned to the field as an admin-

istrative intern at BHS during the 2003-2004 school year. I then accepted an

assistant principal position at Killingly Intermediate/High School in 2004-2014.

I am enthused to return to Bolton and be part of this community.

During the next few months it is my hope to observe in all classrooms, learn

each student’s name, familiarize myself with the community and be a visible

presence at many school activities. It is clear through my initial interactions

that Bolton is a strong community. Partnerships between parents, teachers, and

the community are evident and I look forward to en-

hancing these partnerships in my role as Dean of

Students.

I will be offering open office hours on November

25th (2:30-6:00 pm) and would welcome any oppor-

tunity to meet you and discuss any concerns and or

suggestions you may have to make Bolton High

School a stronger community.

Christine Johnson

BHS We l comes New Dean o f S tuden ts :

Ch r i s t i ne Johnson

I n s i d e th i s i s su e :

Business and Science 2-3

Bigs & Littles 2-3

Youth Forum 4-5

Confessions & Visits 6

Tech & Science 7

LMC News 8

Envirothon 9

BHS Top School 10

Wreath Sale 12

Fa l l 2014 Vo lume 2 , I s s ue 1

Introducing Bolton Public School’s Parent and Student Portal

The Parent and Student Portals are live! Parents and students in grade 5-12 are able to check grades using the new Parent and Student Portal. This online system replaces our former online sys-tem. Now there is no need to wait for an e-mail announcing an update. Grades are now updated in real-time. A direct link to the Portals will be added to each school’s webpage soon.

The initial announcement was e-mailed to the address the schools have on file in late September. If you did not receive the log-in credentials, please contact Sarah Malinoski at sarah.malinoski@boltonct.org.

Bo l ton H igh Ce leb ra t es Mo le Day

On Thursday October 23rd, Bolton High School celebrated Mole Day, a day in honor of the chemistry

constant Avogadro’s number, 6.02 x 1023. Forty six chemistry students, pictured in the Mole Day portrait

seen to the right, arrived at school for Mole Day breakfast, which was served at 6:02 AM on 10/23. The

students solved chemistry

puzzles, told silly jokes and

participated in a raffle for

chemistry-themed priz-

es. 2014 was the eleventh

consecutive year of Mole

Day breakfast celebrations at

BHS. The breakfast and raf-

fle prizes were provided by

BHS chemistry teacher Jo-

seph Jankowski

B o l t o n H i g h S c h o o l B u l l e t i n P a g e 2

S tuden t s o f Pe r sona l F inance

A t t end F inanc ia l Rea l i ty Fa i r

On October 22, Bolton High students who are enrolled in Introduction to Person-

al Finance and Personal Finance courses attended the CT Financial Reality Fair at

the State Capitol, sponsored by area Credit Unions. The Fair provides an oppor-

tunity to work with a paycheck and learn how to budget and provide for the future.

Students identified the career they intend to have after school, and assisted in iden-

tifying a beginning salary range. Fair volunteers created a net pay after taxes, and

provided a budget worksheet to instruct students on what monthly expenses they

will face. The students had to make decisions on living arrangements, food, trans-

portation, utilities,

clothing, luxury items,

etc. They were pro-

vided with a credit

scores which was used

to assist in approving

or denying loans. At

the end of the session

they sat with a finan-

cial counselor and re-

view their financial

profile.

- L. Adler

- J. Jankowski

Accounting Students attend CPA Conference

B igs & L i t t l es P lay the Game o f L i f e

P a g e 3 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 1

Bigs & Littles met again for an afternoon of board games October 24th from 2:30-4:30 in the library.

Students in attendance had the unique opportunity to interact with staff outside the classroom through

games of Life, Axis and Allies, and Bananagrams. We would like to thank all of the students and staff

that came out to participate. We look forward to seeing everyone November 14th and 20th for the orna-

ment making workshops in collaboration with our donation to

the Wadsworth Atheneum’s 41st Annual Festival of Trees and

Traditions.

Accounting II teacher, Lori Adler led a group of seven students to an accounting seminar on

October 17th, at UCONN’s School of Business, sponsored by the Connecticut Society

of CPA’s. Unlike a typical seminar there was live music, prizes, and small workshops that actively engaged

students with enthusiastic accountants from a multitude of career avenues. The goal was to encourage stu-

dents to pursue a career in accounting, because of its wide range of ever-

increasing job opportunities.

After an exciting live performance by the Accounting Crows, students

were split up into groups where they could actively participate with sev-

eral accountants in various specialties. Each accountant explained their

job and the many career possibilities through receiving a degree in ac-

counting. They also made sure to point out that accountants take part in

every single business in and around the world, and are irreplaceable by

even the newest technology. This is because accountants must analyze

and accurately predict not only how a company can stay successful, but

what it can do with its resources to build its revenue and capital in the

future. This conference confirmed that the need for accountants will

never be rendered obsolete.

Join the Bigs &

Littles on

November 14th

for the Ornament

making workshop.

- L. Adler

- L. Rockefellar 12th Grade

I feel like coming from where I’m from, where

these issues are prevalent especially racism, it is

good for me to know other peoples’ ideas on the

matter of common prejudicial situations. I hope

to return with more things to say and I hope to

return with more stories of resolved situations

and explain how they were resolved, and hopeful-

ly that will provide more knowledge to people on

how to resolve their own issues. Everyone in this

world deserves to be treated based only on their

actions, and even then it has leeway to give on the

reasons of said actions, I’m personally a humanist,

so going to youth forum not only gives me cour-

age to openly support everyone, but also gives me hope that society can change. I see so many peo-

ple who just want equality, plain and simple. I hope to bring the ideas of equality everywhere I go, and

to everyone I meet, and share the ideas for bringing equality to the world.

Hope

B o l t o n H i g h S c h o o l B u l l e t i n P a g e 4

Sharing experiences

and listening made

me feel useful and

included.

CT You th Fo rum Connec t s S choo ls

On the twenty second of October, I attended a youth forum meeting at Lyman

Memorial High school on racism. On the bus ride there, the three schools, each a

significant amount of distance from each other, sat separately. We arrived and

were greeted pleasantly at the door and directed to an open room with many win-

dows and a large group of people in chairs. I sat with the other attendees from my

school and waited approximately 15 minutes until Alex began speaking. He di-

rected us to get into groups with people wearing the same color shirt, very clever

as the subject of the whole meeting was based on the color of each other's skin. I

sat with four other lovely girls, each of a different ethnicity. Yes, there was a little

bit of uncomfortable silence and weary smiles. But after we got our question, the

four of us began sharing opinions and stories. To be honest, when I first arrived I

didn't feel like I would contribute anything important. But sharing experiences

and listening made me feel useful and included. I was thanked for listening. As we

were leaving, hugs were exchanged along with cell phone numbers. On the bus

ride home, the three schools were sitting intertwined. When the bus pulled out of

the driveway of Lyman, song broke out. Classic rock songs, modern pop songs,

even high school musical songs had only been a part of the queue the chorus on

the bus sang. Comparing the bus ride to Lyman to the bus ride home, I can defi-

nitely say that it was an amazing improvement. The CT Youth FORUM connects

schools and people together, no matter what their differences are. You can never

leave without new opinions and friends. I feel glad that I attend these beautiful

meetings, and I feel many more people should too.

-C. Coyle 11th Grade

-A. Rudder 11th Grade

A Letter of Appreciation

P a g e 5 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 1

Dear Youth Forum Organization,

Hello! On October 23 of this year I went to the racism forum that was held in Lyman, and since it was on-

ly my second youth forum ever I didn’t really know what to expect. When we got on the bus to Lyman we

were the last ones picked up, with two other schools sharing the bus with us. We all said hello and every-

thing, but we didn’t really connect. We got into the forum and I saw people I met from last week, and we

hugged and caught up with each other, I thought it was really cool, since we were able to become friends

after knowing each other for less than a day. When the forum actually started and after the groups started

sharing, it was good to see how different people of different backgrounds and races were affected by rac-

ism and what they thought was alright and what wasn’t. It was also very good for people to be able to ex-

press their different ideas and thoughts on the topic and get good feedback on it, in a safe and accepting

environment. What I thought was really awesome was that after all the small groups got together and we

presented what we thought on the questions the leaders gave us, everyone else in the forum was ready and

willing to counteract or agree with what that group came up with, and that we could have discussions on

what we thought of the question in a large group of people. Because of this when we left the forum no one

felt hurt or singled out. When we got back on the bus we really started to connect with the students from

the other schools sharing the bus, it had something to do with everyone coming out and being so except-

ing, non-judgmental and nice. Soon we were all sitting with each other, making jokes and talking about

normal things with people we otherwise would have never met. Somehow we started singing and soon the

whole bus was part of it, with

everyone singing different parts to

songs, old and new, and everyone

joking and laughing. By the time

our bus pulled into the school I

was upset to have to leave my new

friends, so we said goodbye with

promises of coming to the next

youth forum. Now looking back

I’m really happy to be able to have

the opportunity to not just talk

about these topics that affect eve-

ryone’s lives but also being able to

make friendships and connections

that before I wouldn’t have made.

-Sierra Massey,

Grade 11 Bolton High Student

B o l t o n H i g h S c h o o l B u l l e t i n P a g e 6

Why I love CT YOUTH FORUM: A Confession by Mrs. Teed

On Friday October 24, 2014 Bolton, CT welcomed two city councilors from Bolton, UK. One of our visitors, Richard Sil-vester, was instrumental in initiating the sister school program that brought twenty BHS students to Rivington and Blackrod High School in England last April. It was a great visit. Mrs. Heckt arranged a morning tour at the Bolton Town Hall. Members of all departments cooked for them and they were especially excited to meet Hans and Susan DePold. Thanks to Mrs. Heckt and the administrative assistants at the BOE we honored our guests with a wonder-ful lunch. A special thank you to Mr. Ayer and his concert choir for singing beautifully for them as well.

Friday afternoon Mr. Jankowski arranged an all access tour of the capital building with Pam Sawyer which may have been a slice of heaven for them (they are very passionate about local govern-ment). Saturday they were ecstatic to see a Bolton runner take home a state title (Trevor Chambers) and even more excited to have their picture taken with him! They had dinner that evening with Bob Morra and Pam Sawyer. Sunday included a visit to the Coventry farmer’s market, Jankowski Bee Farm, Munson’s Chocolates, The Mark Twain House, and Shady Glen .

As we begin another CT Youth FORUM year I am reflective as to why I volunteer to take students to

high schools in other towns after school and get home at 8 p.m. Yesterday’s Forum, located at Lyman Me-

morial High School, was a half hour away in the town I live in. On my way there all I could think was, I am

going to Lebanon, returning to Bolton, and then going home to Lebanon. It seemed inconvenient. We

shared a bus with students from East Granby and Windsor High. The bus driver was uncomfortable with

the directions she had and I offered to give her directions to

Lebanon. Unfortunately, I was too engaged with the advisors

from the other two schools that I missed the turn and we went

out of our way by about fifteen minutes. The bus ride was en-

joyable as there was beautiful singing coming from the back of

the bus and when I remarked about it the Windsor advisor told

me these teens were in a gospel choir group. Once we arrived,

still in time, we listened to a roomful of teenagers discuss the

topic of racism thoughtfully and intelligently. I was proud of

my Bolton group as they addressed the large group clearly and

succinctly. One of the benefits of attending a Forum is finding

the courage to stand up in a group, state your name, and follow that up with what you believe to be true.

People clap and accept, expand on, or disagree civilly. There was not enough time to discuss such a big

topic but when we left on a rainy and windy night we got on the bus as one big group, not three groups

from three different schools. The magic happened and on the way back we were serenaded by all the bus

riders singing in unison. A lovely sound.

Bolton, UK to Bolton, CT - M. Mishriky

P a g e 7 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 1

The LUNAR Eclipse occurred on the morning of October 8, 2014. Mrs. Cordero’s Astronomy class was up before the break of dawn at 5:15am sending pictures of the Moon being EATEN by the Earth’s shadow…. What an early start to a great day. Amidst the clouds and blustery winds, aspiring astronomers man-aged to get a few good pictures of the moon as it was passing into the Earth’s shadow (umbra) it was AMAZING!! Next one? April 4th 2015!! Be sure not to miss it.

The Morn ing the Moon was Ea ten - K. Cordero

With every new school-year, there are some exciting new changes! This year there have been a few welcomed

upgrades to the technology in Bolton Public Schools. Below are highlights of our new technology:

New district and school webpages - We are very excited about our updated look and will continue to

respond to your suggestions about how to make the information you need more accessi-

ble.

Parent and Student Portals - Parents and students in grade 5-12

are able to check grades using the new Parent and Student Por-

tal. Grades are posted in real-time.

Chromebooks - BCS has two new Chromebooks carts and BHS

has one for student use. All teachers have a Chromebook.

BCS New Teacher Desktops – BCS was a recipient of a com-

petitive grant that allowed us to install a new desktop in every

classroom. Now all classrooms in Bolton Public Schools have a

Smart Board attached to a new computer.

Anytime there is something new, there is some new learning. We are thankful for your patience as we make

our transitions and we welcome your feedback.

If you have an idea or suggestion, please contact Sarah Malinoski at sarah.malinoski@boltonct.org.

B P S T e c h n o l o g y U p d a t e s f rom Sa rah Ma l inosk i

D i r e c t o r o f I n s t r u c t i o n a l T e c h n o l o g y a n d C u r r i c u l u m

Parano rma l Pot l uck The L i b r a ry comes a l i ve at n i gh t…

The new BHS book club, Books

Unbound, kicked off the school

year with a spooky twist on a

book discussion. Students

signed up to read a paranormal,

scary, or supernatural book for

the “Paranormal Potluck” on

October 28th. Participants

brought appetizers, entrees,

and desserts to share with fel-

low readers and came ready to regale each other with the creepy characters and petrifying plot twists that

they found in their books. After dinner, votes were cast for the “Most Paranormal” and “Most Likely to

be Read Next” books. Prizes were awarded to Kate Armstrong for Midnighters by Scott Westerfield, and

Elizabeth Sansevero for The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong.

B o l t o n H i g h S c h o o l B u l l e t i n P a g e 8

The Bolton and Manchester Food Pantries are almost empty and need to be stocked as soon as possi-

ble! Student Council collected 250 FULL bags of non-perishable food items for the local food pantries during

their Trick or Treat for Canned Food drive. It was a record amount of food that the community donated. But we

still need more!!!!

The High School and Center Schools will be participating in a “FOOD WARS” of

sorts for the Vernon Food pantry. All Staff and Students are encouraged to partici-

pate. The list of food items to be collected from the schools are:

Please check the expiration dates, they do NOT accept

food that has expired.

Food will be collected through 11/17!

High School

Freshmen: Mac & Cheese Sophomores: Instant Oatmeal Juniors: Chicken Noodle Soup Seniors: Canned Black Beans

BHS S tuden t Counc i l —Look ing Fo r Food

Center School

Canned Corn Canned Peas

Canned Carrots Cream of Chicken Soup Crm of Mushroom Soup

Brownie Mix Cookie Mix

Instant Potatoes Instant Riced Canned tuna

Contact: Karen.Cordero@boltonct.org for more info.

P a g e 9 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 1

Science Club Travels to Conservation Area

On Saturday September 27th, members of the BHS Enviro-thon environmental science club and competition team travelled to Sessions Woods Wildlife Conservation Area in Buriington CT to participate in workshops on Forestry and urban environments. The team will continue to participate in the series of Saturday workshops throughout the year and will compete in the 2015 CT Envirothon competition in May. Pictured are members of the Envirothon team with advisor Mr. Jankowski.

- J. Jankowski

A team of BHS students is participating in the Connecticut Envirothon this school year. Envirothon is a natural resource based education program that was started in 1992 by the state's Soil and Water Conserva-tion Districts and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

In the Envirothon program, high school students work in teams led by a teacher/advisor. During the school year, teams receive curriculum materials and are invited to a series of training workshops in the Envirothon study areas of Soils, Aquatics, Wildlife, Forestry and a Current Environmental Issue. This year’s current envi-ronmental issue is Sustainable Agriculture. These Satur-day workshops are presented by foresters, soil scientists, aquatic ecologists, wildlife biologists, and many oth-ers. Students really benefit from meeting people work-ing in a broad range of environmental careers.

The Envirothon program culminates in a full-day team field competition, with the Connecticut winner going on to national competition. This year’s Connecticut Envi-rothon competition will be held on May 21, 2015. Ad-ditional information about the Envirothon program is available at www.ctenvirothon.org.

The photo to the right was taken at the recent Soils workshop held on Saturday Septermber 27th at the Tol-land County Agricultural Center in Vernon. Pictured in the soil pit are Envirothon team members Deanna Ro-sicke, Jacob Dayton , Michael Welch and Nickolai Possokhov. The BHS Envirothon team advisor is sci-ence teacher Joseph Jankowski.

Env i ro thon : Sus ta inab le Agr i cu l t u r e - J. Jankowski

B o l t o n H i g h S c h o o l B u l l e t i n P a g e 1 0

Bolton High School:

Silver Medal Recipient

2014 America's Best High Schools

Congratulations to the Bolton Public Schools on achieving national

recognition as one of America’s Best High Schools.

The recognition is a tribute to the teachers, staff, students,

and parents of Bolton High School and Bolton Center School, as well as

the entire community for supporting public education in Bolton. .

In the 2014 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings, Connecticut has 17 gold medal schools, 20 silver

medal schools and seven bronze medal schools. One of the bronze medal winners, Sports & Med Sci-

ence, is in the Hartford School District, which is based in the Connecticut state capital of Hartford..

The Daily Beast's Top High Schools 2014: Methodology

The Daily Beast reached out to the nation’s best high schools to

find out which were turning out the top students. To come up

with our initial pool, we consulted 2012/2013 data from the De-

partment of Education and contacted public schools with above-

average graduation rates of at least 85 percent. Around 1,200 pub-

lic schools completed our survey, then we crunched the numbers

further, comparing schools by graduation and college acceptance

rates, as well as their academic rigor using AP, IB, and AICE clas-

ses and test scores, and finally, student performance on college

admission exams, another indicator of a school’s preparation.

Top High Schools 2014

We used six indicators culled from school surveys to com-

pare public high schools in the U.S., with graduation and college acceptance rates weighed

most heavily. Other criteria included: college-level courses and exams, percentage of students

with free or reduced lunch, as well as SAT and ACT scores - another mark of how well a

school prepares students for college. The full results are below. School entries with icons indi-

cate the school ranked in the top 100 of that category.

P a g e 1 1 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 1

Bolton High School

Named #6 Best School District for Your Buck

San Francisco, CA (October 30, 2014) – NerdWallet, a consumer advocacy website, recently conducted a study to determine which school districts offer parents the best value for their money in Connecticut – and Bolton ranked among the top ten.

While many top-rated schools are located in prohibitively expensive communities, NerdWallet sought to highlight the Nutmeg State’s hid-den gems. NerdWallet weighted cost of living metrics against the fol-lowing school quality indicators:

Standardized test scores;

College readiness; and

Class size.

Out of 121 districts NerdWallet ranked Bolton as the sixth best school district for your buck in Connecticut. The district has a graduation rate of 90.4% and an average class size of 18. The median home value in Bolton is $287,300 and selected monthly homeowner costs average $2,179.

The mission of the Bolton School District is to offer an academically rigorous atmosphere while also foster-ing critical thinking through real world experience. The district realizes this goal through strategic initiatives such as the Bolton 2020 Vision – which helped to extend inclusion of special education students – as well as other activities, including a student trip to South Africa last year. A testament to the district’s success is that just over 95% of Bolton High School graduates, the third-highest percentage in the state, went on to pursue higher education.

Other districts that made the top ten include Litchfield and Farmington. Read the full study online.

About NerdWallet:

NerdWallet is a consumer-friendly financial literacy website that helps consumers make better financial de-cisions and save money on CD rates, checking accounts, credit cards and more. NerdWallet has been fea-tured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Reuters; our products have been recommended by con-sumer advocates Liz Weston, Clark Howard and Consumer Action.

Media Contact: Sara Collins | Sara@nerdwallet.com For more information about NerdWallet, visit nerdwallet.com/cities.

The Bolton Bulletin is a town-wide email informational blast. Individuals can sign up on the Town’s website at http://www.bolton.govoffice.com/ Once you are on the website, put your email address in the box on the right hand side called “E-Mail Notifications”, then confirm that when you receive an email back. Short email stories and news are sent from the Town Hall about two to three times per month. It is a way to stay informed about our Town.

The Bolton Bulletin:

Town Information via Email

Purchase a fresh,

Vermont-grown,

24-inch wreath prepared

with a red bow for $15.

$5 extra includes workshop:

We provide the materials and

you decorate!

For $25 total, students will

decorate the wreath for you. Pick up time 4:30—5:00

Orders are due by the end of the day Thursday, November 20th.

All checks made payable to BHS and can be sent to Mrs. Teed through inter-office mail or snail mail.

Wreaths can be picked up on: Tuesday, November 25th after 2:30 in the BHS cafeteria. Drive around to the

back of the school through the student parking lot to pick them up. (Decorated wreaths pick-up after 4:30).

Wreath Decoration Workshop: Tuesday, November 25th, 2:30-5:00 p.m. in the BHS cafeteria.

Email: Joyce.Teed@boltonct.org for more information.

Support Bolton High School Support Bolton High School Support Bolton High School

Yearbook’s Annual Yearbook’s Annual Yearbook’s Annual

Holiday Wreath Sale! Holiday Wreath Sale! Holiday Wreath Sale!

Faculty, staff, and students contributed the stories and pictures in this newsletter. It was

edited and designed by Jennifer Pyrch. A special thanks to the BHS Yearbook Club for con-

tributing many pictures to this issue.

Bolton High School

72 Brandy Street

Bolton, CT 06043

860-643-2768

Principal: Joe Maselli

Joseph.Maselli@boltonct.org