OCHS Principal’s Report February, 2020

STUDENT OF THE MONTH Each senior student was chosen to be Student of the Month because of exemplary behavior, character and performance. We appreciate the support of each of the community organizations. There is a critical connection between a successful public high school and a strong relationship

with its community. Maura Siciensky was the Rotary Club February Student of the Month. Michael Flynn was the Exchange Club February Student of the Month.

OCHS Students of the Month John LeNoir - John is a great athlete, however he does a great job in

class of working with students who aren’t as gifted in athletics as he is. John always gives a 100% effort no matter what activity we are doing. Teachers are able to depend on John for a number of reasons: he’s trustworthy, he’s honest, and he is determined to succeed. John also excels as a member of the surf team and tennis team.

Mary Grace Jamison – Mary Grace is an

example for all students; she is confident, motivated, and kind. She is a

dedicated senior that gives nothing but her best day in and day out. She is enthusiastic in class and always willing to help. In addition to being a leader in her own class she is active in helping with another dance class during her study hall as well being a big part of the new dance team. Grace is organized, punctual, conscientious and dependable. Along with energy, she brings a special creative side to our class that is admired by her peers.

CONGRATULATIONS! Mary Grace Jamison has been honored for her exemplary volunteer

service with a President’s Volunteer Service Award. The award, which recognizes Americans of all ages who have volunteered significant amounts of their time to serve their communities was granted by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards programs. Dr. Matthew Jamison nominated Mary Grace for national honors this fall in recognition of his volunteer service.

OCSD Delivered! Thank you to all of our Staff & Students from the High School, Intermediate School, and Primary School that came together to create homemade Valentine Cards for our Troops. Mrs. Sara Maimone delivered our boxes to Lite Rock 96.9 on Thursday, February 13th and our cards were shipped around the world on Valentine's Day!!! XOXOXO

Social Studies and music classes had a wonderful presentation by Bill Nicoletti, a documentary film-maker who last year produced and directed a film on Philadelphia native Marian Anderson. This film has a strong theme of civil rights and equality, which was especially significant in Black History Month. The documentary will be airing on PBS and has already aired nationally on ABC. Students watched the film and learned about the immense obstacles Marion Anderson faced in the world of opera from the 1920s onwards. The Nicoletti family have recently relocated to Ocean City and have 4 children in the district. He is already working with John Legend on his next venture.

Nick Shallcross’s epoxy project from Mr. Nickles Wood Shop class.

Holocaust/ Genocide classes saw Schindler’s List at the movie theater. 80 students and 4 staff watched the movie. The movie celebrates its 26 year and remains a classic account of someone who was not a bystander during the Holocaust. Schindler helped many Jews escape from the Nazis by working in his factory. After the war when Schindler fell on hard times, he was helped by Jewish organizations and finally laid to rest in Israel.

On February 5th, 2020, the Wetlands Institute brought Salt Water Gene Pools to Ocean City High School. The Wetlands Outreach Coordinator, Erin Rawls, came to visit Ms. Patel, Mr. Keyser and Mrs. Georges’ classes. Students from Biology classes were able to work hands on with our local salt water marsh aquatic residents. Students were able to interact with the creatures and sort them according to morphological characteristics. Students learned about organisms such as Seastars, Whelks, Horseshoe Crabs, Croakers, Sea Urchins, and Decorator Crabs. Major thanks to the Ocean City Free Public Library for making this wonderful educational experience for our students possible.

One Judge-One School - Judge Savio's presentation was the 19th Amendment which coincides with Women's History Month (celebrated during March). Mr. Andrew Bristol’s Criminal Justice classes attended his presentation. Librarian’s Ms. Lisa Patrone and Ms. Sara Maimone designed displays throughout the library to enhance the presentation/program with additional resources that are available to our staff and students.

Visit the Library during Women’s History Month

The Ocean City Dance Team performed at their first basketball game this winter sports season. The team is comprised of 21 talented dancers who have worked very hard choreographing an entertaining halftime routine with Mrs. Morrison. They will be continuing to perform at select basketball games throughout playoffs and hope to perform at other school and community events this spring. They will also be working hard to add technical dances of all genres to this year's dance showcase in May.

OCHS’s Current OC has been nominated for 8 Student-Emmy awards this year. Categories: Talent, Best News Program, Sports Coverage, Light News, Hard News, Best Editing, Best Short Documentary, and Arts and Entertainment. The “Current OC” did an entire episode featuring Black History. This the link to view it: https://www.oc-tv.org/2020/02/20/current-oc-2-20-2020/ On February 15th, the OCHS Student Environmental Association collaborated with the Ocean City Environmental Commission at their Annual Family Friendly Nature and Environment Fun Day! The SEA assisted children with making crafts using recycled and natural products, such as pinecone bird feeders covered with sun butter and seeds along with a recycled water bottle jellyfish! This event educates children of all ages to become more environmentally aware and featured a petting zoo and fact table from the Cape May Zoo.

Pictured above: SEA Members- Olivia Heng, Isabelle Heng, Madeline Heng, Brian Wang, Grace Kelly, Britney Vergera, Dhruv Patel, Maeve Connelly, and Amelia Louis Commission Members- Richard Bernardini, Catherine Cipolla and John Aitken

S.T.O.P Club Students Together Opposing Prejudice

Self Love Valentine’s Day Activity

2/14/2020

During the holidays it's important to show support and keep a positive attitude. On valentine’s day especially people tend to forget about the most important love in their own lives, themselves. Loving yourself, or simply taking a moment to compliment yourself can dramatically affect the way your day turns out and the actions you make! The Activity: Sending Love is a self-love exercise that shows the importance of embracing who you are and the respect you have for yourself. In this activity, students will send a positive compliment or attribute to another student and then go onto receive their own positive attribute/compliment. There will be two mailboxes set up: one being for sending and the other for receiving. Students will write down their attributes down onto heart-shaped valentines and place them in the according to the mailbox and then can take an attribute and valentine's day sweets. Sending Love will help provide a reminder of positivity and build up our school climate!

Student Council Blood Drive The student council had a very successful month! On the 28th, the annual OCHS Red Cross Blood drive was held in the Aux Gym. Turnout was the most it's been in a couple of years with 125 donors. This means that 375 lives could be saved! Many 16 and 17 year olds donated and with the help from student leaders within our clubs and organizations, this event was able to be very efficient and effective. We would like to thank all the students and administration for their support for this event! We hope that next year it will be as successful!

Student Volunteers work with the Red Two students recover after donating blood Cross at the registration table. These three student had responsibilities that included scanning students into the OCHS and Red Cross system for appointments as well as handing out reading material about the donation process and restrictions.

Over the past two months, Math Club members have been hard at work, designing challenges for mathematicians of all skill levels. On January 28th, Mrs. Dill’s classroom hosted a factoring competition during lunch. All algebra II students were invited to participate, with members of four different classes showing up to compete. The problems began at a beginner level and gradually became more difficult. Contestants were eliminated upon giving wrong

answers. In the end, Kallan Tripician (pictured), a freshman in Ms. Buono’s period 6 class, was the last person standing, leaving her the winner.

In addition, on February 6th, Math Club held a Derivative Showdown, open to all Calculus AB students. Every class was represented in the competition which included nearly 30 students. It followed the same rules as the Factoring Competition. After several grueling

rounds, sophomore Ben Vasseur (pictured) of Mrs. Dill’s 4th period class was determined the winner.

OC's Got Talent show On Friday, February 21, Key Club hosted their annual OC's Got Talent show, benefiting the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as well as Senior Scholarships for Key Club. Our event was able to raise around $4,000 from ticket sales, refreshment sales, and donations. As always, it's incredibly gratifying to receive the amount of support, donations, and encouragement that we received. Not only did our performers work incredibly hard on their acts, but the Key Club students, volunteer Tech Crew, and volunteer Stage Crew went above and beyond by working on every last detail to put this talent show together to benefit a great cause. Watching our students interact together and support each other with their acts shows once again that our students are truly a class act. Our top winners are as follows: 1st place: Taylor Pontari “Beautiful” – Christina Agulara (Vocal/Piano - Solo) 1st Runner-Up: Dallys Rhubart “Grenade” – Bruno Mars (Vocal/Guitar - Solo) 2nd Runner-Up: Victoria “Make You Feel My Love” – Adele (Vocal/Piano - Solo) People's Choice Award: Double Dance Group (Elaina Dimaren, Eliza Dimaren, Kat Whalen, Dakota Gansert, Malia Belles, Brooke Gannon, Amanda Goudie, Valentina Asenov) “Feel Special” – Twice (Dance - Group) A shout-out to Marissa and Laney Guido who put together hilarious and engaging monologues as our hosts of the evening. Screams and cheers also went erupted when Mr. John Bruno came out and got a pie in the face to highlight the upcoming 3.14 Pie Day run on 3-14-2020. We thank our Community Worker judges (Citizen of the Year) Carrie Merritt, (Councilman and co-owner of MediaWize OCNJ Daily) Mike DeVlieger, (Fire Captain) Chris Vliet, and (Patrolman) Tom Schmidt. A huge thanks to administration, especially Dr. Wendy O'Neal and all of the teachers who took the time to come to our event. Don’t think you go unnoticed; back stage, Key Clubbers and performers were pointing out Mr. Ritti, Mr. and Mrs. Uhrich, Mr. Weaver, Ms. Patel and OCPS teachers Mrs. DeVlieger and Ms. Merrit. They notice you and they LOVE when you’re there. Someone who is also always there? Mr. Bruno. Thank you for never saying no and ALWAYS supporting the students and Key Club. Our show wouldn't be nearly as successful without the help of Steve Trauger and his Tech crew as well as Stage Crew during all of the auditions, rehearsals, and the final performance. Thank you Donna Schwartz for providing instruments for the students to use. Thank you Sara Mamione and Lisa Patrone and helping with the event. Finally, thank you to Gail Pendleton, Herb Snyder, Anthony Johnson, and the custodial staff for all of their support and hard work.