District News

Picture this: it is 1998 and Lejla Abadzic sits in a Refugee Assistance Program classroom in Syracuse, learning English through the Syracuse City School District’s Adult Education program. Originally from Bosnia, Lejla’s family escaped war by fleeing to Croatia and later Germany before settling in the United States. Ambitious and bright, this young woman quickly took her American opportunity to great heights: Lejla enrolled at Onondaga Community College just eight months after arriving in the U.S.

Three Nottingham High School students earned awards last month during the 2013 Michael Harms Theater Festival.

The annual festival is an opportunity for local young people interested and involved in theater to learn more about the craft through performances, feedback and workshops. More than 150 students and adults from four Central New York High schools and two community theater groups participated in this year’s festival April 13 at Cayuga Community College in Auburn.

Henninger High School senior Tyler Sniffen has spent the last three years working to make his dream a reality.  He has studied hard, stayed in good physical shape, been a leader in school and worked to be the best he can be, every day.  On June 30, he will leave his family and his journey to fulfill that dream will begin. Tyler has been accepted as a cadet at West Point Military Academy. His basic training will begin eight days after he graduates from high school and he could not be happier.

Four students from Fowler High School, working with students from the S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications and their Professor Stephen Breyer, spent 10 weeks creating short films about their lives in Syracuse. Khan Tran, Phuc Do, Vincent Ndabaruta and Deemah Abdulwahed met with Professor Breyer and their SU mentors for three hours a week.

Their movies were written, filmed and edited during that time and all four said they were grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with the college students on such a personal project.

30 Syracuse City School district teams competed in the annual sink or swim cardboard boat races this year at Fowler HS.  The races are a tradition in the school district where teams of 2-4 students attempt to build a boat made entirely of cardboard that will survive a single lap in Fowler's pool.  Each boat has a theme, is named and has at least one adult SCSD staff member serve as a sponsor to oversee the building and racing process.