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Nottingham Students Explore Central New York

A group of students at Nottingham High School is spending three weeks this summer traveling throughout the region as part of an enrichment program designed to focus on architecture and engineering.

Part of the Pre-Engineering Academy at Nottingham, the program was developed by teachers and administrators. Don Little, a social studies teacher at Nottingham and one of the programs creators, said the goal was to give students an experience that wasn’t about remediation but was about enhancing their learning.

“We wanted to focus on exposure and experience. We wanted the students to see where they may be going in the future.’’

The theme of the program is architecture and the goal is to look at the Central New York community as a whole, from an historical perspective. The program was open to incoming 9th and 10th graders and there are about 24 students in the initial class. The students spend part of their day exploring Central New York and part of their day working to create models and doing other academic projects.

Mr. Little said the program started with a field trip to a Haudenosaunee long house in Victor, outside of Rochester. The students have also traveled to the Erie Canal Museum, the Onondaga Historical Museum, Onondaga Lake Park, Cedar Bay and Fort Ontario. In addition, the class spent time at Syracuse City Hall with Mayor Stephanie Miner. There, they learned about the water delivery system in Syracuse and were able to see how coal was used to heat City Hall in years past.

Fowler Students Win National Robotics Competition

A trio of students from Fowler High School has placed first in the SECME National Student Competition in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The team of Tuyen Huynh and Tuyen Q. Huynh, 2012 Fowler graduates, and Filimon Tekle, who will be a senior in September, won the robotics competition. The group was competing against representatives from schools around the country.

Coach Rob Woolery, a science teacher at Fowler, said students from Fowler have been competing for three years and this team finished third at last year’s competition.

“They started working on their robot in July, right after last year’s competition. They worked all summer and the robot has been revised five times since September,’’ Woolery said. “They worked two days a week, every week, for a year to prepare for this.’’

Woolery said he was proud of the team and is pleased at the effect their success has had on other students at Fowler.

“”It’s good to see them accomplish this and it has energized a lot of other students at the school,’’ he said. He expects to field six teams of five students each for next year’s competition. He wants each team to have its own Web site for promotional purposes.

“It’s not only about ingenuity, but it’s also about what parts you can afford,’’ Woolery said. Many of the teams the students competed against at the VEX Robotics Competition in the spring had national sponsors, who helped defray costs for the teams. He said he hopes having the teams set up Web sites will draw sponsors.

Visitors Drop In on Say Yes Summer Program

Students in the Say Yes to Education Summer Program’s Sports Broadcasting enrichment class at Dr. King School were visited by Jim Boeheim, the head coach of the Syracuse University Men’s Basketball Team, Jim Gaspo, the president of Citizens Bank and Superintendent Sharon L. Contreras.

District Office Summer Hours Announced

Summer hours for the Syracuse City School District Central Office (725 Harrison St.) will be 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. The hours are effective through Aug. 31, 2012. All offices will be closed July 4, 2012, in observance of Independence Day.

District Sends State Education Department Evaluation Agreements

The Syracuse City School District was one of more than 164 districts that submitted both teacher and principal evaluation agreements to the New York State Education Commission on July 2.

The negotiated agreements were required under a revised teacher and principal evaluation law passed earlier this year. The SCSD was able to submit their negotiated agreements using the state’s online portal system.

SCSD Singer Wins Music Scholarship

Vocalist Nubia Hill, a Nottingham High School student, placed third in the JazzIgnition competition held in early June at Signature Music in Syracuse.

Nubia was one of six finalists in the contest, which was established to engage high school jazz vocalists and instrumentalists from Central New York. The competition is sponsored by the Cultural Resources Council and Signature Music, a non-profit organization dedicated to offering music opportunities through Signature Music Camp and Signature Syracuse.

SCSD Employees Tackle Corporate Challenge

Nearly 100 employees from the Syracuse City School District participated in the annual JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge that was held at Onondaga Lake Park.

Despite the sweltering heat, the district doubled the number of participants that took part this year. Central Office employees, including Superintendent Sharon L. Contreras, joined with staff from various schools in the walk/run. At the conclusion of the race, employees spent time socializing and enjoyed food from Brooklyn Pickle.

Money raised at this year’s event will benefit the American Red Cross.

SCSD Student Wins NY Senate Poster Contest

Daiton Daibo-Williams, a fifth-grade student at Salem Hyde Elementary School, won the 2012 New York State Senate’s Earth Day Poster Contest for the 50th District.

The theme of Daiton's poster was "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle." Daiton created his poster during an art class that was part of the Say Yes to Education Extended Day Program at Salem Hyde. Art teacher Joe Foster conducted the class.

In early June, Sen. John A. DeFrancisco visited Salem Hyde to congratulate Daiton and recognize his accomplishment.

SCSD Summer School Schedule

Plans for the Syracuse City School District’s 2012 Summer Programs have been finalized. The programs reflect a more effective and efficiently delivered model, aimed at improving student outcomes by consolidating sites around a specific instructional focus. What follows is information about each of the programs.

SCSD Students Create Image Campaign

Members of the Superintendent’s Cabinet were proud to show off the marketing campaign they created with help from the Creative Services Department at Clear Channel Syracuse.

In a presentation to Superintendent Sharon L. Contreras, the students talked about what a valuable experience working on the campaign was for them and why they think it’s important to change the community’s perception of students who attend Syracuse City schools.

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