NYU PROFESSIONALS VISIT BHSA’S STRINGS
On Dec. 19th, Mr. Duncan’s junior and senior string majors were treated to a master instrumental class, compliments of Professor Stephanie Baer, Director of NYU’s Program in String Performance. Mr. Duncan is the instrumental teacher at BHSA and his alliance with NYU’s Department of Music and Performing Arts will, hopefully, provide BHSA’s string players with additional master classes. Professor Baer, for one, has said she plans to return to work with the school’s aspiring musicians.
CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF MANHATTAN ACCEPTS 2 BHSA SENIORS
BHSA Fine Art majors, Agne Jomantaite and Krystal Lewis, will be attending the Children’s Museum of Manhattan’s Techteens High School Internship Program this spring. This program is an intensive four-month paid internship in which selected high school students learn to use media and technology to express their creativity and communicate effectively with others. They work with children in exhibit spaces; develop skills in digital photography; conduct internet college research; design and create a website; and take off-site visits to other museums around the city. Some successful program graduates are invited to continue at the Museum during the summer as paid staff members. Whether a continued relationship with the museum is in the cards, or not, for these BHSA students, this internship is a wonderful opportunity for them.
DECEMBER’S ‘STAFF APPRECIATION AWARD’ GOES TO BRADY ZELENKA
BHSA’s December ‘Staff Appreciation Award’, given monthly in conjunction through their ‘School Partnership’ with 101.1 WCBS-FM Radio, went to student teacher Brady Zelenka. A graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, and currently working through Brooklyn College here in New York, Mr. Zelenka has made noticeable contributions to all of BHSA, as well as to the school’s English Department where he is currently student teaching under English teacher, Mr. Dunlop. “Above and beyond the call of duty, Mr. Zelenka has made himself available to students during tutorial periods, says BHSA Principal Finley, “and, he willingly volunteers for extra duty whenever the need arises. That’s how he recently gained unexpected chaperoning experience. On the spur of the moment he accompanied students to an activity at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Mr. Zelenka has even become certified as a per diem substitute so that he can cover classes for absent BHSA teachers when necessary. To show the school’s appreciation of all he has done, Mr. Zelenka has received two tickets to the Broadway Play ‘High Fidelity’, compliments of WCBS-FM.
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World Monuments Fund & Deutche Bank Host BHSA
Preservation Arts Field Trip To New Orleans
On Tuesday, October 24th, four BHSA students, Monica Arcangel, Veky Maza, Jonathan Rice, and Corrie Thomas, plus two chaperones, Corrie’s parent, Celeaster Graves and History teacher Mark Watson embarked on an eye-opening, hands-on field trip to ‘Katrinaland’. Over a year after the hurricane’s disaster this segment of the BHSA community go to see, close up, the ruins that still haunt this famous city and got to ‘get down and dirty’, working with other student groups, to repair and preserve some of the remnants of the Holy Cross District in the city’s lower 9th Ward.
The “utter devastation and heartache parts of the city have gone through, said Mr. Watson, “were not unnoticed by our students, as they followed World Monument’s carefully thought out itinerary. On Wednesday the students, under New Dimension Building’s Project Leader John Frederichs – and alongside students from the American College of Building Arts and students from the Priestley School – enthusiastically witnessed some of the restoration work on three tombs at Lafayette Cemetery No 1. On Thursday, led by David Gibney of Heritage Restoration Specialists, Inc., they worked on porch and siding repair to historic Robinson House. On Friday, under the tutelage of Rob Cagnetta of Heritage Restoration, Inc., they rotated throughout the day on masonry, millwork, doors and woodwork at the Stacey Rockwood House. Actual fieldwork throughout the trip was augmented by preservation lectures and the meals that New Orleans is noted for. Coming home on Saturday the group realized just how much they and BHSA owed to World Monument Fund’s Initiative Manager Mr. Morris Hylton III – who had actually been in New Orleans with them – and all the other WMF and Deutche Bank personnel who made it possible for them to witness the optimism and faith of the hundreds rebuilding after devastation, and to actually be a part – if only for a very short time – of all of it.
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All-City High School Music Program Accepts Three BHSA Band Students
Under the direction of BHSA’s Mr. John Scandone, Director of Instrumental Music, three band members auditioned -- and were selected for -- the ‘All-City Concert Band & Marching Band’. This year senior, Amber Vinson, and sophomores, Rahsan Noel and Selena Arrindell will be a part of this program that has been a NYC Dept. of Education tradition for over 60 years. Annually, more than 500 high school All-City music students receive Saturday morning vocal and instrumental instruction from the organization’s outstanding principal conductor of the year, as well as from noted, experienced DOE music teachers, citywide. Throughout their instruction the students have opportunities to perform at various special events … and it’s all in preparation for their All-City Concert at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, in March 2007.
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Ms. Littlefield To Represent BHSA At This Year’s Museum Ambassadors’ Program
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art is hosting ‘The Museum Ambassadors Program’ 2006-’07, and from November through April ’07, Art teacher, Linda Littlefield will be one of the citywide educators to get a behind-the scenes look at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She’ll have the opportunity for in-depth conversations with curators and be able to carry her experiences back into the classroom and put them into practice. The goals of this program are:
- To insure that museum visits are incorporated into the art curriculum;
- To build strong school-museum connections;
- To connect the ‘art of looking’ to communication skills and social studies; and
- To develop a community of educators who share successful practices and challenges.
The Museum Ambassadors Program is a prestigious professional development series for select high school teachers in the region. It guarantees an appointment for a class to visit, learn from, and enjoy the museum itself, and Ms. Littlefield is looking forward to taking her BHSA Fine Arts Students to enjoy this special treat. For her, this may be the best part of the program.
