2013 Academic WorldQuest National Competition

Last Saturday morning, in a large conference room on the campus of Georgetown University in Washington DC, four Walpole High School seniors participated in the 2013 Academic WorldQuest National Competition.  This is the second year in a row that Jake Kelsey, Ross Bubly, Jungbin Lim, and Kevin Delaney won the Massachusetts state competition and earned a trip to DC.  Working as a team, the foursome answered a total of 100 questions in 10 different categories ranging from U.S. Economic Competitiveness to Geography to the Middle East.

With forty schools in attendance from all over the country, the competition was fierce.  Although Walpole did not earn a spot in the top three, the students and their teacher-chaperone, Mr. Jeffrey Szymanski, are pleased with their accomplishments.  “These kids are real self-starters”, Szymanski said.  “They formed this team on their own in their junior year, strategically divided up their preparation, and sought out a faculty member to advise them.” 

Szymanski noted it was his department chair in social studies, Mr. Tom Morris, who advised the team for two years and attended the state competitions in Boston this year and last as well as the 2012 national competition.  “I was a pinch hitter, vowing to gladly accompany the team to DC in 2013 if they won the state championship”, Szymanski stated.  “Jake sent me a one-liner e-mail after the team won in Boston on April 6^th that simply read, ‘see you in DC.’ ”

The four saw very little of DC in 2012 other than two embassies and the Georgetown campus.  WorldBoston paid for transportation and hotel costs for one night in DC.  This year, Walpole’s American Legion generously donated $600 so the students could spend two nights in the city to see some of the city’s attractions.

All flew in to DC early Friday morning.  After a quick photo in front of the White House, the group walked to the Capitol and received a tour from an intern in Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office.  They then watched from the House gallery as their U.S Representatives debated the now infamous “sequester” to stop the furloughing of air traffic controllers.  Mr. Szymanski was pretty amazed at their excitement.  “These kids are real political junkies, and they knew the names of many of the reps on the House floor.” 

After Saturday’s competition, the students had plenty of free time to visit the Smithsonian museums and the monuments.  It was an early flight home Sunday morning before returning to school Monday, having made their parents and community extremely proud of their success.

BMS Raises $500 for The One Fund

The Student Council at Bird Middle School sponsored a Boston Pride Day on Friday, April 26.  Students and staff were asked for $1.00 donations for The One Fund Boston.    In the matter of ten minutes, during the student morning entrance, over $500.00 was collected!  BMS thanks all staff and students for their support.

WHS Music Students Visit Philadelphia

A group of WHS music students made a road trip to Philadelphia over April vacation and had some fun in "The City of Brotherly Love." Students from the concert band, concert choir, orchestra and jazz choir took part in music clinics with instructors from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music. The clinics were hosted at Radnor High School where students performed for Curtis Institute instructors in the school’s state of the art auditorium. The instructors worked with each group independently during the half day sessions, and provided valuable feedback to the student performers. The trip was not all business however as students visited the Philadelphia Zoo, Franklin Institute, Hard Rock Café, Six Flags and the Adventure Aquarium. This bi-annual trip is a tradition in the WHS Music department and students look forward to participating. Not only did the students have a great time, but they were outstanding ambassadors who represented their school and their town proudly. You can check out the WHS performances here: WHS Music Trip 2013
Photo credit-Jim Holmes

BMS Students "Off to See the Wizard"

The Wizard of Oz was the 31st annual BMS Spring Musical performance. Over 150 of the middle schoolers at Bird participated in the performance, which was the culmination of 10 weeks of daily rehearsals. Bird double-casts nearly all of the lead roles in the spring musical in order to maximize the opportunity for student participation.

The cast of the Wizard of Oz would like to thank the sold out audiences for such wonderful support. The Spring Musical performers would also like to thank the future middle school actors and actresses from the Old Post Road and Boyden Elementary Schools who had the chance to witness the fun in the special matinee performances earlier in the week.

Lastly, BMS is extremely grateful for the tireless efforts of the Team of Directors comprised of administration, teachers and staff who along with vocal coach Kathy Earabino supported Producer Cuzzi day in and day out in this ‘Ozian’ endeavor.

OAXACAN WOODEN ANIMALITAS AT FISHER SCHOOL

 

 

 

 On Tuesday, March 12, the fourth grade students worked in the art room at Fisher School with two artists from South Shore Art Center in Cohasset, MA on a cultural enrichment project entitled "Animalitas". This program was coordinated by Mrs. Hirschfeld and sponsored by the Fisher School PAC to offer an opportunity for students to learn an art form from another culture.   Looking to Mexico, they learned about the centuries old tradition of carving from wood the spiritual figures for churches and temples, masks for festivals and carnivals and most recently, animalitas or alebrijes, "fantasy figures." 

     In the 1960s, Manuel Jimenez, a goat herder from Oaxaca, a small agrarian community in southeastern Mexico, began carving the soft copal wood into fantastical animals, animalitas, which consist of different parts of several animals, joined to make one imaginary, fantastic creature often viewed as possessing magical powers. Other members of Jimenez' family painted them with bright acrylic paints, covering them with intricate decorations of spots, stripes and other fascinating patterns. Animalitas became very popular in the American tourist market in Oaxaca at this time and are now in museum and private collections throughout the world.

     After creating sketches of their imaginary animals, the students worked with brightly colored modeling clay to create the bodies, necks, heads, tails, wings, scales, horns, tails, ears, etc. of their animals.  Using contrasting colored clay and popsicle sticks to create decorations and textures, the students used their imaginations to create their unique animalitas.  Some of the masterpieces they made were named: "Girafacorn;" "Deleagle;"

"Zeusafox;" "Snagon."A.  The students were very proud of their sculptures and look forward to seeing them on display in the Media Center in the near future.

 

Mrs. Hirschfeld

Elementary Art Teacher

 

 

 

 

---

When writing or responding, please remember that the Secretary of State's
Office has determined that email is a public record.

Fisher School "Wake Up" Call

The video below, was recently recently submitted by music teacher Mr. Holmes to the Channel 5 morning news for their morning Wake Up Shout Out! Watch for it to air soon!

Fisher Elementary School in Walpole, MA (located midway between Boston and Providence on the route 95 corridor) provides instruction from Kindergarten through Grade Five to almost 450 students.  At Fisher, we sing, dance, play instruments and learn to read and write music as an important part of our school's education, and have FUN while doing it!  Here, Ms. Wadland's Grade Five class is performing a percussion piece and reading a 4-part score.  This is how WE wake up at Fisher School!

Elm Street School's Fifth Grade Living Wax Museum

Every year fifth graders participate in a Biography Project in which they research a famous person and give a presentation about that individual’s life and accomplishments.

This year, Elm Street School’s fifth grade teachers (Mrs. Holcomb, Mrs. Farley, and Ms. Reaney) planned an added feature which was quite motivating for the students.  The students dressed as their character and created a small display, including a “button”.  The students pretended to be wax figurines of their biography subject and stood “frozen” by their display.  Other students and teachers visited.  When the “button” was pushed, the figurine came to life and described the project.  At the close, they once again “froze”.  The presentations were very informative and a good time was had by all!

 

---

When writing or responding, please remember that the Secretary of State's
Office has determined that email is a public record.