Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Dear Friends of Gateway:

Here is this week’s installment of Gateway’s weekly e-newsletter.  As always, your feedback and suggestions are invited. 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change. - Carl Rogers

COMING EVENTS:  A schedule of activities for the week ending October 6, 2006 is now posted.  (Items for this calendar should be submitted at least two weeks ahead of time!)

UPCOMING MEETINGS:  The next meeting of the Gateway Regional School Committee will be on September 27 at 7:30 p.m. The School Committee will meet in each of the district towns and schools this year starting with a meeting at Russell Elementary School on 9/27. Agenda items for this week’s meeting include an expanded learning time grant update, request for substitute pay increase, a report on influenza planning, and request for new guidance position at the high school. The public is invited and encouraged to attend all meetings.  

RIZZITANO NAMED “COMMENDED STUDENT” IN NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM: Senior Ariana M. Rizzitano has been named a Commended Student in the 2007 National Merit Scholarship Program.  She is one of approximately 34,000 students nationwide who are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise, by placing among the top five percent of more than 1.4 million students who took the 2005 PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.  Read more….

ALUMNI KULIK GIVES BACK: As a Gateway student, he was Class President for four years, member of the band, jazz band, baseball team, pep band, Western Mass District Jazz Band and All State Jazz Band.  He even won the Golden Achievement Award for the Class of 2000.  But it’s not as though he never looked back—not even close.  Read why in the complete article.

PSAT EXAMS ON OCTOBER 18: Juniors and sophomores are encouraged to take the PSAT exams at Gateway Regional High School on October 18th, but they need to sign-up by October 2nd in order to do so.  A $12 fee must also be paid at sign-ups, which may be done in the high school guidance office.  The PSAT exam is a practice test for the SAT, a national admissions exam required by most 4-year colleges in the Northeast.  Additional information is available at the High School Guidance Office.

MIDDLE SCHOOL AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT: The Afterschool Program will be held on Thursday, September 28th (with the Middle School Open House scheduled for that evening).  However, there will be no homework help program on that day, and the Stock Market Game group will be cancelled.  Late busses will run on Thursday.

SPRINGFIELD SYMPHONY SEEKS STUDENT PIANISTS/CONDUCTORS: Young pianists (ages 10 – 20) who live within 60 miles of Springfield, are invited to submit an audition CD of “Rhapsody in Blue”, to apply to perform with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (SSO) during the annual Music Matters Youth Concerts in March, 2007.  The CD, an application form and a $15 non-refundable application fee must be postmarked by December 1, 2006.  Finalists will be notified by mail and invited to an audition at Holyoke Community College on January 16th.  In addition, the SSO is seeking a teenage musician (aged 13 –17) with strong musical training, who is currently active with a band, chorus or orchestra and can read a piano or conductor’s score, to conduct a Christmas work at the Holiday Pops concert on December 2nd.  For further information on either music opportunity, please see Mrs. Beauregard at the High School, or email jbeauregard@grsd.org .

GIFTED STUDENTS MAY BE MORE VULNERABLE TO BULLYING: A study by researchers at Purdue University revealed that gifted students may have greater difficulty coping with bullying. "All children are affected adversely by bullying," says Jean Sunde Peterson, an associate professor of educational studies in Purdue's College of Education, but many gifted students "are intense, sensitive, and stressed by their own and others' high expectations, and their ability, interests, and behavior may make them vulnerable." The researchers found that more than two-thirds of gifted students had been the victims of bullying by eighth grade, and that the consequences included depression, unexpressed rage, and school absenteeism. The entire report is posted online.

REMINDERS:

IN CLOSING, the Superintendent’s Corner for this week is attached. This week, Dr. Hopson discusses work already underway to prepare and file a required pandemic and all-hazards emergency plan with the state.  Two things you can do to become better informed: read the entire article, and join us at a district-wide presentation on November 1st at 6:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center.

Have a great week!

Wendy V. Long, Editor