Yearbooks on sale December 2nd - 8th. Orders will not be taken after 12/8/2009. You Are Cordially Invited To Attend Alumni Wednesday, November 25, 8:30 am Sto Rox High School Administrative Suite RSVP 412-771-3213, mkerber@srsd.k12.pa.us
Help raise money for the Grady family. Click here for more information.
Breakfast and Roundtable
Education Rox
Parent Teacher Conferences
Please note that all parent conferences are now held on Wednesday, November 11.
Alumni
If you are a recent graduate of Sto-Rox High School, we are looking for alumni to speak at the alumni roundtable on Wednesday, November 25 at 9 am at the high school. Please come and share your post graduate experiences as well as offer words of wisdom to current student.
From the Desk of the Principal
Africa and Giving Thanks
My good friend, Ambassador Dan Simpson is the associate editor of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Dan and his wife Libby together were a huge help in dragging me through my first overseas assignment in Central Africa in 1991. With a five week old infant, civil unrest and a multitude of public health hazards including AISA, malaria, meningitis, tuberculosis, encephalitis and amoebic illnesses, it is a fair statement to admit that I was an emotional wreck much of the time. I arrived in the Central African Republic two days before Thanksgiving in 1991. The small American community circled the wagons around the newly arrived Kerber family and took good care of us for the next two years. Our first Christmas turkey cost $80 US dollars, and suffices it to say, the only redeeming quality is that the bird was dead. The scrawny bird was the antithesis of a Butterball but our wonderful chef André prepared my grandmother’s stuffing recipe and we had a feast.
I have never seen the poverty of African in any other place I have ever visited. Too frequently we saw toddlers living on the street, children dying of very curable illnesses, and adult friends dying before the age of 50. I conducted some research on at risk factors for school children and went into quartiers (neighborhoods) to see the ravages of AIDS. Eighty orphans were left to fend for themselves when their collective eight sets of parents succumbed to the disease. Our wonderful nanny Martine lost her 12 year old son when he was fishing in the Ubangi River to bring home dinner, slipped and was caught in the undertow and his body was found washed up on the coast, still clutching the fish he hoped to have his mother prepare that evening.
Dan’s editorial today discusses the neglect that Africa has received over the past twenty years, due in large part to American indifference and the attention that we have given to other global trouble spots across the world. Sudan, Somalia and the DROC (formerly known as Zaire) are in perpetual states of confusion, turmoil, deprivation and displacement. Whether the Obama administration elects to be involved in crafting new policy remains to be seen.
Sto-Rox High School has not forgotten Africa. Thanks to Sto Ambassadors and their fabulous advisor Debbie Finklang, West Africa has benefitted in ways we cannot imagine. The club has raised almost half of their $5,000 goal. Clean water will soon be running through a small corner of Sierra Leone. Our students have learned of the horrendous human rights violations occurring and rally each time to make money so that faces they have never seen in a place they may never see will smile due to their hard work.
This Thanksgiving I am so thankful to be on U.S. soil eating a delicious turkey dinner with all of the trimmings. I am grateful that in spite of all the jawing in Washington over health care, all members of my family and circle of friends are healthy and have access to cutting edge health care as opposed to the primitive provisions of the African medical community. I am grateful for the lessons learned my family’s nerve wracking tour of ‘91-‘93 and yes, I feel great gratitude to our Sto Ambassadors for their efforts.
Help for Parents
Courtesy of Resources in Education, 2009
Guidance vs. Independence
Finding the Balance
One of the biggest challenges of parenting teens is knowing how and when to loosen rules and when to tighten them. The payoff to striking the right balance to help your teen grow into an adult who is responsible and can make decisions. Try these suggestions for balancing freedom and control.
Decide which rules can’t be compromised. For example, you can probably accept your child deciding his/her own bedtime, but will you tolerate your teen driving 20 miles over the speed limit. Set clear rules and consequences for those areas you are not willing to budge.
Negotiate flexible areas. Listen to your teen’s input and select rules you can both live with. For example, your teen can have a sleepover as long as he/she and the guest clean up the mess the next morning. Parents should try to listen to a teen’s side of a situation. Parents do not always have to change their mind but listening might bring new insight.
Allow your teen to make more decisions as time goes by. Start with smaller matters such as hair and clothes and work up to larger issues including choosing classes and managing money. Try granting a new privilege and responsibility every few months. A good example is a later curfew in turn for cooking for the family. If the teen abuses the privilege, parents reserve the right to revert to old rules.
Citation and Reference
When your teen writes a paper, should he or she cite the source for a well known fact? Should a reference be given for a chart? One might consider the tips below to ensure that your teen is not accused with plagiarism.
► Cite the source when using someone else’s words, ideas, or art. Students should check with their teacher to identify the citation style to use.
► Facts and statistics that are not common knowledge should also be cited. When determining if information is common, consider whether it is a well-known fact or can be found in several places. For example, “Drinking and driving leads to accidents” is an accepted fact, but statistics about accident rates should be credited.
►When paraphrasing, students are encouraged to do more than rearrange words or sentences. A good strategy is for the student to cover the text in the paragraph and explain the ideas in his/her own words. Paraphrased versions should be compared to the original test. Students should use statements like, “According to the Department of Agriculture….” to reference the source.
Cell Phone Tips
If you teen has left his/her cell phone behind or had the battery go dead while out of the house, consider storing the cell phone numbers of friends in your cell phone. If your teen is not answering, you can try to get in touch by contacting friends.
Around the School
Business Department
The business law class is learning about the founding document of our government. They are working on a project called, “America is No More!” This is a fictitious situation where the United States of America has been over throw by another country and as an act of good faith the invading country is willing to let the former American people to keep any two of the ten Bill of Rights to help start and reform their new governmental laws. The students will be working in smalls groups of two or three to determine which 2 amendments would be use and to come up with at least three reasons why they chose the amendments that they did. The teams will then present their ideas to the class. We will have a town hall meeting to decide which amendments the class collectively find the most important.
The career introductions classes are working on PowerPoint presentations for Chapter 3, Getting a Job. This exercise allows our students to strengthen their reading, note taking, and PowerPoint skills. This exercise also provides students with the opportunity to develop their own understanding of the content as they present and teach to their peers.
The accounting class is working on T accounts and tracking the dual entries of business transactions. Even though the effects of transactions can be recorded in an accounting equation, the process of this is not practical in an actual accounting system for tracking the transactions and flow of cash for the business in an efficient way. The T accounts, and then later, the general journal create a practical way for the planning, recording, analyzing and interpreting of the financial information for businesses.
Carlow University Field Trip
For the third consecutive year, Dr. Christina Shorall, professor of education at Carlow University, invited students of the high school to visit Carlow University. Students were given a tour of the campus which included classrooms, labs, and dorm rooms. She discussed the college application process and financial aid. The visit ended with lunch in the student cafeteria. The Future Teachers Club raised money to pay for the cost of the bus.
Chemistry
Please visit our chemistry webpages.
www.sto-rox-gen-chem.wikispaces.com
www.sto-rox-hon-chem.wikispaces.com
www.sto-rox-chem-com.wikispaces.com
Sto Ambassadors
Sto Ambassadors held its first fundraiser of the year with the “Change for Africa” campaign. Change was collected in advisories for about two weeks to support the campaign for clean drinking water in Sierra Leone, West Africa. A total of $75.00 in nickels, dimes, pennies, and quarters were collected.
On October 23rd, Sto Ambassadors hosted the “Sto Rox Has Got Talent” talent show, which also raised money for the clean drinking water campaign. Second place honors went to Dontez Ford and James Latimer. First place was awarded to Terrance Moses and a dance group consisting of Danesha Mozee, Marqua Geter, Esa Walker, and Mike Walker.
Sto Ambassadors is a service organization, which in conjunction with Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network, O Ambassadors, and Kids Can Free the Children, seeking to raise awareness of and improve the living conditions for people living in abject poverty around the world. Sto-Rox High School chose, at the inception of the Sto Ambassdors program, to focus its efforts on West African relief and this year will be helping the people of Sierra Leone.
Sto Ambassadors is also involved in local community service and will kick off its “READING ROX” fundraiser in November. Sto Ambassadors will collect new children’s books during the month of November to be distributed to children in the Sto-Rox School District. In addition, Sto Ambassadors fundraisers help support the yearbook and the prom.
Please continue to support these fundraisers and Sto Ambassadors as it continues to connect our students to the community and the world through their service projects.
History
In freshmen history, students are enjoying creating power point presentations on significant reform movements in the 19th century. Students have picked topics such as the women’s rights movement, the abolitionist movement, and the public education movement. The students have been demonstrating creativity and a strong knowledge of how to use Microsoft power point.
As the semester comes to a close in Global Awareness, students are writing and performing scripts on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The kids are really getting into it and seem to be having a lot of fun. We will be talking about the turmoil in the Middle East and the conflict that still affects the world today.
GSK Helps Sto-Rox Students Understand College Admissions
The Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) college prep has started again this year. We have 21 participants. The college prep program is designed to help high school juniors and seniors prepare for their college experience. It helps them understand the SAT process, what to look for in a college, and the steps after selecting a college. It tells them where to begin with the financial aid and scholarship process. It is overseen by Dr. Jeanine Blackburn from GSK.
Sto-Rox Students Help UPMS Understand Heart Disease
Project Pressure thru UPMC has again visited our first semester Physical Education classes. Many students have taken the initiative to participate in Project Pressures’ study of heart disease related to young adults in high school. Over a three day period, students wear heart rate monitors that produce data for the study. Eligible students with parental permission who complete all requirements receive $100.00 for their participation.
Life Skiils
The Life Skills classroom has been off to a busy start learning about a variety of different topics. Some classes are researching how to do a job search, while other classes are researching different types of reference books and how to use them. We have been discussing the library and it many uses. Automobile operation has also been the topic of discussion in our daily living skills class. Some students had the opportunity to participate in a mentoring day at Mellon Bank. Each student was able to shadow a worker for the day. Everyone really enjoyed the trip and said it was a great learning experience. We will have the chance to go on a field trip in early November to PA Youth Leadership. The Pa Youth Leadership Network is designed to encourage leadership and personal responsibility. It is an event that brings many different schools together. It will be an interactive event filled with activities to encourage making new friends. We are really looking forward to the experience and to many more exciting events we can participate in throughout the year.
Special Education Teacher Moonlights as Rock Star
Read about Joe Grushecky’s newly released CD.
Sto-Rox Students Participate in Disability Mentoring Day
On October 21, 18 learning support students from the high school participated in Disability Mentoring Day at Bank of New York Mellon downtown. Disability Mentoring Day (DMD) is a large-scale national effort to promote career development for students and job seekers with disabilities through hands-on career exploration, on-site job shadowing, and ongoing mentoring leading to internship and employment opportunities. It is an excellent opportunity for students of transition age to begin to understand the world of work and explore career options through hands-on experiences. Pittsburgh was the first city in the nation to participate in DMD in 1999. Some of the other local employers that have participated in this career awareness program for students with disabilities include Bayer, Highmark, FedEx, UMC, and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Sto-Rox students, along with students from Penn Hills, West Allegheny, Keystone Oaks, and Steel Valley, started the day with a continental breakfast. Following breakfast, the 60 participants were paired with their mentors for the remainder of the morning. Upon returning to the conference room, students were randomly assigned to groups for a working lunch, during which each group prepared a presentation summarizing the morning experience.
Ms. Neal, Transition Services at the high school arranged the field trip and was assisted by Mr. Wojciechowicz and Ms. Grimm, Special Education Supervisor.
¡Hola! Bonjour!
Students in the 3rd and 4th years of Spanish and French will be going to the neighborhood of Oakland on November 20th to see a Flamenco performance, an Impressionist painting exhibit, and the Nationality Rooms of the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. We will also enjoy some crêpes at “Crêpes Parisiennes” on Craig St. near the Carnegie Museum of Art.
¡Buen viaje! Bon voyage!
Spanish 3 students are “travelling” to large cities in other countries and “doing some shopping” in stores they found on the web. Let’s hope they find some gangas (bargains). Spanish 4 students are “travelling” to amazing national parks in Central and South America, such as Galapagos where the historic research of Darwin was done. They are writing e-mails home about their adventures.
Congratulations Seniors
Congratulations to all of our seniors recognized on Friday, October 30 at the Senior Day pep assembly and also at the varsity football pre game show. Below are the members of the football team who were named as all conference selections.
Welcome Guest Speakers
In the next two weeks, Sto Rox High School will welcome three guest speakers who will deliver inspirational messages at afternoon assemblies. These assemblies are highly sought after and very costly to school districts. Thanks to the generosity of the National Character Education Foundation (NCEF) and Beating the Odds: Quarterbacks for Life Foundation, we are able to have three assemblies at no cost with highly sought after motivational speakers. David Rettig, President and CEO of the NCEF has been very generous in offering Highway to Success materials and training to all members of the freshman academy staff as well as curricular materials. He brings with him two presenters.
The first presentation features Jon Pritikin. Jon is considered to be one of the world's strongest men. His assembly presentation is very interactive with students. He is a Guinness Book of World Record Holder in two categories. Jon's program on bullying has been featured in schools across America reaching nearly six million students. This assembly format entertains and inspires students to be more respectful and that everyone has purpose no matter what differences they may have.
A second presenter is Mr. Bill Sanders. Bill is an author & co-author of 13 books including the Best Seller "Chicken Soup for the Soul". He has hosted the nationally syndicated television program "Straight Talk from Teens". Bill has shared the speaker's platform with legendary speakers and personalities including Zig Ziglar, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Paul Harvey, and Presidents Reagan and Ford. This student assembly presentation is fast moving, laughter-filled, thought provoking, and for many students a life-changing experience. Using real life stories, Bill will address many of the issues facing today's students -- including bullying, negative peer pressure, drugs/alcohol use -- and will help students create a healthy self-image.
Rocco Scalzi, Chairman and CEO of Beating the Odds Foundation: Quarterbacks for Life will be in the building on Friday, November 6 to provide an inspirational message to all students. Rocco works with individuals who, like himself, have overcome extreme odds and contributed to society for the greater good. Once again, Mr. Scalzi is footing the bill for bringing an inspirational speaker to the high school at no expense. We are thrilled to have these speakers and welcome any guests who would like to attend.
This Saturday, November 14th at 10AM, work begins on the Roxian Theater, Pittsburgh's newest concert venue. Tour the Theater and see renderings for its restoration unveiled.
Roxian Theater, 425 Chartiers Avenue.
The H1N1 vaccine is available to adults at the Sto-Rox Family Health Center on Nov.6 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for a fee of $10.00
