NHS Students Prepare For Junior/Senior Project Presentations

By Eliza Hallabeck

Seated in Newtown High School’s Lecture Hall on Tuesday, December 20, NHS juniors and seniors in this semester’s Junior/Senior Project course learned what is expected of them during their upcoming final presentations for their individual projects.

Each semester the high school offers students the chance to undertake a self-directed project, under the guidance of course overseers Peg Ragaini, Angela Pennucci, and Kristen Hardy. The Junior/Senior Project course has students work with a mentor to investigate their own chosen project, which is then required to be presented before a panel of volunteer judges.

On December 20, the students gathered for pizza and a final full-class meeting before final presentations were due to begin.

Laura Hunter, a junior, said her project was a writing contest that works in conjunction with the NHS literary magazine The Roast, which is published in May.

“I’ve created this writing competition called ‘Roast Unforgettable Moments,’ and in it, students at Newtown High School can submit poetry, essays, or short stories that can fit under the theme of unforgettable moments,” said Laura.

Submissions for her contest are due March 1, Laura said. She also said submission forms are available at the school’s Career Center, and interested students can contact her by e-mail, ge.raff@hotmail.com, for more information about the contest.

Next to Laura, April Corbo, a junior, explained her Junior/Senior project.

“I made a plaster sculpture about the power of imagination,” said April, “because I think imagination is really strong. You can use it to get you far in life, and I used plaster because I used it in a class previously, like last year, and I found it really easy to use.”

April said she is close to done with her project, and, once complete, it will be displayed in the high school.

Another student in the course, Danny Bittman, explained how he is “basically, recreating Newtown TV, on Channel 17 on Charter Communications.”

For Danny the endeavor has meant a lot of dedicated hours, and a fair amount of lost sleep.

“I’m making it so that it is a full, mainstream looking tv channel,” said Danny, “where there will be short films, newscasts, commercials, and everything, all using footage from students from around the school.”

A crew of 22 filmers, photographers, animators, and more have been working with Danny to create footage.

“So far I have collected four hours worth of film from kids, and right now I have made 15 minutes of content” said Danny. “But by the end of January I want to have 45 minutes of commercials and everything made.”

He said he has been disappointed with the channel in the past, and he wanted a way for his fellow students’ work to be displayed more on the channel.

Tyler Coleman, anther junior, said he designed a cooking rack for inside a Dutch oven for his Junior/Senior Project.

Tyler said he found a need for such a product during camping trips with the Boy Scouts.

“We cook in Dutch ovens all the time,” said Tyler.

He explained that he used aluminum and carved out the shape of the product uses highly pressured water.

NHS senior Emily Molloy said her project is a planned daylong event through the World Language Department about multicultural awareness.

“It is set up sort of like the World Cup,” said Emily.

The event will be held in the Lecture Hall, and will begin with a presentation of photos Emily took while she was abroad last year in different countries, she said. Attending students will have to guess where each person in the photographs is from.

“From my experience,” Emily said, “I’m pretty sure they are not going to know where they are from.”

Afterwards, the students will be split into groups to represent different countries in the “World Cup,” and more games and learning will ensure.

Lauren Harrison, a senior, said she studied the short-term and long-term effects of concussions.

After sending out a questionnaire to Newtown residents through the school’s Naviance program and speaking to the school’s athletic director, Lauren said she created a presentation to present to athletic teams and anatomy classes.

“I found out that even in Newtown almost 40 percent of people had a son or daughter or had a concussion themselves, and basically, I found out that contrary to popular belief, a concussion is not a bruise on the brain. There is a lot more that happens on a cellular level,” said Lauren.

As part of his Junior/Senior project, NHS junior Yossi Kohrman-Glaser is set to perform in a classical guitar recital this Sunday, January 8, at 2 pm, at St John’s Episcopal Church in Sandy Hook.

“I wanted an opportunity to share classical guitar with the community,” said Yossi, who said the recital came together after he learned about the high school’s Junior/Senior Project course.

The event is free to the public, and Yossi said he is encouraging all who attend to bring nonperishable food donations for the FAITH Food Pantry, located in the basement of St John’s Episcopal Church.

In the event of inclement weather, call 203-426-3112 to verify the recital will be held on Sunday, January 8. A snow date of Sunday, January 15, is scheduled if needed.

Final presentations are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, January 24.