Senior Project 2010
Dear Families:
(Please remember tomorrow is Community Service Day for all high school students! There are no classes. Trimester II begins on Monday.)
LREI’s mission statement reads, in part, Our goal is to educate students to become independent thinkers and lifelong learners and to pursue academic excellence and individual achievement, in a context of respect for others and service to the community.
The Senior Project sends Twelfth Grade students into the world to actively pursue and demonstrate lifelong learning outside of the classroom, beyond the four walls of high school, and to live the life of the mind. Specifically, the Senior Project at LREI is an opportunity for students to pursue a particular area of interest or passion in an independent format. In keeping with the school’s mission statement and progressive philosophy, the Senior Project emphasizes experiential learning and real-world application of knowledge.
This year, the Project is comprised of several components, each of which requires student to plan, research, write, and reflect, with the guidance of a faculty mentor. By the end of the Project, students must demonstrate their new learning in multiple ways, including but not limited to: essay, portfolio of research work, performance, and presentation. Projects will be approved and evaluated by the Senior Project Committee, which is composed of high school faculty and administration. Once the proposal is approved by the committee, a faculty mentor will be assigned. The faculty mentor will personally advise and assist the senior through their experiential component, which runs from Wednesday, April 7 through Friday, May 14, 2010.
LREI encourages and teaches our students to probe, to challenge and to develop one’s own interests and passions, and certainly the goal of the experiential component is to express our educational experience to those in the world of work or service.
In the past, our Seniors have enjoyed internship opportunities at Bleecker and Sullivan Advertising, Random House, Harlem Hospital, Mary Ellen Mark, DDC Lab, Democracy Now!, Public Theater, The Center for Constitutional Rights, Amnesty International, the UN Development Program, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA), the Harlem Success Academy, NYU School of Medicine (Departments of Pathology, Dermatology and Cell Biology), Balthazar Restaurant, WNYC, and many, many more, thanks to the generosity of parents and friends of the school.
Even though we have been very successful in the past with placing our students in experiences that have matched their passion and interest and have made an impact to them, we could use your help!
Do you have an experiential opportunity you would like to share with us? An internship at your place of work available from April 7 through May 14, 2010? Know someone who could use a dynamic intern in the spring? Please let me know! Our students are interested in a wide range of things. Therefore no opportunity, whether it be in an office setting, participating in field work or community service, is too big or too small.
As we grow our list of opportunities for the Class of 2010, we will also accept offers of internships or community service opportunities for all of our students for the summer, winter or spring breaks, or after school. If you would like to offer an opportunity to all of our high school students, please let me know and we can post them for all on LREI EXCHANGE.
Many thanks in advance!
All the best, Ruth
Updates and Announcements:
*All 11th and 12th grade families should have received an email from the college office regarding spring NYU courses in their preview program! If your child would like to apply to take an NYU class and he or she is in good academic standing, applications are due on Wednesday, December 16 to the college office!
*PSAT scores were mailed to all families of 10th and 11th graders on Monday. Please be on the lookout for them. Any questions, please call the college office at x324.
*From the National Merit Scholarship Corporation: “This year about 34,000 commended students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Commended Students are placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2010 competition by taking the 2008 PSAT/NMSQT.” Congratulations to Kai Furbeck ’10 and Ben Neuhaus ’10 who have been named “commended students” in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program.
*From the National Achievement Scholarship Program: I am pleased to announce that one of our seniors has been named “among some 3,100 Outstanding Participants in the National Achievement Scholarship Program being referred to U.S. colleges and universities. This student scored in the top 3 percent of more than 160,000 Black Americans who requested consideration in the 2010 National Acheivement Program when they took the 2008 PSAT/NMSQT.” Congratulations to Devon Brown, ’10.
Susan Now, photography teacher, has informed me that we have two seniors who have been honored by YoungARTS this year! More information to come next week.
*Vacations:
We remind families to only take vacations during LREI breaks and that your child’s time away from school does not begin before the school break does or end afterwards. Teachers use each scheduled day to support their classroom program goals and the School’s mission. Students who miss days adjacent to breaks, or who take vacations outside of our break times, miss work and can disrupt planned activities. This affects the learning of the absent students and her/his classmates. In addition, divisional or all-school assemblies often precede our longer vacations. These gatherings are essential for creating the sort of community that drew you to LREI. Students sing, listen to speakers, applaud their schoolmates, meet students in other divisions and generally strengthen community ties.
1. Grades and Comments for Trimester I will be posted on “Backpack” on December 23 by 5PM. If a student has failed a course or has received two D grades, he or she will be placed on academic probation following a family conference with me. I will be in touch with affected families the first week of January, if not before.
If you do not have a user name or password for “Backpack,”or have misplaced this information, please let Adria Maynor know before December 23: 212-477-5316, x323 or x301, amaynor@lrei.org.
2. HOLIDAY SHOPPING AT LREI SCHOOL SPIRIT STORE!
The school store will be open the following mornings at the Sixth Avenue building from 8 AM-9 AM:
Friday 12/11
Tuesday 12/15
Wednesday 12/16
Thursday 12/17
Charlton Street, both lunch periods:
Monday 12/14
Tuesday 12/15
3. Joanne Magee is proud to present the middle school production of Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” Dec 11th 7pm and Dec 12th 2pm and 7pm. This stage adaption, which retains much of Kipling’s original poetry, but with all the charm of a middle school play, focuses on Mowgli’s journey of discovery as he grows up with his family and comes to terms with his unique and complex identity. Come to the play as a family and join us as we follow Mowgli through the challenges he faces both in the jungle and in his heart. Enjoy our colorful set, costumes and of course, the outstanding talents of our middle school students.
Tickets are on sale in the Sixth Avenue Lobby from 8am-9am Dec 4th-11th. Students $10 Adults $12.
4. New event added to the calendar: Freedom Institute will offer drug and alcohol education and answer questions about how to talk with your teen about substance issues on Thursday, January 28, 2010, at 6:30 PM, Charlton Street Cafeteria.
5. From Phil…There are a few spots left in both Adult rED classes. Contact Rowena Penaranda – Askins at rpenaranda@lrei.org to enroll. See Phil’s blog (blog.lrei.org/director) for more information.
6. Red is Green Committee:
Through Friday December 18th, we will be collecting plastic bottle caps for our December recycling drive.
During the month of January we will be recycling holiday and greeting cards. These cards will be donated to St. Jude’s Ranch. No photo cards please. For more information click here.
Also during the month of January you can bring in your wrapping paper scraps. These scraps will be used to decorate the school for Faculty / Staff Appreciation Day. Look for the box in the lobby after the holidays.
Mulchfest 2010: Recycle Your Christmas Tree at NYC Parks Jan 9-10, 2010. Click here for more information on where you can drop off your tree in the 5 boroughs.
Alternatively, you can put your tree outside with your regular garbage for recycling. Clean, non-bagged Christmas trees that are left at the curb will be recycled into compost. Pickup dates are Monday January 4th through Friday January 15th.
E-Waste: Do you have broken, unwanted electronics in your home?
You can recycle your e-waste on Sunday January 3, 2010 from 10-4pm at Union Sq. For more info click here.
Happy Holidays!
7. From the LREI Parents Association Community Service Committee–Join our annual winter coat drive. Click here for more information.
8. Mark you 2010 calendars now–Join us for our annual Alumni College Panel. This is a terrific opportunity to hear recent LREI grads discuss their transition from high school to college and how their time at LREI prepared them for success. Thursday, January 7th, 6:30PM, Performing Arts Center, 40 Charlton Street. RSVP to Liza Sacks at (212) 477-5316 ext. 291 or lsacks@lrei.org.