John Adams YABC Student Newsletter CHARACTER COUNTS WEEK
John Adams YABC Student Newsletter CHARACTER COUNTS WEEK YABC at John Adams High School celebrated Character Counts Week from October 24-October 27. During this week, students reflect upon the values that are presented in the Character Counts Curriculum. This semester we focused on the citizenship, caring, and respect. Students studied these concepts in their seminar classes during the course of the week. Each day events were held that celebrated a different pillar of character. Students wore clothes to match the colors of these pillars. Overall, the week was a success and brought attention to the development of character in YABC students.
STUDENTS COUNT CITIZENSHIP...AND VOTES!! BY: KAREENA NABIBAKSH During Character Counts Week my classmates Kevin, Mario & I visited the classrooms asking everyone if they haven’t already signed up to register and vote. We learned about voting, why we should vote, and who really votes for us in our government class taught by Ms.Scaturro. We were selected to go to classrooms telling the students about why people should vote and why they should register. We did this because we wanted everyone to know that it’s good to vote for something they believe in, for a president they want. Students have to listen and pay attention to these things because they are important people. Voting allows your voice to be heard. You can’t complain about the government if you haven’t registered. Anyone can sign up to vote only if you’re a U.S citizen. To register in any state, you need to be a U.S. citizen, 18 years or older by the next election, and a resident of the state. States have two other rules 1) you can't be a felon, someone who has committed a serious crime and 2) you can't be mentally incompetent. After we went around to the classrooms we found out that some students were already registered which was pretty good for them. The ones that didn’t register did. It was good to get the YABC student’s voice heard. So when voting time comes around the students can vote on an idea that they believe in. The next election is November 8th, so don’t forget to go out and vote YABC!
Volume II Issue 2 October 2011
Service Learning….Toys For Tots Fundraiser BY: TANAYA SELLERS Students in Mr. Budhu’s service learning class work on projects to help improve the community. Through research, we learn about the needs of the community and then implement a project in order to help those in need. The bake sale that was held on Halloween was a fundraiser for Toys for Tots. Toys for Tots is an organization created by the US Marines. They created this organization to give hope to the less fortunate. The money and gifts collected goes to kids that are in shelters or foster care. In order to help this organization, our group sponsored a Bake Sale on Halloween. We sold, cake, candy, cookies, and drinks to raise money for our cause. We will use these funds to purchase toys for children for this holiday season. As a result of this fundraiser we raised just over one hundred dollars thanks to the generosity of the YABC community. After our bake sale, two members of the US Marines visited the school to thank the students for supporting the bake sale. There will be an-
other fundraiser for Toys for Tots in the beginning of December. Please support our project and bring hope to the lives of those less fortunate.
Battle of the Genders On Halloween, YABC at John Adams High School held an event called “Battle of the Genders”. This event was coordinated by Ms. Duffy. All the games were Halloween themed. It started off with the Mummy Roll Up Relay. This event consisted of rolling participants up in toilet paper and watching them run back and forth. After this event, was the bean bag relay shuttle run. The events also included a doughnut eating contest, jello eating contest, and eyeball search (in cold macaroni!). Overall the Battle of the Genders was a “howling” success. It was a great event that allowed the students of YABC to release the stress that they built up during the school year. It was also a great opportunity for YABC students to meet each other and make new friends. This was a great event and the YABC staff deserves a great deal of thanks for sponsoring this event for the students!
Page 2
John Adams YABC
TEACHER SPOTLIGHT...MS. DUFFY BY: RYAN SOOKNARAIN, DEVON GOURSHAB, AND
This month’s teacher spotlight focuses on Ms. Duffy. She was selected because she seems like an interesting teacher who is very involved in the YABC Community. Q. How long have you worked for YABC at John Adams? A. I have worked in this program for the past 4 years. Q. What is the best part of your job? A. The best part of the job is working with different students in and out of the classroom. Q. Which college did you attend? A. I went to New York University for my undergraduate work and CUNY City College for my graduate work. Q. What type of degree did you earn? A. At NYU I earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and Sociology and at City College I earned a Matsers in Secondary Social Studies Education. Q. Did you always want to become a teacher? A. No, I decided to become a teacher after completing my undergraduate degree. Q. If you could change your career, what would it be? A. I would get a PhD in history. Q. If you could change anything about YABC what would it be? A. I would like to have more time and money to offer students a variety of classes. Q. What was your least and most favorite subject in high school/ A. My least favorite was chemistry and my most favorite was history. Q. Where do the profits from snacks go? A. It goes to various things for students such as prizes and scholarships.
REMEMBERING MY FIRST HALLOWEEN BY: ANESH SOOKHAI Do you remember when you were a kid and you were excited for Halloween? Do you remember picking out costumes and carving pumpkins or even watching scary movies and getting scared by relatives and friends? October was always the month for fools and ghouls, ghosts and goblins, and even hero’s and princesses. Well Halloween was always a good time in my book. Every Halloween is fun to get dressed up as something you’re not and go around to get free candy. Even if you’re not into trick or treating there is still tons of things you can do. For example, there’s the Halloween parade they have every year where people don’t have to dress up. They can go and watch the madness happen live. Every TV station has horror movies to watch and watching horror movies is a personal favorite of mine. My first Halloween experience was great! I would never forget my first Halloween. At first, I was scared and confused because I didn’t know what was going on. My mom brought in my first costume ever. I was batman. It’s every kid’s dream to be like batman and on Halloween my mom made that happen for me. I had the cape and the utility belt and everything. My mother pulled out a big pumpkin and I was so confused on what it was for. After half an hour she had turned an ordinary pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern. It was scary and so exciting at the same time. She put the pumpkin in front of the house and then told me to go put on my costume. So flabbergasted to be Batman, I ran to my room and put it on as fast as I could and then ran straight back to her. When I arrived she was standing there with her costume on and two bags in her hand. I asked her what the bags were for. She told me I would have to wait and see. We then proceeded outside to the neighbor’s house. She told me to ring the doorbell and say “trick or treat” when the neighbor comes out. The neighbor then came to the door shortly I while after and opened the door with a big bag of candy. Nervously, I said trick or treat. The neighbor smiled and said “nice costume”, as he put two pieces of candy in my bag. My mother then told me that was what the bag was for. I remember the feeling like it was just yesterday. And since I was a kid my mind perceived Halloween it as a holiday to get free candy. I was blown away, And so happy to go to the next house and the next house and the next. Seeing a jack-olantern meant an open invitation to get yummy, yummy candy in my tummy. After getting home with my big bag of candy, my mom took it away and explained to me what we had to do first before eating it. She told me we need to inspect the candy first. When I was a kid it was weird to me but now that I’m older I understand. We threw away all the unwrapped candy and then began to eat my lucky score. Best night as a kid over everything. The only thing I can match it with would be my first Christmas but that’s a story for another time.
OCTOBER HAPPENINGS
November 2011 Sun
Mon
Tue
1 6
7
8
Election Day
Wed
Thu
2
3
4
9
10
11
YABC Closed
13
14
15
Fri
Sat
5
Veteran’s Day
12
YABC CLOSED
16
17
Early Class Cycle
18
19
2 Begins
20
21
Daffodil and
22
Tulip Project
27
28
23
Thanksgiving
Celebration
29
30
End of 2nd
Marking Period
24
25
YABC Closed
26
STUDENTS COUNT CITIZENSHIP...AND VOTES!! BY: KAREENA NABIBAKSH During Character Counts Week my classmates Kevin, Mario & I visited the classrooms asking everyone if they haven’t already signed up to register and vote. We learned about voting, why we should vote, and who really votes for us in our government class taught by Ms.Scaturro. We were selected to go to classrooms telling the students about why people should vote and why they should register. We did this because we wanted everyone to know that it’s good to vote for something they believe in, for a president they want. Students have to listen and pay attention to these things because they are important people. Voting allows your voice to be heard. You can’t complain about the government if you haven’t registered. Anyone can sign up to vote only if you’re a U.S citizen. To register in any state, you need to be a U.S. citizen, 18 years or older by the next election, and a resident of the state. States have two other rules 1) you can't be a felon, someone who has committed a serious crime and 2) you can't be mentally incompetent. After we went around to the classrooms we found out that some students were already registered which was pretty good for them. The ones that didn’t register did. It was good to get the YABC student’s voice heard. So when voting time comes around the students can vote on an idea that they believe in. The next election is November 8th, so don’t forget to go out and vote YABC!
Volume II Issue 2 October 2011
Service Learning….Toys For Tots Fundraiser BY: TANAYA SELLERS Students in Mr. Budhu’s service learning class work on projects to help improve the community. Through research, we learn about the needs of the community and then implement a project in order to help those in need. The bake sale that was held on Halloween was a fundraiser for Toys for Tots. Toys for Tots is an organization created by the US Marines. They created this organization to give hope to the less fortunate. The money and gifts collected goes to kids that are in shelters or foster care. In order to help this organization, our group sponsored a Bake Sale on Halloween. We sold, cake, candy, cookies, and drinks to raise money for our cause. We will use these funds to purchase toys for children for this holiday season. As a result of this fundraiser we raised just over one hundred dollars thanks to the generosity of the YABC community. After our bake sale, two members of the US Marines visited the school to thank the students for supporting the bake sale. There will be an-
other fundraiser for Toys for Tots in the beginning of December. Please support our project and bring hope to the lives of those less fortunate.
Battle of the Genders On Halloween, YABC at John Adams High School held an event called “Battle of the Genders”. This event was coordinated by Ms. Duffy. All the games were Halloween themed. It started off with the Mummy Roll Up Relay. This event consisted of rolling participants up in toilet paper and watching them run back and forth. After this event, was the bean bag relay shuttle run. The events also included a doughnut eating contest, jello eating contest, and eyeball search (in cold macaroni!). Overall the Battle of the Genders was a “howling” success. It was a great event that allowed the students of YABC to release the stress that they built up during the school year. It was also a great opportunity for YABC students to meet each other and make new friends. This was a great event and the YABC staff deserves a great deal of thanks for sponsoring this event for the students!
Page 2
John Adams YABC
TEACHER SPOTLIGHT...MS. DUFFY BY: RYAN SOOKNARAIN, DEVON GOURSHAB, AND
This month’s teacher spotlight focuses on Ms. Duffy. She was selected because she seems like an interesting teacher who is very involved in the YABC Community. Q. How long have you worked for YABC at John Adams? A. I have worked in this program for the past 4 years. Q. What is the best part of your job? A. The best part of the job is working with different students in and out of the classroom. Q. Which college did you attend? A. I went to New York University for my undergraduate work and CUNY City College for my graduate work. Q. What type of degree did you earn? A. At NYU I earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and Sociology and at City College I earned a Matsers in Secondary Social Studies Education. Q. Did you always want to become a teacher? A. No, I decided to become a teacher after completing my undergraduate degree. Q. If you could change your career, what would it be? A. I would get a PhD in history. Q. If you could change anything about YABC what would it be? A. I would like to have more time and money to offer students a variety of classes. Q. What was your least and most favorite subject in high school/ A. My least favorite was chemistry and my most favorite was history. Q. Where do the profits from snacks go? A. It goes to various things for students such as prizes and scholarships.
REMEMBERING MY FIRST HALLOWEEN BY: ANESH SOOKHAI Do you remember when you were a kid and you were excited for Halloween? Do you remember picking out costumes and carving pumpkins or even watching scary movies and getting scared by relatives and friends? October was always the month for fools and ghouls, ghosts and goblins, and even hero’s and princesses. Well Halloween was always a good time in my book. Every Halloween is fun to get dressed up as something you’re not and go around to get free candy. Even if you’re not into trick or treating there is still tons of things you can do. For example, there’s the Halloween parade they have every year where people don’t have to dress up. They can go and watch the madness happen live. Every TV station has horror movies to watch and watching horror movies is a personal favorite of mine. My first Halloween experience was great! I would never forget my first Halloween. At first, I was scared and confused because I didn’t know what was going on. My mom brought in my first costume ever. I was batman. It’s every kid’s dream to be like batman and on Halloween my mom made that happen for me. I had the cape and the utility belt and everything. My mother pulled out a big pumpkin and I was so confused on what it was for. After half an hour she had turned an ordinary pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern. It was scary and so exciting at the same time. She put the pumpkin in front of the house and then told me to go put on my costume. So flabbergasted to be Batman, I ran to my room and put it on as fast as I could and then ran straight back to her. When I arrived she was standing there with her costume on and two bags in her hand. I asked her what the bags were for. She told me I would have to wait and see. We then proceeded outside to the neighbor’s house. She told me to ring the doorbell and say “trick or treat” when the neighbor comes out. The neighbor then came to the door shortly I while after and opened the door with a big bag of candy. Nervously, I said trick or treat. The neighbor smiled and said “nice costume”, as he put two pieces of candy in my bag. My mother then told me that was what the bag was for. I remember the feeling like it was just yesterday. And since I was a kid my mind perceived Halloween it as a holiday to get free candy. I was blown away, And so happy to go to the next house and the next house and the next. Seeing a jack-olantern meant an open invitation to get yummy, yummy candy in my tummy. After getting home with my big bag of candy, my mom took it away and explained to me what we had to do first before eating it. She told me we need to inspect the candy first. When I was a kid it was weird to me but now that I’m older I understand. We threw away all the unwrapped candy and then began to eat my lucky score. Best night as a kid over everything. The only thing I can match it with would be my first Christmas but that’s a story for another time.
OCTOBER HAPPENINGS
November 2011 Sun
Mon
Tue
1 6
7
8
Election Day
Wed
Thu
2
3
4
9
10
11
YABC Closed
13
14
15
Fri
Sat
5
Veteran’s Day
12
YABC CLOSED
16
17
Early Class Cycle
18
19
2 Begins
20
21
Daffodil and
22
Tulip Project
27
28
23
Thanksgiving
Celebration
29
30
End of 2nd
Marking Period
24
25
YABC Closed
26
