Albemarle High School Newsletter

December

Principal’s Message

Table of Contents

Dear AHS Community,

It is hard to believe how quickly we are moving through the school year. As many of you know, this is my first year as the AHS principal. Returning to AHS has been exciting and truly an honor. The students, parents, and teachers have been receptive to the change in leadership and willing to help me reacclimate to the culture of this great school. I would like to thank the parents for allowing me to work with their children, as I am extremely pleased with the students at our school, as they are intelligent and eager to learn.

As a teacher and principal, doing what is best for children undergirds my educational philosophy. I truly believe that I am a servant leader and the educational and social emotional needs of the children are my top priorities. As we move through the school year and many of the students schedule appointments to see me or talk with me in the hallways, I hope that it is clear to our community that I love helping young people experience success as students. I also value their thoughts and concerns, as their voices are integral to the fabric of our school. For example, I have implemented a principal’s advisory committee (PAC) to help me make critical decisions and provide leadership that matters at AHS. At the beginning of this process, I was pleasantly surprised to have ninety-five students apply to PAC. The committee met earlier this month to talk about next steps, and we are excited to meet in January to begin our work together.

Again, returning to AHS is an honor. I am enjoying the experience, and I appreciate what the students, parents, and teachers do on a daily basis to make this school community special.

Please have a wonderful winter break.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jesse J. Turner, Jr. Principal

Principal’s Message 1

AHS XC Teams 2

College Week at AHS 3

Recognitions and Programs 4

AHS Film Studies Program 5–7 Students Plant Trees at AHS 8

AHS Builds Film Studies Program for students. See page 5.

Albemarle High School Page 2 ~ December 2017

Contact Information

Main  Office   975-­‐9300  

Main  Fax   974-­‐4335  

Athletics   974-­‐4308  

Attendance   974-­‐4310  

Community  Ed   975-­‐9450  

Guidance      974-­‐4321  

Important Dates

                       

Thanksgiving  Break     11/22-­‐24/17  

Winter  Exams                            12/14-­‐19/17  

Winter  Break       12/22-1/2/18    

 

                 

 

Sea Urchin in the AHS Salt Water Fish Tank

Science Wing

AHS Boys and Girls XC Teams Rock! For the first time in AHS history, the AHS boys won the 5A state title at Great Meadow. The Albemarle boys used a closing surge on the final straightaway to win this historic event. Ryann Helmers’ 18:16 run won her the 5A individual state title and helped the AHS girls’ team finish second. Ryann qualified to compete at the nationals held in Oregon the end of this month.

What an amazing year for these hard working, focused young men and women. We are very proud of all of you!

Albemarle High School Page 3 ~ December 2017

College Week at AHS

There were 91 AHS senior acceptances into 16 different colleges and universities during on-site admissions! Their initial scholarship total per year was $411,000 for a four-year total of $1.64 million dollars on the spot, with more money and acceptances forthcoming!

College Week highlights:

During the week AHS conducted four different college workshops over two days, which reached 163 students.

There was a College Resource Fair

with 15 community organizations and resources taking part.

A Historically Black College and

University Fair was held with 12

colleges represented.

AHS conducted a College

Admissions panel and we held a Financial Aid/Scholarship Night

that helped explain the Financial Aid process; college advisors were on hand to help seniors complete their FAFSA.

Additionally, we held a scholarship fair highlighting local scholarships and resources for students.

College Workshops:

College Essay Writing Scholarships

 

University of Missouri Hollins University University South of Carolina

Virginia Tech University of Southern California

William & Mary College Randolph College

Longwood College Duke University University of Mary Washington New York University

University of Notre Dame Northeastern University Roanoke College York College of Pennsylvania Hampden - Sydney College Shenandoah University St. Lawrence University Savannah College of Art & Design Eastern Mennonite University Randolph-Macon College Barnard College Wednesday Georgetown University ODU Earlham College VCU College of Wooster Carleton Franklin & Marshall College Yale University Dickinson College University of Chicago Colgate University Bridgewater JMU Washington College Emory & Henry College Mary Baldwin College U S Military West Point New York, NY U S Naval Academy

Where do I start with the college application process?

Naviance and the Common Application

Averett UniversityBluefield College

Emory and Henry College

Ferrum College

Hollins College

Longwood University

Lynchburg College

Mary Baldwin College

North Carolina Wesleyan University

Radford University

Randolph College

Shenandoah University

University of Mary Washington

University of Maryland- Eastern Shore

University of Virginia at Wise

Virginia Union University

Colby College University of Richmond Richard Bland College Lynchburg College Elon University Columbia College

Albemarle High School

Guidance Department and Student News

Drama Troupe

The AHS The Drama Troupe presented Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Norfolk at the Virginia Theatre Conference this past weekend. The group won the following awards:

Best Performance- Elizabeth Catchings

Best Costuming Merit- Grace Williams and Cori Wilkins

1st place in On-the-Spot Playwriting- Graham Smith

2nd place in On-the-Spot Playwriting- Aleia Tenpas

3rd place in Tech Olympics- Mattie Wiseman, Afrika Lambert, Noah Hambleton, Rival Dashtanov, and Cori Wilkins

The AHS Drama Department congratulates Monticello High School and Charlottesville High School for being Finalists and Western Albemarle for their Honorable Mention Award.

“Six Patriots Sign D1 Letters of Intent We recognize and celebrate six of our athletes that will be taking their skills & talents to the Division 1 level next year.

Kat B - Field Hockey- Towson U

Ryann H - Cross Country- Rice U

Caleb S- Swimming- Seton Hall U

Maren W - Swimming- UMBC

Student Community Recognitions

Page 4 ~December 2017

Jenn W - Lacrosse- Dartmouth C

Emmy W - Rowing- Louisville

Congratulations Patriots on your success and we wish you the best! Once a Patriot, ALWAYS a patriot!

New AHS Students From Outside the US Send Notes of Appreciation

“Dear Teachers,

I am in the 12th grade. I am from Iraq and I speak Arabic. I live with my family in Charlottesville now. When I was 16 years old, I moved to Virginia. Before moving to Virginia, I lived in Jordon.

When I was younger, I loved to play tennis. Now I like to watch tennis game. My favorite thing about living in Virginia is that this city is more relevance for families. One thing I do not like is that stores close early.

I hope that this school year will be easy for me. I want to learn about after high school. I think I may need help with my US history. I do best in school when I study more for the tests. This school year, I I want to know how life in college is. Thank you for being my teachers. I also want to tell you that I really appreciate your patient and time with us.” – F.M.

“I am in the 12th grade. I am from Afghanistan and I speak Dari. I live with my family.

When I was 16 years old, I moved to Virginia . Before moving to Virginia, I lived in Afghanistan.

When I was younger, I loved to be a doctor. Now I like to do makeup. My favorite thing about living in Virginia is nature. One thing I do not like about living in Virginia is nothing! I like everything here.

I hope that this school year is successful. I want to learn about everything. I think I may need help with math and English. I do best in school when I was in my country. This school year, I want to be successful. Thank you for being my teacher.” – B.M.

Regional 10th Grade Biz Kid$ Career Pathways Expo Held at UVA Newcomb Hall on November 1st, our 10th grade students attended this important expo with enthusiasm. Students visited up to 50 businesses and employers provided hands-on, interactive exhibits in 16 different career cluster areas, such as health sciences, agriculture, arts, information technology, and engineering. Click here for a full list of the clusters. Thanks to event partner, UVA Community Credit Union, and a grant from the National Credit Union Foundation, students were given a greater understanding of the financial consequences and economic impact of career and education training choices. Students learned to identify career paths matching their career interests, garnered useful advice about recommended classes, educational preparation, volunteer experience, and more. This served to increase their opportunity for future career success.

Albemarle High School

AHS Builds Growing Film Studies Program

Page 5 ~ December 2017

To most people, filmmaking means whipping out their cell phone and catching a few cherished moments in action; some have camcorders for a little better control and quality.

Most people hold the process of filmmaking in awe. It’s believed to be relegated to short commercial spots, TV commercials and major movies we watch in theaters. The stuff we equate with Hollywood. But is it?

The short answer is “no.”

Filmmaking is part of the fabric of our society. It is used in plethora applications around the world – in broadcast, public relations, social media, TV, web content, documentation and business, to name a few. “Some business areas, such as advertising, marketing and communications, may also utilize the creative and analytical abilities of film studies graduates in roles such as art directors, account managers, copywriters and market researchers.” (TheGuardian.com 2011)

With that in mind, Trevor Przyuski, with the enthusiastic support of AHS and the County, developed a continuum of filming classes for students to prepare them for entry-level jobs in this market or further collegiate studies in filmmaking. The program not only develops creative solutions and technical skills, it also develops critical thinking, skills in organization, management, communication and the ability to work with deadlines.

“Originally, filmmaking was a small part of Charlotte Wood’s

Creative Writing program at AHS,” states Trevor Przyuski, AHS instructor of advanced filmmaking. With visual and filmmaking experience behind him, he picked up the gauntlet to bring the program to its present form today.

“It became clear early on to Charlotte there was a need for a visual expression of students’ creative writing projects,” said Przyuski. Because of his background in filmmaking, she asked if he would take on the development of a more advanced level of this art.

Filmmaking is a creative and collaborative team effort. Knowing this, Trevor has been expanding his students’ environment for filmmaking into real world working applications and environments.

One of their real-life projects was a collaborative promotional video for a local band that utilized special dramatic effects including lighting, and fog.

“The best way to learn is to get out there and do,” said Przyuski. These real life applications teach more than the creative process. Students learn the value of cooperation, focus, collaboration, and all the management and organizational skills that are part of real-world filmmaking. In this process they also learn how to promote their work, find funding sources, clients, and

ways to offer incentives—all essential skills for business development.”

There’s a growing market for students who have these skills…who can think visually, who can create images and scripts, who can shoot good video, who have editing skills. More and more large companies are creating their own in-house shooting and production departments so they can control their own images in demonstration videos, commercials, in their content and creations. It’s a growing market and a creative market where these students can work creatively and make some money.”

Some of his students have skipped college and moved right into a production house apprentice program. “They are now working as videographers, producers, editors in production companies and they didn’t go forty thousand dollars in debt to get there,” he says proudly.

Albemarle High School Page 6 ~ December 2017

AHS Builds Growing Film Studies Program

Even now, Trevor’s students are developing a business sense reaching out to solicit investors in an effort to fund their projects, creating data bases of target audiences, and other real-world work that helps develop their business acumen.

Student Nick Buck, Senior, has spent four years with Trevor Przyuski and his Filmmaking program. He began the course as a freshman, having been drawn to the art of filmmaking while in middle school. He saw art students’ movie poster displays and became filled with excitement. He’s not a fine artist, he declares, but he saw an application for the art of filmmaking.

“Mr. Przyuski started this program in a small room with work tables. Yet in four years we now have computers lining the wall, a large flat screen TV and editing space. All with minimal funding.”

Nick speaks with an enthusiastic pitch. “People love movies,” he notes. It captivates and excites them.” Nick felt passionately that he wanted to be a part of bringing that excitement to other people.

When asked what lay ahead for him as a graduate he knew immediately he had to pursue filmmaking. “It’s not just the directorship, but all the talent and parts behind the film. It’s so rewarding.” He’s looked at several colleges that offer a program

them to make little movies all the way through middle school on the same flip camera. By high school, the film class at AHS was a natural progression for the next four years.”

Elizabeth says her choice was happenstance–a last minute decision as an incoming freshman to take an elective for an advanced diploma. She says choosing that class was one of the best decisions she made in high school. “I learned to love it quickly and found it an awesome experience” in total.

Elizabeth is heading for a nursing program in college but she plans to augment her program with a specialty area such as telemedicine. She sees herself involved in making instructional medical videos for countries and areas that don’t have as much knowledge of medical procedures or assistance and aid.

in filmmaking and continues to explore the possibilities that will be the right fit for him.

Nick is so much a part of this program at AHS, he’s keeping in touch with his instructor and is “super excited to see where Mr. P will take this program in the future.”

Two other seniors who have gone through four years of Filmmaking with Przyuski are Lily Casteen and Elizabeth Nolan. They have the same impassioned response to Mr. Przyuski’s Filmmaking program as Nick. As one might suspect, movie making was already a passion dancing in their hearts. “As kids,” Lily says, “my friend and I used to make videos together on a flip camera. In elementary school, we were in a competition in which we used our cameras and continued to use

Albemarle High School Page 7 ~ December 2017

AHS Builds Growing Film Studies Program

Lily plans to take a gap year and do another internship with filmmaking. Her four years with Trevor Przyuski has helped her form contacts and friends in the industry. She started doing work outside the classroom with a private company and the connections gave her invaluable early experience with the filmmaking. Lily hopes to follow that up with college at UNC Wilmington, or Rutgers University, and immersing herself in an environmental documentary film.

Both Lily and Elizabeth have had real-life experience with film-making at a young age, thanks to their instructor and his connections. Both young women have ambitious senior projects in their Arts and Letters Pathway program at AHS. All students deeply appreciate the depth of trust and support their teacher has shown his students. He approaches his program and students with an underlying passion, faith and a positive attitude.

All three students applaud their instructor for his passionate way of teaching, of allowing students to experience, to explore and to take the risks to “do” and learn. “Mr. Przyuski has been such an inspiration to me and his passion encourages me everyday to do better and to love what I do as well,” says Elizabeth. “These past four years in film class would not have been nearly as great if it wasn't for Mr. Przyuski. When I graduate this year, he will be the teacher I miss the most.”

To view a few of the original filmmaking videos by Trevor Przyuski’s students, click on the

following links:    

PSA for the ACPD:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDjGtD9Sn7Q

“Straight to the Rim” – 2015 Adrenaline Film Audience Award runner up

and winner of Best Teen Short at the Irvine Independent Film Festival. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSGQaqri3KU&t=3s

“Showdown at Sweet Tooth Junction”   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcpdobrNid0&t=1s&list=UUBaQWcuttKz01nhmP8fjduA&index=14

“It’s Academic” A mockumentary about a HS academic team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56hw_8_4hQk&list=UUBaQWcuttKz01nhmP8fjduA&index=53

The Albemarle High School

newsletter is a publication of Albemarle County Public Schools. It is published quarterly and distributed to all Albemarle High School families.

Albemarle County Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, disability, national origin, pregnancy, or marital status. Questions or concerns regarding compliance with the School Division's nondiscrimination policies may be directed to:

Director of Human Resources 401 McIntire Road Charlottesville, VA 22902 Phone: (434)296.5827

Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1691 et seq., prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs or activities receiving federal funds, including discrimination in employment and student admissions. All Albemarle County Public Schools students, applicants, and employees are covered by this law. For questions or concerns regarding Title IX, please contact:

Title IX Coordinator Department of Human Resources 401 McIntire Road Charlottesville, VA 22902 Phone: (434)296.5827

Our Vision:

All learners believe in their power to embrace learning, to excel, and to own their future.

Albemarle High School Page 8 ~ December 2017

AHS Student and Community Recognition

AHS Lantern Magazine Wins Honors

The AHS Lantern Literary/Art Magazine pooled their talent together once again for a great showing at the VHSL State Multimedia Championships. The 2017 edition of Moirae received the Trophy Class award, which is the highest in

the state. Additionally, they won eight out of ten separate multimedia contests.

The staff also received the prestigious Savedge Award for Sustained

Excellence for having received five Trophy Class awards within a seven-year

period. The AHS Lantern Literary/Art Magazine is the first publication in Albemarle County to receive such a distinction!

AHS Students Plant Native Trees ~October 17 by Treesteward

Over the past two semesters, under the guidance of their teacher, Diana Webber, Albemarle High School’s AP Environmental Science students developed a landscaping plan for the front entrance and parking area of the high school and collaborated with CATS to carry out tree plantings. The first phase of the work was completed in June 2017 and the second phase in December.

Webber contacted CATS through our website asking if we could offer guidance on how best to plant the trees. Tim Maywalt and Phil Stokes met with her and the head of the grounds crew to plan the work. The students chose a variety of native trees for these plantings including dogwoods, serviceberries, red and nuttall oaks, red maples, Kentucky coffee trees, tulip trees, Norwegian spruce, redbuds, serviceberries, and American holly. Several Tree Stewards worked side-by-side with Diana, the students, and the school’s grounds crew to plant twenty-one trees in June along the Hydraulic Road entrance and in December another twenty-eight trees were planted in the parking area and along the drive to the school.

For the December planting, twelve tree stewards participated, including Tim Maywalt, Tom Wild, Donna Vinal, William Hamersky, Phil Stokes and Penny Kaiserlian, as well as graduates of the recent Tree Steward Training Class–Peyton Williams, Allen Ingling, Kathy Nepote, Rachel Keen, and Lida Wise. Amory Fischer, a graduate of AHS and a CATS member in training, instructed groups of students on the basics of tree planting. Various tree stewards provided guidance, tools, and oversight and helped almost 50 students from several of the Environmental Sciences classes with digging holes, planting, composting, mulching and watering.

Diana Webber expects that her AP Environmental Science students will be planning more plantings at Albemarle High with the assistance of the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards in future years.