By Donna Hayward, Principal, HKHS.
The first quarter of the 2019-20 academic year is remarkably near closing, with a lot of good news and success to report.
This week, Haddam Killingworth High School will host the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) for a Collaborative Conference visit. A team of professional educators from around the state will review a self-reflection document prepared by the HK faculty and meet with groups of students, parents, teachers and administrators to examine all parts of our program. At the end of their visit, the team will provide feedback to our school about how well we are aligned to the five Standards of Accreditation and suggest areas of focus work as well as things to celebrate. We look forward to this process as part of our continuous improvement approach.
HK Fine Arts Updates and Special News
If you walk through the B-Wing on any given day you will discover that the art and music classrooms are bustling with creativity and excitement as students learn, grow, and prepare for a variety of upcoming (or recently past) performances, competitions, and festivals.
Students in Mr. D’Amato’s Concert and Jazz Bands are preparing for their upcoming Autumn Band Concert on November 14, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.
HK joined up with other Shoreline High Schools (Portland, East Haddam, Lyme/Old Lyme, Durham, Clinton, Cromwell, Deep River, Westbrook, North Branford, and Old Saybrook) for a two-day music festival culminating in a Band and Chorus concert on October 10, 2019 at Coginchaug Regional High School. Representing HK were choral students: Adelaide Hawkins, Megan Haase, Aleia Goodison, Olivia Tucker, Luke Haase, and Joseph Wolf. Band students included Abby Jones, Michela Cole, Andrew Conti, Patrick Dennis, Nick Frasco, Madeline Keithan, Colin Mack, Steven Melgar, Jordan O’Linn, Bela Pacyna and David Tinker.
Eighteen ceramics students travelled to the Florence Griswold Museum on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 to set up student-created Faerie Houses at the annual “Wee Faerie Village” exhibit Supertopia: Wee Faerie’s
Superheroes’ Headquarters and Hideaways.” Students had the opportunity to experience performing a professional art installation while meeting other artists and preparing the exhibit before it opened to the public.
AP Spanish
AP Spanish students have written letters to members of the US Armed Forces this month on top of working diligently to improve their proficiency and readiness for their exam in May. They are part of a nationwide letter-writing campaign in which all ages are invited to participate. The goal, which has been met for nine years running, is for each active service member in each branch of our military outside of the US, to receive a hand-written letter of appreciation. That means 170,000 handwritten letters need to be written, counted, read, processed, and sent to all troops by Thanksgiving day! Gracias por su apoyo a todos los estudiantes. (Thank you to all the students for their support.)
French Honor Society
There is new art gracing the hallways of Haddam-Killingworth High School! Members of the French Honor Society designed and painted a large mural showing the French and Spanish flags with a large “HK” logo in the middle. This mural is currently hanging at the end of the World Languages classroom hallway. The members’ goal was to show their enthusiasm for learning languages and their pride in our department as they continue in their work to encourage students to take language to the highest levels at our school and beyond.
Spanish Honor Society
Recently the HKHS Spanish Honor Society and French Honor Society collaborated with Old Saybrook High School’s Ecology Club to clean beaches. The students gathered together to participate in International Coastal Clean-up Day. Students collected data on the trash that was collected and the information will be sent to Save the Sound and the Ocean Conservancy to track changes in the human impact on the environment.
Photos provided by HKHS.
