Marc Foxhall, English Teacher at RCK, has been selected as an Educator of Excellence by the New York State English Council for inspiring excellence in his students and colleagues. Congratulations, Mr. Foxhall!

 

Local Educator Appointed as State Coordinator

Teresa Sutton (RCK) was recently appointed to serve as State Coordinator for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines (PRESLM).

PRESLM is an NCTE-sponsored competition open to senior high, junior high, and middle schools in the United States and Canada, and to American schools abroad. The State Coordinator receives entries and directs the work of the state judges. The student magazines are rated on the basis of literary quality, types of writing involved, quality of editing and graphic design, and student involvement in production. For more information on PRESLM, please visit http://www.ncte.org/awards/student/preslm.

The National Council of Teachers of English, with 50,000 individual and institutional members worldwide, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. For more information, please visit http://www.ncte.org.

Congratulations to Barbara Searle on being awarded the Mid-Hudson Reading Council's Celebrate Literacy Award!

We also congratulate Ms. Searle on her retirement from the John Jay English Department.

 

Congratulations to the District Spelling Bee Winners!

 

Grades 3 - 5 Competition: 

Chung-hyun Cordelia Ko, Grade 4, Gayhead School

Grades 6 - 8 Competition: 

Adriane Bea Caparaz, Grade 6 James S. Evans School

 

Congratulations to all participants who won for their school and participated in the District Spelling Bee.  We are very proud of all of them.

 

Grades 3 - 5 Category:

Dominic Angelini, Grade 3, Fishkill Plains

Tabshiruddin Forkan Grade 3, James S. Evans

Colin Grimes, Grade 5, Myers Corners

Vincent Ho, Grade 4, Kinry Road

Avanti Khare, Grade 4, Sheafe Road

Grace Kim, Grade 5, Fishkill

Kelly Ottiano, Grade 5, Oak Grove

Georgia Sampugnaro Grade 3, Vassar Road

Victoria Vaccaro, Grade 5, Brinckerhoff

 

Grades 6-8 Category:

Brandon Figueroa, Grade 6, Kinry Road

Brianna Rizzo, Grade 6, Myers Corners

Sabrina Sura, Grade 7, WJH

Isabel Wu, Grade 7, Van Wyck

Congratulations to Teresa Sutton, RCK English Teacher, on being awarded the 2011 Agha Shahid Ali Scholarship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA.  This summer, Mrs. Sutton will attend a course taught by famous poet, Catherine Bowman. 

Congratulations to Marilyn Cuesta, grade 12, of John Jay High School, as she is being recognized with a regional Gold Key in The Scholastic Writing Awards of 2011, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. These Awards recognized Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath and others when they were teenage writers. Congratulations also to Maryellen Bova, Marilyn's English teacher, for being recognized with a Teacher Pin for her achievements as an educator. Marilyn's writing will now be judged on the national level.

 

Congratulations to Zane Anderson, grade 7, Wappingers Junior High School, and Kyle Lee, grade 7, Wappingers Junior High School, on having their poems published in the Poughkeepsie Journal. Zane's poem, 'Hail', and Kyle's poem 'Blizzard' were featured in the "Good Life" section listing positive achievements of our young residents. Thank you to their English teacher, Mrs. Allison O'Connor, as these poems were products of a poetry unit of study in her classroom.

WCSD ELA Dept. Recognized

The following department members have received a Certificate of Achievement in honor of their outstanding contribution to education by participating in the Big Read 2010, celebrating the works of Edgar Allan Poe with our students:

Shahna Newton

Elizabeth Megarr

Patricia D'Amato

Nicole North

Teresa Sutton

Lauren Korz

Edie Ash

Carmelita Seufert

Dr. Rosemarie Gardner

Dana Brown

RCK Student Wins Poughkeepsie Journal's Scary Story Contest

Please join me in congratulating Teresa Sutton, our English teachers and students at Roy C. Ketcham High School in winning the Gold Medalist distinction from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in the City of New York for their work on the Odyssey Literary Magazine.

It was noted by the association that:
-Quite a few fiction pieces have alluring titles, like "The Heist" or "Doppleganger."
-As for opening passages, there are some real gems, such as R.J. Biro's "Steve carried empty
pockets. . ." in "The Things He Carries."
-The "Journey" issue had several interesting attempts at villanelles and sonnets. The rhyme
schemes and repetition, in particular, were well done.
-The sheer number of nonfiction selections included among these issues is
commendable. Often, when students think of publishing in a literary
magazine, poetry and narrative fiction are all that come to mind.

Congratulations, RCK Writers!