Announcements
--Welcome to the new school year!
--If you are taking Creative Writing, Social Media & Blogging, or Voices of the Past during the fall semester and want college credits, click on the LIU High School Scholars link on the "more..." tab.
--If you are taking Public Speaking during the fall semester and want college credits, click on the St. John's College Advantage link under the "more..." tab.
--If you are taking Creative Writing, Social Media & Blogging, or Voices of the Past during the fall semester and want college credits, click on the LIU High School Scholars link on the "more..." tab.
--If you are taking Public Speaking during the fall semester and want college credits, click on the St. John's College Advantage link under the "more..." tab.
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Who We Are
Ms. Kim Serpe
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Good News
Voices for Truth and Humanity Essay Contest Winner
Congratulations to Calhoun senior Nickolas Mascary for his outstanding achievement in winning the Voices for Truth and Humanity essay contest. This prestigious competition was established with the aim of providing high school students a platform to showcase their knowledge of the Holocaust, and their understanding of society’s role in fighting hate and preventing future genocides. Participants were tasked with addressing the following thought-provoking prompts: "What do you believe are the lessons societies should learn from the Holocaust, and how do you think those lessons are still relevant and applicable today? What might be some examples from history and today that can help us better understand these events? What inspired you to participate in this essay contest?" Nick learned about the Holocaust and other genocides in a year-long course called Voices of the Past. In his essay, Nick wrote, "After witnessing acts of bias and prejudice in my surroundings, I assumed the role of president in my school's Racial Equity Club, creating opportunities for open forums and discussions about race and the Holocaust. Meeting Holocaust survivors like Leo Ullman strengthened my resolve to educate others about the largest atrocity in history and work towards preventing another Holocaust." From a pool of entrants in Nassau County, three exceptional winners were chosen, each of whom received a well-deserved $1000 award. Pictured in Photo from Left to Right: David Goldberg (Voices of the Past Teacher) Nickolas Mascary, Tanya Cestaro (Voices of the Past Teacher) 
Congratulations to all of the outstanding classroom winners who participated in Calhoun’s school wide Poetry Out Loud competition on Tuesday. It was one of the closest competitions we have ever had, and all participants performed well. A special congratulations goes to the top two winners: in second place was freshman, Kara Dobbs and in first place was freshman Ryan Karis, both from Ms. Ritaccio’s classes. Ryan and Kara have qualified to move on to the regional competition in February. We know they will represent Calhoun well.
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Goods News Archive Here
What We Are Reading
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Catherine Arresto
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. Kathryn Elefterion
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House. |
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Tanya Cestaro
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens At once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder, Where the Crawdads Sing has touched the hearts of millions of readers around the world. |
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Jason Elias
Legacy by James Kerr In Legacy, best-selling author James Kerr goes deep into the heart of the world's most successful sporting team, the legendary All Blacks of New Zealand, to reveal 15 powerful and practical lessons for leadership and business. |
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Rich Perry
Institute by Stephen King In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis' parents and load him into a black SUV. The operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there's no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents - telekinesis and telepathy - who got to this place the same way Luke did. |
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Irene Ritaccio
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. |
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Sal Salerno
Freddie Mercury: His Life in His Own Words by Greg Brooks Relevant and prescient, American Gods has been lauded for its brilliant synthesis of “mystery, satire, sex, horror, and poetic prose” (Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World) and as a modern phantasmagoria that “distills the essence of America” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). It is, quite simply, an outstanding work of literary imagination that will endure for generations. Kim Serpe
Reading Six Feet Under: TV to Die For by Janet McCabe Praised for its unabashed portrait of the 'death care' industry, HBO's 'Six Feet Under' is less about the business of death than the art of living well. It was created by Alan Ball ('American Beauty') and centres on a Pasadena undertakers run by two brothers, with their mom and teenage sister making up the dysfunctional family quarter. |
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Saul Wiener
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. Jason Boland
I'm Keith Hernandez Keith Hernandez revolutionized the role of first baseman. During his illustrious career with the World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, he was a perennial fan favorite, earning eleven consecutive Gold Gloves, a National League co-MVP Award, and a batting title. Catherine Grover
Bumblebee Economics by Bernd Heinrich In his new preface Bernd Heinrich ranges from Maine to Alaska and north to the Arctic as he summarizes findings from continuing investigations over the past twenty-five years--by him and others--into the wondrous "energy economy" of bumblebees. |
* All book quotes are from Amazon.com
