On behalf of the faculty and staff I would like to take a moment to wish you are your family a terrific Winter Break! No matter which holiday you celebrate, I hope you have time to spend some time with your family.  As the new year approaches, I hope that we all continue to make Mineola High School a terrific and innovative learning environment for our students.    

As Regents/Midterm week approaches, stay focused on the academic tasks at hand and make use of the Regents review classes (for those students repeating an exam in January). Our website (www.mineola.k12.ny.us) and Twitter account (@mineolahs) continue to keep you up to date with the latest news and “happenings” in and around the high school; including many of the exciting and new lessons, projects, and activities that your children are engaging in.

Newsworthy:

• The Student Service Center (SSC) : The Service Center is still a hub for learning as Peer Tutors meet during free periods and after school  each day. Members of the INN Youth Board helped sort warm clothing including the hats, scarves and mittens that we donated.   Our senior citizens enjoyed another wonderful Lunch Bunch in the “Mustang Atrium.”  The event was made even more festive as Ms. Messina’s students entertained our guests with holiday music.  Additionally, our students and guests worked together to create Holiday cards for soldiers serving overseas. We also made cards with our 8 Ways to Serve volunteers and through the help of Mr. John Fretz, all of our  cards were sent to two different platoons. Students were also  a huge help to the Nassau County Bar Association’s We Care Committee with their  annual  Gingerbread University. On Friday night, our volunteers helped prepare for the big event and then worked tirelessly all day Saturday. This event is wonderful for the children who attend, and also serves as a fundraiser for other We Care charities. We also started our Middle School Skills Support program as high school volunteers venture to the middle school twice a week to assist with their after school program.

• Key Club and National Honor Society ###/bHoliday Drive.  Over fifty-five children from eighteen Mineola families will have a happier Holiday season because of the compassion of the staff and students in our district.  Over 400 presents were purchased, sorted and wrapped by students and faculty members.  Each year, this is a huge undertaking and the faculty, staff and students respond with incredible generosity and kindness.

• The Student Organization (SO) - At the last SO meeting, we started to discuss the activities that will be included Battle of the Classes on March 2nd.  We will continue to have spirit days the first Friday of every month.  Please remember to wear your school colors.

• At the January 12th  Board of Education meeting, the Board will recognize four students in the Queensborough Internet and Information Technology Program, Joseph Mueller, Bryan Guda, Malcom Hylton, and Vincent Rodrigues for winning the ###a href="Congressional" class="redactor-linkify-object">http://www.congressionalappcha... App Challenge! Our Fall All-County Athletes will also be recognized.  They include:  

Cross Country	Girls Soccer	Boys Soccer	Girls Volleyball
Ryan DeMagistris Matteo Itri Gabe Silva	Allison Mendes	Dimas Cabrera Brandon Mendes Luis Tinoco	Colette Maloney Samantha Schroeder

• It is time to purchase your 2017 Signet Yearbook. The cost of this year’s yearbook is $120 dollars plus tax. If you order your yearbook before Thanksgiving, your cost will be $100 plus tax.  If you order your yearbook after Thanksgiving but before December 31, 2016, your cost will be $110 plus tax.
  You can order your yearbooks at WWW.JOSTENSYEARBOOKS.COM  In addition to purchasing your 2017 Signet Yearbook, you may also purchase a custom yearbook Ad for your child at www.jostens.com/yearbookads
  Full Page  $170.00 ½ Page  $95.00 ¼ Page  $70.00 1/8 page  $40.00

• Place your Yearbook Ad Order before January 31, 2017.  Please e-mail Mr. Block  rblock@mineola.k12.ny.us if you have any questions.

• The Sophomore Ring Sale continues online at the Jostens website.  

• The Question Mark, our school newspaper, is available on your child’s ipad in eBackpack as well as online on the high school webpage in the virtual backpack.  You can also follow the Question Mark on Twitter @QuestionMarkMHS

• Mustang Media is a new branch of the Question Mark and is a weekly video news broadcast that features Jennifer Berkowitz and Isabella Polanco.  The show features stories from around the school during the week as well as a “Question of the Week” feature.  All episodes are available on the MHS Questionmark Youtube Channel.

In the Classroom:

• In Science Research - The Science Research students are busy organizing and conducting their independent research projects.  Eighth and Ninth grade researchers are organizing their projects for Ecybermission, Medical Marvels and Google Science Fair.  Mineola High School was awarded a grant from Ecybermission thanks to the efforts of the research teachers, Dr. McGlade-McCulloh, Ms. Hughes and Ms. Misciagno in completing the application process for the grant.  The Advanced Research students are busy collecting data, two groups of Advanced Research II students just completed isolating and amplifying the DNA from the samples they collected for their Barcode Long Island projects.  They spent all day Saturday, 12/17/16 at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories preparing their DNA sample to sent for sequencing.  Our Mineola students are doing Next Generation Genetic Analysis. Both our seniors and juniors are organizing all the required documentation to register for Long Island Science and Engineering Fair. The seniors will compete on February 8 and the juniors in March. Our sophomores completed their registration for the Molloy High School Science and Mathematics Fair, March 17th. It is a busy and exciting time in the research laboratory.

• Four students from Mineola High School were selected as a winning team in the 2016 Congressional App Challenge. Announced by members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the challenge promotes the importance of coding and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education. More than 2,000 students participated in the national competition, which yielded over 650 original student-created apps.
  Mineola’s winning team consists of Bryan Guda, Malcolm Hylton, Joseph Mueller and Vincent Rodrigues. They developed an app called Cia Chow, which connects people who are in need of dog sitting services with someone who can take care of the dog. The app asks users to create a profile and fill out a questionnaire and then makes recommended pairings based on location for services. The team worked on their project as part of the school’s partnership with the Queensborough College Internet and Information Technology Program.
  Winners from across the country will have the opportunity to showcase their apps to members of Congress and the technology community at #HouseOfCode, a DC-based reception to be held in April 2017. The Congressional App Challenge, celebrating its second year, is coordinated by the Congressional Internet Caucus and by the Internet Education Foundation, the non-governmental sponsor of the project.

• On December 23rd, all of the 8th grade CC Algebra classes will take a break from Systems of Equations to reflect on the season.  Inspired by a TED Talk entitled Love Letters to Strangers and a Pep Talk from Kid President, the students will discuss how and what they can do to help other students that might need their support through a difficult time.  Students will write anonymous letters of encouragement and understanding, which will eventually be dropped into a mailbox for other students to pick from when they’re having a bad day.  This will be a great way to end 2016 in the spirit of compassion and giving!

• Ms. Sloane (Math) and Ms. Audiino (English) did an image analysis activity. Together, they collaborated about the topic they have been discussing in ELA (individuality vs. conformity) and found an awesome image that depicts that theme. The students were given the opportunity to creatively open their minds, let their guards down and make observations (nothing too big or too small as Ms. Sloane would say) about the image. We heard inspiring analysis that started and ended with the students being fully engaged with what everyone was saying in the classroom. The student-centered discussion allowed for the sharing of different voices, thoughts, opinions, perspectives, etc. and made their communication skills shine. At the end of the activity, we gave the students an opportunity to choose a creative writing prompt that allowed them to further explore the image and their imaginations.

Department Highlights:

• Guidance - This month we concluded our On The Spot Admission Days with LIU Post, SUNY Farmingdale, Molloy and Adelphi.  The participants interviewed with admissions representatives from the schools for the opportunity to receive acceptance as well as scholarships.  One of the common questions from the representatives was, “Have you visited campus?”  More schools are looking at students who have demonstrated an interest by visiting the campus, taking a virtual tour, and/or reaching out to the admissions department through an e-mail or phone call.  In addition to our On The Spot Days, we are preparing for Alumni Day on January 6th.  Students from the Class of 2016 will return to speak with Juniors and Seniors about their first semester of college.  Our 8th grade parent night and Junior parent night are coming up in January.  Please be sure to come join us.  We wish you a wonderful Holiday and Happy & Healthy 2017!

• ###b - The Winter Athletic seasons are off to great starts for many teams . Our most successful team so far is our Boys Bowling team. The team currently ranks in the Top 5 Long Island Bowling team and currently stands with the best overall average in Nassau County. They are undefeated in conference play so far and look to possibly send 6 All County bowlers to the individual qualifiers and as a team have lofty goals to head to the State Championships. The annual Reggie Carter game will take place on January 6th . The Boys and Girls teams will take on West Hempstead at 5pm and 7pm respectively. There will be a $3 suggested donation at the door for adults and $2 for students. All proceeds go to the Reggie Carter Memorial Scholarship given to a senior at the year end senior award breakfast.

• Fine & Performing Arts - Thank you to all of the families who made it a priority to attend the winter concerts.  Bravo to all of the students and teachers who worked so well together to create lasting memories of musical experiences.  After a wonderfully successful concert season the Department of Fine and Performing Arts picks up the pace as we lay the foundation for all of the events that happen in the spring.  In January we host the 7th/8th Grade All-County Music Festival rehearsals.  Over 600 students will come through our doors for rehearsals on January 10, 11 and 12.  Parent volunteers are needed to help with food service and event organization (please email Anita Carbain with your  availability to help: mineolachorusmom16@gmail.com Students have just begun rehearsals for Seussical, The Musical coming this spring, and we welcome Mrs. Brand on board as our new vocal music director.  All information pertaining to drama rehearsals (cast list, rehearsal schedule, photos, etc) can be found at www.mineoladrama.com.  Congratulations to Zachary Sloan who was a part of the All-State Chorus which performed on December 4th in Rochester, NY.  The performance was incredible!   See below

• Library Media Center - The library has re-organized the space this month to make way for the many new “presents” that we are receiving.  For starters, the 3D pens have been a huge hit with students.  The New Year will bring with it many new experiences for Mineola students to participate in.  To give students a truly immersive learning experience, the library is rolling out two new state-of-the-art virtual reality systems, the HTC Vive & Oculus Rift.  With these, students will experience some of the things they have only learned about – a trip through to Mars, the moon landings, using Nano machines to travel through the human body, and traveling back in time just to mention a few.  VR even allows for a virtual Makerspace!  In addition, we have virtual reality goggles so all students can download their own virtual reality experiences from their phones…..perhaps a trip to the Louvre or another virtual field trip is in their future.

For all those students making college decisions, we encourage them to continue to peruse our newest college and career books located in our college corner.  Strategy has still been a hit with the chess and checkers, & some students jumped on the “wagon” with the old school Oregon Trail game which is now in card game format…Students soon will have a chance to work together in the coming days to test their critical thinking skills in the Escape the Room game challenges!

Students can now explore own personal family history and their roots using Ancestryclassroom.com from school, and fold3.com which is a military database for families with service members throughout America’s past.  Also, students who are preparing to hit the road in the Spring can take a practice DMV test – all links found on our student resource page – under HS library

Finally, biggest news of the month was the Follett Challenge video…Our library participated in our school wide program.  (iNNOVATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS) On this nationwide video challenge you will be able to witness the changes the HS has undertaken and the creativity of Mineola students.  You can help us win the $60,000 grand prize!!!  Be sure to view and vote for our school’s program…details on this to follow!

Upcoming Events:

12/24 - 1/2 - Holiday Recess (School is Closed) 1/3 - Booster Club Meeting (7:00pm) 1/4 - PTSA (7:00pm) 1/4 - Music Parents (7:30pm) 1/5 - 8th Grade Parent Night (7:00pm) 1/6 - Alumni Day 1/7 - Cultural Arts Program - Jedi Academy (2:00)

1/8 - Zumbathon at the HS (11:00-1:00pm) 1/10 -1/12 - NMEA Div III All-County 1/12 - Board of Education Meeting (7:00pm) 1/16 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day - NO SCHOOL 1/18 - Junior Parent Night (7:00pm) 1/27 - End of Marking Period 2

On behalf of the faculty, staff, and administration I would like to once again wish you Happy Holidays and a Healthy New Year ! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate the call the main office at 237-2605.