Category: District News
Girls on the Run program is more than miles
Fort Plain’s Girls on the Run team has been working hard to prepare for a 5K race in early June, but they are building more than athletic skills.
The team’s practices have been filled with life lessons, fun talks, friendship building and empowerment. They are excited to enter the second half of the season and looking forward to their race.
Girls on the Run is a twice-weekly, afterschool program for 5th and 6th grade students where trained volunteers lead girls through interactive lessons and movement activities, culminating in a celebratory 5K in June.
Three candidates are running for three Board of Education seats
[April 20, 2023]
Three candidates are running for three seats on the Fort Plain Board of Education that are up for election to fill vacancies for terms expiring on June 30, 2023. The new terms will run from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2026.
The candidates are Brenna Kirkpatrick, Anthony Crouse and David Przestrzelski.
Brenna Kirkpatrick is a lifelong resident of Fort Plain who graduated from Fort Plain Central School District in 2004. She holds a master’s degree in education and has been a teacher for 14 years. “As a parent of a child in the district, I am personally invested in making our school the best it can be for all students in our community,” she said. “Growing up in Fort Plain, I loved the small, close-knit community that made school memorable.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to serve the community that has given so much to me and my family.”
Tony Crouse, 53, is a graduate of St. Johnsville Central School and SUNY Oswego. He was born, raised and has always lived in the Mohawk Valley. “I understand the benefits of living in rural New York and attending a small school,” he said. “Along with my 30 years of accounting experience at FYE Inc., I feel that I have the financial understanding and the ‘small town’ philosophy to be the voice of the Fort Plain community.
“Many of my family and friends have attended FPCS, so I will be dedicated to making sound decisions on the School Board that will satisfy the community and support the school’s staff.”
David Przestrzelski is running for a fourth term on the Board of Education. He has served on the Board of Education since 2014.
Regular elections for Board of Education seats are held each year on the third Tuesday in May, the same date residents vote on the coming year’s school budget. This year’s vote date is May 16, from 1-9 p.m., in the Harry Hoag gym.
HS yearbooks are on sale
The FPHS Yearbook 2023 is now on sale for $40. Those who are interested in purchasing a yearbook may purchase one online at jostensyearbooks.com or by seeing Sue Summerfield at the Jr./Sr. High School in Room 202A.
Ozo baseball is a homerun for digital fluency and computer science students
By Wendy Stokna and Rachel Heroth
As part of the 7th grade team baseball event, students in Mrs. Heroth’s Computer Science and Mrs. Stokna’s Digital Fluency classes teamed up to program our Ozobots to perform in a baseball-themed manner. Students have spent the school year learning various computer science and applied digital skills such as programming with JavaScript and using digital applications for productivity and creation. This project pulled together all of those skills along with some baseball-themed fun!
Students brainstormed, developed a plan, and developed algorithms to enable the Ozobots to “play ball!” Students participated in stations in which they programmed the robots to round the bases and perform a special movement at each base, hit a ball to compete in a home-run derby, and choreographed a “7th inning stretch” dance with code. Students had fun learning about how the technology communicates through optical sensors, color codes, all while problem solving and debugging their code to complete the final product.
As a real-life connection, small baseball-themed cutouts were created to “dress up” the Ozobot using the Cricut machine. A Cricut machine uses optical technology similar to that of the Ozobot to read registration lines and work in coordination with its software to cut out the shapes used in this activity.
The celebration concluded with a special ballgame favorite . . . popcorn! There was truly a lot of excitement and learning around this special event.
Check out our video!
Glow week and trashketball: no boring test reviews for these students
Who said that getting ready for state testing had to be boring? As students across the state prepared for the New York State English Language Arts (ELA) assessments, the students in Mrs. Amy Bartholomew’s 6th grade ELA classes were doing the same . . . sort of.
And in Abigail Gorinshek’s 5th grade ELA classes, students were surprised with a basketball theme review day, featuring trashketball, as they prepared for the 5th grade NYS ELA assessment.
Mrs. Bartholomew’s students spent last week reading incredibly challenging text passages and then analyzing and answering multiple choice questions. But since she was asking for so much effort and focus from them, Mrs. Bartholomew decided to reward her students and their hard work by making the experience as fun as possible.
They call these days “Glow Week,” and students spend their ELA class in complete darkness with blacklights, glowsticks, glow-in-the-dark balloons and highlighters to light their way as they work. When students completed test questions accurately, they were allowed to play glow-in-the-dark bowling, ring toss, tic-tac-toe and basketball as a reward.
“It is one of the most fun weeks in 6th grade ELA and students were actually thanking me for their week of test prep!” Mrs. Bartholomew said. “I’m incredibly proud of our 6th graders and all of the hard work they’ve put in during the test preparation week, as well as throughout this entire school year.”
Meanwhile, in Ms. Gorinshek’s 5th grade ELA classes last week, it was game time! “In preparation for the 5th grade NYS ELA assessment, my students were surprised with a basketball theme review day where they got to play trashketball!” Ms. Gorinshek said.
“In teams, the students worked together to answer questions and when they answered them correctly, their team had a chance to shoot a mini basketball into a trash can to earn points. “The students worked hard, embraced some friendly competition and even found some fun in test prep: who knew!? I am so proud of all of my students for ‘shooting for success on the state test’!”
Visit our Facebook page for more photos.
158 students named to 3rd Q Honor Roll or Principal’s List
Fort Plain Jr./Sr. High School is proud to announce that 68 students were named to the Honor Roll and 90 students were named to the Principal’s List for the third quarter of the 2022-23 school year.
To achieve Principal’s List, a student must earn an average of 89.445 or higher. To achieve Honor Roll, a student must earn an average between 84.445 and 89.444.
Congratulations to all of the students listed below.
Honor Roll
12th Grade
Jakub Battisti
Alexandra Handy
Raul Rivera III
Kristin Sanders
11th Grade
Karissa Battisti
Ezekiel Brown
Mason Cook
Kaeden David
Courtney Euler
Jasmine Fonda
Aidan Guile
Jordan Hillsgrove
Kierstan Horender
Payton Kretser
Alexis Maaser
Michael Palmeri
Devan Sanders
Zachary Sanders
Joseph Sherman
Alex Smith
Andrew Spicci
Breanna Steinhauer
Delana Tracki
Marissa Wilder
10th Grade
Brian Burgess
Alexander Ellis
Jasmine Lapi
Katie LeRoy
Damien Massie
Morgan McArthur
Xavier Rivera
Nevaeh Rivers
Brandon Schuyler
9th Grade
Madison Clayburn
Emma Cook
Michael Dinehart Jr.
Noah Fonda
John Fountain
Isis Hammond
Natashia Hammond
Rachel Kamp
Alexander Lamphere
Grace McFee
Jayde TenEyck
Summer Trumbull
8th Grade
Kayden Battisti
Tyler Cotton
Bryellah D’Arcangelis
Isabella Fountain
Nathalieann Hisert
Allison Lamphere
Faith Narzymski
Aidyn Rooney
Jaydin Roosevelt
Peyton Spicci
Xzavier Staples
Jordan Thackrah
7th Grade
Blake Battisti
Alexis Bowley
Logan Carey
Emma Dillenbeck
Lincoln Kretser
Paige Lochner
Elijah Muha
E’nyjah Oldick
Cristopher Quiroz-Romero
Xavier Rodriguez
Gabreilla Steinhauer
Principal’s List
12th Grade
Americus Cotton
Cameron David
Madison Delgado
Andra Fuhs
Iyanna Gilot
Stephen Gray
Ryleigh Hart
Madeline Heroth
Rylee Herron
Ethan Kilmartin
Brianna Krutz
Vivian Nunez
Anthony Paradiso
Kaitlyn Parker
Corbin Sardina
Joseph Stinebrickner III
Natalie Thibodeau
11th Grade
Kelsey Buley
Ethan Hubbard
Brady Keane
Monika Kulczynski
Sadie Mollel
Matthew Paul
10th Grade
Nathan Benson
Jordan Brown
Dakota Cooper
Yunus Demir
James Douglas
Kaylie Field
Cris-John Fuhs
Ashlynn Hart
Vienna Jackson
Christian (Charlotte) Krulczyk
Payton Landry
Adriyanna Rouse
Chase Tyler
9th Grade
Ian Burns
Josephia Carcasole
Owen Castellano
Daniel Euler
Koby Herron
McKenna Karker
Dylan Keane
Macey LeRoy
Kyera Murray
Constance Narzymski
Taylor Potter
Bailie Richardson
Morgan Stock
Dawson Tracki
8th Grade
Trinity Belliveau
Jordyn Best
Gamliel Brackett
Kala Clapper
Jeremy Gebhardt
Mason Gray
Jansheen Haider
Lyllie Handy
Hailey Hayes
Levi Hext
Brooke Jones
Jay Kwasny
Lilly Lapi
Madison Lewis
Gavin Massie
Kaylee Minckler
Elle Nare
Ariana Nemeth
Alexis Palmeri
Jonathan Palmeri
Zionna Robarge
Kendra Sackett
Larry Sanders III
Silas Smith
Brady Spaulding
Olivia Sweet
Landon VanGorder
Cheyanne Wall
7th Grade
Joseph Barr
Caleigh Bartholomew
Eliyahna Brackett
Dio Callan
Brianne Gallt
Jordan Gallt
Violet Handy
George Mang
Charlotte Sherwood
Daija Suits
Dorian Tracki
Evan Weaver
Bikeway is cleared of plastic, trash thanks to HS students
A motivated group of 8th through 11th grade students celebrated Earth Day 2023 by cleaning up garbage along the Fort Plain section of the Erie Canal Bikeway.
The most common items found were bottles, cans, and plastic food wrappers. Plastic doesn’t biodegrade and breaks down into microplastics, which persist in the environment for a very long time. Thank you to our students and Mr. Elliott, Ms. Veitch and Ms. MaGinnis.
Topper Pride!
Harry Hoag students achieve 3rd Q Honor Roll or Principal’s List
Harry Hoag School is proud to announce the 2022-23 third quarter Honor Roll and Principal’s List. The Honor Roll and Principal’s List recognize outstanding achievement and effort.
Congratulations to the following students:
Honor Roll
Grade 6
Alyvia Castellano
Alexzandriah Clapper
Jessie Fink
Conner Hearn
Alexandra Hinkle
Hailee Moore
Isaac Passero
Gabriella Peters
Carl Reese III
Dylan Salerno
Rylee Stone
Makenna Sweet
Issac Tompkins
Grade 5
Angela Abe-Callan
Jaxon Best
Aubree Childs
Christopher Compton Jr.
Ziva Dimon
McKenzie Jones
Olivia Jones
Jacob LaQuee
Brian Madden
Amaya Rivera
Aleeya Rodriguez
Joseph Sweet II
Booker Tarica
Kendrik Thackrah
Maicee Thomas
Adalay Webb
Principal’s List
Grade 6
Laura Atkins
Asher Barber
Halleli Brackett
Lexis Downes
Dillan Harris Jr
Justin Hisert
Khloe Hisert
McKenna Hisert
Madden Lathers
Jazmain Leonard
Connor Lochner
Lainie McDuffee
Isabella McGuire
Jack Parkinson
Zoe Paul
Mary Pomatto
Braddock Putnam
Trent Richards
Sequoia Robarge
Molly Shults
Jaymes Smith
Anna-Belle Snyder
Gavin Souza
Giavanna Suiter
Kinley Trumbull
Kiana Tyler
Jordan Williams II
Grade 5
Fiona Brown
Brantlee Brownell
Alana Candido
Owen Charboneau
Milo Clark
Christopher Cook
Sienna Dean
Bently Dodson
Sterling Edick
Arianna Eells
Laura Flynn
Jake Fountain
Raelynn Fournier
Laylah Hardnett
Isabella Hearn
Amarha Herring
Timothy Keane
Piper Kretser
Claudia Maring
Carl Morrell
Aishwarya Murray
Isabella Palmeri
Mara Poultney
Ethan Shostek
Gavin Smith
Noah Smith
School newsletter is available
The Country Editor is no longer printing issues of our school’s newsletter.
To download the April issue, click here
To download the March issue, click here.
If you have difficulties accessing the newsletter online, contact communications@fortplain.org.
6th graders decode a masterpiece – and the media notices
Posted April 6, Updated April 17, 2023:
Students in Autumn Slawienski’s 6th grade art enrichment class spent eight weeks using pixelated charts of five colors to decode an image. The group of 21 students worked in collaborative teams to read, transcribe and color code nine 30×40 panels of grid.
“They had no idea what the final image was going to be – although many had a very good guess!” Slawienski said. “Just in time for their final class, the image was unveiled: ‘The Mona Lisa’ smiled upon them and the students returned to the art room to watch a video about the history of one of the most widely recognized pieces of art to date.”
IN THE MEDIA:
Read the April 16 article by The Recorder about the students’ project: