OCHS Principal’s Report

January, 2013

CONGRATULATIONS! At the 87th Annual New Jersey Association of Student Councils Winter Convention, the Ocean City High School was recognized for its 29th HONORS SCHOOL AWARD. This is the 2nd highest number of Honor School awards in New Jersey behind High Point Regional High School. The Honors School Award is based on a set of criteria of leadership, school spirit, and community service as established by the NJASC. Senior, Dale Roeck and Junior, Connie Meyer just finished singing in the 55th Annual South Jersey Choral Festival at Eastern High School in Voorhees, New Jersey. Saturday and Sunday concerts were held on the 26th and 27th of January. Dale has been a member of this auditioned chorus for three years while Connie Meyer has sung in the Junior High Chorus and the Senior High Chorus two years each. These singers worked diligently to pass a rigorous audition with over one thousand competing senior and junior high singers. The conductor of this year’s chorus was Kahlil V. Gunther of Woodstown High School. Congratulations to both of our choral students on their outstanding commitment and accomplishments. More than 780 of the most musically talented high school students in the Eastern region of the United States have been selected to perform as a member of 2013 National Association for Music Education All-Eastern Honors Ensembles. Dale Roeck will be part of this concert on April 7th at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, CT.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES Once again students of photography are impressing patrons of Positively 4th Street Coffee Shop with their Broken Space collages. The exhibit ran from January 6 through January 20th.

Mrs. Ludwig’s classroom looked more like a courtroom after students in 10th grade Advanced English concluded their study of the classic play, 12 Angry Men. To further comprehend the year’s objective, “What does it mean to be an American?” students took part in a mock trial during which all members participated as

either attorneys, defendants, witnesses, experts, or jurors after developing an original story line of events around the fictitious charges of which the defendant was accused. Through active questioning, engaging role-playing and the incorporation of creative, compelling items of evidence, students were able to mimic an actual trial and as a result were able to better comprehend the many facets of this quarter’s themes of freedom, justice,

and moral struggle in American literature; they also learned about the American legal system in a friendly, yet competitive manner. Upon completion, students were able to compare and

contrast elements of their experiences during the trial to contemporary cases that have overwhelmingly shaped American society. The mock trial also followed an in-depth analysis of historical documents on which America was founded, including the Declaration of Independence and the Iroquois Constitution.

In this picture are Jack Kane, Kevin Birk, Alexandra Teise, and Jake Newsome and the

many acclaimed bumper stickers produced by Mr. Gahr's 11th Grade Health classes.

Mr. Chris Praetzel spoke to Mr. MacIntyre and Mr. Gahr's Junior Health classes about organ donation. Mr. Praetzel was joined by his brother Brian who is an organ donor recipient. Chris shared his experiences on his solo run across the country to raise funds and awareness of the need for organ donations. Ocean City Police Officer Brian Hopely spoke to the 11th grade Health classes about traffic awareness and safety.

DECA COMPETITION On January 8, 2013, Mr. Brent Earl, OCHS DECA Advisor (along with Mrs. Debbie Cathcart, and Mr. Eric Baroni), took Ocean City High School DECA students to compete in the Southern New Jersey DECA Regional Conference which was held in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The following students represented OCHS in a series of DECA events: Hannah Annarelli, David Balic. Bill Battersby, Caroline Bowman, Christian Candeloro, Nick Ceccoli, Olivia Craig, Julie Cusack, Jeremy Dilks, Rick Dillenberger, JT Flatley, Cierra Granger, Zach Hackett, Delaney Heenan, Emily Johnson, Abby Lyons, Brendan Macfarlane, Chris Mateer, Jessica Mruz, Eva Nusbaum, Carolyn Previti, Matt Schuler, Doug Shallcross, April Stein, Carly Taylor, Adam Walawender, Danielle Walawender, Erica Watson, Tiffany Woollerton, and Zach Zellers.

DECA is an organization with over 185,000 high school students in 5,000 chapters across the country. It is an association of high school and college students studying marketing,

management and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality and a variety of other business areas. The students competed with 950 participants from schools throughout the southern New Jersey area in the events below:

Accounting Applications Hotel and Lodging Management

Apparel & Accessories Marketing Internet Marketing

Automotive Services Marketing Marketing Management Services

Business Law and Ethics Quick Serve Restaurant

Business Services Marketing Travel and Tourism

Buying and Merchandising Retail Merchandising

Sports and Entertainment Marketing Hospitality

Financial Services Supermarket Careers

Food Marketing Technical Sales

Restaurant /Food Service Management

OCHS had an outstanding day with eleven students advancing to the state competition bringing home awards ranging from overall medals to 1st place trophies! We are proud to announce that our OCHS DECA students received the following awards:

Food Marketing Services Individual Event:

Carly Taylor

o Overall Finalist

Principles of Business Administration Individual

Event:

Danielle Walawender o 1st Place Role Play o Overall Finalist o 2nd Overall

Financial Services Team Event:

Matt Schuler and Chris Mateer

o 2nd Overall o Overall Finalist

Accounting Applications Individual Event:

Carolyn Previti

o 3rd

Place Role Play One

o 3rd

Place Written Test

o 3rd

Overall

o Overall Finalist

Delaney Heenan o 2nd Place Role Play o Overall Finalist

Marketing Communications Team Event:

Adam Walawender and Christian

Candeloro

o 3rd

Place Role Play 1

o 2nd

Overall

o Overall Finalist

Marketing Management Services Individual Event:

Emily Johnson

o 2nd

Place Role Play One

o 1st Place Role Play Two

o 1st Overall

o Overall Finalist

Automotive Services Marketing Individual Event:

Jessica Mruz o Overall Finalist

Apparel and Accessories Marketing Individual Event:

Tiffany Woollerton o Overall Finalist

OCHS students now have the opportunity to compete at the DECA State Conference to be held in February at the Cherry Hill Crown Plaza with the ultimate goal of attending the National Conference later this year in Anaheim, California.

CLUB ACTIVITIES The National Honor Society completed its 2nd Annual Clothing Drive right before the holiday break. Students and staff from the whole school brought donated items into their 5th period classes. A total of 2,972 items were collected! Ms. Jesperson’s 5th period calculus class brought in the most winning a pizza party. Mr. Bruno’s class came in second and Mr. Baroni’s class came in 3rd. The items donated were sent to the Boys and Girls Club, Jewish Family Services and the Atlantic City Rescue Mission. Interact students met upon their return from winter break to create snowflakes for the students of Sandy Hook Elementary School. The Newtown PTA issued a letter on

the Internet asking students across the nation to take part in welcoming the Connecticut students to their new school by sending handmade reminders of the beauty and joy of the winter months ahead as everyone in their community works t heal after the tragedy that struck the small town in December. Glitter and glue

were all the rage as hundreds of exquisite snowflakes were shaped with love and hope for new beginnings. Members ended the month by assisting other school clubs in preparing for Project Purple’s kickoff by decorating the gym with painted motivational posters, streamers and balloons. SCAT President Delaney Heenan, Angie Martinez, and Sarah Dalsey, accompanied by Mr. Gahr sang Christmas Carols to Mrs. Gail Williams and her family. The Williams Family has been a strong supporter of the Student Coalition Against Tobacco.

PROJECT PURPLE

Tuesday, January 22nd former NBA player

Chris Herren joined the Ocean City Schools

in launching PROJECT

PURPLE. PROJECT PURPLE is a

substance abuse awareness program that

encourages teens and people of all ages to

make good choices and stand up to drugs and

alcohol. The

Ocean City

Schools will be

partnering with

PROJECT

PURPLE. The

first 500 Ocean

City students to

enter the game

received a free

PROJECT

PURPLE t-

shirt!!

Student Council In the month of January, the Student Council started their annual Carnation sales, as well as attending the NJASC Winter Conference and the MLK Jr. Day Clean up. The first event of the month was, the annual conference hosted by the NJASC and held at The College of New Jersey in Ewing, New Jersey on January 9th. Close to thirty members attended the conference and partook in several classes that gave new ideas to students to try at their high school. The second event was on MLK Jr. Day and was a city wide clean up. Volunteers met at the Aquatic Center and were sent out around the city to pick up debris and waste found in their areas. The Student Council, along with NHS, cleaned up the surrounding areas of the 35th street baseball fields. Bags and gloves were passed out and students had a friendly challenge to see who could collect the most trash. The last event is the annual Student Council Carnation sales. Carnations are being sold now through February 11th. This years’ colors are; blue for tweet me, pink for you’re awesome,

for friendship, red for love, and for secret admirer.

In the month of February, the Student Council will be finishing their Carnation Sales and will begin to plan their Blood Drive sponsored by the Red Cross which will take place in March.

STUDENT OF THE MONTH Each student was chosen to be Student of the Month because of exemplary behavior, character and performance. We appreciate the support of each of the community organizations. There is a critical connection between a successful public high school and a strong relationship with its community.

Kelly O’Connor was the Rotary Club Student of the Month. Ashley Conrad was the Exchange Club Student of the Month.