My Child Didn't Receive a Walkathon Form!

Don't panic -- print this!

Public Speaking Afterschool Program

(Sorry for the late notice; there may still be openings.)

The middle school Public Speaking program directed by Mrs. Hopes-McFadden will be meeting Wednesdays, 2:15 - 3:45.  There is an application for the program which can be requested from Mrs. Hopes or Mrs. Neary.

Schedule of $1 Dress-Down Days (Club Fundraisers)

September 26           Debate Club
October 10               Poetry Club
October 24               Yearbook
November 7             Gay/Straight Alliance
November 21           Robotics
December 5             Science Clubs
December 19-23      Website Week
January 2                 College Tour
January 16                High School International Trip
January 30                Make Up Day
February 27              Middle School International Trip
March 13                  Digital Media
March 27                  Math Clubs
April 6-10                Website Week
May 8                       Student Council
May 22                     Website
June 5                       Free Day

Order Your Yearbook!

Yearbooks will cost $30 if ordered before December 1, $35 thereafter.  They can be "personalized" for an extra $5.  For seniors, the cost of the yearbook is included in their senior dues.  Yearbook order forms are available in the paper-rack inside the front doors of the school.

Open House Wednesday

Mrs. Anna writes:

We are holding our all school open house this Wednesday, September 24 from 5-7p.m. We hope everyone can come out to meet the teachers and staff and visit the school. This is an opportunity to see your childs school environment. Parents and Staff will not have the opportunity to discuss grades due to the time constraints. Familes who cannot attend due to religious obligations will have an opportunity at a later date to meet the teachers and see the school.

Hope to see you there!

Get Ready for the Walkathon!

The Walkathon will be held on October 2 (with a rain date of October 3).  It is the PTO's major annual fundraiser.  The money raised at the Walkathon allows us to help fund important activities at ESUMS.  Last year, we raised about $7000 and were able to contribute to field trips, field day, after school clubs, the college tour, school dances, and teacher appreciation, but many requests for funding had to be turned away.  This year, let's raise even more!

Event details;  donation form.  We hope to award prizes to the top fundraisers, but to do that, we need prizes!  If you work somewhere that can offer a gift certificate or other prize, please contact the PTO.

More Groundbreaking News

Story in the Register.

Free Workshops on Computer Programming (Coding)

NewHaven.IO holds frequent workshops and other meet-ups to help you develop skills and network with local tech professionals.

Ground Has Been Broken . . .

. . . for the new building.  Photos and story here.

Scholarships for Students Under-Represented in STEM

The article is a few years out-of-date, but all of these terrific scholarships for African-Americans, Latino-Americans, and women are still offered each year.  Some are available to high school students; other require you to already be in college.

Project Lead The Way

Want to learn more about the PLTW engineering program offered at ESUMS?  This link has all the details, including which colleges accept PLTW credits and under what circumstances.

Boxtops and Store Rewards Cards

The PTO is still collecting Boxtops for Education in the main office.

Please make sure to send your Stop & Shop and Shop Rite store card numbers to Rose Rodrigues.  You do need to sign up again every year, but you can also sign yourself up online at Stop&Shop.  Please collect store card numbers from friends and relatives.

While you are at it, don't forget to use Amazon through the link in the right margin of this page.

If you find yourself forgetting to use it, do this:

(1) Find and erase your current bookmark to Amazon.
(2) Bookmark this page instead: http://www.amazon.com/?tag=esptan-20

Please remind your friends and family to do the same.  This is an easy and free way for the PTO to raise money.

Mr. Tynes Has a Website

Here is the link.

Book Fair's Off; New Fundraiser Proposed

Don't be sad!  The consensus at yesterday's PTO meeting was that the book fair was scheduled too soon for a new Chairperson to organize in time.  Instead, two new Co-chairs will research holding a Barnes & Noble fundraiser in the spring.

Urgent Call for Parent Volunteers: Book Fair Chair

The Scholastic Book Fair is an annual fundraiser at ESUMS.  In past years, it has raised money for activities, helped teachers get books for their classrooms, allowed students to purchase books conveniently right in school, and provided books for student prizes.

This year the Book Fair is in a crisis.  Though we have many parents signed up to work at the fair, helping to set up, sell books or clean up, we do not have a Chairperson!  Without one, we cannot hold the fair and will have to cancel!

The duties of the Book Fair Chair are not very time-consuming.  Most of the work is done ahead of time, aided by the people at Scholastic.  With so many volunteers, running the actual fair ought to be pretty easy.  Please come to today's PTO meeting and speak up if you can volunteer to save this important fundraiser!

Photo Montage of Yale SCHOLAR Program Featuring ESUMS Students

Click here: Yale SCHOLAR

"The Yale summer S.C.H.O.L.A.R. program brings 120 high school students from New Haven, West Haven, and Amity Public Schools to live and study science for two weeks on Yale campus. The goal is to prepare motivated and academically promising students for success in college and to strengthen their ability to pursue science majors and careers. SCHOLAR provides an intensive, hands-on science curriculum that emphasizes discovery, critical thinking and problem solving. The curriculum is designed by Yale University faculty, graduate and professional students, and teachers from local public schools. Yale undergraduate students serve a vital role as teaching assistants and mentors."

ESUMS Science CMT & CAPT Scores 2014

New Haven Averages:

8th Grade = 55.3% Proficient -- 35.2% Goal
10th Grade = 53.0% Proficient -- 17.3% Goal -- 47.4% Inquiry

Connecticut Averages:

8th Grade = 78.3% Proficient -- 62.5% Goal
10th Grade = 78.7% Proficient -- 46.8% Goal -- 62.9% Inquiry

ESUMS 2014:

8th Grade = 86.7% Proficient -- 77.1% Goal
10th Grade = 73.9% Proficient -- 47.8% Goal -- 59.1% Inquiry

Middle school science scores were up from 2013.  High schools scores fell a bit, but the high school "Goal" percentage is still the highest in town.  All scores are close to state averages and among the top scores in the district.  Explore more details here: http://www.nhps.net/node/3377.

While standardized testing is an incomplete measure of the quality of a school, it's always nice to do well.  Congratulations students!

First PTO Meeting on Tuesday at 3:15 pm

If you have any items you would like added to the agenda, please send an email to Cathy Berni.

Hope to see you there!

Perfectly Good Graphing Calculators

On ebay.  TI 84 or better is recommended.

Free Open-to-the-Public Events at Yale

2014 Windham Campbell Prizes Literary Festival
When: Monday, September 15, 2014 5:00 PM - Thursday, September 18, 2014 9:00 PM
View the festival schedule
(Zadie Smith will be speaking)

Civil Resistance: the Study of Nonviolent Power and Organized People

When: Thursday, September 25, 2014 - Friday, September 26, 2014 (All day)
Where:  Luce Hall (LUCE), Rm. 203, 34 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven, CT 06511

CT Folk Festival & Green Expo

This weekend, for those interested in environmental engineering, the CT Green Expo in Edgerton Park will feature solar phone charging, a giant water fountain, and velomobiles.  And folk music, of course.

Details.

Hey, How's That New Building Coming Along?

The welcome letter to UNH students this fall reads, in part:

"Soon, construction will begin to the west of Bergami Hall on the Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS), an interdisciplinary school for middle and high school students. ESUMS was created in 2008 through a partnership among UNH and the cities of West Haven and New Haven. Once completed, UNH students will have access during the evening to some of the state-of-the-art lab spaces there, which will help to address a critical need on our campus."

If you get a chance, you can walk by the site and see how the work is coming along.  

Call for Parent Volunteer: School Newspaper

Any parent who might be able to volunteer an afternoon each week to moderate the school newspaper meetings should please contact Mrs. Robinson as soon as possible.

A fledgling staff has already met to begin planning, but without an adult supervisor, they cannot begin to publish a paper.  If you have a writing or journalism background -- and even if you don't! -- please consider whether you can give a couple of hours a week to help out.