Sunday November 20th, 2022

Volume 1, Issue 7

Happy Sunday, Patriots!

This is a quick but fun week at RHS! We have two full days of class where students will be participating in Spirit Week, organized by our Class of 2023 Seniors. Wednesday is a half day, with dismissal at 11:00, after our annual Thanksgiving Pep Rally. A huge thank you to Senior Class Advisor Ms. Hurley Felt, Senior Class AP Ms. Dean and our Senior Class Officers for working hard to organize this RHS tradition!

On a more serious note, the RHS Building Leadership Team has spent the first quarter of the school year trying to understand the leadership needs of the building. We are excited to really dig into the work of developing the programing, supports and culture we need to build at RHS to help all of our students thrive! We are even more excited to engage the Revere Community, especially its students, in the improvement planning for our school. When we return from Thanksgiving, we will have many opportunities for interested members of the Revere Community to join us in planning the future of the school. We highlight a few of these opportunities in this memo. Anyone interested in contributing ideas or join some of the groups described should e-mail me to express your interest!

This week's memo includes the following sections:

• The Weeks Ahead
• Special Education Parent Advisory Council
• Upcoming Deadlines to Remember
• Revere High Athletics Round Up
• The Week in Review
• Opportunities for School Improvement @ RHS
• The Patriot Voice
• Classroom Spotlights: American Education Week
• YES for CURE: Student Research Opportunity
• Important Links

As always, please reach out with feedback on what you'd like to see included in this weekly memo!

-Chris

Christopher T. Bowen, Principal

cbowen@reverek12.org

Past Patriot Updates

Sunday 10/9 - (Patriot Update 1.1)

Sunday 10/16 - (Patriot Update 1.2)

Sunday 10/23 - (Patriot Update 1.3)

Sunday 10/30 - (Patriot Update 1.4)

Sunday 11/6 - (Patriot Update 1.5)

Sunday 11/13 - (Patriot Update 1.6)

• COVID Test Distribution: Covid-19 test kits will be distributed to students in Period 4 on Tuesday, November 22, 2022 . These tests are to be used on the day before we return from Thanksgiving break (Sunday November 27th) or if your child is feeling symptomatic before that time. Please try to reserve one test to test your child on Sunday, as there are two tests in each kit. Students who are absent on 11/22 can get their test from their Period 4 teacher on 11/23.

• Thanksgiving Pep Rally. Wednesday November 23rd will be a Half-Day for students with dismissal at 11:00am after the annual Pep Rally. Students are encouraged to wear the following "class colors" at the pep rally: 9th Graders (Red); 10th Graders (White); 11th Graders (Blue); and 12th Graders (Red, White and Blue).
• No School. Revere Public Schools will be closed on Thursday 11/24 and Friday 11/25 in observance of Thanksgiving.
• Thanksgiving Day Football Game. The Revere High Patriots play at Winthrop High School at 10am on Thanksgiving Day.
• Charge for Replacement Student IDs. Beginning Monday 11/28, students who need a replacement student ID will be charged a $3 fee to their student account. This had been practice at RHS prior to the COVID Pandemic. It is important that students have their IDs on them to enter the building, but reprinting these IDs costs. All students who need a new ID have received multiple opportunities to get them without charge this year and will continue to be able to get them without charge this week. After Thanksgiving, the fee will be applied to students accounts.
• Annual Ugly Sweater Coats for Kids Holiday Party: The 7th Annual Coats for Kids Ugly Sweater Party @ DRYFT in Revere will be on 12/8 from 6-9pm. All donations and proceeds from this event will go towards fulfilling the lists of coats needed for students and families from every school in RPS. Please send questions to RHS School Resource Officer Joe Singer (jsinger@reverek12.org).
  

Join SEPAC Revere for a virtual training hosted by Massachusetts Advocates for Children on the basic rights of special education students and their families! The event will be held on zoom Thursday 12/1 from 6-7pm. Those interested in attending should RSVP by 11/24 by sending an email to sepacrevere@gmail.com.

• Salem State on the Spot Admissions. Interested students should sign up now to apply on November 22nd during Period 3 (https://forms.gle/jU6vrrZN7kCR3Gms9). Applicants (except nursing majors) will receive an admissions decision at RHS on December 14th. There is no essay required and no application fee. Here is a link of majors to explore.
• Vocational and Technical Careers: Students interested in applying to participate in the Saturday Program at the Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School should apply by Tuesday 11/22. Application available in last week's Patriot Update or by seeing Ms. Currie in the Learning Commons.

RHS Student Athletes will have the chance to tryout for winter sports when we return from Thanksgiving Break. Remember, students cannot tryout for sports if they are not eligible to do so. That means they must have passed at least 3 classes on their Quarter 1 Report Card. Students who only passed 2 classes may see their Assistant Principal to create an intervention plan. Students who only passed 1 class are unable to try out. Here are the dates and times for try-outs

• Boys' & Girls' Indoor Track - 2:30 pm - 4:30 pm - Monday, November 28, 2022 - RHS Field House
• Girls' Basketball - 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm - Monday, November 28, 2022 - RHS Field House
• FR Boys' Basketball - 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm - Monday, November 28, 2022 - RHS Field House
• JV/Varsity Boys' Basketball - 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm - Monday, November 28, 2022 - RHS Field House
• Swimming - 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm - Monday, November 28th & Tuesday, November 29th - Garfield School Pool
• Cheerleading (Winter Season) - 4:30 pm - Monday, November 28, 2022 - RHS Field House

Athletic Calendar: Come support fellow RHS Patriots at Upcoming Athletic Events

Athletic Department Twitter: Follow RHS Athletic Director Frank Shea on Twitter @ADReverePats to stay up-to-date on wins from the week

Thanks to Revere Public School's Paul Amato, we were lucky to have two visitors from the New England Sports Network (NESN). Sergia Dupoux (Senior Technical Production Manager) and Colin Sheehan (Senior Operations Manager) came to the RHS Learning Commons during advisory on Thursday 11/17 to help students learn what goes into producing a live sports show. Students interested in media production, television production, web design or those want to learn more about covering sports on live TV have a chance to visit NESN in a few weeks. They will be able to tour the NESN studios and view a live taping of the Bruins pre-show on Wednesday December 7th. If you are interested in attending please see Ms. Walsh or Ms. Currie in the learning commons ASAP to get a permission slip. Space is limited!

On Saturday 11/19, JROTC Unarmed Drill Team hosted several Massachusetts Schools to compete in their annual home COMAL competition. This was an exciting event.

• First Place: Regulation, New Cadet Squad, Platoon Exhibition
• Second Place: Color Guard, Inspection, Dual Exhibition

As always, our JROTC Cadets worked hard and made us proud! Great job Patriot Battalion! This also serves as a time to honor the Senior Class members of the RHS Patriot Battalion, pictured above.

Thank you to Ms. DiCenso and her Synergy club for organizing a Thanksgiving Food Drive competition for RHS Advisories. Congratulations to Ms. Menissian's advisory for collecting the most items and thank you to all advisories that participated! The group would like to send a HUGE thank you for everyone's support with the Thanksgiving Food Drive! Because of all your contributions we were able to put together 12 large and full baskets for RHS families in need.

There was a great turnout for Saturday's Annual Powderpuff tournament against the Winthrop Vikings. Congratulations to the team and to faculty coaches Mr. Torrey, Ms. Angino and Ms. O'Donnell! It was a great afternoon for everyone who attended.

This week we had an amazing 24 students show up to audition for roles in the spring production of In the Heights at RHS. It was so exciting to see the line of students who showed up to audition! Best of luck to this group and their director, Ms. Menissian, as they launch the first musical production at RHS in quite some time!

The RHS Building Leadership Team is spending a lot of time this year trying to learn exactly what kinds of changes we need to make at RHS so that the school is the best we can be! We have a lot of exciting opportunities to engage students, faculty, family and the community in this work. Please consider joining!

The School Improvement Council meets once a month on Wednesdays after school. Faculty, students and families are invited to join on zoom or in person! Please e-mail Mr. Fellowes (MFellowes@reverek12.org) or Mr. Conway (jconway@reverek12.org) to share interest.

The Vision of the Graduate Working Group is a group of students, faculty and family interested in getting community feedback to shape the Vision and Mission of Revere High School. This group meets on zoom. Please email Ms. Goldman (BGoldman@reverek12.org) to join!

We are working with a group of RHS students interested in updating the electives we offer so that more students have more opportunities to take classes that they want to take! Students who are interested in joining this committee should contact Mr. Bowen. We will do most of our work between 11/28-12/22 so that we can propose changes to our Program of Studies in time for Course Registration. Faculty interested in this work should also reach out to Mr. Bowen!

RHS has received a $10,000 grant from DESE to help us study our school culture and make an action plan to ensure that RHS provides a safe, positive, respectful and inclusive school culture that ensures equity and honors diversity in identity and thought. We are looking for students, faculty and family members interested in joining the School Culture Team. Please e-mail Mr. Bowen if you are interested, as work for this team will begin after Thanksgiving.

A group of RHS Faculty and Building Leadership Team Members will be researching, talking to and even visiting other high schools to get ideas for changes we might want to make at Revere High School. If any community members (faculty, students or families) have ideas for programs that are worth exploring at other high schools, please reach out to Mr. Bowen so he can make sure this working group explores how these ideas could become reality at RHS in the future!

Melissa Mendoza & Kyle Phillips, Staff Writers

November 18, 2022

Biology is a branch of science that deals with living organisms and their vital processes. Biology is the study of life. As a field of science, biology is particularly important as it helps us to understand the living world. This is why all RHS freshmen students are required to take biology and there is no better teacher than Mr. Torrey himself! In this Q&A, Mr. Torrey discusses his approach to Biology as “the study of life” and reflects on his ways of teaching the subject.

Q : What classes do you teach?

A : I teach freshman Biology!

Q: Where did you attend college/what did you study?

A: I attended Morehouse college in Atlanta, Georgia. There, I studied Chemistry, Math and the Spanish language.

Q: Did you grow up liking/ or being good at bio or science in general ?

A: No, I was a terrible student! In high school, I was a B- student.

Q: Why did you choose to teach at Revere High School (RHS) ?

A: I was teaching in Boston Public Schools, and I was living in Revere. So, I applied to teach here because it’s closer to me.

Q: What do you think of Revere High School (RHS) ?

A: This is my 4th year here, I’ve seen a lot of changes around here. Some for better, some for worse. I try to associate with people who do the best for the students.

Q: What is your favorite moment about teaching?

A: My favorite thing about teaching is when students seem like they have an enjoyable time learning.

Q: When you are frustrated, what do you do?

A: I listen to music. I’m really into instrumental funk/soul right now but I'll listen to just about anything

Q: How do you keep students engaged?

A: I try to have a balance between content and personal things. I try to connect with students and teach not only biology, but life in general. I also did circle time where students stand up behind their seats and gather in a circle to talk about their life or whatever sparks their interest.

Q: What’s your advice to students who struggle with biology?

A: I’d ask, are you physically present in class? Are you following along with class? Use other resources like google? Learning is a process you won’t get it the first time.

Mr. Fergus is helping to organize a celebration of the world cup at RHS. We are inviting all staff and students to celebrate the arrival of the World Cup in the nation of Qatar beginning Friday 11/28. We encourage all to wear the colors of their favorite team, country or player to celebrate the "Beautiful Game" of Fútbol throughout the tournament, which will last until December 19th. This is the equivalent of 64 Superbowls in one month!

Note that the Revere Public Library has a replica of the World Cup for pictures on Thursdays and Saturdays for the next month!

This week was American Education Week in Revere Schools. We would like to highlight some work that teachers have shared with us this week. RHS Teachers - If you have something happening in your class that you would like to share with the RHS Community, please send me a quick blurb and some pictures by Friday and I will include it in our memo!

These AP Physics: E&M students analyzed a circuit diagram to generate a hypothesis about the voltage and current in it. Then they built the circuit and made measurements that showed their hypothesis was right on! Here is a video of their work in action!

Erta is deeply persistent. Erta actively seeks feedback on how to improve her performance and understanding of ELA concepts. She is impressively eloquent both in writing and in speaking. Erta is a deep thinker who is critical of literature and the world around her. Last year, as only a freshman, she was a finalist in the RHS poet laureate contest. Outside of class, she’s involved in like…everything. She is a member of the Rock Ensemble, Sophomore Student Council, Student Senate, and Speech and Debate Team. She takes a deep interest in local politics and advocacy work. Erta is a very impressive young person!

Elni is a lover of learning, and literature. Elni is currently in her second semester as a Writing Center coach, and is enrolled in both AP Lang and Black Lit this year (and took AP Lit last year). She both slays a good Harkness discussion, and helps her more reluctant classmates to find and use their voices by directly calling them in. She also serves as the student representative for the School Committee. She is involved in local politics and advocacy work, especially for racial justice and women's rights issues. She is currently a finalist for the Posse scholarship.

Ms. Barile's Film and Writing class provides students with the skills necessary to be able to recognize and analyze messages the entertainment industry and the media bombard them with on a daily basis. Millions of teenagers view movies on their devices every day. Teenagers need to be aware of the specific rhetoric targeting them as a demographic group. They should be able to recognize manipulation by the entertainment industry, and they should be able to detect when the media is sending them a political, cultural, or moral message.

Here is an example of a summative assessment for the class!

The Assignment: There is a quote in Hamlet that reads:

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy,

For the apparel oft proclaims the man - Polonius, Hamlet

You just watched Pretty Woman, and one of the aspects of the film you observed was how quickly Vivian transformed from street prostitute to high society woman by merely adjusting her wardrobe. Vivian's entire life changes when she receives her new, expensive clothing. Is it that simple? How accurate is Polonius’ statement that “apparel oft proclaims the man” (clothes make the man)? Be sure to give plenty of evidence to support your answer. Next, you can participate in a Sociological Experiment:

Pretty Woman Sociological Experiment

On Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday come to school dressed completely differently than you normally do. This does not mean wearing a costume. It just means "transforming" yourself through your clothing. For example, if you normally wear all black with sneakers, wear a skirt and low heels. If you normally just wear jeans and a t-shirt, wear a shirt and tie. In a reflection (about 2 paragraphs long), discuss whether or not people reacted differently to you, answering the following questions: Did people question your change? Be specific. Did changing your clothes change the way you were treated? Were people surprised by your "transformation"? Did you feel differently?

Student Work:

Mia's Work (Girl dressed in black)

Typically I dress practically, casually, and generally conservatively for my day. I’ll typically go for a hoodie and jeans, or a sweater when I want to look a little nicer. My favorite color to wear is brown, and I wear a lot of earth tones in general. When thinking about how I could change up my look I thought about the ways my friends dress and thought it would be a great idea to borrow an outfit from one of them. I texted my friend Gina and asked for an outfit, knowing we don’t see each other during the school day so it wouldn’t affect the experiment. They asked how far I was willing to go, and I just set a rule that I needed a warmer layer in case I get cold but other than that I was down for anything. When I think of Gina’s wardrobe I think about black with a bit of red and outfits with a lot less fabric than what I usually wear. The outfit they gave me included a short crop top that I would never typically wear, as well as a generally darker color scheme than my normal look. I thought it was different enough to incite a reaction, so I was ready to start my experiment.

I was immediately self-conscious about showing more skin than I’m used to, but that faded a fair amount over time. I do feel a bit more fashionable, and that brings a little confidence and fun to my day. I haven’t noticed much of a reaction from strangers because I know plenty of kids dress like this regularly, but my friends immediately noticed I looked different. I found a particularly interesting reaction stemming from the fact that all my friends are feminists. When I showed up to AP Stats and sat down, I felt like my friend Madison who’s a founder of FEM didn’t want to say anything about my look but was surprised by it. I saw her looking down and checking out the outfit a few times and I invited her to respond and she said she liked the outfit but admitted to being surprised because “it’s a bit more of Mia than I’m used to seeing,” which made me laugh. Surprise was a common theme, with friends’ eyes widening for a second when they saw me at the college fair but everyone said they liked the look. I feel like I’ve gotten a lot more compliments today than I do on a normal day. I’m curious about how the rest of the day will go because there are some friends I still haven’t seen. While I don’t see myself dressing like this regularly in the future, I’m glad that I tried the new look for a day and I might be persuaded to buy pieces that I normally wouldn’t have the confidence to wear going forward.

Mario's Work (Blonde-Hair boy in white shirt)

The moment I walked into class one of my closest friends started looking at me very surprised and right away questioned me about why my attire was different and if I had something important after school. Most reactions were similar; most of them just questioned me on what I was doing after school thinking I had to go work. I also got a lot of compliments from people saying I looked good, including teachers and other students. The change didn't really affect the way I was treated because most people that have reacted or have talked to me are all close friends and they know me very well so the treatment was the same. My close friends are mostly just making jokes saying that I must work at Market Basket after school or that I'm going to court later to get my citizenship. Most people were definitely surprised by the change; it seemed very obvious to everyone and their first interaction was to ask questions regarding the attire. I didn't feel too differently except for the fact that I got questioned a lot and had a little bit more attention towards me. I also feel a little bit awkward because this type of attire is not very usual in students, but I definitely like and enjoy dressing up outside of school so I liked to have this small change in school for one day. And lastly I do feel a little stressed because I want to make sure I look good the whole day and I don't want to have any sweat stains or wrinkles in my shirt.

The Young Empowered Scientists for ContinUed Research Engagement (YES for CURE) Program is a three-year training initiative for highly motivated high school and undergraduate students interested in pursuing a career in scientific research. Through engagement in mentored summer research projects, participation in an advanced scientific curriculum during the academic year, and year-round professional skills training, students will acquire scientific knowledge and technical skills, and increase their understanding of how to conduct biomedical research. This initiative is funded through an R25 grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI CA221738).

Program Features:

• Extensive program orientation and scientific skills training
• Two summers of mentored cancer research experiences at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
• Experience in composing an abstract and delivering an oral or poster presentation of your research
• Networking with students in other research programs, and with research scientists
• Seminars on research and professional development topics
• Journal club meetings focused on understanding scientific articles
• Mentoring and curriculum development experience with middle school students in Boston Public Schools
• Opportunity to present research at local and/or national conferences
• Summer stipends

Program Start Date: February 21, 2023

Applications Due: November 28th, 2022. (See Mrs. Currie for more information! tcurrie@rpsk12.org).

• Bullying, Harassment and Bias Reporting: You can use this link to make a report of bullying, harassment or bias.
• RHS Student Activities 2022-2023: You can use this link to explore student activities and when they meet.
• Community Service Opportunities: Students looking to find Community Service Opportunities should reference this spreadsheet. Community members who have opportunities for service can reach out to any RHS Administrator.

Are you or someone you know looking for a part-time role in the educational setting? Please spread the word! Revere High School is seeking part-time paraprofessionals to work in a variety of settings working with unique populations including students with special needs. Experience working with students with special needs, challenging behaviors, and/or early reading instruction preferred. These positions are 5 days per week, 3 hours and 55 minutes per day (19.5 hours per week). There are morning and mid-day/afternoon shifts available. Interested candidates can email interest to Caitlin Reilly, Deputy Principal, at creilly@reverek12.org or apply online at: https://tinyurl.com/RPSparaSEP