2019-20, NUMBER 1 NOVEMBER 4, 2019 Deering High School Preparing all students for the future

Sports

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Arts November 4: Start of Quarter 2

November 11: Veterans’ Day, no school

November 12: PTO meeting

November 13: Early early release at 11:35 a.m.

November 27-December 2: Thanksgiving Break

Look inside to see the great things Clubs going on at Deering this year!

Academics Guidance

1 From Principal Dame

2 The GSA at Deering by Mattea Lo-Sears

The Deering GSA (Gender Sexuality Alliance) is an open, accepting, and safe space to be yourself and connect with others. GSA meets Below: Aghna Pinkham Potter, every Tuesday in Ms. Eiferman’s classroom Hero Barker Stone, Sammy during WINN. On Friday, October 25 at 3:00, Yusuf, Mei Machado, Mattea Deering’s GSA is having a Halloween Movie Lo-Sears, Willow Steeves, Night! We will be watching Hocus Pocus, Jayda Ray-James, Aysia everyone is welcome to join. We plan to have Truong, Eliza Scott, Kaipo more movie nights throughout the school Gorman-Swann, members of year to promote the GSA and meet new the GSA dress up for Spirit people. We hope you will join us at our first Week, and get excited for our Movie Night of the year! upcoming October Movie Night.

3 FROM THE MUSIC ROOM By Dr. Peter Stickney

Wow---- Our young musicians have a great deal of success to share with you.

Our Bell choir meets Wednesday and Friday mornings at 7am and are working diligently on challenging literature that we will play at the National Hand Bell of America Sponsored Spring Ring. The literature is challenging and we will be going up a notch from “tins” to “brass”. I am amazed at the dedication of our members, some who need to dash from Deering to Casco Bay or Paths using public transportation, cutting their rehearsal time short and absorbing the stress of getting to their respective schools on time. I am so very proud of them!!! Our Portland Public Schools will be well represented at the annual Veteran’s Day Parade. Our band students will play the traditional marches as we follow the parade route down Congress street to Monument Square. Lets hope the Tuba valves do not freeze as they did 2 years ago. The good news is that we are “All One School” and therefore all band members will be wearing the band jackets you saw at the Memorial Day Parade that unify the musicians. I do hope that you will get up and out to see the parade, as it sends a very loud message to the band participants that this is an event that is bigger than ourselves and sponsored by the Veterans organization. Plan on dressing warmly. Our band has played at the homecoming pep rally and football game and participated in our district 2 auditions; cut offs and results have not yet been determined. On Thursday November 7, the Chamber Singers and Chorus will participate in the Maine Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association Fall Festival. Other schools participated are Thorton Academy, Yarmouth, Winslow, Gorham, Greely, Massabesic, South Portland and Bonny Eagle. This will involve an entire day to art of Choral music. As usual the attire will be concert black, this is the policy of our All-State music festival and Portland Public Schools high school ensembles as embraced it. Students who need assistance with the wardrobe simply need to see Dr. Stickney who has established a concert attire closet to ensure all students have black “from stem to stern”. Acoylades to Joey Lancia who will be representing Deering High School at the All-State Jazz festival 2020. Mr. Lancia is a Senior and has worked hard to attain his achievement. Looking ahead with our calendar. Our bell choir will represent Deering High School on Monday December 1 at the school board inauguration at City Hall. Our winter concert will be Thursday December 12 at 6:30pm in the Deering Auditorium. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. That’s a good amount of news for you. Thank you for supporting Deering Music!

4 Welcome Deering’s newest staff members!

Michael Daly, Deering’s new Co-Curricular Athletic Director, comes to us from Portsmouth, N.H. although he is originally from Boston. Michael’s work experience includes serving as a Coach and Asst. Athletic Director in D1 & 2 college athletics for 20 years, winning 2 NCAA championships in lacrosse with Stonehill College and working as PR/Event Manager at TD Garden. Michael also has experience working in Investor Relations to small business start-ups and doing sports reporting/radio broadcasting for college football, basketball and for the Boston Celtics. As a side gig, he has also coached and planned team trips for USA college all-star teams in Prague, Sydney & Melbourne for 10 years. With a BA from UNH and with MS and MBS degrees from Northeastern University, Michael is happy to be in the Portland area where he can indulge his love of local farmers’ markets as well as local restaurants. He spends his free time with family and friends (especially his favorite nieces Ava and Bridget). He also enjoys all health and sports-related activities from running to cycling to yoga to surfing. He also likes to run in 5K/10K races, mostly for the free t-shirts and snacks. Michael loves the diversity as well as the sense of pride he sees amongst Deering’s students and staff. He is especially inspired by the teachers, and staff, and their dedication to making a difference in the lives of every Deering student, and going the extra step to do so.

Maryellen Wilson, Deering’s newest ELL teacher, hails from Cumberland, Maine. A graduate of Wheaton College and the University of Maine, Farmington, Maryellen has worked previously as a teacher in both Maine and Massachusetts, most recently in Lewiston. She also worked as an ELL teacher this past summer at the district’s Summer Language Academy. In Maryellen’s spare time, she enjoys reading, working in her garden, taking a dance class and spending time with her kids. She is delighted to be at Deering High School and wishes to thank her new colleagues for being welcoming and supportive.

Tatiana Noodleman worked as a graphic artist in Valparaíso, Chile prior to joining Deering’s staff as a Spanish teacher. Tati attended the University of Chile at Valparaíso before moving to the United States. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her children, swimming and doing outdoor activities. Tati enjoys being surrounded by Deering’s students who inspire her to give the best of herself every day!

5 Welcome Deering’s newest staff members!

After spending 8 years teaching in Philadelphia, Meghan Donnelly made the trek north to the Portland area after short stints teaching in Nashua, NH and Lewiston, Maine. Deering’s newest 9th grade English teacher, Meghan holds a BA in English from Oberlin College and an M.S.Ed from the University of Pennsylvania. In her free time, she enjoys reading, going to the beach, winning at trivia, going to the movies, shopping at thrift stores, bowling and hanging out with her husband and her cat. She is grateful to be working at Deering and to have the opportunity to learn from its staff. Meghan says “I love working at Deering because the students are amazing, the community is welcoming & supportive, and it already feels like home!”.

Leah Dixon is the new Make It Happen site coordinator for Deering High School. A graduate of Boston College with a degree in Biology, Leah comes to Deering after spending time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania. While in Tanzania, Leah taught biology, was the recipient of a Huru grant to provide menstrual supplies for 300 of her female students, and learned to speak Swahili. She also lived for almost a year and a half without running water or electricity. Leah is originally from North Yarmouth, Maine. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, stand-up paddle boarding and camping in the wilderness. Leah says that working closely with Deering’s students is the best part of the job!

6 Welcome Deering’s newest staff members!

Lizzie Nalli, Deering’s new school nurse, received her nursing degree (BSN) and a public health degree (MPH) from Georgetown University. Lizzie has been a nurse for 16 years, having worked in hospitals and out patient clinics. Originally from Maine, Lizzie has returned and now lives two blocks from Deering. She enjoys spending time with her family, being outside and cooking and baking. Speaking with patients and learning about their lives has always been one of Lizzie’s favorite aspects of nursing. Accordingly, Lizzie finds that the different experiences and cultures of the students at Deering makes every interaction that she has with them interesting and she is learning much from them.

Nabaa Alobaidi comes from Iraq and is Deering’s new Arabic teacher. Holding a master’s degree in Interior Design, Nabaa brings an artistic flare to her classes. Her life is built on the saying “I seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave” and she seeks to bring this quest for knowledge to her students as she shares her knowledge with them. She is a designer and a builder and enjoys spending her free time drawing, painting, wood burning, knitting and spending time with her son. She especially enjoys watching her students interact in the classroom as they help each learn Arabic.

Mike Lawson is the newest JMG member of Deering’s faculty. His position is that of HSC (High School Completion) Specialist, helping students figure out individual pathways to graduation. Mike holds degrees from the University of Maine, Farmington (Secondary Education, Social Studies and Geography) and USM (Educational Leadership). Originally from Milo, Maine, Mike has worked previously for 7 years as a History/ Alternative Education teacher. He has also coached golf, tennis and skiing in addition to working as a youth summer and sports counselor, a tee ball umpire and a Recreation Department laborer. Mike enjoys being outside, hiking, running and playing basketball and golf. He is currently working on fine tuning his cooking skills and spending time with family and friends around New England and northern Maine. He is hoping to revive the Deering golf program while here. Mike was an intern at Deering in 2012. He says that the diverse set of students, colleagues and activities at Deering helps to keep him engaged with the people and community around him.

7 JMG has been working on leadership development. We also recently participated in the Leadership Education Conference at Pine Tree Camp in Rome, Maine. We have teamed up with ELO to host a Career Walk event which coincided with a junior job shadow day on Oct. 23rd.

8 9 Kassim Kayira, well-known African journalist, visits

Deering by Isabelle Weyl

On October 28,2019 Deering was fortunate to have veteran journalist Kassim Kayira visit the Library. Originally from Uganda, Kayira is fluent in twelve languages. His career spanned over 20 years, most of them as a war correspondent covering Africa for the BBC. He answered questions from Journalism, French and History students and gave them a first hand insight into what witnessing, and surviving major conflicts in the 21st century entails. His stories were both harrowing and humorous providing those in the audience a brief glimpse of an extraordinary life. His advice to students, always following your dreams, make use of your multilingualism, and listen carefully to those around you, for everyone has a story worth hearing.

10 Spirit Week 2019

11 Spirit Week 2019

12 Happenings in the Social Studies Department by Jess Bean

The Social Studies department has had a busy fall engaging students in learning in and out of the classroom.

On September 20, 75 Deering Global Issues students from Ms. Dixon and Mr. Gordon’s classes, attended the Maine Global Climate Strike at City Hall Plaza in Portland to demand action on climate change including an end to the use of fossil fuels. They joined approximately 2000 other Maine youth for an hour of speeches, chants and songs in support of climate change action. This event occurred the same week that students were researching and conducting a Model United Nations simulation on Climate Change in the classrooms at Deering.

On October 29, students in the Global Issues classes took part in their final Model United Nations simulation. They prepared for this all quarter! The topic was gender equality and each student represented the country they’d researched. Students negotiated from their assigned country’s perspective and worked together to write resolutions that address gender equality around the world. As part of their unit on Democracy Around the World, Ms. Platt’s US and the Modern World students were treated to a fabulous slideshow from Ms Shmitt about the government of Bhutan (which is a puzzling mix of democratic and authoritarianism). Students were engaged in the presentation and it helped them understand the complexities of government and how to analyze the countries they were researching. Her presentation is highly recommended!

As part of their unit on Democracy Around the World, Ms. Platt’s US and the Modern World students were treated to a fabulous slideshow from Ms Shmitt about the government of Bhutan (which is a puzzling mix of democratic and authoritarianism). Students were engaged in the presentation and it helped them understand the complexities of government and how to analyze the countries they were researching. Her presentation is highly recommended!

13 Happenings in the Social Studies Department (continued)

Students in Ms. Bright’s AP Human Geography classes designed and executed field work on urban land use in Portland. Students were out in the city on Thursday, 10/31, participating in the data collection portion of the work. They looked at Portland through a specific lens that’s based on the concepts and models they’ve been learning about in class. Students examined various aspects of the city from pedestrian infrastructure, public services, and the impact of green spaces, to policing in Portland. Students will be making proposals around Urban Design to architects next week to architects next week.

AP Human Government, AP History, AP Psychology, and AP Human Geography students are busy digging in to the content and learning the skills associated with these college-level classes. Students are working hard and learning a lot!

This is just a sampling of they ways in which students are engaged in the social science and history classes at Deering!

14 Science News by Ian McLean

In addition to our regular programming, we have been working on opportunities to extend students’ science experiences outside the classroom:

In marine ecology, students made their way out to Kettle Cove State Park for a field excursion to mark the end of a four week unit on invertebrate zoology.

While the forecast called for showers and winds gusting to 25 out of the NE, the

intrepid biologists were instead blessed with only dramatic clouds and just enough breeze to carry away the scent of the exposed intertidal zone.

The goal was to fill their buckets with the greatest diversity of organisms and search for invasive Asian Shore Crabs, and to that end, they set a 15 year-and-counting record of 21 specimens - more than double any previous year. Next, following a unit on fish and fisheries, they hope to travel to UNE and tour the Aquaculture Club’s facilities.

15 Science News (continued)

The Portland Public Schools’ Sixth Annual STEM Exposition is set for Friday, Nov. 1 at the University of Southern Maine’s Sullivan Gymnasium. Each year, the Expo brings in approximately 1,800 visitors to see exciting STEM exhibits, and a few students from Deering’s Forensics Science class will be hosting a booth. Look for our very own Livia Serrappa on the news!

EnviroLogix, a Portland-based company that develops and manufactures innovative detection technology for every link in the worldwide food production chain, partners with the Portland Public Schools each year in putting on the Expo. Speaking of EnviroLogix, the science department would like to publicly recognize and thank them for their recent donation earmarked to purchase textbooks for our new Environmental Science course, debuting spring 2020. Thank you!

16 Skating Sisters

Hope Carroll, Senior and Mae Carroll, Freshman, at Deering High School recently competed at the New England Regionals Singles Challenge. The event was held in Westborough, MA on October 26-Oct 29th. This event is the first step in the qualifying pipeline for the US Figure Skating Nationals which are held in January in Greensboro NC.

This is Hope’s 6th and final appearance at Regionals. She has competed at all levels throughout her skating career. Hope is a double gold medalist through US Figure Skating, which only 4% of figure skaters achieve. Hope plans to pursue collegiate skating in college and will focus on coaching the sport she loves.

Mae has competed at 4 Regionals and this year made an appearance as a Novice Lady. Since Regionals are held each fall, it is always a challenge to participate in a fall school sport as a skater needs to train extensively in the weeks leading up to Regionals. This year Mae not only had a successful Regionals experience but she also played for DHS on the JV soccer team.

photos:

Hope Carroll (above)

Mae Carroll (right)

17 Guidance We are digging deep in the Guidance Office to get seniors ready for their next steps after Deering. It is a really exciting time, but News it can also be a stressful time. We have helped hundreds of students through this same process. We offer information sessions, workshops and individual time with students to make sure that everyone has their plans in place. These individual appointments are particularly precious to us as counselors.

Thirty students have already applied to college, many for Early Decision deadlines on Nov 1. We will be offering more WINN workshops to complete the Common Application (listen to announcements and check the Class of 2020 Guidance Google Classroom for more upcoming ELOs).

Financial Aid help: We have hosted four financial aid nights at Deering so far this year. On October 1, nearly 80 people attended a talk by Jessica Whittier from FAME about understanding the FAFSA. Ms. Whittier returned to Deering on Oct 16 to talk with seniors. On October 8, Bill Smith spoke to a full house about how to plan for paying for college. On October 22 Make It Happen organized a FAFSA completion workshop with language interpreters and several helpers from FAME. Also, remember that a representative from Fame is available every Monday during WINN in 323. If you need help with the FAFSA, contact your school counselor and we can arrange a meeting for you with a FAME representative.

Guidance curriculum: There is a lot going on for the underclassmen, as well. School counselors presented to freshmen in their English classes to register them for Naviance, introduce the graduation requirements and teach them how transcripts work. Sophomores heard from us in their US History classes to reorient them to Naviance and then again in their English classes to learn about their personalities and career exploration. We will visit junior English classes twice in November, first to gain an understanding of what colleges are looking for from applicants and then to learn what characteristics to look for in a college in order to find strong personal matches. Choosing which colleges to apply to is one of the most difficult, and yet most important parts of the college application process.

There will be a presentation on the evening of November 7 about the college application process. Juniors, sophomores and even freshmen are encouraged to attend to get a jump start on how the process works and what you can be doing now to make life easier in the coming year(s). Thursday, November 7 from 6-8 in the Deering Library.

We are excited to report that 95 new students have enrolled in Deering since the start of the school year. This is on par with past years, but this is a particularly special group. Soon they will be the veterans and we’ll be asking them to show the next new students around.

18 Math News by Steve Rogers

Deering High School is the only high school in Portland to offer students a dual enrollment option in math with its Quantitative Reasoning course. This course is offered in collaboration with SMCC in South Portland, so students have an opportunity to earn both high school and college credits for the course. This is the third year that the course has been offered with approximately 50 students signed up to complete it. This semester the students have traveled to both SMCC and USM as part of the course. Topics of study include how to finance college, how to develop and manage a monthly budget, how to compute interest in loans and investments and how to file income taxes. Students leave with applicable, real-world problem-solving skills.

9th grade math students have been working on building upon the foundations of Algebra through a series of project-based work, attempting to make math more meaningful. The students are working independently and collaboratively to apply the basic concepts to real world applications. In one example, the teachers and students represented their own lives using various algorithms. One of our departmental goals is to deeply engage all students in their math learning experiences.

AP Statistics students have been moving through the college level Statistics course. Statistics is a very real world math that students of any discipline will need in the future. It is not a typical math class in that there are very few calculations and formulas and lots of opportunities for hands-on labs. In fact, most of the class we use technology (calculators and spreadsheets) to analyze our data and the challenging part is understanding and explaining the results. We currently are conducting experiments to examine response bias - so how loaded questions or interviewer behavior can influence results.

19 News from the English Cluster by Jamie Romano

The English department is excited about our new format for English offerings at the junior/senior level. We now have three options that focus on different areas of interest within the English discipline. This year, we have Modern Journalism in which students will write article for our student newspaper and will participate in this year’s Camden Conference, where the focus is “The Media Revolution: Changing the World.” In Exploring Fiction, students study both classic texts and more contemporary texts that reflect the diversity of our world. Students are currently studying There, There and discussing how its literary structure and devices reflect the main idea. Film Studies students just interviewed a Hollywood director/writer/producer and are now working on horror as a genre in both literature and film. They are studying archetypes, by looking at universal symbols and how horror subverts them.

Our ninth grade humanities course continues to develop interdisciplinary units to engage students in critical thinking. Most recently, the students read “A Modest Proposal,” by Jonathan Swift, in conjunction with an AP Human Geography demographics unit and studied satire. They developed a satire newscast on a range of contemporary topics from gun control to vaping, which they presented in class. Many students were able to incorporate vocabulary learned in AP Human Geography into their presentations. Next up, students will be reading Of Mice and Men while AP Human Geography studies rural land use.

20 Art News by Kat Robertson

Students in Art 1 Foundation classes have been studying portraiture. Portraiture is a genre in art, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. Before the invention of photography, hand-made portraits were created to honor or memorialize loved ones or people who made important contributions to society. Students chose someone they wished to honor and created a shaded drawing of their subjects.

Drawings by David Musabwa (left) and Willow Steeves (right)

Below: Drawings by Katie Gallagher (left), Autumn Kenney-Marr (middle), and Abdi Abdirahman (right)

21 Students in the Studio Art class recently completed a unit on relief printmaking, where they learned the process of creating linocut prints with a narrative quality.

Artworks by Johana Rivera (above) and Gianna Charest (below)

22 World Language Department Update by Anne Dixon

The World Language Department continues to provide students with opportunities to develop proficiency in French, Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin Chinese.

Our Arabic language students have recently spent time playing games in Arabic on the Longfellow Elementary School playground and have practiced their cooking (and eating!) skills by making, baking and consuming pizza, all in Arabic.

Spanish 4 students spend time each week doing free voluntary reading in class, using books and materials purchased with a grant from the Portland Foundation for Education. Students are able to read their books in a new reading area made possible with donations from Donors Chose.

This year, the department will be offering new courses for heritage and native speakers of French and Spanish. These courses will offer a challenging and rigorous curriculum that builds on the existing linguistic skills as well as the cultural and heritage knowledge of our French and Spanish speaking students as they gain greater literacy skills.

Left:

Rosy Mejia Aquino and Rivaldo Sanchez, Presidents of the Spanish Conversation Club, hosted a pupusa party for their classmates in Molly Callaghan's ELL class. Pupusas were donated by Rivaldo's Aunt!

23 Diversity Among Us: All Males of Color Conference (2nd Annual)

On October 31, Deering welcomed 13 strong & empowering males of color and over 80+ male students of color for a 2 hour conference. Topics ranged from the stories of immigration to the US, struggles of being a male minority and an open Q&A for students to panelists.

Photo: (left) Berthlley Despacho ~PPS Multilingual & Cultural Broker, Abdullahi Ahmed~ Gateway Community, Claude Rwaganje~ProsperityME (Maine), Roy Chatterjee~ DHS Mentor Program, Patrick Abedi~PPS Language Acquisition Specialist, Xaiver Botana~ PPS Superintendent, Tae Chong~Catholic Charities, Ahmed Jasim~PPS Multilingual, Roberto Rodrigez~ School Board Rep, Carlos Gomez~PPS Multilingual & Lance Gibbs~USM Professor of

24

25