November-December 2019 Knight Spotlight Rome Free Academy students graduate with compassionate hearts and powerful minds. Upcoming Events: November: BOCES Half Day a.m.: 11/8/19 Veterans Day: 11/11/19 NO SCHOOL Marking Period 2 Begins: 11/12/19 Thanksgiving Recess: 11/27/19-11/29/19 December: Senior Pictures Due: 12/2/19 BOCES Half Day a.m.: 12/5/19 SAT’s: 12/7/19 @ RFA RFA Winter Concert (Instrumental): 12/11/19 7p.m. @ RFA RFA Winer Concert (Choral): 12/18/19 7p.m.@ RFA Winter Recess: 12/23/19-1/3/20 SADD Club: Students Against Destructive Decisions will be participating in a campaign against the harmful effects of vaping. th 9 Grade-Class of 2023 Reminder to Freshmen: There will be upcoming class meetings to discuss fundraising. 10th Grade-Class of 2022 All Freshmen are welcome! The RFA Class of 2022 will be hosting two fundraisers through the end of the year: 11TH Grade-Class of 2021 First, their halfmoon fundraiser, in collaboration with Reminder: Open Mic Night will be Ferlo’s Bakery, will run from October 14 to November 4th coming up and auditions will be over the with a final delivery date of November 15th. Interested next couple of weeks! See Mrs. Pomponi parties can place orders by contacting a class officer, Mr. Jones, or Mr. Duffy by the order deadline. With the fall or Mrs. Campbell for more information! season now in full swing, a halfmoon paired with your favorite warm beverage could really make for a delicious and filling treat in these cold temperatures! Their second fundraiser is for gift cards from Texas Roadhouse in New Hartford! These gift cards make for a 12 Grade-Class of 2020 great dinner night out for yourself and family or as a gift to Senior Class Fundraisers another in the holiday season! They can be purchased in $5 Fun Pasta Fundraising deadline is November increments for any total that you may want and are available from October 24th to December 3rd with a delivery date of 15th December 17th, 2019. Even better, Texas Roadhouse is Senior Shirt Order deadline is November going to sponsor the RFA Class of 2022 on Tuesday, 22nd January 14th, 2020 by donating 20% of all profits earned Pentatonix Ticket Giveaway deadline is when you tell your waiter/waitress that you are there to December 6th support our class! They look forward to seeing you there for amazing food, good times, and a great cause! Thank you for your continued support, we greatly appreciate See Ms. Hoskins for details! it!! Congratulations to our 53 New Inductees to the RFA National Honor Society! Music: Upcoming Music Events: December 5th - Coffee & Carols with the RFA Chamber Orchestra & Select Choir December 11th- RFA Winter Concert (Instrumental Only) Congratulations to the following RFA students who were accepted in the NYSSMA Zone 4 Area All- State Symphony Orchestra! The Area All-State Music Festival will take place at Rome Free Academy on November 15th and 16th. Lily Bone - Violin Hannah Carlson - Violin Katherine Dursi- Viola Ella Hannafon - Violin Art: During the month of October, Pratt Art Institute visited Mrs. Anderegg's classroom. Art students were invited to watch a presentation by Admission’s counselor Rayen-Boe Shutler. Various art majors and careers were presented followed by a question and answer session with the students. Many exciting possibilities were explored. Holiday Window Painting - J.C. Penney will host our 3rd annual Holiday window painting contest beginning on Saturday, Nov. 2. Each class will paint a holiday themed window that will be subject to public vote during the months of November and December. The winning class will receive $200. Come see the festive displays and vote for your favorite. Art club meets regularly on Wednesdays after school. New members welcome! Technology: What do you do when it's getting dark and you have a soldering iron and some other stuff around? In Basic Electronics and Electricity class you use your knowledge of basic circuits to go ahead and MacGyver up some flashlights. Students had to use their knowledge of soldering and circuits to figure out how to build a flashlight without detailed instructions. STASS: STASS student’s enjoying a planning breakfast at the SAVOY! Students enjoyed participating in Heat Of Fusion! Our Administrative team representing all classes for Heat Of Fusion! RFA students enjoyed a French Club vs. Spanish Club Soccer Match! After School Tutoring Program The After School Program will run from 2:15 - 4:15, Monday through Friday as follows: 2:15 - 3:05 RFA students may stay after in the library to do work 2:15 - 4:15 District-wide students who have been suspended are required to stay for the full two hours Transportation for the After School Program will run Monday through Friday for students. If you have any questions, please contact Stacey Tiller at [email protected]. FROM THE COUNSELING OFFICE AT RFA: Seniors are busy working on their college applications and planning for their futures. Students should be completing their Common App or other on line applications. Computers are available in the guidance office for students to use to work on their applications. If a senior hasn’t seen their counselor to discuss their plans for next year they should do so before the end of the month. Application Help Nights will be held on November 12 and December 10 in room 2200. Guidance Counselors will be available from 4:00-7:00 to assist students as they finish their college applications. MVCC Field Trip Permission forms to join a field trip to tour both campuses of MVCC are available form Mrs. Carletta in the counseling office. The field trip will take place on November 8. Seniors considering attending MVCC should take advantage of this opportunity to see what is offered at MVCC. SAT The registration for the December 7 SAT is November 8. Students who would like to take this test should register at collegeboard.org. College Connection is a grant program through which Oneida County high school juniors and seniors can take one or two college courses per semester on the MVCC campus. The tuition for the courses is funded by the grant and families are only responsible for the associated college fees. Registration for Spring College Connection classes opens in November and closes December 16. Students interested in this program should see their counselor as there are some things that have to completed before you can register for the on campus courses. The ASVAB (military placement test) will be given on 11-26-16. Students who wish to take this test should register in the guidance office by 11-22-16. About 100 members of the Junior class took the PSAT in October. Scores from that test should be available in the coming weeks. Juniors should be starting the college and career planning process. Naviance has access to several excellent college and career search websites. Sophomores will soon begin attending Career Seminars. Last week tenth graders were given a survey so that they could choose which seminars they wished to attend. Every Thursday a professional from our community comes to RFA to share with our sophomores information about their career. Students interested in each career field are invited to attend the seminar. We will present 20 different seminars this year. The Counseling Department is pleased to Welcome the Class of 2023 to RFA. During the month of November the freshmen counselors will meet with all ninth graders and to discuss graduation requirements and other issues relating to transitioning to high school. Nathan Harmon Assembly Nov. 12, 2019 Organized by Karen Gaesser/Howard Britton Personal Wellness Classes Meet Nathan Nathan Harmon is an international speaker and the founder of Your Life Speaks. Nathan speaks at Universities, public and private schools, conferences, retreats and many other venues coast to coast. He has been recognized as the Top Booked School Speaker in 2017, 2018 & currently is on pace to speak in 200+ schools in 2019. Nathan is married to his amazing wife Alexis and is blessed with two children Ashton and Juilianna. Your Life Speaks was born from Nathan's desire to see every person recognize their potential and realize they are more than their difficult past. His energetic and powerful messages resonate with all age groups and he is beyond passionate about people and encouraging lifelong change. Nathan's message comes from a combination of a troubled past and a great desire to help others overcome many of his same struggles. In his younger years Nathan battled divorced parents, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, alcohol and drug addictions, bulimia and eventually jail. On July 17th, 2009 Nathan was the driver in a drinking and driving accident and from that experienceBe sure his tolife wasfollow changed us forever. on NathanTwitter is now for over 10more years soberupdates and wants and to share hope and a successful future withevents! others. @RomeCSD Nathan has a weekly podcast Real Life, is writing his first book and will be working with a documentary this year about the world wide issue of suicide. You can find him on youtube, facebook, instagram,The spotify, new Knight and twitter. Times site is up and running on the RFA website. Go to rfa.romecsd.org and follow the link to the Knight Times page which is listed under the 'About RFA' tab! .