Friday, January 15th, was Elizabeth's last day at LOLHS. She boarded a flight on Saturday to return home to Germany. Elizabeth has been an exchange student with us for this past semester hosted by Alexis Fenton and her family through an international student exchange program, FLAG. 
Elizabeth shared that while she is excited to go home to see her family, she is sad to leave. She has really treasured her stay with Alexis and at LOLHS. She participated in soccer this fall, a sport she had never played before but thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people and being part of the team with Alexis. Academically, Elizabeth shared that in Germany, everyone said that American schools were easy. However, she did not find that at LOLHS- she was pleasantly challenged. She participated in a full schedule of classes including Civics, French II, Algebra II, Environmental Science, Intro to Psychology, Symphonic Band and English, excelling in each. 
She will be returning to her hometown, unable to see friends or go to school, as they are on lockdown at the moment.  Her school  is completely remote and does not have the same level of technological support so learning will be asynchronous and mostly done on hard copies. 
As much as we are sorry to see Elizabeth leave our Wildcat family, she is equally saddened. She expressed that she was feeling just at the point of feeling "normal" with the language and routines and now has to leave. While she was unable to see much of the US touring due to the covid restrictions, she looks forward to returning sometime soon to meet up with her newfound family, visit LOLHS once again, and see the sights in person! 

On Wednesday, during our advisory period,  LOLHS students began a discussion about how they see the use of cell phones and social media impacting their lives. The also submitted a survey sharing their perceptions, the results of which will be shared at a later date. This prepared them for the viewing of the movie, "LIKE", which all students 6-12 will view on Wednesday January 27 during an extended advisory period. LYSB has made this possible for all students and is also providing a similar opportunity for the community to view the night before!
This is a rare opportunity as the film is not available for viewing anywhere.
I really encourage you to take advantage of this as it is a very powerful documentary that reveals many truths. See below flyer for registration information.

Lyme-Old Lyme High School has been recognized as a 2019-20 CIAC Michaels Cup Recipient.  LOLHS was chosen by the committee for our willingness to subscribe to the Class Act Sportsmanship standards, empowering students to take an active role in the school climate and the continued support for community service.  CIAC appreciates that sportsmanship a priority in our district. The CIAC virtual Sportsmanship Conference will be held on February 10.

     WAY TO GO WILDCATS!

​The TREX Challenge is off to a resounding success! The district has collected over a 1000 !!! pounds of plastic film since Nov and the HS is leading the charge. You are all amazing for your commitment to the cause. 
 
The Environmental Club put together a friendly reminder about how to determine if your plastic film is appropriate for collection. It's a few seconds long and features a lot of helpful hints. Take a look! 
 
VERY SUPER SPECIAL THANKS to Megan Winski and the Life Skills students for helping to collect and weigh the plastics before they are delivered. 

 Congratulations  to  Connie Pan for being selected by the Science Department as the January Rotary Student of the Month.  Connie Pan is a young woman of many talents one of which is that of an outstanding science student.  Connie’s passion for science began with her long-time involvement in Science Olympiad as both a participant and coach. Academically, she has strong critical thinking skills, excels in all areas of science, and actively seeks out opportunities to apply her knowledge in environmental conservation and resource sustainability. She is one of the founding members of the LOLHS Environmental club, a student member of Region 18 Sustainability committee and a Youth Conservation Core member at Northwoods Stewardship Center. She also attended Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth summer programs in Neuroscience and Paleobiology. Connie is considering journalism, sciences, or the arts in college.

         Nice work Connie!

​Mrs. Traver and Mrs. Hedwall wanted to help students manage their stress at the end of the quarter, so they scheduled a lesson with Ms. Ulasevich in their High School 101 class. Ms. Ulasevich taught a lesson about self-regulation, specifically with movement and stretching exercises. The students learned both energizing and calming stretches they could do in their seats throughout the day to address a variety of moods and emotions. 

​The LOLPC is sponsoring a virtual 'Hidden in Plain Sight' presentation for parents, caregivers, and community members.  

In case you missed the editorial published in The Day on Saturday in the Opinion section, here it is! It is worth the read.  In such abnormal and unprecedented times, Lyme-Old Lyme really does shine.

The Day
Published January 08. 2021 5:51PM 
Lindsay Joslyn
Superintendent of Lyme-Old Lyme Public schools, Ian Neviaser, is proud that all the students in his district have been able to come back to school, full time in-person since Sept. 1.
"When we shut down last March, it was really hard on the kids and the teachers. So we sat down and started planning back in April and into the summer on what we were going to do. Hybrid is a nightmare and not an effective model for our teachers, so it really came down to two choices: we were either all in or all out. We decided to go all in and put all our effort into making that happen safely."
Lyme Old-Lyme Public Schools has five public school buildings within its district — a high school, middle school, two kindergarten through fifth grade elementary schools, and one Pre-K center — that collectively teach approximately 1,300 students.
Neviaser explains that by following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines of mask wearing, hand washing and social distancing, Lyme-Old Lyme schools were able to welcome their students back into their classrooms. It took a task force coming together to make a plan to re-open.

The 2021 season brings new challenges and opportunities. If you have not yet heard, the LOLHS Robotics Team is designing and building a Satellite…a CubeSat to be specific. The details of our mission are yet to be determined. Saturday, January 9 was the kick-off meeting as they plan to take the Techno Ticks into orbit!
To learn more about CubeSats... take a look:

First, congratulations to Mary Seidner and the LYSB for their amazing work! LYSB and the LOLPC has been awarded a Federal DFC grant!   This allows the continuation of all the amazing Prevention Work in LOL for the next 5 years!
And for what is coming up on their calendar... take a look!

​Alum, Jared DeCarlo, now works for Boston Dynamics and wrote the programming code for these robots to dance. Amazing!

I'm not sure you had a chance during the holiday rush to see the article published in The Day on December 23rd... recognizing our own Emily DeRoehn as the All-Area Girls' Soccer Player of the year. 
See article, photos and video below!

Published December 23. 2020 5:06PM | Updated December 23. 2020 5:31PM
​By Gavin Keefe   Day staff writer

Emily DeRoehn prefers to keep busy. She believes she’s more productive that way.
So her daily schedule is usually quite full. 
DeRoehn competes in a sport during every season — soccer in the fall, basketball in winter and outdoor track in spring. 
She’s involved in several activities at Old Lyme High School, serving as editor of the yearbook and on the CIAC’s student athletic advisory board.
She also recently started working with athletic director Hildie Heck to help Wildcat teams get involved with community service projects. 
When DeRoehn has free time, she’ll go outside and juggle a soccer ball, something she tries to do 30 minutes every day. 
“I think I function better when I’m busy,” DeRoehn said. 
Her impressive accomplishments back that up. 
DeRoehn excels academically and athletically, belonging to the National Honor Society and earning all-state status in girls' soccer for the second straight season this fall. She also was named the Shoreline Conference Player of the Year in the sport. 
A senior defender, DeRoehn is The Day’s 2020 All-Area Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year.
“I’ve enjoyed Emily quite a bit,” Old Lyme coach Paul Gleason said. “Emily had a great career with us. I’m going to miss her dearly. She’s quite a soccer player, quite a young woman and quite a leader. I can go on and on about her. She’s really top of the line in my estimation. 

By: Juanjo Vazquez
​It’s the Three Kings, or Reyes Magos (Melchior, Gaspar and Baltazar), who bring children their gifts in Spain, not Santa Claus (although he is becoming more popular now, too) on January 6, not Christmas Day. On the night of January 5, the Kings parade through the towns across the country with their entourage of helpers, animals and elaborate floats, throwing sweets out for the children. When the kids return home, they leave out their shoes for the Kings to fill with presents overnight.
At the National Spanish Honor Society, we created a new tradition in which students leave their shoes and if they were good members, they will receive candies (if they didn’t participate over the year, they will get coal). We are also aware of the Secret Santa so students brought a secret present for a friend. It was a nice way to finish the year.