On Friday, January 29, 2021, the Mock Trial team competed in the Civics First Mock Trial competition. The day consisted of two zoom trials that took place over ten hours! The defense team, led by senior team captains Kate Cheney and Ava Berry, battled Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy. Perfect scores of 10/10 were awarded to sophomore Rhyleigh Russell (witness) and senior Connie Pan (witness).  Over all, the team scored an impressive 129pts out of a possible 140 pts, securing a 20 pt. victory.  Next, the Prosecution team, led by senior Riley Nelson, battled Ridgefield HS.  Perfect scores of 10/10 were awarded to freshman Delaney Nelson (attorney), freshman Luisa Warlitz (witness), sophomore Billy Barry (attorney), senior Paige Kolesnik (witness), and senior team captain Riley Nelson. Overall, the team scored an impressive 131 pts out of a possible 140 pts, securing an 11 pt. victory.  The trials are power-matched based on scores so it’s only going to be harder the next round on February 26th. The top two scoring teams from the State will advance to the play-offs held (virtually) at the Connecticut State Supreme Court.

On Friday, January 29th, Mr. Motes and Mr. Wang, invited Olivia Turtoro, Ellie Wells, and Ana Colangelo to visit the 8th grade classes and talked about Latin and Chinese classes at the High School. They discussed the linguistic background of Latin and Mandarin Chinese and the students demonstrated and taught the incoming freshmen greetings in both languages. All incoming freshmen are required to take one year of a language and it our hope that students will get some background knowledge and be equipped to make some decisions that may impact their course selections for next year. 

Leslie Traver, Business Department Chair and Cyber Security teacher, has just been notified that she was selected as a Cyber Security Teacher of the Year.  Her award came with a letter and certificate saying:
 
"Congratulations! Teach Cyber selected you as a 2020 Cybersecurity Teacher of the Year: Passport to Cybersecurity award winner.
 

The Passport to Cybersecurity award recognizes teachers who have dedicated great time and effort to preparing for, recruiting for, and implementing a cybersecurity course at their school. Teach Cyber reported that they are recognizing Mrs. Traver for her "tenacity and dedication in preparing for a cybersecurity class at their school... This teacher’s efforts have resulted in students’ introduction to the field of cybersecurity."

The Lyme Old-Lyme Educational Foundation (LOLEF) seeks new membership!  The Lyme-Old Lyme Education Foundation in an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization that raises and distributes funds to enhance or expand enrichment programs, support innovative teaching and learning, and build educational partnerships between students and community members.  LOLEF frequently partners with the LOL public schools to support innovative ideas,  but they also support other educational opportunities in the community at large as well.  LOLEF has been inactive recently  and seeks new membership to be able to reorganize and revitalize programming, fund raising and partnerships within the community. 
 
There will be an upcoming informational session via ZOOM on LOLEF and its mission.  The date is TBA.  But, if you are interested, please contact Michelle Dean at Deanm@region18.org with your name, email address and phone number.  Michelle will contact you with the date/time of the meeting. 

Please review the information below regarding our School Messenger system and and notification preferences. When notification for  snow days and/or delays are sent out, the messaging system will send to the emergency contact list. Instructions for editing the preferences are written below. 

On Wednesday, January 27, LOLHS will be viewing the film, LIKE, during our extended advisory period.
​Please see the special schedule HERE.
Students began a discussion about how they see the use of cell phones and social media impacting their lives two weeks ago.

​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.

​Members of the LOLHS Environmental Club recently spent a few hours after school building bluebird houses as part of an ongoing collaboration with the Old Lyme Open Space commission. The houses will be installed on Open Space properties later this winter to insure they are available for spring nesting activity. If you are interested in being part of the Environmental Club email Mrs. Fried at friedh@region18.org to be added to our Canvas course and receive announcements about upcoming activities. 

​The Business Department is proud to announce that the following students have successfully demonstrated proficiency in Personal Finance by achieving a passing score on the nationally standardized Financial Literacy Certification Test. Subjects mastered include money, budgeting, banking, credit, insurance, investing, retirement planning, and financial planning and management. The following students are officially, nationally Certified Financially Literate:

Elliot Bjornberg
Grace Colwell
Emily DeRoehn
Matthew Grammatico
Jackson Harris
Emma McCulloch
Calvin Monte
Isabelle O’Connor
Michael O’Donnell
Charles Sahadi
Elias Sahadi

By Mr. Vazquez
We found an organization in California called TODEC.  They distribute letters to migrant children who are separated from their families at the border. We wrote letters in Spanish and drew nice pictures. We wanted to support those migrant children from Lyme Old Lyme High School.  Letters were distributed in detention centers in Arizona, Texas and California. Students also used Spanish grammar that we were practicing in class such as future, compound verbs and subjunctive.  We sent about 100 cards and used the cards designed by Mrs. Traver’s HS 101 students. Please take a look at the great job that our students did.

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!