Monday, November 6th at 7:00 p.m.
L-OL High School Auditorium
The award winning documentary SCREENAGERS is about the impact of the digital age on children and how to help them minimize harmful effects and find balance. In the documentary, physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston takes a deeply personal approach as she probes into the vulnerable corners of family life, including her own, to explore struggles over social media, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through poignant and unexpectedly funny stories, along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, SCREENAGERS reveals how tech time impacts kids' development and offers solutions on how adults can empower kids to best navigate the digital world and find balance. 
                                               This program is free and open to the public.
                      Presented through a grant from the Lyme-Old Lyme Education Foundation.

On November 3 all students and staff of Lyme-Old Lyme High School will participate in a Health and Wellness Day.  The goal is to actively engage in various wellness activities to better equip ourselves to manage and help better balance our complex lives. 
The Wellness committee, made up of teachers, parents and community members from LYSB , CASFY, and our Safe School Climate Committee, have been planning this day for months and Friday, it will all come to fruition. We have reached out to over thirty community members who will voluntarily teach three 40-minute wellness sessions. Each session embraces one or more of the six dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, environmental and social. Tony Liberati, a comedian, will kick off the afternoon with some healthy laughter after which students and staff will proceed to their previously scheduled workshops. Workshops include forest walking, meditation, African drum circle, healthy food alternatives, discussions on mental health, Zumba, yoga, journaling and much, much more. This is the first time LOLHS has offered an event of this kind and we hope that balancing the ride with a healthier outlook on life becomes part of our conversations and culture. 

Last week LOLHS celebrated our Wildcat Spirit by dressing up all 5 days of school... in pajamas, as devils or angels, in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness and in their class colors. As the grand finale, students were all set to celebrate and show their true class pride at our annual fall pep rally. Unfortunately, the pep rally was postponed but will be rescheduled soon!  

                                                         Take a look at some photos:

The newly formed Spanish Honor Society taped Sr. Vazquez and myself up to the wall!. Any student who wanted to tape us up paid $1 for a strip of tape. All proceeds are going to help support hurricane victims in Puerto Rico.

Congratulations to the JV Math Team who  defeated all small division  schools at their 2nd match on October 26th.  Ryan McTigue led with a perfect score of 18 followed by Connie Pan, Ted Wayland, Juliette Atkinson, Evan St. Louis, and Rachel Larson.
                                       Way to go Wildcats !

Lyme-Old Lyme High School welcomed three new teachers to the ranks at the beginning of the year.  I'd like to introduce you to them and share a little bit about them....

Maureen Lefevre  re-joined the World Language Department after six years of working in  the Middletown Public School system while completing her Master's Degree at Wesleyan University.  Prior to becoming a French teacher in the US, Maureen lived and worked in France for 15 years. She worked in the business sector with media and cultural organizations including newspapers, magazines, TV and museums.  Upon returning to the US, Maureen wanted to keep French alive in her life and share her love for the language and culture with others... teaching was a natural fit. She loves working with teenagers because they have the whole world in front of them. Her impressions of LOLHS: "it’s a community that values and fosters learning for everyone I really appreciate that!

Elizabeth Cleveland joins our English Department. She previously worked at Haddam-Killingworth Middle School for 4 years before which she taught  Freshman English Literature at Penn State for one year. She enjoys opening up young students minds to new ideas and concepts. Her impressions of LOLHS are that "students are so  polite and here to learn – so different – this community values education and that comes through with the kids." Lizzy is happy and excited to be part of the LOLHS community.
 
Emma Cox worked six years at Lymen Memorial High School in Lebanon, Connecticut prior to joining our faculty. Emma loves helping the students and finds it so rewarding when she can see the lightbulb go off in a student's eyes. She also enjoys making meaningful connections with students. When asked about her impressions of LOLHS thus far she said, " my perspective is that it is a  tightly run ship -  everyone is friendly - and the building is beautiful."

Please join me in welcoming all three of these wonderful new additions to our school community.

On October 23rd, students participated in the annual Mole Celebration. Take a look at their creative representations of the MOLE... This year's theme was Mole-Vengers. ​​

On Oct. 14th at 5:30 am 23 members of the LOLHS Community Service Club traveled to Hartford to manage a water table at the 7th mile of the Hartford Half Marathon. The club members  provided water, Gatorade and goo to over 4,000 runners Including our own...
​                                 Congratulations Mrs. Duhamel and nice work Wildcats!

Each year, the Lyme-Old Lyme community does our best to support families in need during the holiday season. Although it is hard to imagine, it is approaching that time of year when it is necessary to begin coordinating our holiday outreach program. It may be difficult to ask for help, but please know this offer to do so is a genuine attempt to help any of our families who may be in need of assistance. Any family who could use a little help for the holidays is urged to contact me directly via email [email protected] or by phone (434-1651, ext. 1002). Please know this information will be kept in strictest confidence. If you are in need of and are willing to accept support this holiday season, please download and complete this Wish List Form.
​             Completed Wish Lists are due back in my office no later than November 3rd.

The Cross Country team enjoyed a wonderful day at Fisher's Island on Friday, October 13 after hosting the Mega Meet on Thursday... keep running wildcats!

Lyme-Old Lyme Wildcats competed at the Yale Physics Olympics on Saturday, October 14. Student competed against 50 other teams from around the state under the leadership of their captain Hannah Morrison. Reed Spitzer, Ryan McTigue,  Sarah Kwon and Hannah completed in five different events in which students needed to apply their knowledge of physics to solve puzzles. LOLHS Wildcats came in 2nd Place!.
                                                              Way to go Wildcats!

On Thursday, October 12th, seniors celebrated the first of this year's "Senior Celebrations" with the Annual Academic Letter Ceremony. It is presented to all seniors who have achieved a cumulative Grade Point Average of 90 or better after six semesters of hard work. After the morning ceremony,  students and parents enjoyed a small reception.
                                   Way to go Academic Letter Recipients!

Last week Tom Pincince addressed our students sharing his experiences about the Power of Social Media and how we should all THINK before posting. Smartphones of today were compared to cigarettes were of the 50s... Everybody smoked and only recently are we understanding the effects of them.  It will not be for several more years that we will begin to understand the effect of Smartphones and ... Social Media.
Below is an article that was published just last week on TIME.com... Please take a minute to read it.

Lyme-Old Lyme High Schoo under the direction of Barbara Leen, is proud to announce the newly developed Math Academic Center (MAC). MAC will be open in the library starting Monday, October 16th. The Center will be open to all students and is staffed by students. It will be open during the school day, including fifteen minutes before and after school. Any student with homework questions can come to the Center for guidance and support.  All students are encouraged to stop by and see what the Center is about! If you have any questions you can contact Mrs. Leen at [email protected]
Thank you to the MAC Committee:
​Hannah Morrison, Kathryn Atkinson and Emily Tan

On Wednesday October, 11 the Rotary Club hosted the first Student of the Month Celebration for this academic year. Three students from Old Saybrook, Westbrook and Old Lyme were recognized for their excellence in English. Congratulations to Sarah Kwon who was named by Lyme-Old Lyme High School English Department as the Rotary Student of the Month. Sarah was recognized for her passion for learning and the excellence with which she uses words in an artful and meaningful manner through all  modes of communication. Sarah is also so deserving of this award as she is a student who truly models the Rotary motto of  "service before self". She is a role model in our school community seeking out ways to help our community whenever possible.             
                         Well Done Sarah!  ... CONGRATULATIONS!

Along with some other projects, Lyme-Old Lyme's National Honor Society teamed up this past week to raise money for Hurricane Relief through... TIE DIE and PIZZA sales! 

This week and next, come and see it for yourself!. Lyme-Old Lyme High School is excited to be hosting the next 2 big Cross Country league races right here in our back yard! The Mega meet is this Thursday October 12th  and the Shoreline Championships next week on Friday, October 20. Both meets will be starting at 2:30 pm (rain date Saturday 10/21- 10 am).