On June 15th, the Hamilton FFA ended the school year with a barbeque held at Albee’s Pond in Hamilton. At this event, members and guests had fun playing games and socializing with family and friends. Graduating senior members were honored which include, Lauren Jaquay, Tony Casarotti, and Josephine Jimenez. The 2013-2014 Sr. FFA officer team was also announced and are: Greg Palmer, President; Tyler Curtis, Vice President; Kallie Jaquay, Treasurer; Lindsey Palmer, Secretary and Reporter; Kristi Wratten, Sentinel; Teanna Wilcox, Student Advisor. Thank you to all who attended this event and congratulations to all of the elected officers.
On Saturday, June 15th, the Hamilton Central School Small Animal Care class held a dog and car wash at Tractor Supply, to benefit Wanderers’ Rest Humane Association, located in Canastota, NY. Wanderers Rest Humane Association is an open-admission shelter dedicated to providing the highest quality care and compassion for the animals while leading the community in creating a more humane society. Earlier this year, the class took a field trip to Wanderers’ Rest to volunteer and to help with other daily tasks at the shelter, which included walking dogs, cleaning blankets, filling litter boxes, and helping to socialize many cats. After visiting, the students realized how much this organization was providing for these animals and also providing the community with education and awareness on animal abuse and neglect. The students felt the need to help. They got to work organizing a blanket and towel drive and also a dog and car wash at the end of the year. They raised a total of $276.00 to benefit Wanderers' Rest. We would like to thank everyone who helped make this event a success, by donating blankets, coming to the car wash or contributing a monetary donation. The Small Animal Care Class would also like to thank Tractor Supply for allowing the use of their facility for the event. It's the event that students wait for all year...Elementary Field Days! This year's event brought out the entire elementary school, and included bounce houses, water relays, scooter relays, parachute games, a climbing wall, and much more! The event was organized by Mrs. Russin with help from Ms. Dean and Mr. Martin. Countless parent volunteers also helped to make the day a huge success. Check out the pictures below! In the early hours of June 13th, just as students were beginning to wake up at home, Mr. Mac Mikalunas captured this panoramic image of a rainbow arching over the school building. What a beautiful way to start the day!
If you have visited HCS over the last few days, you had the pleasure of viewing the beautiful artwork, created by Mrs. Houze's elementary art students. This year, the theme was, "People, Places, and Things." Student work celebrated the cultures, artists, and "things" of interest from around the world. From aboriginal Australia art and relief prints to Indian elephants and a beautiful chandelier armature, this show had it all! Kudos to Mrs. Houze and all of our elementary students on yet another successful art showcase! On Wednesday, May 29th, Ms. West’s sixth grade literacy class traveled to Spring Farm CARES on Rt. 12 in Clinton. Spring Farm CARES is different from other animal shelters because there is always a “forever home” if the animals are not adopted. There are over 150 animals that call SFC home including cats, dogs, bunnies, horses, goats, donkeys, chickens, ducks, geese, exotic birds, and gerbils. We spent most of the day learning about the different types of animals, and each has their own unique story on how they ended up at the sanctuary. As a class, we researched different organizations in our community that we could help. We decide to go to Spring Farm Cares as a “Pay it Forward” project where we showed appreciation to the SFC staff. Our mission was to give our time and dedicate a day to helping others. Before we visited, we put together projects such as rock paintings to use for paper weights, paper towel tubes stuffed with alfalfa hay, adoption cards that attach to the outside of the animal cages, and posters to hang up at events to advertise SFC. We also presented the staff with Jarcho cookies and supplies that can be used for the cats and dogs. We have many take-aways from visiting SFC. One that really sticks out is the importance of showing unconditional love to all animals and spaying and neutering pets. We also left feeling inspired to help more people in our community. Even though it was a lot of work to organize this trip, we realized that everyone can make a difference! English zoologist, BBC programme contributor and children’s author Nicola Davies presented lessons on nature and offered writing tips to Hamilton Central School students Tuesday, May 14, thanks to the support of the Hamilton Emerald Foundation and the Hamilton PTO. Davies, who currently resides in Wales, has been a presenter on BBC’s The Really Wild Show and has written numerous children’s fiction and non-fiction books, including The Lion Who Stole My Arm and Poo: A Natural History of the Unmentionable. While at HCS, Davies shared her love of whales and the ocean with elementary students. She taught them whale sounds and helped the students visualize the size of a whale by pacing off how large it would be compared to the school auditorium where she was presenting. “It was a really good visual,” said first-grade teacher Jessica Poyer. “A real life comparison made it easy for them to see. She definitely brought the sights and sounds of the ocean to the auditorium.” With middle school students, Davies highlighted her career as an author as she read from some of her newer titles, including The Elephant Road. English teacher Donna Moren’s Creative Writing class also joined with some of the middle schoolers as Davies discussed the writing process and the challenges of writing. “Many of the students had never thought about the idea of becoming both a scientist and a writer,” said Moren. “She was really dynamic. She is obviously passionate her work, and I love to see people who are passionate about their work.” Davies’ visit would not have been possible without the generous support of the Hamilton Emerald Foundation and the Hamilton PTO. The yearbook dedication is one of the most prestigious honors at HCS, primarily because it comes from the senior class. Students are careful not to let word leak about who this honor goes to until the yearbook ceremony, preceding May Jam. This year, the yearbook is dedicated to Mrs. Curtis, who will be retiring at the end of this school year. Check out the pictures below from the dedication ceremony! Congratulations, Mrs. Curtis! It was a night of experiments, demonstrations, and sharing of research by HCS scientists as they showcased their work at the annual science and technology fair. Organized by Senorita Castillo and Mr. Ellis, the event draws many students from PreK-12 and packs the high school gymnasium with student and parents. New this year was a judging component, which was undoubtedly a daunting task considering the top-notch projects that were entered. Congratulations to all of the students, who participated in this year’s fair. Start thinking about what you will share next year! Please check out the pictures and movie below, and check back often, as more pictures will be added over the next few days. This past friday marked the third annual Farm Days at Hamilton. This year's event was held on May 17th in the bus garage and was hosted by the Hamilton Ag classes & Hamilton FFA, as well as the Stockbridge Valley FFA. There were many types of animals displayed at this year's event including cats, dogs, rabbits, goats, a pony, a beef and dairy calf, chickens, ducks, peacocks and a pig. The Morrisville State College brought an aquaculture display, which included various types of trout. The day also included both tractor and horse drawn wagon rides, pedal tractor pulls, face painting (done by Hamilton art students), coloring, a hay maze and various types of games. Chobani also donated over 600 cups of yogurt to be given out at our event. The Stockbridge Valley FFA also had a display explaining maple production while allowing students to taste maple syrup. The Madison County Dairy Princess was also present and let kids taste-test different flavors of cheese. Next year, Farm Days will be held at Stockbridge Valley Central School and will return to Hamilton in the spring of 2015. The Hamilton FFA would like to thank everyone who attended and helped with Farm Days to make this year's event such success. |