New Rochelle High School

School Announcements / Latest News

• NRHS TheatreWorks Invites You to 'See Rock City'

  Get ready to see Rock City.

  
  

  The TheatreWorks performers at New Rochelle High School want to take you there and some other tourist-luring locales in the musical See Rock City and Other Destinations, playing this weekend (March 14-16) in the Linda E. Kelly Theater.  

  
  

  Never heard of the show? That's just fine with the actors, who are eager to be the first ones many audience members see performing it.

  
  

  "It brings a new level of interest, because you don't know what to expect," said senior Chloe Werner, who plays a Niagara Falls tour guide.

  
  

  Director Anthony Stirpe steered clear of the more famous musicals and chose this relatively unknown show of vignettes of self-exploration, each centered around a different landmark.

  
  

  "This show is about community and taking chances while moving forward," Stirpe said. "That's what we need right now."

  
  

  Showings are Thursday, March 14 through Saturday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m., with a matinee at 2 p.m. on March 16. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for students and seniors.

  
  

  Theater-goers will see the story of three sisters who travel together to scatter their father's ashes on Glacier Bay, and of Kate, a runaway bride, who is tempted to take a risk by the Niagara Falls guide.

  
  

  "We're all trying to find something," said Anthony Johnson, who plays Jess, the character who heads to the titular Rock City with Dodi, played by fellow senior Melissa Ramondelli.

  
  

  Students were enjoying the challenge.

   

  "A lot of the harmonies are very complicated, and we tackle a lot of sensitive topics," said Donatello Immediato, a senior. He plays one of two friends who skip school to take a trip to Coney Island.

  
  

  (The show also includes some slightly stronger-than-usual language, which Stirpe advises may be inappropriate for children under 13.)

   

  The students also enjoyed putting on a show with plenty of substantive parts to play.

  
  

  "There is no one character who's the lead," said junior Dylan Feldman, who plays Grampy. "Everyone gets to show their talent."

  City School District of New Rochelle

• Forensic Students Learn from Wrongfully Convicted Man

  New Rochelle High School forensic science students had just learned about DNA evidence. Yesterday, they and some schoolmates gained perspective on the topic they could never get from science studies alone, when they heard the harrowing first-hand account of man wrongfully imprisoned for 16 years before DNA evidence proved   that someone else committed the crime.

   

  "I was a sophomore," Jeffrey Deskovic said of his wrongful conviction in 1990. "I was younger than most of you."

  
  

  Despite the original DNA evidence in the case, Deskovic was convicted of murder on the strength of a confession he says was coerced. It wasn't until 2006 that Westchester County's then-District Attorney Janet DiFiore ordered another DNA test, which led to Deskovic's exoneration and release.

  
  

  He spoke Thursday in the Whitney M. Young Jr. Auditorium to an audience of mostly juniors and seniors from two forensic science classes, the AP Government class, the Law in Government Class and others. He told them about starting the Deskovic Foundation to further his work on behalf of others who are in prison for crimes they did not commit.

  
  

  "I wanted to take my work to the next level," he said. "I wanted to reach back into the prisons and free people - innocent people - who were in the same position I had been in."

  
  

  He told them of the challenges of returning to society after 16 years - unfamiliar technology, lost friends and family members, the difficulty in finding a job. He received a master's degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and is set to graduate with a law degree from Pace University in May.

  
  

  Speaking with the experience of a former inmate, he urged the students to appreciate what they have, enjoy sunlight and the freedom to travel and to understand that they can overcome difficulties. For those entering law enforcement, science or the legal professions, he implored them to dedicate themselves to doing the job well.

  
  

  "Take your job very, very seriously, and go that extra mile," he said.

  It was a message received by students such as senior Kimberly Sanchez, who plans to become a police officer.

  
  

  "It helps me to see how I should be as a cop," she said.

  City School District of New Rochelle

• Forrest, Manns Sign with Holy Cross, UMaine

  Huguenot running back Jordan Forrest had already announced that he would attend College of the Holy Cross next year, but teammate Khairi Manns kept followers in suspense until the signing ceremony.  

   

  On Wednesday - National Signing Day - Manns, the football team's defensive end, revealed that he will attend the University of Maine. They held a ceremonial signing in the New Rochelle High School library, applauded by family, friends, teammates and supporters. Several reporters captured the event.

   

  Forrest, Manns and the entire team have spent much of the year in the spotlight, mainly when they fought their way to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association state championship in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse in November. Ultimately, Aquinas Institute - a private school in Rochester - won the game, but the Huguenots' performance captured the hearts of New Rochelle.

   

  Last month, Forrest was named Player of the Year for Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters Association. Last week, he was named one of the "Golden Dozen" by the Westchester Chapter of the National Football Foundation for his excellence on the field and in the classroom.

  City School District of New Rochelle

• NRHS AP Government Class Visits Washington

  New Rochelle High School's AP Government class, led by teacher Debbie Minchin, took a four-day trip to Washington D.C. to learn about the workings of our government.  

   

  Also accompanied by teachers Timothy Kuklis and Timothy Orlando, they toured the Capitol and met with U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, whose Congressional district includes New Rochelle. They visited the U.S. Supreme Court, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Library of Congress and the United States Holocaust Museum.

   

  They also took a nighttime tour of the monuments and placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. The trip included a performance of "Twelve Angry Men" in Ford's Theatre, where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.

   

  "Sitting in the gallery of the House of Representatives made me tear up," said senior Dylan Klein. "I want to be there as a legislator one day."

   

  Student Alexander Gonzalez said; "The trip was a wonderful opportunity to learn and explore in an exciting new environment, and to enjoy being with my friends to experience a place where many of us have never been before."

  City School District of New Rochelle

• Food Ed Students Serve Schoolmates 'Mindful' Lunch

  Forty New Rochelle High School students were treated to healthy dishes including beet bruschetta with hummus and sweet potato and parsnip soup served by their schoolmates recently. The student cooks in the Science of Food class whipped up dishes from their own recipes with farm-to-table, sustainable ingredients as the culmination of a semester-long "Food Ed" program with the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. They studied personal and cultural connections to food as well as topics of sustainability. The lessons focused on many facets of agriculture, even caring for the soil itself. "They studied how to maintain healthy soil, how to restore depleted soil and how the foods that you choose to grow have an impact on that living skin of the earth," teacher Julia Chillemi Kouyoumdjian said. For the lunch event, Chillemi Kouyoumdjian's 30 students prepared, cooked and served the meal to two other classes in Room 207. The focus was "mindful eating," which "increases your awareness of the positive and nurturing opportunities that are available through food selection and preparation," their menu explains. It continues, "Eating mindfully is a practice that uses all your senses in choosing to eat food that is both satisfying to you and nourishing to your body." They chose ingredients from the Stone Barns farm; others were sustainably sourced. In addition to the bruschetta and the sweet potato soup, there was kale risotto, "classic farm soup" and a seasonal salad. With each course came a story about how people can share their cultures by sharing foods, how food can be a form of medicine and how healthy soil leads to more nutritious ingredients. Students who took the class said they planned to eat healthier and to spread the word about the connection between how we grow food and the world around us. "I commit to eating healthy foods and staying away from bad foods that may be detrimental to my health," Gillian Okaiteye wrote in an action plan questionnaire. Several said they would start their own gardens or join a community garden. Nick Calderone said he would like to help his mother cook and perhaps even make the family dinner on his own. Colin Logan, like many others, said he would let others know what he had learned. "I will spread awareness about issues with the food system, such as unfair distribution and non-ethical production practices," Logan said.

  City School District of New Rochelle