Kids, Kids, Kids...

Over the past several weeks, I have been experiencing multiple events where we recognize kids for the great things that they have accomplished. Our schools continue to go out of their way to recognize and encourage positive behavior in school, and of course seniors throughout the country are recognized for their achievements in school at this time of year. When I was a kid, I don't recall half of this stuff to be honest. Maybe it's just because I wasn't worthy of recognition so I didn't participate, or maybe time have changed drastically in 30 years. Regardless, I continue to see things around and outside of schools change, however schools on the inside continue to resist. Most all school settings, procedures, expectations, environments are very static and similar to when us adults attended high school. Most parents can walk into a school setting and immediately remember their times in that building and recall events, instead of walking in and not recognizing it. Are we truly meeting the needs of kids in today's society with this mentality? Most every other public place has evolved over the last 3 decades and is almost unrecognizable to our childhood selves. Is this why so many kids drop out of college (or are not longer desiring to attend college) because they are not seeing how education relates to their world? People that are around me can you tell you that I firmly believe in making decisions that impact kids. Kids HAVE to be the focus of our public school system. We are a business in the business of educating and helping kids have a better life. Our kids generally don't have a seat at the table of decision making with their lives and too often our schools make decisions based on what's best or easiest for the adults (because it's how it's always been done), not what's right for kids. I wonder, are schools supposed to educate kids (which means allowing them to take risks, make mistakes, show them empathy, and help them learn) or are we still meant to teach compliance? The future of all of our lives depends on our kids. Our kids need to learn how to be thinkers and understanders of society, not merely compliant officers. The world is evolving at a rate that is faster than most want to accept, but our students need to try to work with tools and thoughts that are far more advanced than we have been trained to do. If we truly want our kids to be successful in college and career, then we need to teach them how to problem solve and think their way through challenging times. I know we as educators have it in us to be different, I just hope that our schools can get on board sooner than later. It won't be long before the students know more about the world around us than the teachers, and then we will have made ourselves obsolete. 

Congratulations Athletes

Congratulations to all of our Spring sports scholar-athletes and teams! The NYSPHSAA has released the list of scholar-athletes and teams for the Spring 2023 season. Our Scholar Teams for the Spring 2023 season include: Girls Varsity Golf coached by Dave Petrelli, Boys Varsity Lacrosse coached by Kiel Adams, Girls Varsity Lacrosse coached by Kayla Miller, Girls Varsity Softball coached by Gerry Closinski. Girls Varsity Track & Field coached by Nick Jeror, Boys Varsity Track & Field coached by Ted Swavely, and Boys Varsity Tennis coached by Larry Bevilacqua. In total, across all sports, we had 93 students achieve the Scholar-Athlete distinction. Individual awards are given to any student who has a cumulative GPA of 90% or higher; while team awards are given to teams that have 75% of the roster achieving a GPA of 90% or better. 

STEM Summer Camps

This summer, the Griffiss Institute will be offering nine STEM Summer Camp opportunities for students, free of charge, thanks to grant funding that they have secured. Parents can sign students up beginning tomorrow (5/22) at 11:00 a.m. and spots fill up fast. Camps begin for students as young as grade 3. The camps this year will include Lego Robotics, Cyber Camp, Principles of Flying 1, Principles of Flying 2, Engineering, Arduino, Drone, Sphero, and Quantum Innovation. For more information about each of the camps and for registration links, please visit their website at https://www.griffissinstitute.org/who-we-work-with/afrl/stem/summer-programs.

YMCA Summer Camp

The Rome YMCA is currently offer summer day camp opportunities for children. This is a 10-week program that runs all summer and families are able to register for the whole 10 weeks, or week by week based on their needs and schedule. For more information about this camp, please see their flier here: https://app.peachjar.com/flyers/2487110/districts/32521.

Job Fair 

On Wednesday, May 31, the RFA Counseling Department will be hosting a Job Fair at Rome Free Academy from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The fair include many local employers and is geared toward students leaving high school looking for employment and community members looking for employment. The time slot from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. is for RFA students only. 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. will be open to the public. For more information, please visit https://app.peachjar.com/flyers/2482082/districts/32521.

Early Dismissal - Calendar Reminder

All students in grades pre-K through 12 will have an early dismissal, half-day, on Friday, May 26 for the purposes of staff development in the afternoon. For more information, please contact your child's school directly.