Bristol County Agricultural High School: Aggie Weekly-September 15th

Aggie Weekly

Good Afternoon Students, Parents, and Community Members:

We hope that everyone has had a successful second week of school. Our freshman class went into their second rotation for exploratory, and are getting a good understanding of the campus. Our upperclassmen are providing the necessary support and leadership as well. For instance, one day this week while welcoming students in the morning in the front office, a freshman student approached me and asked where to find NRM? I provided him with the necessary directions. When I finished giving my directions, senior Kyle Mazzola stepped up as he overheard our conversation and said, “Hey let me take you down there.” This is a prime example of the Bristol Aggie supportive culture! Thanks Kyle and to all our students who continue to be a role model for our school community! #BAPride

AGGIE TO THE RESCUE: Check out this article in the Taunton Daily Gazette

Hurricane relief center prioritizes donations for pets and livestock

Jordan Deschenes: jdeschenes@tauntongazette.com

DIGHTON — In conjunction with Curt Schilling’s Operation Bullpen, Bristol County Agricultural High School’s animal science department has opened a hurricane relief donation center, prioritizing pets and livestock that have become endangered in Florida and Texas.

Although the center is accepting donations for animals such as hay and bagged food, human-related items will also be shipped to affected areas in a tractor trailer, department chairman Leslie Blanchette said Wednesday.

Since opening on Sept. 7, the school’s relief center has taken in more than 3,000 pounds of dog food, 1,000 pounds of cat food and a “good amount” of baby supplies, she said.

“We’ve had quite a few different organizations and businesses make donations to the drive,” Blanchette said.

Among others, some businesses that have donated supplies to the drive include the real estate company Re/Max and Munroe Feed and Supply,which has been accepting call orders of materials to be shipped directly to Bristol Aggie.

Blanchette said Odie’s Place Animal Rescue has provided the largest single donation so far after bringing in a 26-foot trailer packed with mostly pet supplies and cases of water bottles. Odie’s Place, a not-forprofit, no-kill, all-breed animal rescue in Dartmouth, has

TURN TO DONATE, PAGE A5

Odie’s Place Animal Rescue’s Kerrie Harrington, Bristol County Agricultural High School Director of Admissions Colleen Cronin and Aggie Foreman Kyle Medeiros place bags of dog food onto a pallet.

TAUNTON GAZETTE PHOTOS | MIKE GAY

From left, Emma See, 14, Jill See, 16, and their mom, Wendy See, of Attleboro, drop off pet supplies at Bristol County Agricultural High School. Emma is a freshman at the school.

DONATE

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been conducting its own pe tcentered relief efforts in past weeks, having gone on a five day tour across southeastern Massachusetts to pick up supplies at different locations.

According to Brian Harrington, the shelter’s media contact, one tractor trailer was “completely packed” within two days of the tour. Harrington said that he decided to supply Bristol Aggie’s relief center after hearing about it from Curt Schilling himself.

“All of this, we did on our own. We’re a small organization with a big heart,” Harrington said.

When Harrington made a stop to pick up supplies at Ponderosa Sportsman’s Club in Acushnet, he was surprised at how organized the effort was on the part of those making donations.

“As soon as we pulled up, there was already stuff there waiting for us,” Harrington said.

Blanchette said that organized private efforts like Operation Bullpen have been essential in supplementing major operations by FEMA and the American Red Cross.

She explained that many local organizations have been struggling to conduct their own relief efforts because they do not have a means of delivering materials out of the region.

To do so, Blanchette said that vehicles with donated supplies need to have clearance and authorization to enter into affected areas in both Houston and Florida. “There’s so many different organizations trying to help,” Blanchette said.

“The problem is a lot of people want to help but know that they can’t get supplies shipped out to those in need once they have them.”

As for Bristol Aggie’s relief center, the first truck with supplies will be leaving the campus on Monday, Sept. 18 and its contents will be driven down and distributed by members of Operation Bullpen.

Blanchette said that her main goal is to take in enough supplies by that date to completely fill a tractor trailer container. She also emphasized that the donation center has access to as many trucks as it can fill.

Despite her department’s efforts, Blanchette said that she does not want to make anyone feel like they have to donate to Aggie’s relief center.

“If you want to help, you don’t have to donate here at the Aggie. You can donate to anyone that you want,” she said.

“In my eyes, as long as you donate, you’re helping out.”

All donations can be dropped off at the Bristol Aggie Animal Science Department at 135 Center St. Those with items in need of a pickup should call 508-6696744, Ext.129.

From left, Odie’s Place Animal Rescue’s Kerrie Harrington, Bristol Aggie Director of Admissions Colleen Cronin, Odie’s Place’s Brian Harrington, Bristol Aggie Animal Science Department Chairwoman Leslie Blanchette, Bristol Aggie senior Olivia Larrivee, Odie’s Place’s Cheryl Viera, Bristol Aggie foreman Kyle Medeiros, Bristol Aggie staff member Vanda Ruziene and sophomore Hope Siddall pose for a photo with donated items they helped unload.

More pictures from BA’s Hurricane Relief Efforts:

Parent-Teacher Conferences:

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome to another school year. We look forward to seeing you all at our Parent/Teacher Nights taking place on Wednesday, September 20, 2017 and Wednesday, November 20, 2017 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Our September evening will be structured as a welcome with an opportunity to hear from your student’s teachers. Please bring your student with you as you will be following his/her Wednesday “A week” schedule as outlined below. All Physical Education classes will be addressed during our welcome in the gymnasium. Freshmen Vocational Teachers will be introduced during A & B periods in the gymnasium. Unless indicated otherwise, please follow your student’s schedule and room assignments on the next page. A map has also been provided. Please feel free to visit the gymnasium during lunch periods to activate your Plus Portals account if you have not done so already. Our November evening will be structured in a format that allows for brief 1:1 time and an opportunity to discuss your student’s progress in a more personalized manner. More information will be sent in the future.

	Freshmen	Sophomores/Juniors/Seniors
6:00-6:15 –Welcome	Gymnasium (intro to Phys Ed & Student Services	Gymnasium
6:19-6:29 A Period	Gymnasium rotation with Freshmen Vocational Teachers
6:33-6:43 B Period	Gymnasium rotation with Freshmen Vocational Teachers
6:47-6:57 C Period
7:01-7:06 D Period	1st Lunch – PlusPortals in Gymnasium	1st Lunch – PlusPortals in Gym
7:10-7:15 E Period
7:19-7:24 F Period	2nd Lunch – PlusPortals in Gymnasium	2nd Lunch – PlusPortals in Gym
7:28-7:33 G Period	3rd Lunch – PlusPortals in Gymnasium	3rd Lunch-PlusPortals in Gym
7:37-7:47 H Period
7:51-8:00 I Period	Sophomores & Freshmen attend I Period	Juniors & Seniors in gym with Student Services

This school year we will communicate academic progress via PlusPortals. Every teacher at BCAHS will be posting grades to the PlusPortals system approximately every two weeks. Once you have registered your PlusPortals account, you will receive an automated email every time your students’ teacher posts an update. Contact Mr. Costa jcosta@bcahs.com for help creating your PlusPortals account. For this reason, we will no longer sending a hard copy of mid-term progress reports home. Term report cards are also sent via email. If you would like a hard copy of mid-term grades or report cards, please communicate this request to Ms. DeSa in the Main Office by September 29th. She can be reached at 508-669-6744 ext. 102 or at cdesa@bcahs.com. Please be sure to check PlusPortals regularly as important information from our Student Services Department is also posted throughout the year. We look forward to seeing you on September 20th.

Early Dismissal Calendar:

The following is a list of early dismissal days for students – 11:47 a.m. These dates will be “modified” flip schedule days, fitting in lunch periods and keeping confusion down are primary goals. All students and teachers will follow the schedule as listed below:

September 28 December 22 March 8

8:10 – 9:04 9:06 – 9:56 9:59 – 10:49 10:52 – 11:18 11:21 – 11:47

Period I Period H Period C Period D Period E

November 22 January 11 June 19 (or last day)

8:10 – 9:04 9:06 – 9:56 9:59 – 10:49 10:52 – 11:18 11:21–11:47

Period A Period B Period C Period D Period E

The lunch periods will be the same on all early release days:

Grades 9 and 12: Lunch D Module Grades 10 and 11: Lunch E Module.

Student Services:

SBIRT:

Dear Bristol Aggie Families,

As a reminder, we are instituting a state mandated screening program in tenth grade related to the use of alcohol, marijuana and other substances. The Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) program screening process is part of our annual state mandated screening program. All screenings are interview based and will be conducted in confidential individual sessions by our Student Services staff. The screenings will take place on September 26th and 27th. We will utilize the CRAFFT II screening tool which is the most commonly used substance use screening tool for adolescents in Massachusetts.

If you would like to opt your child out of this screening, please provide the school with written notification. Please contact Beth Boudreau at 508-669-6744 x.163 or bboudreau@bcahs.com if you have any questions about this program. In addition, screening is voluntary and students may choose not to answer any or all of the screening questions.

We encourage all parents/guardians to talk with their child about substance use. For ideas on how to begin these conversations and other helpful information, please refer to the Substance Use Screening portion of the Student Services page on the Bristol Aggie website for references and information.

Sincerely,

Beth Boudreau, School Adjustment Counselor

Student Services:

We wanted to share information regarding the Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) here at the Bristol County Agricultural High School for the 2017-2018 school year. This group will meet several times throughout the year to discuss special education services and supports as well as other topics that are determined by the council. Your participation and input in this council would be greatly appreciated and will be a valuable resource to the school’s administrative team as it has been in past years.

Please feel free to stop by Student Services during the Parent-Teacher Night on September 20, 2017 and fill in contact information if you are interested in participating in SEPAC. The first meeting will be scheduled in October. If you are not interested in joining SEPAC, you are still invited to come introduce yourself. We look forward to meeting you and your child and working as a team to ensure their achievement here at BCAHS. If you would like additional information or have any questions, please contact Dr. DiGioia at MDiGioia@bcahs.com.

FALL COLLEGE FAIR

The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth is holding a college fair on Sunday, September 24th, from noon to 2:00 p.m. at the Tripp Athletic Center. More than 200 schools and colleges will be represented at the NEACAC fair. Morning tours of U.Mass.-Dartmouth will be available prior to the fair. More information is available at: umassd.edu/visit

COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SEMINAR

The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA) will hold a College Admissions Seminar on Parent-Teacher Night, Wednesday, September 20th at 7:00 in the Auditorium. Topics addressed will include trends in admissions, campus visits and college fairs, developing a college list, components of college applications and free college planning resources.

Picture Day Coming Soon!

Please see attached photo slips for each student in your class for today’s picture day. Please give these slips to the students. Please wait for an announcement from the Main Office prior to escorting your class to the Auditorium.

Any student who is not in attendance for the day, please have their photo slip returned to the photographer in the Auditorium so that accurate records can be kept of those students not photographed.

Please note below the following picture schedule for today.

NOTE: “B” WEEK

Juniors	First Period (B)
Seniors	Second Period (A)
Freshmen	Third Period (C)
Sophomores	Fourth Period (D)

Aggie Alumni Update:

NRM

Like many high school students NRM senior, Eve Gannon, worked a summer job. She gained invaluable experience working as part of the Trustees of Reservations Youth Conservation Corps conducting trail maintenance, water management, invasive species removal and environmental education. Her hard work, dedication and performance earned her the 2017 Youth Conservation Corps Environmental Leadership Award from the Trustees of Reservations. Bravo Eve!

Pictured above is Eve receiving her award with her supervisors

BA Grows has Successful 4th Year:

A favorable growing season plus a new drip irrigation system helped the fourth year of the BA Grows Program to be the best one yet. With only an acre and a half of land the summer work crew of students were able to harvest 200 pounds of beans, 225 pounds of peppers, 325 onions, 1,250 cucumbers, 1,663 pounds of squash and zucchini, and 1743 pounds of tomatoes and counting as we still have more on the vine going to the cafeteria for salads and their very own sauce. We also harvested lettuce, kale, swiss chard, bok choy, collard greens, carrots, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, beets, watermelon, spaghetti, acorn, and butternut squash.

One of the top goals for the program this year was to be able to increase our supply to the cafeteria than in years past with day picked fresh vegetables for our student’s lunches. The cool start to the spring made it so we could only send some romaine lettuce and a few bushel of squash before the end of last school year. However, with the great season that we have had the first two weeks of school have been filled with yellow squash, zucchini, green peppers, and over 450 pounds of tomatoes. We are also still harvesting tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and fall crops such as acorn, spaghetti, and butternut squashes that will be served in the coming weeks. BA Grows produce is also currently being used in the Diman High School culinary program, being served in their cafeteria and also student run restaurant, Room Two Fifty One. Our role in the farm to cafeteria movement was featured in an article done by Massachusetts Farm to School that can be found on their website, by clicking here.

For the second consecutive year, BA Grows Garden was awarded the Commonwealth Quality Program Certification from the Massachusetts Dept of Agricultural Resources which identifies farms that are locally growing, harvesting and processing right here in Massachusetts using practices that are safe, sustainable, and don’t harm the environment. To achieve this title, you must meet stringent federal, state, and local regulatory requirements. Going through this process in the summer helps to teach our student workers the importance of food safety, management practices, and the production standards that they would need to adhere to if working in retail agriculture after graduation. It also assures our customers that they are getting the highest quality, freshest, and most importantly safest food available.

The student run farm stand was open throughout the summer from Tuesday-Saturday and welcomed back many repeat customers from past summers, as well as new ones that were created this year. We will be once again host a farmer’s market on the Saturday of Fall Show in front of the Keith Hall Building. If interested in becoming a vendor contact BAGrows@bcahs.com or 508-669-6744 x128.

Ocean Bowl Cleans the Beach!

On Saturday, the Ocean Bowl team helped clean up Brayton Point beach in Somerset, MA as part of the International Coastal Cleanup in conjunction with Save the Bay and Coastsweep. This is an annual event in which trash is collected and documented. The data is gathered together from over 12 million volunteers and used for research and advocacy.

Blythe Doroch, Cavan Botelho, Jenna Gouveia, Hope Siddall, Abby Bruno, Jessie Power, Amanda Carvalho, and Nicole Simas all showed up to help out. Abby made trash stabbing sticks for everyone.

We found lots of interesting things, including a tire, fishing lures, horseshoe crabs (entangled in fishing line), syringes, pens, beer bottles, tampon applicators, and lots and lots of styrofoam.

In the Classroom:

Math: Freshmen math students helping each other review algebraic phrases in Mrs. Ciolfi’s class.

Science: A Clean Slate: White Boards to Foster Classroom Chemistry

Students’ learn best when they are working through problems together. And through a generous donation, Mr. Johnson’s class will soon be receiving brand new whiteboards to help support that learning.

The DonorsChoose.org website helps connect donors and public school teachers from around the country. After learning about the website at the 2017 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Conference, Mr. Johnson decided to give it a try.

The donations came from an anonymous donor and the Tom’s of Maine company. The money went towards the order of twenty-four 24” x 36” whiteboards that students will use on a nearly daily basis.

The whiteboards will be used by students to gain a better understanding of science through collaborative activities. These will include particle model drawings to explain why a chemical reaction occurs the way it does, to present data collected from labs, share ideas, and work through calculations.

Arbor: This week the Arbor students prune our entrance to ensure a safe entrance to Gilbert Hall. Below is a breakdown of what was completed.

Lower drive: The Zelkovas along the lower drive will need to be removed in the future. Arbor will continue to monitor, especially during the MSBA project. No other action at this time.
Norway Maples in front of the school: These trees were harmed by the construction company during the installation of the new sidewalk. They will in all likelihood continue to decline over the course of the next few years. A retaining wall will be constructed by the town. The trees will be monitored and pruned to reduce hazards as needed by Arbor.
Standish House: Several trees around the Standish House are in need of basic pruning. Mr. Cook and Mr. Latham will work with the Sophomores in the spring. .
4 Eastern Red Bud behind the greenhouses: These need to be pruned for structure. Mr. Cook and Mr. Latham will work with their Sophomores in the spring.
10 Zlekova behind Ag. Mech: The Zelkova behind Ag. Mech needs to be cut back out of the power lines. Mrs. Duffy will take care of this with her Utility Arboriculture class during term 3.
Click here to see a video of our students pruning with Mr. Cook.

Click here to see a video of the students practicing to through the line

Landscape: Click here to see a video of the #LeafBlowerChallenge

Flori:

Sophomore Floriculture Creating Flower Arrangements

Floriculture Seniors have had a pretty busy start to their year. Students worked on their first wedding of the season and with assistance from the sophomore and freshman classes flowers for the foundation gala.

Wedding Flowers

Foundation Gala

Animal Science: Juniors are working with the fish tanks in Ms. Keating’s Small Animals class.

Student Advisory Committee:

The purpose of this committee is to provide an opportunity for discussion between students and adults and for students to have a voice in their education. The Student Advisory Committee will consist of students (two from each class – freshmen/sophomores/juniors/seniors) which are to be elected by the student body and will serve one year.

Nominations will close on Thursday, September 21, 2017.
Elections will be held on Monday, September 25, 2017.

Anyone interested, please fill out this form or contact Mr. Braga in the Main Office.

Bristol Aggie Boosters: Can you please add to the Aggie Weekly News that the Bristol Aggie Athletic Booster Club will be having their first meeting on September 19, 2017 at 6:30 Room TBA.

Activities and Athletics:

Ocean Bowl:
Girls Soccer: Our girls soccer team played their first home game at Bristol Aggie in school history. The fields look great and so didn’t the team! Great effort ladies! Click here to see a brief video on our Twitter.