Bristol County Agricultural High School: Aggie Weekly- January 10th

Good Afternoon Students, Parents, and Community Members:

This week our students prepared for their Midterms that start next week. Please see schedule below for Midterm Exam Schedule. Term 2 will conclude on Friday, January 17th. Please ensure that all assignments are made up before next Friday. Any questions, please see your teachers. Good LUCK!

Next Phase for Seniors: We are proud to share with you our senior’s plans for their next step in their college and career exploration. Based on the knowledge and skills learned during their 4 years at BA, we are excited to publish acceptances into colleges, universities, military plans, and any career pathways each week. Please let Ms. Dias or Ms. Costa know in Student Services, so we can update our list weekly. Thank you for your dedication to excellence and drive to maintain Bristol Aggie Excellence.

Hannah Araujo -

Rivier University, Nashua, NH
Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI
Johnson and Wales University, Providence, RI

Aidyn Baresel-Haskell -

Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA

Alexus Borges -

University of Northwestern Ohio, Lima, OH

Madison Campbell -

Becker College, Leicester, MA
Barry University, Miami Shores, FL

Gabriella Costa -

University of Findlay, Findlay, OH
SUNY Morrisville, Morrisville, NY
Cazenovia College, Cazenovia, NY
Johnson and Wales University, Providence, RI
Georgetown College, Georgetown, KY
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Lake Erie College, Painesville, OH

Isabella Costa -

Becker College, Leicester, MA
Plymouth State University - Plymouth, NH
UMaine, Orono, ME

Trent George -

UMaine at Machias, Machias, ME

Skyler Harper -

UMaine, Orono, ME
Becker College, Leicester, MA
Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA

Amanda Jordan -

Franklin Pierce University, Rindge, NH

Arianna Lachance -

Becker College, Leicester, MA

Savanah Moniz -

Becker College, Leicester, MA

Sabina Myers -

Becker College, Leicester, MA
Husson University, Bangor, ME

Samantha Pompeo -

Curry College, Milton, MA

Abigail Rebello -

Stetson University, DeLand, FL

Jacob Santos -

SUNY Cobleskill, Cobleskill, NY

Hannah Smith -

UMaine, Orono, ME
University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA

Aaliyah Soto -

Curry College, Milton, MA
Plymouth State University - Plymouth, NH
Paul Smith’s College, Paul Smiths, NY
University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, CT
Merrimack College, North Andover, MA
Becker College, Leicester, MA

Briana Viau -

Dean College, Franklin, MA

Samantha Wheaton -

Paul Smith’s College, Paul Smiths, NY
Unity College, Unity, ME

Celebrating the Seasons of Massachusetts Agriculture: The BCAHS drill team has the cover photo for the month of December in the Massachusetts 'Celebrating the Seasons of Massachusetts Agriculture" calendar for 2020. Photo was by Rachel Keating. You can order the calendar by clicking here.

NRM Featured in the Wanderer-Head Start for the Box Turtle

on January 7, 2020

The box turtle is a common and colorful member of the terrestrial tortoise family. It has an ornate orange decorative shell with bony plates hinging at the bottom to retract its legs and head for protection against predators. Because it is slow and vulnerable, thousands of these placid turtles are killed crossing highways every year or are collected from the wild as pets by children.

Taking a turtle from the wild is not recommended, as many will eventually die from the stress of having been removed from their habitat.

Turtles appeal to youngsters, possibly because they read Aesop’s Fables about the Tortoise and the Hare, a moral lesson of ancient Greek mythology written 2,000 years ago. Aesop’s fable taught that achievement of impossible goals, as a turtle winning a race with a hare, could be achieved by youngster determination.

Box turtles are omnivorous and seem to eat almost everything in a varied diet of insects, earthworms, and millipedes. However, as they grow older, they turn to a 90 percent vegetable diet.

A box turtle can live as long as 50 and possibly even 100 years; however, the box turtle is listed as a threatened species. The most hazardous part of this lifetime relay into longevity is the starting point of the laying of the egg and into the hatching phase when they strike off on their own.

As illustrated, they are so small and visibly vulnerable enough to be easily taken by minks, skunks, raccoons, dogs, rodents, and even by crows and ravens.

The relay race of the box turtle against extinction has surprisingly turned a corner, thanks in part to some local high school students who have been handed a remarkable educational baton of life-giving learning. Inside the laboratory of nearby Bristol County Agricultural High School, turtles are being hatched, fed, and raised during the winter and then released, when much larger, into the wild the following spring. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is overseeing the effort as a possible augmentation of state and federal fish hatcheries. It may be only fitting that the youth are the ones weaving a safety net to fall back on, in case the threatened box turtle grows nearer to becoming endangered.

The popular box turtle is among the oldest reptiles in the world, going back to the end of the Cenozoic geological age. This was the very beginning of life on Earth for all living creatures. It is said that the reptiles were among those that first crawled up on dry land out of the oceanic primordial soup.

The future of ancient life on this planet may be supplemented and saved by the next generation of students of environmental awareness.

By George B. Emmons

In the Classroom:

Agricultural Mechanics: Ag Mech students are continuing on the project to restore the truck body and bed. #BAPRIDE

Cool to be Kind Poetry Contest Winners:

Thank you to all the students who participated and submitted an original poem! Congratulations to our winners! All winners received an Award and Aggie Swag!