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

Good Afternoon Students, Parents, and Community Members:

We hope everyone had a great week as the spring weather is finally approaching. With some restrictions starting to ease on Monday, we hope that you find some time to go to a park if local restrictions allow. We look forward to seeing some of you next week to gather your belongings. If you do not have anything to collect, then please stay home and be safe. Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

BCAHS Hosts Virtual Trivia Night: We would like to THANK YOU for your generosity. We were able to raise $2,400 for our Bristol Aggie school community. In total, we were able to raise $3,000 in the last two weeks. We are humbled by your altruism. #BAPride

STUDENT PICK NEXT WEEK: Starting this Monday, May 18th (see detailed schedule below)

Locker Cleanouts: Given the announcement made by Governor Baker on Tuesday, April 21st that schools will remain closed for the remainder of the school year, we wanted to provide students and staff an opportunity to gather their personal belongings from academic and shop lockers. Due to limitations on how many individuals we can have on campus, we had to create a staggered schedule for students and staff. Please make arrangements to attend school during your designated times. In order to enter the facility all students and staff will be required to wear a face mask/face covering (see below) as the Governor has recommended for all citizens that travel outside their homes.

Safety First: We have designated times for students to gather their belongings at Gilbert Hall. Students will be separated by a minimum of 6 feet. No one other than our students will be allowed in the building. No guests, parents, or any other person, cannot enter the facility. There will be a limit of no more than 10 in Gilbert Hall at any given time. All belongings from outside buildings (Animal Science, Landscape, Ag Mechanics, and Flori) will be collected from lockers and placed into a bag for you to pick up from Gilbert Hall according to the schedule below. If you do not need anything in your locker, please do not come to school. This is not a time to socialize with friends. Please consider the following before coming on campus:

In the past 7 days, have you experienced any of the following symptoms of the Coronavirus (fever, tiredness, dry cough, aches and pains, nasal congestion, sore throat, diarrhoea, and runny nose)?

If so, please do not come to school.

In the past 14 days has anyone in your family/close contacts experienced any symptoms of COVID-19?

If family members are experiencing symptoms students and staff should isolate for 14 days to ensure they are not asymptomatically spreading COVID-19 or have recently been infected. Contact your healthcare provider for further evaluation

Have you or anyone in your family/close contacts been diagnosed with COVID-19?

If a laboratory test is not completed to confirm status of infection an individual must be free of fever and improvement in respiratory symptoms for 72 hours AND at least 7 days must have passed since symptoms first appeared. Decision to discontinue isolation should be made by health department and/or primary provider

Have you travelled outside of your home community in the past 14 days?

If yes, may not enter school until 14 days have elapsed since leaving the community..

Prior to arriving on campus, contact your teacher if you have anything in a classroom that you need to retrieve. Your teacher will place your items in a bag that you can pick up following the schedule below.

Gilbert Hall Student Schedule: Due to the MSBA Project and the road closure, the soonest we can allow for the students to access the campus will be Monday, May 11th

Sanitize hands upon entry to school.
All students will be required to wear a face covering (see recommendations above)
Maintain 6 foot distance as much as possible.
Sanitize any surfaces you touch.
Sanitize hands when leaving the building.

Monday, May 18th-STUDENTS ONLY-Book returns will happen when students return to school in September

Freshman Students

Last name A-D 8:00-9:00 am
Last name E-L 9:00-10:00 am
Last name M-P 10:00-11:00 am
Last name Q-Z 11:00 am-12:00 pm

Sophomore Students

Last name A-D 12:00-1:00 pm
Last name E-L 1:00-2:00 pm
Last name M-P 2:00-3:00 pm
Last name Q-Z 3:00-4:00 pm

Tuesday, May 19th- STUDENTS ONLY-Book returns will happen when students return to school in September

Junior Students

Last name A-D 8:00-9:00 am
Last name E-L 9:00-10:00 am
Last name M-P 10:00-11:00 am
Last name Q-Z 11:00-12:00 pm

Friday, May 22nd- Last Day for Senior Students-

Last name A-D 8:00-9:00 am
Last name E-L 9:00-10:00 am
Last name M-P 10:00-11:00 am
Last name Q-Z 11:00-12:00 pm

Step 1: Park in front at Gilbert Hall in order to enter through the gym doors (Doors A2).

Step 2: Please enter through A2 and go to the left up the ramp.

Step 3: Please use social distancing guidelines. We have provided “foot prints” that are 6 feet apart. If you see someone in front of you, do not crowd and remain on the “foot prints.”

Step 4: Proceed to the window where Mr. Higgins will be standing. Provide your name. He will gather your belongings from the small gym. Your belongings will be placed on the table where you can collect them. Once collected, please exit the building.

If you need to gather anything from your locker, you will go through the main gym, to your locker and exit the main entrance of Gilbert Hall.
If you need to pay a lunch balance, you will be able to pay the balance in the large gym.
If you need to return any books from the library, there will be a bin in the foyer.
If you have a winter sports jersey to return, there will be a bin in the foyer for you to return.
Any lost and found items left in classrooms, will be in the main gym for your pick up.

Parent/Student Engagement Pictures: We are requesting students to share (kbraga@bcahs.com) some of the work they are doing at home. If you are working on an assignment and you want to share your work, please send it along to me so we can keep up the Aggie Weekly classroom updates. Additionally, if you are working on your baseball/softball/LAX swing/skills in your backyard, please share those as well. Feel free to tweet @BristolAggie if you use Twitter.

Freshman Jaelyn Moniz, who was placed in Floriculture last week, was recruited to help install a new garden with her aunt. Keep up the great work Jaelyn!

This week freshman NRM student Lena Alves came across Eastern Cottontail baby bunnies as she was raking out her garden.

Bee Club: As part of a collaboration with Bizze LLC. We have received a new hive of bees. Just in time for May flowers

Athletics Announcement

Congrats to Samantha Wheaton on signing as a recruit with the Paul Smith's Bobcats for the fall 2020 season!

Samantha Wheaton, a Parks & Conservation Management student from Dartmouth, MA, is joining the Bobcats from Bristol County Agricultural High School.

“Sam will be coming in as middle hitter for the Bobcats making up which could be the strongest front court the Bobcats have seen in awhile,” Coach Roberge stated. “She’ll transition well into the college level with her love of the game having played both indoor & beach volleyball.”

Check out the article here!

A Senior Reflects on an Unprecedented Time

Students in Honors Contemporary Issues were asked to write in response to the following:

It is the year 2070. You are approximately 68 years old. Your grandchild comes to visit and says “Grandma/Grandpa, I have to do a project on the Corona Virus pandemic of 2020. My teacher says I have to use primary sources, which are firsthand accounts by people who were actually there in the time period. You were alive in 2020. What was it like? What did people do during this emergency? How did life change for you, your family and your friends?

Senior Jennifer Denis shares her response:

Before the coronavirus pandemic, life was just how we’d known ever since we were kids. Our parents and guardians went to work almost every day to bring home the income for our family’s expenses. The children were in school day after day, Monday through Friday. And during the little downtime we all had together, we indulged in going to the movies, out to eat for our typical Sunday morning breakfasts, or even ice skating every now and then. The options were endless. Everything was how we had known for decades, and nothing really changed until it reached our nation in late February.

At that moment, chaos struck. Grocery stores became vacant of water, cleaning supplies, and almost all types of food. The shelves were more empty than I had ever seen during any New England snow storm, and neighbors ultimately stopped lending helping hands to each other. Soon, it was every family for themselves, trying as hard as they could to provide for their own. Sports were the first to shut down, followed by restaurants, beaches, and other recreational facilities. Families began to struggle to pay for their expenses due to being laid off, which led to millions upon millions filing for unemployment. Workers such as nurses, police, firefighters, and others working on the frontlines of the pandemic were labeled essential, and worked day and night through the pandemic with little to no rest.

For me, the pandemic brought both a sense of clarity, and fear. I was a senior when it came to our nation, unprepared that that Friday in March would be the last time, for a long time, that I would see my teachers and classmates. At first, we all thought it would be so much fun to be out of school, with no work, no stress... until we slowly realized that the Governor continued to extend the stay at home advisories longer and longer each week. It was then that we all realized… our senior year was falling apart. After school sports, school dances, field trips, our last prom, and even graduation would be cancelled until further notice. We panicked. We had wished all year for it to be over, for us to receive that diploma with our arms out wide, nervously waiting for what was yet to come. In the end, I don’t think any of us wanted this. Struck by fear, anxiety, and nervousness, we struggled to keep in contact, isolated from one another, not being able to share the last few months of what had held our bonds so close together all this time, until we parted with each other on graduation day. No one knew how to feel, or what to expect. All we could do was pray that we would at least be able to have the summer after high school we had been dreaming about all year.

I had still been working, almost every day. I had seen some of the most bitter attitudes I had ever dealt with, but also some of the most humble individuals, one of which had touched my heart and opened my eyes. I was by myself that night, closing for the thousandth time as I always do, when the store phone rang. I answered, and a tired voice asked if he could come into our dining area to get a coffee. At first, I was confused, asking myself why would someone call beforehand and not just come right in? He then went on and explained that he was in a tractor trailer truck and couldn’t fit through the drive thru, but wanted to ask because some places weren’t letting him in all together. With no hesitation I reassured him he was more than welcome inside. A few moments later he had walked in and chatted with me on all the things he had seen. I began to ask him what places were shutting down, since I hadn’t heard much that week. He seemed exhausted, and told me how he had not been able to sit down and rest anywhere but in the cab of his truck, since rest areas all around the nation had begun to close down. I quickly wondered who deemed Dunkin’ more essential than truckers’ truck stops, since they are what is keeping this nation stocked with supplies and food, and felt a sense of sympathy for him. So, I grabbed his order for his coffee, and made him a sandwich without asking, brought it back and told him it was on me. I thanked him for doing what he does, and assured him that I, and many others appreciate his courage to keep going. It was the first of many acts of kindness I witnessed in the first couple weeks. But it didn’t stop there.

Positivity quickly spread from neighbor to neighbor once more, as soon as we all finally had come to terms with the situation. At first it was chaotic, a mess of uncertainty, unwillingness to accept the fate that came. Now, after about three weeks of no work, no school, no friends, I noticed something amazing that changed my feelings all together. Families were spending more time with their kids, and their pets. The lack of schooling, more so for the smaller children, gave way for endless opportunities of bonding between them and their caregivers. Sidewalk chalk was drawn on countless amounts of driveways to say thank you to first responders. As I drove to work, many many times I could see dads riding tractors with their young ones, or playing catch together like the old times. Parents became creative in order to give their children the best Easter they could have inside the house, and best of all, nature was slowly restoring itself. Pollution levels hit an all time low, dolphins and other sea creatures came closer to shore, schools of fish became abundant, and so much more. My sister added to the positivity that soon spread, and began creating masks by hand for those who had not been able to get their hands on a few packages at the store.

Though the pandemic struck us all in the most unforgiving, and unyielding way anyone had ever seen, it also gave us the opportunity to step back and realize, life is so much more than school, work, and material things. We spend all this time stressing and overthinking, focusing on the smallest of problems, but at the end of the day we all each still have families of our own who cherish us more than we know, and for that we should be thankful.

Tech Assistance:

Yearbook orders can be placed at balfour.com!

Go to www.balfour.com
Click on the link YEARBOOKS on the left side of the screen.
Type in Bristol County Ag High School
Click on our school name
Select your student's grade and type their name in the appropriate boxes
Click "Shop for this student" and follow the prompts from there.
Any orders previously placed online or in person are set. No further action needs to be taken at this time.
The current plan is for seniors to receive their yearbooks at the Senior BBQ in August. Underclassmen will receive their yearbooks when we return to school in the Fall. Please address any questions to eward@bcahs.com. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

MSBA Update: This week they started to assemble the walls at the Student Commons (cafeteria and library). In addition, they continued their work on CSE buildings A and B. Keep up the great work!

Congressman Kennedy's Virtual Academy Day

Congressman Joe Kennedy will be hosting his first ever “Virtual Academy Day” on Saturday May 30, 2020 11:00 AM – 12:30PM. Our staff will be joined by representatives from the different U.S. Military Academies to provide insight into the different U.S. Military Academies and the Congressional Nomination Process. High school students, from first-year students to rising Seniors, parents, and teachers are encouraged to attend.

The link for participants to sign up to attend Congressman Kennedy’s Virtual Academy is at https://kennedy.house.gov/virtual-military-academy-day. More information will be sent via a private email with a zoom link to all interested individuals once they submit that form. Please see attached flier for more details.