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Image provided by: Guilderland Public Library
12 The Altamont Enterprise - Thursday, September 21, 2006 Partying with a purpose: Freshmen connect at GHS By Melissa Hale-Spencer GUILDERLAND — Energy, like electricity, surged through the halls of Guilderland High School last Tuesday night. Newbies — ninth-graders — were on their home turf. \People were nice, telling us about the clubs,\ said one of them, Brendan Connelly, who had just come from a party in the gym, where freshmen could learn about school activities. After the party, which fea- tured food and music as well as club pitches — Patieme has dubbed it \the freshman rush\ — about-230 parents and students assembled in the auditorium. There, Patieme gave a PowerPoint presentation and students shared their experiences at the school. After that, parents met with the guidance counselor assigned to their child, while the students 'You have to get them connected to the high school so no one slips through the cracks, no one is unknown, no one is a wallflower.' He thinks he' 'may join the Spanish Club. \They go out to dinner and they might go to Costa Rica, which sounds cool,\ said Connelly. Jack Taylor, who was munch- ing from a paper cone filled with popcorn, said he liked the music played by the DJ at the party. Connelly and Taylor and some of their friends threw themselves into goofy poses when faced with a reporter asking to take their picture. The party, they said, was \chill\ and they were \psyched\, for the year ahead. \We wanted to make people feel welcome,\ said Lisa Patieme, the dean who worked with a transition committee to create the \Welcome to High School Celebration.\ In its inaugural year, Patieme' estimated, the .celebration at- tracted about a quarter of the 490 students in the Class of 2010. Parents were invited, too. met in groups for an unusual scavenger hunt. Teams of kids were given disposable cameras, purchased by the PTA; they had to find certain places in the school and take pictures of them - selves there. The pictures will be assembled into montages. Colleen O'Connell, describing herself as a \first-time ninth- grade parent,\ told her fellow school board members on Tues- day that the program was \out- standing.\ \We believe this has a lot to do with students' feeling comfort- able in school and leading to their success in the program,\ said Superintendent Gregory Aidala. A disciplinarian and an advocate Patieme, who started working at Guilderland in August of 2004, oversees the freshmen and the Focus program for struggling students. The Enterprise — Melissa Hale-Spencer \We really need to hook the ninth-graders,\ says Lisa Patierne, stressing the importance of connecting to school. As her T-shirt announces, Patierne was welcoming members of the Class of 2010 and their parents to Guilderland High School-last Tues- day at the inaugural \Welcome to High School Celebration.\ In April of last year,i she shared with the school board, compari- sons of ninth-graders from the year before and from 2005. The number of discipline incidents had decreased by 5 percent from 437 to 415. The number of stu- dents failing courses had also decreased — by 22 percent, from 316 (out of 3,386 enrolled) to 247 (put of 3,763 enrolled). - Patierne stressed then the im- portance of a smooth transition from the child-centered middle school, where students are shel- tered in one of four schools- within-a school, to the wide open and more competitive high school. \If you lose a student in ninth grade, they can be lost forever,\ Patierne told The Enterprise this ministrators because of a short- age. \Somebody nominated me...I took one course and was hooked.\ Now, said Patierne, \I love what I'm doing. This is the perfect job for me....I have a lot of contact with kids. I feel like I can make a difference.\ Patierne describes herself both as a disciplinarian and a student advocate. She credits those who work with her for her success at Guilderland. Patieme singled out her secretary, Dawn Wier, for praise and went on, \The reason these programs are successful is the hard work of the teachers and parents. We're all a team and we all work hard to make it a success.\ \Big on connections\ Patierne stressed at last Tues- day's assembly the importance of parental involvement in high school and the need for students to make connections — both key elements to improve academic success. \We're very big on connec- tions,\ Patierne told the crowd. \Kids need to get hooked in their first year of high school.\ She went on, \Research shows establishing relationships leads to higher academic achieve- ment.\ Guilderland started a program last year where upperclassmen are matched with freshmen as student advisors. A teacher oversees each advisory group. The student advisors are known as ATPs. The physics teacher on the transiti on committee likes the acronym, said Patierne, \because ATPs have energy.\ \The ATPs work with the v freshmen on team-building ac- tivities,\ said Patierne. For ex-' ample, they're currently plan- ning a \dress-code fashion 'It helped me be a better student and a better friend.' The Enterprise — Melissa Hale-Spencer Friends hanging out in the hallways at Guilderland High School after a party to greet freshmen enjoy striking poses for a photographer. Stretched out on the floor is Kat Keegan with Brendan Connelly beside her. Behind them, from left, are: Casey Gerety, Alii Cropsey, Annalisa Richardson, Karen Daun, Jac/rTaylor,andMylesDePasSi^ <•• - •...,,. ..,,,,, week. \Those are the ones most likely to drop out. You have to get them connected to the high school so no one slips through the cracks, no one is unknown, no one is a wallflower.\ Patierne led last Tuesday's celebration with the gusto of a camp counselor. She used to be one. \From the time I was a little kid, I knew I wanted to be a teacher,\ she told The Enterprise. \My friends would tell me they got sick of playing school.\ She started working as a camp counselor —at the Tippee Canoe Camp, through the YMCA — when she was just 12. \Kids were always comfort- able with me,\ said Patierne. She married at age 20 and worked her way through school at The College of Saint Rose. \We had bills to pay and a house to take care of. We had a couple of kids,\ she said.- \I worked two jobs while going to school full- time and my husband worked two jobs, too.\ Pattern© taught sixth grade for a decade at Shenendehowa and loved it. \I said I would never be an administrator,\ she recalled. But the superintendent was re- . .cruitinateaehefis,tortram^ atU show,\ featuring both 'do's and 'don't's. The ATPs are selected by the advisory teachers for their lead- ership skills and enthusiasm, said Patierne. \They come in for training over the summer,\ she said. \This year, the kids came up with the activities.\ At Tuesday's assembly, sev- eral young women who were ninth-graders last year shared, with poise and sincerity, their experiences in the new advisory program. \We got to know each other more as the year progressed,\ said Martha Mahoney. She said it was \really fun\ at the end of the year when the advi sory teams played each other in kick- ball, i Hannah Kinisky said she came to the high school without know- ing anyone. \It helps to know an older person,\ she said of the ATPs. The program, she said, \helps build a sense of commu- nity.\ Sara Korman said when her grades dipped, her ATP was helpful. \We could talk to them about school or home issues,\ she said.
