On Saturday, November 13th 2016,  students from the SAS Middle School attended Rochester's 20th Annual Children's Book Festival. The Festival was honored to host author Linda Sue Park and main character Salva Dut of the book "A Long Walk to Water." The session was centered around “Books change readers; readers change the world!—A celebration of the book A Long Walk to Water.”  This experience was part our NYS 7th grade ELA curriculum, we just finished reading this book as part of our unit. The book tells the true story of local immigrant Salva Dut, a former “lost boy of Sudan” and founder of Water for South Sudan, who overcame incredible odds to not only survive war in his country but to return years later and provide water to his people. Students had the opportunity meet both Linda Sue Park and Salva Dut.

Students and teachers had a chance to take many pictures with the author. The students also participated in craft activities, presentations, and they were able to meet those who write and illustrate books for children, tweens, and teens. It was a great experience for the students and they really enjoyed themselves.

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Click here to see pictures of Children's Book Festival

On Tuesday, November 8th, 2016, 6th grade students from the SAS Middle School visited Howe Caverns. This amazing landmark, first discovered by Farmer Lester Howe, has regularly been the second most visited landmark in New York State. Students traveled over 150 feet undergroud to see the amazing limestone formations that have developed over the last two centuries. They were amazed by the many sights as they were directed by the great guides who accompanied all of the student groups. The trip was capped off by a stop to the Cavern Museum and Gift Shop! This great trip was enjoyed by all!

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Click here to see the pictures of the trip

On Friday, November 4, 2016 the SAS Middle School held its first quarterly award ceremony. This was a very special event not only because we were able to recognize the amazing achievements of our wonderful students, but we also had a special guest. Mr. John Tumino, father of one of our wonderful high school students, joined the ceremony to kick off our annual food drive. Mr. Tumino is the founder of In My Father's Kitchen, a wonderful organization that supports many people in need throughout Central New York. He spoke to our students about his efforts and one consistent message, that no one persoun should ever feel invisible and we can all contribute to preventing these tragedies. The event was kicked off my our superintendent, Dr. Hayali and was also joined by our advanced band. This was one amazing day where we recognized excellence and our ability to help others!

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Click here to see the pictures of First Marking Period Award Ceremony at Middle School

On Wednesday, November 2nd, 2016, the SAS Middle School held its monthly OLWEUS meeting. The goal of these events it to address a specific aspect that is tied to our efforts to bring bullying out of the shadows. The subject of this meeting was peer pressure. Students talked about the different forms of peer pressure what they meant. A rousing discussion took place in multiple classrooms about how peer pressure works with boys and girls. The highlight of many of the discussions detailed the students insistence that we can all exercise positive peer pressure to help our fellow students when they are down. As a team, students and teachers spoke about strategies to help deal with negative peer pressure to ensure a safe environment for everyone!

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Click here to see pictures of second OLWEUS Meeting of the year

On Tuesday, November 1st, 2016, the 5th grade students of the SAS Middle School had a unique experience. After some short reading in science class about the features of a river, they took a field trip! The unusual fact was that they never left the classroom! Using Google Street View and Google Expeditions VR, 5th graders visited the Colorado River, England's Thames River, the mighty  Mississippi, and the Hudson River. Tools such as these really help build and make our students learning experiences much more immersive.

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Click here to see pictures of Virtual Trips

On Tuesday, November 1st, 2016, the students of the SAS Middle School participated in our mock election for the President of the United States. Each student viewed selected pieces of each candidate presenting his and her position on various issues. Students not only voted for their preferred choice to run our great nation, but they wrote constructed responses on what why they choose that candidate to be the leader of the free world. At SAS, it is our mission to prepare students to be capable responsible citizens. This activity brings one of our civic responsibilities to light. Our voices need to be heard through our votes and we want our students to be capable and knowedgeable voters when they exercise this right!

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Click here to see the pictures of Mock Election

On Monday, October 31st, 2016 the staff of all three Syracuse Academy of Science buildings attending the AMF Strike 'N Spare Lanes in Mattydale for a team building afternoon. Teachers, administration, and support staff enjoyed the atmosphere and two games of bowling at the lanes. The fun and competition was the highlight of the afternoon!  A quick break with our colleagues and back to our buildings!

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Click here to see pictures of Team Building among Staff at Bowling Alley

On Monday, October 31st, 2016, 6th grade students in Miss Bittel's social studies class participated in a cultural lesson on the art of Salsa dancing. The presentation was given by one of our 6th grade student's parents, Odalas and Alberto Gaskins. The couple showed the students some video clips of professional salsa dancers before performing a couple's dance for the students. After their demonstration, students were taught 2 main salsa dance steps and then spent the remainder of the time dancing the Salsa in the gym!

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Click here to picture of Salsa Dance Lesson

On Friday, October 28th, 2016 the Student Leadership Club hosted their first dance of the school year! Students danced the night away to music provided by Mr. Anthony Williams who has been the club's go to DJ for all the dances! Students enjoyed pizza, socializing and, of course, dancing!

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Click here to see pictures of the Fall Dance

On Friday, October 28, 2016, two students from Syracuse Academy of Science's High School attended the Women in Engineering Day presented by Lockheed Martin. Ninth graders, Justine Bell and Priscilla Jones-Johnson were selected to attend the 16th Annual event at the site in Liverpool. The program included a morning engineering challenge which asked teams of students to design an apparatus that would move a ping pong ball down an inclined piece of cardboard at the slowest speed. The SAS students, working in a team with the students attending from Fayetteville-Manlius, won the contest with a time of 8 seconds, a full 3/4 of a second longer than the second place team! After the challenge, students got the chance to meet with engineers from Lockheed Martin that work in various fields from mechanical and electrical engineering to ceramic and software engineering, including having lunch with several of these women engineers. After lunch, the students were given a tour of parts of the facility and attended a career fair with hands on demonstrations of various forms of engineering so they could try their hand at becoming an engineer for part of the day. Many thanks to Lockheed Martin for putting on a great day at their facility and great job to our students on their engineering contest win! 

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Click here to see the pictures of "Women in Engineering" event