Tuesday, December 1st, 2020—Syracuse Academy of Science Elementary School counselor, Mrs. Wittchen creates a unique program that would allow for its students to connect and share their thoughts during these unprecedented times. The program, Mrs. Wittchen’s Pen Pals. Students share not only their thoughts, but experiences during these challenging times and how they are feeling. Each student who writes, draws, or simply colors a picture to Mrs. Wittchen will receive not only a letter back, but a self-addressed return envelope with postage, and some fun activities. What an incredible idea to let students know that they too are not alone.

Monday, November 23rd, 2020—This school year looks different for many, but one thing is certain, the teachers at Syracuse Academy of Science Middle School are putting their creativity to work coming up with clever and safe ways for students to connect with fellow classmates despite the distance. The student club advisors for the Leading Ladies group, Ms. Chapman & Ms. Catanzarite delivered special items for the students in their club. Items included bracelets, stickers and other goodies to play virtual games.

Monday, November 30th, 2020—This time of year many are finding ways to give back to their community and to help those in need. For a recent assignment, Mrs. Nickless’ ELA class were tasked with coming up with a way on how they could ‘Be the Change YOU wish to see in the World. Seventh grade student Elijah Newsome decided to take this assignment one step further and implement his ideas into action. 

For his project, Elijah Newsome created care packages for the homeless. Each care package was carefully hand selected and purchased with his own money! Each care package included the following items: face masks, hats, mittens, socks, hand warmers, Gatorade, cough drops, hand sanitizer and more. Words cannot describe how proud we are of Elijah and all that he has done to help those in need and to serve the greater Syracuse community. It’s students like Elijah that help make this world go round.

The Newsome family regularly gives back to the community through volunteering at the food pantry and making care packages such as these to help those who need it most.

Wednesday, November 18th, 2020—Each year the Syracuse Academy of Science hosts Literacy Night which is a wonderful family event filled with reading and adventure. This year our annual event was held virtually during the week of November 9^th. Hybrid Atoms received donated books that were able to keep and add to their own personal library at home. Students were encouraged to read stories with their families, as well as, explore the virtual reading room created by Mrs. Georgiadis, our reading specialist.

One of the best predictors of academic success is reading with your child. We are excited to share that this year we had 86 participants in our online Literacy Night. Any guesses as to which was the top book room in the virtual reading room? Atoms also had an opportunity to complete an online form to share what books they read with their teachers to earn additional DOJO points.

The top book room in the virtual reading room was Pete the Cat!

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020- The inaugural season of the High School Varsity Boys Soccer season had many challenges. First and foremost a nationwide pandemic. While there were obstacles, this team never let that slow them down. Each game the student athletes played like champions. Highlighting one of our seniors, Daniel Pontello who had 111 career saves in a single season. Good luck to you for the rest of your College Career.

On Tuesday, November 3rd we recognized our Seniors at Senior Night and thanked all who made this season not only safe but possible. At this time we would like to thank not only all of our student athletes but to our Athletic Director, Reginald Pickard, Head Coach Abu Bility and Assistant Coach Lossine Bility for making this season safe, possible and successful for everyone and their families. We look forward to the next soccer season. Please visit our Facebook page for more pictures from Senior Night.

Saturday, November 14th, 2020- Syracuse Academy of Science high school and elementary Atoms were busy at work this past weekend constructing, designing and winning divisions of this year’s CNY Bridges: Build ‘Em and Bust ‘Em Challenge hosted by the MOST. STEM students were tasked with engineering a balsawood bridge in teams or individually. Students would design and construct a truss bridge built entirely out of glue and balsawood. The day of the competition, participants would submit their bridge for a test of its efficiency rating, a measure of how many times its own weight the bridge could support before the structural failure. Below are the results of all of our participant Atoms!

High School - Division C

• The Bridge Between Sisters: Team # 1957, Yakina Sika - 1^st Place
• The Golden Bridge: Team # 2000, Malaysia Green & Maya Plasa - 2^nd Place
• Toil & Trouble: Team # 1958, Theodore Simon - 3^rd Place & Best Design Award

Elementary School

Congratulations to Leyla Hayali for her hard work, dedication and positive attitude! Although her bridge did not place in this year’s competition, she put in a tremendous amount of effort working hard after school drawing up blueprints and building her bridge. Great job, Leyla!

Congratulations to all of our participant Atoms, we are very proud of all your hard work, dedication and accomplishments!

Monday, November 9th, 2020—When it is 75 degrees and sunny outside in November, in Syracuse, one must take advantage of this unseasonable weather! The fourth grade Monday/Tuesday Atoms did just that. From decorating the sidewalks with beautiful chalk drawings, reading their favorite stories, running and jumping in piles of leaves it was simply put, a beautiful day!

Friday, October 30th, 2020—Syracuse Academy of Science elementary teachers, faculty and staff took a walk on the wild side the eve of Halloween. Dressing as zoo animals, and principal Mrs. Miller as the zookeeper certainly led to a ‘zoo’per day for our Atoms as they celebrated the fall with various festivities. Please head to our Facebook page for more pictures of the elementary Atoms’ Fall Festival.

Monday, November 2nd, 2020—Let the gourd times roll with Ms. Harnett’s Kindergarten class, as the students carved out the answers to the case of the Great Pumpkin Investigation. During this activity, Atoms became sleuths and determined not only how many seeds were in pumpkins but the seed size and shape, as well as, the height of a pumpkin. It was determined that the amount of seeds in each pumpkin varied but the overall pumpkin height on average was around 16 cubes! Great work, Atoms!

Hyb

Tuesday, October 27th, 2020—Happy Fall y’all from our Elementary Atoms! To celebrate the beauty of the fall the Monday and Tuesday hybrid learning students participated in a Fall Festival. Complete with a dress down day, and fun fall activities such as: pumpkin painting, building an apple tower, creating a fall tree and constructing an apple volcano! It certainly was a gourd time for all. To view more pictures of the Fall Festival, please visit our Facebook page.