What's New

School Spirit

Students and staff participated in a school spirit week. On pajama day, everyone exchanged gifts from their Secret Santa.

Staff Appreciation

The Alta PTO hosted a staff appreciation day on Dec. 4th. Students spoke about each staff member and presented them with a gift and certificate.

Cinque's Corner

Mrs. Cinque's biology class has been diagramming the cell cycle.

Students in Mrs. Cinque's forensic science class are lifting latent fingerprints from their desk, by dusting them and placing them onto black paper.

Environmental science students went on a field trip to the Quinnipiac River and Misery Brook in town. They took water samples, soil samples and did kick stops to catch samples of macroinvertebrates at both locations. Looking through the diversity of macroinvertebrates that were caught, students were able to see how the Quinnipiac River compares to Misery Brook.

They were looking for certain macroinvertebrates which would indicate the pollution level of each body of water. In conjunction with the water quality testing that will be completed later in class, they will be able to draw conclusions about the health of each location.

Students also used the opportunity to clean up and recycle trash that they found while on the field trip.

Thanksgiving Luncheon

More than one hundred invited guests attended our annual Thanksgiving Luncheon, including district staff, community partners, Alta students, staff and parents. Marina Oulundsen was the master of ceremonies, Edell Bevans led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and Bri Camacho, Kelly Collin and Abby Roche spoke about their Alta experiences.

Many thanks to Rev. Paul Goodman of Plantsville Congregational Church for once again allowing the use of the facility, and Katie Valente of New Britain Transportation for donating bus transportation. Additional thanks to our PTO and Bread for Life for their support, as well as Chris Dibble, Maureen and Frank Kristopik, Sherlee Plawecki, Lynn Morelli and Aneta Crooks for their help in the kitchen. Special thanks to the STELLAR program students for their help with setup and decorating placemats.

Cooking Class

Thanks to a grant from SEF awarded to Alta and Bread for Life, five Alta students were selected to participate
in an intensive six week culinary program. They have been taking classes and learning in the Bread for Life kitchen twice a week. Each of these students are learning basic food preparation, knife skills, food safety, portion control and other skills needed to work in a restaurant kitchen. Outback Steakhouse is also involved, and we would like to thank Chef/Managing Partner, Ryan Lucas, for his support, instruction and contributions. The students are planning a menu and will be cooking a meal and serving it to the clients of Bread For Life as a culminating activity.

Apple Valley Bowling

Alta students and staff recently took a field trip to Apple Valley Bowling for the family activity of the week.

Apple Harvest Festival Parade

Alta students and staff participated in the Apple Harvest Festival Parade on Sept. 30th. Special thanks to Donald Anderson and Jared Carroll (class of 2015) for donating and driving the trailer and to recent graduate, Alexa Miani, for painting the beautiful Alta apple. Thanks also to Evergreen Nursery, Home Depot, Ali's Nursery and Arisco Farms for donating mums, cornstalks and hay bales.

CONGRATULATIONS

CLASS OF 2018

Seventeen Alta students received SHS diplomas as part of the graduating class of 2018.

Congratulations to our December

Students of the Month:

Special thanks to the Southington Elks Lodge for providing gift cards and goody bags to two deserving Alta students each month. Recipients are invited to attend the lodge's Youth Awards Banquet in the spring.

QUARTER ONE

HONOR ROLL

First Honors

Carissa Cayer

Saige Landrie

Second Honors

Max Dibble

Jake Jones

Ryley Kostenko

Margaret Griffin visits Alta

Forty-five children from the Margaret Griffin Child Development Center visited Alta for Halloween. Alta students sang and read Halloween stories to the children and handed out goodie bags.

Voter Registration

Mr. Patterson's class took a trip to Southington Town Hall so 18-year-old students could register to vote in this year's election.

Alta Garden

With the assistance of John Duffy, district science coordinator, and Mark Ramsey of Lewis Educational Agricultural Farm (LEAF), Alta students planted herbs and vegetables in the school garden.

Carissa and Abby harvested the potato crop.

Sgt. Denmark and Sgt. Vogel from the U.S. Army recruiting office in Bristol visited Alta to speak about military opportunities.

Book Club

Throughout the year, interested students have the opportunity to visit local elementary schools and read to kindergarteners. The Book Club is facilitated by Karen Smith, retired assistant superintendent of schools. On October 25th, the group traveled to Plantsville Elementary School.

Construction Career Expo

Interested students recently attended the Construction Career Expo where they learned about potential career opportunities in the field of construction.