Category: Archive

Fort Plain honored the achievements of the district’s student-athletes on June 14 at the 2021-22 Fort Plain Central School Athletic Awards ceremony. Jr./Sr. High School Principal Dr. Deborah Larrabee gave the welcome address and opening remarks for the ceremony, which was held in the high school auditorium.

Congratulations to all of our Athletic Award recipients.

NYSPHSAA Scholar-Athlete School of Excellence

Fort Plain Central School has qualified as a New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Scholar-Athlete School of Excellence for having 15 of its 16 2021-22 varsity teams achieve at least a 90% average and named Scholar-Athlete teams. The teams include golf, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls cross country, volleyball, cheerleading, girls bowling, boys and girls basketball, wrestling, swimming, baseball, and boys and girls track & field. There was no varsity softball team this year.

Fall Season Awards

Cross Country

Most Valuable Girl Runners: Emma Karker, Fort Plain; Olivia Schaffer, Canajoharie
Most Valuable Boy Runners: Kurt Sunderland & Michael Harris Jr., Canajoharie
Most Improved Runner: Sam Robinson, Canajoharie
Fort Plain Central School Board Of Education 2nd Effort Awards: Natalie Thibodeau & Dustin Welch
WAC All-Stars: Olivia Schaffer, Emma Karker, Natalie Thibodeau, Kurt Sunderland
3rd at Class D Sectionals & 13th at Class D State Meet – 2nd Team – All-State: Olivia Schaffer

Golf

WAC 1st Team All-Stars: Austin Van Gorder, Girls – Jordan Brown
2nd Team All-Stars: Owin Landry, Seth Rivkowich
Board Of Education 2nd Effort Award: Jordan Brown
Most Valuable Golfer: Austin Van Gorder
Coaches Award: Owin Landry
Most Improved Girl: Shantel Kretser
Most Improved Boy: Seth Rivkowich

Girls Soccer

WAC Section 2 and Mohawk Division All-Stars – 1st Team: Erin Crouse
2nd Team: Emma Oldick
Board Of Education 2nd Effort Award: Madeline Heroth
D’Arcangelis Super-Sub Award: Rylee Herron

Boys Soccer

WAC Mohawk Division All-Stars – 1st Team: Robert Jordan
2nd Team: Clayton Welch & Stephen Gray
Board Of Education 2nd Effort Award: Nalzon Henry
D’Arcangelis Super-Sub Award: Noah Horning

Volleyball

Board Of Education 2nd Effort Award: Vivian Nunez

Football

Board Of Education 2nd Effort Award: Noah Norton

Winter Season Awards

Wrestling

Board Of Education 2nd Effort Award: Alex Smith
State Champion – Division II – 172 lbs.: Reed Douglas, Canajoharie

Bowling

WAC Co-Most Valuable Bowler: Anthony Paradiso
WAC 2nd Team All-Stars: Emma Oldick & Ian Zuppardi
Board Of Education 2nd Effort Awards: Shantel Kretser & Ian Zuppardi
Most Valuable Bowlers: Emma Oldick & Anthony Paradiso
Most Improved Bowlers: Kaedance David & Dustin Welch
6th Man/Woman Award: Autumn Nichols & Jed Douglas

Swimming

Board Of Education Award: Tucker Jones
Coaches Award: Tucker Jones

Girls Basketball

WAC 2nd Team Mohawk Division All-Star: Erin Crouse
Section 2 Girls Basketball Scholar-Athlete Award: Erin Crouse
Team’s Most Valuable Player: Erin Crouse
Board Of Education 2nd Effort Award: Ryleigh Hart
D’Arcangelis Super-Sub Award: Ashlynn Hart
Defensive Player of the Year: Sarah Florian
Rebounder of the Year: Erin Crouse (15 rb/game)
Rookie of the Year: Ashlynn Hart
P.R.I.D.E. Award: Sarah Florian

Boys Basketball

WAC Co-Most Valuable Players – Mohawk Division: Robert Jordan & Levi
Thomas
WAC 1st Team Mohawk Division All-Star: Clayton Welch
WAC Mohawk Division – Honorable Mention: Stephen Gray & Austin Van Gorder
Second Team All-State – Class C, Section 2 Class C All-Star and Times Union Newspaper Small School All-Star: Robert Jordan
Honorable Mention All-State Class C, Section 2 Class C All-Star, Times Union Newspaper Small School Honorable Mention: Levi Thomas
Board of Education 2nd Effort Award: Cameron David
D’Arcangelis Super-Sub Award: Estee Smith

Cheerleading

Board Of Education 2nd Effort Award: Sadie Kersey

Spring Season Awards

Baseball

WAC All-Stars: Austin Van Gorder, Nalzon Henry & Griffin MaGinnis
Board Of Education 2nd Effort Award: Nalzon Henry
D’Arcangelis Super-Sub Award: Rich Paddon
Bo Baker Batting Average Award: Austin Van Gorder
Rich Bower Baseball Award: Griffin MaGinnis
Cy Young Award – Lowest ERA: Austin Van Gorder
Fox Hole Award: Stephen Gray

Track & Field

Board Of Education 2nd Effort Awards: Monika Kulczynski & Estee
Smith
Outstanding Girl & Boy Track Athlete: Natalie Thibodeau & Isaiah Handy (OESJ)
Outstanding Girl & Boys Field Athlete: Sarah Florian & Noah Norton
Outstanding Girl & Boy Track & Field Athlete: Jordan DeNinno (OESJ) & Clayton Welch

Note: Fort Plain had JV and Modified Softball this year – No Varsity Softball Awards

Memorial and Special Awards:

Western Athletic Conference “Dick Gray Profiles in Courage” Award:
Natalie Thibodeau
Bill Cutspec Memorial Scholarships: Erin Crouse & Owin Landry
Bo Baker Memorial Scholarship: Noah Horning
Noah Fredericks Memorial Senior Track Awards: Emma Karker & Estee Smith
Rich Bower Cross Country & Track Awards: Emma Karker & Michael Harris Jr.
Board Of Education Underclassman Awards: Ryleigh Hart & Stephen Gray
Board Of Education Senior Sportsmanship Awards: Emma Karker & Tucker Jones
Most Improved Athletes: Erin Crouse & Levi Thomas
William Doerrer & Son Outstanding Senior Athletes: Sarah Florian, Robert Jordan & Clayton Welch

Media coverage

Leader-Herald: “Fort Plain, A Scholar Athlete School of Excellence Hosts Sports Awards Ceremony”

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Fort Plain Jr./Sr. High School celebrates the Class of 2022 with our Senior Spotlight! Spotlights are also displayed on the digital display in the high school lobby and highlighted on morning announcements.

Graduation is Saturday, June 25, at 10 a.m. View the ceremony online via our livestream/recording link.

View the Class of 2022 Top Ten video shown at graduation

 

Fort Plain School Counselor Colleen Cushing has been honored with a State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State Excellence in Teaching Award for exemplifying excellence in her work with students.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced the awards on June 15, recognizing Cushing and just 53 fellow educators statewide “for their impressive skillset as an educator and commitment to success for all of their students.”

The Empire State Excellence in Teaching Award includes a $5,000 stipend from SUNY that recipients can apply toward professional learning opportunities to continue to develop their knowledge and skills to further support student growth. Recipients are also offered opportunities for: sharing insights on their teaching practices, curriculum and instruction; professional learning; and working with regional development leaders, university leaders, policymakers and school leaders to advise them on education trends.

In announcing the awards, Gov. Hochul said, “Before, throughout, and as we move past this pandemic, teachers have selflessly shown up for our kids and deserve our immense gratitude. It is impossible to recognize each one for their hard work and effort, but I am pleased to congratulate 54 outstanding educators for their commitment to their students. They embody the values and mindset that every educator should have, and I applaud them for inspiring thousands of children across our great state.”

The recipients were named after an extensive award application process that involved several New York State professional education associations.

Fort Plain Jr./Sr. High School inducted 11 eighth grade students into the National Junior Honor Society and recognized 20 seventh grade students as provisional members at a June 21 ceremony at the school.

Congratulations to the following inductees:
Ian Burns
Josephia Carcasole
Owen Castellano
Reanna Germond
Koby Herron
McKenna Karker
Dylan Keane
Taylor Potter
Bailie Richardson
Bradley Rumrill
Dawson Tracki

Congratulations to the following provisional members:
Gamilel Brackett
Aubry Brant
Kala Clapper
Bryellah D’Arcangelis
Keagen Dodson
Mason Gray
Jansheen Haider
Hailey Hayes
Levi Hext
Lilly Lapi
Elle Nare
Alexis Palmeri
Hunter Palmeri
Zionna Robarge
Kendra Sackett
Larry Sanders
Silas Smith
Brady Spaulding
Olivia Sweet
Landon VanGorder

By Wendy Stokna –

A popular country song by Tim McGraw, whose lyrics include the following, “Don’t take for granted the love this life gives you / When you get where you’re going, don’t forget turn back around / And help the next one in line / Always stay humble and kind,” personifies the latest effort by internship student Talia Narzymski.

After being the first student from the Fort Plain Central School District to receive the College Board’s National Rural and Small Town Recognition Program Award, Talia realized that she could use her experience to help her peers win scholarships to help fund their education in times of growing economic concern.

Her internship experience through Mrs. Stokna’s class was inspired by the recent video “Borrowed Future,” directed by David DiCicco, which spotlights how staggering amounts of college debt have become a national concern. In order to do what she could with her knowledge of the process and as a student in a rural community, she set out to make a difference.

Her process began with conversations among teachers, her senior high school counselor and the development of student surveys. Her first step was sending out a survey to her classmates to understand their needs and where they might need support. (She thanks Mrs. Sacco for allowing her to do so during her class!)

With guidance from Ms. Cushing and Mrs. Stokna, Talia created a guideline for her classmates with helpful links and suggestions to assist them on their scholarship journeys. Seniors were given access to this through Ms. Cushing’s Class of 2022 Google Classroom and you will find a link to it here as well: Guide to Scholarships by Talia, which includes Guide to Writing Your Scholarship Resume.

Two displays were created in the school, by the school counselors’ office and outside of Mrs. Stokna’s classroom, that contain QR codes and information about the following scholarship services: https://www.goingmerry.com/, https://www.fastweb.com/, and https://student.naviance.com/fpjshs. The posters in these displays are also displayed throughout the halls.

Talia hopes her fellow classmates discover that the application process is not as scary as it may seem, and that they can continue to apply for scholarships even after they graduate! She also puts emphasis on the importance of looking at every scholarship that is posted, as many students do not seem to realize that there are scholarships for just about anything, not just top academic scores or athletic ability.

Small amounts can easily add up. Talia is also hopeful that this will be the start of something that will continue to grow and can support students of the Fort Plain School District for many years to come.

In the photos: Talia created the displays above in the high school, posting them with the help of fellow student Braeden Mosher (pictured with Talia in the top photo).

This year’s In the Biz class created a city to experience what it takes to build and run a business.

According to teacher Wendy Stokna, “Each student in the class did baseline research to determine which type of business they would like to create.

“The project-based learning experience required them to select a business type, ownership type, create their building, collaboratively perform city planning, develop a vision board for the business, create a brand, develop a marketing plan including social media marketing, create customer avatars, and make decisions about how they would manage, fund and measure business success.

“The city included businesses such as a grocery store, pharmacy, bakery, game store, coffee shop, office building and apartment building. Having the model truly supported discussions about various aspects of the curriculum to aid student visualization.”

Student reflections of this experience include:

“We learned about entrepreneurship and what goes into running a successful business. Not only that, but it shows how tough being an entrepreneur is and the tasks that they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis.”

“Location of your business is very important to growing your business. You could have the best business idea ever, but if you don’t have a good location you are not going to go far in that business.”

“A brand is crucial to getting people to come check out your business. The more intriguing the brand is, the more people may want to come check out your business.”

“Hands-on learning while making our businesses has helped me learn a lot better, in many different ways. For example, being able to pick what business we wanted to ‘run’ made it easier to learn about it because I actually had an interest in said business.”

“The parts that I thought were the hardest were planning the city and marketing. You may think planning a city is pretty easy, but you actually have to figure out which businesses go where and what types of businesses there are. Things can get really tough. Even though planning the city was tough, I also thought that it was fun.”

Mrs. Stokna congratulates her students on this successful endeavor. Great job everyone!

Students in Patti Jarabek’s Textile Arts class at Fort Plain High School spent the semester learning the fundamentals of quilt making, and they ultimately made quilts of their own.

“The quilts will serve as a happy reminder of home when the students go off to college!” said their teacher.

 

In the photos: Students Sarah Florian, Erin Crouse, Hailey Hogan and Emma Oldick show their beautiful work.

By Talia Narzymski 

Mrs. Stokna’s Career Internship Class at Fort Plain High School lent a helping hand to make this year’s Spring Fling and Prom an extraordinary experience for our student body.

The design team put their heads and hands together to design two beautiful archways, and the Spring Fling setup was so beautiful that it was also used in a family wedding the following weekend! The team is pictured (above) with the floral arrangements that they made for the tables at the Spring Fling.

Brianna Krutz was the head designer for the archways, and Braeden Mosher was her trusty assistant who worked alongside Monique Cool. Alyza Scott and Kaitlyn Dodson were more than happy to help the class put together the nine floral arrangements for the Spring Fling, and Talia Narzymski pieced together the two selfie stations many students loved at both events.

The six-member team was grateful for the opportunity to make the student body have wonderful memories. They would like to thank everyone who donated materials and the arch to make this all possible.

The arch design team

The spring fling arch and frame

Working on the spring fling selfie frame

Prom selfie photo frame

Prom arch and frame