Category: District News

Students in Rachel Heroth’s App FUNdamentals class at Fort Plain Jr./Sr. High School got a close-up view of information technology (IT) applications and explored a range of IT career opportunities during an April 14, 2022, trip to Sticker Mule in Amsterdam.

But before they even left on their trip, the students participated in a design challenge to create a logo for their high school’s Computer Science program.

The winning logo design was created by Andra Fuhs and Madison Delgado. The students used software to adjust and convert the image so it could be cut out of heat-transfer vinyl, which they then used to create t-shirts.

During their tour of Sticker Mule, the students viewed a similar process, on a larger scale with industrial size equipment.

“At Sticker Mule, the class toured the facility and witnessed sticker printing, cutting, and packaging processes,” Heroth said. “Sticker Mule’s  chief technology officer explained the technology involved in each step on the production floor and what went into the development of the programs that are vital to the company’s success.

“After the tour, students attended a presentation given by IT department members at the Amsterdam location and members who video-conferenced in from Brazil. The class learned what aspects of computer science and programming languages are used in different operations of the company.”

The presentation also highlighted different career paths in information technology, and values that technology leaders seek in employees. “It was really cool to hear how much the directors value hard work and computer science skills,” said Tucker Jones, a 12th grade student.

Students capped their field trip by receiving “swag bags,” which included their logo design on two different sticker materials and a variety of Sticker Mule products.

Fort Plain Jr./Sr. High School has been named the region’s top high school and among the state’s and nation’s Best High Schools by U.S. News & World Report, retaining an honor that recognizes student achievement and academic and program excellence.

The Best High Schools 2022 Edition ranks nearly 18,000 schools by state and census-designated metropolitan areas with three or more high schools.

Fort Plain was ranked number one in the Amsterdam, N.Y., metro area, number 446 in New York State – in the top 34 percent, and number 4,978 in the nation – in the top 40 percent of public high schools in the U.S. Fort Plain has been highly ranked for several years.

Schools are ranked on their performance on state-required tests, graduation rate and how well they prepare students for college. Specifically, rankings are based on enrollment, student body demographics, location and school type, graduation rate, and results of state assessments and Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests.

According to U.S. News & World Report, “The Best High Schools rankings, available online only, are produced in conjunction with RTI International, a global research firm. U.S. News doesn’t collect data directly from high schools – all data comes directly from official third-party sources. U.S. News receives AP and IB data directly from the College Board and International Baccalaureate, respectively, for use in the rankings. The state assessment data and graduation rates are from each state, and other data comes from the U.S. Department of Education Common Core of Data.”

Congratulations Hilltoppers!

Fort Plain’s student athletes are excelling in their sports and in the classroom. A number of teams have been named New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Scholar–Athlete teams, and Fort Plain’s winter sports teams had 40 Western Academic Conference (WAC) All-Stars.

To be named NYSPHAA Scholar-Athletes, teams must have an average of 90 or above to qualify. The following teams are being honored:

• Girls basketball
• Boys basketball
• Cheerleading
• Swimming (merged team with Canajoharie)
• Wrestling (merged team with Canajoharie)

According to NYSPHSAA, “At the end of each sports season, the NYSPHSAA honors those teams and individuals that excel in the classroom. Those student-athletes, teams, and schools work very hard throughout the year and deserve to be recognized for their academic success.”

Learning another language opens a world of possibilities, and for Fort Plain High School Spanish 8 students, researching and marketing places where that language is spoken provided a unique opportunity to tap into history, culture and opportunities to explore.

Spanish teacher Melanie Pombrio and Library Media Specialist Tariyka Chaulk partnered to challenge the students to produce travel brochures for vacations in Spanish-speaking countries, territories and cities. Besides studying a destination’s past and present and identifying interesting activities, the students had to research the logistics and costs of travel to, from and within each destination, meals, and excursions, and then establish a trip budget. They also had to research requirements for entry, such as passports, visas and vaccinations.

Airports, transfers, hotels, day trips, festivals, local fare, street maps, rental cars, natural attractions, native animals, art, cultural and historic sites, special events – the students researched all of this and more. Once they gathered their information, they used Adobe Spark to create colorful and information-packed travel brochures.

The project tapped a wide range of skills for the students, integrating study of Spanish language and culture with English, social studies, technology, visual presentation, science, math, marketing and more, as a creative – and fun – way to learn.

Pombrio and Chaulk said the project was an eye-opening experience for many students as they discovered the many differences in daily life around the world. “Some of the students were surprised by things such as challenges getting from one place to another in their chosen countries compared to what they know from living here, or by costs and requirements of traveling and visiting other countries,” they said.

The project also piqued the students’ interest in places to visit in the future. “They had to sell their destination to their classmates with their brochures, and many of the students now want to travel to the places they researched,” Pombrio and Chaulk said. “They had a really good time with the project.”

Here are a few of the students’ brochures: