HUSKY HAPPENINGS

The Quarterly Newsletter of

April 2009

Dumont High School

The Horizon Fast Approaches

By the time you receive or read this last issue of the 2008-2009 Husky
Happenings series, not only will the fourth marking period be under way, but
In This Issue
we will also be in the throws of preparing for the end of the school year. Prom,
graduation, final exams, and scheduling are but a part of what we will planning page 2 Need To
and finalizing as June 23 draws closer. Knows

Guidance
Looking back on the closing year, much has been done this year to lay the News
groundwork for the future of Dumont High School’s students. A short synopsis
of our achievements this year: Athletics
• A reorganization of the Student Council was initiated. This supports our News
commitment to empowering the Student Council to become a more active and
organized voice for the student body. page 3 Clubs &
• A 20 members Curriculum Council was established to research, recommend, Student
and design more flexible and relevant learning opportunities for our students. News
Specifically, the faculty has investigated offering a Freshman Seminar course,
expanding our Option Two opportunities, creating an Economics/Financial
Literacy course, and developing a means of channeling students into their
page 4 Boosters &
interests through a Pathways program. Parent
• A proposal for Dumont High School to reinstate Midterm Exams is being Groups
considered for the 2009-2010 school year. News
•Many teachers have taken the opportunity to learn and utilize current
Upcoming
technologies to assist with their classroom teaching, thus potentially engaging
Events
more students in non-traditional means.
•The Guidance Department is preparing to invest in the widely used Naviance
software program. This technology will allow for better parent-counselor-
student communication and college or career planning.

It has been my absolute pleasure to serve as your child’s Principal. For the
remainder of this school year, I look forward to celebrating the many
achievements and honors our students have earned. For those families who will
be returning in the fall, be sure to keep an eye out for the progress we will
continue to make in our efforts to become the ideal high school for all of our
students.

Cordially,
Michael Parent, Principal
1
HUSKY HAPPENINGS April 2009 to meet their teachers and become Varsity Wrestling
Need to familiar with the high school. All
parents of all students are encouraged
Under the direction of Head Coach
John Monaco, the team finished their
Knows to have their students attend. 4th
Marling Period report cards will also be
season at 6 and 15 overall. They made
significant gains this year as a team and
School Phone Numbers distributed that day.
several individuals had very successful
Dumont High School Main Office seasons.
(and to call a student in as “absent”): Senior Awards Night
(201) 387-3000 Senior Awards Night 2009 will take
Guidance Department (direct number): place on Tuesday, June 9 at 7:00 PM in Girls Varsity Basketball
(201) 387-3010 the DHS Auditorium. Letters of invite Under the direction of Head Coach
Athletic Department (direct number): will be sent to seniors who are asked to David Cieplicki, finished the season at
(201) 387-3094 be present that evening. 16 wins and 11 losses. The team
DHS School Nurse: qualified for the Bergen County
(201) 387-3000, ext. 3605 Tournament, as well as The State
September 2009 Basketball Tournament, where they
School will open for students in won their first round game. Special
Progress Reports - 4th September on Wednesday, September 2, congratulations are in order for Coach
Marking Period 2009. Cieplicki for being named to the New
Progress Reports - 4th Marking Period Jersey Basketball Hall of Fame. This is a
Progress Reports for the 4th Marking
Period will be mailed home on May 1, Guidance well-deserved honor, and Dumont is
very proud of him.
2009.
News Boys Varsity Basketball
Report Cards - 4th Under the direction of Head Coach
Schedule Changes for
Marking Period Adam Sidrow, finished the season 14
Final report cards for the 2008-2009 the 2009-2010 School ane 11 and qualified for the State
school year will be distributed to year Tournament. The team beat Pompton
students on the last day of school (June The Guidance Department and the Lakes in the first round of the
23). Please ask your child for his/her administration have worked very hard tournament and lost in overtime to
report card so that you may review the to schedule each and every student for Mahwah.
grades, and if necessary, make an the coming school year. On June 23rd,
all students will receive their 2009-2010
schedule. Any student who wishes to Boys Varsity Bowling
appointment with a guidance counselor.
have their 2009-2010 schedule changed, Under the direction of Head Coach
Students who owe fines to the school must do so by 3:00 pm on June 23. Marc Ferrara, finished their season with
will not be given their report cards. Counselors will not be available during a record above 500 and finished in 7th
These fines can be accrued in any of the summer months. place in the league. They competed at a
the following ways: high level and lost several contests by

Athletics
•Failure to return the school issued ID very few pins.
card
•Damaged school issued ID cards
•Damaged or lost textbooks
•Damaged or lost calculators
News Girls Varsity Bowling
The team finished their first season at
•Damaged district property Varsity Cheerleaders 15–1 and won the BCSL American
League Championship. Brianna Carlo
Under the direction of Coaches Alyssa
finished the season with a 199 average
Ruggero and Jaclin Solari, the
Final Exams 2009 cheerleaders did a tremendous job with and the team finished fourth in the
The schedule for final exams will be their Competition squad and cheering county tournament.
distributed and put on the website as teams. The Competition squad trained
soon as it is established. and competed all season in competitions
and hosted a very successful
Varsity Ice Hockey
competition at DHS. The cheering Under Head Coach Pete Becker,
Move Up Day team also cheered at all of the home finished the season 9-8-2 overall. They
On Monday, June 23, our annual Move boys and girls basketball games. qualified for the State Tournament and
Up Day in which students have the lost to a very good Arthur L. Johnson
opportunity to follow their 2009-2010 Regional High School team, who was
schedules will be conducted. It will also seeded seventh in the state.
be a chance for our incoming Freshmen

2

HUSKY HAPPENINGS April 2009
of the year. The final competition was
The Spring Sports March 12.
Periscope
The latest issue of Periscope is presently
Season underway. For this issue, students have
Baseball, Softball, Track, and Golf are shown a higher level of self-motivation;
now underway. Come out and show Dance Team many have generated their own story
your support! All sports schedules are The Dance Team, under the direction ideas, and student reporters now submit
on the DHS website, Athletic of Miss Koblitz, competed at their last photographs to accompany their own
Department link. competition at Hofstra’s Dance stories. This issue will kick off the
Competition on March 21. The team training program for those students who
also participated in the Winter Club wish to be involved as staff members
Carnival on March 13, in addition to next year. All potential editors will
Clubs & running an Italian Night Fundraiser
Dinner on March 31.
"shadow" the current editor as she
works on all aspects of this issue. A

Student News Ecology Club

copy-editing session will be held soon to
prepare articles for layout, and students
interested in learning layout techniques
Debate Team The Ecology Club continues to create will begin training. The advisors of the
February was a good month for Varsity recycling awareness with their paper are planning a redesign of the
Debate. On February 5, DHS hosted a aluminum recycling program, which newspaper's layout. The redesign
Varsity Debate during the school day. they decided to expand, and storm project will be announced to the
Teachers volunteered their rooms as drain awareness program. The club will students once candidates for the
audience as teams from Cresskill, Fair be finalizing their storm drain education position of Layout Editor have
Lawn, NV Old Tappan, NV Demarest, program in the grammar schools. apprenticed the current editor through
and Dumont competed, debating the one complete issue. It is expected that
issue of increased federal spending for the new design will not be launched
alternative energy incentives. The Forensics until the 2009 fall issue. The goal of the
Dumont team took third place. On Feb The DHS Forensics team recently redesign is to produce a newspaper that
ruary 26, another Varsity Debate was competed at Raritan High School for reflects a more sophisticated use of the
held at Leonia HS, involving teams the 2009 Championship Tournament. InDesign software program, and rivals
from Leonia, Dwight-Engelwood, NV Overall the team placed 2 out of 10. other schools’ newspapers aesthetically.
Old Tappan, NV Demarest, North Periscope has also taken advantage of
Bergen, and Dumont. The Dumont opportunities to connect with the
team of took the third place trophy. In Math Team Dumont community. On March 13,
addition, one Dumont High School Math Team members had a busy Periscope staff members once again
Debate Team student was recognized as February. There was a home meet hosted a booth at the DHS Winter
the outstanding judge by the coaches at during the third week of February, as Carnival, an annual event open to
the tournament. well as an away meet later on that week. Dumont residents. The newspaper is
Students are looking forward to the also now available to residents at
dinner meet at Tenafly, which is the last Dumont's Public Library.
Art Honor Society away meet of the year.
The Art Honor Society created
illustrations for the Oracle. The topics Student Council
were works of literature studied in the Media Club The Student Government sponsored a
English classes. The students took a field The Media Club hosted the annual beard competition between male
trip to the Museum of Modern Art on Winter Carnival "Fun"draiser on March teachers. The winner, Mr. Lugo, earned
March 26. 13. Clubs and classes set up booths over $400.00 for a charity of his
with games and prizes. The Media choosing.
Club sold food at the event. Last year's
World Languages Honor carnival proved to be very successful for
Societies most DHS classes and clubs. Also, the Unity Club
Media Club voted to purchase a Mac The homeroom collection of pop-tabs
The Spanish Honor Society (advised by Pro computer to be used for video
Mrs. Luciano), the Italian Honor editing. The computer is now located in for Ronald McDonald House Charities
Society (advised by Mr. Joe Materia), the video/photo lab in the basement to ended on February 20. Mr. Breheny’s
and the American Sign Language be used in conjunction with the media and Mr. Monaco’s homerooms tied for
Honor Society (advised by Ms. Lynch) club and video production class. Media first place. Both homerooms collected
inducted over 40 new members on April members have been working on setting over 14 containers of pop-tabs. Ms.
7. This was the first induction ceremony up this lab as an editing/project room. Babashak’s homeroom came in third.
for the ASL Honor Society. Media students also offered "SO Night
2009" DVDs for sale at the end of the During February, representatives from
production nights. The DVDs are in the the Unity Club gave up their evening
Chemistry Team process of being edited and burned for hours to be recreational aides to young
The Chemistry Team and Medical those who ordered. children at the homeless shelter in
Explorers held their second competition Englewood. Both our students and the
young children had a great time.

3
HUSKY HAPPENINGS April 2009
Finally, a number of Unity Club
members assisted at a Habitat for
Humanity work site. Accompanied
by Ms. Mascarelli and Mrs. Maynes,
these students painted, spackled,
sanded, insulated and hauled
construction materials at Habitat's
Edgewater site. The students and
chaperones were tired and quite dirty
at the end of the day. However, they
felt great that they could help a needy
family. The administrators at the site
praised the DHS students for their
hard work and fortitude.
Junior Class
The Junior Dance was held on
Friday, March 20 at the Knights of
Columbus in Dumont.
Senior Class
The Senior Class has been making
final arrangements for their prom
scheduled for May 15, 2009 at the
Park Ridge Marriott. The Class of
2009 and their guests are very
excited!
National Honor
Society Induction
2009
This year’s National Honor Society
Induction will take place on
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 in the
DHS Auditorium.
Art/Industrial Art/
Science Show
The annual end of the year Art,
Industrial Art, Science Show will be
conducted on Tuesday, May 26 at
6:00 PM.
Boosters &
Parent
Groups
News
Project Graduation
All Project Graduation meeting dates
and information can be found on the
Project Graduation link on the DHS
website.
Project Graduation 2009
Meeting dates for the remainder of
the 2008-2009 school year are:
•Thursday, May 7
•Thursday, June 11
•Tuesday, June 16
All meetings are held at 7:30 pm in
the Media Center. For any questions,
contact Peaches Fiorelli at (201)
385-2666 or at
dhsprojgrad2009@verizon.net
Project Graduation 2010
Meeting dates for the remainder of
the 2008-2009 school year are:
•Tuesday, May 19
•Monday, June 15
All meetings are held at 7:00 pm in
the Media Center. For any questions,
contact Stephanie McClinton at
(201) 385-1542 or at
SRMC159@aol.com.
Project Graduation 2011
The next meeting date will be posted
on the Project Graduation website
when it is set.
Upcoming
Events
April
• 25-27 Band Trip @ Virginia
Beach
• 28 Key Communicator Meeting
7:00 pm
May
• 2 SAT Test @ 7:30 am
• 4-8 AP Tests
• 9 Senior Citizen Prom 12:00 pm
• 11-15 AP Tests
• 14 DYT One-Act Plays 7:00 pm
• 15 HAD Program for Seniors 8:00
am
• 15 Senior Prom 7:30 pm
• 18 State Biology Exam 8:00 am
• 20 National Honor Society
Induction 7:30 pm
• 22 Memorial Day Observance
9:00 am
• 25 School Closed
• 27 DYT Drama Banquet/
Induction 5:30 pm
• 28 Spring Sports Awards
Assembly 7:30 pm
June
• 3 Ensemble Concert 7:30 pm
• 8 Review Day (D Day)
• 9 Review Day (A Day)
• 9 Senior Awards 7:00 pm
• 10 Review Day (B Day)
• 11 Review Day (C Day)
• 12 Final Exams - single session
• 15-17 Final Exams
• 15-18 Single session days
• 18 Yearbook Signing Luncheon
• 18-19 Graduation Practice am
• 18 Final Exam Make-ups
• 19 Single session day (E Day)
• 22 Single session day (E Day)
• 22 Graduation 7:00 pm
• 23 Move Up Day - Single session
day
September
• 2 First Day of School for
2009-2010 school year