Letter from the Principal, Upper School Campus

Letter from the Principal
Gayle Iacono

Our students are on the move once again, both academically and competitively! In March, the AP Biology class visited the University of Miami to participate and conduct a laboratory experiment on gel electrophoresis and the separation of DNA. The students worked with Lina Shehadeh, who has a Ph.D. and is an assistant professor at the Department of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology. Dr. Shehadeh performs cardiovascular research at University of Miami, where they are now focusing on the disease of atherosclerosis, using the APOE knockout mice as a model for this disease. Our AP Biology students were able to observe this process and gain firsthand knowledge of how genes affect high cholesterol.


AP Biology's visit to a UM science lab.	Juliana Herrero experimenting at UM

Congratulations to the Honor Society inductees! Students were inducted into National Junior Honor Society, National Honor Society, National Junior Spanish Honor Society, and the National French and Spanish Honor Societies throughout the last several months. Mrs. White, Mrs. Nelson, Ms. Villaverde, Mrs. Torres, Ms. Armand, and Ms. Roncancio have done a tremendous job with these clubs each and every week! These students were recognized for exceling in a variety of categories which include scholarship, service, leadership, character, and citizenship. Additionally, the Spanish and French Honor Society’s purpose is to recognize high achievement of high school students in the Spanish, Portuguese and French languages, and to promote a continuing interest in Hispanic and Portuguese studies. As part of our Foreign Language Program, several of our French students, taught by Ms. Armand, were afforded the opportunity to participate in a state competition where they won 8 individual awards and a Superior rating for the team competition. Congratulations to them all for an outstanding job!! The individual results are as follows:

Beatriz Mourad: Superior ( 100%) and Good
Christina Giancarlo: Excellent
Solange Penin: Excellent
Fabiana Imposimato: Superior ( 100%)
Daniela Manrique: Good
Maria Bonaventura: Good
Augustina Bonaventura: Good

Our performing arts programs continue to grow and are contenders at the district and state competitions each year. School performances highlighted our music students’ individual and group talents which assisted them with preparation for this year’s district and state competitions.
The judges rate student performances using the following scale: Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent, Superior. The following are the results for piano students, directed by Mrs. Barrette that participated in Solo and Ensemble District Competition.

           Xuejiao Che: Superior (eligible for States)
           Ji Soo Park: Superior (eligible for States)
           Angela Tuffy: Superior (eligible for States)
           Tyler Stanley: Superior (eligible for States)
           Casey Corrigan: Superior
           Axel Tello: Superior
           Alyssa Orr: Superior
           Zhengao Chen: Superior
           Ryan Aaron: Superior
           Jessica Velez: Superior (eligible for States)
           Laura Hochstein: Excellent
           Michael Sofer: Excellent

Recently, four of our outstanding piano students participated in the Florida Vocal Association's State Solo and Ensemble Competition. They received recognition for their efforts and we are extremely proud of them! Their scores are:

Xuejiao Che - Superior
Tyler Stanley - Excellent
Ji Soo Park - Excellent
Angela Tuffy - Excellent

Our band students also participated successfully at the district level this year and look forward to advancing to the state competition in 2011-2012. Their results are as follows:

Tomas Barriero/Ji Soo Park: Snare Duet-Excellent
Ricky Salgado: Bass Clarinet Solo- Excellent
Alex Brown, Brian Bales, Alessio Luis: Snare Trio-Superior
Jong Won Yang, Zach Stanley, Franco Tuda: Snare Trio-Excellent
Brian McCarthy/Fredrik Meyer: Trumpet Duet-Excellent
Nick Froemming: Baritone Solo-Excellent

As we wind up the school year, be sure to check our website for information regarding summer school offerings. Have a safe and relaxing summer! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 954-389-2454 ext. 311 or giacono@sagemont.com.