Julianna Amador EDU280 School Study Response 7 October 2011 Section 1: Clarkstown High School South Vs.

Northeastern Clinton Central School Both Clarkstown High School South and Northeastern Clinton Senior High School promote values and ideologies their administrators believe are beneficial and vital in adolescent education, and exemplify these values and ideologies through their mission statements. Clarkstown Souths mission statement is, to foster and ethical learning community in which a safe, challenging and supportive environment exists for all, while NCCSs mission statement is, to enhance every students potential to succeed in our ever changing society. At first glance when these two high schools mission statements are compared, I would say NCCSs mission statement is more oriented toward the future than Clarkstown Souths statement. NCCSs mission statement exemplifies that the schools ultimate goal is to prepare students for life beyond the classroomtheyre primary purpose is to provide their students with the proper tools and knowledge to be competent, valuable and knowledgeable members of society. Clarkstown Souths mission statement the other hand, is more focused on the environment the faculty trying to provide adolescents while theyre attending the school; Souths mission statement makes no allusion to life beyond high school or what kind of people theyre trying to mold their students into. Upon this realization of NCHS making its mission to assist students to succeed in an ever changing society, I would say that Northeastern Clinton Senior High School has a stronger value for community than Clarkstown High School South does. Upon looking at statistics gathered by the New York State government on Clarkstown High School South and Northeastern Clinton High, the reason NCCS might have a better sense of community than Clarkstown South might be because of the variance in the number of students enrolled in each school. For the 2009-2010 school year, Northeastern Clinton High recorded having 503 students enrolled in their 9th-12th grade high school, 98% of their students are white, and their average class size was anywhere from 16-19 students. Clarkstown Souths statistics regarding their students differed greatly from that of Northeastern Clinton High, recording that 1546 students were enrolled in Clarkstown South for the 2009-2010 school year, only 74% of their students are white, and their class sizes ranged from 18-20 students. To me, this data insinuates that NCCS, being the smaller of these two schools with the most alike students, values community more than Clarkstown South because of their small student population and their need for students to remain in the area long after they graduate from NCCS to become functioning members of their local community. The administrators of Clarkstown, on the other hand, having such a large student population, may feel is it impossible or too much of an effort to emphasize community at Clarkstown South because they have such a large and diverse student population, along with an excessively large community in which Clarkstown South is located. Section 2: School Events at NCCS

The first event I attended at NCCS was a boys soccer game. The game was held on the field directly next to NCCSs high school at 6pm on September 9th. By holding the event outside, parents were able to sit in their own chairs farther away from the two sets of stands, rather than amongst the teenagers, who were sitting clustered together in the stands which allowed for students to be in a sense, unsupervised, allowing them to use profanity they probably would not use in the presence of their parents. The game being held outside also added for an increased variance in the type of social interactionwhen the game was slow or students simply lost interest, they would walk around the surrounding area. Young couples would walk arm and arm up and down along the side of the field paying no attention to the game that was unfolding on the field. Though this event being held outside might have allowed some people to wander away from the game, by allowing for the students to talk and cheer as loud as they wanted help boost team moral. As for the various social dynamics among those who attended the soccer game, I felt like the two main groups people who attended the game, parents and teens were very much segregatedtherefore this game accommodated social purposes for both adults and teenagers. The teenagers were able to break away from their parents to hang out with their peers, while parents were able to do the same and hang out with other adults. I believe the soccer game promoted the value and importance of community. Even though parents and students were separated for the majority of the game, when a goal was made, a player was hurt or an unfair call was made against NCCS, they all united and banded together in support of the Cougars to express their excitement, pride, anger or frustration. By promoting the all important value of community, I believe all who attended the game benefited from the event and served the public by exemplifying the importance of being an active, supportive member of not only the NCCS community, but members of their local communities as well. When I compare this event with sporting events I attended at my high school, NCCSs was much more community oriented. I could tell that the majority of the students who attended might not have been paying attention the whole game, but when something positive or negative happened to the Cougars, they reacted. At my high school, most students who attended games didnt even cheer when goals were madethey were too enthralled in their own lives support the community of which they were supposedly a member of. The second event I attended was the homecoming bonfire that took place on the NCCS soccer filed at 7:30 pm on September 28th. By having the bonfire on the large field, students were able to do an array of activities other than watch the bonfire. On the side of the field opposite of where the bonfire was being set up, the students were playing games of tug-of-war during which grades would verse other grades. Though there were a few students who stood out of the games, preferring to watch the game and talk amongst the others who chose to sit out, the majority of students took part in the game and became enthralled in it, cheering and yelling as loud as they could as they pulled as hard as possible; students were allowed to interact in a way that wouldnt have been possible indoors by being as loud as they wanted and playing a game that took up so much space and wouldnt be very safe if played indoors. Because the event was held at night, students were able to psych themselves up for the event all day which increased their enthusiasm and excitement during the event. The social dynamic of this event between parents and students was again, very much divided. There was virtually no parental-student interactionin fact, I had to stop and look for any kind of chaperones for this event. I finally found two parents standing together talking on

one side of the field, and a group of three parents standing in front of the concession stand. Just like the soccer game, the bonfire was used to meet the social purposes of both the parents and students; it allowed the parents to be seen as good parents by taking the time out of their day to chaperone the event and just being there for their children, and the students were seen as part of the in-crowd by attending the event and showing their school spirit. Again, like the soccer game, I believe this event also promoted the value of community thus not only serving the interests of parents and students, but society as well. By both the students and parents attending the event, they were exemplifying how important being a part of the NCCS family was to them, and by doing so instills the importance of community in the minds and hearts of the students which intern will allow them to thrive and become active members in communities they will be members of long after they graduate from NCCS. I believe the students benefited the most out of these two present social groups that attended the bonfire. The event was like a community builder oriented towards the students, not the parents. However, attending the bonfire might have benefited some parents by providing them with a sense of pride in seeing their children taking part in this event and being a part of the NCCS student community, or possibly given some parents a sense of meaning or purpose by being at the event. When comparing NCCSs bonfire to those that took place at my school, NCCSs once again was much more intimate than Clarkstown Souths. Though both schools had the same social dynamics involved with this event, I believe the bonfires at my high school were nowhere near as communal as the NCCS bonfire. Clarkstown South just had a bonfire; there were no games for students to play and even if there were, I believe Clarkstown South would have a fraction of the students that NCCS had participate in their games.