Sheena L. is the Scituate recipient of the General Treasurer’s Award for Outstanding Performance in Business Studies.  The criteria is to attain a B+ average in grades 9-12, demonstrate leadership potential for future success in the business world and take courses in the Business Department.  MaryAnn Hatzberger accompanied Sheena and her mother on Monday, May 13, to the Governor’s stateroom, where a Continental Breakfast, tour of the State House, and Recognition Ceremony for all state recipients occurred.  Sheena has taken five business courses including accounting and received an A- average in these courses.

David R. and Stephanie P. are the Fleet Outstanding Business Students for Scituate. The Scituate Fleet Bank provided a luncheon for Scituate and Ponaganset recipients.  Scituate Fleet Bank managers, Cathy Mizzoni and Crystal Champagne attended this luncheon with Mrs. Frost, David, and Stephanie at the Atwood Grill on Thursday, May 23. The Observer published a picture of the recipients. Both of these awards will be presented at Graduation.  David and Stephanie have taken three business courses receiving an A average in these courses.  Their plans are to attend college and to pursue a career in the field of business.

New England Technical Institute Book awards that are given to outstanding business students will be presented at graduation.  This year the Scituate Business Department recognized four business students.  The four students are Sheena L., Stephanie P., Michael S., and Alexandra R.

The Avis J. Carey book award that is given to a junior at Class Day exercises was given to Lindsay F.  She shows excellent promise in the business field. She has taken two business courses and had done outstanding work in these courses.  Bryant College showcased her work on the Market Research Product Project in a conference in San Francisco.  Her artistic ability along with her valuable business skills, which have been developed through her participation in business courses in the business department, will provide her with the ability to pursue her career choice. She participated in several job-shadowing opportunities to help her decide on her career and college choice.

BUSINESS COURSES

All of Mrs. Frost's high school business classes have prepared and presented PowerPoint presentations utilizing the National Business Standards and their final Portfolio Presentation. With the use of the digital camera, students in all business classes have learned how to input a picture into their PowerPoint presentation as well as into the Print Shop and Disney Interactive programs. Scanning a picture and recording and adding their voice to the motivational slide of their PowerPoint presentations has been implemented. The new project based standards assignment that students in Computer Assisted Keyboarding, Information Processing, and Career Pathway completed working on is a Vacation Project.  They researched a country destination of their choice to prepare a PowerPoint presentation, flier, and poster for their destination. The Bryant College web site was highly utilized. The students enjoyed the application of the programs they have learned to incorporate this into their work.  The other project they worked on which is similar was a Career Project.  They again created their own PowerPoint presentation, flier, and poster for the career they are pursuing.  All students seemed very interested and hard at work using the Internet to research their material. Students utilized their computer applications in getting jobs and for other class assignments. Business students have again been placed in several jobs such as, accounting, a flower shop, dental assistant, stable worker, receptionist, etc. These opportunities arose through STC initiatives.

Students did an outstanding job.  They have utilized and applied many of these learned computer skills in their business classes as well as in other classes.  Students have found they have been instrumental in aiding both teachers and students in other classes.  Two senior girls did a PowerPoint presentation in their English class.  These seniors came to the Business Department to learn how to set up the Polarview LCD projector.  They took notes and were able to set up and present their English project.  Both students were always timid in public speaking but said that the PowerPoint program has decreased their apprehension and nervousness and increased their ability to present in a more mature and professional manner.  Students have found that these business skills are life long.  Many seniors have realized the importance of these computer skills and look forward to applying these skills in college and the workforce.

During final PowerPoint presentations, a former Scituate 2000 graduate, Scott M., came to visit Mrs. Frost.  He recently enlisted in the US Navy and will be shipping out in June.  He came to express his thanks for the PowerPoint training.  He is in naval military intelligence and creates PowerPoint presentations for briefs. He trained other naval students on PowerPoint and was given 15 credits toward college education for this training.  He was a student in Mrs. Frost's College Computer Skills class and helped in STC presentations for STC quarterly reports. He explained his PowerPoint briefs to students in Mrs. Frost's Information Processing and Computer Assisted Keyboarding classes.

In early May, Mrs. Frost attended a Saturday Rhode Island Business Educator's Association Conference held at North Providence High School. At this conference the new Speaking Solutions computer application was presented.  A demonstration of the Video conferencing equipment was previewed and utilized.  This opportunity for contacts in both areas was extremely beneficial to the Scituate Business Department.  The Scituate Business Department looks to continue to stay on the cutting edge of technology by implementing these new applications into their curriculum next year.

Many thanks go to Jill Morton for her continued involvement with the STC initiatives.  The Construction Career Day, held on May 21 at the Department of Transportation in Coventry was well attended.  Scituate sent over 50 students under the direction of Dave Lewis, Russ Furlong, and Peter Matarese.  Statewide over 1000 students participated in the two-day event.  The highlight was allowing students to run large construction equipment. The interns who monthly visited schools were sad to leave their elementary students.  Several were asked to return for the class trip.
Thanks to Cindy DiDonato for her excellent expertise in the updating and training of the web.  The newest addition to the Business Department’s web page is links to various business sites.  This addition greatly helps students access Internet research in a timely manner.

The Business Department wishes seniors luck in their lifelong endeavors.  The school year has been very productive and we look forward to providing Scituate students with the best in School to Career and business opportunities.  One of the portions of the Portfolios is to create an essay on what students have learned in their prospective business classes.  This year I have had several outstanding essays.  These essay incorporate writing into the business curriculum. Some particular highlights of these essays are the facts that students are
Ø impressed with how much they have learned about Office 97 software programs,
Ø how their keyboarding techniques and speed have increased,
Ø how much they have and will continue to use these programs in other courses and beyond high school in either the work force or college,
Ø career exploration was another area that they were greatly impressed with the opportunities for job shadowing,
Ø personal development in areas of organizational management of time, file management, and personal maturity.

Enclosed is a copy of a particular essay that I found very rewarding. I have several other such examples. Jim S., a special education student, has spent more than 12 hours a week in E3 learning how to type, learning the Jaws program, learning PowerPoint, overcoming some of his disabilities, and especially preparing him for college.

Mrs. Frost and Mrs. Morton are applying for a sixth STC grant. The grant deadline was May 29. Many hours were dedicated to acquiring support letters, support signatures, and writing the actual grant. The new STC grant for next year will continue with the STC initiatives of job shadowing, internships, and career exploration. We have been given the opportunity to incorporate professional development into STC with the proposed addition of collaboration of the Career Pathway and Working with Children classes to present career exploration to elementary classes in Scituate, Fogarty, and Central Falls.  We are awaiting the approval.

As a result of their job shadowing experiences, students find they may need to adjust or refine their plans for the future.  Some choose to change their course selections or anticipated college majors.  For others, the job shadowing experience serves to confirm their resolve to pursue a certain career.  All students gain self-confidence and renewed motivation for career exploration as a result of their job shadowing experiences.
 
Youth and Law.
With the conclusion of the mock trial, the class proceeded to learn about contracts.  Offers and what they must contain to be valid, acceptances and how they must not change the offer, counteroffers, and genuine agreement were all discussed in detail.  Fraud and what is fraudulent was a big part of the lessons.  Examples were given which generated discussion and questions.

Contracts with minors interested the group most.   What a minor is responsible for and how and when a minor may avoid a contract were discussed. Some information on buying and insuring a car was introduced, but class time expired too soon to complete the topic.

Current event articles were still assigned and discussed.  William Sloyer from Amica Insurance returned for an additional presentation to this class, and he answered many questions from the class.

The class has viewed two videos, “Cases from the People’s Court” and “Just Cause”, which depicts a murder/mystery investigation.

Accounting/College Accounting.
The continuation of the All Star Professionals accounting packet took the class nearly to the end of the quarter to complete.  The completion of all the transactions, bank reconciliation, financial documents such as worksheet with adjustments, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Post-Closing Trial Balance after all closing entries brought a sigh of satisfaction.  This packet shows students the flow of one step into the next, which helps to impress upon students the accounting cycle.

A trip to the Rhode Island State House for one of our seniors to receive an accounting award was in May.  The continental breakfast provided, the tour of the State House, and the award ceremony were all very nice.

With the time remaining in the quarter, a review was conducted in preparation of the final exam.

Introduction to Business.
This class worked on producing goods and services worldwide. We discussed production and operations, facilities, and processing.  The concepts of production forecasting and scheduling using Materials Requirement Planning, Manufacturing Resource Planning, and Just-in-Time Planning were discussed and evaluated by the class.

We then glided into marketing and the mix of product, price, promotion, and place.  We discussed advertising and the types of promotion manufacturing may use to introduce a product into the marketplace.  Consumer motivation of buy was linked to promotion.  The life cycle of a product was understood using examples given the by class.  Pricing of products using break-even point analysis, supply, demand, packaging, and logos was all discussed.

A quick introduction to business accounting practices was done to link pricing with profits.  Very simple accounting documents were introduced.  A poster project was assigned on a business topic chosen by the student.  Posters ranging from Channels of Distribution to Comparison Shopping were done.  A final review was done in preparation for the final exam.
 

Future Business Leaders of America
 

As this year comes to a close, we would like to say good-bye to our graduating seniors and wish them well—Michael S., Heather B., and Lauren M.  We certainly hope that they will continue their active involvement in FBLA/PBL on the college level.

Recruiting for next year has been a focus of our final two months in FBLA.  Each student prepared posters to display around the school in September to make the student body aware of the opportunities for growth, leadership and community service available to them through FBLA membership.

Our chapter also began a concerted fundraising effort in conjunction with a company that recycles empty ink cartridges.  We spent time composing materials to be distributed within the school and out in the community to draw on local resources for empty cartridges.  We hope to use these funds to be able to participate in more business and leadership opportunities for our members next year.

Lastly, our members began work on next year’s scrapbook.  Each member composed an advice column for future members relating to their experiences in the FBLA statewide academic competitions.  We hope that this will give future members more insight into choosing the most appropriate competitive events for them.

We look forward to a busy and rewarding year beginning in September.

Grade 6
As the year comes to a close, all 6th grade students have learned to type by touch.  The final rotation of students is working to improve their accuracy and speed on the keyboard.  We have completed formats for letters and reports, and we are putting the finishing touches on a PowerPoint presentation, which focuses on future goals and career interests.  Miss Duggan spent one period with each of the 6th grade classes and provided instruction on Electric Library and how to access the North Scituate and Hope Public Libraries using the computer.

Our focus on incorporating more writing and higher order thinking skills into the Keyboarding curriculum is progressing and effort is being made to integrate these important elements throughout the course.

Grade 7
Students in the last rotation of grade 7 are putting the finishing touches on an in depth PowerPoint presentation that incorporates keyboarding skills, writing skills, composing at the keyboard, Internet research and career exploration.  Students in this class have worked very hard to further improve their touch typing skills, speed and accuracy.   This year three 7th graders reached the impressive goal of typing over 100 words per minute for a two-minute timed writing.  Advanced formats for letters and reports were covered.  Writing and higher order thinking skills remain a priority and have been incorporated into the curriculum mainly through the infusion of more copy from rough draft and original research assignments.

Grade 8
Millennium Team
Mr. Roumelis’ classes utilized technology in the computer lab by completing an interactive project on CD titled Dynamic Sun.  Mr. Roumelis also encourages students to complete extra credit work in the form of PowerPoint presentations on a variety of science-related topics.  Students present these projects to their peers and gain valuable experience in the use of technology for presentation purposes.

Mrs. Limoges’ classes have used the computer facilities to prepare a newspaper related to the study of Romeo and Juliet.  Students had the choice of preparing a feature article, a classified ad or an obituary.

Mr. Abrams’ classes utilized their knowledge of civics and PowerPoint to create political advertisements for Rhode Island’s gubernatorial candidates.  They had the choice to prepare either positive or negative advertisement.  Students were extremely creative did an outstanding job.

Respectfully submitted