Avon Central Schools

Our varsity softball team moved to 3-1 Saturday with its 13-5 win over Geneseo. Abby S., Jessie C., Sarah D., Kyleigh D. and Carissa W. each had two hits while Lily R. recorded 3. One of Jessie’s hits was a home run and one of Sarah’s was a triple. Jessie was also dominant on the mound, grabbing 22 strikeouts through seven innings. That number was so big we had to go check NYSPHSAA’s record books and it turns out that’s tied for the 15th most strikeouts in a single game in state softball history. Not too shabby, Jessie! The Braves are next in action tonight - Monday, April 22 - at Pavilion (3-3). Game starts at 4:30 p.m. (Photo courtesy of Jill Terry)

Heads up, Avon - Our ‘A Night of Voice and Jazz’ concert originally scheduled for this Thursday, April 25, has been canceled due to our district not having a jazz band this year.

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Our joint Livonia-Avon Lakers varsity girls lacrosse team is sitting pretty at 4-0 on the season with wins over Aquinas/World of Inquiry (13-12), Churchville-Chili (12-8), Newark/Midlakes (14-7) and Geneva (14-13). The Lakes are next in action tonight - Thursday, April 18 - at Canandaigua Academy where they’ll take on an 0-4 Marcus-Whitman squad. Game time is 7:30 p.m. And a heads up Braves nation - April 22 is the Lakers’ Youth LAX Night, when members of the Livingston Lacrosse Club will join varsity players during warmups before the Lakers’ game against Aquinas/Word of Inquiry at home in Avon, then join the players for a pizza party after the game! We hope to see you Monday! (Photo courtesy of Lindsey Meys/Meys Photography)

Tracy Wangelin’s first grade class welcomed Miss Marci and Michele to their classroom this afternoon for a special visit. Miss Marci is Marci Frutkoff, a trainer with Guiding Dogs for the Blind, and Michele is her 9-year-old black lab. Frutkoff actually trained Michele to be a guide dog but Michele decided the job wasn’t for her, so the pair switched gears and Michele became a therapy dog instead. Frutkoff and Michele have been coming to Avon Elementary since 2018. Frutkoff originally approached her friend, former Library Media Specialist Holly Mullin, about bringing Michele to interact with students at the elementary school and Mullin put her in touch with Liz Green, a social worker with Avon Central Schools, who arranged for Frutkoff and Michele to come into first grader teacher Tracy Wangelin’s class to pilot the idea. While Green passed unexpectedly in 2019, Frutkoff’s and Michele’s trips to Wangelin’s proved a hit and have continued ever since! The pair comes once per week when Wangelin is teaching reading. Wangelin usually breaks the period into chunks so as many students as possible can have some time with Frutkoff and Michele. Some students choose to read directly to Michele or tell her a story, said Frutkoff, while others prefer to hand a book over and have Frutkoff read to them and Michele. “It’s all about learning to feel comfortable around reading,” said Frutkoff. “It’s been proven that kids that read to dogs do better because they have less of that anxiety, so anything that lessens the stress around reading really has a positive impact - especially around kids who are still developing readers.” A huge thank you to Miss Marci and Michele for being so generous with their time and to Mrs. Wangelin, for letting us stop by this afternoon! Check out the video of Miss Marci and Michele the Therapy Dog’s visit to Mrs. Tracy Wangelin’s first grade class this afternoon at the link below! Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48fgtbZBBMM

We’d like to extend our thanks to all the presenters who joined us for our Sophomore Career Day last week. Each of our 10th graders attended three separate presentations from professionals in a wide range of industries Friday morning. Providing opportunities for our students to explore different careers is a priority for us here at Avon Central Schools and we appreciate the willingness of our community to give of their time and energy so our students can benefit from your experience and be successful after high school! Our presenters this year were: • Katie Sattora: Occupational Therapist with CP Rochester • Kevin Van Allen: Livingston County Judge • Stephen Tavernia: Business Agent/Apprentice Coordinator for Iron Workers Local 33 • Jeremy Morris: Sports Science Academy Instruction at Genesee Valley BOCES • Paul Manly: IT Specialist with Hurricane Technologies • Stacey Gill: Nurse Educator with UR Noyes • Andrew Herberger: Firefighter with East Avon Fire Department • Dan Butler: Artist and business owner (Image Out Graphics) • Garrett Stonewall: Counselor with Avon Mental Health • Holly Haungs and Julia Gaiser: Marketing Managers with LandPro • Maureen Welch: Director of Clinical Education at Genesee Community College • Lazlo Babosci: Livingston County Sheriff’s Office Deputy • Mark Resch: NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Referee • Bill Blaschek: Apprentice Training Coordinator with UA Local 13 • Yvette Seils: Cosmetology Teacher with Genesee Valley BOCES

Avon Elementary School was feelin’ FANCY Friday for Dress to Impress Day! Each month in the elementary school we have a school-wide spirit day to get our kiddos excited and build a little community in the building. Today, for Dress to Impress Day, students were invited to dress up and our cafeteria was decked out with white tablecloths and vases of flowers. It was a fun way to celebrate the first week of state testing coming to a close for our third and fourth graders! (Photos courtesy of Kristen Donlon and Avon Elementary School staff)

Avon’s inaugural varsity girls flag football team sits at 2-0 a third of the way through its first ever season of competition. The Braves earned hard-fought wins over Young Women’s College Prep (20-18) and Le Roy (13-7) before Spring Recess and are next in action tomorrow - Friday, April 12 - at Holland High School, 103 Canada St., Holland. This year’s team boasts 21 members and is led by senior captains Maggie V., Chloe P. and Bella S. “This season has been extremely different than any other season I have ever coached before,” said Justin Dueppengiesser, who’s splitting head coaching duties with his father, Jim. “None of us have obviously ever played or coached flag football before so we are all learning together. Fortunately, said Dueppengiesser, they’ve got a great group of athletes who are committed to getting better and work hard on a daily basis to do so. “They come into each practice with a great attitude and because of that it’s been a really fun season so far,” he said. “With the fun though, they’re competitors like I said. Even though we are only competing in scrimmages, they want to go and win every time they're on the field.” Dueppengiesser said many of his players are seasoned athletes and have brought the work ethic and competitiveness they’ve used to achieve success in their other sports to the football field. “I expect we’ll continue to learn and get better throughout the season,” he said. “Hopefully this season will be one to remember and something we can continue to build on in the future.” As this season marks Avon’s first with a varsity flag football program, the team is only playing scrimmages and isn’t eligible to compete in the postseason. “Next year, if all works out and the interest stays where it is currently, we will be playing a full schedule with a postseason included,” said Justin. These photos of Avon’s March 25 win over Young Women’s College Prep come courtesy of Avon senior Brenna D. Thank you, Brenna, and good luck tomorrow night, Braves!

Shout out to Avon alum Thomas Herberger, a freshman at SUNY Cobleskill who was named the North Atlantic Conference Rookie of the Week! Herberger was the top finisher for The Fighting Tigers this past weekend at the Utica Pioneer Spring Invite, winning the Triple Jump with a mark of 43’8” (13.31m). With this week’s triple jump mark, Herberger is 1st in the NAC and 7th in the Niagara Region in the event. Congrats, Tom! (Photo courtesy of SUNY Cobleskill)

Few shots from today’s Avon Totality Rocks festival at our Middle School and football stadium. A huge thank you to our volunteers, vendors and anyone who came out to take in this special event along with us. Not exactly the weather conditions we were hoping for, but still an incredible experience! If you have a photo or video clip of today’s eclipse you’d like to share, send it our way and we may share it! Send an email to our Public Relations Specialist, Matt Leader, at mleader@avoncsd.org.

Come join us tomorrow - Monday, April 8 - at the Avon Totality Rocks festival and take in the total solar eclipse in style! The festival runs from 12 to 4 p.m. at Avon Middle School, 191 Clinton St. We’ll have food, family-friendly activities and even a costume contest! And don’t forget to register at the link below or by scanning the QR code in the accompanying image to reserve your FREE pair of eclipse-viewing glasses! So stop on by and make this once-in-a-lifetime experience all that much better! Link: https://avontotalityrocks.ticketleap.com/avon/

Few shots from yesterday's science fair in the 5/6 wing. Great projects (as usual) from our sixth graders!

Sophomore Brandon H. is currently in second place in the D&C's Boys Sports Athlete of the Winter Poll! Voting will remain open until 8 p.m. tomorrow - Wednesday, March 27. P.S.: There’s no limit to how many times you can vote, so click on the link below, jam that refresh button and together, we can push Brandon into first! Link: https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/high-school/2024/03/26/who-is-section-v-boys-athlete-of-the-winter-vote-now/73057665007/?fbclid=IwAR2ldyLAH2gz_UyXs85IM2-3cv9io3D6DkiN6eqsM2VUzieoHjQ4cIzkENI

Students in Mrs. Henderson's and Mrs. Renner's classes headed to Strasenburgh Planetarium at the Rochester Museum & Science Center last week to take in a showing of Eclipse 2024, a show that makes use of Carl, the planetarium’s 1968 Carl Zeiss Mark VI star projector, to fly the audience into space to see what makes eclipses happen, find out what to watch for during an eclipse, review past eclipses and take a tour of other highlights in our day and night skies. Students also got to press their own eclipse t-shirts! (Photo courtesy of Karen Henderson)

We hosted the Level I PageTurners spring competition last week. St. Agnes won the day with 26 points and, combined with their score from the fall competition, also took first on the season and will move on to regionals. “The books for the spring challenged our students a little more than usual as they were more difficult texts,” said PageTurners Coach Jessica Mucci. “I am very proud of their perseverance and determination.” Final season standings for Level I PageTurners are: 1st: St. Agnes (53 points) 2nd: Cal-Mum 2 (44 points) 3rd: Avon 1 (43 points0 T-4th: Avon 2 (36 points) T-4th: Cal-Mum 1 (36 points) (Photo courtesy of Josh Williams)

Avon students joined nearly 600 others from 31 school districts across Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming counties at Genesee Community College last week for GLOW With Your Hands: Healthcare, a career exploration expo designed to connect students with local employers in the healthcare industry. Launched in 2023, GLOW With Your Hands: Healthcare connected students to more than 200 representatives from 57 companies, municipal agencies, non-profits, and educational institutions. In addition to meeting with representatives from local employers, every student participated in a pair of self-selected workshops with a variety of healthcare careers led by healthcare and emergency response professionals. Sessions covered careers in EMS, pharmacy, healthcare administration, physical therapy, healthy living, physicians/residents, holistic medicine, radiology/sonography/ultrasound, mental health and social work, research science, nursing, respiratory therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, physician’s assistant/nurse practitioner, surgery, and vet technician.

A huge thank you to Dr. Aaron Steinhauer and Auralia Derhak for coming to speak with our students today about the coming solar eclipse! Steinhauer, an astronomy professor at SUNY Geneseo, and Derhak, one of Steinhauer's students, spoke with Mrs. Laurie McLaughlin’s Earth science and astronomy students about what to expect come the April 8 eclipse and how to stay safe before, during and after totality. The pair also shared some great, online eclipse resources that are available through SUNY Geneseo’s website at the link below. Here in Avon, we’ll be observing the eclipse as part of the Avon Totality Rocks festival. Click on the link below to register for the festival and learn more about the day’s events. Geneseo eclipse resources link: https://eclipse.geneseo.edu/eclipse-resources/ Avon Totality Rocks festival link: https://avontotalityrocks.ticketleap.com/avon/details

Avon students traveled to Genesee Community College yesterday to compete in Tech Wars, an annual event that pits students from school districts across the region against each other in a variety of STEM-based competitions. This year, we had students compete in the bridge design, skimmer car, trebuchet throw, regatta and lumber labyrinth competitions. A special shout out to Sully D. and Nathan H., whose skimmer car, Flyin’ Flame, took third place in the high school division!

Our entire freshman class attended the Global Leadership Conference at Nazareth University today. Held annually for more than a decade, this conference brings students from dozens of local districts together for a day of learning about different cultures, religions and perspectives. Students chose which sessions to attend with topics ranging from Abrahamic faiths and secular humanism to restorative justice and poverty and wealth among many others. Many thanks to Nazareth University and its Hickey Center for Interfaith Studies and Dialogue for hosting our students today!

We stopped by Kristen Donlon’s classroom this afternoon as her kindergarteners planted petunia seeds to eventually help beautify our school! Mr. Mike Garrett took the reins on this lesson, showing our students how much soil and how many seeds to plant in each cup. Once the weather breaks, these petunias are destined for the garden bed near our main Elementary School entrance, next to the flagpole! A huge thank you to Avon’s own J&A Farm Market, which graciously donated the seeds, soil and seedling trays needed to make this possible!