Avon Central Schools

Your Avon Braves wrapped up their 2023 season Saturday, Nov. 4 with strong performances at the Section V Cross Country Championships at Letchworth State Park. Our boys team was led by junior Finn S., who finished ninth in the Class D1 race with a time of 17:20, dropping nearly a minute of time from the 18:12 he put up on the same course in 2022. Finn’s success was a result of his determination. At the halfway point of the race, Finn was in 24th place. By the end of the race, he’d moved forward 15 places to earn the second sectional patch of his cross country career. Junior Jordan M., who played in our varsity football team’s sectional semifinal game the day before, moved forward 61 places to finish with a time of 18:21 and 40th overall while junior Hunter R. moved forward 64 places to finish 47th overall. Cory D. moved forward 50 places to finish 65th overall and senior Chris H. moved forward 29 places to finish 112th overall. “Incredible effort from an amazing group of young men,” said Head Coach Josh Williams. “That second half of the race was nothing short of spectacular and was a program-defining effort that will resonate through the offseason.” The girls race was exciting as well with sophomore Maria G. finished 10th overall with a time of 20:18, improving upon her 2022 performance of a 15th place finish and a time of 21:25. Her sister, senior Kaitlyn G., wrapped up her final year with a season’s best time of 22:35, good enough for 46th overall. Paige P. ran a time of 23:32 for 68th place, Abby W. ran 24:11 for 78th overall while Lena K. ran a season’s best time 28:47. “Not one Brave gave up a position after the halfway point - that’s absolutely amazing and showcases how far we’ve come as a team and how hard we are willing to work in the face of adversity,” said Williams. “We’ve built a positive program that’s a place for all abilities to come together and see how much you can improve, in sport as well as a human being." (Photos courtesy of Josh Williams)

Late last month, Rebecca Rio and Heather Grasso led members of our staff in a Therapeutic Crisis Intervention for Schools, or TCIS, training. Staff who are trained in the TCIS framework are instructed in a crisis prevention and intervention model that enables them to help children learn constructive ways to proactively diminish crises and also support students and staff in reacting to a crisis. The skills, knowledge, and professional judgment of staff in responding to crises are critical factors in helping young people learn constructive and adaptive ways to deal with frustration, failure, anger, rejection, hurt, and depression. Program objectives include learning to proactively prevent or de-escalate a potential crisis situation with a young person, managing a crisis situation in a therapeutic manner, and processing the crisis event with young people to help improve their coping strategies. Congratulations to our staff members who underwent the TCIS training - all of whom passed and are now certified TCIS providers! (Photos courtesy of Rebecca Rio)

Avon’s own Emma D. has been named a member of the 2023-24 Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra, the highest-level youth orchestra in The Hochstein School’s four-tier youth orchestra program! Students compete annually for a seat in the orchestra, performing professional repertoire in at least three concerts throughout the school year. The orchestra’s first concert of the year is coming up on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. in Hochstein Performance Hall, 50 North Plymouth Ave., Rochester. The concert program includes the Overture to Verdi’s opera “La Forza del Destino,” “Romance in Eb” for strings by Gerald Finzi, the well-loved “Mars” and “Jupiter” movements from Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” and Tchaikovsky’s fantasy for orchestra, “Capriccio Italien.” A junior at Avon High School, Emma plays the violin for Hochstein and is also a soprano in Avon’s High School Choir and Select Treble Choir. Congratulations, Emma! (Photo courtesy of The Hochstein School)

Our varsity football team’s season came to an end Friday with a 6-20 loss to Canisteo-Greenwood in the semifinals round of the Section V Class D Tournament. “Not the way we wanted to end the season. I’m so proud of this team and how they battled every week for us,” Avon head coach Andy Englert told The Batavia Daily News after the loss. “Tonight was another great game versus Canisteo and the third time playing them. Each of those games came down to the end. This one we just had too many turnovers before the half that hurt us.” Not the finish we know you wanted, boys, but we’re proud of you all the same! The Braves finish their season 6-3. (Photos courtesy of Danette DeNoto and Elizabeth Maybee)

Avon will be fielding a joint indoor track team this year along with Livonia and Geneseo school districts. Together, the three school districts will compete as the Lakers. There is an informational meeting tonight at 5:30 p.m. at Livonia High School, 2 Bulldog Blvd., Livonia, for anyone interested in learning more about the team. Contact coaches Jenna Williams at jwilliams.coach@avoncsd.org or Leanna Presler at lpresler@livoniacsd.org with any questions!

High School art students took a field trip to Geva Theatre in Rochester yesterday to see “Frida… A Self Portrait,” a one-woman play written and performed by Vanessa Severo that tells the life story of renowned Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. “With music and movement, (Vanessa) shares insights about Frida’s physical limitations, complex love life, addictions and, of course, the beauty in her art,” reads the description of the play on Geva’s website. “This searing new play cracks open a powerful portal between Vanessa and Frida bringing breathtaking physicality and raw honesty to this stunningly creative production.” Art Teacher Liz Patteson, who accompanied students on the trip, called the performance “amazing.” “If you're able to get to Geva to see it, you absolutely should,” she said. “Every single student told me how blown away they were.” And of course a trip to the theater isn’t complete without a sweet treat, so students stopped at Starbucks on the way back to school. (Photos courtesy of Liz Patteson)

Your #2-seeded Avon Braves take on the #3-seeded Chargers of Canisteo-Greenwood at home tomorrow night in a Section V Class D football semifinals showdown. Avon is 6-2 on the season and split its two regular season games against the Chargers, losing 7-12 in week 1 but winning 25-20 in week 6. Canisteo-Greenwood is 7-2 on the season. Tomorrow night’s game starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $7.30 and can be purchased online through GoFan at the link below or by scanning the corresponding QR code in the accompanying image. Section V will livestream the game at the link below. Click on the link below or scan the QR code to access the stream. There is a fee to access the stream. Tickets: https://gofan.co/event/1117838?schoolId=NYSPHSAAV Livestream: https://vcloud.blueframetech.com/broadcast/ppv/729932

Great turnout earlier this week for our Elementary School’s Trunk or Treat event! Thanks to everyone who participated and a special shout out to Principal Christie DeWald for capturing these great shots!

Did you know our elementary school teachers and staff were kids once, too?! We know - crazy, right? Seeing as today is picture day at Avon Elementary, we thought it’d be fun to travel into yesteryear and take a look at some of their school photos from back in the day! Can you tell who’s who and what grade they were in when their picture was taken? Leave a guess in the comments! The answers are upside down along the bottom of the image. Good luck!

Happy Halloween, Braves Nation. Have fun and stay safe!

Our younger students welcomed Mr. Mike the Magician to the gymnasium this past Friday for a special presentation to help wrap up Anti-Bullying month in Avon Elementary School. Mr. Mike wowed students with a series of mind-bending magic tricks and also spoke about how to address bullying, be a good friend and lead with kindness. Mr. Mike’s positive message really seemed to resonate with our students and was the perfect way to wrap-up anti-bullying month in the Elementary School. A handful of our students even got to help out with some of Mr. Mike’s tricks!

The Avon Braves continued their impressive season Friday at the Genesee Region/Livingston Conference Cross Country Championships at Oakfield-Alabama. On the boys side, junior Finn S. placed first in Division I and fifth overall with a time of 17:34 while junior Jordan M. took seventh in Division I and 18th overall with a time of 18:16. On the girls side, sophomore Maria G. took first in Division I and fourth overall with a time of 20:14. "Credit goes to all the runners in our league for putting up a great season," said Head Coach Josh Williams. “Our Avon teams have shown tremendous growth and perseverance. These results confirm we have a team fueled by pride and dedication to one another." Finn, Jordan, Maria and junior Hunter R. were all named LCAA All-Stars, though Hunter did not compete due to injury. In the modified, 2,000-meter race, seventh grader Owen H. took third place overall in the boys race with a time of 13:38 while seventh grader Quinn K. took third overall in the girls race with a time of 15:26. The Braves will travel to Letchworth State Park Nov. 4 for the Section V Class D1 (boys) and D (girls) Championships. "Our best race is still in front of us," said Williams. "We are eagerly looking forward to competing against the best of Section V and improving from our 2022 performance." (Photos courtesy of Josh Williams)

In preparation for our upcoming, Masquerade-themed Tales and Tea Leaves event on Halloween, many of our high school students gathered in the library yesterday to take a break and create their very own masks! (Photos courtesy of Suzanne Freeman)

Your Avon Braves will travel to Wellsville tonight for their quarterfinals match in the Section V Class C1 Volleyball Tournament. After topping Holley in straight sets in the pre-quarterfinals round, Avon, the #5 seed, will take on the Wellsville Lions, the #4 seed. The match starts at 6 p.m. (time is approximate) at Wellsville High School, 126 West State St., Wellsville, NY 14895. If for some reason you can’t attend in person - Wellsville is only an hour and 22 minutes away so we can’t see why you wouldn’t - the match will be livestreamed via T1 Sports at the link below. Good luck, ladies! Link: https://www.team1sports.com/highschool/ny/?S=wellsvillehigh (Photo courtesy of Lena A.)

We tagged along with Mrs. Fortune’s first grade class yesterday as they headed out to Rotary Garden for a bit of Halloween pumpkin carving! After a brief demo from Mr. Garrett, students started carving their pumpkins, following the guidelines they’d drawn previously using a sharpie. These Jack-o'-lanterns and those from all our other first grade classrooms will be on display at Monday’s Trunk-or-Treat event in the Elementary School’s front parking lot, The event will run from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., so make sure you stop by, grab some candy and check out our first graders’ ghoulish creations! A huge thank you to Michael Garrett for coordinating this awesome activity for our first graders and to Jeff Werner of Werner Farms in Rush for his generous pumpkin donation!

Sophomore Kalman D. has been named the Section V Class D Offensive Player of the Week on the tail of his four-touchdown performance in Avon’s 40-0 win over Oakfield Alabama/Elba Oct. 20. Kalman, a running back and wide receiver, had 170 yards on 5 carries, which included 75- and 65-yard touchdown runs. He also had 2 receptions for 88 yards with both going for TDs. Congrats, Kalman - not too shabby! (Photo courtesy of Section V)

For the past few weeks, our second graders have been designing devices to prevent an egg from cracking when dropped from a height as part of their “Eggs Matter” unit in STEAM class. “Students learned about how different matter has different properties and put their knowledge to the test by determining which matter - materials in our makerspace - would do the best job protecting the egg in the final drop from the roof,” explained STEAM Teacher Ian Smith. “Students worked in small groups and did a lot of thinking and learning about how different matter might absorb energy from the egg in a fall. They had a great time creating their designs!” This afternoon, second graders put their designs to the test out near our bus pick up-drop off area as Smith, standing atop the Elementary School’s roof, dropped them one by one to the pavement below. Some eggs cracked and others remained intact but with each successive drop, second graders learned more and more about how to protect an egg from a fall. We had some fourth graders stop by to watch and even some high schoolers who paused while out on the track during gym class to witness a few of the drops. Great job to all our second graders!

Jennie Endersby’s Perspectives in Math classes took a break from their regularly scheduled programming recently to play Rebel Revolt, an escape room-style game from Lock Paper Scissors that requires players to solve puzzles, use logic and make use of other problem-solving skills to win. Later on this year, students will be creating escape room-style games of their own, said Suzanne Freemen, the library media specialist in the high school who helped run the game along with Endersby, so it’s important for them to have a good feel for all the different elements a good game requires. "I've been playing Rebel Revolt with our Perspectives in Math Classes for three years now. The students love it and it's an amazing way to get them comfortable with the escape room experience before challenging them to make their own,” said Freeman. “These are a big commitment and challenging to make well, so kids need to have a good amount of prior knowledge and interest before diving in. This year we hope the kids will be interested in this bigger project and will possibly make these for the 7th and 8th graders to play.”

Did you miss our “Shawna has a Secret” Family Engagement Night last week? Don’t worry - we filmed the session and have posted it on our YouTube channel at the link below. "Shawna has a Secret" is an interactive training put on by CASA-Trinity that centers on helping adults identify signs of drug use and mental or emotional distress in young people. A huge thank you to Andrea Richter, Lydia Boyd and Mary White of CASA-Trinity for putting on this invaluable training for our community. (Footage courtesy of Carrie Gruschow) Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTMmi8Gdjnc

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra has selected six Avon students to perform during its annual Holiday Pops Festival in December. Mason B., Hannah C., Emma D., Jackson L., Sean M. and Olivia N. will perform as members of the RPO’s High School Chorale. Students were nominated by vocal music teacher Kristen Maxfield based on past solo festival scores and performance experience. Then, the chorale’s directors, Brenda Nitsch and Anthony D'Agostino, went through the list of nominees and selected the best singers for their individual parts. “I know there were so many vocalists this year, especially sopranos, so they looked at past experience singing with the RPO and their grade level,” said Maxfield. Performances are scheduled for Dec. 15, 16 and 17. Tickets can be purchased at the link below. Congratulations to our six student musicians on this incredible honor! Link: https://my.rpo.org/1110 (Photo courtesy of Kristen Maxfield)