ANSONIA – Students at Ansonia Middle School looking for a club to join after school have a wealth of new choices: Robotics, Chess Club, Art Club, Gaming Club, and Student Council. These clubs, which join several others already in existence, have had a strong turnout since club meetings began in October.
Principal Pete Colaccino, who is in his first year with AMS, asked his staff to tap into their expertise and interests in order to offer more to the seventh and eighth graders. “If teachers are able to create clubs and activities that focus on their skills and interests, it creates a more authentic experience that readily translates back to the students,” said Colaccino. “In turn, students learn from someone who has a genuine passion for what they are doing.”
Two staff members, math teachers Allison Ley and Jeremy Dionne, offered to start a Chess Club. Ley said she has been playing since she was eight years old, while Dionne said he is relatively new to the game and is fine-tuning his skills. An average of 10 – 14 students attend the bi-weekly meetings on Mondays.
“We want to make it a friendly, fun experience,” Ley said, noting that most of the students came with some knowledge of chess and have already improved their strategies a great deal. Ley and Dionne give the students individual challenges, which will build their critical thinking skills.
On one recent Monday in January, five games were taking place. One game pitted teacher Bill Izzo against a student who had challenged him. Another game involved two pairs of students who said they had a long-term game in progress. If they haven’t finished by the end of the session, they take a picture of the board and pick up where they left off when they meet again. Anna Nguyen, who was teamed with Fahmida Chowdhury, said she is passionate about a lot of things and has been playing Chess since she was in fifth grade. Her father had an old chess board, so she has learned from her dad, as well as from watching online videos. Fahmida said her older sister taught her to play.
Ley said she hopes to have the new AHS Chess Club visit before the end of the school year so they can challenge her students. John LaRovera, the district’s math and science administrator, said this is also one of his hopes. LaRovera said he learned to play when he was a sixth grader at Prendergast School. “Chess offers students a chance to develop critical thinking skills, increase aptitude in recognizing patterns, and reason abstractly. All of these skills are necessary to be successful in math.” He said if students are interested, he will help to provide them with an opportunity to compete in local events and eventually, regional and state competitions.
Most of the other clubs range from five members up to 40. The National Junior Honor Society, which was established at AMS a few years ago, currently has 30 eighth graders who have been meeting each month, with Advisor Jessica Bedosky leading discussions about volunteering opportunities as well as post-secondary options such as careers and civic duties. Next month, 27 seventh graders are slated to be inducted into the society and will join the group, which focuses on academic excellence, leadership and citizenship.
Another existing group is the Human Relation Club, which has 30 members. Four teachers serve as advisors: Devin Arpaia, Vicki Baldwin, Chris Quinlan and Cindy Mullins. A group of these students will be participating in a training session next week in preparation for the launch of the educational program for seventh graders, which will be held in February in Ansonia and Derby. The Ansonia High HRC will join their middle school peers for this program.
Student Council meets on the first Wednesday of each month, with Jane Natoli as the advisor; Art Club meets every Tuesday afternoon, with Briana Parades as club advisor; Yearbook meets on the third Monday of each month, with Ms. Parades as advisor; Robotics meets the first and second Wednesday of each month with Mr. Dionne and Vicki Baldwin as advisors; and an average of five students participate in Gaming Club on the first and third Monday with Devin Arpaia as advisor.
“We want to provide opportunities for students to extend their learning beyond the classroom. I am excited about these offerings and the interest students have shown in participating,” Colaccino said. “Additionally, I always want to hear from students about their ideas and interests. Working together, we can provide many wonderful and fun learning opportunities.”
