During our Professional Development Day on March 20th, Sage Day staff had the opportunity to hear Mr. Rick Lavoie speak on his latest book, Motivation Breakthrough: Six Secrets to Turning on the Tuned-Out Child. The workshop not only helped us understand how to motivate students, Mr. Lavoie's comments and stories served as a motivation for the staff. For anyone seeking additional information regarding this topic the following link

 http://www.ricklavoie.com/batteriesart.html will bring you to Lavoie's article, Batteries NOT Included "I can't" vs. "He Won't".

The National Honor Society held a food drive during the month of March and donated to a local charity. Unfortunately, due to inclement weather in March we were not able to go on our Shakespeare field trip to see Macbeth. We will reschedule for a different play at the Shakespeare Theatre later this school year and hope that it doesn't snow in May or June. 

April 17th is a National Day of Silence which is sponsored by the National Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. The Sage Day Boonton Gay, Lesbian, Straight Alliance Club will support this event by selling T-shirts which bring awareness to the inappropriate treatment of  gay and lesbian people. Students may choose to remain silent for all or part of the day. April 29th Sage Day Boonton students and staff will participate in a cultural lunch event. This is a yearly tradition for our school which involves everyone bringing an appetizer, entrée, or dessert representative of their culture of choice.

On April 23rd, we will hold an entrepreneur workshop for students entitled, Swimming In The Shark Tank. This will be led by Mr. Montesano and entrepreneur/investor Jon Brandt, who is one of the owners of Sage Day. This workshop is for students who are interested in learning how to develop a business pitch and gain insight into the world of investments. On April 28th, students will have the opportunity to develop their own product or service and pitch to a group of "sharks." 

With March Madness behind us, Sage Day is ushering in Spring with a new marking period and the energy associated with a school year entering into our final quarter. 

We offered a very special workshop for our students on April 1, entitled "Swimming In The Shark Tank."  Twenty-five students signed up to take part in this innovative workshop, where they learned the art of developing "a pitch". Mr. Jon Brandt, one of Sage Day's owners, joined Mr. Montessano in hosting this workshop. Students learned about business, marketing and the role of an entrepreneur. They also had the opportunity to create a product and present to a group of "investors". 

On April 14th at 7:00 p.m., Mr. Montesano and Mr. Friedland have invited the parents of our Junior class to attend a Junior Parent Night. This night will include an overview of student's plans after graduation from Sage Day.  Some of the topics we will cover include: the college search, filling out applications, trade/technical school options, SAT/ACT information and career exploration.  Parents will have the opportunity to ask questions about the transition process at Sage Day. 

Our Community Service club is teaming up with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to hold a "Pennies For Patients" fundraiser through April 24th. The Advisory Group that collects the most money will have a special pizza party, and the runner-up Advisory Group will have an ice cream party. Students will have fun while donating to a very worthy cause.  

Rochelle Park's annual Arts Festival 2015 will take place on Friday, April 24th at 7:00 p.m. One of Sage Day's strengths is to engage students through our Fine Arts programs and this year's talented students are many.  Our art theme this year is the classic supernatural comedy, "Ghostbusters", in honor of its 30th anniversary. Our ADAPT team (Art, Design & Production Team), led by our Art Director, Mr. Grieco, and a passionate and talented group of students, have been busy working many hours, both during school and after school, re-creating images and developing props related to this theme. Students in Mr. Maggiore's music classes have selected 20 songs to be featured. There will be a mixture of rock acts and intimate acoustic acts; one song will be performed in Portuguese by one of our seniors who will pursue music in college. We have just piloted selling merchandise around our Arts Festival theme to our students in RP. Merchandise includes t-shirts, patches & collectible lanyards that you can see our students wearing with pride around the halls of our school.  All proceeds from the sale of this merchandise will be donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Mr. Montesano will continue to meet with our juniors as he begins the transition planning with them. He will be doing college searches, career exploration and resume building to build an individualized transition plan for all of the students. Our seniors continue to hear from colleges and have begun making final decisions as well. 

Upcoming Events:

*April 13 - Prom permission slips and money are due today

*April 17 - Quarter 3 ends

*April 20 - Quarter 4 begins