Earning Our ESTEEM

On February 24, eleven members of the ESTEEM Team (Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, Essays, and Mathematics), traveled to the University of Miami (UM) for the South Florida Regional Science Bowl. This is CSN’s second time at this event. Team 1 consisted of Captain Jack Ciabaton ‘18, Cameron Hochman ‘19, Sophia Cabellon ‘19 and Ashley Cruz ‘20. Team 2 consisted of Captain Davis Elder ‘18, Diane Medina ‘20 and Jordan Hochman ‘21. Team 3 consisted of Captain Leaf Kalikow ‘18, Anabella Maria Galang ‘19, Sebastian Haedelt ‘19 and Gabriella On-Cuen ‘20. The competition started at 10:00 am and finished at 9:00 pm. The event consisted of 16 round robins with two teams competing against each other every 30 minutes, on the hour, with questions in science, math, and engineering. There were 32 teams in all. Team 1 earned a trophy for finishing in second place, and Teams 2 and 3 followed closely behind – both placing in the top ten! 

The UM undergraduate and graduate students who organized and ran Science Bowl were STEM majors who spoke with the high school students about college choices and graduate school. The lead organizers stated that CSN’s team was one of the most honest and polite teams that they had ever encountered. One even remarked to ESTEEM Team coach Ms. Cruise that “your students are quite sharp and certainly left their mark.” All the students had a memorable and engaging time, appreciating both the competition and camaraderie with students from other schools.

Renowned Author Rosalind Wiseman to Speak at CSN

Rosalind Wiseman is an American parenting educator and author. Her New York Times best-selling book Queen Bees and Wannabees: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence inspired the movie Mean Girls.

Masterminds and Wingmen: Helping Our Boys Cope with Schoolyard Power, Locker-Room Tests, Girlfriends, and the New Rules of Boy World is another landmark book from Ms. Wiseman, that reveals the way boys think and ways adults can help boys overcome their most common and difficult challenges. She is also the creator of Owning Up Curriculum, a curriculum that teaches students and educators to take responsibility as bystanders, perpetrators, and victims of unethical behavior.

Ms. Wiseman is scheduled to speak at CSN at 8:15 AM, on March 21, at the G&L Theatre.

Please plan to attend this event. Seating is limited.

It is highly recommended that you purchase Ms. Wiseman's books prior to the event. They are

1. Queen Bees and Wannabes, 3rd Edition: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boys, and the New Realities of Girl World
2. Masterminds and Wingmen: Helping Our Boys Cope with Schoolyard Power, Locker-Room Tests, Girlfriends, and the New Rules of Boy World

Purchased books will be available for pick up in the library after February 28. You can get your book autographed after the event. 

Well Done MAO!

On Saturday, March 3, CSN’s Mu Alpha Theta (MAO) team competed in a regional math tournament against 58 other schools and over 1,000 other students at Cypress Bay HS in Weston, FL.  Many of these top schools have more students in their high schools than we have in total at CSN, so it is very impressive for our small school to come in 6^th place overall!   

At these meets, the students literally spend hours taking math tests, then go to lunch while the tests are graded, and then come back to attend the awards ceremony.  The Calculus team came to school early on the Friday morning before the competition to do a practice test.  Their efforts certainly paid off, coming in 5^th place! Here are some of the results:

• Calculus team: Jack Ciabaton ‘18, Bridget Denzer ‘19, Leaf Kalikow ‘18, and Christian Tang ‘20, earned 5^th place out of 44 teams. Jack alone earned 11^th place in the Calculus Division out of 426 individual students.
• Geometry team: Oliver Sun ’21 and Sophie Sun ’21– 8^th place out of 32 teams
• Algebra 2 team:  Mitch Verhelle ’20, Zach Foland ’20, Ashley Cruz ’20, and Wes Blabey ’20 – 9^th place out of 39 teams
• Pre-Calc team: Michael Foiani ’19, Ellie Roche ’19, Austin Sporn ’19, and Jerry Liu ’20 – 7^th place out of 39 teams

Congratulations to all the participating students!

 AQT is the Back-to-Back A-Team Challenge Champion!

Last Wednesday the Academic Quiz Team was victorious in both semi-final and championship matches of the A-Team Challenge quiz tournament. The A-Team Challenge is a tournament of 34 schools from six counties here in Southwest Florida. Once again CSN came on top! In the semi-finals, the CSN team faced off against a very strong Palmetto Ridge team. Senior Jack Ciabaton led the way with 110 points, soundly defeating our opponents 360-190. Just 15 minutes later the team had an extra-long face-off session with Barron Collier for the championship. After 13 questions, with each question being worth ten points, CSN found themselves, for the first time in this tournament, at the wrong end of 70-60 score. But our academic stars refused to lose. Junior Bridget Denzer ripped off three of the next seven questions, with junior John Neumann and freshmen Thomas Kralik each grabbing two each. After a few comeback answers by Barron, CSN kids went on another tear scoring the next 110 points! The CSN quiz kids now held a strong lead, but with two hundred points available in the 60-second Lightning Rounds they had to play strong. Sophomores Gabriella On-Cuen and Graham Murphey starred with their teammates as CSN scored 180 of the 200 possible points, finishing with a final winning score of 630-470! This tournament was a dominant performance by the CSN Academic Quiz Team as they scored more than 70% of the points over their opponents. Congratulations once again to the fabulous champs!

Hurricane Houses

Fourth and fifth graders completed a unit of study on weather with a Hurricane House STEM Challenge.  Students have a specific budget, dimensions, and limited materials to build a house to withstand a Category 5 hurricane.  “The Terminator” (leaf blower) made our neighborhood look like Irma!

Photo Credit: Mr. Michael Misha

The Academic Quiz Team Wins Again! 

This past Saturday CSN hosted a quiz tournament for underclassmen. There were teams from regional powers such as Ft. Myers and Palmetto Ridge, along with the east coast’s South Fork who were last years Florida state champions. But for the second year in a row, the young CSN stars came out on top in the region! Our school fielded three teams in this tournament and all of them played very well, but Team A went undefeated, crushing the competition by an average of over 150 points per game! Team A included Gabriella On-Cuen ’20, Thomas Kralik, ’21 and Bradley Verhelle ’20. There were also some great individual scores as, of the thirty players in the tournament, CSN had four of the top five! Thomas lead with the highest score, Gabriella came in third, and freshmen Nick Diamond was fourth and Graham Murphey took fifth. The future of the quiz team is looking bright!

CSN Student Wins a Spot in Pi World Rankings

For many who like to memorize numbers, PI is the ultimate challenge. It makes sense to create a list for people to learn where they stand in the world of memorizers.

Today, March 14 CSN Junior Bridget Denzer won a spot in the Pi World Ranking List. She recited 510 digits of the PI and will be ranked 226th in the world.

Congratulations Bridget!

NDN Athlete of the Week: Chris Kastroll

As a member of the CSN varsity boys’ lacrosse team, sophomore attackman Chris Kastroll scored six goals, including the game-winner in CSN’s double-overtime win (13-12) in their home opener against visiting Naples High School.  Two nights later he tallied another four goals contributing to the team’s 19-3 victory over Lely High School.  The very next night (third game in four days) he scored three goals to lead CSN to a 15-1 victory over Golden Gate High School.  Chris has accounted for about one-third of the goals scored this season by the team.  Way to go, Chris and the Seahawks!

Félicitations à nos élèves de français!

Last weekend, the students in our Middle and Upper School French program competed against other Florida schools in the state competition, French Congrès. CSN came in 3^rd in the whole state, including schools much larger than ours! The competition consisted of reciting poems, speaking, reading, performing a play, and creating art projects related to the francophone world. Ribbons were awarded for “Bon,” 

“Excellent,” and “Superieur,” and a trophy for “Prix du Jury.” Click on the button below for our students’ results. Magnifique!   

The Healing Power of Music 

Last Friday, March 16th, four CSN Upper School String students, Bridget Denzer ‘19, Panos Dimaras ’21, Kirll Kuznetsov ‘19 and Victoria Gendron ’20, performed as a string quartet for “The Bucket List Bash,” a Cancer Society fundraising event at the Ritz-Carlton, Tiberon.  The headline act for the evening was Diana Ross, so our students shared the billing with Ms. Ross, one of the world’s most famous recording artists. Dr. Eric Johnson chaperoned the students who put together an hour of string quartet literature for the event under the direction of CSN Upper School String teacher, Si-Cheng Liu.  Their performance was top notch and very well received.  We are very proud of these fine CSN student musicians and their charitable musical contribution to an important cause.  

¡Felicidades a nuestros estudiantes sobresalientes!

CSN Spanish students competed at Conferencia in Orlando from March 15-17. We had a full team of 16 students attend, all competing in impromptu speeches and poems with highest ratings of 17 SOBRESALIENTE, 4 SUPERIOR, and 1 EXCELENTE. Congratulations to all on their success! Participants were Jordan Hochman and Lauren Whitener (level 2); Tommy Amendola, Michael Foiani, and Max Haas (level 3), Maiya Bryant, Cameron Hochman, Isabella Korunda, Grace Luning, and Elise Yun (level 4); and  Joshua Braverman, Jessica Korn, Diana Medina Batista, Anne-Elise Roche, Adora Terezi, and Savannah Zettler (level 5). 

Of very special note: Michael, Cameron, Jessica, Diana, Lauren, and Savannah competed in the Poetry Declamations with stellar results, including three perfect scores! Michael recited Romance Sonámbulo by Federico García Lorca; Cameron recited El miedo by Pablo Neruda; Jessica recited Te recuerdo by Pablo Neruda; Diana recited Margarita, está linda la mar by Rubén Darío; and Savannah recited El día que me quieras by Amado Nervo. We are all proud of their efforts and high accomplishments.

Finally, Jordan, Diana, Elyse and Savannah competed in the entertainment category. Jordan played the piano piece Despacito, Diana and Elyse danced the Sevillanas, a Spanish Flamenco taught by teacher Sra. Cordeiro, and Savannah played the piano piece Gitanerías. Their talent and passion for Hispanic music and culture is very evident. See the video of Elyse and Diana’s Flamenco! 

A special congratulations came to our CSN students from Ms. Cheryl Fuentes-Wagner, immediate Past President and fellow American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese National Executive Board member with Sra. Draggett. She spent time with our students afterward chatting and talking about special opportunities. CSN students achieved much success in this amazing showcase of Spanish communication and culture. Special thanks to Sra. Rochette and Sra. Cordeiro for investing so much time preparing students, and to Sra. Cordeiro for accompanying Sra. Draggett and students to Orlando. 

Maker Fair at CSN

CSN is happy to announce its first Maker Fair.
Open to All Ages
Open to All CSN Community Members
Celebrating and showcasing the invention, creativity, and craft in our community.

Join in, use your imagination, make something, and share it with others!
Have your project complete by the day of the event.
Awards will be given for the best-in-show for each category.
DECLARE YOUR ENTRY BY APRIL 1, 2018
Date of the Event: April 21, 2018
Time of the Event: 5:30 - 8:00 PM
Place: Outside the Student Union

 The Academic Quiz Team Marches On 

CSN’s Academic Quiz Team recently played two matches as they march forth in the hopes of being repeat A-Team Challenge champions. The Seahawks first faced off against Charlotte HS, but the competition was no match for our quiz kids. With each question worth ten points, CSN led 120-20 after the first round. In the second round our team poured it on, finishing up 260-20. The match finished with the 60-second Lightening Round, where alternates Gabriella On-Cuen ’20 and Sebastian Haedelt ’19 helped secure the victory with a final score of CSN 310, Charlotte 90. The long-time coach of the Charlotte team told the CSN coach Mr. Harvey that CSN’s team was the best quiz team he had ever seen, and thanked our students for their great sportsmanship. This match had more science and history questions than the norm, allowing our science specialist Jack Ciabaton ‘18 to star with 120 points, followed by John Neumann ’19 with 70 and Thomas Kralik ’21 with 50. The team is captained Bridget Denzer ’19.

Just a few days later our quiz kids played in a quarterfinal match versus Golden Gate HS. As we get deeper into the tournament the competition gets tougher, but again our quiz team stars were not to be stopped! The first round score had CSN ahead 110-50. This score was the closest round we had this year! The team realized they had to put this match away, and by the end of the second round CSN was ahead 280-50. The final score was 330-90. Jack was again the high scorer followed by Captain Bridget, Thomas, and in his first start, Sebastian. Gabriella starred in the Lightening Round. The team will now compete in the semifinals with the next match against Palmetto Ridge, perhaps the strongest team in the tournament. If the CSN team is victorious it will play in the finals for the Championship. Stay tuned!

Spelling Bee - Third Place Winner

On Tuesday, March 20th, Katherine Carr '22, Sophia Min '23, and Sarah Patel '23 represented CSN at the 2018 Collier County Spelling Bee. These three young ladies, along with alternate Sonja Patel '24, studied and practiced for several weeks in preparation for the event in the hopes of becoming the county winner and representing SWFL at the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in May.  Out of 50 spellers, just six remained after round seven, including Katherine. She spelled her way through an additional 15 rounds to earn 3rd place. Congratulations Katherine! 

Rosalind Wiseman Helps Us All Wise Up  

Her presentation loaded with humor and audience participation, Ms. Rosalind Wiseman traveled from Colorado to CSN to address Collier County parents and CSN students grades 6-9 in the G&L Theatre on Wednesday. As an internationally recognized expert on children, teens, parenting, bullying, social justice, and ethical leadership, she has written numerous books offering insight and expertise for parents and educators surrounding the social perils of adolescence. After her parent presentation, she autographed copies of her two most popular books, Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence, and Masterminds and Wingmen: Helping Our Boys Cope with Schoolyard Power, Locker-Room Tests, Girlfriends, and the New Rules of Boy World, which we offered for sale. CSN parents may access her presentation on their portal.

After a short breather, Ms. Wiseman addressed the MS and ninth graders, focusing on building relationships based on dignity, respect and happiness. She explained why the emotions they feel at different ages can impact their view of themselves and others. Ms. Wiseman finished by stressing the importance of "SEAL," referencing the popular Fortnite video game:
S - stop, step back and take a look at the situation
E - explain, what just happened
A - affirm and acknowledge
L - lock it out if need be 

Helpful advice for all!

¡Felicidades a nuestros estudiantes sobresalientes!

Alex Murphey and Loren Brown NDN Prep Athletes of the Week

For the first time in CSN history, we had two winners in the Naples Daily News Athlete of the Week competition!  Senior Alex Murphey (Wake Forest commit in Track) and freshman Loren Brown were selected by popular vote and news media as Athletes of the Week.  In a seven-day period, both these stellar student-athletes competed in two major track meets.  At the IMG Academy Invitational, Alex Murphey dashed to a 1^st place finish and set a new CSN record in the 200 meter with a time of 22.14, and took 2^nd place in the 100 meter. In addition, Loren Brown placed 3^rd and set a new CSN record in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 46.43, and placed 4^th in the 100 meter hurdles, maintaining her #1 ranking in FHSAA 1A classification.  One week earlier (at the Under Armour Invitational), Alex cruised to a 1^st place finish in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes, while Loren finished 1^st in both the 100 and 300 meter hurdles.  For more on the story go to:
https://www.naplesnews.com/story/sports/high-school/2018/03/22/athlete-week-community-schools-alex-murphey-loren-brown-win/450691002/

Peru 2018: Historical, Cultural, Adventure Trip 

During winter break, ten seniors and four juniors from CSN traveled around beautiful and magical Perú with Sra. Villavicencio, Sra. Brummond and Mr. Phimister. They visited many different historical and archeological sites and participated in a variety of unforgettable activities. A three-night stay in the Sacred Valley village of Ollantaytambo set the tone for a trip full of laughter and lasting memories. Students' proximity to one of the Seven Wonders of the World allowed them to take a train into Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is a spectacular and mesmerizing Inca creation. Cusco was filled with tours of historic sites, a chocolate-making class, and plenty of traditional markets. They also ventured into the Andes Mountains for a day of service learning, where they painted an activity room and prepared the soil for the garden of a school for Quetchua children. Huacachina, the next destination, is a tiny oasis in the middle of the Ica desert, famous for its dune buggies, sand-boarding, and chocolates. They spent three nights in this town climbing the dunes, enjoying the warm weather, and visiting Paracas where they took a boat in the Pacific Ocean to see the penguins and a Nazca line. The trip concluded with a night spent in Peru’s capital city, Lima, where they discovered the culture and amazing culinary experiences this exciting city had to offer. “This trip was the best way to wrap up my time at CSN, and I am so grateful to the teachers who made this possible for all of my friends and me!” Bridget Krauss ‘18