December

DOOR DECORATING CONTEST
To celebrate the holiday season, AMS II holds a Door Decorating Contest that winds up being a cheer filled hit every year! Staff and students get so creative and extremely competitive in the process. This year, students were allowed to wear their favorite PJs while decorated and it resulted in some incredibly festive ideas! Mr. Kostka's homeroom won with their clever spin on a Chemis-Tree. Runners up were: Ms. Pizers 'Take a sELFie' homeroom door, Ms. Grimes 'Its Lit' homeroom door and Mr. Milbrand's heavily decorated office door.

PEP RALLY
Our Annual December Pep Rally is a great way to send our students off with joy before the holiday break. We have cohort wars and dance competitions that allow our students and staff to unwind and have a great time.

January

ANNUAL ALUMNI BRUNCH  |  COLLEGE AWARENESS DAY
Students have been returning to AMS II for events that allow them to reconnect with past friends, former teachers, and mentors that they remain in contact with. They’ve shown an interest in giving back to the school community, so it was a pleasure setting up classroom visits for College Awareness Day. There is nothing that compares to our students  hearing from young South Bronx men and women that were just in their shoes a year or 2 ago. Like most young people, our alumni have shown a particular affinity for food, so getting them to sign up for events like the Alumni Brunch has been enjoyable and resulted in amazing turnouts.

MLK DAY OF SERVICE WITH CITY YEAR AND NYC CARES
On January 19th, a group of AMS II students embarked on a trip to Iona College to partner with NYC Cares and give back to the less fortunate.  A  group of 7 students took the lead on the creation of gratitude jars that were sent to members of the military. Surrounding the students and staff were many other groups dedicating their day to creating Valentines Day door hangers for senior centers, elaborate thank you cards for the military and care packages for the homeless. One of our Juniors was even asked to deliver a prepared speech, and he did an amazing job!

On Monday the 21st, AMS II partnered with City Year to bring a separate group of students to JHS 123 & MS 337 in the South Bronx to assist with the beautification of the campus. Our Student Engagement Associate and Head Basketball coach led this volunteer opportunity along with 4 students who spent their day painting walls throughout the building and writing inspirational quotes on the walls of the MS 337 Work Room. The feeling those students get when they walk into a revitalized school, with dozens of inspiring quotes is why we partake in these community service events and gladly sacrifice days off.

SIBLING PREVIEW DAY
On January 30th, we held our first Sibling Preview Day for our prospective incoming siblings. Prospective students entered the building with their siblings and spent the first 3 periods of the day shadowing Student Ambassadors to get a genuine feel of what it’s like to be an AMS II student. The event culminated in the Joseph King Library where they reconnected with their siblings and had a pizza party with the Student Ambassadors, our 9th grade Assistant Principal, and our Family and Student Engagement Coordinator.

PERFECT ATTENDANCE TRIP | NEW ROC CITY
Our student take pride in their academics, so we take pride in rewarding them for their hard work! All students with perfect attendance were provided with an opportunity to enjoy themselves at New Roc City where we played arcade games for an hour, battled it out during 3 intense laser tag matches and finished off with a relaxing round of bowling.

February

RESPECT FOR ALL WEEK
Respect for All Week  is a special time during the school year where we highlight and build upon our anti-bullying practices. We aim to help students, staff and the entire Jane Addams community to gain a better understanding of diversity. We focus on preventing bullying, intimidation, and bias-based harassment by creating our annual wall of peace and "No Place for Hate" murals.

RICHER SCHOLAR SNOW TUBING TRIP
As a reward to our dedicated scholars, we ventured to Jack Frost Ski Resort in Pennsylvania for some fun in the snow! It was another successful district partnership initiative with the School for Tourism and Hospitality, who we share our building with.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH ASSEMBLY

School-wide celebration of Black History Month and showcase of our African American scholars who possess incredible talents.

SNACK AND PAINT
The Jane Addams S.S.A. (School Safety Agents) held their first annual Snack and Paint for the JA Campus! Both schools in our building aim to build positive relationships between the two and our one of a kind agents are doing their part to meet the social and emotional well being of the young adults they keep safe on a daily basis. Finger foods were provided for the 5-6 students from each school. Paint canvas and supplies were provided by STH. The event was a success and we thank the S.S.A. of the Jane Addams campus for their hard work!

AP STATISTICS PRESENTATION: WOULD YOU SHOOT YOUR SHOT?
AP Statistics just finished their unit on Significance Tests on the Difference between Two Proportions. As their assessment, the scholars chose a question "Would you shoot your shot?", conducted a survey, and performed a significance test on the difference of the likelihood of "shooting your shot" between the young men and young women of AMS 2.

LIU BROOKLYN SPORTS MANAGEMENT TRIP
Student athletes took a trip to LIU Brooklyn  for a Sport Business Panel and Men's Basketball game. They had a blast at the game and were able to interact with the guest speakers beforehand. The opportunity to not only bring exposure to the academic side of college coupled with campus life created a well rounded experience for our scholars. 

BARCLAYS TAKEOVER
The Jane Addams Campus (AMS II & STH)  teamed up to provide our students with an amazing NYC opportunity at the Brooklyn Nets home court.  We took over the Barclays Center for an hour and provided students with the opportunity to compete in skills and shooting contests, along with a scrimmage on an NBA basketball court. All students in attendance had the opportunity to take an official NBA shot and capture photos on the court.