Dear parents/ Guardians;

The first quarter was over on No-vember 4th, 2005. You should be getting the

report cards along with this package. If you have any questions or concerns about your son’s/ daughter’s grade, please feel free to contact with our dedicated teachers who are there to help your son/daughter to excel.

We had 100 percent high school graduation rate last year. As you know passing all five subject areas of Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) is a requirement for getting a high school diploma in Ohio. We would like, not only all of our students to graduate from high school but also to attend a college. In order to help our students to achieve their goals, our teachers are pro-viding tutoring twice a week

after school. 10th grade students are also assigned to the Saturday School based on their perform-ance in the monthly practice as-sessment tests.

We are proud to incorporate the technology into our classroom teaching. Our teachers are using LCD projectors, in order to enrich their class activities with varieties of software and computer pro-grams such as United Streaming and Study Island.

School pictures were taken and ID cards and Activity cards were distributed to our students. Stu-dents are required to carry them at all times and show their ID and activity card when requested.

First quarter was also full of ex-tracurricular activities. Some of the activities were “West Virginia Rafting Trip”, “Cleveland Trip”, “Hocking Hills Trip”, “NBA Game Basketball Trip” “Paintball Trip” “ OGT Dinner “, “ Many College Visits”, “ Having Representatives from Colleges” and much more.

The communication between par-ents and the school is vital for the

success of your child. Most of our parents are using the" Online Concept School Data-base” to track their child’s performance. The pass-codes and usernames were mailed out. If you do not have one right now and would like ac-cess the records to track your child, please talk to Mr. Kuran about it.

In order to build a strong communication between par-ents and teachers, we are holding parent teacher confer-ences on Monday, November 21st, 2005 between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Please attend the conference for your child’s success and future.

I look forward seeing all of you in the parent teacher conferences.

Thank you very much for your continuous support and strong belief in success of our pro-gram.

Sincerely;

Gultekin Aytekin, Director

From the Director

THE HORIZON

November 2005

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1

Inside Story 2 Inside Story 2

Inside Story 2

Inside Story 3

Inside Story 4

Inside Story 5

Inside Story 6

Inside this issue:

Annual Report for 2004-2005 school year is ready: The report can be seen at our web site: (www.horizoncolumbus.org)

All upcoming events and ac-tivities are also posted there. Please add it to your favorites for quick access.

Horizon Science

Academy High School

OGT and HSA 2

Meet the Staff 3

Focus on a Student 3

HSA Activities 4,5

HSA Clubs 6

Schedule of Events 7

The Cost of Freedom 8

Inside this issue:

There will be an assembly on Thursday,

November 17 for Honor Roll

students and to honor our veterans .

Math: Ms. Underwood - Mon/Thu

Math: Mr. Demir - Mon/Tue

Math: Ms. Dur - Tue/Thu

Math: Mr. Kuran - Wed

English: Mr. Landefeld - Tue/Thu

English: Mrs. Harless - Mon/Tue/Thu Science: Mr. Sheppard - Mon/Tue

Science: Mr. Gezgin - Mon/Fri

Science: Ms. Elif - Mon/Thu

Soc. Studies: Mr. Sherrod - Mon/Tue Soc. Studies: Mr. Dwyer - Tue/Thu

Music: Mrs. Herman - Tue/Thu

Art: Mrs. Jones - any day by ap-pointment

Computers: Mr. Ulker - any day by appointment

HSA Tutoring Schedules

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1

Academics Page 2

OGT and HSA, You Can’t Have One Without the Other By Michael Golloh

The Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) is very Important for most students in high school . A pass-ing score on the OGT is manda-tory for high school graduation. Therefore, a comparison of scores from different high schools is a worthy endeavor. For a truly informative analysis, a variety of schools need to be examined. While it is imperative to compare schools with similar stu-dent demographics, it would be negligent to ignore those that have different demographics, yet scored well. Addi-tionally, any analysis of the OGT scores must be done by subject, as the test scores are distributed by subject. For a comparison with a simi-lar student demographic, Horizon Science Academy (HSA) is best compared to Southwestern City Schools’ Franklin Heights High

School. A comparison of schools with different demographics, yet high scores includes Westerville Central High School and Dublin City Schools. In the subject area of reading, 97% of HSA’s students scored at

or above passing, while only 87.6% of Franklin Heights’ stu-dents scored at or above passing, and only 94% of Westerville Cen-tral High School students passed. The school scoring closest to the HSA percentage was Dublin City

Schools with a 98.5% passing rate. The important point to note is that all these schools did an excellent job, especially when juxtaposed against Columbus Public Schools’ overall reading score which was, ac-cording to the Columbus Dispatch, only 76.3%. In social studies, Dublin again scored the highest with a passing rate of 95.5%. Westerville Central

High School students had the second highest passing rate at 90.6%. When juxtaposed against its closest student demographic, HSA faired well with a 74.3% passing rate, while Franklin Heights High School’s passing rate was only 66.7%. Of the schools in this comparison, Dublin City Schools maintained the highest passing rate in all other subject areas as well: 94.6% in math , 95.9% in writing and 93.9% in science. There were variations for the other schools by subject area. For example, Westerville Central’s passing rate for math was 90%, HSA’s was 77.1% and Franklin Heights was 72.1%. In writing, HSA’s

passing rate was 91.4%, Westerville Central was at 87.8%, and Franklin Heights’ passing rate was 76.7%. Finally, in science, Westerville Central’s pass-ing rate was 83%, Franklin Heights’ was at 62.9% and HSA’s passing rate was 57.1%. Clearly, there is, for all schools compared, room for improvement in the subject area of science.

60 Hours, not 60 Minutes By Joe Easley and Tenika Perry

We’ve surveyed 65 students ranging from grades 9 to grade 11, and have found out that most students know about the 60 hours the Board of Education requires us to have before we graduate. More than 80% of the students surveyed knew about the 60 hours and most students, in fact, 69% already have hours accumulated and it’s not even time to graduate! When we asked if the hours due were too much, 60% said YES! Out of the students 31% plan to volunteer at various places like the library, home-less shelters, nursing homes, and around the neighbor-hood at the Boys and Girls Club. For those who still do not know how they are going to complete their hours, they could look in the phone book, and call different types of businesses to if they would like an intern. If you are a student who is looking for a place to intern at, try to also find a place in which you would enjoy volunteering at and, could most likely an occupation you would be interested to pursue in college.

We decided to write an article about this issue because your fellow student reporters at the Horizon Sun thought this was important that you knew that you needed intern-ship hours to graduate and we were making sure that you would know before it was too late.

Q1: Are you aware that the Ohio State Board of Education re-

quires you to complete 60 hours of community service before

you can graduate?

Q2: Do you currently have any hours accumulated?

Q3: If so, is it more than 30 hours?

Q4: If not, do you have a plan to accumulate your hours?

Q5: Do you think this is a useful practice?

THE HORIZON

Academics Meet the Staff: Mr. Ali Kuran, Dean of Academics By Mr. Ali Kuran

I am the Dean of Academics at Horizon Science Academy. I graduated from Bogazici University, Istanbul with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and currently studying Educational Leader-ship at University of Dayton.

This is my third year at Horizon. So far I have taught 6th grade Math and several high school electives; and currently teaching Pre-Calculus.

And here is something about the OGT: Passage of OGT is one of the requirements for high school graduation in the state of Ohio. I am glad to announce that Horizon is offering Saturday OGT prep classes for 10th graders. 10th grade team is assigning students to Saturday classes based on students’ performance in all five subject areas. One may lose the privilege of being a Horizon student if he/she fails to attend Saturday classes.

05-06 Saturday School Schedule

19 Nov. Math & English 21 Jan. Science & History

3 Dec. Science & History 28 Jan. Math & English

10 Dec. Math & English 4 Feb. Science & History

17 Dec. Science & History 11 Feb. Math & English

7 Jan. Math & English 25 Feb. Science & History

As of Class of 2007, 60 hours of community work is required for graduation. Students can get the

forms from the main office in the school.

Focus on a Student: Joe Easley

By Carnell Sims

Horizon Science Academy High School educates phenomenal peo-ple. One of these will be a focus each quarter in this periodical. For this quarter the student to focus on is Joe Easley.

Joe is sixteen years old and has already been featured in the Co-lumbus Dispatch for his volunteerism at the Boys and Girls Club of Columbus. He has also spoken in front of the Ohio legislature about the impact the Boys and Girls Club has had on his life. The club influence has obviously been a positive one, as the following interview demonstrates.

CS: What made you become a leader and not a follower?

JE: I wanted to set an example for my brother. I didn't want to be in trouble like my peers.

CS: What is your ultimate goal?

JE: I would like to be in the music business, but if that doesn't work I will go to college and become an architect with my buddy Joe Smith, who also attends Horizon.

CS: Why did you chose to come to Horizon?

JE: I was having problems at my other school. Teachers didn't want to help me.

CS: Where would you be if it wasn’t for Boys and Girls Club?

JE: I would be in jail because of the bad influences around me.

CS: What person do you think changed your life around?

JE: My friend, Mr. Tim, because when I stopped rapping with my friends, he told me that I could still be a rapper with practice. He

told me to be anything that I want to be. An-other person who turned my life around was my grandma, because she took me and my brother in when no one else would, and she continues to take care of me; she makes me the best person everybody thinks I am.

CS: What are your goals for this school year?

JE: To get the best grades, while still having fun learning and doing activities like basketball, rapping, and working on the school newspaper.

CS:Who helps you at this school?

JE: All of my teachers, especially Mr Landefeld, who has helped me become a better writer, Joe Smith,who helps me with my homework; also, Andrew Mobley who helps me with basketball, Carnell and Perry who help me with math, and Mrs.Harless, who taught me how to be a good journalist .

“I wanted to set an

example for my brother. I

didn't want to be in trouble

like my peers.”

Page 3

Ms. Underwood 301

Ms. Dur 302 Mr. Sherrod 303 Mr. Dwyer 304 Mr. Gezgin 305 Mr. Sheppard 306 Mrs. Herman 307

HOMEWORK HOTLINE EXTENSION LIST

Mr. Sherman 308

Mr. Landefeld 309 Mrs. Harless 319 Spanish 320 Ms. Elif 328 Mr. Demir 317 Mr. Kuran 310

HOMEWORK HOTLINE EXTENSION LIST

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1

Activities Page 4

OGT Cookout By Tenika Perry Thursday evening, Septem-ber 22, was a fruitful evening and not just in terms of the bountiful produce. Horizon Science Academy High School hosted its first OGT cookout as a means of gathering the students and parents who are subject to the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT). This is Ohio’s new mandated academic measure-ment that is a required step in the graduation process. A minimum sev-enty percent score in each of five categories: reading, writing, math, science, and citizenship are required to graduate high school. The Ohio State Board of Education requires schools to administer measures that help students succeed on the OGT. Horizon’s sophomore faculty devel-oped a plan for their students that includes interactive technology and

compulsory tutoring. The head of the development team and HSA’s IT Coor-dinator, Mr. Ulker, along with the Dean of Academics, Mr. Kuran, hosted the event.

The evening began with a presentation by the 9th Grade math teacher, Ms. Dur. She reviewed the OGT and passage strategies, explain-

ing the navigation and functionality of Study Island and the tutoring schedules. Then, Mr. Kuran spoke about mandatory Saturday school and the consequences of missing this opportunity. Mr. Ulker concluded the hour long set of presentations with an update on the availability of the Homework Hotline and field trips that provide natural facilitation of interest in science for the students. After the presentations, eight families including: the Wreedes, the Bridgewaters’, the Fregonas, the Mohameds, the Norringtons the Al-zubaidys and the Walkers, together with their hosts, enjoyed a feast. The delicious foods included beef and chicken patties, sudjak, salad, pickles, and seasonal fruit, such as bananas, grapes, strawberries, peaches, and plums. The night was a big hit and encouraged parents to interact with and help their children with the OGT.

Hiking in Hocking Hills Burkhart, Catie Deehan, George (Ty) Howard, Thomas Landusky, Ryan Hammonds, Yahya Musa, Ibrahim Musa, and Samantha Phethsinghan. The participants hiked about 3 miles and visited a couple of caves and wa-terfalls, including Old Mans’ Cave, Ash Cave, and Cedar Falls. After hiking, everyone enjoyed delicious barbeque, graciously prepared by HSA’s private chef and resident financial officer, Steve Gulkesen. Following the spec-tacular lunch, everyone enjoyed the weather by playing outdoor games such as dodge ball, soccer, and foot-ball. Overall, the trip was a big suc-

cess and HSA is hoping to have this trip again next year.

By Tenika Perry

Saturday October 1, 2005 was a day at Hocking Hills for HSA High School to enjoy fresh air, exer-cise, and juicy barbeque. Most impor-tantly, however, the turning leaves in Hocking Hills helped build and strengthen relationships among stu-dents and Horizon staff. There were 12 students and 4 adults that participated in the adventure including: the Direc-tor, Mr. Aytekin, Mr. Ulker, Mr. Gezgin, and Mr. Gulkesen. The students con-sisted of Rachel Smith, Annetta Smith, Johanna Williams, Kim Thach, Alex

Cleveland and the Science Center By Qualitee Walker

On October 15, 2005 students from Horizon Science Academy Middle School and High School went to the Science Center in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. They spent about six hours at the Science Center. HSA went to the Science Center to learn more about science and to participate in hands-on actives such as: biology, the earth, science, physical science, and chemistry. Even though the duration of the trip was long and there was a fee, Miss. Underwood believes the time they spent together was, “Priceless.” Miss. Underwood, one of the high school teachers, stated, “I liked the different things you can do and experiment with.” To top the trip off, the students had a picnic for lunch; afterward, there was a chance to go to the mall.

THE HORIZON

Activities Paintball Fun By Sergei Preobrazhensky

On Saturday October 29, Horizon Science Academy went on a paintballing trip at Cannon Paintball on Industrial Mile Road. Freshman English and journalism teacher, Mrs. Harless, told me, “We were there on the last day the facility was open. The next day, they moved from the 10 acre com-plex we used to a 30 acre site.” That’s three times the space for the next time, if there will be a next time.

Mrs. Harless answered more questions about the trip:

Q: On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the event?

A: 8.

Q: Do you think the students en-joyed it more or less than you on average?

A:Actually, we enjoyed it about the same. All of us thoroughly enjoyed it!

Q:How many people (students and adults) went?

A: There were 10 people. Mr. Ulker, Mr. Harless, Rachel Smith, D’Shayln O’Neil, Jamie Hall, Derrick Salter, Jared Bridgewater, the Hammond Brothers, and my-self.

Q: How many paintballs did you get, and how many refills did you use?

A: 6000!!! The package came with 2000; we bought 4000 extras.

Q: How many successful hits did you have?

A: Not Many. 21 or 22.

Q: How many times did you get hit?

A: About 14 times.

Q: How many episodes of people getting aggressive did you see, if any?

A: Jamie, D’Shayln, and Rachel were always the last people stand-ing.

Q: I guess that took some endurance. How long did the games last?

A: 3 and a half hours.

Q: Were you in it full time?

A: Oh yeah.

Q: How many people wanted to stay on when it was time to go?

A: The Hammond Brothers, Mr. Ulker, Jared, and Derrick. About 6 out of the 10.

Q: What did you hear or see that was most memorable to you?

A:The bruises on my legs.

Q: Ouch! So what’s the next trip coming up on Horizon’s schedule?

A: The NBA game. It should be a lot less painful.

And that will be on Saturday, December 3, after the break. Have a nice rest of the year - it is one fourth over already.

Horizon Community Partnership Meeting By Joseph Easley

On the Evening of Thursday Sep-tember 29th, 2005 at 7:15 p.m. Horizon Sci-ence Academy High School had its first monthly parent/teacher community meeting, otherwise known as the meeting of the Hori-zon Community Partnership (HCP). The HCP is a parent/teacher organization similar to those at public schools known as PTAs, or PTOs. The purpose of the meeting is to en-sure communication and relationship between parents, administration, and faculty. At the latest HCP meeting the focus was on nominat-ing and electing the HCP Board members. Barry Thomas, last year’s President, was re-elected, Mark Bostic was elected as Vice Presi-dent, Julie Carighan as Treasurer, and Randy Hall as Secretary. The many other topics on the agenda included: the functions of the HCP board, concerns with transportation and bus conflicts, tutoring, and field trips, activities and fundraisers planned for this year, the

purchase of uniforms for the basketball

team, library book policy, picture day, dress down days, fundraising for Hurri-cane Katrina, , OGT preparation, col-lege representative visits, Honor Roll

rewards, and school to home commu-nications.

The Library book policy is as follows: each Student can checkout a book for 15 days at a time, or they can

have their parents make out a check or money order to the school as collateral, then rent the books for a year.

Identification badges for all stu-dents and faculty have been issued; thus they are now a mandatory part of the required HSA uniform. Effec-tive Tuesday October 25th, students who choose not to wear their badges will be penalized.

The manufacture of the HSA badges by Life Touch Photography will return to the school in the spring for “dress down” pictures of stu-dents in non-uniform attire.

The State Parental Information

and Resource Center:

http://www.pirc-info.net/index.asp

Page 5

Clubs

THE HORIZON Page 6

In order to participate in competitive sports at HSA, students must main-tain a 2.2 GPA.

By Carnell Sims

In response to the influx of student inquiries, an investigative response determined the following about sports options available to Ho-rizon Science Academy High School students. Along with high academic expectations, HSA also offers four sport clubs and one competitive team sport. Club sports include: soccer, flag football, intramural basketball and cheerleading. The competitive option is basketball, for which stu-dents must try-out. Club sports are open to anyone who wishes to partici-pate.

It’s important to note that most other schools require only a 2.0 GPA. Certainly, this is an-other example of the distinctive quality of HSA.

One reason HSA is limited in sports options is that the school’s student population is limited. While high schools that offer many sports options have well over 1,500 students, HSA has only 235. Additionally, the focus of the school is science and math ; so, sports are considered a privilege.

HSA Head Coach, Tom Edwards, and Assistant Coach, Jarrod Jones, anticipate a championship for the HSA basketball team this year. In the near future, Head Cheerleading Coach, Mrs. Joe, plans to expand the opportu-nities for club cheerleading to include competi-tion also.

Sports at Horizon Science Academy

At Horizon Science Academy, we always

believed the power of parental involvement

and after school activities. To us, education is

never a success without them.

Therefore HSA always provided all kinds of

after school activities such as: clubs, trips

(even international), exhibitions, science fairs,

fundraisers, dinners, picnics, dances and

much more.

If you would like to participate in our

activities please let us know. Your

participation is always a pleasure for us.

You can find the list of all activities and clubs

in our newsletters or on the web site. Or if you

want detailed information you can email

ulker@horizoncolumbus.org.

Club Schedules (All clubs start at 2:30 pm)

Karaoke Club: Mrs. Herman Wednesday

Flag Football Club: Mr. Sherrod Wednesday

Film Club: Mrs. Harless and Mr. Landefeld Thursday

Turkish Club: Ms. Elif Tuesday

Soccer Club: Mr. Demir and Mr. Gezgin Thursday

Computer Club: Mr. Ulker Friday

Chess Club: Mr. Sheppard Wednesday

Cheerleading Club: Mrs. Joe Tuesday and Thurs.

L.I.F.E : Mr. Jones Thursday

Art Club: Mrs. Jones Friday

Horizon Hawks Game Schedules: http://www.hometeamsonline.com/basketballteam/schedulelist.asp?username=csil or go to http://htosports.com and search for csil

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1

Schedule of Events

• Monday, Nov. 14: Early Release

• Thursday, Nov. 17: Honor Roll Assembly

• Monday, Nov. 21: Parent confer-ence between 4 pm & 8 pm

• Tuesday, Nov. 22: Early Release

• Wednesday, Nov. 23: No School

• Nov. 24 & Nov. 25: Thanksgiving Break—No School

• Saturday, Nov. 26: Alumni Dinner

• Saturday, Dec. 03: NBA Game

• Wednesday, Dec. 07: Professional Day—No School

• Tuesday, Dec. 20: Early Release

• Dec. 21—Jan. 03: Winter Break

• Dec. 21—Dec 23: Winter Camp

• Wed., Jan. 04: School Resumes

Page 7

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3

Turkey corn dog Applesauce Fresh Fruit

Milk

4 Cheese Pizza Carrot Sticks

Fresh fruit Milk

5

6 7 Sub Sandwich

Chips Fresh Fruit

Milk

8 Cheese Ravioli

Salad, Roll Fresh Fruit

Milk

9 Oriental Chicken

Rice Fresh Fruit

Milk

10 Chili Dog on Bun

Corn Fresh Fruit

Milk

11 Cheese Pizza Carrot Sticks

Fresh fruit Milk

12

13 14 Hamburger Tater Tots Fresh Fruit

Milk

15 Chicken Pasta

Peas, Roll Fresh Fruit

Milk

16 Spaghetti

Salad, Roll Fresh Fruit

Milk

17 Chicken Nuggets Mashed Potatoes

Fresh Fruit Milk

18 Cheese Pizza Carrot Sticks

Fresh fruit Milk

19

20 21 Oriental Chicken

Rice Fresh Fruit

Milk

22 Sloppy Joe

Green Beans Fresh Fruit

Milk

23 No School

24 No School

25 No School

26

27 28 Chili Dog on Bun

Corn Fresh Fruit

Milk

29 Spaghetti

Salad, Roll Fresh Fruit

Milk

30 Chicken Patty & Bun

Tater Tots Fresh Fruit

Milk

November 2005 Lunch Menu

This issue has been brought to you by the Horizon Science Acad-

emy High School journalism staff, which includes:

Publisher: Mr. Aytekin

Technical Advisor: Mr. Ulker

Journalism Advisor: Mrs. Harless

Student Managing Editor/Reporter: Sergi Preobrazhensky

Design Editor/Reporter: Qualitee Walker

Photography Editor: Brynt Gunn

Feature Editor/Reporter: Tenika Perry

Events and Issues Editor/Reporter: Joseph Easley

Sports Editor/Reporter: Carnell Sims

News Editor/Reporter: Michael Stephen Golloh

By Mr. Kellum

What can you do on Veteran’s Day?

The cost of our freedom is so often for-

gotten and even destroyed by those who

never really had to pay for it from their

personal account in life.

We take for granted those freedoms that

our forefathers paid for, with their lives,

just to give us the freedom of religion,

freedom of choice, freedom of speech,

free to stand on soil that we can own

and pass down to our own next genera-

tion.

Veteran’s Day is set aside to honor those

men, women and sometimes even chil-

dren who lied about their age to join the

fight against oppression, ternary, and

even genocide.

Listed on CNN.com SPECIALS 2003/iraq/

forces/casualties/2005.08.html within

are the names of over two thousand

(2000) American service men

and women who have served and

died in the War in Iraq.

We suggest that look through

this list of brave men and

women. When one picture

stands out or reminds you of

someone, or maybe even some-

one you know personally, type in

their name on the Yahoo search

engine and learn more about him

or her. If they have an address

to write their family, write them

and tell them how much you

appreciate the sacrifice their son

or daughter meant to you.

Take a moment to learn about

them and a moment of silence to

honor them as they have paid for

that moment for you to take,

with their life.

The Cost of Freedom

1070, MORSE RD. COLUMBUS, OHIO 43229

Phone: 614-846-7616 Fax: 614-846-7696

URL: http://www.horizoncolumbus.org Email: info@horizoncolumbus.org

Hor izon Sc ience Academy

High School

Excellence in

Education