
FARM TO SCHOOL: We’re grateful to Bethany Hobin of Milk for Health for taking the time today to share some of her dairy knowledge with our middle school students.
Milk for Health is a local non-profit that seeks to spread awareness and educate the community about dairy farming and the goodness of dairy. One of the non-profit’s many offerings centers on teaching middle school students recipes that make use of dairy ingredients.
“We target this group particularly because they’re at an age where they are capable of making a meal for themselves and their families,” explained Hobin, Milk for Health’s executive director. “Hopefully we can encourage healthy habits including adding more dairy into their diets.”
This morning, in Becky Sphar’s seventh grade home and careers class, Hobin showed students the best way to make a grilled cheese. Students customized their sandwiches with things like sliced turkey, hot sauce, pepperoni and marinara sauce.
While it might seem simple, “there’s an art to making the perfect grilled cheese,” said Hobin.
One of the tips she gave Sphar’s students was to add a splash of water to the pan after the first flip, then cover the sandwich with a lid, which helps maximize the melty-ness of the cheese within.
Tomorrow, Sphar will play host to Rebecca Stroud, also of Milk for Health, who will make grilled cheese, smoothies and baked mac and cheese with Sphar’s students.










Our Mock Trial team gave an outstanding performance last night at their first in-person court appearance since 2020 when competition season was cut short due to the pandemic.
Arguing at the Wyoming County Courthouse in Warsaw, Attica's defense team topped Byron-Bergen's plaintiff team in the quarterfinals to advance immediately to the semifinals where the Blue Devils, again acting as the defense, fell to Oakfield-Alabama’s plaintiff team by one, tie-breaking point!
Pictured are members of Attica’s Mock Trial team, front row from left: Alanna Pellicane, Maddy Durfee, Kara Hassenfratz, Abby Wilkinson and Ashley Piorun. Back row from left are Anya Clark, Erika Conrad, Connor Denison, Emily Peters and Carter Zell. Not pictured are Alan Diesel, Josh Capwell and Nick Kurowski
(Photo courtesy of Becki Peters)


FARM TO SCHOOL: Last Friday was a professional development day for Attica employees - including our food service staff, who spent the day trying out some new recipes courtesy of Josh Wolcott, the chef-owner of Old Souls Catering in Perry.
Wolcott, a Wyoming County native who who previously worked as executive chef at a hotel in Knoxville, Tenn. and as a tour chef for the rock band Van Halen, led our staff in a baked macaroni and cheese recipe using cheese from Perry’s East Hill Creamery.
To accompany the savory dish, Wolcott also showed staff how to throw together a salad of microgreens from Robinson’s Greens in Varysburg topped with carrots, sliced apple and a lemon vinaigrette.
We can personally attest that both dishes were absolutely DELICIOUS.
One of the hopes for the development day, said Alicia Spoth, Attica’s new farm to school coordinator, was to provide a spark of inspiration to members of our food service staff and encourage them to pitch new recipes and try new ideas with the goal of improving and diversifying food options for our students.
Later, our food service staff heard from Katie Carpenter, founder of The Vintage Cow Farmer’s Market and a member of Attica Partners for Agriculture, a local non-profit that promotes agriculture as a career option for young people. Carpenter spoke about the non-profit’s history, members and offered training assistance.
Finally, our district’s director of food service, Kris Wicks, introduced her staff to new smoothie equipment and recipes before a new smoothie station opens to students during lunch time for the coming 2023-24 school year.
“Kris and her team are doing amazing things for the students of the district. My hope for the staff development day is that staff felt supported, encouraged, excited and refreshed,” said Spoth. “They were in action doing hands-on activities to learn and grow as professionals. The future is so exciting for the food service program here at Attica and the staff that drive it.”











Our fourth graders traveled to A&A Maple in Attica Thursday to learn more about the syrup-making process from the Beitz family.
“They were able to see the complete process the sap goes through in becoming delicious syrup,” said fourth grade teacher Jessica Edwards. “They saw the reverse osmosis machine, were able to watch the sap boil and checked out the barrels of syrup that are shipped to companies in Ohio and also smaller bottles that people can purchase from their shop.”
Mrs. Kelly Beitz, our former Elementary School Principal, even stopped by to say hello to her former students!
At the end of the tour came the most important - and delicious - part of the field trip: Tasting the syrup!
Many thanks to A&A Maple for having out!











Three of our students recently made a HUGE donation to Gateway Home, a hospice facility in Attica.
Lillian Gromek, Nolan Rzepka and Bryne Wolcott - all sophomores at Attica High School - set up bins at J Dubs in Alexander, Attica Pharmacy, Tops Market and Five Star Bank to collect items on Gateway Home’s Amazon wish list. On Monday, they dropped off all the items they’d collected at Gateway.
Items collected outside J Dubs alone were enough to fill an entire car!
A huge thank you to J Dubs, Attica Pharmacy, Tops Market and Attica Five Star Bank and a job well done to Lillian, Nolan and Bryne - Attica’s lucky to have you!
(Photo courtesy of Sue Herman)


Members of our boys and girls swim teams held their annual banquet last night.
Joe Parkhurst and Libby Kibler were named most outstanding performers of the year while Ethan Houghton and Cassidy Shafer were winners of the coaches’ award.
Coaches gifted seniors with a framed photograph of them competing this past season while the five swimmers who broke records - Joe Parkhurst, Sam Dunlap, Matthew Kingswell, Ethan Houghton and Libby Kibler - received t-shirts identifying them as an “Attica Record Breaker.”
(Photos courtesy of Marybeth Kibler)






Our Winter Newsletter is LIVE on our website!
Check it out at the link below to read all about the great things our students, staff and alumni are doing or look for your copy in this weekend’s edition of the Attica Penny Saver.
Link: https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/2319/ACSD/2866817/March_2023_Attica_Newsletter1_r4_FINAL.pdf


Attica’s National Honor Society Chapter welcomed 19 new members during an induction ceremony last night in our Performing Arts Center.
Chapter officers Erika Conrad (president), Libby Kibler (vice president), Ethan Harmon (treasurer) and Skylar Savage (secretary) spoke on the four National Honor Society pillars - character, scholarship, leadership and service - before new members were welcomed into the chapter and administered their oath.
Sophomores, juniors and seniors are invited to apply for membership in the society if they’ve achieved a cumulative grade point average of 90 percent at the close of the second quarter prior to the invitation period.
Invited students then sit for an interview with the chapter’s five-member faculty advisory committee, which ultimately votes on what new members to accept.
Students inducted into the district’s NHS chapter were Samantha Alfiero, Zoey Berggren, Morgan Bunk, Rebekah Clark, Katherine Ewert, Lillian Gromek, Emily Harmon, Kara Hassenfratz, Madelyn King, Savanna Messe, Mia Mondano, Bailey Nixon, Emily Peters, Catharine Struzik, Amelia Spampata, Robyn Szuniewicz, Paige Warwick, Julia Wise and Brynne Wolcott.
Congratulations to our newest National Honor Society members!
(Selected photos courtesy of Matt Struzik)











Today, School Resource Officer Deputy Sam West led our fifth grade students in a lesson on CPR. West covered how to assess a scene, the best ways to check for breathing and a heartbeat, how to use an AED and proper CPR technique.
Above all, West stressed the importance of calling 911 as soon as possible and continuing to give aid until help arrives.
We obviously hope this is a skill our students never have to put to use but we’re grateful to Deputy West for sharing his expertise!











Don’t miss our annual Choral Pops Concert tonight at 7 p.m. in the Middle School Auditorium!
The concert will include performances by the following ensembles:
• The Sunshine Singers (3rd/4th grade after school group)
• 5th/6th Grade Chorus
• 7th/8th Grade Chorus
• High School Chorus
If you can’t make it in person, the concert will be livestreamed on the Attica Stream Team Facebook page linked below.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070534411251

The teachers go 2-1 on the day, topping the Student Government Volleyball Tournament girls champions, I ♥ Milk and our students’ co-ed team and falling to the tournament champion boys team, Miller Time.











Attica Central School District has begun the hiring process for its next elementary school principal.
Applications are due by April 10, 2023.
The district expects to appoint a candidate in May with an anticipated start date of July 1, 2023.
Click on the link below to learn more.
Link: https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/2319/ACSD/2861012/Attica_ES_Principal.pdf


High school counselors Erica Frongetta and Elise Meyer took 50 sophomores and juniors to the National College Fair at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center Monday.
The fair offered our students a chance to speak with representatives of and learn more about 184 colleges and universities from across the country and around the world.
It’s never too early to start thinking about what comes after high school and this was a great learning experience for our students!
(Photo courtesy of Erica Frongetta)


I ♥ Milk and Miller Time were the top finishing teams at our annual Student Government Volleyball Tournament this past Saturday and are slated to take on our all-star faculty team later this morning.
The die is cast. The stage is set. It all comes down to this.
Will youth win out? Will experience reign supreme? We can’t wait to find out!











Mrs. Amanda Vilagy’s kindergarten class had some good clean fun during WIN math today, using shaving cream to help practice their addition skills!
The WIN Math Program, short for 'What I Need' in Math, is a new initiative this year at Attica Elementary designed to combat student learning loss as a result of the pandemic. Learn more about the program at the link below.
(Photos courtesy of Sherry Bennett)
Link: https://www.atticacsd.org/article/897526





Fourth graders attended a concert by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and stopped at the Memorial Art Gallery to take in some of its exhibits during a field trip yesterday.
The theme of the concert was orchestra dances, so all the RPO’s selections were pieces of dance music throughout history and from all around the world. Attica students made up a small portion of the nearly 2,000 students who traveled from the greater Rochester area to see this special educational performance. Nothing brings people together like music!
At the Memorial Art Gallery, students had the amazing opportunity to see how art has influenced society and culture throughout history and all around the world. Students got to see hieroglyphics from ancient Egypt, beautifully crafted pieces of armor from the Medieval Era and abstract art by living artists.
Many thanks to the Eastman Theater, RPO and MAG for hosting us - our students had a blast!
(Photos courtesy of Austin Matson, Sara Lewinski and Jill Farrell)











How fun is this?!
During a recent reading lesson, Mrs. Kristin Janes’ kindergarteners performed “surgery” on some ailing words.
Students fixed their “patients” with missing vowels and beginning and ending sounds and tapped out syllables on their stethoscopes.
(Photos courtesy of Kristin Janes)





Shout out to Nathan Sponagule, who was named the Western New York Tech Academy’s student of the month!
The WNY Tech Academy is a program of Genesee Valley BOCES that allows students to earn an associate’s degree in applied sciences through Genesee Community College while attending high school.
A junior at Attica High School, Nathan plans to pursue a career as a solar panel technician and looks forward to studying at GCC next year!


Last week was Reading Week at Attica Elementary School and to mark the occasion, students in Miss Lauren Kocher’s third grade class headed down to Mrs. Dylah Fagan’s classroom for a bit of ‘Read with a Buddy’ time!
Thanks to Mrs. Fagan for sharing these photos - we love to see students practicing their literacy skills together!










FARM TO SCHOOL: Our most recent taste-testing event was made possible by New York Chips, a family-owned business based in Gainesville that started out in 1943 as an 80-acre dairy farm and is now a major supplier of potatoes and producers of potato chips in North America.
New York Chips donated several of their chip varieties and our elementary, middle and high school students enjoyed trying them all - including the company’s signature Spiedie Chip, which captures the classic chicken barbecue flavor found in Spiedie sauce.
A huge thank you to New York Chips for your generous donation!
(Photos courtesy of Alicia Spoth)





