Four NFA West Scholars Discuss Exhibition Experience

Every scholar at NFA West Campus recently presented their first Exhibition to their Advisory.

Each grade level had an assigned topic. Freshmen presented demonstrations, a sort of ‘teach your talent,’ and sophomores through seniors presented their research on college and careers. Each scholar started their presentation with a quote that inspires and motivates them. Student presenters then lead their peers in an ice breaker. Next, students gave their presented on their topic. Presentations lasted for a full 30 minutes with a few minutes at the end for questions. Their peers, teachers, and guests evaluated students on all elements of the presentation, from planning to final presentation. Parents and family members were invited to attend. Internship advisors were also invited to attend.

Students will present on different topics three more times throughout the year for a total of four Exhibitions. Presentations include research, developing the presentation, and leadership and public speaking skills.

Four 9^th grade scholars discussed their first Exhibition experience. Read their reflections below.

Kayleigh:

Kayleigh felt that her first Exhibition was very personal. She shared how the lessons on career exploration reflected her personality type based on a quiz she took with her class. From that, she explained her goal of being a Mental Health counselor one day, her experiences with mental health, and discussed how her internship prepares her for some of that work by helping her develop professional skills needed for any future experience.

For her demonstration, Kayleigh taught a lesson on making biscuits. Through her lesson, she intentionally added the wrong ingredients or the wrong quantity as a metaphor for life. Kayleigh discussed the point of her lesson further, “Some things in life are a like a recipe because you’re combining certain aspects, coping mechanisms, monitoring behaviors, like you would in a recipe. Everything needs to be proportional. If you put in too much (of a negative behavior) and not enough (hard work), you won’t get the result you’re looking for.” Kayleigh also shared her goals for the year as she reflected back on her quarter.

Overall, Kayleigh was able to learn from those who went before her and received good feedback from her peers and her teacher, Ms. Noelle. She has skills to improve before her next Exhibition, but also recognized that she has developed a lot of presentation skills already. “I was nervous. I thought I would mess up on one word and cry, but that didn’t happen. It ended up being fun because everyone else in the room was nervous too. Based on the feedback I received, I did a lot better than I thought I did.”

Put together resume, personality type on Naviance and the careers that matched her personality type, presented career research (education and salary of careers),

Christian:
Christian started his presentation with a ‘pick me up’ or icebreaker, which was an original poem about his transition from South Middle School to NFA West. Next, Christian shared information about his internship with his classmates. Christian is interning at the Lion’s Den, a local barbershop. There, he is learning about barbering and about being an entrepreneur. For his demonstration, Christian taught the audience how to create a specific hair style.

Christian then discussed his academics in each content area. He reflected on goals he accomplished throughout the quarter (finishing a 400-page book, achieving a set grade or above on a quiz) and that he is noticing that he is less distracted in class because many of his friends are in a different grade or attend a different school. As a result, he admitted that his grades are much higher in high school than they were at the larger middle school. Christian noted that he is finding a better balance maintaining his academics and his social life.

Christian mentioned that he was nervous that his presentation wasn’t going to go well, but it did go well. The feedback he received from his classmates were things that he could easily focus on and improve for his next exhibition presentation. A piece of feedback that Christian received was that he was well rehearsed, had his presentation memorized, and made good eye contact, but he moved a lot at the podium. Christian reflected that those movements were ways to district himself from being nervous, but as a result, those movements distracted the audience from his presentation.

JaBez:
JaBez began his presentation with an original piece of poetry that relates to his internship. He is currently interning with NFA Theatre teacher, Mrs. Fay Gerbes Pacht at NFA Main. JaBez chose his internship because he wants to be an actor. His internship exposes him to the background nuances of becoming at actor. He is able to learn elements of technical theatre, directing, stage elements, and acting. The poetry he began with relates to screen writing and the connection between expression in poetry and acting. JaBez recently played the Grasshopper in the NFA Before Broadway Theatre Company’s presentation of James and the Giant Peach: Theater for Young Audiences.

JaBez admits that he didn’t prepare very much for his presentation, but still got reviews that he did a good job. For his next exhibition he will make sure to have more physical artifacts for his audience to connect with his speech.

Jennifer:
Jennifer began her presentation with an ice breaker. She distributed M&Ms to her classmates, asking each to answer a question based on the color they received. For her demonstration, Jennifer showed the class how to make Dutch braids in someone’s hair. She did a two step tutorial about how to start it and then how to add pieces into the braid. When she was younger, her Mom didn’t always have time to do her hair, so she started doing her own. Her passion for hair styles has evolved ever since. She wanted to complete her internship with a hair stylist, but wasn’t able to this year.

She is currently interning at Horizons on the Hudson with a fourth grade classroom. This internship relates to her ultimate goal of becoming a pediatric nurse some day. She is taking the opportunity with her internship to learn more about children and know what a challenge is for them.

Reflecting on her presentation, Jennifer felt like she did well. She went first, which made her a little more nervous, but people said she didn’t come across that way. She thinks she will have more confidence with more practice for her future presentation.

ATTENTION: Are your scholars or colleagues doing something great? Please contact the district Communications Team at communications@necsd.net. We’d love to visit your class or event and/or post your pictures and recap to highlight the amazing accomplishments throughout our district!