What was to be a planning year to prepare to lunch the NYS Seal of Civic Readiness program, HSFI staff and students exceeded expectations by having 99 graduates earn the Seal. The SCR committee which consisted of Mr. Egan, Ms. Lake, Ms. San Jorge, Mr. Rau as well as two graduates Briana Reyes and Sara Smith created a mission for the school, develop a scope and sequence for four years of projects and built with the Social Studies and CTE department four approved projects that help students earn Seal points. The Seal of Civic Readiness signifies that a student is civically minded and ready to be an active participant in their community. To earn the Seal a student must attain point in knowledge and application, for knowledge they have to successfully complete Social Studies High School sequence, pass NYS Regents exams, complete internal class knowledge projects. To attain application points students, complete projects such as participatory budget where they use the democratic process to determine a school need and financially address the solution. The CTE department developed three projects to support the SCR, they were in Art, Fashion and Visual Merchandising. In each of these projects the students investigated an issue and represented a solution through their particular medium. Some of the window displays are included in this article. The ninety-nine students worked extremely hard to achieve this designation and it will be represented with a seal on their diploma.
