Congratulations to the RCK teachers chosen for NYS Senator Sue Serino's A+ Teacher distinction for 2021-22

RCK STUDENT SPOTLIGHT FEATURES GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENTS BY OUR KETCHAM STUDENTS!

Congratulations to the students inducted into National Honor Society

On May 23, 2022, 121 students were inducted into RCK National Honor Society. "Being inducted in the National Honor Society is no small achievement," said WCSD Superintendent Dr. Dwight Bonk. "This requires a tremendous amount of courage in your journey. You have still risen to the occasion and for that we are very proud."

Congratulations to the students inducted into Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica

Ethan Abrahams, Nikita Amin, Marisa Belfiore, Daniel Berak, Giann Bhangoo, Victoria Brower, Kendra Campos, Sophia Cheng, Moriah Downes, Emily Duro, James Eglit, Finn Gaklik, Kevin Guerrero, Dewran Gunes, Corinne Hayward, Kiera Ignatz, Ava Maffia, Catherine McCourt, Taylor McLeod, Hilary McRae, Daniel Mejia, Sophia Moran, Salma Muhammed Al-Sheabani, Marleen Ogada, Pranay Patel, Rachel Prongay, Nia Rencher, Abigail Reynolds, Lauren Socha, Dylan Spagna, Alicia Wallace

CONGRATULATIONS NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARS

National Merit Scholarship FINALIST Justin Tullo

National Merit Scholarship Commended Students

Edward Haw

Jack Ostrander

Annie Vallamattan

David Zhang

The National Merit^® Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. Approximately 1.5 million high school students enter the program each year.

RCK's Cassandra Chorba has performed the National Anthem at many of our school events. We are so grateful that she shares her talent with our community!

Cassandra Chorba sings the National Anthem

DEBATE SOCIETY
Six members of the RCK Debate Society participated in the Spring 2022 CESIMS Model UN on April 9th. Three were recognized. Senior Jack Levy was awarded Best Delegate (1st Prize), Senior Stephen Zaken was awarded Honorable Mention (2nd Prize) and Senior Mariam Penalta Azzaoui won Most Improved Delegate. In addition, Senior Ryan Camacho, Junior Eric Johnston and sophomore Jonathan Lichwick also did well.

Congratulations to Aidan Marshall ('22) for his commitment to The College of Saint Rose where he will continue his baseball career!

Abby & Nick are headed to states!

Congratulations to Abby Kowalczyk and Nick Castorina, who qualified for the New York State Track & Field Championships. Nick earned a trip to the State meet by winning the 600m run. Abby placed 2nd in the 1000m run.

Other strong performances include the 3rd place finish by the 4x200 meter relay team consisting of John Hartmann, Ivan Carvalho, Marcus Holloway and Nick Castorina. Jonathan Scampoli finished 4th in the shot put and Hailey Hrouda Hrouda finished 4th in the weight throw. Great showing by the RCK Track & Field team!

Congratulations Matt Masch for qualifying for the New York State Wrestling Championships. All-Section Wrestlers are (5th) Alex Rathbun, (3rd) Dylan Glickman, (6th) Ernest Suter,  (2nd) Matthew Masch, (3rd) Gavin McLaughlin. Ketcham placed 4th out of 32 teams at the Section 1 Championships.

Congratulations to Eric Nunez who has committed to Central Connecticut State University! 

Congratulations to Haley Boom for qualifying for the Section 1 Girls Bowling team that will compete in Syracuse March 11th to 13th!

MASCH IS PoJo PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Congratulations to Ketcham wrestler Matt Masch on winning the Journal's Player of the Week poll. The junior won the 145-pound bracket of the divisional tournament that RCK hosted. He received 3,775 votes (37.4%) to win the honor (1/31-2/6).

RCK STEP TEAM

The RCK Step Team had its debut performance on Feb. 3 during the Girls' and Boys' basketball games. The team was created by senior captain Caliyah Newton and is led by advisor Theresa Bell-Groucher. 

RCK Step Team members are Nadiyah Bey, Moriah Downes, Hilary McRae, Sara Mrani-Alaoui, Caliyah Newton, Ashley Perdomo, Ella Puisey, Jayln Ramos, Skye Thomas, Sabrina Vilato, Daija Wiggins and Savannah Wright. New members are welcome to join the RCK Step Team which meets Wednesdays after school.

CONGRATULATIONS TO JOCELYN LICHWICK ('22) FOR SIGNING WITH STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY. JOCELYN WILL JOIN THE DIVING TEAM AND PLANS TO BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD

Congratulations to the following Science Olympians for performing so well at the Regional tournament at John Jay on February 5. Finishing first in Detector Build were Ryan Tang and Mandy Zhang. Placing second in Detector Build were David Zhang and Shiven Dabhi. The duo also earned a silver in WIFI. Annie Vallamattan, Aksat Shah and Patrick Yen placed second in Experimental Design. Lastly, placing third in Astronomy were Jonathan Lichwick and Enson Ziao. Overall, the team won 15 medals. Great job to all!

WRESTLING

Congratulations to the wrestling team for winning  the Division D Section One Qualifier Tournament. 11 wrestlers earned their way into the Section One Championships.
1st Place: Alex Rathbun, Matt Masch, Gavin McLaughlin.
2nd Place: Dylan Glickman, Noel Martinez.
3rd Place: Eddy Corporan, Mike Monte, Jonah Usher.
4th Place: Nate Cortez, Dylan Fay

TRACK & FIELD

TRACK & FIELD

Congratulations to the Ketcham Girls and Boys teams for their many great performances at the Class AA meet on Feb. 5 at the Armory. For the girls team, Abby Kowalczyk finished 2nd in the 1000 meter run while Hailey Hrouda placed 3rd in the weight throw. As a team, the boys finished 3rd overall. For starters, Nick Castorina finished 2nd in the 1000 meter run and broke the old school record in the process. Jon Scampoli placed 2nd in the shot put, Nick Taylor was 3rd in the 600 meter run and Connor Hitt was 3rd in the 1600 meter run. For the relays, the 4x800 meter relay consisting of Connor Hitt, Nick Taylor, Zander Brown and Justin Tullo, and the 4x200 meter relay team of John Hartmann, Ivan Carvalho, Marcus Holloway and  Nick Castorina both finished in second place. Overall, nearly all athletes achieved their best times or marks. Great job! Great showing

Congratulations to Tatiana Blackhorse ('22) on receiving the Catharine Street Community Center Youth Honoree Scholarship presented at the 31st Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast. To learn more about this community organization, visit https://catharinecenter.org/

Congratulations to Gianna Hyde for being the January 2022 Rotary Student of the Month! She was honored at a luncheon sponsored by Rotary 7210. Find out more about this service organization online.

TRACK & FIELD - SUFFERN INVITATIONAL

Congratulations to Nick Castorina for winning the 1600 meter run and Moses Stevenson for winning the high jump at the Suffern Invitational on Jan. 14, 2022. In the distance events, a pair of second place finishes were achieved by Connor Hitt in the 3200 meter run and Abby Kowalczyk in the 3000 meter run. In the sprints, Phoenix Stevenson placed 2nd in the 55 meter dash. Great job athletes!

Congratulations to the many great performances by the track and field team at the Dendy Invitational at Rockland Community College on Jan. 6, 2022. The following girls all won their events: 

Congratulations to Gabriella Quinones ('22) who has committed to continuing her softball career at Chestnut Hill College in Pennsylvania. We look forward to following her success!

Congratulations RCK Girls Basketball - Champions of the 2021 Brewster Holiday Tournament!

Congratulations to tournament All Tourney Jenny Nardelli, Most Inspirational Camryn Greene and MVP Cali Chiocchi

On December 13, the cheer teams at Ketcham and WJHS came together to collect and sort food donations for Fostering Hope Together. With our school and communities help, these athletes were able to supply 25 holiday dinner baskets and additional food donations for Dutchess County foster families. And after all their hard work, they paused for a photo with a very special guest!

TRACK & FIELD

Congratulations to Abby Kowalczyk for breaking the school record in the 3000 meter run at the Dec 14 meet at RCK.  She also equaled the 1600 meter record during the race. 

Congratulations to Sebastian Smith on making a state cut in the 100 freestyle with a time of 46.93 and in the 100 backstroke with a time of 53.57. Sebastian will be competing at Ithaca College in early March to race all the top swimmers in New York State.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FALL 2021 SCHOLAR ATHLETES. SEE THE COMPLETE LIST

The RCK Class of 2025 has a new initiative called High Fives, where students are nominated and recognized for having a positive impact on our school. The students receive a treat and a certificate as a way of praising their hard work! Great job Class of 2025!

The first group of recipients are:

Katerin Lopez Romero, Landon Goodrich, Gianni Morris, Isabella Digirolamo, Madisyn Travers, Mattie Betts, Kristen Leiladhar 

 Congratulations to Cali Chiocchi '22 for committing to Pace University to continue her basketball career!

A select group of outstanding Ketcham musicians participated in the Area All-State Festival to perform in both the Symphony Orchestra and Band.  Students were selected based on their outstanding scores at the NYSSMA Solo & Ensemble Evaluation last May.  They rehearsed with the other top players from the region and performed in concerts in Brewster.  Congratulations to:

Amanda Arvelo, Sophia Cheng, Noah Rebecca, Tatiana Blackhorse, Matthew Lechocinski, Jennie Po, Brain Ng, Natalie Hilton, Marco Cordova, Isabella Williams, Jack Levy, Thomas Ostrander, Jack Ostrander and Eric Johnston.

Congratulations to Eddy Corporan who earned All-League honors at the October 12th cross country league meet at Bowdoin Park.

RCK Red Cross Club had a busy and productive week serving our community. The club hosted a Blood Drive at School on Oct. 5 and also marched in the annual Wappinger Community Day Parade on Oct. 9. We are very proud of all this club does for our school and for our community.

RCK Cross Country had a great showing at the Bowdoin Classic at Bowdoin Park on Sept. 25.

RCK Football had a 32-29 victory over Clarkstown South on Sept. 24. Sean Camacho ran for two touchdowns, including an 89-yard touchdown run. Avant Owens had three touchdown carries, including one of 47 yards and another of 35 yards.

Ketcham Field Hockey - league champions the past four years - held Senior Night on Sept. 17 to honor the 8 players from the Class of 2022. These athletes have made an impact on and off the field! In addition to celebrating with family, friends, teammates and the RCK community, the team enjoyed a 12-0 victory over Lourdes.

The RCK boys’ soccer team had an impressive 5-3 win over Clarkstown on Sept. 13. Nick Castorina – 2 goals, 1 assist; Ryan Zindler – 2 goals, 1 assist; Tyler Jankowski – 1 assist and Brandon Castorina – 1 goal, 1 assist. Brandon’s first varsity goal with the assist from brother Nick. Way to go RCK!

CONGRATULATIONS to Connor Hitt and Abby Kowalczyk for their superb performances at the Warwick Valley Wave Mania cross country invitational. Connor placed 3rd overall in his race of over 100 athletes while Abby placed 4th out of about 70 girls. Both athletes established new personal bests on a relatively soft and slow course. 

MS. CACHON HONORED BY K-104 AS TEACHER OF THE MONTH

Science Teacher Suzanne Cachon was honored in January 2022 as K-104's Teacher of the Month. She received the radio station's Golden Apple Award.    Ms. Cachon was chosen for her devotion to her students and to Ketcham Nation. An RCK graduate, Ms. Cachon shows incredible school spirit. Her amazing photography and artistic designs make the yearbook a masterpiece every year! 

Read more and listen to the radio interview online

Ketcham Field Hockey players named to 2021 Poughkeepsie Journal All-Star team

Congratulations to seniors Lexi Barlanti, Mia Dowd, Violeta Francese and Molly Gaklik for being named to the Poughkeepsie Journal 2021 All-Star Team for Field Hockey. Honorable Mention went to Fiona Moore ('22), Michelle Wagner ('22), Ava Gambichler ('23) and Haley Hrouda ('23).

VIRTUAL ENTERPRISE
The College Virtual Enterprise class' company, Freedom Insurance, has made it past the first cut for the prestigious National VE Top 50 Award! The students met certain criteria such as: Entering national competitions, processing payroll, paying rent and others. Their goal is to make it to the Final 50 in June. The students are: Annam Eltigani, Matthew Freire, Asadel Khan, Aidan Marshall, Jonathan Scampoli and Stephen Zaken.

ALL-SECTION HONORS

Congratulations to Abby Kowalczyk for achieving All-Section honors for cross country!

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD

Congratulations to the following competitors at the Boyceville Invitational where over 160 teams competed.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FALL 2021 SCHOLAR ATHLETES. SEE THE COMPLETE LIST

The RCK Class of 2025 has a new initiative called High Fives, where students are nominated and recognized for having a positive impact on our school. The students receive a treat and a certificate as a way of praising their hard work! Great job Class of 2025!

The first group of recipients are:

Katerin Lopez Romero, Landon Goodrich, Gianni Morris, Isabella Digirolamo, Madisyn Travers, Mattie Betts, Kristen Leiladhar 

 Congratulations to Cali Chiocchi '22 for committing to Pace University to continue her basketball career!

A select group of outstanding Ketcham musicians participated in the Area All-State Festival to perform in both the Symphony Orchestra and Band.  Students were selected based on their outstanding scores at the NYSSMA Solo & Ensemble Evaluation last May.  They rehearsed with the other top players from the region and performed in concerts in Brewster.  Congratulations to:

Amanda Arvelo, Sophia Cheng, Noah Rebecca, Tatiana Blackhorse, Matthew Lechocinski, Jennie Po, Brain Ng, Natalie Hilton, Marco Cordova, Isabella Williams, Jack Levy, Thomas Ostrander, Jack Ostrander and Eric Johnston.

Roy C. Ketcham High School Named National School of Excellence

Roy C. Ketcham High School was named a National PTA School of Excellence for 2020-2022. RCK earned the honor for its work at promoting diversity, inclusion and equity in our school. 

National PTA School of Excellence is a recognition program that supports and celebrates partnerships between PTAs and schools to enrich the educational experience and overall well-being for all students.

Our PTSA works very closely with our administration to ensure that we are promoting only the best programs, ideas and activities for our students, faculty, staff and community.

National PTA School of Excellence recognition program opens the lines of communication and critical thinking within school communities to make data-driven decisions that yield positive, long-term results. School of Excellence is committed to supporting and recognizing partnerships between local PTAs and schools to enrich the educational experience and overall well-being for all students.    

Coach Mealy wins 400!

Congratulations to RCK Coach Pat Mealy for his 400th win as head coach of the boys' baseball team!

Read the Poughkeepsie Journal article here

NYS Senator Sue Serino hosted the A+ Teachers Award Program as part of Teacher Appreciation Week.

Congratulations to our well-deserving educators who earned this award!

Congratulations to Mandy Zhang ('23) for the winning design in the WCSD Library Logo Contest chosen in January 2021. The design will be featured on the WCSD Library Media website for the 2021-22 school year!

Congratulations to our RCK Science Olympiad members for their success at the 2020 Science Olympiad Invitationals in Wisconsin:

Bhavya Parekh and Reese McQueen - Anatomy - first place
Michelle Tang and Reese McQueen - chem lab - second place
Rajiv Rao and David Zhang - circuit lab - sixth place
Bhavya Parekh and Mandy Zhang - dynamic planet - third place

Congratulations to the Ketcham Field Hockey team on winning the Dutchess County Section 1 Regional Championship!

The team bested Arlington 3-0 at RCK on Nov. 18.

For more on Ketcham Field Hockey, visit the team website 

RCK Field Hockey

Class of 2020 Scholarship & Awards Ceremony

Congratulations to Class of 2020 Graduate Catalina Vilato for earning her Girl Scouts Gold Award while attending Ketcham. Catalina created the Teen Closet at RCK, collecting school supplies, clothing, toiletries and other items for under-resourced students. The items were also used to help RCK families that were displaced by fires in 2019 in the village of Wappingers Falls. Catalina was the president of the RCK Random Acts of Kindness Club, which will maintain the closet to make sure it always has supplies for those who need them. Catalina was a member of Troop 10339 in the New Oaks Service Unit of Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson. The Gold Award is the highest award earned by  Girl Scouts.

Congratulations and Good Luck to

Raissa Bhanji

Both Roy C. Ketcham High School and John Jay High School have been ranked as the top high schools in Dutchess County for the second consecutive year, as noted in the August 2007 issue of Hudson Valley Magazine.

Roy C. Ketcham has earned recognition as a High Performing/Gap Closing School. RCK earned a Certificate, from the University of the State of New York Education Department, recognizing the achievement of our school in leading New York forward to accomplish the dual goal of increasing student achievement while closing the gap in student performance.