With balloons, a soda can and something called a Van de Graaff Generator, an educator from the Liberty Science Center taught students in the Columbus and Nelson Mandela/Dr. Hosea Zollicoffer schools about the states of matter, and how they behave. Along the way, they found answers to questions such as this puzzler from the educator, STEM Program Developer Dayna Mancuso: If the air around us exerts pressure – 15 pounds for every square inch of us – “Why are we not being squished right now?” She presented the questions, land answers, in online “Science Circus” class recently as part of the District’s six-week summer program.
When the Olympic Games get underway in Tokyo, starting this Friday, July 22, watch for hometown track star Rai Benjamin, a Mount Vernon High School alumnus, and now a member of Team USA. Look for Benjamin in the men’s 400-yard hurdles during the Tokyo Games. His sport will be aired on WNBC on July 29-Aug. 2. Now a California resident, the Olympian graduated from MVHS in 2015.
Right from the start, the students in this year’s expanded summer program dove into engaging activities. They learned about bears and ladybugs in one class, made trail mix in another and created a “Summer Bucket List” in still another. Students in the program are attending classes four days per week for six weeks rather than the traditional four. The aim is to recover from the difficulties in both academics and social-emotional development brought by the pandemic-era remote and hybrid learning.
The Mount Vernon City School District, in conjunction with the Mount Vernon City School District parent liaisons, conducted a three-week long shoe drive fundraiser to raise funds for the Edith Kaplan Scholarship Fund.
243 Seniors of The Mount Vernon High School graduated Friday, June 25, in a ceremony that Principal Dr. Ronald Gonzalez called “an occasion like no other to close a time like no other, for students like no other.” Speakers at the 143rd commencement exercise commended the seniors for their resilience and for what they were able to learn from the hardship the pandemic brought to Mount Vernon, schools across the country, and the world.
Dr. Natasha Hunter - McGregor , Principal
Dr. Hunter-McGregor is one of three siblings born into a loving military family. She received her associate’s degree in Liberal Arts and her undergraduate degree from Howard University where she graduated from the School of Business with a major in Management. She continued her educational journey to later receive two masters and the degree of Doctor of Education from St. John Fisher College.
Dr. Hunter-McGregor’s educational career began in Harlem, New York at the age of 21 where she lived, worshipped and taught young people in the community. She worked as a teacher in many capacities, a social studies school based coordinator, teacher of students with disabilities, gifted and talented teacher, literacy coach, AIS provider, curriculum writer integrating the arts, as well as a staff developer for a collective 10 years.
Dr. Hunter-McGregor later became an assistant principal in the New York City school system where she served for 8 years prior to becoming principal in Mt. Vernon, New York. During her service in the Harlem community, Dr. Hunter-McGregor trained staff from partnering agencies such as City Year of New York, Harlem Children’s Zone, coordinated service activities, instituted new teacher orientation programs in her school and helped to improve academic performance and teacher effectiveness.
She was an active member of the NAACP, Urban League and is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Dr. Hunter-McGregor currently worships in the Mt. Vernon community and continues to put all of her energy into providing a high quality education for the students in her care by working collaboratively with families, staff, district staff, clergy and all key stake holders. She understands the superintendent’s 20/20 Vision and her immediate focus is to ensure that Graham School is taken off of the focus list and re-establishes itself as an institution of learning, whereby all families would like to send their precious little ones.
Dr. Hunter-McGregor loves sports and arts, traveling and spending time with family and friends. She adores her three children and strives to live her life with purpose, which she credits to the support of her loving parents.
