Cross Country
Basketball-Girls
Basketball-Boys
Volleyball-Girls
Volleyball-Boys
Soccer-Girls
Soccer-Boys
Tennis
Track
Wrestling
Student Life
Student life at HCSS goes beyond the classroom. Our students explore interests through clubs, athletics, robotics, fine arts, service, and leadership opportunities — all in a safe, supportive, tuition-free school community.
VISUAL ARTS
Art communicates ideas, art expresses emotions, art tells stories, and art makes the world around us beautiful and interesting. Art is all around us, in nature, designs on everyday images such as clothing, and the media. Art reflects cultures and beliefs. By creating art, students learn about themselves and learn to observe the world around them with a more sensitive and educated awareness.
The Visual Arts program at HCSS is designed to provide students opportunities to master a wide variety of approaches to personal expression through the use of two and three-dimensional media.
The HCSS Arts program focuses on:
Discovering yourself as an artist.
Expressing your inner being through your artwork.
Mastery of skills and techniques.
Understanding historical context.
Throughout the year, HCSS students’ works are featured at Winter and Spring Art Exhibitions.
VOICE
HCSS students can sing solo repertoire, as well as choral repertoire with the whole class. Different vocal styles may be explored, but first and foremost, students learn to sing in tune with a healthy and natural vocal technique. Music will be sung in various languages, possibly including English, Latin, French, Japanese, and Spanish.
Students acquire basic music-reading skills, as well as some knowledge of the history of vocal music. Students are expected to perform at least twice a year in our school-wide Winter and Spring Concerts. Participation in other school performances may also be required.
BAND/GUITAR
The band program is based mainly on performance and participation. Band instruments are available as choices for students to play. A strong emphasis is put on leadership and responsibility. The band is unique in that it is more like a team sport where every participant is important to the overall success of the program.
Students at HCSS have an opportunity to play solo and ensemble music, exploring both melodic and chordal techniques. They acquire basic music-reading skills, as well as some knowledge of the history of folk and popular music. Students are expected to perform at least twice a year in our school-wide Winter and Spring Concerts. Participation in other school performances may also be required.
PERFORMANCE ARTS
Music and Theater is a high school performing arts elective. It is not meant to be an introductory course in acting, but rather a music course which focuses on singing with storytelling and character-portrayal in mind. Neither is this a course specifically on vocal technique or music reading. In this program, all students will learn and perform solo and ensemble repertoire from the musical theater, opera, and ballad traditions. Throughout the year, the class will explore how to develop a character from text and music, how to interact with musical accompaniment, and how to overcome various physical tensions that interfere with vocal health and expression. Students will frequently perform and critique each other on monologues, solo pieces, and scenes in school events such as Black History Month celebration, Multicultural Night, and School Plays.
DIGITAL ARTS
Our students can create digital art by using Adobe Photoshop, Flash, and various desktop publishing software. While surveying a variety of media and art, students use image editing, animation, and digital drawing to put into practice the art principles they’ve learned. This software allows our students to modify images or graphics, like photos. They also use these tools, for designing web graphics and photo editing.
ATHLETIC TEAMS
A TYPICAL DAY AT HCSS
HCSS BELL SCHEDULE
BREAKFAST
7:20: AM
Cafeteria is closed
7:43: AM
BLOCK I
7:45: AM
Bell
9:09: AM
BLOCK II
9:13: AM
Bell
10:37: AM
BLOCK III and LUNCH
10:41: AM
Bell
12:30: PM
BLOCK IV
12:34: PM
Bell
1:58: PM
STUDY HALL
2:02: PM
DISMISSAL
2:37: PM
AFTER SCHOOL
2:40: PM
LATE DISMISSAL
3:30: PM
Bell
12:30: PM
Note: School dismisses at 1:58pm every FRIDAY(No Study Hall)
BREAKFAST AND LUNCH
We believe that school nutrition plan is key a factor to reduce student behavior issues and increase student attendance. At current school, all students receive lunch and breakfast at no charge with its partnership with Springfield Public Schools since it has been added to Community Eligibility Program (CEP) through National School Lunch Program (NSLP).
HCSS- East and West follow all federal regulations addressing proper nutrition. Daily breakfast and lunch are available and offered to all students. If students choose to stay after school for extra help, tutoring, or extra-curricular clubs, the school will provide a nutritional snack and a beverage for each student to adhere to all federal nutritional guidelines.
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CLUBS
With more than 20 clubs and activities across all divisions, students can learn about other cultures, serve the community, explore the arts, and more.
Fitness
Chess
As school Match Wits
Chorus
Band
Crafters Anonymous
Rollerblading
Literacy Magazine
Art
Gym Class Hero
Student Ambassador
H.S. Stucco
NHS(National Honor Society)
ACTIVITIES
Some of the extracurricular events organized at HCSS:
Back to School Night
HCSS Annual Family Picnic
Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration
Halloween Costume Day
HCSS Melting Pot
HCSS December Spirit Days
Winter Concert and Art Exhibition
Black History Month Celebration
Winter School Dance
Multicultural Night
Talent Show
Awards Ceremony
Senior Retreat
Graduation
ACADEMIC SUPPORT
HCSS makes the opportunity for all students to reach their highest potential. The study hall is scheduled to complement daily instruction. Students have a different period for study hall, four days each week. They improve their academic potential, using this extra time to do homework, study, and be tutored. Students benefit from the opportunity to complete their homework in school with the supervision of teachers.
Tutoring Programs(Pull out, After-School, and Saturday)
HCSS uses the school assessment system to identify the students who need extra help. The data collected from the internal school assessments and state test reports identify students’ strengths and weaknesses. Study groups are created in action plan meetings with administration and core subjects, special education, and ELL teachers. Once the study groups are created, designated teachers and tutors pull students from the study hall for tutoring. Since the data is already analyzed, teachers know the strengths and weaknesses of their groups and will prepare appropriate learning materials to meet students’ individual needs.
Students get help from tutors who are their core classroom teachers or professionals hired by the school. Study hall pull-out groups and after-school and Saturday school tutoring groups allow all students to close the gap if they need help and propel their performance to the next level.
Online Tutoring
Individual attention in HCSS goes beyond tutoring.HCSS is pleased to offer expert, online tutoring for all students. Online tutoring is available for ELA, Math, and Science, and Social Studies/History classes in scheduled after-school hours. HCSS teachers provide tutoring support and feedback for students to ensure academic success.
Tutor.Com to Support Academic Growth & Achievement
Hampden Charter School of Science has partnered with Tutor.com, a tutoring service offered by the Princeton Review. Hampden Charter School of Science students have access to Tutor.com providing personalized, one-to-one, online tutoring support individualized to meet each student's needs. We encourage all students to take advantage of this powerful 24/7 academic support option.
Students can share files with their tutor and choose to interact with their tutor using voice or text/chat features.
Additionally, students can interact with a whiteboard, text and coding screens, and/or a graphing calculator.
Students may also access Test Prep (SAT/ACT/AP) resources from the Princeton Review (practice quizzes, video lessons, and tutoring support).
Access Tutor.com
Login to Canvas
Open any HCSS Canvas course
Click the Tutor.com link found on the left side of any HCSS Canvas course.
