Weekly News & Notes

Weekly News and Notes

Term 3 Grades Close

Our Term 3 grades come to a close this week, which means report cards for the third quarter will be posted online at the end of next week. With that comes some difficult realities, particularly for students who may have been struggling in classes. We ask parents to take a look at grades, discuss situations with students, and reach out to counselors and teachers to identify ways to recoup losses and find ways to prevent potential failures.

At the same time, we know that, for underclassmen, students start looking ahead to summer jobs, college planning, camps, and other exciting steps in their careers. Please enlist the support of counselors, particularly as SAT and ACT testing dates approach in May and June.

Class of 2019 Fundraiser

Come support the Class of 2019 and be amazed by the hypnotist Dan Candell! He performs one of the funniest hypnotist shows around! He is a favorite at many other local high schools, like Shrewsbury and Grafton and is very excited for his first performance at UHS! Tickets are only $10 and this show is great for the whole family to come and enjoy! Hope to see you at the UHS auditorium on Monday May 15th for some hypnotic fun! Not sure what to expect? Take at look at this youtube video from one of his performances!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjHGpQh0C44

Senior Class Update

On Friday, March 31, our senior class met with Ms. Kuros and Ms. Horan, who are two of our parent coordinators/co-chairs of the Parents for Safe Graduation event, as well as guidance counselor, who provided information about scholarship applications. Students were provided with a great deal of information from both presenters, so be sure to check in with them about scholarship deadlines, signups for the PSG event, and other details.

For underclassmen, the PSG2018 group is already getting underway. Those who want to get involved with the parents’ group for next year is invited to help plan; information is linked here.

Health Fair Next Week

Many thanks again to Ms. Ahern and Ms. Dwyer for their coordination of the first-ever UHS Health and Wellness fair. We have nearly 40 presenters joining us next week to share topics with students ranging from nutrition, to mental health, to supports for drug and alcohol abuse, to common concerns that impact teenagers adolescents. Our students will also participate in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey/Health Survey. Let us know if you have any questions or potentially wish to opt students out of the survey, which will help provide us with data we can use in enlisting community supports, grants, and other resources for our health and wellness curricula.

Senior Andy Kuros interviewed the co-chairs, in a video here.

PLTW Grant

Earlier this month, our School Committee approved a grant for more than $17000 that our school earned through the Massachusetts STEM Hub and Project Lead the Way, which will help us expand offerings in Manufacturing and Manufacturing Engineering. We are excited about the growth for our programs that this will mean!

We hope to be reporting on the start of our spring season next year, should Mother Nature cooperate.

Spartan Spectacular

Tune in below for our first episode of Spartan Spectacular from UCTV!

March Newsletter #2

We had so many great things to report, we decided to publish a second newsletter this month! Happy reading and watching!

March Interview

Our March Spartan Showcase video, in which the High School principal visits with UCTV's Andy Kuros, is available below!

Weekly News and Notes

Having sent our March newsletter this week, there are only a few updates from UHS.

Scheduling Conversations

We hope that your students have had productive conversations with teachers this week regarding course selections for next year. Our teachers will be completing the inputting of recommendations by the beginning of next week, and students will input their course selections, including electives, next week, starting on Wednesday.

To that end, there have been some good questions raised. First, we want to clear up any confusion about World Literature, an English class offered to juniors and seniors. This class meets the English requirement - some had raised the question as to whether or not it was a core class. It is.

Also, some families have inquired about AP Environmental Science, which was offered for registration last year but did not run due to low enrollment. Students may register for the class for next year, with the understanding that they should have two credits of alternates identified. There may not be the flexibility in the schedule to run the class next year, nor do we anticipate particularly high demand.

Finally, we have had some questions about prerequisites for certain courses. If there is a question about a specific prerequisite having been met (or needing to be met), please reach out to your student’s counselor.

Seniors and Graduation

Seniors will soon be counting down the days to graduation, with prom less than two months away and graduation within 90 calendar days. As most seniors will be teeming with excitement over the prospects of commencement exercises and receipt of their diplomas, we also know that some seniors are “on the bubble” and will be challenged to meet all graduation requirements by the week of graduation.

If your student is in danger of not graduating, counselors and teachers in those required courses have been in touch. However, soon will come the day where final plans and decisions will be made regarding diploma eligibility, options for summer courses, possibilities for some seniors in need of a fifth year, and plans for the end of the school year. We have found that being transparent with the options is best. If you are concerned, please reach out to the school counselor or administration.

Junior Post-secondary Planning Nights

Our counselors are presenting on post-secondary planning for grades 10 and 11 on Thursday, March 23, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the high school auditorium. This will provide parents insight into the college search process and the programming shared with students in classes this year. All are encouraged to attend - and bring your students!

Additionally, we are sponsoring a Financial Aid Literacy Night for May 10, also beginning at 6:30. Talking with our partner presenters, parents/guardians should bring students to that event.

Students will receive email reminders next week.

Spring Athletic Registration

Just a final reminder that all student-athletes for the spring must be registered via FamilyID, with user fees paid and updated physical examinations on file, by Friday, March 17. Questions can be directed to Mr. Calarese.

Student Council Award!

Congratulations to our Student Council, earning a Top Ten Project Award and a Silver Council of Excellence Award at this week’s Massachusetts Association of Student Councils statewide conference.

Call the School!

We hope when you call the school you notice our new “voice” answering the phone. Senior Class President Dan Page is now the official greeting message for those calling Uxbridge High School.

March Newsletter

Our March Newsletter is below! To zoom in and out, use command_+ or command_-.

Weekly News and Notes

Good afternoon,

We had a busy week getting back to the swing of things here at UHS. Overall, we found that teachers were building momentum, setting the stage for the stretch between now and the April break, which is one of the longer uninterrupted stretches for school that we will have this year.

Basketball Teams Bow Out

Both of our basketball teams had valiant efforts this week, but the boys dropped a close decision to Clinton High School and the girls’ comeback against Northbridge came up short. We thank the seniors of both teams, as well as the coaching staffs, for setting the tone for positive seasons for both, and while the outcomes weren’t what we had hoped, both teams represented UHS all season with heart and class.

Our Cheerleaders continue to impress, taking second in the SWCL last week and advancing to the regional championships this weekend. Good luck, girls!

Course Selection for 2017-18

We met today with all students in grades 9-11 regarding course selection for next year, which came after the 8th graders visited on Tuesday. We will hold a Program of Studies night on Monday for grade 9-11 parents, starting at 6:30 p.m. Both guidance counselors will be available to answer questions, both generally and specifically, and we will review all of our changes and updates to the Program of Studies for next year.

Students will be conferencing with teachers next week regarding teacher recommendations for courses for next year, and we anticipate course input happening the week of March 13. If you have specific questions about courses for next year, reach out to teachers, counselors, administrators, or department leaders, depending on the question you may have.

Also, please discuss with students their interests in terms of electives, their particular wants or needs, and areas of challenge or strength. We want students to be deliberate and specific with respect to their course selections - as we indicated today, they pick classes they intend to take, not that they are “thinking about.”

All documents regarding scheduling and course selection can be found at this link.

Thanks

Many thanks to our student tour guides, activities, captains, and advisors/coaches, as well as the teachers, who made the Grade 8 night so meaningful. The number of compliments paid about our student leaders who led parents in visits and conversations were innumerable. We are so very impressed by our Spartans!

Snowball Week

Many thanks to our Student Council for hosting a successful Snow Ball Week. We look forward to the dance on Saturday - and are grateful that temperatures will be more wintery! The Council will attend the state conference in Hyannis next week. We wish them well!

Blackstone Valley Ed Foundation Career Fair

UHS will host the annual Blackstone Valley Educational Foundation career fair here on Thursday, March 9, at which a number of vendors will host career information sessions and workshops for about 25 students in grades 11 and 12 from the Blackstone Valley schools. In addition, about 20 UHS students will be attending a trip on Wednesday, March 8 to Imperial Motors in Mendon, learning about different post-high school options and links between the academic curricula and post-high school placement. We are excited about all of these partnerships and are encouraged by the work our counselors are doing to ensure that students with a variety of interests and skills have post-secondary plans!

Spring Sports

Spring Sport registration is open, with the spring season starting on Monday, March 20. Registration via FamilyID is linked here.

We hope everyone has a fabulous weekend.