Principal's Newsletter 9-19-2016

Principal Michael Podraza’s Weekly EGHS Update

Week of 9-19-2016

EGHS News and Information!

A weekly newsletter with information about upcoming events related to East Greenwich High School

In an effort to increase the dissemination of important information about upcoming events occurring at East Greenwich High School, I have created this newsletter which will be sent out to the EGHS school community once a week via the EGHS announcements email.

Also in an effort to not inundate your email inboxes, the EGHS main office will make every attempt to send only one email a day. It is our intention to have all announcements, information, links etc. in that email, so please review the daily email in it’s entirety so that opportunities are not overlooked.  

Hope you find this a useful tool in navigating this school year.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The Return of EGHS Unique Wednesday’s Schedule- As returning students and families know, for the past few years EGHS has had a modified schedule on Wednesdays. This modified schedule allows us to run our advisory block and creates extremely valuable time for teachers to plan and engage in professional development interdepartmentally with one another. Due to the trials and tribulations of establishing the new bus routes and times for the past three weeks, we did not run this schedule. However, now that the busses for EGHS are established, we will once again return to our special Wednesday schedule. This means that classes on Wednesday will not begin until 8:35 AM. Students who are on the bus, or who arrive early will be permitted in the front of the building only and will be supervised by support staff until the release bell.
• Updated EGHS College Stats Book- From Ms. Hostetler, Guidance Department Chair: Dear East Greenwich High School Community, Through the tireless efforts of the guidance secretaries in keeping our college data up to date we are pleased to provide you with an online copy of the STATS BOOK that is incredibly useful to our students applying to colleges.  This book shows past student acceptances, waitlists, and rejections by GPA and test scores from the last four years.  When viewing this book remember that this is how EG students fare in comparison to their peers and these stats are sometimes different than what you might find posted online on a college website or in another type of college directory.  For clearer understanding the GPA is a weighted GPA,  ED = Early Decision, RD = Regular Decision, RO = Rolling.  Every once in awhile a student is accepted when it appears that those with similar academic profiles are rejected. We never know exactly why that is but it can be that the student was an athlete, had a unique talent or was an oboe player when the colleges last oboe player graduated. There can always be anomalies and sometimes we do not know the reasons behind them.  In addition, these scores/numbers are only one part of the college admission process.  The transcript, the rigor of the courses, the essay, student activities and letters of recommendation all play a part in the process.  However, this book has been a tremendous guide for all counselors and students to use in the application planning process and we hope that you will find it useful in the college planning process. A hard copy of this book is available in the guidance office. Please click here to view the updated EGHS College Stats Book.
• Keeping up with EGHS-- There is always so much going on at East Greenwich High School. Listed below are some of the many ways to keep track of the many happenings.
• Emergency news-
• RIBA- instructions on how to sign up for text alerts by the Rhode Island Broadcasters Association can be found here.
• Remind 101- instructions to sign up for the EGHS based text alert system can be found via this website. I administer this system and use it to disseminate important information such as cancellations and early dismissals. In addition to the RIBA information and the phone calls by Dr. Mercurio, I not only duplicate some of Dr. Mercurio’s messages, but also attempt to give specific details. For example, if we have an hour delay I might also let users know the schedule rotation for the remainder of day. Another example would be a message if an EGHS extra-curricular event needed to be cancelled early or would not run during the course of an evening.
• Good news-
• School’s blog-EGHSSuccess This blog is dedicated to documenting successes both big and small that occur throughout the school year. If you are interested in having your EGHS success posted on this blog, please see or email me at mpodraza@egsd.net (please add "Blog Submission" to the subject line). You can also follow our school's journey and subscribe to receive email notification of new posts.
• Twitter- @EGHSMatters Through this Twitter handle and the hashtag #EGHSMatters, we recognize that special people make a difference every day at EGHS. Let someone know that you notice what they do by using #EGHSmatters. We will RT to let the world notice too.
• The Spectrum- Official news outlet of EGHS. Account content provided by its student editors and not school administration. In addition to a paper-based newspaper, students also put information online via the Spectrum website and via Twitter- @Spectrum_EGHS
• PSATs- As disseminated in last week’s newsletter, EGHS is able to offer the PSAT to 10th Grade students at no cost to families. It is our intention to register all enrolled 10th grade students. However, if you do not want your child to participate in the PSATs we ask that you please complete, sign and return this “PSAT Do Not Register” form (click here) to the EGHS guidance office.
• Junior Registration- Juniors who wish to take the PSAT on Wednesday, 10-19-2016 may register using this form- click here (a paper copy is also available in the guidance office). A fee of $30 is required for Juniors as this administration of the exam is only funded by the State for current 10th grade students. In order to guarantee a seat at this administration, please return the completed form and a check made payable to “East Greenwich High School” by the Wednesday, September 21st deadline.
• Reminder- PTG Membership and Directory
• A reminder to please register for the East Greenwich High School PTG membership and to update directory information via these online forms:

• Membership (Click Here)
• Student Directory (Click Here)

THIS WEEK’S

UPCOMING EVENTS

Colleges and Universities continue to visit EGHS

Seniors and Juniors should be aware that there are more than a dozen colleges visiting EGHS this week.  Dartmouth, American, Tulane , St. Anselm's, Holy Cross, URI and Roanoke are only a few.  Students should be sure to check the entire listings and sign up in the Guidance Office at least one day in advance of any visit that they wish to attend.

Freshmen Elections and Senior Post-High School Planning- Wednesday during advisory  

On Wednesday, members of the Freshmen class will have an opportunity to hear from classmates who are running for the Freshmen class council. Voting will occur after student speeches. Members of the Senior class will also come together in order to meet with the EGHS Guidance department to discuss post-high school plans and to review student transcript records to date.

1st PTG Meeting- Wednesday

The EGHS PTG will have its first meeting of the year on Wednesday at 9:30 AM in EGHS cafeteria. Hope to see you there.

ADVANCED PLANNING

• EGHS Open House Thursday 9-29
• 10-3 No School

East Greenwich High School exists to EMPOWER

We, the EGHS community, strive to empower all members to achieve their full potential as learners, thinkers, and responsible global citizens. We take risks in order to inspire learning and discover passions.

We, the East Greenwich High School community, live our values:

• Respect: Be considerate of others' ideas and opinions while maintaining personal integrity and self- confidence.
• Creativity and Innovation: Embrace flexibility and individuality when explaining and demonstrating knowledge and skills.
• Relevance: Link concepts across subjects and make connections to today's global society.
• Enthusiasm: Generate excitement and curiosity about learning.
• Achievement: Work vigorously to obtain knowledge and skills measured against the highest standards.

We hold ourselves and each other accountable to these values in support of our mission.

East Greenwich High School

300 Avenger Drive, East Greenwich, RI, 02818