This Week in Newberg Nation

​What’s ahead in Newberg Nation in 2015-16?

Are you, like everyone else in Newberg Nation, curious about what NHS will look like when school opens in the fall for the 15’-16’ school year? Over the next few weeks we will be sharing many of the reorganization efforts that are underway as we work hard to continually improve Newberg High and to provide all of our students with exemplary educational experiences! We will begin this series of newsletter articles with what will be new for freshmen (and some of our current Tigers) next year. Here is a glimpse:

The Freshman Experience
We want each of our freshmen to have a great beginning to high school, to get off on the right foot, to feel like they have the guidance and support structures needed to successfully navigate their first year of high and to feel like they are prepared for and excited about the academic challenges that lie ahead for them! Our first “Freshmen Experience” activity will be our Incoming Freshmen Night to be held this coming Monday, March 9, from 6-815pm, here at NHS.

Input on course selection
Following Incoming Freshmen Night, students and parents will give their input on courses they would like to see us offer during our forecasting process. NHS counselors will visit Mountain Viewon Tuesday, March 10 and Chehalem Valley on Wednesday, March 11. During these forecasting meetingscounselors from NHS will be handing out forecasting sheets and course guides to students and explaining to students how to go about filling out the forms and selecting courses. The course guides and the forecasting sheets will also be available for download at http://www.newberg.k12.or.us/nhs.

New master schedule model opens options for students 
We are no longer going to schedule students and teachers by small school but instead, schedule the entire school as one. Why?  Scheduling the entire school as one allows us the flexibility to offer more choices of courses and teachers for students. It reduces the number of scheduling conflicts that students have while providing them with more access to more courses. It will help us better balance class sizes, provide a more diverse blend of courses and it will empower our content area departments (math, English, etc.) more structure to work together in supporting our students’ academic endeavors.

2015-16’ Counselor assignments for frosh
In furthering our efforts to help our freshmen students get a great start to high school we will also be restructuring some other areas at NHS including how freshmen will be assigned to their respective counselors. The incoming freshmen class will be assigned to their counselor based on where their name falls in the alphabet. If the student’s last name begins with the letters ”A through E” your counselor will be Mr. Baker. If your last name begins with “F through L” your counselor will be Mrs. Conrad. If your last name begins with the letters “M through R” your counselor will be Mrs. Eggiman and if your last name starts with the letters “S through Z” Mr. Monson will be your counselor.

Structured learning communities will retain personalization
Another initiative we are putting into place to support our Freshmen Experience efforts next year includes grouping our freshmen into Structured Learning Communities (SLC’s). These grouping of freshmen will be aligned with the student’s counselor and the student’s advisory teachers and administrators in an effort to maintain the personalized learning that NHS has become known for.

New Advisory Curriculum will support further academic success
Our new advisory curriculum for our freshmen will be tailored to support their “Freshmen Experience” and will include us helping them build an academic tool box, or a set of study skills, habits, strategies and the mindsets that go with them to help them understand how much control and influence they have on their own academic success, especially when given specific tools to utilize.

Greater middle and high school collaboration
Following spring break many of our middle and high school teachers will be meeting to talk about the incoming freshmen and how to best go about supporting them as they transition to the high school. Meanwhile, administrators and counselors from all three schools will also be partnering to ensure a smooth handoff as our students travel from 8th to 9th grade.

Save the date:  Registration on Sept. 1 & 2 
Please mark your calendar forTuesday, September 1stwhen all of our freshmen will register in the morning and then will participate in our Freshmen Orientation that afternoon. It will be a day dedicated to getting our freshmen acclimated to NHS, informed about the many support structures we have in place for them, excited about becoming a Flying Tiger, and ready for the first day of school that follows a week later on September 8.. NHS seniors will also register Sept. 1. Juniors will follow the next morning (Sept. 2) with sophomores registering the afternoon of Sept. 2. More details to come in future newsletters.

Stay tuned!
Over the next few weeks we will be sharing many of the reorganization efforts that are underway as we work hard to continually improve Newberg High and to provide all of our students with exemplary educational experiences!Our newsletter will continue to be filled with even more exciting news about all the great things we are doing here in Newberg Nation to support our beloved Flying Tigers!

Read the full version of “What’s Ahead in Newberg Nation for 2015-16"

NHS College & Career Center

• All juniors will be attending the NW Youth Careers Expo on Tuesday, March 17th.  Permission forms were distributed in Advisory.  To learn more about this event visit the College and Career Center webpage.
• Colleges Visiting NHS this month: SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design, Oregon Tech., Central Oregon Community College, Paul Mitchell School, and P.C.C. Sign up in the College and Career Center.
• Spring Break is right around the corner, and this is the perfect time to visit colleges!

Internships are available at Newberg High School!

For students interested in the health career field, there is a program with Providence Health System called Career Highlights. These are three hour mini courses focused on a specific health care career field. This qualifies as a Job Shadow needed for graduation. These events are on Saturdays and students need to provide their own transportation.

Registration for April Career Highlights begins on Monday, March. 2nd and will be open until spaces are filled. The April Career Highlights include:

• Physician on Thursday, April 2 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center from  1-4 p.m. P
• Physician on Friday, April 10 at Providence Portland Medical Center from  9 a.m.- noon.
• Rehabilitation Services (physical therapy, speech and language pathology, occupational therapy, audiology) on Tuesday, April 21 at Providence Willamette Falls Community Center from 9 a.m.- noon.
• Health Care Finance on Friday, April 24 at Providence Office Park (POP2 Bldg.) from  9 a.m.- noon.

Also, we still have space available in several of our March events:

• Rehabilitation Services on Wednesday, March 11 from 9 a.m.-noon at Providence Newberg Medical Center
• Respiratory Therapy on Monday, March 16 from 9 a.m.-noon at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center
• Please register at: www.providenceoregon.org/schooloutreach/ch.

Classified Employees Appreciation Week

Newberg Nation celebrated everything our classified employees do for our students, staff and community this week during Classified Employees Appreciation Week! We want to make sure our cooks, custodians, secretaries, educational assistants, receptionists, bookkeeper and all of our classified specialists know how much we appreciate all they do.

From ensuring that every student has all of their needs met to making sure that every detail is accounted for in any regard our classified employees not only do a seemingly endless number of visible things, but even more things we probably never see. One could truly argue that they are the glue that keeps Newberg Nation together!

Please join us in honoring the devotion, commitment and tireless efforts our classified give to our school and community by telling them how much we appreciate them the next time you see a classified employee! On behalf of all of Newberg Nation “THANK YOU!” classified employees, we are very appreciative of you!

Karen McPherson Goes Fishing!

Speaking of exceptional classified employees, this week we celebrate the retirement of Karen McPherson,  a member of our outstanding corps of custodians here in Newberg Nation! Karen  has served as the afternoon custodian here at NHS for many years and in that time has established herself as an institution amongst the staff and students! Karen is famous for having the best Newberg Nation spirit of anyone that graces our halls on a daily basis. Regardless of the spirit dress up day it was a given that Karen would be in character, dressed to the nine, interacting with kids and modeling what having great Newberg Nation spirit is all about! Endlessly positive and caring of others, Karen’s presence and her profoundly positive impact will be missed dearly when she works her last day on Friday, March 6.

Karen, we are delighted to hear that you plan to spend your retirement time fishing! We wish you tight lines and lots of bites! Please know that the words in this newsletter do not do justice for the thousands of young lives you have so positively impacted! Thank you for all you have done, your service, and most importantly, for energizing and caring for so many kids as they have traveled the halls of NHS! We love you Karen!

CULINARY ARTISTS!  (iron chefs in the making!!!)

My wife, Julie, and I took a drive out to Spirit Mountain this past Saturday (Feb. 28) as we had heard that we had Flying Tigers competing at the Oregon Pro Start High School Culinary Arts Championships there that day. When we arrived we were amazed to see over twenty high school teams competing in what looked like a supersized version of “Chopped!” (Much to Julies delight)

We watched our Tigers, Timothy Forbes, Anna DeLong, Nathan Spurgin, Michael Forbes and Israel Pintor get after it by preparing a three course meal in under one hour without the assistance of any adults! Clock ticking, spatulas, measuring cups and tasting spoons flying, it was the real deal as they could only use two butane burners! To make it even more difficult our Tigers had to prepare the meal without any running water (ya, try that one at home sometime!) or electricity!

With a Val Daniel (NHS Kitchen Manager and Head Cook) inspired Hawaiian menu, the chefs prepared Ahi Poke (tuna sushi and wasabi cream); Kalua Pork with creamed yams; asparagus finished with bacon and toasted sesame seeds; Haupia (coconut pudding) served on pan fried pineapple with a strawberry rose all garnished with toasted coconut; fresh caramel sauce and Hawaiian sea salt. Mr. Daniel, Mrs. Roholt and Mrs. Eilert and professional chef Anthony Danna (yet another of our coaches) were all on board to watch the chefs cook after having coached them for several weeks in preparation for the event!

But our Flying Tiger chefs were not done just yet! They were also judged on their knife skills, chicken fabrication, team work and professional culinary essentials. The capstone project for our food service program, the championships were quite an event and pose yet another great way Tigers can involved at NHS! Way to go team Newberg, we are proud of you and I have to say on behalf of my wife Julie, “I can’t wait to see which of the kids is America’s Next Iron Chef!”
 

Got A Story? An Accomplishment?  An Award? Scholarship? Internship? Joining the U.S. Military?

As we talked about in last weeks newsletter we want to know, we want to celebrate, and we want to honor all things Newberg Nation! This message was delivered to all NHS students at last weeks assembly by Activities Director Mark Brown, Assistant Principal Janay Cookson and Principal Mark Risen.

Again, we want stories, we need to celebrate your and our accomplishments, and we are proud of everyone in Newberg Nation! Please feel free to send your stories to brownm@newberg.k12.or.us and rennet@newberg.k12.or.us. Go Tigers!

Got Robots?

Good luck to all of our robotics competitors competing at Benson High this weekend in Oregon Robotics State Championships! Stay after that goal of earning our fourth national robotics championship! If you would like to stop by and see those Newberg Nation robots in action come by Benson High about 1pm on Sunday!

Now there are some Flying Tigers for you!

AP Exam Registration

Students and Parents- AP exam registration is now open!  The registration deadline for all exams is March 11th.  Students need to see the bookkeeper, Sue Anderson, for payment and registration.  Exams will begin on Monday, May 4th thru Friday, May 15th.  If students still need registration forms or AP exam bulletins, please see your AP teacher or Mrs. Santana.  The registration fee for each AP exam is $91.00. If students are unsure as to whether a specific AP exam will be offered in our building, please see Mrs. Santana. For further questions, please call Mrs. Santana at 503-554-4400

Crab Feed & Auction

It’s fundraising time here in Newberg Nation and the Flying Tigers Boosters are in full speed to raise some dollars! The annual Crab Feed & Auction is scheduled for Saturday, March 14th, and many new auction items are being added to an already outstanding ensemble. But, in an effort to mention a couple of Newberg Nation happenings at the auction your very own NHS administrative team is donating a dinner for eight! They will cook, clean, serve and entertain, all in the name of raising funds for the school! Meanwhile, Mr. & Mrs. Risen have donated a crabbing trip on the Oregon Coast in their North River jet boat (with Activities Director Mark Brown coming along as 1st mate!), and you won’t want to miss this year’s Masters of Ceremonies for the event, Principal Mark Risen and Activities Director Mark Brown! If you know those two Flying Tigers this could get incredibly creative and will be hilarious to attend! Get your Crab Feed tickets now at any Newberg Nation sporting event or at https://nwbrgbc.ejoinme.org/MyEvents/2015CrabDinnerAuction/tabid/667414/Default.aspx

Grad Night $$$$

Every Tuesday, Ye Olde Pizza donates a portion of their proceeds to help support NHS Grad Night.  Take the family out for some great pizza between 4:00-9:00pm and help provide a safe and fun grad night for our 2015 Seniors. 

“OHSET” You said?

Newberg Nations Oregon High School Equestrian Team travels to McMinnville this weekend to compete at the Yamhill County Fairgrounds! With saddles, stirrup, ropes, barrels and dust flying everywhere don’t miss this one Newberg Nation! After all, when is the last time you sat atop a 1,200 pound animal going 30 mph and turned on a dime without falling off! Yikes! These Tigers can ride! Suggested times to see our Newberg Nation equines include 8pm tonight (Friday, March 6) and 5pm tomorrow (Saturday, March 7). Now those are literally some Flying Tigers!

incoming freshmen night…

Newberg High is excited to announce that we are gearing up to welcome the class of 2019 with our Incoming Freshmen Night to be held on March 9 from 6-815pm here at NHS! Complete with a curriculum fair, presentations on important information and right before we forecast for classes for next school year, all incoming freshmen and their families are strongly encouraged to attend this fun and informative event! 

                Here is a quick list of the events:

• Counselors will present information on graduation requirements and college/career readiness
• Mr. Burke and Mr. Brown will present information on how to get involved in Newberg Nation!
• A panel of parents, current NSH students and administrators will present information on how to help your student be more successful in high school with tips, trick, strategies and more!
• Administrators will be available to answer questions about next years “Freshmen Experience!”

FORECASTING FOR 2015-2016

Newberg Nation it’s time to start thinking about which classes you are interested in taking next year. Forecasting season is right around the corner and will run March 12-20.

Information will be available on our website beginning the week of March 9th. Complete with a copy of the course catalog and forecasting sheets for each grade level students and parents will have access to those materials via our website.

8th graders at Mt. View will forecast on Tuesday, March 10 and at CV on Wednesday, March 11.

Forecasting materials will also be handed out during advisories beginning March 12 and there will be a Forecasting Help Center open to all students and parents on Wednesday, March 18, from 5-7pm in the West Commons. This will be a great time to get specific questions answered in a one on one format with counselors and administrators, especially those that have questions about dual credit, graduation requirements, Advanced Placement course questions and specific questions about organizing a schedule that will keep your student involved in co-curricular offerings yet meet their graduation requirements! We can also help you fill out your forecasting form if needed!

Our deadline for all forecasting sheets will be Thursday, March 19. Please have your student return their forecasting sheet to their advisory teacher by that time! We really appreciate everyone turning in their materials by that day so that we may begin building our master schedule for the 2015-2016 school year. Happy forecasting Newberg Nation!

Tiger Athletics

Spring Sports practices began Monday but it’s not too late to sign up for some sports! Get involved, sign up, and be a part of all the great things happening in athletics at Newberg Nation. Spring sports include Baseball, Softball, Track & Field, Lacrosse, Tennis, Rugby, & Golf. Stop by and see Mrs. Cook in the Athletics office to sign up today!

Congratulations to our Girl’s Basketball players and coaches on qualifying for the OSAA State Basketball Playoffs and their journey into Portland on Wednesday to play the Grant Generals! The girls battled valiantly leaving blood, sweat and tears all over the Generals gym, but eventually lost the contest 64-48, a score not indicative how much closer the game actually was! Way to go ladies on a great season, and way to battle!

Congratulation to our Boy’s Basketball program who qualified for the OSAA State Playoffs with their 5th place finish in the Three Rivers League and their efforts at McNary this past Tuesday night! A battle royal with the Celtics, the boys eventually dropped a close one 48-45 but not after playing a great game that kept fans on their feet to the finish! Way to go fellas, we are proud of you!

It is an exciting time to be a Newberg Nation Tiger!

FEBRUARY ATHLETES OF THE MONTH

Claire Boenisch, 11-swimming
Claire, co-captain of the Lady Tigers, has put in a tremendous effort in the pool all  season long and her recent drops in time reflect this effort.  She also has the same work ethic in the classroom where she maintains a perfect 4.0 GPA. 

Carson Albo, 12 Wrestling
Carson capped his regular season with an impressive win by fall over Hayden Kinney of Canby on Senior Night last Thursday.  Carson’s wrestling career began in November of his Freshman year.  Prior to that, he had not wrestled a day in his life.  Due to a “never quit” attitude and an incredible work ethic, he went from being on the losing end of most matches as a freshman and sophomore to a regular in the varsity line-up and a force to be reckoned with.  Last weekend he finished 4th at the TRL District Championships here at NHS.  He maintains a 3.71 GPA.  Thanks for a great 4 years Carson.  We are extremely proud.       

Tiger Music
Just a quick heads up about a few events that are happening over the next few weeks with the NHS Tiger Bands: 
Saturday, March 7th is the OMEA District 14 Solo and Ensemble Festival at West Linn High School, all day.  This is the qualifier for the State Solo and Ensemble Contest.  Newberg Nation has 22 entries this year!

Saturday, March 14 the Wind Ensemble is performing at the George Fox University Band Festival at 3pm in Bauman Auditorium.

Thursday, March 19 at 7pm is the Spring Concert for Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Concert Band and Orchestra.
Save the date(s) Tigers!

Ms. Ebensteiner Goes To Washington!
Did you know Newberg Nation’s Tiara Ebensteiner has been invited to Washington, D.C. this summer to attend the National Leadership Forum? Sponsored by the American Mock Trial Association Tiara has the opportunity to represent Newberg Nation at this exciting summer leadership institute while participating in all things mock trial can provide!

Perhaps this will only be Ms. Ebensteiner’s first trip, of many, to Washington!

Newberg NationThoughts…

~Principal Risen

Change is an interesting thing, isn’t it? Life, in its own right, is truly about change! Whether the changing of the seasons, the changing phases of our lives as we grow, or choosing to make personal change, our lives are full of so many choices and seemingly endless change at times.

Perhaps this is why we are naturally skeptical when it comes to change. We innately fear change while also looking at change as something that will demand more mental, physical or emotional effort from us. I can certainly attest to this having lost nearly 50 pounds over the past few months! It is so difficult to change!

As you know Tigers NHS has been through a profound change over the past twelve months and more changes are yet to come, as alluded to in the opening article of this week’s newsletter. So how do we go about creating a mindset that all change is not bad and that some change might actually be beneficial? For it is not the actual change we fear, it is impact the change may have upon us, how it impacts our world as we know it, and the effort it will take for us to adapt to the change that actually cause us stress.

What has helped me in developing an optimistic mindset about change is developing and maintaining my own philosophy about change, a worldview that includes accepting the idea that change is inevitable in our lives and that if I spend my energy figuring out how to embrace the change and unlock how it can potentially be a positive impact on my life, then I can quickly move forward and find the silver linings most often affiliated with any change.

Frankly, it is developing this mindset that can truly guide us through moments of change in our lives, regardless of how big, or small, the change is. Another strategy many employ in developing a change mindset is to approach change as inevitable. Think about it, don’t we all change over time? Don’t we all want to continue improving our lives day after day, year after year? Is this not part of the American Dream? Is change not the very rationale for education, as the more we learn the more change/impact we can have on our own lives?

As the first quote below states if we want Newberg Nation to be the best school and community in the state of Oregon, or perhaps the United States, then we must embrace a change philosophy and reach, grab, stretch, pull and change in ways we never have in order to have that! We must seek to continuously improve and in so doing know that we are building something beyond belief, larger than ourselves, our lives, and that we are not only a part of creating this amazing school and community, we are building it for both the now, and for our future. But we simply cannot do this unless we are willing to change.

Socrates certainly developed a change mindset some 2,400 years ago when he talked about focusing our energies on building the new! With that spirit in mind I challenge all of us here in Newberg Nation to focus, and in so focusing help us with ideas, suggestions, recommendations, innovations, creations, visions, dreams, hopes, aspirations and effort in making Newberg Nation the best community, school and district in the nation! Yes, I said the “NATION!”

I believe we have the potential to be the best school, district and community in the nation as measured against any standard anyone wants to apply! But to aspire to this we will have to dream, change, and focus on the idea that if we “want something we have never had” we will have to “do something we have never done!”

Keep Flying Tigers, we are just beginning to lift off to new heights!

Flying Tigers…

“If you want something you have never had,
then you’ve got to do something you’ve never done!”

~ Unknown

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new!”

~ Socrates