Weekly Newsletter

Newberg High School Newsletter 
        September 26, 2014

This week in Newberg Nation!

On behalf of the staff and students here at Newberg Nation headquarters we want to thank all the Tiger faithful that have been packing the stands with their blue and gold at all of our events and contests! Your support, your efforts and your voice have all come out loud and proud and we continue to take great pride in knowing that our community is as FANatic about Newberg Nation as we are!

This was very evident in the Newberg Graphic this week as you can see at http://www.pamplinmedia.com/nbg/241-education/234654-99807-newberg-nation-rallies-nhs-students. With over 800 students and counting in the stands, all decked out in blue and yellow neon, to the fun events, contests, games and crowd participation activities, attending a Newberg event has taken on a whole Newberg Nation feel! Kudos to one and all and let’s keep that spirit train rolling!

This past weekend Newberg Nation’s amazing thespians also closed their summer play performances with their final showing of “Fatal Combinations!” It was great to see all of our actresses and actors in makeup, costumes and characters as they once again showed what tremendous talent they all possess! Stay tuned, “Oklahoma” is right around the corner! And can someone help Mr. Risen with who actually committed the murder in the show? What a whodunit!

One final reminder that we DO NOT have school this coming Monday, September 29. The staff at NHS will be spending the day working diligently to plan, prepare and learn ways and methods by which to help our students deepen and further their educational understanding. Whether working on our understanding and implementation of the Smarter Balance Assessments or Common Core State Standards, the day will include presentation, planning, organization and preparations that will impact instruction, assessment and student growth throughout the remainder of the year, and years to come. Thank you for your understanding and support of this important commitment of time for us to meet these needs in providing your child with an excellent education!

Finally, please know that our newsletter will continue to grow over the next several weeks in an effort for it to provide more detail, information and all of the “must know’s and happenings” at Newberg High! From the staff and students, have a great weekend and thank you for your ongoing patronage!

News From the NHS Career Center:

• HPr3, a healthcare professional preparation program, are meeting on Wednesday’s from 2:45 to 3:45pm in room F101.  For more information please stop by the College and Career Center.
• Any seniors interested in attending a University of California school: there will be a Virtual College Fair on Thursday, Oct. 2nd from noon to 10:00 PM.  This is your chance to chat live with admissions counselors, current students, financial aid specialists, and more.  Participating schools include: Berkeley, UC Davis, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Riverside, and UC Merced.  Stop by the College and Career Center to use the computers or to get more information.
• Why are Veterans important to our Nation’s history and future?  This is the theme of this year’s VFW essay scholarship.  If you like to write and are interested in getting $30 thousand dollars for college, check out this opportunity in the College and Career Center.  The deadline is Nov. 1st!
• SENIORS HAVE YOU SIGNED UP for the SAT?  And Juniors have you signed up for the PSAT?  Both tests will be given during the school day on Wed., Oct. 15th.  If you are not planning on taking one of these exams, be sure to sign up for one of the five, fun college field trips planned for that day!  Don’t forget that you need to turn in your registration and/or field trip permission form to the College and Career Center.  For more detailed information about all of the exams and activities offered on this day, please go to:   http://www.newberg.k12.or.us/nhs/n-h-s-exam-day-october-15-2014
• October 3rd is National Manufacturing Day! Check out the College & Career website to see what NHS is doing to recognize this high in demand career field. http://www.newberg.k12.or.us/nhs/national-manufacturing-day

Student-Athletes of the Month
Craig Beecher and Alenka Beralas
Named Student-Athletes of the Month for September

ALENKA BERALAS, Senior (Volleyball):
Alenka is a student-athlete of great character as well as skill. She leads with
a quite confidence and is one of the most humble athletes I've had the experience
of working with. She balances her responsibilities well and continuously accepts
new challenges. She has recently spent her free time in the gym mentoring players
from the freshman team during their practice, a gesture that is appreciated as well
as admired. On the court, she is a determined player with a great attitude and solid
work ethic. She leads the team defensively in serve receive opportunities and digs,
and is already on the radar for all-league mentions.
Congrats Alenka!

CRAIG BEECHER, Senior (Water Polo): 
Craig’s work ethic has allowed him to rise to the top of his game and his leadership skills have helped our younger kids.  His role as an ASB officer has helped developed Craig into a well-rounded individual.
Congrats Craig!

Originally Posted September 19th, 2014
Communication Tools, Tips & Tricks
In our efforts to communicate effectively we thought we would take a little time this week and share both what communication tools are at your disposal as well as some tips and tricks when trying to communicate with staff here at the school.
First and foremost, your communication is important to us here at NHS! We want to hear your voice, understand your needs/concerns, and be as responsive as possible in our efforts to provide exemplary customer service to you. That said, here are a few modes of communication that you, and we, can utilize in an effort to ensure that information is moving between all of us.

• Our weekly newsletter; NHS produces a weekly newsletter that is sent out on Friday afternoons. The newsletter is sent via ParentLink, distributed via email through our NHS List Serve and is placed on our school website. It contains a variety of information pertinent to the whole school. Should you have a need or desire to have something included in the newsletter please email Tabitha Renne at rennet@newberg.k12.or.us.
• ParentLink: ParentLink is our most recently adopted communication tool that we use to send out information that is typically text based. Announcements, the weekly newsletter and other information, as needed, can be communicated via ParentLink as can information during an emergency. If you are not receiving information via ParentLink please contact your small school office so that we can ensure that you do!
• ParentVUE/StudentVUE:  ParentVUE and StudentVUE are tools we provide for parents and students to access information about their academic schedules, get updates, check grades, etcetera. If you are having connectivity issues with either of these please feel free to contact your small school office for assistance.
• Email: Email is still a great way to share or request information from the NHS staff. At NHS we view the use of email as a tool for sharing information versus a tool in which to have a conversation. We make this delineation between information and conversation due to the difficulty in emoting via email. Nonetheless, please feel free to utilize this tool when seeking information from our staff or in your efforts to share information with us.
• Telephone Call: Telephone calls are a great vehicle for having a conversation that is not too sensitive in nature. There are simply just conversations in which a phone call is the best tool at your disposal. If you feel that you need to have a conversation with an NHS staff member please call your small school office and we will happily get back to you as timely as possible.
• Meeting: The best vehicle for having the most delicate conversations is to simply meet face to face. There are just some conversations that need to occur face to face and the staff at NHS want to make sure that all stakeholders feel supported at all times, so please feel free to utilize this communication tool as well. To schedule a face to face meeting please feel free to either call your small school office or email the staff member you would like to meet with and request a time for a meeting.
• Text A Tip: Text A Tip is a great app that we have been able to acquire in our efforts to keep NHS a safe school. The intended purpose of Text A Tip is to provide a tool by which either emergency or behavioral matters can be immediately shared with administration, or emergency information can be shared with you. An example of how to utilize Text A Tip would be that you were at a school event and witnessed someone doing something illegal. Text A Tip would allow you to immediately text NHS administration with a tip to that effect and provide them with an opportunity to address the matter quickly.

The final communication suggestion we here at NHS would like to share is that we need to ensure that we have your most up to date contact information in our systems as this will enable us to communicate with you. If you would please go into your ParentVUE and review and update your emergency contact information as needed we would appreciate it. While ParentVUE will allow you to update your telephone numbers it will not allow you to change who we can contact in the event we need to reach you and you are not available. If you feel the need to update whom else we can contact please call your small school office and we can update that information for you at that time! Thank you!

Academic Support Sessions:
Students needing additional academic support can come to the following after school sessions beginning next week:
Wednesdays: 2:45 - 4:00 Mrs. Atkinson’s room A101 (Math Support)
Thursdays: 2:45 - 4:00 Mrs. Light room E109 (English Support)
Please note:
Students need to arrive no later than 3:00 pm to be admitted, and students need to stay the duration of the session to receive a bus pass home.

NHS Code Club- Monday’s 3:00-4:00 Room C106- Mahony
Anyone can code computers! Computer science is the art of blending human ideas, creativity and digital tools to increase our power. Computer scientist’s work in so many different areas:  writing apps for phones, curing diseases, creating animated movies, working on social media, building robots that explore other planets and so much more.

Join us Mondays to begin learning coding in a fun easy environment. All participants can work at their own pace, individually or in groups and will have help and guidance along the way! Come join the fun! ALL schools welcome!

Student Conferences:
There will be a change in conferences this year. Parent/Teacher conferences will look a bit different this year. In order to offer parents more evening time to connect with our teaching staff, we will be available Wednesday Oct. 29th from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. We will also be available Thursday Oct. 30th from 12:00 to 3:00 pm and again from 4:00 to 8:00 pm. Students will have class on the 29th but will not be in session on Thursday the 30th and Friday the 31st. We hope this change will lead to more conversations between you and our staff.

Upcoming Events:

Monday September 29th: Staff in Service, NO SCHOOL
Friday October 10th : Statewide in-service, NO SCHOOL
Friday October 17th: Homecoming Game vs. Canby at 7:00 pm
Saturday October 18th: Homecoming Dance (semi formal), Commons 8:00-10:30 PM
Wednesday October 29th: Parent/Teacher Conferences, 4:00 – 8:00 PM
Thursday October 30th: Parent/Teacher Conferences, 12:00-3:00 PM and 4:00-8:00 PM, NO SCHOOL for students
Friday October 31st: NO SCHOOL for students