Weekly Update

• Friday, November 10: NO SCHOOL - Veteran's Day - all schools and offices closed
• Wednesday, Nov 22- Friday, Nov 24: Thanksgiving Break

Check out the Career Center Information below to see dates for upcoming college visits!

Due to safety concerns and the demands on the main office, we do not accept food deliveries of any kind. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Parents who are dropping students off at school in the morning should use the parking lot lane closest to the building. Please do not park in in a space and wait to drop your student off. Unfortunately, parking is very limited for both students and staff. Utilizing extra parking spaces for this purpose can create an issue where there is nowhere for staff or student drivers to park. Additionally, please do not drive down the middle parking lot lane in order to drop a student at school. We appreciate your help!

Please join us on Wednesday November 8, in the LHS Media Center at 6pm. We will be reviewing our School Improvement Plan, Multi Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), and we will also have a Q&A session with our counselors.

Attendance Matters: Don't be a Statistic.

Did you know that by ninth grade a student's chance of graduating from high school drops by 20% for every week of school they miss (Attendance Works, 2023)?

Work on healthy habits and routines by coming to school five days a week. We want to see you and support you!

Students who failed one or more courses for the first marking period may be eligible for credit recovery through Edgenuity. If Edgenuity quarter recovery is completed, the failing grade(s) will improve to a 59.5% (D) for the first marking period. To enroll in Edgenuity, please click on the following link and complete the form: Edgenuity Marking Period Recovery. You will need your grade information in order to complete the form. If you are unsure if you failed a course, be sure to check HAC (Home Access Center) to view your report card (available on 11/7/23), Schoology, or ask your teacher. Not all courses are available for recovery through Edgenuity.

Students must complete this form by the end of the school day November 10, 2023. Email Ms. Bridges (kjbridges@smcps.org) if you have questions.

Free Tutoring is available to LHS students from LHS teachers in the areas of MATH, ELA, SCIENCE, and SPANISH. There is tutoring available on site before school, during lunch, and after school. There is also virtual tutoring available. Contact your child’s teacher, guidance counselor, or Theresa Smith at tmsmith@smcps.org for information.

It is fall in Maryland and temperatures can fluctuate from 35 degrees in the morning to afternoons reaching 80 degrees. With the wide fluctuations in temperature, it can be difficult to be comfortable in inside spaces. The key to comfort during this seasonal transition is layered clothing. Be sure to wear multiple layers to provide warmth in the morning and as the sun rises higher in the sky you can shed layers to adjust to the warmer temperatures. When in doubt wear a shirt, cardigan, and jacket to provide warmth. Please make sure you monitor the daily forecast.

Congratulations to the LHS Marching Band! They won the US Bands 2023 State Championship! This is their 3rd state title in a row! They received a score of 93.5 and were recognized for "Best Visual"! Way to go Raiders!

The LHS R.O.S.E. Players put on a spectacular show! Three Bags Full garnered lots of laughs and applause! Great show, beautiful set, and wonderful performance!

Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) is a national tradition in Mexico that celebrates the lives of those who have passed on. It is celebrated in Mexico on the 1st and 2nd of November every year, but celebrations may last about two weeks. Day of the Dead honors those who have passed on by their loved ones.

As part o f the Day of the Dead celebration, people bring flowers, candles, photos and the favorite foods of the dead to the cemetery. People will also dress in elaborate, colorful costumes, often painting their faces white like a skull or "calavera." People decorate altars in their homes with offerings or "ofrendas" like papel picado, marigold, candles, food & sugar skulls to welcome home the souls of the dead. "Pan de muerto" (bread of the dead) or "pan dulce" (sweet bread) and "calaveras de azúcar" (sugar skulls) are very popular offerings or "ofrendas" on the altars.

Dia de Muertos is a festive celebration of life!

Mrs. Watson's Physic's classes participated in a Engineering Challenge Competition to build "pumpkin" launchers with limited supplies to launch mini pumpkins the furthest distance, clear the tallest height and with the lowest cost per distance!

They created color-coded calaca masks. They also analyzed the Coco movie and created a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting El Día de Los Muertos to their culture. Finally, they created a historieta (comic) about El día de los Muertos utilizing what we have learned in class.

In Italy, All Souls’ Day is celebrated on November 2nd. This usually involved flowers and candles brought to the graves of loved ones. Italian Club set up a kind of altar with flowers and “candles” and enjoyed some sweets traditionally eaten for All Saints’ Day or Ognissanti on November 1st. Here is our “altar”.

The Student Leadership Counsel is working to target issues in the school to create a better learning environment for the student body. We want to hear from you to know what you think should be improved about the school, so we can take your thoughts and concerns into consideration. Click here to take the survey.

• You can also place your order directly online at jostens.com.
  

• DESIGN AND ORDER YOUR CLASS RING HERE

• Your Ring will be delivered at school in December.
  

• Information packets are available in the main office.

• Feel free to contact Jostens with any questions during this process: Phone: 1-800-567-8367 or Email: lindsey.glamp@jostens.com

Greetings, Class of 2024!

It is now time for you to start celebrating your one and only senior year. Ordering for Graduation Items and Cap & Gown unit is coming soon!

Seniors received order information during the class meeting on Oct. 16th, but online ordering is open NOW.

WAYS TO ORDER:

1. Online at Jostens.com using the link below:

• Order your Graduation Items and Cap & Gown Unit HERE

1. Over the phone, call: 1-800-Jostens or 1-800-567-8367

*Please note: Your cap and gown unit does come with a tassel to be worn on graduation. Additional keepsake tassels can be purchased.

DELIVERY INFORMATION:

-Senior apparel and keepsake items will ship directly to your home 2 weeks after your order.

-Graduation Announcements and other paper items will be delivered in March/April (date TBD)

-Cap and Gown will be delivered in May.

Feel free to contact Jostens with any questions during this process:

Phone: 1-800-567-8367 or Email: lindsey.glamp@jostens.com

Help your student strengthen their executive function skills by previewing the week ahead on Sundays. Look over Schoology to plan for upcoming projects, quizzes, tests, and readings. What could they do now to help make them be more successful that week? Make sure to also preview their after school activities for the week to help them manage their time and responsibilities.

Order a Yearbook

If you are interested in purchasing a yearbook, please visit the Jostens site. We are in the second tier of our pricing, so order before December 15 before the price goes up again!

Grad Ads

Senior parents interested in creating a grad ad for the yearbook can do so through the Tribute Ads website. The deadline for creating an ad is Friday, December 15, 2023. Please visit the Tribute Ads site to create an ad honoring your senior.

Pictures Needed!

We are in need of pictures for some of our spreads! Click here for specifics regarding what pictures we still need. Please upload pictures directly to our Yearbook website using ReplayIt. Please do not submit screenshots of pictures or pictures with filters. Please make sure all students featured in the pictures are identified with first and last name and grade level. Please make sure that the pictures are from this summer and this school year!

Senior Portraits

Legacy Studios will be here on the dates below for senior portraits in the auditorium.

October 27

November 29 [LAST CHANCE TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED!]

Seniors MUST sign up for an appointment by clicking HERE. Information about different portrait sessions available can be found on the Legacy site. Please note that Legacy does provide the tux, drape, and cap and gown for portraits. Seniors, if you wish to be included in the senior section of the yearbook, you must have your picture taken by Legacy in a tux or drape with a blue background and no props. Portraits that do not meet this requirement will not be included in the senior section of the yearbook.

If you have any questions regarding portraits or sittings, please contact Legacy at 716-512-6336 or customercare@legacystudios.com or yearbook adviser Heather Page at hmpage@smcps.org.

Make Up Portrait Day for Grades 9-11

Legacy will be here on Tuesday, November 14 in the auditorium for school portraits. Portraits will take place during their English classes.

2022-2023 Yearbooks

The 2023 yearbooks are here! Students may pick up their yearbooks in the main office during regular school hours (8:00-2:45).

Fall Team & Marching Band Pictures

Fall athletes and marching band members who were photographed have the chance to purchase team and/or individual pictures. Please visit the Legacy website and use code 4572E24.

Our schools are heavily impacted by federally connected students – those parents/guardians who work on federal property in Maryland, live on federal property in Maryland, and/or are active duty military personnel. Because of this impact, we receive federal grant funds to operate and maintain our schools and enrich school programs. To receive these funds, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) requires us to survey each student to determine eligibility. SMCPS is encouraging all parents/guardians to please take the time to access and complete the Impact Aid Survey Form online, located in the Home Access Center (HAC). Once logged in, directions to access the online form can be found HERE. A video with instructions is available HERE. The form can now be accessed in Spanish by clicking on the Globe in the top right-hand corner once the form has been started. The deadline for the online submission of Impact Aid Program Survey forms is November 14, 2023.

Your cooperation in completing the survey no later than Monday, November 14, 2023, is greatly appreciated. The more surveys that are submitted, the greater amount of funds will be available to our students in St. Mary’s County Public Schools.

• If you have any questions about 9th/10th grade forms, please contact Ms. Stofferahn (mastofferahn@smcps.org).
• If you have any questions about 11th/12th grade forms, please contact Mr. Myers via email (bdmyers@smcps.org).

Counselors are working on sending transcripts and letters of recommendation in Naviance. Please be patient as this is a busy time of year for college requests.

If you need a letter of recommendation from your school counselor, make sure to submit the Letter of Recommendation Request form (which is available in Guidance) and please allow 10 business days.

Counselors pushed into senior classes on 10/4/23 please make sure to check with your senior for their senior letter which will contain graduation requirements. Please click here to see the presentation to review what we went over.

If you would like a parent teacher conference with one teacher please contact the teacher directly through email to arrange. If you require all teachers for a conference please contact your students counselor.

The end of the quarter is quickly approaching, please make sure you are checking schoology and talking with your students/teachers about grades.

Make sure to know your counselor!

• Hensel: A-Da - jahensel@smcps.org

• Wolcott: De-Ha & GIS - rrwolcott@smcps.org

• Neitz: He-Mc - lkneitz@smcps.org

• Guidry: Me-Se- lcguidry@smcps.org

• Sawyer: Sh-Z -- wnsawyer@smcps.org

ATTENTION Seniors: the Common Application is now open!

Common Application

The Common Application, which is accepted by more than 900 schools, helps streamline an essential part of the admissions process for students. Through the platform, first-time applicants can apply to multiple colleges at once. Students will only have to fill out details that most schools require, including name, address and extracurricular activities, one time. Click here for the Common Application Link

If you are applying to colleges via Common App, please do not request any documents from your teachers/counselors via Common App. All document requests must go through Naviance.

New Scholarship Added to Naviance:

Heisman High School Scholarship 2023

To view all scholarships, login to Naviance via Clever. Click Colleges >> Scholarship Search.

Upcoming Events:

Monday, November 6th

UMD Eastern Shore @ 8:55 AM

Longwood @ 10:30 AM

Wednesday, November 8th

The Army Recruiter will be visiting over lunch.

FSA (Federal Student Aid) ID Completion Virtual Event

November 16th @ 6 PM

FSA ID RSVP HERE

November College Visits

UMD Eastern Shore @ 8:55 AM on Nov. 6th

Longwood University @ 10:30 AM on Nov. 6th

University of Tennessee @ 8:55 AM on Nov. 14th

Johnson and Wales-Providence @ 8:55 AM on Nov. 28th

If you would like to attend a college visit, please register here.

If your student took an MCAP assessment in Spring 2023 (ELA 10, Algebra or Geometry, or LS-MISA), they will be receiving their score reports within the next week or so. If you have questions on how to interpret the scores, please utilize the resources below.

• ELA and Math Score Interpretation Guide for Parents
• Spanish version
• Science Score Interpretation Guide for Parents
• Spanish version

Need help finding out where to go for lunch? Click the button above to see open classrooms and club offerings for each day of the week.

Click here for the one-lunch information presentation that was present to all 9th graders last week. You can find club information and much for!

Use this document to plan where you will go for lunch each day!

Students, please make sure your laptop is charged each day. Bring your charger to school in case your battery runs out.

Need to purchase a laptop charger?

You can do one of two things:

1. Go the the Media Center in your School. They can assess you a fine so that you can pay using My School Bucks.
2. Go directly to the DELL store. You can purchase directly from their website and have it shipped to your home.

Ensure one of these links are being used:

www.dell.com/mpp/smcps (click Shop Recommended Solutions to get to the discounted power cords)

www.dell.com/mpp/smcps-chargers (leads directly to the purchasing portal)

More helpful links for technology can be found at the bottom of the newsletter!

Spirit items are available on MySchoolBucks. Please make sure that your student is added into your profile and click on the School Store link. You will want to Browse all Items.

Items can be purchased and then picked up in the School Bank or during Open House. Items will also be available for purchase, in person, during open house.

Check out www.MySchoolBucks.com Go to "My School Store" and hit "Browse".

Learn how to create a MySchoolBucks account: click here.

• Here Comes the bus
• Bus Routes
• Bus Stop change-request form
• Transportation Forms

Bus passes should only be requested when students have a change in physical address or when there is an emergency situation and a student needs to ride a different bus or get off at a different stop. Bus passes will not be granted for students simply wanting to go visit with a friend.

Need to obtain a bus pass?

Visit this site to submit a request electronically, or parents can write a note or send an email to Ms. Revis at btrevis@smcps.org. All relevant information must be included in the written request.

Bus Information includes: Student name, address, parent phone number, existing bus stop to be used, bus #, date, medical concerns, destination address, destination phone # and reason for the pass.

We are Raider Strong!

Website: https://schools.smcps.org/lhs/
Location: 23995 Point Lookout Rd, Leonardtown, MD 20650, USA
Phone: 301-475-0200
Twitter: @LHS_SMCPS