Viking Families and Friends,
Welcome to January! I hope you were able to spend time with your loved ones and find some time for rest and relaxation over Winter Break.
The second semester is well underway and with that is the start of a busy season around VHS. Parents and guardians should have received an announcement via Canvas regarding scheduling materials for the 2022-23 academic year being disbursed to students on December 15th. Counselors began holding individual scheduling meetings with juniors last week. Sophomores will begin their individual meetings on or about January 30th and freshman on or about February 21st. Please take a few moments to discuss your student’s course selections with them and review their diploma selection (Core 40, Core 40 with Academic Honors, or Core 40 with Technical Honors). The VHS course catalog is housed in Naviance and can be accessed through the both student and parent account.
Our teachers have had two professional development opportunities since my last communication. For over a year, our instructional coaches worked with a group of volunteer teachers on strategies to increase rigor and instruction in the classroom. In November, teachers from this group led round-table discussions on modern literacies. The following topics were offered and teachers chose three of them to participate in: collaboration, communication soft skills, creativity, data analysis, digital media, literacy, fostering critical thinking, problem solving, teaching students to use argumentation, and video editing in Camtasia.
Additionally, in December teachers continued on their professional development journey as they explored practical lessons for gathering data. Instructional coaches demonstrated different interactive programs and games to assist with this process. They then displayed and explained how the resulting data could show student learning and be used for reflection in order to make adjustments to instruction
Our students have been busy making wonderful memories, and I hope you have had the pleasure of being a part of them. Our drama students performed The Comedy of Terrible Errors. Our music students held several concerts as well, but one special treat was the Fight Hunger Holiday Jazz Concert where the VHS Jazz Band and Varsity Singers joined together for some special numbers. In addition to these performances, our students joined the rest of our Viking Family at This is Our Story. Finally, after an exciting season, our Vikings brought home the Football State Championship trophy.
The 2022 graduation rates were recently released by the State. According to our records, Valparaiso High School reached a new school record with a graduation rate of 98.06%. Congratulations! Your continued parental support and involvement truly make the difference in helping students graduate. I believe that if we, the school, home, and community, continue to work together, we can continue to help our students achieve this goal.
VHS is looking for volunteers for our School Nutrition Program. If you’d like to serve as an honorary member of our School Nutrition team and be a celebrity server for the day, please click on this link for the volunteer guide and for further information. Speaking of food, our serving lines are getting a much needed update. We plan to begin this process upon returning from Spring Break and expect to complete it for the start of the 2023-24 academic year. A temporary serving area will be set up so that our food and nutrition staff can continue serving our students during this time.
In closing, over the last couple of weeks our school and community have experienced some very challenging situations. As a parent, I understand the concern when one receives word that VHS is on lockout or lockdown. The unknown can be very scary and all we want is for our children and loved ones to make it back home safe and sound. As your principal, I thank you for following our request and not coming up to the school. I also thank you for letting us focus on the situation at hand and, most importantly, for trusting us with the safety of your loved ones.
Thank you for continuing to support our students, teachers, and staff.
