Principal's November Newsletter

Hi, this is a reminder that you're receiving this email because you have a student at, or have expressed an interest in, Glenbard East High School. Communication between Glenbard East and our families and community is very important to us. Don't forget to add ge_news@glenbard.org to your address book so we'll be sure to land in your inbox! Please email any questions directly to Glenbard Staff, we are happy to respond.

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November 27 - 29

NO SCHOOL

Thanksgiving Break

December 4

Holiday Concert

7PM – Biester Auditorium

Tickets: $5.00, purchase at gefinearts.org

December 9

East Film Showcase

6PM - Rider Hall

&

Acting Class Studio Production

7PM – Rider Hall

December 12

Cookies & Carols Concert

7PM - Auditorium Foyer

Tickets: $3.00, purchase tickets at gefinearts.org

December 17

FREE Hot Chocolate & Candy Canes

ALL STUDENTS

7:30AM – 8AM Auditorium Foyer

December 18 - 20

FINAL EXAMS

Special Schedule

December 23 – January 3

NO SCHOOL

Winter Break

January 6

NO SCHOOL

Institute Day

January 7

CLASSES RESUME

January 20

NO SCHOOL

Martin Luther King Day

We are thankful for you!

As we prepare to take time off from school, 11/27 - 11/29, for the Thanksgiving break, we want to express our gratitude for everyone who has helped restore a routine for showing up to school while supporting students and families.

We thank:

• Our students and families who do their best to show up to class every day even when it isn’t easy.
• Our fantastic teachers who have gone above and beyond to help make school a welcoming learning environment where students can thrive.
• Our administrators who help us work together to ensure we are healthy and safe, feel a sense of community and experience the excitement of an engaging learning environment.
• Our support staff who provide the extra hands and attention our students need.

We truly appreciate everyone’s efforts. Daily routines are essential for reducing stress and creating a sense of security for students and adults. Missing just a few days here and there, even if they’re excused absences, can add up to too much lost learning time and leave students behind in school. This is as true in high school as it is in kindergarten. Every day of school is an important opportunity for students to learn as well as connect to peers and their teachers. Therefore, as the weather changes, please take the necessary steps to keep your student(s) healthy and send them to school unless they are truly sick.

May these days off be restful and healing. We look forward to seeing you again when school resumes on Monday, 12/2.

Thank you for partnering with us!

1. CAFETERIA SERVICE – There will be limited food service on exam days. The Cafeteria lines will be open to serve our students during the following times: 7:30AM - 8:00AM for breakfast.

2. EXAM MAKE-UP – Students who have an excused absence from an exam may make arrangements with their teacher to make up the exam during the Exam Make-up Sessions. Students may also arrange with teachers to make up exams during Resource Periods.

3. TECHNOLOGY CENTER OF DUPAGE – There will be no TCD classes for students on exam days.

4. QUIET STUDY AREAS – Supervised quiet study areas will be available for those students who wish to study during the exams, when they have a free period. All Physical Education and Driver Education classes WILL MEET ON EXAM DAYS. There are to be no students in the halls without a pass during the exam periods. All students are to remain in their classes during the entire period.

5. RESCHEDULED EXAMS – Students who feel they have a heavy load of exams on Day 1 or Day 2 may elect to change or move one of their exams to the Make-up time slot on Day 3. This request must be made with the teacher at least one week prior to their scheduled exam.

6. SCHOOL CODE – School Code requires that Districts schedule a minimum of 300-minutes of instruction and student support during the last day of each academic semester. Passing periods do not count toward the 300-minute requirement.

7. ATHLETICS – Practices may begin after 2:00 p.m. Students should check with their coach for actual start time.

Once again this year, students of all four Glenbard High Schools will be selecting their courses for the 2025-26 school year online through their Power School accounts. With the online enrollment process, parents can be involved in course selection and better prepare students for engaging in a similar process during their college years. Students can select their courses between December 2nd and January 8th. After January 8th, students will continue to be able to view their choices in their PowerSchool accounts, but any changes will need to be requested through their school counselors. Counselors will meet with all students individually between January 13th and February 2nd to ensure student selections address the remaining graduation requirements and finalize all course requests.

On December 2nd, during RAM TIME, students will receive instructions on how to complete the online enrollment process. Throughout November, students have been discussing their test scores and current performance in class with their teachers, who have made recommendations for their placement in each subject. Your student should already be aware of these recommendations, but a letter will also be sent home outlining them. During RAM TIME, students will learn how to use PowerSchool to select their elective and PE classes.

If you have questions about recommendations for a specific subject, please reach out to your student’s teacher or the department chair responsible for that course. For inquiries regarding your student’s progress toward graduation or the enrollment process, please contact their assigned counselor.

The Glenbard East School Counseling Department has created checklists by grade levels to assist families in navigating the steps in postsecondary planning. We encourage families to use these as a guide throughout high school.

Freshman Checklist

Sophomore Checklist

Junior Checklist

Senior Checklist

TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2025

Please join us to meet our fine teachers, department chairs, and administrators.

5:30 P.M.-6:00 P.M. Principal Welcome and Enrollment Information

6:00 P.M.-7:45 P.M. Department Visits

We are very excited to welcome the class of 2029!

Students who have completed all graduation requirements by December 2024 were invited to attend a graduation meeting in November. Semester grads were able to learn about the logistics of finishing mid-year, including participating in the annual graduation ceremony held in May. A representative from the Admissions Office at the College of DuPage was also on hand to answer questions and assist students interested in transitioning to the College of DuPage for 2nd semester. Invitations were sent to all students who have informed their counselor of their intent to graduate mid-year. For questions about your student’s eligibility for semester graduation, please contact your student’s counselor. You may contact Mrs. Ramirez in the School Counseling office (630-424-7144) with any questions about this event.

Per the Illinois State Board of Education, all seniors must complete a financial aid form to receive a high school diploma. Seniors who plan to enroll in a college or trade school in the fall of 2025 can choose to submit either the 25-26 FAFSA or 25-26 Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid. Seniors who do not want to submit either of the financial aid forms have the option to submit a Nonparticipation form. The forms are expected to become available December 1st. It is highly recommended to submit the form as soon as possible due to financial aid deadlines. Please contact your school counselor if you have any questions. Here is a list of upcoming Financial Aid Workshops for seniors:

· Tue, Jan 14 - Financial Aid Workshop for any resident of DuPage County at the College of DuPage

· Wed, Jan 29 - Financial Aid Workshop - Sponsored by District 87 and ISAC

This could be vandalism to the school, drugs/vaping, bullying, fighting, or anything else you might want the deans to know. We want this building to be a clean, welcoming, safe, and supportive place for everyone. Please help us make Glenbard East a place that we can all feel at home.

Student attendance is one of the most common predictors of academic achievement. Students who consistently miss school develop habits that will lead into their adult life, which can impact their education, career, and social connections.

Research shows:

• That student attendance is highly correlated with success in school.
• That missing 10 percent of school, or about 18 days, negatively impacts a student’s performance.
• That students who regularly arrive and/or leave early are miss out on valuable instruction time and are more likely to be chronically absent.

When students improve their attendance, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating. Establishing good attendance habits better equip students to be productive members of society.

Once a student misses nine full days of school, the school may require a doctor’s note on file in order for each absence to be excused. If a student has more than nine days of excused absences, Student Intervention Teams are actively providing the student and family with appropriate interventions.

As it starts to get colder, please note that students are not allowed to have blankets in school. Please encourage your student to dress in layers to ensure they are comfortable throughout the school day. All students have an assigned locker where they can store outerwear as needed.

Counselors will visit all freshman biology classes on December 3rd to help students understand their career assessment results from 11/18/24. This includes their personality match, explore career clusters, and research post-secondary options. They will also review course enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year.

Counselors visited all English 3 and AP English Language classes on Tuesday, November 19th, to provide information on researching post-secondary options, including: college, trades, and the military. This provided students with resources to assist in the discovery process, including access to their Schoolinks accounts (our premiere career and college search and investigation tool). We encourage families to visit colleges throughout the school year to see their options firsthand. Most colleges and universities offer a wide variety of visit programs that are convenient to schedule around your availability and comfort level. We recommend the following schedule for when to visit colleges:

Sophomore year: Attend at least three college visits with dramatically different environments, such as one large university, one small liberal arts school, and one school in a large city, such as Chicago. Start to understand what your family values in the college experience and what type of general environment will be most conducive to your student's collegiate success.

Junior year: Visit multiple schools throughout the year as you further develop your list of potential schools.

Senior year: Visit the schools you have applied to again to arm your interest and prepare for your final decision before May 1. Our school counseling team can assist students at any point in their college exploration and application processes. Parents and students are encouraged to contact their assigned counselor at any point.

Students in grades 9 through 11 completed a career assessment during Ram Time homeroom on Monday, 11/18/24. The career assessment is completed by students in their SchooLinks account to make postsecondary plans and choose courses for their future.

From November 1st to November 15th, families of the Glenbard East German program welcomed 22 students and 2 teachers from Montfort Gymnasium, our partner school in Tettnang, Germany. The students from Tettnang lived with GEHS families, attended classes, and visited Chicago and Lombard city hall. We would like to thank the entire GEHS community for welcoming these students, and facilitating cross cultural exchange and international friendship. Danke sehr!!

Congratulations to Kendra Trummer for earning the Good Citizenship Award sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution for the class of 2025. Kendra earned this award through a write-in ballot amongst Glenbard East staff based upon the merits of leadership, dependability, service, and patriotism.

Congratulations to Joshua Roimicher for earning the Outstanding Citizenship Award sponsored by the Sons of the American Revolution for the class of 2025. Joshua earned this award through a write-in ballot amongst Glenbard East staff based upon the merits of dependability, honesty, courtesy, respect, leadership, and patriotism.

Congratulations to Glenbard East students selected for the Illinois Music Education Association’s District IX Honors Music Festivals. Each student was chosen from the more than 1,000 students across the west suburban area who submitted audition recordings consisting of prepared musical selections and scales.

Chorus: Grace Boddy, Avery Corral, Serge Dulang, Liv Gómez, Taylor Kowalis, Karli May, and Olive Turner

Treble Chorus: Keira Alcantara, Lucia Johnston, Maxine Pascasio, and Allie Piña

Band: Trevor Dunham, Dylan Hagansee, Anthony Macrito, Diana Urquiza, and Aidan Walsh

Orchestra: Samantha King

Vocal Jazz Ensemble III: Liv Gómez and Karli May

Vocal Jazz Ensemble II: Serge Dulang and Erik Vazquez

Vocal Jazz Ensemble I: Grace Boddy and Olive Turner

Jazz Band I: Glenbard East student Axel Capetillo

The Glenbard East Staffulty of the Month Award has been established to recognize outstanding people for their dedication, professionalism, and work. Those receiving this award are nominated by administrators, colleagues, and students for exhibiting our D87 Profile of an Educator tenants.

Each month, we recognize staff members based on their advocacy for students, empathy for

others, critical thinking, embracing diversity, innovation, and collaboration.

Congratulations to this month's honorees!!!

Tara Cappelletti was nominated by 3 students for exhibiting the following Profile of an Educator competencies: Advocates, Empathizes, Thinks Critically, Embraces Diversity, Innovates, Collaborates. Below is what they had to say:

"She will always help is she feels she needs to, she checks in with us constantly, she always talked about everyone being accepted, she challenges us to be better every day, she makes fun new games and things for us to do to stay on task, and she works with her students closely, speaking from experience."

"She makes sure everyone is included despite experience level or background."

"Mrs. Cappelletti is an amazing teacher, kind, and is super fun to be around!!!"

Annie Banduch was nominated by a staff member for exhibiting the following Profile of an Educator competencies: Advocates, Empathizes, Thinks Critically, Embraces Diversity, Innovates, Collaborates. Below is what they had to say:

"I am nominating Annie for the Staffulty of the Month Award because she exemplifies all six competencies of an outstanding educator.

Advocates: Annie consistently advocates for her students, creating inclusive performance opportunities that allow students of all skills and backgrounds to shine. By directing our 3rd-Annual World-Language play, Encanto, she gave students who had never performed before the chance to take the stage, many for the first time in their native language. Her advocacy ensures every student feels valued and celebrated.

Empathizes: Annie’s deep empathy is evident in her approach to working with students. She recognizes and embraces each student’s unique cultural background, creating a supportive and understanding environment where students feel comfortable exploring and expressing themselves through performance.

Thinks Critically: Annie brought a thoughtful, reflective approach to every aspect of the production. By learning about Colombian culture with the company, she was able to make informed choices that respectfully and accurately represented the characters and the story, fostering an educational experience for both students and staff.

Embraces Diversity: Annie fully embraces diversity, casting 18 students from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds and supporting non-native Spanish speakers in participating. Her commitment to authentic representation on stage allows students to celebrate their heritage and learn from one another in a deeply meaningful way.

Innovates: Annie’s innovative approach to directing Encanto involved collaboratively learning about Colombian culture with her company. This hands-on exploration of cultural elements in the script and blocking process provided students with a dynamic learning experience and enriched the production’s authenticity.

Collaborates: Annie is a natural collaborator, working alongside students to draft the script, block the scenes, and build a respectful, creative community. Her ability to foster teamwork within the cast and crew created a sense of unity that inspired students to support one another in bringing this special production to life.

Annie’s incredible work not only showcased her dedication to student growth but also inspired the entire school community, highlighting the power of diversity and inclusion onstage."

David Elliott was nominated by a staff member for exhibiting the following Profile of an Educator competencies: Advocates, Empathizes, Collaborates. Below is what they had to say:

"Dave is always going above and beyond for his students. He voluntarily holds study sessions at Culver’s for his Calculus students. During his off periods, I always see him helping out students. Even before school I will see him with students! I admire his willingness to do all he can for his students. In addition, he’s always open to new ideas and gives great teaching advice."

We continue to build and live by our athletic motto: Students First: VICTORY Will Happen…as victory is way more important than just simply winning. We continue to implement Glenbard Profile of a Graduate transferable life skills and its six (6) competencies: self-empowered, communicates, thinks critically, embraces diversity, creates, and collaborates. We feel these skills will afford our students post-secondary opportunities including college, jobs/careers, military, or wherever their life takes them.

UpState Eight Conference: Congratulations to our 25+ individual all-conference athletes; and congratulations to our conference team champions; Freshmen A girls volleyball and Varsity football. We also had several teams, at all levels, finish near the top of the conference.

IHSA State Series: Congratulations to all of the fall varsity teams that competed at some level in the IHSA State Series! A special shout out to the Lilly Penfield (girls golf), advancing to the IHSA Sectional; Varsity football, advancing to round two of the IHSA State Playoffs and the first football team to win at the 8A level; and to Teigan O’Donnell (girls cross country) and Mason Hephner (boys cross country), advancing to the IHSA State Finals.

Basketball Boys, Eric Kelly (eric_kelly@glenbard.org), first game is Mon Nov 25

Basketball Girls, Nicole Miller (nicole_miller@glenbard.org), first game is Sat Nov 23

Bowling Boys, Steve Bair (steve_bair@glenbard.org), season started already

Bowling Girls, Dawn Chantos (dawn_chantos@glenbard.org), first meet starts Tue Dec 3

Cheer CoEd, Kelly Dolan (kelly_dolan@glenbard.org), season started already

Dance (Poms), Courtney Clay (courtney_clay@glenbard.org), season started already

Gymnastics Girls, Jessica Bugajsky (jessica_bugajsky@glenbard.org), first meet starts Wed Nov 27

Swimming Boys Co-op with Glenbard North, Tyler Buss (tyler_buss@glenbard.org), season starts Mon Nov 25

Wrestling Boys, Donald Pool (donald_pool@glenbard.org), first meet starts Wed Nov 29

Wrestling Girls, Matthew Nelson (matthew_nelson@glenbard.org), first meet start Wed Nov 29

Glenbard East Athletic Boosters 2nd Annual Fall Craft Fair took place on Saturday, October 26, with over 100 vendors (many which were local) and hundreds of visitors throughout the day! We appreciate the vendors for signing up as well as all the visitors (and shoppers) that attended. The date for next year will be Saturday, October 25, 2025 - please mark your calendars now.

Our Athletic Booster Club annually raises over $30,000 for our teams and student-athletes. They help provide essentials that enhance our athletic teams pursuit of VICTORY! However, we need more parent volunteers! Please sign up to help enhance our athletic program. The main website is: geramsboosters.org for information about membership, parent volunteer opportunities, fundraisers, concession, purchasing spirit wear, and family activity passes. Any further inquiries please contact Athletic Booster Club President, Mrs. Jerri Gapastione (jgw8@comcast.net).

Email: ge_news@glenbard.org
Website: glenbardeasths.org
Location: 1014 South Main Street, Lombard, IL, USA
Phone: (630) 627-9250
Twitter: @GE_Rams