Weekly Cougar News

Good Afternoon, Cougar Nation!

I hope this email finds you well. Last night we hosted our second virtual open house. I was happy to address families before everyone departed to attend their respective virtual sessions. If you weren't able to virtually attend but have questions, please reach out directly to your student's teachers. Included below is a slideshow of pictures that were taken in school last night.

On Tuesday, March 2, the ConVal School Board approved the graduation date for the Class of 2021. Graduation ceremonies will be held on Friday, June 11, starting at 6:00 pm. It is very important that all seniors have ordered their caps and gowns. Please see more time-sensitive information below and reach out to Mrs. Coyne with any questions.

I look forward to virtually attending the Scholastic Art Awards of NH this evening at 6:00 pm to support our Digital and Video students who earned a collective 29 awards this year! Congratulations are also in order for our Ocean Bowl students and a student who represented our school well at the American Legion Oratorical Contest. More details are shared below.

I am pleased to announce that you are now able to order ConVal gear online! More details and information are noted towards the end of this newsletter.

March is Women's History Month. Please consider perusing some of the information shared below.

We have one more week until a much-deserved two-week vacation. I am proud of our students for their hard work and hope that many will be able to take a break from long screen times in the near future.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend,

Heather

Email: conval.highschool@conval.edu
Website: http://cvhs.convalsd.net/
Location: 184 Hancock Road, Peterborough, NH, USA
Phone: 603 924-3869

ConVal has launched two surveys, both of which can be found at ConValSurveys.com and are open to families of students who attend district schools, as well as residents of the nine towns ConVal serves. Parents and/or guardians of students who currently attend the district can find the family-oriented survey here. Residents of Antrim, Bennington, Dublin, Francestown, Greenfield, Hancock, Peterborough, Sharon and Temple who do not have children currently attending ConVal schools are encouraged to complete the community-oriented survey here.

March 2, 2021 - Scholastic Arts Awards of NH virtual ceremony at 6pm (see below)

March 9, 2021 - No school for students

March 15-26, 2021— School vacation

April 5, 2021 — Students return to the hybrid model

April 14, 2021 — SATs for 11th Grade (see below for more information)

Please join the ConVal Community as we celebrate the artwork of the Digital Photo and Video students, who brought home 29 awards from the Scholastic Arts Awards program this year! The community can view the works during the Scholastic Arts Awards of NH virtual ceremony March 5 at 6 PM. Winners of Gold Keys will move forward to the national competition and compete for scholarship funds. We look forward to honoring all of the recipients by posting their pieces on the CVHS website following the award ceremony.

Our CVHS community is celebrating Women's History Month this March. This year's theme, as determined by the National Women's History Alliance, focuses on the suffragettes: Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced. When considering the contributions of these women and so many others, the running theme is of perseverance. As writer Maya Angelou said, "You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” These words ring as true now, with the many challenges we are facing, as they did when she first shared them.

Please consider exploring some of the women the CVHS library is spotlighting in the Women's History Month Collection. There are multiple modes of media included in this resource. Interested in the contributions of women from NH? Check out the Influential New Hampshire Women page put together by USA Today.

Students in the Emergency Medical Technician have the opportunity to shadow professional firefighters and EMTs as they explore the career path.

Congratulations to: Catilin Beal, Lydia Cleveland, Abraham Dreher, Violet Fletcher, Leah Krason, Eva McCullough, Gabriella Oja, Avery Pope, Conor Simmons, and Mary Visingard!

On Saturday, February 27th ConVal Ocean Bowl placed 2nd as a school in the Nor’easter Bowl which is the regional National Science Ocean Bowl competition. The competition was held virtually this year and students have been practicing all year via Zoom. Hopefully, in the future, the Oceanography course can resume making the CV Ocean Bowl team even more competitive!

Congratulations to Matthew Colby ( 9th grade) who has represented ConVal well in the district’s American Legion Oratorical contest. Matthew will advance to the state finals on March 13th. There is no national contest this year, so the state level will be the final round. The contestants that participated in this contest were asked to write, memorize and give an eight-ten minute speech on some aspect of the Constitution, and then give a 3-5 minute speech on one of 4 assigned constitutional topics. ConVal sends positive wishes to Matthew as he prepares for the state finals.

On Tuesday, the ConVal School Board approved the graduation date for the Class of 2021. Graduation ceremonies will be held on Friday, June 11, starting at 6:00 pm.

We currently anticipate that each graduate will be able to invite up to four guests to the outdoor event. In consultation with the ConVal COVID-19 Monitoring Team, we will notify graduates if they can bring additional guests.

If you have not yet ordered your cap and gown, please do so now, as time is running out. Please go to Jostons.com to place your order. Once you at the website, please scroll down to select the mini package if you only chose to order cap and gown. Caps and gowns are now priced at $29.00. If there is a financial need please email Mrs. Coyne at dcoyne@conval.edu.

On Monday night, the Boys Basketball team defeated John Stark in the preliminary round of the state tournament and then traveled to Lebanon on Thursday, played well, but lost in the

Division 2 quarterfinals. Congratulations on your season!

The Girls Ice Hockey team qualified for the Division 1 State Tournament and lost to a strong Hanover team. Congratulations on your season!

The Girls Basketball team qualified to play in the Division 2 Tournament and will host Lebanon in a preliminary round game later this evening. Good luck!

The Nordic Ski team finished in 6th place at the Division 1 State Championships. Congratulations to Eva Culcutt who qualified to race in the Meet of Champions on March 9th. Wishing you good luck, Eva on Tuesday, March 9th.

As our winter sports season comes to a close, it's time to begin thinking about spring sports registration. Athletes can be registered on FamilyID, and the spring sports proposal will be discussed at the school board meeting on March 16th.

The Student Council is sponsoring a collection drive for the Free Store in Keene which is affiliated with the NH Mutual Aid Relief Fund. The Free Store is looking for basic camping gear: rope, duct tape, tarps, hand warmers, flashlights, batteries (AA, AAA, D), sleeping bags, tents, new wool socks, full-sized can openers, phone chargers, and camp cots, to help support people in our area struggling with homelessness. Students and community members can use the main entrance to drop off items in one of the four boxes located in the link. These boxes represent the four classes at ConVal, and Spirit Week points will be awarded to each class. The drive will run until March 12th.

Course Selection

By the end of next week, school counselors will have scheduled meetings with all of their current students to review and finalize their course selections for next school year. If a student missed their meeting with their school counselor and want to schedule a make-up meeting, they should reach out directly to their school counselor or contact our registrar, Stacy Whitaker, at extension 3201 for help scheduling an appointment.

April 14th SATs for Juniors

11th grade students will take the SATs on Wednesday, April 14th as part of the mandatory testing required by the NH Department of Education. An email with the following letter was sent to all 11th grade students and families on March 4th. If you missed the communication, a copy of the letter can be found here

The 2021 ConVal Scholarship Application that is used to apply to a wide variety of local scholarship opportunities is now available in Naviance for all seniors.

To access the application, students will need to log in to their Naviance account, click Colleges > Scholarship List > Local and Regional Scholarships > 2021 ConVal Regional High School Scholarship Application.

The application with the required documents must be submitted electronically to Ms. Whitaker at swhitaker@conval.edu no later than by the end of business on April 29, 2021.

If you have questions, need any assistance obtaining this form, or logging into your Naviance account please contact your school counselor or Ms. Whitaker.

On Thursday, March 4, 2021 we hosted our second virtual open house of the school year. Staff were excited to virtually connect with families as they shared information about their respective courses. Please click here to view some photos during our virtual open house

Please click here to view the ConVal District video that was put together.

In Mr. Heider's Eastern World Heritage class students were comparing and contrasting the causes, consequences, and experiences of the refugee situation in Syria and Myanmar.

The New Hampshire Mutual Aid Relief Fund (NHMARF) is a 100% volunteer-run grassroots effort that provides items to our unhoused neighbors across the state. MARF volunteers believe that direct action and solidarity are the best ways to meet the material and social needs of our community. Items are distributed directly to people through the Free Stores in Keene, Manchester, Dover, and Seacoast.

The ConVal Student Council is collecting camping supplies to donate to the Keene Free Store. Camping supplies like rope, hand warmers, tents, cots, tarps, and the other items we are collecting can be literal lifesavers. Please bring in items and put them in your class’s designated box in the link! The points will go to spirit week but more importantly, you will be directly positively impacting someone’s life. You can also donate to MARF at https://donorbox.org/nhmarf. 100% of proceeds are used to purchase food, first aid supplies, hygiene products, and more.

Students who are looking to learn more about the environment and enjoy academic team competitions are invited to explore Envirothon as a club.

Envirothon is an environmentally themed academic competition for students. Competitions are held on a regional, state, and bi-national level by the United States and Canada. ConVal has had teams participating in Envirothon competitions for the past 28 years.

Envirothon meets every Monday from 2:45-3:45 via Zoom. Email Mrs. Johnson at ajohnson@conval.edu for more details, our zoom link, and the Google Classroom code.

The ConVal School Store has moved online. Visitors can find everything from ConVal-branded t-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, jackets, hoodies, hats, and even CV-branded face masks!

Winter orders are accepted until March 31, 2021. After that date, all ordered apparel is printed or embroidered, and completed orders will be delivered to ConVal High School.

Click here to place your order.

We wanted to share the link to our schedules for any future delayed openings.

Please click here to view March 2021 Flyer.