The Weekly Penguin

I hope students enjoyed the mid-week break on account of staff professional development day on Wednesday. I have one message for the top today: I am imploring you all to please not double- or triple- park along Arcadia. It restricts the throughway, it blocks people who are pulled into the designated bay, and it causes unnecessary traffic congestion. Today I stood at the north Arcadia pedestrian gate and saw the congestion myself, including people then stopping in the narrow throughway to pick up their students walking out. I know we do not have a perfect system, but I need everyone to operate within what we have. Thank you for your investment in your students' education. See below for some new and repeat info. See you tomorrow!

Upcoming events:

08.27.24 UHS School Council meeting - 3:30-5:00pm, RUHS library and Zoom

09.02.24 Labor Day - no school for students, school closed

09.03.24 sequential schedule day - #3 on the bell schedule, like Thursday/Friday, NO CONFERENCE PERIOD

09.10.24 RUHS Club Fair - 8:00-9:00am, cafeteria breezeway (see info below in the Rincon/University clubs announcement)

09.19.24 Parent/Teacher conferences - 4:30-6:30pm, live or Zoom (connect with your student's teachers to make arrangements)

09.20.24 Half-day schedule - #5 on the bell schedule, dismiss at 11:25am

10.04.24 Grading Day (end of 1st quarter) - no school for students

10.04.24-10.13.24 Fall break - no school for students, school closed

10.18.24 Homecoming

10.19.24 UHS homecoming dance - time/info TBD

AP exams and registration

Athletics - fall sports

Athletics - coaching positions available

Attendance procedures

Campus security: drop-off and pick-up procedures

Campus security: on-campus procedures

CANVAS access for parents

CCCC (College, Career, and Counseling Center) update

Counseling team and assignments

Major road construction project forthcoming

Parent cohort meetings!

ParentVUE access

Rincon/University clubs, club fair!

Teen Mobile Clinic

UHSPA - mid-August update

Yearbook and retake info

This week, teachers and counselors reviewed information on AP Exam Registration. Students have a copy, you can review it here. Take a moment to complete the 2025 AP Registration Understanding & Agreements Form . Please note that you must complete it even if you are not registering for any exams. This is also the method by which you indicate a need for a fee waiver.

Fall Sports season is here! Get your season pass for $30 in the finance office. This ticket allows you to get into all home game event excepting post-season competition/play. All proceeds generated from purchasing this pass stay at the school.

• If you wish to participate in a winter or spring sport you can get your athletic packets done NOW. This will save time during the rush to get these done right before a season starts. Stop by Ms. Bull Calf's desk in the UHS admin office to pick up and drop off packets, or if you have questions.
• Cross Country athletes: meet in front of the Amphi (Languages) Building at 3:30pm. Talk to Coach about Wednesday schedule.
• Swim athletes: meet by the Arcadia gate at 3:20 pm, a bus will take you to the Catalina HS pool.

See below for direct links to each sport offered for the Fall season at Rincon/University High School.

Cross country - boys VAR

Cross country - boys JV

Cross country - girls VAR

Cross country - girl JV

Football - VAR

Football - FR/SO

Golf - boys

Golf - girls

Swim and dive - boys VAR

Swim and dive - boys JV (coming soon!)

Swim and dive - boys FR (coming soon!)

Swim and dive - girls VAR

Swim and dive - girls JV (coming soon!)

Swim and dive - girls FR (coming soon!)

Volleyball - girls VAR

Volleyball - girls JV

Volleyball - girls FR/SO

We have two great opportunities if anyone is interested in coaching at our school this year. We have a swimming coach and assistant girls' volleyball position open. If you are interested in being part of these teams, please talk to our Athletic Director Lance LaVetter at Lance.LaVetter@tusd1.org or Rincon HS Pablo Madrid at Pablo.Madrid@tusd1.org if you are interested. We would love to have you join us!

To excuse a student’s absence or tardy

If your student will be absent or tardy, this year you will have 3 ways of reporting it. You will need to have the student’s name, date of birth and the reason they will be out.

• Go to your ParentVue account, select attendance from the menu on the left and click on the box “report absence”. This is the fastest way.
• You can email universityattendance@tusd1.org or laura.feigenbaum@tusd1.org.
• Call the attendance line at 520-232-5902. If you are unable to reach a person, please leave only ONE message.

Our office staff will retrieve your information from one of the methods above as quickly as possible during office hours. Your information may not be entered prior to you receiving our automated attendance call. Please refer to your Parent Vue account after 3:00 p.m the same day to verify that the absence/tardy has been updated. If it has not been recorded, please email universityattendance@tusd1.org to fix. Please be aware that the highest call volume is between 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Student’s leaving early

If you are aware that your student will need to leave early, you have some options:

• You can send a note with the student and have them come to the attendance office before school starts and we will issue a pass.
• You can either email or give us a call directly. We will issue the pass for the student to leave their class at the time requested. Please give us at least 15 minutes to complete this process if calling in.
• If you need to come in, we will be happy to get your student for you upon your arrival, be aware that it may take additional time this way so please plan accordingly.
• For added security, you will need to show your photo ID in two areas on campus, at the front security gate and ALSO in the Attendance Office. Your student WILL NOT be released without proper identification. ANY parent, guardian, or person on emergency contact listed in the original student’s registration for the current school year can sign-out your student.

We WILL NOT accept calls, emails or in person requests for students to leave early after 2:45 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, or after 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Students MUST sign-out and receive a pass from the attendance office prior to leaving campus.

***We are continuing to see a number of traffic violations, and TPD officers are now patrolling the school and surrounding areas during high volume times. Please stay safe! Follow our procedures!

Student pick-up and drop-off will occur on Arcadia Ave, on the east side of the school. Arcadia Ave can be accessed from either 5th St to the north of the school, or Broadway Blvd to the south of the school, all just east of Swan Rd. The entrance to the school is the southernmost purple rolling gate with the white security guard booth alongside, as indicated below. You may also drop of students along Arcadia Ave by pulling into the bays, which are designated for parent drop-off and pick-up. Please do not seek other entrances, driveways, drop-off or pick-up locations, such as the curb in front of the admin building (it is marked for law enforcement and district vehicles). We know some of you get here particularly early or have done things a specific way in the past, but please follow these procedures. See the maps below for access and routes. (RUHS school access map, and RUHS dropoff, pickup map)

Students may park in one of two designated areas depending on the specific permit you applied for and were provided. See the maps below for access locations. (RUHS south student parking, RUHS north student parking). Students note: the north lot is primarily reserved for faculty and staff. Park only in the locations outlined by the red rectangles and only if you have a permit specifically for the north lot.

Please follow all traffic laws and safety procedures above and beyond what you might plan for. The safety of our students, staff, and families is paramount and we CANNOT put that at risk by speeding, double- and triple-parking, stopping in main throughways/streets, pulling into public bas bays, pulling into bike lanes, or otherwise driving unsafely or stopping anywhere other than designated areas. Tucson Police will have intermittent patrol around the school but tickets/fines/paper arrests are the norm procedurally. Please be safe.

Arriving late to school

All exterior gates to the school except the main gate at the guard shack on Arcadia Ave will be closed no later than 10 minutes after the tardy bell. The Penguin gate leading to the interior of campus next tot health office will be closed right at the tardy bell. All students arriving late will then need to be dropped off OUTSIDE the main gate and check in with security before entering campus. Students will then go to the buzzer door next to the administration building to be let in after verifying their identification (see student IDs below). Students will then head to their respective attendance office to sign in and get a tardy slip to get into class. This is not an excused tardy if there was no call in previous to arrival. Students will not enter the school through any other gate, fence, door, or other entrance aside from the buzzer door when arriving late to school.

Items for student pickup

Any items brought to the school for student pickup (i.e. forgotten school materials such as musical instruments, school devices, athletic equipment, etc.) must be dropped off with the security monitor at the main gate. We will ensure all items are brought to students. The following are items which will not be delivered:

• Cash money
• Food (with exceptions for students who forgot their lunch and have specific dietary restrictions)
• Flowers/balloons

No food delivery

Students are not allowed to order food through delivery services of any kind to be delivered to the school. Any deliveries arriving for students will be turned away at the students' expense.

University High School utilizes CANVAS for its classroom curriculum. Here are the instructions for parent access to your student's CANVAS classrooms. Contact Mr. Nieves at Kevin.NievesPichardo@tusd1.org if you have any questions or difficulties getting your parent CANVAS access set up.

SENIORS:

-Join the instate university info sessions & workshops to complete your general in-state college applications and gather information on the Honors Colleges before your ECAP is due on September 3rd! This week – NAU will be here to go over admissions for the university plus the Honors College on Tuesday 8/27! ASU will also be here in case you missed their visit on 8/19 – stop by the CCCC during conference period!

-Monday lunch in the CCCC – join us for a merit-based scholarship workshop, focusing on the Flinn Scholarship!

[An instate scholarship program for students who excel academically (min 3.5 unweighted GPA, min 29 ACT or 1360 SAT) and are involved in extracurricular activities. The scholarship is worth over $115,000 and covers the cost of tuition, fees, room and board and at least two study-abroad experiences at one of the public Arizona Universities.]

-Tuesday lunch in the CCCC – join us for a needs-based scholarship workshop, focusing the Questbridge Scholarship program!

[QuestBridge partners with the best colleges to help high-achieving, low-income students attend a top college affordably. Students who have mostly A's in classes, a min 1270 on the SAT/PSAT or a min 26 on the ACT, and a family income of $65,000 or less for a family of four should apply. Full ride!]

JUNIORS: Join the UHS Counseling team for our quarterly College-Ready Seminars focusing on how juniors can prepare for applying to college. Each quarter we will focus on a different topic to assist juniors & families in their college planning by breaking down the process and helping you work smarter, not harder! We highly encourage all junior students and families to attend each quarter so they are best prepared for next year.

[Q1] College Admissions Testing – September 10

[Q2] Building Your College List – November 19

[Q3] Financing College – February 4

[Q4] Planning & Preparing for the College Application Process – April 15

All seminars take place on Zoom starting at 6:00 pm. See attachment before for more info.

ALL STUDENTS:

Many colleges and university representatives visit UHS each year, primarily in the fall semester, to share admissions and application information. Unless noted otherwise, all grades are welcome to attend these visits. While we try to schedule visits when class is not in session, sometimes they do fall during class time. When you sign up for a visit, you will receive an email confirmation that can be used as your pass to leave class to attend the visit; however, you have to clear it with your teacher prior to missing any class for a visit! Students can review the current schedule and sign up for visits here: CCCC (tusd1.org) (go to the College & Career section, then look at the info under College Visits)

Doorway to College Foundation is offering a PSAT/SAT Test Prep Seminar, to be held in person at UHS on Wednesday, 9/18/24 and Thursday, 9/19/24 from 6:30 to 9:00 PM. See attachment before for more info.

Scholarship assistance available to students with demonstrated financial need – please contact Ms. Villagio – amy.villagio2@tusd1.org

Mark your calendar so you don’t miss the Southern Arizona College and Career Night! Tuesday 9/17 from 6:30-8:30 PM at the TCC – free admission and parking! Meet with representatives from schools across the country, plus industry leaders to learn about career opportunities. Free scholarship sweepstakes entry if you attend! See attached flyer for more information.

Amy Villagio

Department chair

Counselor grades 11/12

Last names A-L

email Ms. Villagio

Max Encinas

Counselor grades 11/12

Last names M-Z

email Mr. Encinas

Sam Matz

Counselor grades 9/10

Last names A-L

email Mr. Matz

Kate Brownstone

Counselor grades 9/10

Last names M-Z

email Ms. Brownstone

Marcos Flores

504 coordinator, testing coordinator

email Mr. Flores

Katrina Messing

Recruitment and Retention Coordinator

email Ms. Messing

Megan Palos

College and Career Coordinator

email Ms. Palos

Kirsten Pelot

MTSS Coordinator

email Ms. Pelot

The City of Tucson Transportation and Mobility Department has created a road construction plan that aims to permanently change the 5th/6th Street Corridor by reducing the four lanes currently existing down to two lanes, with construction beginning soon. The project is called a “road diet” project as it will reduce the lanes of east/west vehicle travel, by adding/maintaining a center lane for turning and pedestrian bike lanes. This construction will impact travel to and from University High School and is anticipated to affect student drop-off/pick-up in the area.

At this time, the Department of Transportation and Mobility has projected that the work will begin in mid-September 2024, beginning with a water line installation along 5th Street from Wilmot Road to Country Club Road. The waterline work is anticipated to take about 18 months to complete and will reduce travel down to two lanes. The roadway reconstruction along this segment of 5th Street is not expected to begin until the waterline work is complete.

The City of Tucson has completed two previous traffic studies in 2016 and 2022, and you can find those on the project website.

Please see link below if you are interested in more details.

https://dtmprojects.tucsonaz.gov/pages/fifth-sixth-street

If you are passionate about this “road diet” project and would like an opportunity to express concerns or voice your support, you may consider attending the Mayor and City Council Meeting on August 27th at 5:30 p.m. to share your thoughts during the call to the audience. The meeting will be held at 255 W Alameda St.

If you cannot attend the City Council Meeting, but would like to express your passions, whether they be positive or negative, regarding the project, you may reach out to the Mayor, Regina Romero at 520-791-4201 or mayor.romero@tucsonaz.gov and/or the Ward 6 Council Member, Karin Uhlich at 520-791-2311 or ward6@tucconaz.gov .

Thank you all for attending the parent cohort meetings over the past few weeks. If you missed them or want to review information, please check out each respective slideshow below for your student cohort's information.

TUSD has a tutorial on how to access ParentVUE, which you will need to see your student's schedule, complete registration, and see other pertinent information. Learn what you need to know about accessing ParentVUE.

Our annual Clubs Spreadsheet is here and growing fast! After 2 weeks we've already chartered 46 clubs - holy smokes. This list will continually be updated, so check back for updates as more clubs are added!

08.18.24 RUHS clubs.xlsx

The RUHS Club Fair will be on Tuesday, September 10th from 8:00am-9:00am in the Cafeteria Breezeway! Club officers can request a booth with Mr. O at Jacob.Ollanik@tusd1.org

The Teen Mobile Clinic will be on campus the 3rd Tuesday of every month from 8:30am-12:30pm. If you would like to be seen, you must sign up in the Rincon/University health office to be put on the schedule. This is a new addition sponsored by the Pima County Health Department. For more information, please read the letter below which was sent out at the end of last semester.

We have almost made it to the end of the first week of school! Wanted to let everyone know about our upcoming meeting and provide thanks to all the parents that supported our back to school teacher supply drive!

Make sure to join us for our first meeting on August 20 at 6PM in the RUHS Library. Future meetings will be on the 3rd Tuesday of each month. This meeting will focus on welcoming underclass parents to the UHSPA since the meeting will be at the same time as the senior cohort Zoom meeting.

Our UHS families have been amazingly supportive of our classroom supply drive. The Wishlist will stay open to reflect current classroom requests. Check out our Amazon Wishlist to support our most recent classroom needs.

** Sign Up for Remind- text [student grad year code] to 81010 ([student grad year code]: @uhspa2025, @uhspa2026, @uhspa2027, or @uhspa2028) ** Subscribe for communications from UHSPA **

Yearbook and Picture Retake Info

The yearbook is discounted to our cost ($65) for a limited time. To make sure to get the lowest price, please purchase your yearbook soon. The link for purchase is https://ybpay.lifetouch.com/ and our school code is 15096125.

Underclassmen and Underclassmen Parents:

Lifetouch photo orders: Link for Purchase with 10% off Code

UNDERCLASSMEN (freshmen - juniors) picture retakes are WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 18TH.

1. If you missed the initial picture day during registration, you do not need to schedule an appointment. A yearbook staff will deliver you a pass the day of Sept. 18th. You will not be out of class for more than 15 minutes.

2. If you would like to take advantage of retakes because you are unhappy with the first picture, please schedule an appointment on the following link: https://calendly.com/patricia-wheeler-dgm/photo-retake-signup-uhs-yearbook

Seniors and Senior Parents:

1. The senior ads (yearbook tributes) ARE NOW available for purchase! Senior ads can be purchased on the same link as the yearbook. If you already purchased a yearbook, make sure to select the separate option for only the student ad; otherwise, they can be purchased together.

2. If you have already signed up for your yearbook photo session, THANK YOU so much! It helps our yearbook staff tremendously that you completed this important task for the senior section.

3. If you have NOT signed up for your senior yearbook photo session yet, please see below:

If you plan on taking your yearbook photo through Silhouette, please SIGN UP soon! Those images need to be taken by late October. https://www.silhouettephoto.com/

If you would like to take advantage of the on-campus Prestige senior photo option or would like to take advantage of their retake option, they will be back on campus Oct. 1st and 2nd. The signup for those dates will be ready in a few weeks.

We only have two more months to complete the senior portraits for the yearbook! Thank you for helping yearbook staff complete the portraits section of the yearbook!

Please email Ms. Wheeler with any questions you may have about the yearbook or yearbook photos. Patricia.wheeler@tusd1.org