Dear Families and Students,

Welcome back Orcas! I hope everyone had a wonderful Winter Break and an even better first week back. 2019 is off to a great start for many of our Orcas; see the Student Accolades section below and read all about the OSHS success stories!

We are starting off the year strong with many opportunities for our students: Mu Alpha Theta is hosting a competition at our Tech campus, OTRONICON at the Orlando Science Center is January 18-21st (sign up below to volunteer at the OSHS demo table), Science Olympiad competitions and much more!

We are pleased to announce that Orlando Science Middle High has partnered with Orange County Library System to provide free Virtual Library Cards (VLC) to all students. This amazing resource is helpful for those who do not have Orange County library cards or for those with delinquent OCLS accounts. More information can be found below.

In an effort to improve school safety, OSHS and the state of Florida are pleased to announce that the FortifyFL app is LIVE. This app allows any student, educator, parent or member of the public to report school safety concerns directly to law enforcement and school administrators anonymously and easily through the FortifyFL app or www.getfortifyfl.com. The Florida Legislature directed this tool’s development in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. See the details at the bottom of the newsletter.

We would like to wish our Science Olympiad Teams the best of luck at their competitions in Centerville, OH and at MIT this weekend! We know you will do your best.

Have a safe and wonderful weekend, and we will see you on Monday!

Respectfully,

Abdulaziz Yalcin, M.Ed

Principal

Orlando Science Schools-Middle/High

The OSHS Math League team did very well at their most recent competition: 2nd place overall for our district! Tenth graders Saardhak B. and Minh L. had perfect scores as well! Congratulations, well done Mathletes.

Congratulations to the students listed below who made the 2018-2019 Middle School Basketball Team! We would like to thank you to all those who came to try out at Lynx Tuesday and Wednesday. If you did not make the team this year, do not be discouraged. Continue to work hard and come back next year. Students who made the team, there will be practice Monday, Jan 14, at Lynx directly after club time (3:30 - 5pm).

-Coach Kelly and Mrs Mulligan

Jahmari A., Yousuf B., Aidan D., Aaron E., Rocco G., Issac K., Shrey P., Nehemiah P., Marcus Q., John R., Annabelle S-S., Connor S., Christian W. and Michael Y.

Students who have signed up for Saturday Studies should be prepared for the first session this Saturday, January 12th. Session one begins 9am-10:30am and session 2 begins at 10:40am-12:10pm. Check back on OSS Connect each Friday for the most up to date Saturday Studies schedule.

Orlando Science High School is proud to partner with the Orlando Science Center in 2019's exciting techie exhibit, Otronicon. This venue gives OSHS students the opportunity to showcase their robotic skills, PLTW lab expertise and engineering abilities with the community. Parents and students please sign up in the time slots, they are in 2 hour increments starting January 18th and ending January 21st. Thank you for your support!

We are excited to announce that the OCLS has partnered with OSS Middle/High to provide free Virtual Library Cards (VLC) to all of our students! There are many wonderful online resources students can access now from any computer with their credentials. Check out the website www.ocls.info and go to Research and Learning to explore all the learning opportunities the library offers. Use the credentials listed in the picture above to log in and learn!

All OSS families are welcome! Come to January's K-12 PVO meeting to get all of the details regarding the fall festival funds as well as all of PVO's upcoming 2019 projects. RSVP using the link below. Hope to see you there!

Attention OSS 6th-12th graders: The Florida Aviation Network is excited to introduce students to Aviation. This is an amazing line up with drones, simulators, 3 different airports and lots of enthusiastic Aviation professionals who want to share their passion.

The classes are open to all youth (not just Boy Scouts) in 6th through 12th grade. On the last class it'll be Family and Friends day. If any of the faculty in the High School or Middle School are interested they are welcome to attend. We are only inviting OSS, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Civil Air Patrol.

Please use the Eventbrite link to Sign Up for classes that fit your interests.

Use the password: AVIATIONMB2018.

Class 1: https://aviation-orientation-merit-badge-class1.eventbrite.com

Class 2: https://aviation-orientation-class2.eventbrite.com

Class 3: https://aviation-orientation-class3.eventbrite.com

Class 4: https://aviation-orientation-class4.eventbrite.com

Each class has a separate event page. Students can sign up for 1 class or all 4. I highly recommend Classes 2 and 3 for aspiring Pilots and Aerospace Engineers. We do ask that each child has 1 adult attend with them. For class 4 students can bring their family.

For further inquires, contact Ms. Steiner: altasteiner@gmail.com

Attention OSHS current 10th and 11th grade students: We are pleased to share with you an opportunity for Florida State University's Young Scholars Program (YSP). It is a six-week residential science and mathematics summer program for Florida high school students with significant potential for careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The program was developed in 1983 and is currently administered by the Office of Science Teaching Activities in the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida State University. For more details, please visit the Program Information page.

Eligibility:
The program is designed for students who have completed the eleventh grade in a Florida public or private high school. A few exceptionally qualified and mature tenth graders have been selected in past years, though this is quite rare.

To be considered for acceptance, applicants must:

• Maintain at least a 3.0 GPA (unweighted)
  
• Have received a score in the 90th percentile or better in math on a nationally standardized exam (i.e., SAT, PSAT, ACT, or PLAN) before the application deadline
  
• Be enrolled in or have completed Pre-Calculus
  
• Be able to commit for the entire six weeks of the program (no exceptions will be made for travel to other summer internship opportunities, sports camps, Mu Alpha Theta, etc.)
  
• Maintain a permanent residence in the state of Florida
  

Important Program Dates 2019:
January 1: Applications available online
February 15: Application deadline (must be postmarked by this day)
May 15: Admissions decisions finalized (on or before this day)
October 15: Summative evaluations available to students (on or before this day)

Click the application link below to apply on or after 1/1/2019. Good luck!

Dear OSS 8th Grade Families,

OSHS offers a variety of high school special programs to its students. Each student will find the most exciting and academically challenging programs for themselves. The programs offer students unique opportunities for in-depth experiences and study in specific areas of interest. Each special program emphasizes a specialized theme and sets high expectations for all students to improve their academic achievements and prepare them for the 21st-century careers. In addition, Orlando Science Special Programs offer students hands-on activities and real-world problem-solving approaches. While all the students are encouraged to apply, they must have a strong interest in specialty areas of the chosen program. Students also need to meet and retain the eligibility requirements of the selected program(s). The details and the course progression of each program are available in the Orlando Science Curriculum Guide. Please ensure that you have read about the programs before submitting this application form. The link for the program guide and the application are below.

• Friday, January 18th 2019 by 11:59 p.m.

Application Deadline

• Tuesday, January 29th 2019

Application results will be announced

This scholarship program helps support promising high school seniors who intend to pursue a career in an approved engineering, computer science, mathematics or physics program and who live in communities where Northrop Grumman Mission Systems has a major presence. That includes Florida's Orange County! OSHS Seniors check out the link below to learn more about NG's $8,000 scholarship opportunity.

FAFSA is the Federal Student Aid program. Every single college applicant needs to complete FAFSA regardless of their income. This application is free and completed through only one website. Do not pay to anyone or any website for completion of FAFSA. This should take no more than 45 minutes to complete if you have everything ready to go. FAFSA is time sensitive. The funds are distributed as first come first serve.

State of Florida has its own scholarship program called Bright Futures and it is managed through OSFA (Office of Student Financial Assistance). When you complete the application, you are also being evaluated for other scholarships through State of Florida. It is a very short application and should not take more than 15 minutes. Most important thing to know is that, you only complete the form and your transcript and SAT/ACT scores will be submitted automatically through OSS and the State of Florida University System. You are not required to satisfy all the application requirements until the end of the school year to apply to this scholarship. On the other hand, being qualified currently does not guarantee that you will receive this scholarship. If your end of year GPA falls under the requirement, then you will not be receiving the scholarship. Here are the current requirements:

Senior yearbook ads are now available!

Purchase an advertisement for your senior today. Include pictures and a short message for your student before they graduate. After payment is made be sure to email your pictures and your message to Ms. Lizarazo to make sure the correct information is placed in the yearbook.

Full page ad:

https://www.schoolpay.com/pay/for/FULL-PAGE-Senior-Yearbook--Advertisement-/IdDLy

1/2 page ad:

https://www.schoolpay.com/pay/for/HALF-PAGE-Senior-Yearbook--Advertisement-/IdDLx

Due date is March 29, 2019

The Orlando Science High School on Technology Drive opened its doors to a newly renovated campus in August 2018. One of the great features of the High School campus is the brand new Media Center. It serves as a space where all students can read, research and study. Please consider making a donation directly to the Media Center to help Mrs. Singleton stock the shelves and create a welcoming environment for our students. As always the Amazon Wishlist link below contains the most current requests from our staff and students.

OSS Families: See the important message below regarding FortifyFlorida.

We are pleased to announce that the FortifyFL app is LIVE. Now, any student, educator, parent or member of the public can report school safety concerns directly to law enforcement and school administrators anonymously and easily through the FortifyFL app or www.getfortifyfl.com. The Florida Legislature directed this tool’s development in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act.

The app, which is available for download on Apple and Android mobile devices, is critical to ensuring all Florida schools are safe environments where students and educators can experience and share the joy of learning without fear.

We hope that you will be come familiar with the app and help spread the word to other school families in Florida.

Sincerely,

Pam Bondi and Pam Stewart

Attorney General and Commissioner of Education

Our School System has recently updated our accounts on LinkedIn would love for you to join our network! Please see below for links to the official LinkedIn Company Pages for each of our campuses and feel free to share with current families and alumni.

• Orlando Science Schools (K-12): https://www.linkedin.com/company/orlando-science-schools/
  
• Osceola Science Charter School (K-8): https://www.linkedin.com/company/osceola-science-charter-school/
  
• Seminole Science Charter School (K-8): https://www.linkedin.com/company/seminole-science-charter-school/

This is an easy way to help raise money for Orlando Science Schools. Use the link below when shopping from Amazon. AmazonSmile donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Orlando Science Schools via Discovery Education Services, Inc. whenever you shop on AmazonSmile.

Office Depot provides the school with 5% back in credits for FREE supplies when you make a purchase of qualifying school supplies. Simply provide the school ID at checkout.

OSES School Code: 70228302

OSS School Code: 70218341

Hello OSS Families! Please remember that BOX TOPS are a wonderful FREE way to raise funds for our school. Each Box Top is worth $.10 and they really add up. Please make sure to continuously send these in so that I can mail them before their expiration dates. The monies received go to supporting our academic and sport teams, the PLTW (Project Lead the Way) along with many other OSS programs and classroom needs. If you would like to learn more about the Box Tops program go to www.btfe.com. Please register or login today. Make sure that you designate Orlando Science Schools as your school support.

To see a complete list of products go to: https://www.boxtops4education.com/earn/participating-products

Also, it is very important to check those expiration dates. We do not receive any credit for expired Box Tops.

Thank you so much for your support of Orlando Science Middle High School. For questions or thoughts please email me at jmallonee@cfl.rr.com.

Happy Clipping!

Denise Mallonee

Dear Orlando Science Lynx Lane and Technology High School Families,

It is time to join the Parent Volunteer Organization (PVO). Membership is $25 per family for returning families and $30 for new families, your membership dues go directly back into the school to provide items and supplies for our teachers. We are also asking that PVO members work with specific committees (School Improvement, Fundraising, Volunteer Work, Teacher Appreciation, Events, Etc.) Please utilize the SCHOOL PAY link below to pay your dues.

If you have questions, comments, or requests, you may email OSS.PVO@orlandoscience.org . A formal PVO committee, including president and vice-president, will be announced at the end of the first quarter of the 2018-2019 School Year. PVO will hold bi-monthly meetings that will inform parents of progress, agendas, and upcoming events.

Thank you for all of your help and support as we look forward to a great year.

If you are an ADDitions approved volunteer, OSHS can use your help! We are looking for parents or responsible adults over the age of 18 to help during lunch times (approximately 11am-1pm) and during car line before and after school. Please contact Ms. Foley to schedule the exact time slots. All volunteers must complete the ADDitions application is here: https://ocps.samaritan.com/custom/503/ beforehand. Thank you for all you do to help make OSHS great!

Orcas interested in dressing down for their birthday MUST submit a "Dress Down Day" form(found below) to Mrs. Foley at least two business days prior to the requested dress down date.

Technology Drive High School Orcas Families please make sure to review the Dress Code with your students. Dress Code may be found on page 29 in the OSS Handbook HS 2018-2019 below.

Families whose Free/Reduced lunch applications have expired, please take a moment and fill out the OCPS Free/Reduced Meal Application today! It must be completed each year to qualify for this federally funded program. To fill out the application click the link below.

Email: info@orlandoscience.org
Website: http://orlandoscience.org/highschool/
Location: 2600 Technology Drive, Orlando, FL, USA
Phone: (407)299-6595
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orlandoscience/
Twitter: @OrlandoSciMH