BHS Februrary Newsletter

Welcome to February! As we embark on the second semester, I hope this message finds you well and that your family is staying warm and healthy during this chilly season. It’s an exciting time here at Burlington High School as we dive into new opportunities and continue to support our students in their academic and personal growth.

With the start of the second semester, our students are settling into their new classes and routines. Additionally, we are in the midst of wrapping up scheduling for the 2025-2026 school year. We have been working diligently with students to ensure they have the guidance and resources needed to make informed decisions about their academic paths.

Thank you for your continued support and collaboration. Together, we can make this semester a successful and enriching experience for all our students.

Warm regards,

Amy Levonian, Principal

Jeff Gardon, Associate Principal

Reid Oldenburg, Associate Principal

Eric Sulik, Activities Director

As we reach the halfway point of the school year, we kindly ask for your assistance in ensuring that your student’s contact information (which includes emergency contacts) in Skyward is accurate and up to date. This information helps ensure we contact you or another trusted individual in the event of a need to contact you during the school day.

If you need assistance or prefer to update your information over the phone, please contact our office at 262-763-0200 or email us at bhsprincipal@basd.k12.wi.us.

As a reminder, every other Wednesday, all BASD schools will have a late start. We will have 2 late starts in the month of February: February 12th and February 26th. You can find the BHS Bell Schedule here. For the complete listing of all late start days, please see the BASD Family Calendar 2024-2025.

We are dedicated to ensuring that every student achieves academic success. To support this, we introduced our new Flex Success Period, which began in the first week of the second semester.

The Flex Success period is designed to provide support for our freshmen, sophomores, and juniors who did not demonstrate proficiency on last spring's PreACT or this fall's Horizon assessment. Twice a week, during the flex period, students will receive assistance aimed at enhancing their academic skills and meeting academic standards.

We are excited about the potential of the Flex Success Period to make a positive impact on our students' learning journeys.

Students and families participating in either the preACT or ACT are encouraged to visit BHS's website for practice tests, tips, and resources to support their preparation.

To further support student success, we recently emailed personalized testing summaries to all Freshmen, Sophomores, and Junior students and families. These summaries included a detailed comparison of students' 2023-24 and 2024-25 test results against key benchmarks.

Horizon Practice PreACT / ACT for Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors: Tuesday, February 11th

• Seniors will have asynchronous learning this day
• Click here for details on Horizon testing

ACT Test for Juniors: Tuesday, March 11th

• Freshmen, Sophomores, and Seniors will have asynchronous learning this day

PreACT Test for Freshmen and Sophomores: Tuesday, April 8th

• Juniors and Seniors will have asynchronous learning this day

Burlington Community Education is partnering with us to bring ZAPS ACT Test Prep to your student! Register at www.doorwaytocollege.org or call 877-927-8378

Each month, BHS students will be recognized for their positive contributions to our school community. We want to thank these students for being outstanding role models. The following students have been named the students of the month for January!

On the morning of January 9th, we had an incredible session with both alumni and current students from the Youth Apprenticeship program who visited our Freshman Seminar classes.

These inspiring young adults shared their personal experiences, answered questions, and discussed the valuable opportunities they explored while at BHS. They also gave a glimpse into what they’re doing now, showing the real-world impact of the program!

Our freshmen had the chance to sharpen their soft skills by engaging in thoughtful conversations about career paths, internships, and the exciting possibilities ahead.

The session was a great way for students to see how they can start shaping their future while still in high school. We’re so proud of all our Youth Apprenticeship participants and can’t wait to see what they do next!

We’re thrilled to share that Brody Stratton and Shawn McCann, both students at Burlington High School, have been featured in the December edition of the Wisconsin Youth Conservation Congress (YCC) publication!

The YCC is an amazing program that educates and empowers young people to become stewards of Wisconsin's natural resources, giving them a voice in conservation and environmental management.

We’re so proud of Brody and Shawn for being recognized for their dedication and passion for preserving our state’s beautiful environment! Keep up the great work, gentlemen!

A huge thank you to our driven students for welcoming all the 8th grade families and giving tours of our beautiful school on January 27th! Your passion and dedication truly shine, and you made the evening unforgettable.

We had a fantastic turnout and couldn’t be more excited about the bright future ahead for the Class of 2029! It was so great connecting with families, showcasing the amazing opportunities BHS has to offer, and catching a glimpse of the next generation of Demons!

Burlington High School invites you to 2nd annual Spring Family Engagement Night on Wednesday, March 19th! This event is designed to strengthen family-school connections and help guide students toward success after high school. Explore high school classes, meet teachers, and learn about post-secondary pathways, including college, careers, military opportunities, and apprenticeships.

Stay tuned for more details—we look forward to seeing you there for this engaging and informative evening!

The Burlington Area School District is taking part in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) sponsored by the Department of Public Instruction (grades 9-12). BHS students will be taking the survey during advisory on Wednesday, February 26th, 2025.

Please see this letter for details regarding the survey.

BHS juniors and Seniors have the opportunity to earn college credit at a postsecondary institution before graduating high school via Start College Now (SCN) and Early College Credit Program (ECCP). These programs help students maintain growth in their chosen career pathway once they have exhausted the high school course offerings in that pathway.

Please visit this link for everything you need to know about our Dual Credit programs, including applications and forms.

Applications for the Fall 2025 semester are due to Mrs. Everett in the main office by March 1st.

Please email Mrs. Everett at severett@basd.k12.wi.us if you have any additional questions about this amazing opportunity!

BHS will offer THREE Initial Credit summer school classes: Consumer Economics (Meets Junior Financial Literacy Requirement), Health, and Physical Education as well as credit recovery in Math, Science, English, and Social Studies. These classes will be held at Karcher Middle School: 300 Wainwright Avenue, Burlington.

Each class will run from Monday, June 9 until Thursday, July 10 with no class on Fridays.

A sign up link will be sent to all families at the end of February or beginning of March once all teaching staff is secured for the THREE Initial Credit classes. Students will be prioritized by grade level first (Juniors first, then Sophomores, then Freshmen) then by the date and time of registration. Additional summer school information will also be provided at that time. Please do not hesitate to reach out to the counseling department or Mr. Oldenburg if you have any questions or concerns related to summer school.

Community Connections is new to BASD, with the purpose to have a monthly meeting where anyone in the Community can come and learn about the Burlington Area School District.

We encourage families to attend any and all sessions that are of interest, with the next one coming up on February 19th, focusing on school funding and budgeting.

We are proud to share that BHS dance earned the Regional champ title and took two routines to State, and all three solos (Ella Koldeway, Brynnly Gaal, and Aniya Passante) were All-State qualifiers!!

The boys wrestling team finished 1st at the River Valley Invitational (1/18) and Demon Invitation (1/25). The girls wrestling team finished 2nd at the Demon Invitation (1/25).

Congratulations to Kade Boyd and Patrick Skrundz who both won their 100th career matches!

Health Occupations of Students of America or HOSA is in its inaugural year BHS. Burlington High School qualified 11 students to compete at the State Competition in April.

Where to Locate Scholarships:

• Go to your college’s Financial Aid page to find specific scholarships that you can apply for through them
• Check out the Scholarship page on the BHS Website! The Common App for Local Scholarships will go out to all seniors in mid-January. Be sure to have 2 letters of recommendation to include in your BHS Common App. These can be from a teacher, coach, mentor, employer–someone who can vouch for your character. The deadline is Monday, February 17th.
• Get connected with 1 national database, such as, Going Merry, FastWeb, Scholarship America and fill out the profile with as much information about you to narrow the search of scholarships available to you!
• Continue to visit our Scholarship page on the BHS Website! New scholarships are being added weekly!

FAFSA is Open!

College Goal FAFSA Completion Events

Funding for College/Financial Aid Night Presentation

Funding for College Flyer

Course Scheduling was an all hands on deck process! Students should have turned in their course sheets and entered as much as possible into Xello. Do not fret if Xello doesn’t have everything. It is a tool and definitely not perfect, but it does help us out a lot as we sift through all of the requests from all students.

• Just a reminder this is the first step in the scheduling process. All students for full-time enrollment, have to have at least 6.0 credits in their schedule for all 4 years of high school and this process ensures they are set up for that! We thank the students and families for working on those items!

• For Juniors and/or Seniors who qualify for special programming: this month is the time that really takes shape.

• Make sure your Start College Now or Early College Credit applications are submitted to Mrs. Everett in the main office no later than March 1st.

• If you have interest in Youth Apprenticeship, please sign up for Mr. Hendricks’ flex to learn more about this opportunity

Mrs. Laura Stutzman (A-Go) - Laura Stutzman

Mrs. Kristen Schiappacasse (O-Z) - Kristen Schiappacasse

Please feel free to reach out to your assigned counselor at any time.

Visit the BHS Helpful Links and Resources website for an abundance of resources including: college admissions organizer, college search guide, Senior College Admission checklist/timelines, and essay assistance.

BASD Foundation was founded in 2024 by dedicated community members who are passionate about supporting our schools. The Foundation creates an opportunity for individuals, families, or businesses to seamlessly offer monetary donations to the Burlington Area School District while reducing any additional responsibilities on district employees and benefitting the donor with a tax deduction. We are committed to serving both students and district staff, offering support allowing them to reach their full potential.

If you are in need of financial support to pay for student fees or would like to donate, please visit the BASD Foundation Website.