As we approach the holiday season, I want to take a moment to reflect on the first semester and express my gratitude for the incredible support from our school community. Your partnership has been instrumental in making this semester a success.

December is a busy and exciting month at Forest High School. From semester exams to festive performances, our students and staff are working hard to finish the year strong. I encourage you to check the calendar for important dates and take advantage of the resources we’re providing to help students prepare for testing. Please encourage your students to continue to exemplify our Wildcat Way of being on time (for all classes), being prepared, and being respectful.

Our ROTC sponsored their annual food drive that brought in 1000s of pounds of items for our local food pantries.

Our Chorus under the direction of Ms. Jessica Mongerio will again represent Forest and MCPS at Disney’s Candlelight Processional!

The band had an outstanding run of their show in the Villages and earned Superior ratings in all 6 adjudicated categories earning an overall Superior rating for the 14th year in a row (one of two Marion High Schools to maintain this streak over 10 years). FHS was one of two Marion County Schools to earn straight Superior ratings for their performance.

Congratulations to Jordan McLean on qualifying for the State Cross Country Meet.

Congratulations to Haley Davis on qualifying for the State Golf Match. She placed 9th overall and capped an incredible golf career at FHS.

At the end of this month, Mrs. Lorrie Fletcher our school secretary will retire. Forest High School is forever grateful for her passion and care for the Green and Gold. She will be missed deeply. Mrs. Heather Tedder will be taking over that role in January.

Holiday time can be quite difficult for many people and if you struggle with mental health then it may be a harder time for you especially during this year. Please reach out for help if you find yourself struggling over winter break. The Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available by dialing 988.

Parent Portal Access

The parent portal gives you access to view your child's grades, attendance, discipline history and more. Please come into the attendance office on campus with ID to get your login information. You can even sign up to get daily emails anytime your child is late or absent.

Student Volunteer Hours Opportunity

Forest High School is a beautiful campus, and we want to keep it that way! Students that are looking to complete volunteer hours can report to the Discipline Office at 7:30AM Monday-Thursday to help with our campus beautification project. Mrs. Guinn will sign the logs for the volunteer hours. Any student that volunteers will be entered into a drawing for a gift card.

Attendance

Being present is powerful. Student need to arrive on campus in time to make it to their first period class by 8:30AM. Any student not in class by 8:30AM will be marked late. Missing even 5 minutes of instructional time daily results in over 7 hours of missed instruction each semester. You can review your student's attendance on the parent portal.

Student of the Month

Starting in January, staff members will be able to nominate students for our FHS Student of the Month. The nominations will be entered into a random selector to determine who will represent FHS for that month. We will be selecting one student per grade level. We look forward to celebrating the students that have great attendance, good grades, and consistently meet our school wide expectations of being on time, prepared, and respectful.

Juniors,

It is extremely important for all students to be here for mid-year exams. Missing an exam translates to a zero, which can be detrimental to their semester grade. If a student has to miss because of some unforeseen circumstance, there is one make-up day- Friday the 20th

It's time to start thinking about signing up for ACT/SAT tests for college admissions and Bright Futures Scholarship money.

You can visit the following links for more information:

www.act.org

collegeboard.org

If you believe your child needs a fee waiver please direct them to Ms Chapman in the guidance office.

Students, Faculty and Staff thank you for your efforts with the Thanksgiving food drive as we were able to surpass our goal and collect 13,035 pounds of canned and non-perishable food for Interfaith Emergency Services. This is an amazing result and it represents an 18% increase over last year’s 11,000 pounds. Great work to all.

The last day of school before Winter Break is Friday, December 20th. Please do your very best to have students here for their exams especially for their semester courses. It makes a huge difference for their grades! Please wait to schedule flights, vacations and fun until Saturday, December 21st. Thank you!

If you are interested in Dual Enrollment, please see Mrs. Tedder in Guidance for information and application. Deadlines and important dates are listed below.

Electronic Device Testing Policy:

Electronic devices may not be within a student's reach during testing, even if turned off.

Each student will be instructed to turn off devices and place them in a labeled, clear plastic bag. All bags are stored in a location away from all students but within their view. Devices are returned after the conclusion of testing.

Devices that go off during testing are removed from the room by an administrator and returned to the student at the conclusion of testing.

Please review these procedures with your child to ensure that they understand what will be expected of them.

Check out the Florida SUS Counselor Guide by clicking on the link below or downloading the guide. This resource goes over every public state university- their deadlines, their requirements, average GPA/test scores, etc. It is a very helpful resource when applying to universities.

Victoria Miller in Student Activities is in charge of all things Senior including graduation and end of the year activities. Her email address is victoria.miller@marion.k12.fl.us. Forest High School has a page dedicated to important senior information. Make sure to click on the button below to visit this helpful page!

All seniors who do not have classes on campus are required to visit the Guidance Office and speak with Mrs. Chapman to confirm the accuracy of their name for their diploma. Please ensure that names are verified by December 13th.

The FAFSA is a free application to see if you qualify for any federal aid. So, if you are planning on attending a trade school, a 2 year college, or a 4 year university, then you need to fill out this application sooner rather than later. Make sure you go to the .GOV website and not .com. You should never pay a fee to do this application. Link is below.

The State Scholarship website which covers numerous scholarships (including Bright Futures) and grants is open now. You need to fill out your application prior to graduation. You will need your social security number and the link to the website is below. Keep scrolling for Bright Futures requirements.

Below are the requirements for the Florida Academic Scholar and Florida Medallion Scholar levels. If you want to read more about these levels as well as the vocational levels, please click on the button below.

Seniors, please make sure you are selecting a recommender when completing your Common App Applications. You should be adding in Mrs. Thomas unless you are CCAP student, then it would be Mrs. Wulff. Transcripts will be uploaded directly to Common App. If you have applied to a College not using CommonApp, then you will need to use the link below to order transcripts. For any questions or concerns, please see Mrs. Chapman in the Guidance Office.

It is important for seniors to review the scholarship directory. This has all major local scholarships in it and a good source to raise money for college.

Please see information below about PEO Scholarship.

Deadline is January 20th and application is attached below.

Applicants must be a female high school graduating senior with a minimum 2.0 GPA. They must plan on furthering their education at a college or university. Deadline is March 31st and application is attached below.

Information and application is below. Deadline is March 3rd.

Guardian or applicant is a current member with Marion County Farm Bureau and applicant wants to pursue agriculture in college. Deadline is March 31st and application is attached below.

9th Grade Counselor: Mr. Ecliff Telford Ecliff.telford@marion.k12.fl.us

10th Grade Counselor: Mrs. Patricia Karolev patricia.karolev@marion.k12.fl.us

11th Grade Counselor: Mrs. Kimberly Heitmuller kimberly.heitmuller@marion.k12.fl.us

12th Grade Counselor: Mrs. Shirley Thomas Shirley.thomas@marion.k12.fl.us

CCAP 9th and 10th Grade: Mrs. Lisa Sprung lisa.sprung@marion.k12.fl.us

CCAP 11th and 12th Grade: Mrs. Carey Wulff carey.wulff@marion.k12.fl.us

ESE: Ms. Katherine West Katherine.west@marion.k12.fl.us

Forest High School offers the following career and technical programs, including career academies wherein students may earn industry certification:

Electrocardiograph Technician

Certifications: Certified EKG Technician

The district’s career and technical programs are open enrollment to all eligible high school students in the district with no pre-requisites required and are committed to a policy of nondiscrimination in employment and educational opportunity. If Career Choice Academy programs are full, a lottery system with no pre-requisites is used to determine placement.

The district prohibits discrimination in the terms and conditions of employment, and in access to educational programs and activities, and prohibits harassment of any individual or group on the basis of race (including anti-Semitism), ethnicity, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability (including HIV, AIDS, or sickle cell trait), pregnancy, religion, marital status, age (except as authorized by law), military status, ancestry, or genetic information, which are classes protected by State and/or Federal law (collectively, "protected classes").

A lack of English language skills will not be a barrier to admission or participation. The District may assess each student’s ability to benefit from specific programs through placement tests and counseling, and, if necessary, will provide services or referrals to better prepare students for successful participation. Complaints or inquiries regarding Title IX or 504 compliance may be submitted to the designated compliance officer at 1614 E. Fort King Street Ocala, FL 34471:

ADA, Title IX, and Equity Compliance: Dawana Gary, Ed.S., Director, Equity and Compliance

Phone: (352) 671-7711, email address: Dawana.Gary@marion.k12.fl.us

Section 504 Compliance: Anna Williams-Jones, M.A., Director, Exceptional Student Education

Phone: (352) 671-6832, email address: Anna.Williams-Jones@marion.k12.fl.us

Student Title IX Complaints: Ann Hembrook, Ed.D., Senior Executive Director, Student Pathways

Phone: (352) 236-0562, email address: Ann.Hembrook@marion.k12.fl.us