The Weekly Penguin

It's the last week of the semester! As you prepare for your final exams, reflect on how much you have learned this semester- in your classes, on the field or court, in your clubs, with your friends. Our learning community is busy and vibrant, take a moment to celebrate your dedication and resilience.

This week will also host some fun activities so make sure to engage in those! Please refer to the UHS bell schedule for the final exam days and times of school next week.

Finish strong Penguins!

Upcoming events:

Monday, December 16: Boys Basketball vs. Sahuarita - South Gym, 4:00pm, 5:30 pm, 7:00pm

Tuesday, December 17: UHS Student of the Month breakfast - RUHS auditorium lobby, 8:00am

Tuesday, December 17: UHSPA December meeting - RUHS library, 6:00pm

Tuesday, December 17: Winter band concert - RUHS auditorium, 7:00pm

Wednesday, December 18: Final exam half-day schedule - see UHS bell schedule for details

Wednesday, December 18: Staff vs. Students Dodgeball Tournament - South Gym, 12:00pm

Thursday, December 19: Final exam half-day schedule - see UHS bell schedule for details

Thursday, December 19: UHS StuCo Winter Festival - Senior Patio, 12:00pm

Thursday, December 19: Girls Soccer vs. Kofa - Field, 4:00 pm, 6:00 pm

Friday, December 20: Grading Day - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

December 21-January 5: WINTER BREAK, SCHOOL CLOSED

CCCC (College, Career, and Counseling Center) update

Yearbook Update

AP exams and registration - FEES POSTING SOON

Athletics - winter season

RUHS club list

UHSFAA - student microgrants

UHSPA update

UHS Perspective - published online!

UHS website calendar

Winter guard/drumline - fees and participation

SENIORS:

If you still need to take the civics test, come by Monday or Tuesday conference period to the CCCC so you can take it! If you want to confirm whether this is already completed, please check your Course History in StudentVue and look at Test Requirements; make sure you switch Detail to on. The other requirement is CPR, which most students completed already. If you still need this, there will be an opportunity to get it done during Penguin Pathways on 2/14. You do NOT have to find and pay for CPR certification on your own. If you have obtained it through a job or JTED, please send your counselor proof of completion and we will update your transcript. Email your counselor (Villagio A-L, Encinas M-Z) if you have any questions.

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 24 (rescheduled from 9/10) – Every junior parent/guardian and student was emailed links & more info on 9/30, so check your email if you missed this!

[Q2] Building Your College List – November 19 – keep an eye on your email for info & links from the presentation!

[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 for more info; zoom links have been updated! We look forward to seeing you there!

FRESHMEN & SOPHOMORES:

Counselors and our college & career readiness coordinator visited 9th grade classes recently to reflect on preferences and interests to inform career research. After students identified their Holland Code (broad career areas that align with our unique personalities), they researched college majors that might be a good fit as well as what careers those majors could lead to. Parents - ask your student about their highest Holland Code type, how they agree/disagree with their code and see it in their life currently, and the career research they conducted! Students - we encourage you to continue these conversations and reflections with counselors, friends, and family!

Make an appointment to meet your counselor – they are excited to work with you during the first half of your high school career! Go to uhs.tusd1.org/CCCC and click on “Book Appointment.” Email your counselor if you don’t see any times available that work for you, or come by during drop-in hours during lunch or conference period.

ALL STUDENTS:

Students! NOW is the time that many summer programs/research opportunities have applications open and deadlines as early as November-January! Check out our Free & Low Cost Summer Programs Database! You can also review the CCCC Website (https://uhs.tusd1.org/CCCC) under "College & Career" -> "Student Opportunities & Summer Programs" for more ideas!

Peer tutors: If you want to be a volunteer peer tutor, look for the QR code around the U-building to sign up, or email Ms. Brownstone (Kathryn.brownstone@tusd1.org). Students – we really need more peer tutoring volunteers in Physics, Chemistry, and/or Geometry! Your fellow Penguins will be very grateful for your help, and this is an excellent way to give back to your community. We appreciate all of our current volunteers!

If you are interested in receiving free peer tutoring, look for the list of tutors in the CCCC or ask your counselor!

Online Health and PE classes have now started. If you would like to be enrolled, please contact Mr. Encinas at Maximiliano.Encinas2@tusd1.org. To be eligible for online Health, you must have taken or be currently enrolled in AP Macro/Microeconomics, or you must have already taken Honors Economics. Please contact Mr. Encinas with any questions. Seniors – if you still need these classes to graduate, you need to take care of this ASAP!

Yearbook Purchasing

DEC. 31ST IS LAST DAY TO PURCHASE THE YEARBOOK AT THE DISCOUNTED PRICE FOR $65!

The link for purchase is https://ybpay.lifetouch.com/ and our school code is 15096125.

Seniors

• What is a senior ad? A senior ad is your very own page in the yearbook to create a tribute for your senior student! See the photo on this announcement for an example of a senior ad.

Senior ads are a terrific way to show how proud you are of your graduating student and support the Yearbook class. Because we sell the yearbook for cost, this is our fundraiser for supporting yearbook equipment and software. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to purchase a senior ad (tribute). You do not need to complete the tribute page the same day as purchase. When you purchase, you set up an account and you can go back to it later. The page will be due late January.

• AP exam registration has passed. AP exam fees will be posted by December and are due by May 1. We will notify everyone once exam fees are posted.

• Review the following document (UHS AP Exams 2025_Payment & Cancellation Details (valid 11.02.24 - 03.01.25)) for information on how to register late for exams and/or cancel exams. Late Registration and Exam Cancellations must be done my March 1 at 9:59pm.

RUHS Athletics T-Shirts for sale in the Bookstore!!

$15 for 1

$25 for 2

See below for direct links to each sport offered for the winter season at Rincon/University High School. Congratulations to all our fall sports, you did a great job! Next week I'll try again to have spotlights for individuals and teams who competed in the fall post-season.

Winter sports lineup:

Basketball - boys VAR

Basketball - boys JV

Basketball - boys FR/SO

Basketball - girls VAR

Basketball - girls JV

Soccer - boys VAR

Soccer - boys JV

Soccer - boys FR/SO

Soccer - girls VAR

Soccer - girls JV

Soccer - girls FR/SO

Wrestling - boys VAR

Wrestling - boys JV

Wrestling - boys FR/SO

Wrestling - girls VAR

Here is the latest 24-25 RUHS club list. Find a club that fits you and join the community!

The UHS Foundation and Alumni Association (UHSFAA) seeks to support UHS students, particularly those who are first generation college bound and who are focused on building opportunities for themselves. Through this, the UHSFAA student microgrant is offered for application. Microgrants are awarded to students in need of anything that furthers their educational development. Grants of up to $500 per student per year are available at the discretion of the UHSFAA board of directors and UHS principal, and are based on available funds. Microgrant awards are through application, and can be given for many different kinds of needs: classroom needs including costs associated with internet access, textbooks or personal academic supplies, summer programs, professional education and internship needs, such as travel and public transportation costs, lunch costs, supplies or clothing needs, immunizations, and more. Requests for funding should be for proposals that can be 100% covered by the grant; requests to partially fund larger projects will not be considered. Please provide at least ten days lead time before the funds are needed so the UHSFAA can have adequate time to consider your application.

Wow! Almost halfway through the year. Be on the lookout for a December UHSPA Newsletter with information on events and efforts! Direct delivery to your email inbox! If you are not signed up to receive our newsletters, click the "Subscribe" link at the bottom of this update :)

Make sure to join us for our monthly meeting on December 17th at 6PM in the RUHS Library. Future meetings will be on the 3rd Tuesday of each month. Please park in the north parking lot off 5th street. Come up the stairs and the door will be unlocked. Turn left inside the doors. The library will be on the left.

• We still have a need for Junior and Senior parents to serve as general members on our board. This is a low time commitment. You will get a couple of emails a month on things like grant requests and will need to review and vote.
• We will be hosting our monthly Grad Night planning meeting after the UHSPA general meeting on 12/17. If you would like to join the group, please email uhspa@uhs-pa.org or show up on 12/17!

Our UHS families have been amazingly supportive of our classroom supply drive. The Wishlist will stay open to reflect current classroom requests. Teachers/ staff please send needed supply requests to uhspa@uhs-pa.org. Anyone shopping on Amazon and wanting to send an item of appreciation to the school can 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 ** Contact us at uhspa@uhs-pa.org **

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UHSPA

uhspa@uhs-pa.org

uhsparents.org

University High School Parents Association (UHSPA)

PO Box 57076
Tucson, AZ 85732

The UHS Perspective is the student-produced school publication that began as the school newspaper printed in hardcopy, and now is online! Please read through all the amazing work our students do! Thank you to Mr. Hilbert for sponsoring!

Check out the TUSD UHS website calendar, starting with this month. In our continued work to streamline our many different activities, we are entering everything into one source. We may also add events to social media as that develops. Please provide us feedback on our progress so we know what to tweak along the way.

Rosters are being made for winter colorguard and winter drumline! There will be a change for all band/colorguard students moving forward, starting with this winter's participants in the extracurricular competition component of each organization: all students will have the participation fee option added to their as soon as rosters are received in the finance office. All students wishing to participate in the extracurricular competition component of their team must have their fee paid BEFORE rehearsing or performing. This will go into effect immediately for winter guard and winter drumline, and remain the policy for the coming school year for marching band.

Thank you for your support as we work to ensure all fees are collected and thus as much financial support as possible is granted to our amazing programming.