Marauder Update

It's Thanksgiving week and we have much to be thankful for this fall. Our students have had a spectacular start in the classroom showing so much more engagement, our fall athletes excelled both on and off the field, and our band continued to prove that they are, indeed, the best band in the land.

As the winter and holiday season is upon us, we want to make sure our families in our school community can access the essentials they may need. We know that winter clothing like coats, boots, hats, and gloves, as well as other holiday essentials, can sometimes be challenging to provide during this time of year.

Our staff is putting together a list of community resources that may be able to assist with both winter wear and holiday support, such as food and gift programs. Once we've compiled this list, we'll share it with families who express interest so you can access available assistance if needed.

If your family could benefit from some additional support this winter and holiday season, please complete the form below.

Fall sports have all concluded for the year. The teams had a tremendous amount of success and showed great school pride. CHS's fall culminated last week when our girls swim team sent a relay team to the state finals. They finished in the top 18 in the state! Great job Jordan Sikora, Katherine Frommann, Ashlyn Taylor and Kiley Lewandowski. Now, we are moving into the winter season. We are excited to see basketball, cheer, wrestling, boys swim, hockey, and bowling compete for the blue and white this winter.

Here are some quick facts on the impact Party Cart and Fun Lunch Friday's are haivng here at CHS. We are seeing attendance improve; a decrease in cell phone infractions; and an increase in student participation of Fun Lunch Friday's and the Party Cart.

As we approach the Thanksgiving holidays, our Marauder Captains worked with our freshmen to create a gratitude tree. This time offered students an opportunity to reflect on all of the things that they had in their lives (big and small) that they were thankful for. The answers were all over the place and definitely included a big emphasis on the relationships our students have in their lives both at school and home. Answers also included some nods to the Lions and even just that Taco Bell is around (it's the little things, right?). The activity culminated in the beautiful display found below.

We have continued making progress towards our goals at CHS. The march toward November can be a long one (even with a fall break) and with 6 weeks left in the semester, students (and staff) start to feel the tiredness that comes with the day in and day out of learning throughout a semester. We have been working on some pretty big goals here at CHS and that means that it might be easier to just give in. Our students and staff have been pushing hard and I'm pleased to share our results so far of our work on goals this year.

Downriver Career Technical Consortium

10th grade students interested in shadowing a DCTC Career Tech program must meet with Mr. Duperon in the counseling office to schedule that visit. The tours will be held between December 10-December 19th. For a full list of program offerings and information please visit www.dctcschools.org

Dual Enrollment for Winter/January 2025

Dual enrollment opportunities for high school students have already opened for Winter classes at many colleges. These courses fill up fast! If your student is interested in dual enrolling and taking a college course while still in high school for next semester, please have your student contact their counselor.

Ms. Palazzolo - last names A - G - palazzm@gibdist.net

Ms. Trush - last names H - O - trushj@gibdist.net

Mr. Duperon - last names P - Z - duperod@gibdist.net

Senior Parents: FAFSA Information and Financial Aid Webinars

MI Student Aid Opportunities:

Students and families looking for help paying for college can attend an upcoming Virtual Financial Aid Presentation provided by MI Student Aid.

Participants will be able to gather information on the following financial aid topics:

• FAFSA application information
• Federal financial aid programs
• State financial aid programs
• Scholarship searching resources
• November 30th and December 18th sessions available to register!
  
  To sign up for a virtual Financial Aid session please visit: https://www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid/students-families/virtual-financial-aid-presentations

We know that there was more flexibility created during COVID because of necessity, but are recognizing that attendance is playing a significant role for our students in their learning. When you are making family decisions about appointments and vacations, please be mindful of our calendar whenever possible (I know some things are just unavoidable). If you are scheduling early, here are some dates to think about as good dates to schedule appointments:

Half Days (after 11 am)
2025
1/8
1/23
1/24
4/4
6/12
6/13

No School
11/27- 11/29
12/23/24 - 1/3/25
2025
1/20
2/14 - 2/17
3/24 - 3/28
4/17 - 4/18
5/26

Virtual Days (State Testing) - Virtual days allow for greater flexibility with learning because they do not require students to be in school as long they complete the learning assigned for that day

4/9/25
9th, 10th, 12th grade - virtual learning, no report
11th grade - report for testing (dismissal after testing with virtual learning scheduled for remainder)
4/10/25
10th, 12th grade - virtual learning, no report
9th, 11th grade - report for testing (dismissal after testing with virtual learning scheduled for remainder)
4/11/25
9th, 12th grade - virtual learning, no report
10th, 11th grade - report for testing (dismissal after testing with virtual learning scheduled for remainder)