IHS November Newsletter

Welcome to November! Another month has come and gone, with so many exciting things to celebrate and even more to look forward to in the coming month. This month is both the midterm point of the semester (how did that happen?!) as well as parent-teacher conferences, so please read through the information below for more information on those important dates. I always try to collect and synthesize information from our three host schools here for you, but please also make sure to read correspondence from your student's host school for specific information.

Thank you all for your continued support of your student and IHS!

November 8--NO SCHOOL--Midterm Grading Day

November 11--NO SCHOOL--Veterans Day

November 25-26--NO SCHOOL--Parent Teacher Conferences

November 25--IHS CAS Fair

November 27-29--NO SCHOOL--Thanksgiving Break

IHS Site Council Meetings have begun! We held our first meeting in October, and we had a great turnout of parents, teachers, and students. We meet once a month, on the second Tuesday of the month, from 4:15-5:15 at South High School in room 541. Snacks are provided :) OUR NEXT MEETING WILL BE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH!

If you are interested in being a parent member for IHS Site Council, please email me: dearinger_c@4j.lane.edu. I will add you to our email list so you can receive updates and a copy of the agenda before each meeting.

The school district is maintaining the same policy as last year in regards to taking courses Pass/No Pass. All academic classes will earn a letter grade (A-F) unless a request for Pass/No Pass is made by the student. Students can choose a P/NP grading option until two weeks before the end of the semester. For Semester 1, that deadline date is JANUARY 16. Here is a link to the 2024-25 Pass/No Pass Form.

Just like last year, each high school will hold parent teacher conferences during the week of Thanksgiving break. This year, conferences will be held on MONDAY, NOV. 25 AND TUESDAY, NOV. 26 ONLY. IHS teachers will be available during these days to meet with parents across all three campuses. However, IHS teachers who travel between two campuses will need to split their time between those schools. Please make sure you schedule time with IHS teachers on the day they are going to be at your student's campus.

The schedules for each school are below:

South Eugene HS: Monday, Nov. 25 from 11:00-7:00; Tuesday, Nov. 26 from 8:00-4:00

Churchill HS: Monday, Nov. 25 from 8:00-8:00; Tuesday, Nov. 26 from 8:00-12:00

Sheldon HS: Not yet decided (but tentatively planning to use the same schedule at Churchill above)

Planning is underway for our first annual CAS Fair! CAS is an element of the IB curriculum and it stands for Creativity, Activity, and Service. Service opportunities require students to go out into the community and engage in some type of community service. The CAS Fair is an opportunity for various community organizations to advertise volunteering options for high school students, and a time for students to learn about all the exciting service organizations working in the Eugene area.

We will hold our CAS Fair on Monday, November 25th from 10:00-12:00 in the South Eugene HS IHS hallway. All IHS students from all three campuses are encouraged to attend! Juniors will earn extra credit in Junior Seminar if they show proof of attendance. While CAS hours only apply to juniors and seniors, we also welcome our 9th and 10th graders to find out more about volunteer opportunities in our community.

We are still working on confirming organizations, but so far, we know we will have representatives from Positive Community Kitchen, Greenhill Humane Society, Planned Parenthood, The Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Ophelia's Place, WOW Theatre, Free Bikes for Kids, and Friends of Frenchies. We are hoping to add another 10-12 organizations to have a robust showing of all the wonderful places available for student volunteers!

If you have any questions, or if you have contact information for an organization you think might want to join us, please reach out to our CAS Coordinator, Jenny Hehnke (hehnke_j@4j.lane.edu). We hope to see many of our students there!

This year, we have 102 students from our three campuses attempting the IB Diploma, an unprecedented number for our school! We also have 59 students taking exams in individual subjects and 147 students registered for exams as juniors. Of the juniors, 95 of them are taking more than one exam, which is suggestive of the number of IB Diploma candidates for May 2026! As a reminder, IB exams ARE NOT REQUIRED to remain in IHS, and we support whatever decision a student makes about testing in IB subjects. Please see below for a reminder of the testing options available in IHS.

These numbers are important because we have to start planning for IB testing season in May. Please take a look at the IB Exam calendar on the IHS website and consider being a volunteer for one or more of the testing times. Volunteers help proctor exams, distribute materials, and monitor students during testing. Any IHS parent can be a volunteer--it's a great way to learn more about what to expect for IB exams if your own student is interested. Parents are not allowed to proctor an exam that your own child is taking, but you can proctor any other exam. We are going to need A LOT of help to make this testing season successful!

If you have questions about the internal IB assessments that will be completed between now and March, or about anything else to do with the International Baccalaureate, please contact our IB coordinator Steve Smith, smith_st@4j.lane.edu or IHS secretary Melanie Namkoong, namkoong@4j.lane.edu, and they will be more than happy to help you with information.

When I present the IB testing options for IHS students, I often use the "buffet" analogy to help explain the three choices available to all IHS students. First, here are a few important facts:

• Eugene IHS is the only IB certified school available for students who attend Sheldon, Churchill, and South high schools (North HS is also an IB-certified school in the district)
• The IB organization requires that a student is enrolled in an IB certified school in order to be eligible to take IB exams; therefore, ONLY STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EUGENE IHS (AND NORTH HS) ARE ALLOWED TO TAKE IB EXAMS
• This means that if your student decides to withdraw from IHS, they are NO LONGER ELIGIBLE to take any IB exams in any subject area
• Eugene IHS DOES NOT REQUIRE any student to take any IB exams to stay enrolled in our school. IB exams are not included in the course grade for any subject.

Here is the buffet analogy:

1. Full IB Diploma--this is like taking something from everything offered on the buffet. Full IB diploma candidates test in all (6) subject areas (Math, Science, Literature, History, World Language, and Economics), in addition to completing their Extended Essay and required CAS hours. This is the most academically rigorous and demanding option available for high school students. This year, we have 102 students pursuing the IB diploma!
2. Course Candidate--this is like sampling a few options from the buffet, but not everything. Course candidates pick and choose (think a la carte) the courses they want to test in--a student might choose to only take the IB math and IB science tests, or only the IB history and IB literature testes. They can take between 1-5 IB exams from the list above (if they took all 6 they would be a full diploma candidate).
3. No testing at all---this is like walking up to the buffet and deciding you're not hungry :) Students can also choose not to take any tests at all. They are still enrolled in the IB courses, they receive the weighted GPA on their transcripts, and they still receive the IHS honorary diploma.

We go over all of this information in more detail at the 10th grade IB parent night in the spring and the Junior IB Parent night in the fall. If you have any questions, feel free to email our IB coordinator Steve Smith (smith_st@4j.lane.edu) or me (dearinger_c@4j.lane.edu).

We are thrilled to announce our (3) student school board representatives for Eugene IHS this year: Gabi Klarr (Sheldon IHS), Kristian Babcock (Churchill IHS) and Katheryn Hehman (South IHS). These amazing students will represent IHS at every school board meeting this year. They were nominated by their IHS teachers and have enthusiastically accepted this role. The school board is in the process of refining the process of nominating and selecting student reps for the school board, and we will announce when we start our search for next year's school board reps in the spring. If you think this is a role your student might want be interested in pursuing, keep an eye out in my spring newsletters for more details!

Julia Von Holt is one of our social studies teachers in South IHS this year. She traveled to Warsaw, Kraków, and Oświęcim, Poland during the summer of 2024 as the recipient of the yearlong Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation Legacy Fellowship. This fully-funded fellowship aims to equip American high school teachers with the experience and tools to better educate students about the horrors of Auschwitz and the Holocaust. Julia returned from the fellowship with meaningful firsthand observations, a robust curricula, and a deep sense of purpose to continue Holocaust and genocide education in IHS. She is immensely grateful to ABMF and the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education for the experience and continuing connections to colleagues across the country.

We are excited to announce a new club at Sheldon available to both IHS and classic Sheldon students. Mr. Ricardo Zapata Bello, our IHS Spanish immersion teacher, is sponsoring the Hispanic Honor Society. A board of student directors has already been appointed, and it was agreed that students will meet during lunch on Tuesdays in Mr. Zapata's classroom. The Hispanic Honor Society is open to all Sheldon students who fulfill the prerequisites listed below--they do not have to be in IHS.

Here are the prerequisites:

• Student must have taken Spanish for at least 2 years to join
• Minimum GPA of 3.0 (unweighted GPA)

Benefits for members:

• Scholarships for seniors pursuing post high school education
• A formal induction ceremony
• Graduation cords to be worn at IHS and Sheldon graduation
• Weekly meetings with other students about issues and concerns important to the group

If this is a club you think your student would be interested in joining, please tell them to go to the next meeting and check it out!

The IHS branch of Model UN has officially kicked off the 2024-2025 session! This year, our group will be representing Slovenia, Egypt, and Guyana. Meetings are held twice per month at each campus, and the Model UN State Conference will held in the spring at the University of Oregon. Students are still able to participate this year! So If your student is interested in joining Model UN, please reach out to Steve Smith (smith_st@4j.lane.edu) or Joanne Heidel (heidel_j@4j.lane.edu).

IHS juniors in IB Economics participated in some hands-on learning this past month as they studied the concept of economic equilibrium. Each class took part in a live simulation, with students take on the roles of buyers and sellers of wheat. The activity simulates a competitive market and lets them experience economic equilibrium in action! Thanks to Mr. Kyle Yamada and his IB Econ students for letting us take a few photos and share them here. Doesn't Economics class look fun?!

Eugene International High School offers students a chance to earn an honorary diploma at the end of our four years together. Students still earn their high school diploma from their host school--for example, a student's high school diploma is from Sheldon High School, but they also receive the honorary IHS diploma as recognition for completing our separate set of standards and requirements. Eugene IHS holds our own separate graduation ceremony at the Hult Center (my favorite night of the school year!) where we recognize graduating seniors together from all three host campuses.

In order to earn the honorary IHS diploma, students must do the following:

• Complete all required IHS courses in 11th-12th grade (listed above)
• Submit a final draft of the Extended Essay research paper (completed during Junior Seminar)
• Take at least (3) years of a world language (does not have to be the same language all three years)
• Complete (100) CAS hours (Creativity, Activity, Service) during junior and senior year
• Complete all graduation requirements for the high school diploma

**Please note that students DO NOT have to take any IB exams in order to earn the IHS diploma. IB testing and the IHS diploma are separate and do not affect the student's ability to earn the diploma.**

Our IHS Graduation Ceremony will take place on Friday, June 6 at 7:00 pm at the Hult Center! This year, we have a record number of graduating seniors across our three campuses--in June, we will graduate 211 IHS seniors! I will put important graduation information in this newsletter starting in January.