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PEAK News!
Newsletter for Parents of Apex High School Students
February 29, 2024
Hello Cougar Families,
Happy Leap Year Day!
AP Fair/Registration Night/Latino Family Night - March 4!
Parents, come get all your AP class questions answered at the AP Fair this coming Monday night at 5:30 in the cafeteria. We will then have our counselors give registration information for the upcoming school year in the Auditorium at 6:15. Our Latino Family night will also be at 6:15 that evening. Here is a flyer for that event.
24-25 Registration season is upon us! See the flyer below for QR codes for access to the Registration guides. Students will be receiving important registration information in the March 6 Cougar Class!
PTSA Auction was a huge success! We not only met but exceeded our fundraising goal!!
Thank you to all who participated by not only buying the items that were up for bid but to all those who donated the fabulous items as well.
Our Spring Career and College Fair was a huge success! This past Tuesday, we had close to 100 businesses and colleges set up their booths to provide our students with information about career and post-secondary opportunities and tons of freebies! Here is a list of all those organizations that took time out to come and visit and inform our students of the opportunities available to them.
We Need Parent Volunteers - April 23!
Parent volunteers needed. Training will be provided. No experience necessary.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C49AFAA23A5FECE9-47651222-financial#/
Financial Reality Series Simulation is an event generously supported by Coastal Credit Union, dedicated to educating students on the principles of responsible money management. This program provides students with hands-on experience in budgeting to meet their monthly financial requirements. It presents a valuable chance for our students to grasp the significance of financial planning.
To ensure the success of this program, we rely on your assistance. We're seeking around 25 volunteers for each class period. Whether you can spare one period or commit to the entire day, your contribution is greatly appreciated. Thank you for helping to create this valuable opportunity for our students at Apex High School!
Calendar:
- March 4 - AP Fair/Registration Information/Latino Family Night - see flyer below for details!
- March 5 - Primary Election Day is now a Teacher Workday - No school for students
- March 6 - Cap and Gown Distribution Day!
- March 11 - Teacher Workday - No school for students
- March 14 - "No Hate Tour" - modified assembly schedule
- March 25 - 29 - Spring Break!
- April 9 - End of 3rd Quarter
- April 10 - Teacher Workday
** Don't forget to click on the Translate button at the top of this newsletter to choose the language you need it translated to. It's just that easy!
Warm regards,
Elaine Hofmann
Principal of Apex High School
919-387-2208
#PEAKProud
"No Hate Tour" is Coming to Apex High School!
March 14 - "No Hate Tour" Assembly We are very excited about having this group perform for our students. Here is the website for this organization https://nohatetour.com/
Here is more information about this assembly:
- The assembly provided is 100% FREE!
- Top X Games athletes for BMX are featured and will deliver a live 50-minute show.
- The tour provides their own state-of-the-art mobile box-jump ramp, along with a professional crew, which will be set up in the main gym.
- We have partnered with StopBullying.gov and The USMC to help promote a "No Hate” educational campaign about bullying prevention and spreading kindness.
- The athletes will be available to meet and greet with students in the courtyard during both lunches
- We will be on a modified Assembly schedule this day. All students will attend one of the two assemblies during 2nd period. 2nd period teachers will inform students of which assembly they are attending.
This year's Spotlight Student is Sammy Wills!
Every year, Apex High School gets the honor of selecting a student for Wake County's special Student Spotlight award. This year, our recipient was Sammy Wills. We are so incredibly proud of all that she has overcome and achieved her four years as a Cougar!
Since 1982, the WCPSS Board of Education has opened its regular monthly meeting (October - May) with a special ceremony honoring selected students for outstanding achievements and accomplishments. By the end of the school year, one student from each participating school will earn the accolade of Spotlight on Students. Each student is recognized and awarded a plaque and letter from the superintendent.
Class of 2024 Information!
Cap & Gown Order Reminders!
- EVERYONE must purchase one of the cap and gown packages, due to us having a new gold collar this year. If you are borrowing a friends Cap and Gown from years past, you must still purchase the other package.
- EVERYONE must pay a senior fee.
- The first Cap and Gown pickup will be March 6th during both lunches. We would advise students to have their cap and gowns purchased by February 23rd so they will have it in time to pick up March 6th.
- Please reach out to Gwen Squires (gsquires@wcpss.net), our Graduation Coordinator, if you are in need of financial assistance or if you have any questions! Josten's has given us several scholarships that we can access to support families.
Previous Updates:
Financial Aid Newsletter February 2024
Updates from Linda Brannan, our Financial Aid Advisor:
The financial aid process has been very chaotic this year due to the update of the new FAFSA process. Therefore, I am reaching out in order to share the financial aid services and resources available to graduating students. These resources are free to students/parents as I am a WCPSS employee who works part-time just to offer financial aid assistance.
Financial Aid Appointments - I offer virtual after school appointments using WCPSS Google Meet in order to provide financial aid support specific to individual students/parent's needs. To schedule a virtual appointment use the link provided below: link: https://calendar.app.google/KDNMNums4QBEtA126
Mrs. Brannan's website - Brannan's Financial Aid Tools (google.com) - Feel free to share my Financial Aid Tools website with your students. On this website, I have included comprehensive information about the financial aid process & forms colleges need, the new FAFSA & financial aid process, Scholarships search options, college loan information, understanding your financial aid award letter and negotiating financial aid on this website.
Senior Programming Guide has been updated! Please make sure to refer to this guide for all things related to Senior Year!
Senior Exam Exemption waiver information. Please remember to submit all excuse notes to attendance316@wcpss.net.
End of year Senior activities have been scheduled!
- Graduation Practice - Monday, June 3rd at 3 pm in the main gym - This is a required event and all Seniors must attend practice in order to walk on June 9th!
- Senior Picnic - Monday, June 3rd in the courtyard immediately following the graduation practice
- Senior Awards Assembly - Tuesday, June 4th at 8:30 am in the main gym. All Seniors must participate and will wear their cap and gown.
- Senior Clap Out - Tuesday, June 4th immediately following the awards ceremony.
Senior Exam Exemption reminders! This is not new information but I did want to make sure that now we are more than halfway through the semester, I put this back on your radar. There are new exam exemption policies for this year's seniors. WCPSS policy is:
Students in Grade 12 may be exempt from exams based on the following criteria:
• Students must have a projected final grade of B or higher.
• Students must have 10 or fewer absences in the course. (This is excused and unexcused per course) Ex. a student could have 11 absences in first period and be required to take their 1st period exam but have 10 absences in 2nd period and be exempt. It is very important that students are monitoring their attendance in each of their classes!
• Students cannot be exempt from state testing including field testing. This is all EOC's and CTE post-assessments.
Here is a link to all the photos from every Class of 2024 event so far this year! Thank you to our amazing Senior parents for making this folder and allowing it to be easily viewed by all.
Josten's is ready to start receiving your Cap and Gown orders! Here is a flyer that gives you information on how to place your orders!
Graduation date has been set! The Class of 2024 will be graduating on Sunday, June 9 at 8 pm at the Convention Center. Other Senior activity events and dates will be shared in the near future.
PTSA Information and Updates!
PTSA Corner!
Apex HS Food Pantry
Wish List: https://amzn.to/3ZOY5BW
Website link: https://www.wcpss.net/Page/51792
There are several ways to support the Apex High School PTSA
- Buy a membership
- Buy spiritwear
Use this link to take you directly to the PTSA Spirit Wear and Membership store
Subscribe to Cougar Notes - This newsletter put out by the PTSA is another great way to learn about all the academic and extra-curricular programs going on at Apex High School. It's another important way for you to stay connected, but you must subscribe in order to receive this newsletter. Here's the link!
PTSA Updates and Events:
- Our PTSA is very busy planning for the upcoming school year and already has many great events as we head back to school. They could really use not only your membership but also your time.
- Here is the link to register for membership! Your membership ensures that teachers get special treats and treatment during teacher appreciation events throughout the year, that there's money available for classroom grants, Senior scholarships, Honor Roll recognitions and gifts, Teacher of the Year recognition and so much more! One of the signs of a healthy school community is a healthy PTSA.
Information from previous PEAK News Editions that are still relevant
Tardies
- Tardies continue to be a concern, especially to 1st period! Please help us encourage your students to get to school on time as well as to all of their classes.
- Students who are returning late consistently from off-campus lunch could lose their off-campus lunch privileges and/or face lunch detention or ISS.
- Students who reach their 6th tardy in any class will also start with consequences that range from 20 minute lunch detentions, to 40 minute lunch detentions, to period ISS assignments to full day ISS assignments.
- We will involve parents and counselors when tardies become excessive.
4th Quarter Lunch Passes (3rd quarter attendance and grades will impact 4th quarter!)
Students who have more than 10 unexcused period absences and/or 2 or more failing end of quarter grades will result in a suspension of lunch privileges.
** Students have 2 days from the time they are out to submit a sick note from parent/guardian, note from the doctor, educational leave form, etc. All notes can be emailed to Attendance316@wcpss.net or brought to the mailbox outside of the front office.
School Attendance is vitally important to a students success in school!
The most recent federal data show that in the 2020-21 school year, at least 14.7 million students nationwide were chronically absent. This means that chronic absence has almost doubled from the more than 8 million students, pre-Covid-19, who were missing so many days of school that they were academically at risk. Chronic absence — missing 10 percent or more of school days due to absence for any reason—excused, unexcused absences and suspensions—can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third-grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school. Read this research summary for more details.
Ms. Hofmann's Plea for help!
- We have a large number of chronically absent students who are not performing well in school.
- The definition of chronically absent is a student who has 10 or more absences (excused and unexcused) a semester. This is total of 20 absences for the school year which is more than the 10% quoted above.
- Here is some data: November = 92.61% in attendance, December = 90.74% in attendance, January = 93.51% in attendance. This means that on average we have almost 200 students absent per day! Pre-Pandemic, we were consistently above 95% attendance!
- I would like to do an informal poll as well as give parents an opportunity to share with the school your thoughts on school attendance and why so many students are chronically absent.
Save the Date! Monday, March 4th
Believe it or not, we are starting to gear up for registration of next year's classes. We will be holding an important information night for parents and students. More information will be coming out about these events in the next several weeks.
- AP Fair - 5:30 - 6:00 pm in the cafeteria
- Registration Information - 6:15 - 7:00 in the Auditorium
- Latino Family Night - 6:15 - 7:00 in 2409 Collab space. This is an information session that will cover important AP and Registration information specifically for our Spanish speaking families.
Apex High has been getting some good press in the last couple of weeks. We couldn't be more PEAKProud!
- Women's Flag Football is off to an amazing start! ABC 11 Flag Football highlight
- CTE Credentialing Success! ABC 11 CTE Credentials
Code of Conduct Refresher meetings for all Classes! Here is the slide show that Ms. Hofmann shared with each Class this last week.
ACT at Apex High School
All Juniors will be taking the ACT during the school day on Tuesday, February 27th. Please mark your calendars!
Planning for 24-25 school year:
Believe it or not, we are already starting to look towards next school year. Here are some dates for our Rising 9th graders. This will be sent to our Middle Schools but I wanted to make sure you had it since I know there are many siblings coming our way as well as friends!
Rising 9th Tour Dates - We will be posting a sign-up on our website. This is for prospective students and their parents.
February 6, 13
March 5, 19
April 2, 16
Rising 9th Night
February 22nd 6-7:30 pm (See flyer below!)
Cougar Camp 2024 (Class of 2028)
Monday-August 19
Attendance Reminders!
Submitting absent notes is extremely important to ensuring your attendance is being accurately recorded in PowerSchool. WCPSS policy states that you must submit a note within 2 days of the absence. Here are some helpful links and resources regarding Attendance.
- Is your child struggling with attendance? Here is a resource that you might find helpful to use at home as a way for you and your child to talk about and monitor good attendance habits.
- The importance of school attendance! We have a new email address for you to send excused notes to: attendance316@wcpss.net
- It reduces the risk of dropouts.
- It improves academic performance.
- It increases the chances of graduating from college.
- It increases the chances of earning higher pay.
- It increases the chances of receiving job-related training.
- It increases the chances of earning certification and licenses.
- It increases the chances of becoming employed.
- Regular attendance gives students the chance to stay up-to-date with their classwork and fully participate in discussions and activities.
College Visits! Juniors and Seniors should visit tiny.cc/apexcollegevisits to check out our full schedule of on campus college visits and to sign up for visits they wish to attend!
Wake Tech has updated their dates and added Spring information
Important 2023-2024 WTCC Career & College Promise (CCP) dates to Remember:
Early Feb: Applicable Fall 2023 WTCC course/grades added to WCPSS transcripts.
February 10, 2024: Senior midyear transcripts become available.
March 21, 2024: Last day to drop a 16-week Spring 2024 WTCC course with a "W" grade.
May 2, 2024: Final exams begin for 16-week Spring 2024 WTCC courses.
May 8, 2024: Last day of class instruction for 16-week Spring 2024 WTCC courses.
Parent Resources from Previous PEAK Newsletters!
The Ultimate Parent Resource Guide for Teens
You know I love to share good resources with you when I come across them. Here is a site that is full of relevant topics for you about all things Tech. The name of the article says it all!
The Ultimate Parent Resource Guide For Teen Tech Use, Social Media, and Safety
Social Emotional Learning videos
Here is a link to an awesome compilation of videos to support your child's Social Emotional Learning. It covers a wide range of topics from encouraging kindness and empathy, to Growth Mindset, to Bully Prevention, to a Teen's Digital Life and so much more!
Test Prep Support!
Here are a couple of resources that you can share with your child about studying and preparing for final exams:
5 Tips for Parents to Help Their Child Prepare for Exams
Tips to Support Your Kids Through Exam Season
8 Tips for Studying at Home More Effectively
Task Completion
As 2nd Quarter is well underway so it's a good time to reflect on what went well in 1st quarter as well consider any adjustments or tweaks that need to be made in order to do better in 2nd quarter. I ran across this article and shared it with my staff this week. I thought that you as parents might also benefit from it since I know task completion is something that many students struggle with.
Canvas Support
Many of you are having questions about how to access your child's Canvas account. Here are some links and resources for your information. If you have any questions, the first step is to ask your child's teacher.
Here is a great article if your child needs a little assistance with getting back into the swing of doing school! Tips for Getting a Good Start in High School
Thank you to all the Cougar Families that joined us this past Wednesday night for Open House. Here is my welcome message that was shared in Cougar Class.
Article for 9/1 Edition
- Parents, did you know that your involvement in your child's life at school is still important? It looks different than it did in Elementary and Middle School, but it is still important. Here is a great article on ways you can and should still stay involved.
Here are some great Back to School Resources for Parents!
- Back to School Advice for Parents - this article has many imbedded video links for a variety of topics such as anxiety, screen time, having tough conversations, etc.
- How Parents Can Support Kids Starting High School this Fall - this article has lots of practical information around skills that students need to be successful, suggestions for how to be involved in your child's school, homework support, cyberbullying awareness, and so much more!
- Teachers Tell All: 5 Things Teachers Wish Parents Knew Before School Starts - Pretty direct but accurate!
Please use the following links for quick access to information!
Apex High School
Email: ahofmann@wcpss.net
Website: https://www.wcpss.net/apexhs
Location: 1501 Laura Duncan Road, Apex, NC, USA
Phone: (919) 387-2208
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/apexhighparents
Twitter: @ApexHighSchool