Highlander Times

Welcome to the April 3, 2024 edition of the Highlander Times. You can access past editions on our website.

Hello, all -

I hope everyone is doing well. Believe it or not, tomorrow is the first day of fourth quarter. We are looking forward to working with your students as they wrap up the final part of their school year. This time of year is filled with events and celebrations. We hope to see you all at at least one event!

Updates and Reminders

• Parent/Guardian conferences are Thursday, April 4 from 2:45 -4:45. Sign up for an appointment to meet with teachers on Aspen . If you want to talk with a teacher but can't make it, feel free to call or email the teacher or your student's counselor.

• Today (April 3) is the official end of third quarter. You can check out your student's grades in Aspen. We will also be mailing home report cards next week. Aspen Tip: If you want to get a notification when your student misses a class or gets a low grade, please go into Aspen and click on the "notifications" bar to customize the setting.

• On April 6th we are hosting a College & Career Day from 9:30am-12:30pm at Somerville High. We will have several workshops for students to choose from regarding college and career planning. Some workshops are offered in Spanish or Portuguese. Visit the website for more details about the workshops offered: https://somerville.k12.ma.us/CollegeCareerDay

• Our Sophomore/Junior Semi Formal Dance is Friday, April 26 here at SHS from 6:00pm-9:00pm. Tickets are $25 each and are on sale in the cafeteria from now through April 25. Students can check with their communities if they need financial assistance.

• An additional scholarship opportunity is now available! The City of Somerville is offering a scholarship to residents who are pursuing learning beyond the high school level. To qualify for scholarship consideration, a student must be a graduating resident of the city of Somerville and complete an application via this direct link: https://www.somervillema.gov/somerville-municipal-scholarship-2024

• Parents/Guardians of Seniors: We are getting excited to celebrate the end of your student’s time at SHS! SHS staff should have already reached out if there are concerns that your student is at risk of not graduating, but if you have questions, please reach out to the communities ASAP. We will be getting more detailed information out soon, but for now here are some important upcoming dates:

• May 1: Q4 Progress Reports (seniors only)

• May 14: CTE Awards Banquet 5:00 PM

• May 17: Prom 7-11PM at Crowne Plaza Woburn

• May 17: Class Day Senior Survey Due

• May 20-22 Final Exams for Seniors - Special Schedule

• May 22: National Honor Society Induction 4:00 PM

• May 23: Class Day rehearsal 8:00 am for all graduating seniors - no classes for seniors in good standing

• May 24: The LAST day to submit work for classes and credit recovery 2:30PM DEADLINE - no classes for seniors in good standing

• May 29: Scholarship Awards Ceremony 7:00PM

• May 31: Class Day 9AM - Arrive at 8:15AM Somerville High School

• June 3: Graduation 6PM at Dilboy- Students should arrive at 5PM

• Rain Date - June 4th -6PM at Dilboy

• We are hiring for a new School Counseling Director. We'd love to have a parent/guardian involved in the process. Fill out this form if you are interested in serving on the the Screening or Interview committee: https://forms.gle/6dFa3ksNnKLihrhh6 Contact Melanie Kessler for more information mkessler@k12.somerville.ma.us

• We are accepting donations of paper goods (napkins, small paper plates, spoons, forks) for our upcoming Multicultural Fair scheduled for Friday, April 12th. Donations may be dropped off in the main office. Please contact Kelly Albrecht (kalbrecht@k12.somerville.ma.us) or 617-625-6600 ext. 614111 with any questions.

Call for parent volunteers to help with SHS Friends and Family Facebook page

• Based on feedback at our February 1st meeting, the PTSA would like to establish an easy way for parents in each grade to communicate with each other about issues affecting their students. We'd like to use the SHS Friends and Family Facebook page to establish four ongoing discussion rooms on the page that will be organized by grade. We need volunteers to help moderate each discussion room--one per grade. A parent volunteered for (current) grade nine, so we're looking for a 10th, 11th, and 12th grade parent. Please reach out to the Board if you are interested in helping with this: PTSA: shsptsa1@yahoo.com.or President: Caroline Rosas Shea: caroline_shea@yahoo.com, Co-Vice President, Laura Beretsky: beretsky@yahoo.com, C-Vice President, Lisa Tatterson, lisa_tatterson@yahoo.com

• May 5th-10th is Teacher Appreciation Week. The PTSA will be organizing an event for Friday, May 10th, and putting out a call for edible contributions to recognize our hard working, fabulous teachers. Details about where/when to bring the food will be forthcoming. Reach out to the PTSA if you have questions: shsptsa1@yahoo.com

• April 3 Last Day of Q3 - Grades close
• April 3 SHS School Improvement Council 6:30-800pm
• April 3 CCR Alternative Options Fair for Seniors (SHS cafeteria), Time TBD
• April 4-7 9th grade SBIRT testing in Social Studies Classes
• April 4 Parent/Guardian Conferences from 2:45-4:45 PM
• April 5-6 Chorus/Orchestra Trip to NYC
• April 6 College & Career Day 9:30-12:30
• April 10 CTE Advisory 5pm (General) 6pm (Program)
• April 11 An Evening of Song 6:30 pm Auditorium
• April 12 Multicultural Fair 9am-1pm
• April 15-19 April break
• April 26 Sophomore/Junior Semi
• April 30 MassHire Jobs Fair (outside main entrance), 2:30-3:30pm

Somerville High School’s Team #1 made up of Personal Finance I & II students Igor Almeida, Mattinus Nguyen Vo Broekman, Oliver Chihade placed 3rd in Junior Achievement’s Stock Market Challenge which was held on Monday, April 1, 2024 at RSM in City Square, Boston, MA. The Stock Market Challenge is a fast-paced competition in which students engage in a unique opportunity to learn how the market operates by investing and trading stocks as if they were managing accounts on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The goal is to buy/sell stocks to create the portfolio with the highest net worth at the end of a 60 day cycle. Each team begins with a hypothetical account balance of $500,000. Somerville’s winning team ended with $603, 471.17. Each of the winners received a cash prize, lamp and gift bag as well as a plaque for the school. The other two Somerville High teams competing were: SHS Team #2 - Violet Gates, Abdullahi Farah, Harrison Mayer, Nicholas Brain & SHS Team #3 - Antonio Guarino, Kevin Wilkinson.

Last Thursday, SHS hosted it's second annual student staff basketball game. Each class had one quarter to compete against the staff team. Great showing and spirit by all, though the staff emerged victorious. Our favorite part of the event was how many staff and students stepped up to make this a great event. Shout out to Coaches/Organizers: Ian Born, Eddie Hudson Jones, Oly Ravelo, Ben Francois, Victoria Rodriguez, Dyanna Grant Johnson, Alyah Ramadan, Jemely Vargas, Julianni Fermin-Rodriguez, Sophia Goode. Shout out to guest commentator Patrick Salvato and DJ Emely Portillo Pena. Watch the fun here!

On March 22, all Somerville High School 9th graders attended a presentation by engineer, author, and Holocaust-survivor, George Elbaum. Mr. Elbaum spoke about how he and his mother escaped the Warsaw Ghetto as a toddler and then young boy, and how they then survived the Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. This event was organized by Social Studies Chair David Dipietro, history teacher Beatriz Thomas, and other members of the 9th grade social studies team. The educators prepared students, who came with interesting questions after the lecture. Many students stayed after the event to ask more questions and have their photos taken with him. This event was the culmination of a grant for Genocide Education the team won from Facing History & Ourselves that supported redesigning and rethinking to genocide studies at Somerville High School. Other members of the 9th grade team are Carlos Contreras, Kara Carpenter, Katie Hennessey, Matt DeAngelis and student teachers Vijayata Dahal and Ben Klein. Mr. Elbaum writes about each of his school visits on his blog and his memoir is called Neither Yesterdays Nor Tomorrows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzBkKLSRw4 Check out our students in action!!

Juniors Kai Deshima and Eclipse Felix represented SHS with performance excellence at Symphony Hall on March 23rd. These students were selected through a rigorous audition process to perform in the Massachusetts Music Educator Association All-State Ensembles. Kai performed as the pianist with the All-State Symphonic Band, and Eclipse performed as a bass section member in the All-State Chorus. The concert was tremendous and they both made the music department very proud.