Dear Families,

Over the summer a friend of mine and her husband adopted a child. If anyone has ever adopted, or knows someone who has, it’s an incredibly arduous process. For good reason. The agency verifies consistent income, performs character references, and in general does their due diligence to help ensure that the adopted child has a loving and stable home.

But the timeline is very unpredictable. Could be years. And so having just come back from Spain in June, she received a call that a baby was being born that week at Mass General. The baby was born two days later, and four days after that, after the birth mother made her choice, and the couple made the decision to move forward with adopting the baby. They were told to be at Mass General by 1:00pm that day to bring the baby home.

She called after it all happened to tell me and you can imagine the mad scramble to COSTCO for diapers and getting a nursery and a car seat ready and all that comes with having a newborn.

Talk about anxiety. And in the conversation, one in which she sounded happier than I have ever heard her, I asked her “Did you get to meet the birth mother?”

And she said that she did. That the birth mother had specifically asked if she could hand the child off to his new parents.

Can you imagine the power of that moment?

And the birth mother kept saying, “I picked the right people. I picked the right people.”

And for some reason as I continued to think about that, it reminded me of my daughter going to kindergarten for the first time. Getting on the bus for the first time. And the mix of emotions you get as a parent at certain moments. It’s a feeling that I imagine happens when you send your child off to college, or to the military. Joy and sadness and fear and pride.

And we just hope that we’ve picked the right people.

This past Tuesday, 385 students walked through those doors. And we are their people. What an enormous honor and an enormous responsibility.

My hope for the school year is that we're the right people. For them. For their caregivers. We're off to a wonderful start. Should you need anything as the year progresses, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

Brian T. Scott

Principal

Ninth Grade Student Council Elections were held this afternoon during utility period. This was an extremely close race and all students who ran should be proud of themselves.

Congratulations to the following electees:

President: Joey Pannozzo
VP: Cole Buckley
Secretary: Max Ly
Treasurer: Malone Yemini
Tech Rep: AJ Pistolis

Cohasset High School is committed to fostering an environment which allows students to thrive, providing students with opportunities to discover who they are beyond just exploring avenues for what they might do.

Our educational values are rooted in the Vision of the Graduate, which strives to instill students to develop inspiring character, acting with integrity, demonstrating respect for themselves and others, and identifying ethical solutions to problems that consider the personal, interpersonal, communal, and institutional impact of such solutions.

We wish for students to demonstrate meaningful and purposeful growth, recognizing that there is no one path to success and continuously engaging in a process of continuous self-reflection as students journey towards fulfillment. And we design learning so that students use their academic and social skills in pursuit of serving the greater good, promoting empathy and advancing global citizenship by using our skills to make our planet more peaceful, sustainable, and just.

Beyond traditional academic paths, Cohasset High School engages with community resources to create project-based learning opportunities that are grounded in scholarship but that address real-world challenges and offer real-world solutions. Our students are empowered to become agents of change.

The commitment to personalizing education promotes student voice and increases student engagement, which is reflected in student achievement. Cohasset High School has been recognized as a School of Recognition by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, AP Platinum Honor Roll by the College Board, one of America’s Best High Schools by US News and World Report, and most recently as one of the Best Public High Schools of 2024 as ranked by Boston Magazine.

One key partnership in that endeavor is with the Cohasset Student Coastal Research Center, CSCR. The partnership that is grounded in student agency and the belief that students have the desire and the ability to improve the world that we live in. When they are anchored by community partnerships like this, and when they see the community as the classroom, and are given the tools and the trust to explore that community, we help realize our educational vision. To "empower students to improve communities." Please check out an overview below.

Please complete the Parent Portal Workflow in Aspen. The workflow is very brief and covers the following areas:

• Emergency Contact Information
• Do Not Photograph -- NOTE: DO NOT PHOTOGRAPH includes Yearbook photos.
• Handbook Acknowledgment
• Information Sharing with the PSO, CEF, and Military

Instructions on how to complete the workflow:

https://www.cohassetk12.org/departments/technology/tech-for-families/departments/technology/tech-for-families/updating-contact-information-in-aspen

Already in the first week we are seeing an inordinate number of drop-offs for students. While we understand that students often forget things, we ask that you please consider whether the item is actually necessary to have during the school day. In most cases, students need to live without in order to develop the muscle memory to remember things in the future, even if that means getting school lunch, borrowing a Chromebook, or having to make up a PE class.

Ms. Kelleher is curious… How will you use Generative AI for your schoolwork this year? See the ethical and unethical ways that you can be reflective of as a student as you are asked to begin assignments, projects, and assessments. Stop by my office or email me your favorite AI tool you may have used over the summer!

Now that school is in full session, all bus traffic will use the main driveway. Student drivers and parents should proceed up the driveway along Alumni Field and use the student lot and the back loop for drop off. No students or parents should use the Central Office lot for parking or turning around.

Student Clubs largely begin after the start of the school year. We will host a Club Fair during utility period on Thursday, October 24th, 2024.

Please see the following list of technological resources and troubleshooting instructions for student technology:

https://www.cohassetk12.org/departments/technology/tech-for-families

Field Hockey vs. Middleboro

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vZxg4WhDxJPBTxt57

Girls' Soccer vs. Carver

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hHRW8Jw3L1jwbqJz5

Boys' Soccer vs. Wayland

https://photos.app.goo.gl/AvJF3Yw8kvSE6UUk9

Dates to remember:

Website: www.cohassetk12.org
Location: 143 Pond Street, Cohasset, MA, USA
Phone: 781-383-6100
Twitter: @CoHSPrincipal