Dear Pickerington Tiger Community - Letter #9

Dear Pickerington Tiger Community – Letter #9

Very quickly, the first grading period is coming to a close, ending this Friday, October 30.  Please double check your student’s grades and assignments on the Parent Assist Module to ensure that all work is completed and that they are prepared to do their very best to end the grading period.  The last week and a half has been quite interesting and filled with student events.  The week of the 12^th was Homecoming Week.  Usually Homecoming Week is filled with a full slate of activities, but this year, Homecoming fell on a shortened 3-day week.  There were still dress-up themed days and the Cheerleaders facilitated incredibly decorated hallways throughout the building.  Thursday the 15^th was Parent/Teacher Conference Day.  This year the district opted for the time of 11:30 AM – 7:00 PM.  Hopefully, that span of time was convenient for parents to work around their schedule to visit with their student’s teachers.

Athletically, most of our fall sports teams have concluded their seasons.  I’d like to congratulate all of our teams for a valiant effort this season and for the way they represented PHSC on their respective fields of play.  I’d like to offer an extra congratulation to our Girls Tennis team for winning the OCC Ohio title and to Coach Kelli Rings for being selected the OCC Ohio Coach of the Year.  We also had a talented Lady Tiger tennis player named Player of the Year and an OCC Ohio champion in Girls Cross Country.  Great job team!  We also wish our football Tigers the best of luck, as they will win the OCC Ohio championship by defeating rival Reynoldsburg this Friday.  The Tigers have also clinched a spot in the State Playoffs yet again and have gone 17 straight quarters without being scored on.  Congratulations Tigers!

I’d like to thank teachers Amie Ladd and Katie Weekley for their leadership of our Student Council, and for doing an awesome job with the Homecoming Week festivities and the Homecoming Dance.  The dance, held Saturday, October 17, saw over 1,000 jubilant teenagers having the time of their lives.

PHSC has also had a few of our student activity groups participate in some very exciting events.  Advisor Amy Wilder, along with a contingent from Hilliard Davidson and Gahanna Lincoln, accompanied Renaissance leadership students to the Heartland Renaissance Conference.  The students came back from the conference full of great ideas for the betterment of PHSC.  I highly anticipate meeting with them in the near future to hear all about their experience and listen to their thoughts.  Our step team, led by advisor Susie Potter, was invited to perform at the Third Annual African Affairs Symposium held on October 24 at the King Arts Center.  The students had a wonderful experience and wowed the audience with their talented performance.  Ballet Met notified me that three PHSC students will be performing in this year’s production of The Nutcracker.  That is truly an amazing honor as all of these examples are indicative of the total experience of being a PHSC Tiger!

Lastly, this week is Red Ribbon Week, which is the largest drug prevention campaign in the country.  Our Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) club is facilitating the week by passing out red ribbons, stickers, collecting donations and holding a contest for the class with the highest percentage of students wearing red for the week.  Show your support for their efforts and their cause by wearing red this week.  (Of course, wear purple on Friday night…it’s kind of red)  Have a great week.

Sincerely,

M. Scott Reeves

Principal, Pickerington High School Central

If you BELIEVE you will ACHIEVE, you will SUCCEED

Dear Pickerington Tiger Community - Letter #8

Greetings Pickerington Tiger Community – Letter #8

This past week started with an annual tradition at PHSC that began when we were still simply Pickerington High School, and that is nominated students and staff mentors traveled to an overnight camp for leadership training for the Sunny Side Up program.  Students are nominated by teachers as potential student-leaders; then selected by advisors, teachers Matt Young and Heather Peirano, to attend the leadership camp and become a part of Sunny Side Up.  It is an incredible experience for the students who come back from the camp ready to join current SSU members as student-leaders.  A quote from a parent of an attending student adequately describes the experience:

“I want to take time to tell all of you (teacher mentors) that (student) absolutely loved this weekend at Sunny Side Up.  He said it was the most spectacular thing he has ever been a part of. I have never seen him so positive about any other experience he’s had in his life.  Thank you so much for donating your time to help Sunny Side up be so successful and for doing all you did for (student)!”

If you recall, it was the student-leaders from the Sunny Side Up program, in conjunction with other student groups, which sponsored the FOG (Freshman Opportunity to Grow) Day for our incoming freshmen on August 25.

Athletically, it is time for OCC, sectional and district competition.  Our football Tigers beat Gahanna Lincoln and Groveport Madison by a combined score of 62-0!  After a five-week absence, the team finally returns to Tiger Stadium this Friday to face the Newark Wildcats.  In academic competition, we are proud of the victory of our In-The-Know team who defeated Dublin Jerome in a televised matched. 

Congratulations to the PHSC Marching Tigers for taking the Grand Champion honor at this weekend’s competition and qualifying for the state competition!  We would also like to congratulate two PHSC Orchestra students for making the South Central Region Orchestra!  The Region Orchestra concert will be Sunday, November 22 at Westerville South High School.  You may see our very fine orchestra perform this Tuesday, October 13 in the Performing Arts Center at 7:30 PM.  You may also see the Marching Tigers perform this coming Thursday, October 15 at 11:30 AM at the Fairfield County Fairgrounds in Lancaster, Ohio.

Academics, Athletics, the Arts, and Activities are all a part of the All A’s of High School!

I also invite you to read our school’s newspaper, Insights, as it is now being produced online.  You will find that our “journalists-in-training” are very talented, and under the direction of teacher Leslie Harris, produce an outstanding product.  The website for Insights is http://www2.pickerington.k12.oh.us/insights/

I’d like to remind you that this is a shortened week as school will only be in session for students Monday – Wednesday.  Thursday from 11:30 AM – 7:00 PM is Parent/Teacher Conferences.  In addition to email and checking your student’s grades on the Parent Assist Module, it is vital that you also maintain a personal communication with your student’s teachers and I strongly invite you to make an appointment Thursday to discuss your student’s progress with his or her teachers.  I look forward to seeing many of you then.  This week is also Homecoming Week!  As is tradition, students, teachers and parent volunteers have decorated the hallways of PHSC in celebration of Homecoming.  If you’ve never seen them, the decorations are spectacular and should still be on display for conferences on Thursday.  Also tradition is the annual Homecoming Dance this coming Saturday, October 17 from 7:30 PM – 10:30 PM.  Please note that tickets will only be sold during school in advanced and will not be sold at the door under any circumstances.

Finally, in the pouring rain near the end of the football game at Groveport Madison last Friday, I traded pleasantries with a parent who was getting soaked.  I offered her the use of my umbrella and she explained that her umbrella had dropped beneath the bleachers.  I was able to squeeze through an opening in the fence and retrieve the umbrella under the bleachers, but I was never able to locate the parent, nor did I get her name.  So “mom” if you are one of my subscribers, please get in touch with me because I have your umbrella!

Have a great week!

Sincerely,

M. Scott Reeves

Principal

If you BELIEVE you can ACHIEVE you will SUCCEED

Dear Pickerington Tiger Community - Letter #7

Dear Pickerington Tiger Community – Letter #7

It’s hard to believe, but our first month is over already!  September is behind us and October ushers in autumn with cooler temperatures, spectacularly colored trees, shorter days and a full slate of school events.  Without question, much attention has been focused on the upcoming flu season, especially regarding H1N1.  There is a wealth of information available at various health department websites, as well as the site for the Center for Disease Control.  The most important few things we can do to limit the spread of this flu is to limit personal contact, wash hands regularly, cough or sneeze in shirt sleeves as opposed to in a hand or open air, and most importantly, stay home and consult a physician if flu-like symptoms arise.  We remind students daily to practice those healthy habits and have helpful information posted on our district’s website.

Congratulations to our Girls Tennis team for capturing the 2009 OCC Ohio Championship.  Now it’s on to the district tournament!  PHSC hosted the annual Tiger Invitational Cross Country meet on a rainy Saturday morning.  Our girls finish in a muddy 3^rd place.  Girls Volleyball finished the week strong with two victories over Watkins Memorial and Licking Heights, and began the week with the annual Volley for the Cure game vs. PHS North.  Admirably, all proceeds from that game were given in support of the Susan G. Komen Foundation for cancer research.  Girls and Boys Soccer teams had key OCC league victories and our Girls and Boys Golf teams are readying for the district tournament with our boys finishing 2^nd in OCC Ohio standings.  Finally, the football Tigers had a thrilling 7-6 victory over our sister school, Pickerington High School North, in front of nearly 10,000 fans from the Pickerington community in Columbus Crew Stadium.  The pre-game activities featured a combined show from the PHSC Marching Tigers and the PHSN Marching Panthers.  The combined Chorales of both schools sang the National Anthem, and there was a very moving tribute to two exceptional Pickerington Local educators, Mary Ann Kirkby and Cindy Roepke, who both recently lost courageous battles with cancer.  It was an intense, well played game that showcased two well-coached teams that represented the Pickerington community proudly.  Best of luck to both the Tigers and the Panthers as they begin the second half of the football season and race toward qualification for the OHSAA State Playoffs.

This week marked the halfway point of the first grading period.  Traditionally, this time is designated for interim reports.  With the advent of our Parent Assist Module (PAM), there are no longer printed reports given to students to take home, as parents are able to review their student’s grades electronically.  If however, parents are unable to access PAM, current student grades can be requested from their student’s teachers. 

On Thursday, many World History students had the chance to witness the historical Renaissance period first hand as teachers Mr. Daugherty, Miss Eilers and Miss Ross took 46 students on a field trip to the Renaissance Festival in Waynesville, Ohio.  Employees of the park dressed in Renaissance attire and spoke in authentic Old English.  Students experienced a joust, the play “Beowulf” performed in the mud, pirates battling in a ship, saw daredevil tricks, had the opportunity to tour a castle, and even shot bows and arrows!  For those students, history really did come alive!

Speaking of Renaissance, the PHSC Renaissance program had their first event of the school year on Thursday by sponsoring a field day in the field house during lunch periods.  As you recall, Renaissance is a program at PHSC that honors and celebrates students who accomplish three basic things:  work hard in the classroom, have good attendance, and have good behavior.  The Violet Township Fire Department sponsored a hotdog-eating contest during the field day, there were corn hole contests, and in cooperation with the United States Marines, there were fitness tests and a fun but challenging obstacle course.  NBC 4 TV sent a camera crew out to provide footage of the great things that the students of PHSC accomplish. 

Lastly, on Tuesday, in cooperation with the Pickerington Police Department and several local law enforcement agencies, nine dogs from various canine units completely went through the halls, random classrooms and the parking lots of PHS Central.  The canines are trained to detect the aroma and presence of illegal narcotics.  This exercise was preplanned several weeks ago together with PHS North and local agencies, and will occur at random a few more times this school year.  The exercise took less than a class period to complete and disruption to the educational process was minimal.  As I have stated often, the safety of the students and staff of PHSC are one of our top priorities and exercises like this are but one tool to ensure our students and community understand our expectation that bringing drugs, weapons or anything that compromises our safety will not be tolerated – ever.

I told you our plate was full!  Have a great week.

Go Tigers!

M. Scott Reeves

Principal, Pickerington High School Central

If you BELIEVE you can ACHIEVE, then you will SUCCEED