Panther Post
March 2020, Volume 5
https://pikesvillehs.bcps.org/
General Phone Numbers:
Main 443-809-1217
Fax (Main) 443-809-3009
Cafeteria 443-809-1223
Guidance 443-809-1219
Library 443-809-1231
Principals' Message
Sandra G. Reid
“The time is always right to do what is right.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Greetings PAWsome Pikesville Parents!
Happy Pre-Spring!!! Our faculty and staff continue to hold student achievement at a premium!!! We remain purposeful and vigilant in appropriately instituting meaningful programs, approaches, and practices for the betterment of our entire PHS student body. All year, they have been enriching their existing reading, writing, critical-thinking, organizational, and speaking skills in classes to better prepare for current academic demands, high-stake assessments, as well as post-secondary pursuits.
GRADE REPORTING
Congratulations to the many Honor Roll students and their families for the second quarter and appreciate all their efforts to ensure their strong academic performance. Our Principal's Honor Roll Breakfast for students (and their parents) with a GPA of 3.75 or higher was held on Tuesday, February 18th.
Third-quarter interims were distributed on Thursday, March 5th. and our PTSA Conference Night occurred that afternoon from 2:30 – 5:00 p.m. We continue to strongly urge that you regularly access information regarding your child’s school performance via BCPS One. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teachers, counselor, and/or administrator with any appreciations, concerns, or questions.
PRIDE HONOR SUCCESS
- Congratulations to Ms. Allison Seymour, Assistant Principal, for being honored as the School Counseling Administrator of the Year.
- Kudos to Ferdinand Virtudes, Jr. who was the ONLY student in all of BCPS and one of only three students in the entire state of Maryland to receive the coveted Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship for his notable and impressive service and academic standing.
- GO PANTHERS - our Boy's Indoor Track team are REGIONAL CHAMPS!!! We are proud of our scholar athletes and our tremendous Coach Hrinda.
- Congratulations to Ms.Jaderborg, Business teacher, who just gave birth to her first-born- Kennedy!
- PHS hosted the DECA Regionals where our students again did a stellar job.
- Our Black History Month festivities have been noteworthy and recognized in BCPS TV and Highlights. Our interactive bulletin board/showcases/art exhibits, Voter Registration Drive, Poetry Slam, Trivia contests, movie viewing, and other activities have ensured awareness and celebration of African Americans.
- This month - March, we begin our Woman's History Month activities.
- We duly honored our School Counselors- Jeremy Goldman, Bridget LaVaute, Pam Romito, and Shawrn Watson during School Counseling Week for their quality work with our Panthers.
- Special thanks to our GPRC and the Matz Family for the generous donation of our new Pikesville chairs that adorn our gymnasium during games.
- Our Girl's Basketball Team (Lady Panthers) have won both the County and Regional Championships! They move on this Friday at 3 p.m. (and tentatively Saturday at 1 pm.) for the semi-finals of the State Championship. As defending champions, we are immensely proud of these scholar athletes.
- Thanks to Ms.DeCarlo for exposing our dancers to Ballet Hispanico !
- Kudos to Mr. Knipscher for organizing a trip to Northrup Grumman, an Aerospace and defense technology corporation, for our future engineers.
- Much appreciation to Mr. Goodman for orchestrating a recent Model Congress trip.
- Our SGA, led by Mr. Goodman and Ms. Johnson, put on a wonderful Winter Formal Dance for our students.
- Congrats to our students who attended the Model UN in NY under the direction of Glenn Smith and Jen Meltzer. This was the 21st annual trip for PHS.
- Our thoughtful and service-oriented National Honor Society members packed over 100 bagged lunched for the economically disadvantaged.
- Congrats to our Kiah and Shehroz , our first females to advance and compete in the State Wrestling Tournament.
- Congrats to Ms. Reisner our Teacher of the Month and Jamar Spencer our Student of the Month.
Your partnership is immensely appreciated. We applaud you for playing an active role in supporting the education of your child. Thank you for your ongoing support of PHS- Home of Panther Pride, Honor, and Success.
Yours in Education,
Sandra
Attendance Corner
Did you know??
Per MSDE, students are chronically absent when they miss ten percent or more of school days. A student is counted as absent if he or she is not physically on school grounds and is not participating in instruction or instruction-related activities at an approved off-grounds location for the school day. Chronically absent students include students who are absent for any reason, regardless of whether absences are excused or unexcused.
Missing 10% (or about 18 days of a school year) can drastically affect a student’s academic success. Absences can be a sign that a student is losing interest in school, struggling academically, or even facing social/emotional challenges. With the collaborative effort of the entire PHS community, we are confident that all students can have successful attendance as they prepare for colleges, careers, and beyond!
Congratulations Lady Panthers!! BCPS County Champs 2 years in a row!!
To top off that win, the Lady Panthers were awarded the BCPS Respect the Game Sportsmanship Award!
Congratulations to Allison Seymour - Maryland School Counseling Administrator of the Year!!
Pikesville High Student Accepted Into Prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship Program
Virtudes is one of only 68 high school seniors nationally to earn this honor
TOWSON, MD – The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has announced that Ferdinand (“Vee”) Virtudes, Jr., a senior at Pikesville High School, is one of only 68 current Cooke Young Scholars who has been named a Cooke College Scholar.
Through the Cooke College Scholarship Program, the Foundation provides scholars with up to $40,000 per year for up to four years to complete a bachelor’s degree. Cooke Scholars also have access to opportunities for internships, study abroad, and a community of motivated peers.
Virtudes entered the Cooke Young Scholars Program as a Grade 8 student. Since then, he and his fellow Young Scholars have attended summer programs on college campuses and participated in enrichment programs in cities such as Athens, Greece; Santiago, Chile; and Washington, DC.
Each Cooke Young Scholar and their family also worked one-on-one with an educational adviser to create an individualized learning plan and maximize their high school experience.
“Ferdinand epitomizes Pride Honor Success!” said Pikesville High School Principal Sandra Reid. “A team player/leader/scholar of the highest caliber and character, Ferdinand was well-suited to receive this elite honor that showcases the impressive, altruistic, and talented young man he is! A civically-oriented future educator, he founded ‘Treasures for Teachers and Students’ and actively solicited donated/purchased supplies for teachers to advantage the neediest of our population. Thoughtful beyond his years, he is genuinely caring, sincere, and authentic in his quest to unselfishly give back to our school and associated community in every endeavor he undertakes.”
“This young man is a stellar student and an amazing human who contributes to our school community in a variety of ways,” said Jennifer Meltzer, Pikesville High library media specialist. “He is a member of our morning announcement team, Panther Production, and was awarded for delivering a lively performance in this year’s Pikesville’s Got Talent. We are thrilled that he is being recognized in this wonderful way.”
“It’s been incredible to watch these scholars take ownership of their learning and prepare to engage and lead purposefully,” said Seppy Basili, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. “We look forward to seeing the impact they will have as they complete college and beyond.”
The Foundation is currently seeking applications for the 20th cohort of its Cooke Young Scholars program. High-performing Grade 7 students have until March 23 to apply to this five-year pre-college scholarship.
Ben Matz - Semi Finalist in the WJZ Oratory Competition!
Congratulations to Our Boys Indoor Track Team- Region CHAMPIONS!! #pantherpride #panthernation #pikesvilleathletics
Congratulations Teacher and Student of the Month
Black History Month Celebrations
STEM
Pikesville STEM Department took 2 field trips in February, both in celebration of National Engineers Week. On February 14th, we traveled to the Engineers Club to meet representatives from the American Society of Plumbing Engineers. Students learned a lot about plumbing through Q & A with professionals and through hands on activities. On February 18th, Will Joseph, Gina Melnik, and Sam Suchin participated in an adaptive bike build event and “Engineer Wars” at Northrop Grumman. The bike came out looking great, and the kids did well in the E-Wars challenge!
NHS
Model Congress
Mr. Goodman would like to congratulate all the participants in this year's Baltimore County Model Congress. Students researched, wrote bills and debated in committees to get those bills passed. All bills presented by Pikesville High School participants passed.
The Athletic Boosters still need your help with the winter season. If you haven’t already joined, it’s not too late. The membership form can be found: http://pikesvillehs.bcps.org/for_students/athletic_information. The Boosters supports all Athletic programs and awards athletic scholarships. They need your help. If you are available to help with concessions, please email pikesvillepantherbooster@gmail.com. Meetings are every 4th Monday in the cafeteria at 6pm. Next meeting is March 23, 2020. We hope to see you there.
You can find the schedule for all our teams http://pikesvilleathletics.digitalsports.com. Make sure you sign up for alerts, so you are notified with any changes that are made.
We are so proud of our student-athletes – they truly represent Pikesville with Pride, Honor, & Success! A special congratulations goes out to boys’ indoor track, girls’ basketball teams, and our wrestlers!
Boys’ Indoor Track came in 1st place at the 1A Region Meet, and turned around and took 2nd at the 1A State meet. Kaleb Berhanu took the gold in the 1600. We look forward to what’s to come this spring!
Girls’ Basketball beat Western Tech for the BCPS/District 6 Championship game. That’s two years in a row!! They were also awarded the BCPS Respect the Game Sportsmanship Award. They truly represent Pikesville with Pride, Honor & Success! The next game is March 2nd at 5pm in Pikesville’s gymnasium. If they win, they will host again on March 4th at 5pm.
We have some distinguished wrestlers that need a shoutout! Maxwell Gorodisky came in 2nd place at the BCPS JV Championship. At the BCPS Varsity Championship Kiah Noble took 3rd and Ahmadjon Olimjonov took 4th in their weight class. We are excited for Regionals and hope to be sending young men to states. Also, we will be sending three ladies to participate in the first women’s regional and state tournament. Jaclyn Welfeld, Macy Sober, and Lesieli Fanua we are so proud of you for representing Pikesville and making history!
Students in English 10 Drop Everything And Read
Earlier this quarter students had an opportunity to participate in a book tasting in the Learning Commons. Mrs. Meltzer, the library media specialist, curated a collection of texts that were both high engagement and appropriate for the individual reading levels in English 10. Students were able to taste and explore a range of texts, genres and styles, and each student walked away with a book of their choice.
It's Academic
Pikesville Players
Join the Pikesville Players March 26 – March 28 as they take a musical journey back to the 1960’s through the record kingdom and tell you about a girl whose songs sold a phenomenal one hundred million records. If you were around in 1963, wherever you were, whatever you were doing, the radio was playing such hits as “Be My Baby,” “Today I Met the Boy I’m Going to Marry,” “Do Wah Diddy,” “And then He Kissed Me,” “Hanky Panky,” “Chapel of Love,” and of course “Leader of the Pack.” The celebration of the Pikesville Players’ 15th Anniversary continues with Leader of the Pack: The Ellie Greenwich Musical. March 26, 27 and 28 at 7:30pm in the PHS auditorium. Tickets are $8.00 in advance and $10.00 a the door.
AVID Elective Updates by Grade Level
9th Grade Update
Pikesville High Schools AVID freshmen class had a very interesting start to the new year. In January we began doing our tutorials in the Sandbox and our AVID teacher, Mrs. LaPorta, began collecting our focused notes. In February we met our Panther Pal, our AVID seniors who will help us through the rest of our freshman year on things such as choosing classes and things we may be struggling on. In honor of Black History month, we also made PowerPoints on rising African American leaders. We have also begun to plan our second field trip of the year. We are excited to see what the rest of third quarter brings!
10th Grade Update
In AVID 10 we have been working on our SAT grammar section in preparation for the PSAT on March 25th. We are gearing up to launch into our argumentative writing unit, and we have been fine tuning our debate skills using Philosophical Chairs. We recently debated gun laws in the United States, student loan debt, and other topics. We continue to refine the AVID Tutorial process so that we are able to master our points of confusion in our content classes.
11th Grade Update
This month in Avid we began working on résumés for college. We had to look over their past high school years, list classes we completed and are currently in. We also included clubs, sports, employment, and service learning hours. Besides working on resumes, we worked to improve our TRF’s. At the end of tutorials, we regrouped and spoke on things that improved and still need development. Progressively we have done a great job as TRF’s are done, such as our point of confusion. We are looking forward to beginning our college essays in March!
12th Grade Update
In AVID 12, we have been focusing on writing on our AVID Senior Speeches, which we will vote on to decide who will be our speakers at AVID Night on April 15th. Last week, a group of ten AVID seniors presented AVID tutorials at the BCPS AVID Coordinators’ meeting to teach AVID Coordinators from around the county. We were proud to serve as models for this process! This week, we also had a chance to do a Breakout Box in which we used resources like financial aid information and FAFSA reports to determine which college a person should choose. We also visited Pikesville Middle School to lead activities related to Black History Month for their AVID 6-8 graders.
FLU STILL HIGH IN MARYLAND
Flu cases continue in Maryland. To help keep the flu from spreading at school, please keep your child home for 24 hours fever free and off OTC medicine. The flu is spread through respiratory droplet (cough) and can spread up to 6 feet. If you notice your child experiencing the above symptoms, it is highly suspect for flu and would benefit from a provider visit. Please do not send them to school with a fever! The health suite is very busy with these symptoms and keeping your student home a day or so later will help in recovery!
Nurse Merani
College and Career Corner
COLLEGE FAIR 2020
CCBC ESSEX – TUESDAY, MARCH 10TH
CCBC CATONSVILLE – WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11TH
PARTICIPANT LIST
Albright College*
Alvernia University
Arcadia University*
Baltimore City Community College
Benedict College
Bridgewater College
Bryant University
Campbell University
Capitol Technology University
CCBC
Cedar Crest College
Centenary College
Chatham University
Chestnut Hill College**
Christopher Newport University
Clarkson University
Coastal Carolina University
Columbia College Chicago
Concord University
Coppin State University
Delaware Valley University*
DeSales University
Dickinson College
Drexel University
Duquesne University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairmount State University
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising
Florida Institute of Technology
Frostburg State University
Garrett College
Goldey-Beacom College
Goucher College
Harrisburg University of Science and Technology
Hawaii Pacific University*
Hollins University
Hood College
Immaculata University
James Madison University*
Johns Hopkins University
Johnson & Wales University
Juniata College
Kent State University
La Salle University
Lincoln University of Pennsylvania
Lycoming College
Marywood University
Massachusetts Maritime Academy
McDaniel College
Messiah College
Millersville University
Mount St. Mary’s University
Neumann University
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Notre Dame of Maryland University
Ohio University
Old Dominion University
Pace University
Penn State University
Pennsylvania College of Art & Design
Pennsylvania College of Technology
Point Park University
Purdue University
Radford University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rider University
Roanoke College
Robert Morris University
Rochester Institute of Technology
Roger Williams University*
Saint Joseph’s University
Saint Michael’s College*
Salisbury University
Seton Hall University
Seton Hill University
Shenandoah University
Shippensburg University
Slippery Rock University
St. Andrews University
St. Bonaventure University
St. John’s College
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Stevenson University
Stoney Brook University
SUNY Maritime College*
Sweet Briar College
The College of New Jersey
The Ohio State University
The University of Alabama
The University of Louisville
Towson University
University of Baltimore
University of Cincinnati*
University of Dayton*
University of Maryland Baltimore County
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
University of Maryland School of Pharmacy
University of Mary Washington
University of Mount Olive
University of New Haven
University of North Carolina Wilmington
University of Pittsburgh**
University of Tennessee
University of the Sciences*
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Military Institute
Virginia State University
Virginia Tech
Washington College
Wells College
Widener University
Wilkes University
Wilmington University
Wellness Corner
Families play an important role in developing their teen’s sense of healthy dating. When they see healthy expressions of love, affection and playfulness at home, they are learning ways to interact with dating partners. It is also true if they see yelling, demeaning comments, absence of affection or physical harm. We all know every relationship comes with conflict and as parents we have enormous opportunity to shape how your teens handle it in their own lives. Intimacy can be one of the most difficult topics for families and it is one of if not the most important and as can provide our greatest fuel in life (love) or cause the most damage (violence). Here is an article you can use to springboard the conversation about this topic with your family.