The Owl
The Newsletter of OECHS -- May 1, 2020
Owl of the Week
This week's Owl of the Week is Jordyn P! Her teachers said in their nomination that "Jordyn is an amazing student who must battle through added hurdles to accomplish her goals. No matter what is put in front of her, she keeps on going and gives her best effort. Jordyn has a sunny disposition even when faced with adverse situations. She makes our jobs as educators a very rewarding profession." Congratulations, Jordyn!
Staff Appreciation Week
Hyperlinks have been included in each of their names if you would like to send a "Thank You" email or if you go to the next article, there is a new digital way to show your praise!
Erin Walsh (Math 2 Honors, Math 3 Honors)
Ed Walsh (Math 4 Honors)
Rebecca Huggins (English I Honors, English II Honors, English IV Honors)
Brandon Stallard (Chemistry Honors, APES)
Mike Springfield (Biology Honors)
Alie Styons (Civics and Econ Honors, APWH)
Ben Marsh (American History I Honors)
Daveria Hutsell (Guidance)
Deb Kellum (Secretary/Treasurer, Data Manager)
Hannah Padilla (College Liaison)
Staff Appreciation Flipgrid
Below are some simple steps...you can either use the Flipgrid app or use their website https://flipgrid.com/73b759fc. Please use #oechsowls!
Instructions:
Step 1: Open the Flipgrid app and enter the appropriate code from above or click the hyperlink above.
Step 2: Click the white plus sign inside the green circle.
Step 3: Enter your name (email is optional).
Step 4: Record your video and add a selfie. Play with the stickers and options if you like while recording. You have 3 minutes to record.
Step 5: When prompted for the title, add the appropriate hashtag.
Step 6: Submit your video.
Once submitted, you can check out everyone else’s videos if you’d like. You can search for the hashtags too!
--Morgan H., Class of 2022
CCCC Exams
SGA Elections
On Monday, May 4th, OECHS students from the Class of 2021 and the Class of 2022 will each have the opportunity to vote on their representatives for the 2020-2021 CCCC SGA. The candidates that met with Mrs. Padilla (and still have interest) will be on the ballot. Students will vote via Microsoft Form on the Class of 2021 and Class of 2022 Teams pages respectively. Voting will be open from 9:00-5:00. Good luck to all candidates!
OVA Summer Courses
Attention Onslow Early College High School Students (and rising Freshmen):
Did you know that the Onslow Virtual Academy offers several classes over the summer? You must have a 3.2 Grade Point Average (GPA) and the approval of OECHS to enroll. Only 1 course is allowed!
OECHS students are limited to honors-level courses that are not offered at our school.
The courses are completely online and you must have access to your own computer and WiFi (the public library offers both if that is helpful).
Eligible honors courses include:
- Art History
- Forensic Science
- Astronomy
- Physics
- Anatomy and Physiology
- Psychology
- Sociology
If students need another course to meet graduation requirements or CCCC prerequisites, they are permitted to enroll in a core high school course (not listed above).
Contact Mr. Strope (james.strope@onslow.k12.nc.us) for more details and/or to register!
AP Exams
On Monday, May 18th (4:00 EST), sophomores will take the APES exam online, at home. They will also have the APWH exam on May 21st (2:00 EST). Their teachers continue to prepare the students for this unique opportunity to earn additional college credit and make their future college applications more competitive.
The College Board has strict time limits on this year's at home exams:
- APWH has a 50 minute window (45 minutes to read and respond to the question and five minutes to submit).
- APES has a 50 minute window (25 minutes to read and respond to Question 1 and five minutes to submit; 15 minutes to read and respond to Question 2 and five minutes to submit).
On May 4, you can practice submitting responses with the AP 2020 Exam Demo. It will allow you to practice the different ways to submit your responses. If you can't connect to this demo from your planned testing device, you won't be able to access the real exam on test day.
Students (and parents) can go to https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/students to find out more about the exam features, get free live AP review classes and access to AP practice questions.
AP Classroom is the best place for students to find practice questions for the upcoming AP exams. Even though the overall format of the exams has been shortened, College Board has loaded the site with the same types of questions that the students will need.
Below, you will find lots of useful information to help prepare for the exams. First, we have test specifications and rubrics/scoring guides for APES and APWH:
AP Environmental Science Resources:
AP Environmental Science Exam Information
AP Environmental Science Scoring Guidelines (We could not find a rubric, but did find this guideline that was applied to APES sample FRQs that provides insight on what AP scorers are looking for).
AP World History Resources:
AP World History Exam Information
We have also included the comprehensive AP Testing Guide (blue button following this article). One button click will take you to over 50 pages of everything you need to know about before, during, and after the exams.
The next blue button is the AP Exam Day Checklist. This is just a quick list provided by The College Board to ensure students have everything they need to be successful on test day.
Finally, we have provided a couple of videos and a link that give a quick overview of the exam process and tips for preparing and taking the online exams.
Keep working hard Owls! You have a chance to make a big impact on your future!
OCS Student Counseling
It is hard to get away from the rapidly changing news about COVID-19 and the changes it continues to cause in our society. With schools currently closed for students, concern over this new virus has increased the questions children and families currently have. Our school counselors and school social workers, a regular source of help in dealing with the pressure of school life, are not as readily available.
OCS school counselors and school social workers understand this and, during this challenging time, are prepared to help our children cope with these questions.
This link will direct you to the OECHS Counseling/Student Services page. There, students can get an appointment to set up a virtual meeting with Ms. Hutsell. Additionally, students can access Ms. Hutsell on the Guidance page on Teams!
These virtual meetings can be for questions or concerns students would normally see their school counselor for (or any additional concerns related to the current school closure.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GUIDANCE PAGE IS NOT FOR EMERGENCIES!
If you have a medical emergency, contact 9-1-1.
Mental health crisis should contact Integrated Family Services at 1-866-437-1821.
CCCC Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information and Resources
Students need check and use their my.coastalcarolina.edu account for information from instructors and the College. Personal emails may be filtered out by spam filters and not reach instructors. If you have difficulty accessing your my.coastalcarolina.edu account, please contact the helpdesk at helpdesk@coastalcarolina.edu or 910-938-6123.
Coastal Carolina Community College has also assembled a list of information and resources for our community as we navigate the Coronavirus Pandemic. The Writing Center, Math Lab, and other resources are now accessible online! Those College and community resources can be found at:
OCS Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information
Thank you for your patience and flexibility as the district navigates these unprecedented circumstances. As we all face the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, we would like to make our families aware of the services available to them throughout the school closures.
You can find all district COVID-19 information and updates here on the district’s website: Coronavirus Information.
OECHS Class Updates
English
English II Honors: This week, students completed their study of the Romanian-American author, Elie Wiesel and his work on the holocaust, Night. They completed their Unit 6 test on Friday, and will begin their study of their final unit next week, The Post-Modern Hero, with the work of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Great Gatsby. Students will have a presentation project that accompanies the unit. They will have options of topics to select for their research, and those are already available in their OneNotes. Presentations for their Gatsby projects will be due Thursday May 14. Portfolios are due this coming week, Friday May 8.
English IV Honors: This week, students completed their study of Mary Shelley's Gothic-Romantic work, Frankenstein. They will finish up their study of the Romantic period with some of the great, British Poets such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, among others. They will also have an interactive, creative Poetry Project that they will be completing next week, and information regarding that project is already available in their OneNotes. Annotated Bibliographies have been graded, and will all be returned to students by Saturday, May 2. Portfolios are due this coming week as well, Friday May 8.
Math
Honors Math 3: Overall most students have their highest averages of the semester. A typical grade is a 94 in first period and a 93 in second period. Students had a test yesterday on Unit 5 Trigonometry and will begin their last Unit on Statistics Monday. Students will begin next week by reviewing basic statistics from eighth grade such as mean, median, and mode. Then we will move into measures of variability and confidence intervals. We will get to look at discuss some data that has been released pertaining to the COVID-19 Virus. To wrap up the semester there will be a few review assessments on Study Island.
Honors Math 4: Students submitted their Group Project Stories on Friday, and have a DeltaMath to complete by Sunday evening. This coming week we will work on Infinite Series, Binomial Expansion, and The Binomial Theorem. Monday there will be a video lesson on finding the sum of an Infinite Series. Tuesday we will have a quiz covering all of Sequences and Series. The remainder of the week will be devoted to covering Binomial Expansion, and The Binomial Theorem.
Social Studies
Civics and Economics: This week we completed our study of the Presidency and began our next unit which is the Judicial Branch. Next week we will continue our study of the Judicial Branch by looking at some historically significant Supreme Court cases. I once again want to compliment the freshmen who are doing an absolutely fantastic job completing their assignments, I am beyond proud of all of you and your commitment to finishing the year strong!
AP WH: This week coming up we are going to be reviewing Units 3 and 4 using a new technique through the website Fiveable. I will also assign a practice DBQ for students to complete, as well. I am asking students to log onto the AP Demo site mentioned by Mr. Strope in the AP Exam section of the OWL, before Thursday of next week. Every Thursday morning we have a meeting 11:00 for A Day and 11:30 for B Day. The meetings are brief, no more than 30 minutes, and we discuss our upcoming AP exam and just make sure everything is going well with the students. I encourage you to participate in these meetings, if only to hear the information discussed.
American History Honors: This week students completed and submitted Unit VII: The Civil War. All assignments were due Friday, May 1 @ 9:30pm. We will finish the year with Unit VIII: Reconstruction. All assignments and resources will be loaded in TEAMS on Sunday night and all Unit VIII work will be due on Friday, May 15 @ 9:30pm. We will meet on Wednesday, May 6 @ 10am to discuss Reconstruction and end-of-year review Kahoots!
I hope everyone is well - Love you-Miss you-Mean it!
Science
Biology Honors: This week we finished up the invertebrates, fish and amphibians. We concluded with a test Tuesday. Wednesday we started up the Amniotes (Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals). Next week we will finish up the amniotes. They will due a virtual fetal pig dissection and then take a quiz on the amniotes. We will be heading into the final topic at the end of the week, which is Animal Behavior. Great Topic. The students are doing great. I am very proud of the majority of them.
Chemistry Honors: We have just completed Unit 10 and now are moving into a combo Unit 11/12/13 where we will look at Nuclear Chemistry, Acid/Bases, and Redox reactions. We should finish this unit by Friday May 8. Students also have a Study Island assigned which is due on May 15.
APES: We are working on reviewing our units that will be covered on the APES Exam. The exam is scheduled May 18 at 4 pm. It is online an is set up in the following format of 2 Free Response Questions (FRQs). This is what the majority of our review has been, students practicing FRQs for the exam. We will be working on Unit 4 and Unit 5 this coming week.
Onslow Early College High School
Email: james.strope@onslow.k12.nc.us
Website: https://www.onslow.k12.nc.us/onslowearlycollegehs
Location: CE109, 444 Western Blvd., Jacksonville, NC 28546
Phone: 910-938-6702
Twitter: @OnslowECHS