Andrew Pride
FEBRUARY 22, 2021
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
As we begin to look towards March, we are starting to plan as best we can for the final quarter of this school year. March 2nd marks Parent-Teacher Conferences, which is going virtual again this spring. We hope families take advantage of the opportunities to meet with teachers to discuss progress and work on plans for the closure of the school year.
Regarding other activities, this March will be very busy with our new athletic calendar. As the IHSA makes up for lost time after the IDPH guidelines / Governor’s Stage 3 Mitigation plan forcing sports to the spring, we know that athletics will be very busy. Our coaches have really worked on plans to make things work even under these challenging times. For co-curriculars, we see more on site, in person, meetings and special events. We are building towards more, but have some very strict guidelines from IDPH to follow.
Finally, the CDC recommendations gave very few answers, but something as we try to reopen schools of our size. Having metrics is good, but we as a community still have not reached them, and may not for a few weeks now. Additionally, maintaining a need for six feet (as recommended) is challenging. However, in the complex world of CDC, IDPH, CCDPH, ISBE, etc, we still need IDPH to adopt or modify rules in our state before we can start implementing any changes. Unfortunately, patience is still required of us all.
UPCOMING EVENTS
February 25: School Board Meeting @ 6:00 p.m. @ Sandburg
March 1: NO SCHOOL / Casimir Pulaski Day
March 2: Parent / Teacher Conferences (by pre-scheduled appointment)
March 10: Athletic Booster Club meeting @ 7:00 p.m.
CREATING HEALTHY ROUTINES
If the past year has taught us anything, it has taught us to control what is in our control. Establishing small, healthy routines to start our day is an area within our control. Starting our day in a consistent, healthy way puts us moving in the right direction from the start. For a student, it means starting a school day in a calm, relaxed fashion that hopefully transitions to the remainder of the day. Here are a few healthy ideas we can use in our morning routine.
Wake up at a consistent time.
Make our beds.
Spend 5 to 10 minutes listening to a favorite song or reading a book.
Complete one additional task around the house each morning (i.e., feeding an animal, watering a plant, straightening an area).
Eat breakfast.
Send an encouraging or positive text message to someone.
Participate in a brief stretching or exercise routine.
Adding and consistently completing just a few of these ideas in the morning can have a great impact on our entire day!
VIRTUAL PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES MARCH 2, 2021
Spring 2021 Virtual Parent/Teacher Conferences
- · VJA Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held virtually this year on Tuesday, March 2.
- · Virtual appointments with teachers will be available from noon – 7:00 p.m.
- · Each conference is 8 minutes in length and will occur within a virtual GoogleMeet appointment.
- · Instructions and details for accessing and attending virtual conferences will be shared prior to conferences.
- · Each staff member has a limited number of openings; however, parents can contact teachers at any time via email. You do not need to wait until conference day.
Scheduling:
- · Parents should schedule their appointments through the parent portal of Skyward.
- · Step by Step instructions are accessible on our website.
- · The tab for the Conference scheduler will be available from Monday, February 22 (9:00 a.m.) until Friday, February 26 (8:00 a.m.).
TPPO (THUNDER PRIDE PARENT ORGANIZATION)
ATHLETIC BOOSTERS
Our next Booster Club Meeting will be March 10 at 7:00 p.m.. If you are interested in becoming a part of this great club, please reach out to lesmag1@comcast.net. We are in search of directors for next year!
New to the Athletic Booster Club! Sidewalk Flags! Show your school spirit and order a sidewalk flag! You can order one for Andrew T-Bolt, or if you have a senior, we have Class of 2021 flags also. This fundraiser is open until March 22. Please follow this link: https://www.charityflags.net/andrew-high-school
The Andrew Athletic Booster Club will still be offering scholarships this year. (8) $1,000 athletic scholarships and (4) $500 Matz scholarships. We understand with the variety show not being a live event, there may not be as much opportunity for our seniors, so if you are a senior and you participated in the variety show as a junior, for the first time due to COVID, you will be eligible for the Matz scholarships, as well as all seniors that are participating this year in the variety show. Scholarship forms will be available in the guidance office.
MUSIC BOOSTERS
The VJA Theater production of Now. Here. This. has been completed and will stream on 2/26 and 2/27 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at vja.fyi/NHT. Please support the hard work and dedication of all involved. Congratulations on a job well done.
Best of luck to Winter Percussion as they begin recording their show for submission for the 2021 Winter Guard International virtual season. The students and staff have been working hard and we’re excited to see their show.
We wish the saxophone trio luck on preparing their submission for the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. The boys have spent countless hours over the past several months on their program.
Victor J. Andrew High School
Email: webmaster@d230.org
Website: d230.org/Andrew
Location: 9001 West 171st Street, Tinley Park, IL, USA
Phone: (708)342-5800