Welcome to a new school year. The first day of school for Homer High is on Tuesday, August 16th.

I am proud of all the awesome accomplishments of our students last year. You can read about many of these achievements in this newsletter. We will be posting a variety of student achievements in a Facebook series this fall. These posts will be published twice a week and will detail many of the individual accomplishments of students and staff from the 2021-22 school year.

While we had another great year, we know HHS is not perfect. There are areas that we need to improve on. We have been working hard this summer to make plans for positive changes. As a school we will be working on improving attendance, school pride and school team building, as well as a focus on attending to students' socio-emotional health. If you want to be part of this process please contact the office at 235-4600 and ask to be part of our School Site Council.

On the change front, we have several new staff member and we are excited about what they bring to HHS. Please help welcome these new teachers to Homer High School.

• Leo Dykstra - Language Arts
• Olivia Philpot - Art
• Lucas Parsley - Social Studies
• Justin Zank - PE / Athletic Director
• Sue Rennolds - Counselor

I am looking forward to another great school and can't wait to meet all the new students and parents. If you have a suggestion, a great idea or have a complaint please let me know. You can call me at 235-4600 and ask for Mr. W or schedule a time to talk me. I am always willing to listen and take feedback.

Positively yours,

Douglas Waclawski

Principal

907-235-4600

dwaclawski@kpbsd.org

It has been proven that participating in athletic and activities helps all aspects of a students' high school careers. The best way to start the year is to participate in school activities including sports. Here is the contact information for fall activities.

Please contact your coach to make sure you know when practice is.

Football

• Justin Zank
• (907) 399-8401 (jzank@kpbsd.org)
• Starts July 27th

Football Cheer

• Winter Allen
• WMarshall-Allen@KPBSD.k12.ak.us
• Starts July 27th

Cross-country Running

• Bob Ostrom
• (907) 980-0459 or (bobostrom@gmail.com)
• Starts July 27th

Volleyball

• Stephanie Carroll
• (907) 406-0505 (carrolls.fish@gmail.com)
• Starts August 3rd

Swim-Dive

• Caleb Miller
• (907) 299-7692 (millerc0408@gmail.com)
• Starts August 15th

DDF (Drama, Debate & Forensics)

• Marge Dunn
• mdunn2@KPBSD.org

New Student & Freshman Orientation/Open House is Thursday, August 11 from 6:00pm-8:00pm

Schedule Pick Up times:

• Wednesday, July 27: 1st day of practice for Football, Cross-Country Running & Football Cheer
• Thursday, August 4: Seniors pick up schedules 9:00am-3:00pm
• Friday, August 5: Junior pick up schedules 9:00am-3:00pm
• Monday, August 8: Sophomores pick up schedules 9:00am-3:00pm
• Friday, August 12: Connections Homeschool students notified by the end of the day if their Google form requests can be accommodated

Welcome new 9th grade counselor Sue Rennolds! Sue is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has lived in Homer since 2008, working as a mental health clinician and as a swimming and soccer coach. She will be half-time at HHS, and working at other schools as well. We are so excited to have her on staff!

Each year Homer High School seniors support our West Homer Elementary students by participating in a Grad Walk. Many schools in the Kenai participate in a "Grad Walk" which is defined by Lasselle University as "Graduating seniors walk the halls of the elementary school campus while the kids cheer and high-five the graduates." Homer High seniors thought this was a good idea, but they wanted to do more than just walk through the halls. They worked with the West Homer principal to answer questions for students and eat lunch with them. Both our seniors and West Homer Elementary students seemed to enjoy this event and are hopeful it will inspire future students to excel and graduate from high school. We could probably call it a "Grad Walk and Talk"!

The Mariner track team saved their best performances for the state track meet. The boys earned State Runner-Up for 2nd place and two Mariners athletes earned state championships. Caleb Evans jumped a personal best of 9 feet 11 inches to win the long jump and Izzy Fisk threw 33 feet 4 inches to win the shot put. The boys' second place performance at State was a school record for best finish in school history. Several athletes also had personal records. Congratulations to all our Homer Mariner Track athletes on a job well done.

State Medalists:

State Champions

• Izzy Fisk - Shot Put
• Caleb Evens - Long Jump

Girls

• 3rd Place - 100m Hurdles - Gracie Miotke
• 2nd Place - 4 X 100 Relay -
• 2nd Place - 4 X 100 Relay -
• 4th Place - 4 X 400 Relay -

Boys

• 2nd Place - 800 M - Seamus McDonough
• 3rd Place - 1600 M - Seamus McDonough
• 2nd Place - 3200 M - Seamus McDonough
• 3rd Place - 110 Hurdles - Aiden Brost
• 2nd Place - 300 Hurdles - Aiden Brost
• 2nd Place - 4 x 200 Relay -
• 2nd Place - 4 x 400 relay -
• 3rd Place - High Jump - Ryan Carroll

Unified

• 4th Place - Albert Freeman - Long Jump
• 4th Place - Stella Dye - 100 Meters
• 4th Place - Stella Dye - Shot Put
• 4th Place - Stella Dye - Long Jump

Homer, Alaska – May 16, 2022– Jostens, the leading producer of yearbooks and student-created content, today announced that the Homer High’s yearbook program has achieved the Jostens 2022 National Yearbook Program of Excellence award at the GOLD Level. The National Yearbook Program of Excellence recognizes engaging yearbooks that reflect a broad representation of the student body while helping students develop 21st century skills such as communication, collaboration, and information and communication technologies (ICT) literacy.

The Homer High School Mariner Logbook award-winning yearbook program is led by Mariah McGuire, Editor in Chief; Tyson Walker, Design Editor; Bethany Engebretsen, Business Manager; Kapitolina Reutov, Social Media Manager; yearbook staff include Courtney Rider, Kamdyn Doughty, Olivia LaFleur, Ally High, Damon Weisser, and Charlotte Fraley under the direction of Suzanne Bishop, Homer High School yearbook advisor. Who shares some thoughts about the year: “This year was filled with events including Homecoming festivities, Prom, sporting events, spirit weeks and more! It was great to create the book under more ‘normal’ circumstances. A big shout-out of appreciation to our Editor, Mariah McGuire, who took the lead and put in many extra hours, and the entire staff for winning this award.”

Every year Homer High School seniors earn thousands of dollars of scholarships and this year was not different. In fact, this year Homer High seniors earned over a million dollars in scholarships.

Below is a list of the local scholarships and awards that HHS students earned spring 2022. We want to thank all the local donors who made this happen and make college a little more accessible to deserving students.

Homer High School students excelled in their Advanced Placement (AP) classes for the 2021-22 school year. Over 90% of students passed their AP exams with a 3 or better score and may get college credit at most universities. The global and state averages for AP tests are around 62%. This is a great example of how hard our students and teachers work to get better every day.

Do you know what to do in case of an emergency? What happens on snow days? What should parents do if there is a shelter in place, earthquake or violent act at school? Below are links to district web pages and district information sheets for your information about the District Emergency Action Plan.

https://www.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/communications.aspx?id=22877

https://www.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/Workarea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=34276

Here are a couple quick answers to the questions asked above:

What if there is a huge snowstorm?

• Check the KPBSD Facebook to see if school is closed. If you think it is dangerous to travel, you don't have to send your student to school. It is your call, but please call the school office so they know what's happening with your student.

What is ALICE?

• ALICE is a system to help keep as many students safe as possible during if an active shooter incident happens at our school. This program trains students and staff to know whether to evacuate, stay in place or counter. See the form below that explains what ALICE stands for.

What if there is an earthquake or active shooter at my school?

• Please don't rush to the school; this creates more challenges for the emergency responders and police and could make the situation more dangerous. It is better not to call your child; it distracts them from following safety instructions and could put them at risk in some situations. The police and school will not let students or staff out until everything is all clear. Check the school's Facebook page for information. Please trust us to take care of your children.