Homer High-Lights
Volume 4, Issue 1, August 2015
Message from the Principal
Summer is winding down and school is almost in session. That is right, the first day of school is August 19th! I always get excited this time of year to see what the new year will bring and what awesome things our students will do at HHS. Our students amaze me every year.
I am not just saying this to sound good. I mean it. As a reminder, here are a few of the achievements from last year.
- Seniors earned over $900,000 in scholarships
- 10 students signed letters of intent to play college sports
- 3 National Merit Scholars
- 95% graduation rate as a school
- US New & World Report Silver Medalist School (3rd Year in a Row)
- State Champions in Girls Cross-Country Running
- Heather Harrington is the First Female State Wrestling Champion at 210 lbs
- Danny Weist earned 2nd in the Caring for the Kenai Contest
- 5 different athletic teams earned Academic Awards
This is just a small slice of the great things our students accomplish every year, and these are just the highly visible achievements. To me, the student who struggles, gets extra help from our dedicated staff, works hard and finds a way to pass a class that has been giving them trouble is the true superstar.
I expect to have another great year, but if something comes up or you have suggestions for improvement please let me know. My office is open and I appreciate hearing your opinions or thoughts. My goal is to be responsive to what our parents and community want and need. Please give me a call or come in and chat.
Sincerely,
Douglas Waclawski
Principal
Freshmen Orientation / Open House - August 13th - 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
This is also an Open House for all other grades. Do you still need to get your schedule, want to visit with your teachers or just need some cookies? Then you are welcome to attend. Sophomores, juniors and seniors and their parents are welcome to come and visit. Come join us!
Registration Dates
Schedule Pick Up / Registration
- Seniors -Wed Aug 5— 10am-3pm
- Juniors - Thurs Aug 6— 10am-3pm
- Sophomores -Fri Aug 7—10am-3pm
- New Student registration Aug. 10th– 10am-3pm
- Freshmen Orientation/Open House Aug. 13th - 6pm-8pm
- Connections class registration Aug 17th - 10am-3pm
Dates To Remember
July 29 - First Day of Practice for Football, XCR & Football Cheer
Aug. 5 - Senior Schedule Pick-up / Registration - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Aug. 5 - First Day of Practice for Swimming & Volleyball
Aug. 6 - Junior Schedule Pick-up / Registration - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Aug. 7 - Sophomore Schedule Pick-up / Registration - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Aug. 10 - New Student Schedule Pick-up / Registration - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Aug. 13 - Freshman Orientation / Open House - 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Aug. 17 - Connections Schedule Pick-up / Registration - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Aug. 19 - First Day of School!
Aug. 28 - XCR Invitational - 3:30 pm
Aug. 29 - Football vs Nikiski - 1:00 & 4:00 pm
Sept. 7 - No School
Sept. 8 - KPBSD Board Meeting - 6:00 pm
Sept. 14 - Site Council Meeting - 3:45 pm - Library
KPBSD Will Now Take Online Payments
RevTrak is the online payment system that will allow parents/students/community members to make payments for student activities, class fees, food service and other items or to make donations. The cost is a 3.61% transaction fee, which is the cost of the service and not a source of revenue for the district.
There are 3 ways to access RevTrak:
- Through KPBSD website
- Through PowerSchool
- Through “online payments” icon on KPBSD mobile app
The KPBSD website link will take you to the web store.
2016 Site Council Elections
Are you interested in helping set school policy, give feedback on school rules and help give the principal direction about sensitive issues? If you said yes to any of the above, then you should run to become a member of our site council. There are 3 open seats for parent representatives and 1 open seat for a communtiy representative. Site council meetings are held once per month in the library, 3:45-5:00 p.m. Voting happens from August 14th till August 28th. Ballots will be e-mailed to all parents with a valid e-mail address in Power School. Paper ballots can be picked up in the office if you don't have access to an e-mail account or prefer to submit a paper ballot.
If you are interested in becoming a Site Council parent member, or would like to suggest a name for the community member, please contact our School Secretary Cindy Koplin at 235-4600 or ckoplin@kpbsd.k12.ak.us.
Counselor Corner
For those families starting at HHS this fall—welcome! For those returning-- welcome back! There are lots of exciting things going on with new teachers and classes and we anticipate another great year at HHS. Any questions that may arise, please feel free to contact the counseling office. The first couple of weeks of school will be busy with students settling into classes but after the first couple of weeks it should settle down quickly. We are always happy to meet with parents and can meet after hours if we have some notice. Counselors will be available during Back To School Night and during Parent/Teacher Conferences.
Schedule Pick-up
Students will be picking up schedules starting with seniors on August 5. These schedules are based on requests that students made in the spring. Students who attended summer school or who completed courses through Distance Ed. or correspondence may find they need to make schedule changes. There will be forms for students wishing to make changes. Students and parents should be aware that some classes may be full so they should have other options in mind. Semester-long classes may be open for second semester if they remain full this fall. Students who wish to make changes after school starts should come to the counseling office in person during the first two weeks of classes. After the first two weeks, only changes initiated by teachers will be possible.
Senior Reminders
- Parents of seniors should be aware that while application dates may be months off, scholarship monies can be "first-come-first-served" especially for out of state colleges and universities.
- Most schools begin accepting applications in September which is also a good time for seniors to work on essays before the school work and other commitments start to pile up. Senior year is a fun but hectic year which always goes faster than it seems possible.
- Procrastination can be enemy #1 with so many things competing for seniors’ time.
College Testing
Throughout the year there will be important tests, beginning with the PSAT in October and throughout the year for SAT and ACT. There are fewer offerings this year so it is important to keep in mind that early testing means there is time for retakes if the first scores are not as high as hoped for. (See the calendar of important dates at the end of this notice).
We will be offering practice sessions for the PSAT starting in September and encourage students to take advantage of this opportunity as we find that students who do some preparatory work (either in groups or on their own) score higher than those
who do not.
AP Testing
This year we have even more students taking Advanced Placement classes. Grades for these courses yield a grade boost but the District requires that students take the AP Test at the end of each class in May. Do keep in mind that tests cost around $90 each but many colleges will award credit which can provide a considerable savings in the end.
Look for more information throughout the year in the Counselors’ Corner and let us know how we can we can be of help to you and your student.
Important Dates
PSAT—October 28
AP Testing—May 2-13.
SAT—Oct. 3, Nov. 7, Dec. 5, Jan. 23, March 5, May 7 & June 4
ACT—Sept. 12, Oct. 24, Dec. 12, Feb. 6, April 9 & June 11
Spring Sports Wrap-Up
Girls Softball Earns 3rd at State!
To give you an idea of how dominate the HHS Softball was they had 5 girls who were named all conference and Maggie LaRue was named Player of the Year. The team is losing 5 seniors, but with the good crop of younger players coming up and the return of their starting pitcher, Mcki Needham, they should be just as good this year. They are an exciting team to watch and if you haven't seen them play you are missing out!
Softball Awards for 2015
Team Awards
- Sportsmanship Award at State Tournament
- Third place at state (third year in a row)
Individual Awards
- All- Conference: Maggie LaRue, McKi Needham, Kyla Pitzman, Larson Fellows, Pam Jantzi
- Conference Player of the Year - Maggie LaRue - (unanimous decision)
- All Tournament Team at State- Maggie LaRue and Kyla Pitzman
- NFCA Western Region- Second Team-Maggie LaRue (13 western states in this region)
- NFCA Academic Awards; Isabel Beach, Malina Fellows, Larsen Fellows, Izabelle Hagge, McKi Needham, Jenna Dragoo, Riley Walls, Kayla Stafford, Mary Hana Bowe, Kelly Liebers
Girls Track Earns Second at State!
Complete results are provided below.
TEAM AWARDS
2nd Place Overall in 1-2-3A Girls Track
1st Place Highest GPA 1-2-3A Girls Track
5th Place overall in 1-2-3A Boys Track
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
2nd Aurora Waclawski – 400 m
2nd Conner Seay – 300 Hurdles
3rd Aurora Waclawski – 200 m
3rd Aziza Shemet-Pitcher – 400 m
3rd Lauren Everts – 100 m Hurdles
3rd Lauren Everts – 300 m Hurdles
3rd John Shank – Triple Jump
4th Crystal Crane – 400 m
4th Conner Seay – Long Jump
5th Jake Richter – 100 m
5th Jordan Beachy – 3200 m
6th Teddy Croft – 200 m
6th Sara Wolf – 400 m
6th Audrey Rosencrans – 3200 m
6th Lauren Jones – 100 m Hurdles
RELAYS
- 1st Place (Girls 4 X 100 m) – Angela Cardoza, Aziza Shemet-Pitcher, Sarah Wolf & Aurora Waclawski
- 1st Place (Girls 4 x 200 m) – Angela Cardoza, Crystal Crane, Lauren Everts, Aziza Shemet-Pitcher
- 1st Place (Girls 4 X 400 m) – Crystal Crane, Aziza Shemet-Pitcher, Sarah Wolf & Aurora Waclawski
- 2nd (Boys 4 X 100 m) – Teddy Croft, Jacob Richter, Julian Richburg, John Shank
- 2nd (Boys 4 X 200 m) – Teddy Croft, Jacob Richter, Julian Richburg, John Shank
- 2nd (Girls 4 X 800 m) – Alex Moseley, Audrey Rosencrans, Haley Knott & Sarah Wolf
- 6th (Boys 4 X 800 m) – Jordan Beachy, Elan Carrol, Jacob Davis, & Denver Waclawski
3 Time Defending Champions in the 4X400 relay
Homer Girls are Academic Champions for the 3rd Year in a Row!
Boys get Ready for the Baton Exchange!
Boys & Girls Soccer & Baseball Awards
· Qualified for State with a 3rd Place finish at Regions
· Filip Reutov named to 1st Team All-Conference Team
· Team earned State Sportsmanship Award.
· Aspen Daigle earned 1st Team All-Conference Honors.
· Michael Swoboda earned 1st Team All-Conference Honors.
We Want You to Follow HHS on Facebook!
We want to be able to give you instant up-to-date information about what is going on at school. This can include emergencies, sports scores and dates and times of events. To stay tuned to what is going on at Homer High, "like" us on Facebook. The address is www.facebook.com/homerhs. Join close to 600 other people who have liked HHS on Facebook and the over 2000 people who view our Facebook posts.
Visit the Homer High School Website
Are you wondering when sports teams have home games? Do you have a senior who needs paperwork for their senior service project ? Do you want to see agendas and minutes from our site council meetings? Check out our school website to find answers to these and other questions.
The address is http://homerhighschool.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/wpmu/.
You can access PowerSchool from our website and weekly activities as well. There are lots of great links and valuable information about Homer High School. If you have suggestions for things you would like to see on our website, please talk to Mr. Waclawski.
Homer High School
Email: dwaclawski@kpbsd.org
Website: http://homerhighschool.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/wpmu/
Location: 600 E Fairview Ave, Homer, AK
Phone: 907-235-4600
Facebook: www.facebook.com/homerhs