Bronco Bulletin

Upcoming School Events & Announcements

We have a new partnership with McLean Hospital to support our clinical staff. As part of their School Consultation Service they run a “Leaders in Youth Mental Health Series” and offer four free parent webinars for the parents/guardians in our school district.

First webinar:

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Our first parent webinar will take place this Sunday, September 18th 7:00-8:00pm “Understanding Self-Harm for Parents” presented by Michael Hollander, Ph.D. Description and Zoom link can be found on the link below.

Link to webinar and presentation schedule can be found here.

Webinars will be hosted live on their scheduled date and time with closed captioning. If you are unable to watch it live, they will be recorded and available “On Demand” shortly afterwards. The On Demand videos will be found on the same website link above.
No pre-registration is required for the webinars.

Games Club will be meeting in room 111A on Monday, September 19th. Bring your Magic the Gathering decks, play chess, or try to conquer the world in Risk. Come ready to play!

Attention all students. The add/drop deadline to modify your schedule is Friday, September 23rd. Guidance will be unable to accommodate schedule changes after this day. Thank you.

There will be a SkillsUSA Meeting on Wednesday, September 28th at 2:05pm in room 323. Anyone interested in joining or competing in SkillsUSA this year should plan to attend. Officers, please see Mrs. Graham if you have a conflict.

Project Adventure will be hosting its Second Annual Apple picking trip to Honey Pot Farms, Thursday, September 29th from 2:15 pm – 4:30 pm. Please see Mr. Paul in the Horticulture and Landscape Shop or Mr. Sylvestre in Metals for more details and permission slips.

All students should have received a Student/Parent Handbook signature form sent to their student email account. Please fill out and submit as soon as

possible.

Information to create and/or login to ipass to view grades and student progress can be found below:

Information on Routine Screenings:

Beginning the week of September 29th, the nursing team will be starting routine health screenings for 10th graders as required by the state which includes height/weight/BMI and vision screening. If you do not want your student to participate, please notify the nurses in writing as soon as possible. Thank you!

bveale@jpkeefehs.org

mwade@jpkeefehs.org

Seniors who are planning to apply to 4-year colleges and universities should be working on their college applications, completing necessary essays and making sure they have connected with teachers about recommendations. Students should make an appointment with their School Counselor if they have not done so already. Deadlines come up quick and we want to make sure they everyone is on track.

Common Application Workshops! The Guidance Department will be hosting three workshops to assist students with the Common Application.

9/29 A Week at 12:35pm
10/4 B Week F Block at 12:02pm
10/6 B Week D Block at 12:02pm

All workshops will be held in Room 226. Please use this Google Form to sign up:
https://forms.gle/z2XFJLLBK9XHy1qo6

Monday, September 19th - Rochester Institute of Technology - Lunch Table in the Cafeteria

Financial Aid Workshops: Need to learn about financial aid? The trusted experts at MEFA are hosting FREE webinars to help. Register at https://bit.ly/3eaiKwD, or watch the on-demand recording anytime at https://bit.ly/3AAaQEd.

Majors, Minors, and More: The Academic Experience at Liberal Arts Colleges
Tuesday, September 20 at 7 pm EDT - Click here to register!
What are classes like? How do students explore academic interests? Faculty and current students will talk about the academic experience at a liberal arts college—from choosing a major to relationship building and research opportunities.

School Counselor Caseloads and additional contact information are below:

Counselor Caseload Information 2022-2023 School Year

Counselor Contact Information 2022-2023 School Year

Mental Health Support for Families:

Dear parents/guardians:

September is suicide awareness month, and now more than ever there is more news and information out there to help parents support their children if they are worried about them. And it is an issue to take seriously: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people age 15 to 24. Nearly 20% of high school students report serious thoughts of suicide and nine percent have made an attempt to take their lives, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Here at Keefe Tech, the guidance staff has been going into the classroom more and more to help support and educate students. For instance, we teach a suicide awareness class to freshmen and juniors; the NAN Project meets with 10th and 12th graders, an effort that entails young adults coming to the classroom to talk about their experiences with depression and suicidality and how they got help.

As parents, there are more resources out there to help you talk to your child about depression and thoughts of suicide. I have attached a parent guide published by the American Society for Suicide Prevention. Please also see the notice in this bulletin for the parent seminar on suicide awareness.

Simply becoming aware of the risk factors and warning signs that can lead to suicide, making yourself available to your childe and knowing how to find help can make a huge difference in supporting your child. Look for the information in this bulletin about how to find a therapist in your community.

Thank you,

Julia Fairclough

School Adjustment Counselor