Andrew Pride
OCTOBER 19, 2021
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
October continues to remind us of the importance of taking care of ourselves while understanding, empathizing, and appreciating others. Activities throughout the building focus on wellness, reflection, and the consideration of each other. Through Advisory, we focus on encompassing events such as SAFE Schools Week to show unity for kindness, acceptance, inclusion, and to send a visible message that no one should ever experience bullying. We also celebrate events such as Red Ribbon Week, and LGBTQ+ History Month, in addition to many other philanthropic events sponsored by our many clubs and activities including kicking off Relay for Life and Volley for the Cure.
This month continues to focus on celebrating the success of our T-Bolts in and out of the classroom. We hope to celebrate both team and individuals with great success at the IHSA postseason series. Also, in our Fine Arts Programs, our Marching Thunderbolts continue their successful legacy of dominating in competitions. Our comedic Fall Play Harvey begins performances this week and is sure to be a fun and entertaining crowd pleaser.
In addition, October marks the beginning of our engagement with our incoming Class of 2026 parents! Detailed information will be shared with all incoming freshmen and their families. Events will look very different from previous years, but will continue to promote the parent and student role in making decisions that are based on the student's passion and discovery. Speaking of passions, our Guidance Department has provided post secondary resource options with visits from college representatives, the trades, and military. Seniors have been provided opportunities to spend time thinking about their area of passion, to ask questions from those in the field and to learn more about how to move forward beyond high school. In order to assist you with navigating student needs, on October 27th, our PPS Team will host our Social Emotional Informational Night. With the assistance of Silver Oaks Behavioral, breakout sessions will be offered to parents on coping strategies, executive functioning skills, healthy habits, and additional resources.
We appreciate all the support and encouragement that you have provided to our T-Bolts - and to us - throughout the last few months. We thank you in advance for continuing to talk with your student about their taking advantage of the many supports offered at Andrew. As always, it is an honor and a privilege to serve as your principal. Keep Bringing Back the Thunder! If you have any suggestions or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at aothman@d230.org.
UPCOMING EVENTS
October 21: Senior Class Blood Drive
October 21-22: Fall Production @ 7 p.m.
October 22: Red Ribbon Week
October 23: Fall production 3 & 7 p.m.
October 27: SEL Parent Night @ 6 p.m.
October 28: School Board Meeting @ AAS @ 6:30 p.m.
November 4: Orchesis Showcase @ 7 p.m.
November 6: Music Parent Craft Fair 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
November 6: Orchesis Showcase @ 6 p.m.
November 7: Music Parent Craft Fair 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
November 9: Band Concert @ 7 p.m.
ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
Greetings T-Bolt families. As we move through the month of October, we are excited to head into the fall IHSA post-season. Huge congrats to our girls' tennis program for bringing home their 2nd straight conference championship at the varsity level, and a championship this year at the JV level as well. We also want to remind families that the winter athletic season will soon kick off at the end of this month. Starting October 25th, and continuing through November 22nd, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' bowling, competitive cheer and dance, boys' swim/dive, boys' and girls' wrestling, and girls' gymnastics will begin holding tryouts and first practices. We encourage all our interested athletes and their families to please follow our programs on twitter for more information, as well as visit our athletic website at https://www.d230.org/Page/1481 for more details on date, time, and location of tryouts/first day of practice.
We also want to remind families that, in order to be eligible for tryouts, the athlete will be required to have successfully completed our 8to18 registration process, as well as confirmed an active sports physical with the athletic office. Please note that sports physicals are only good for 13-months. Families will have to use the same 8to18 registration login credentials to view their child’s current physical status. Any athlete who has not fulfilled these requirements will be held from participation in tryouts/practices. Soon after tryouts, we will hold our seasonal parent meeting, and are planning a Winter Athletic Showcase in November as well.
On behalf of our athletic staff, Happy Halloween. Please feel free to review more information on our athletic webpage found at Andrew.d230.org.
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 (IE- 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!
SEAL OF BILITERACY TESTING
Does your child speak more than one language? If so, would you like them to have the opportunity to earn additional college credit or have a leg up on getting a job? Students with the ability to read, write, speak and understand multiple languages can potentially qualify for the Seal of Biliteracy or the State Commendation toward Biliteracy. The Seal of Biliteracy and the Commendation are awards given in recognition of students who have attained a high level of proficiency in English and another world language by high school graduation. If earned, the designation can be placed on job resumes, college applications or other documents to highlight their language abilities and make them more attractive candidates. State schools and several private colleges and universities will also grant student credit in the language based on their designation and allow students to start in more advanced classes without taking an entrance exam.
There are two ways for students to earn the non-English portion of the Seal of Biliteracy while at Andrew. The first option is by passing an Advanced Placement exam administered through the College Board. This exam is administered in May each year and tests student knowledge and acquisition of the target language. Most students that take this route are currently registered in an AP level language course at Andrew. Currently the only course offered at Andrew at this level is AP Spanish.
The second route to earn the Seal is by taking the STAMP or ALIRA test at Andrew. This test is offered at Andrew twice each school year (November and March) and is only offered to current seniors. Students do not need to be currently enrolled in a language class to take this test. This assessment will determine if you meet the criteria for proficiency required by the State of Illinois in a language other than English.
In addition to French, German, Latin, and Spanish, the district offers testing in a variety of languages. A complete list can be found at the Avant Stamp website under the “STAMP S4” testing option. If you are interested in testing for proficiency in one of these languages the week of November 15th, please complete the registration form found here (Fall Seal Testing registration form) by October 25th. You must be logged in to your D230 account to complete this form.
In addition to “passing” the non-English assessment, students must also meet proficiency criteria in English. This is typically determined by performance on the SAT, ACT or ACCESS tests. Please see the attached brochure for details.
You may enroll in proficiency exams for more than one non-English language. There is a place on the form linked above to note which test you would prefer to take first. Our next date to take exams to qualify for the Seal of Biliteracy will be in February. Please keep in mind that you MUST meet the State’s proficiency criteria in both English AND another language to receive the Seal or Commendation upon graduation.
If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Douglas Kaufman through email dkaufman@d230.org or via the phone (708) 342-5832.
ATHLETIC BOOSTERS
The Queen of Hearts was drawn! Congratulations to Amy Strungell! She split the progressive jackpot with the Athletic Booster Club and won $2,849.50. Thank you to all that participated.
The Booster Club would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the fall team reps and parents that helped in the concession stand this fall. We were very successful in our fundraising efforts and hope to provide some much needed support to the athletic teams at Andrew. Without the support from the parent volunteers, we could not give back to the student athletes at Andrew High School. Thank you!
MUSIC BOOSTERS
The choirs presented their annual Fall Choral Concert on Thursday, October 7th, in the Andrew Performing Arts Center. The program featured folk songs, popular favorites and new classical compositions. Original pre-concert music was provided by Mr. Moan’s Music Technology class. Congratulations to all who were involved!
This year’s fall play, Harvey, will open Thursday, October 21st, and run through Saturday, October 23rd. Performances begin at 7 pm. Please go support our choir/band/theatre crossover students!
Auditions for auxiliary choirs have begun! VJA Cappella and Victor Sisters auditions should be completed by Friday, October 22nd. Students have the option of auditioning in person or submitting an audition video. See Mr. Moan with any questions.
Auditions for this year’s winter musical, Freaky Friday, will take place after school on November 8th and 9th in the choir room. Audition sign ups and packets will be available starting on November 1st.
The concert bands are preparing for their November 9th concert. The groups sound good and are working on music of a variety of different cultures. Look forward to an Italian Rhapsody, Korean Folksong, and Moscow 1941. Our students have been working hard and will be also prepping for the winter Prism Concert in combination with our choir department. This concert will be on December 8th and 9th.
The VJA Marching Thunderbolts continued their winning streak the past two weekends. At the Providence Invitational, the band placed 1st in their class (3A) and swept all caption awards. At the Lincoln-Way Marching Invitational, they placed 1st in their class (2A) and won best visual, best general effect, best percussion and best music captions.
The final VJA Marching Thunderbolts performance will be at the Illinois State University Marching Band Championships on Saturday, October 23rd.
The VJA Music Parent Association will host their annual Fall Music Parent Craft Show on Saturday, November 6th and Sunday, November 7th. This event features many unique crafters and is the perfect place to pick up some wonderful gifts for the upcoming holiday. Your attendance helps support all the music programs at VJA so come on out and support your Thunderbolt musicians.
Please consider attending the Andrew Music Parent meetings to keep up to date about all the news from the music department. Future meetings include October 19th and November 16th. Meetings are held at 7:30 pm in the choir room.
Thank you and Eyes with Pride!!
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