Principal's Corner
The Homer HHS staff and students have worked hard and we have had a great school year. We have already met some of our school goals this year. Student attendance is up by almost 5% and we have implemented several SEL (Social Emotional Learning) activities.
Student pride and spirit has improved and we have more students participating in activities. In fact we had 70 students perform in our musical, we have 60 students in soccer, 54 students in track, 20 students in baseball and over 18 in softball. This means that over half of our students are in an activity and this doesn't include all the clubs and other non-sport activities.
Our students have excelled in multiple areas. We have earn state championships in football and Nordic skiing, Students have earned awards in poetry, writing, Battle of the Books and more. We have a student who earned a large college scholarship for choir. Our students excelled in AP and state Star testing again this year. We have accomplished a lot, but we still have a quarter left to go! Go Mariners!
While Homer High excels in many areas, we still need help. Many parents and community members ask how they can help HHS. I have listed a few ways parents or community members can help below. This is not a complete list of volunteering opportunities. If you'd like to help out in school, call the school office or reach out to Paul Story or individual coaches.
- Join the booster club to help raise many for HHS sports
- Volunteer to help coach your favorite sport
- Help on game day as announcers, ticket takers, keep stats, work at the officials table or help setting up or taking down
- Help care for our fields and grounds
- Help out in the theater as a stage hand
- Chaperone for field trips or events
- Volunteer to present during FOL's (Interesting hobbies, careers or special interest. Work with a teacher or Paul Story to make this happen)
- Volunteer your expertise in our CTE classes
- Present at our career fair (Once every 3 years)
- Much more...
If you want to volunteer in the school, go to KPBSD.org and fill out the volunteer application which activates getting your background check completed. We could not do everything we offer out students without your support. We are thankful of the thousands of hours our parents and volunteers put in each year.
If you have any suggestion or comments about these aspirations or have concerns about any other issues at HHS, please email me at dwaclawski@kpbsd.org, call at 907-235-4600 or set an appointment through Kristin Metz at that same number.
Positively yours,
Douglas Waclawski
Principal
907-235-4600
Storytelling FOL
Homer High is constantly trying to bring fun and exciting opportunity for our students during FOL. Two of our teachers were able to bring the authors and illustrators of Chickaloonies to present storytelling in the graphic novel format to students during FOL.
Dimi Macheras and Casey Silver were available to share a wonderful facilitated activity to help anyone share their story through written narrative and visual arts. Last year they performed a live presentation of their graphic novel Chickaloonies in the Mariner Theater. See article below.
DATES TO REMEMBER
4/4: Site Council meeting 4:00 in library
4/5: Basketball Awards Ceremony 3:05 pm in the Theatre
4/7: No School/Vacation day
4/14: Early release day 2:20 pm
4/15: Prom @ Land’s End Resort
4/26: Administrative Professional Day
HHS Students Earn State-wide Poetry Awards
Congratulations to Hayden Mullikin and Izzy Dye who placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Fairbanks Art Association statewide poetry contest! Izzy also received an honorable mention, as well as 1st place in high school poetry in the AND creative contest.
A.L.I.C.E. Drills
HHS will be having an A.L.I.C.E. drill on April 13th. ALICE is a protocol that teaches all students and staff how to respond in the safest way possible in case of armed intruder.
While we call this a drill, the reality is we give students a scenario and students discuss what they might do and what would keep them safe and actively practice this in a safe manner. During this drill, students will be practicing evacuating. This is similar to a fire drill. Students will talk about options if they ever need to evacuate, figure out alternative routes and then exit the building. They will also walk to the edge of the property and be shown where our rally point is after all is clear.
If you have any questions or concerns please call me at 235-4600 and I will be glad to talk to about what we are doing. Our goal is to keep all of our students safe and ALICE drills are one piece of student safety.
Counselor Corner
SY 2024 class registration
Every student should have completed their course requests for next year. These are viewable in PowerSchool by following the instructions sent out via email March 9th. If you have questions, please contact Ms. Sue (9th graders) or Mr. Story (10th and 11th graders).
Dual credit college classes
In addition to the long-standing JumpStart program whereby 11th and 12th graders can take courses through KPC that count for both high school and college credit at a discounted rate, there is now the Kenai Peninsula Middle College program whereby juniors and seniors may take those same classes for free. The only difference is that Middle College students have to complete a short application, which opens March 31 and available via this link, and demonstrate one of the following college readiness measures: qualifying ALEKS math score, qualifying ACCUPLACER writing score, prior successful completion of a 100-level KPC course.
Our local KPC campus, Kachemak Bay Campus, is hosting an open house for interested high school students and their families Thursday, April 20 between 4:30 and 6pm. Informational Flyer
Job Board
We’ve had several employers contact HHS seeking summer employees and/or recent graduates for year round work.
- Maritime Helicopters – year round office administration and accounting (no experience necessary) for recent graduates. $17-18/hour. Contact Shannon at (907) 235-7771.
- Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association – Fishery Technicians. $13/hour plus housing/food in Port Graham. See Job Announcement.
- Alaska Marine Highway System – various positions with $5,000 hiring bonus. See DOT letter.
- Alaska Beauty Peony – Paid internship at undergraduate research assistant pay scale and college credit for students in JumpStart or Middle College. Informational Flyer.
- Synergy Gardens – Farm and landscaping work. 20 hours per week at $13/hour. Contact Lori Jenkins at (706) 273-0077.
- Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge - Youth Conservation Corps doing outreach, education, and research in Homer and on R/V Tiglax. $14.05/hour. Flyer. Application.
- Homer Electric Association – IT Associate-Corporate Intern. $18/hour. Job Posting. Application.
- Alaska Geographic – Student Leader on outdoor expeditions. To apply, email education@akgeo.org. Interested participants (not leaders) in the free program visit AK Geo Teen Expeditions.
Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies – Summer Interns at $12.50/hour. Flyer. Application.
Service Hours are a Graduation Requirement!
Don’t forget your required service hours. The hours have been adjusted for COVID years, but it comes down to 10 hours per year. Don’t wait until you’re a senior!
- Class of 2023 – 20 hours required; documentation and essay due April 30, 2023.
- Class of 2024 – 30 hours required
- Classes of 2025 and 2026 – 40 hours required.
If you’d like ideas on where to serve or have questions, please contact service project coordinator, Chad Felice, at cfelice@kpbsd.k12.ak.us
Senior Service e-forms can be found at here: Service Forms
Students Earn Kenai Peninsula Writing Awards
Congratulations to our award winning writers.
Poetry second place – “Courage” by Ainsely Boss-Harmon
Poetry third place – “Kingdom of Snow” by Jody Goodrich
Fiction first place – “Deep Waters” by Mason Watson
Fiction second place – “A Book’s Cover” by Caitlyn Rogers
View all the awards here: Awards
