HUSKY HIGHLIGHTS NEWSLETTER
October 2021
Principal's Message
Words can't express the positive energy reverberating through the walls and grounds of Tuscarora High School. Students, families, and fans came out in force to cheer on our Husky athletes during our many sporting events. Parents, students, and staff put on their dancing shoes and came out to support the Homecoming Dance. Thank you, thank you, thank you to our PTSO, parent volunteers, staff, and students for exemplifying RISE (Respect, Integrity, Service, and Excellence) during these special events.
The month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women, except for skin cancers. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Survival rates have been increasing since 1990, partly due to early detection, increased awareness and education about breast cancer, and improvements in medical treatments.
To support Breast Cancer awareness, I am asking the Tuscarora community to wear pink each Friday in the month of October. For more information about breast cancer, please visit the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Please note that on Wednesday, October 13th, students grades 9-11 will be taking the PSAT during the school day. 12th grade students will have an asynchronous day on October 13th and completing assigned work, posted by their teachers, from home.
In this newsletter you will find much information to keep you connected with upcoming events at Tuscarora High School. Please connect with classroom teachers, Advisory teachers, school counselors, assistant principals, staff members, or with me. Let us know how we can support you and help you succeed.
Each of you had a special part in making the month of September so memorable. Let's make September jealous by having an even more AMAZING October.
Pamela Croft
Principal
Tuscarora Homecoming 2021!
A special thank you to our PTSO and Parent Volunteers for supporting this fun event. Your support ensured that students were able to safely check their bags, coats, and dancing shoes. The light snacks and water kept the energy level up during a night of dancing.
Thank you, Huskies, for coming out, exemplifying RISE, and having a great time.
Thank you, teachers, for chaperoning this evening event and keeping all participants safe.
A huge thank you to SCA Sponsor, Sommer Crawford, for your leadership in planning this fun and safe event.
PSAT Updates
Loudoun County Public Schools will be offering the PSAT 8/9 (Preliminary SAT) to students in grade 9 and the PSAT/NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) to students in grades 10 and 11 this year. The test will be administered on Wednesday, October 13, 2021. This will be the only administration for the 2021-2022 school year. Registration is not required and there will be no cost for students.
Both the PSAT 8/9 and the PSAT/NMSQT assessments measure mathematics, reading, and writing. The tests focus on reasoning skills, knowledge, and comprehension. They are one indicator of college readiness and provide students the opportunity to prepare for college entrance exams. Additionally, students in grade 11 who take the PSAT/NMSQT are eligible to compete for National Merit Scholarships. Additional information on both the PSAT 8/9 and the PSAT/NMSQT can be found at the College Board PSAT website at https://www.collegeboard.org/ and also the LCPS Office of Assessment website.
Additionally, it may be helpful to download the specific student guides found here:
PSAT 8/9 Student Guide 2021-2022
PSAT/NMSQT Student Guide 2021-2022
For additional questions regarding the PSAT administration, please contact your School Testing Coordinator, Sommer Crawford at sommer.crawford@lcps.org.
FREE MONEY!!
Linked here is a newsletter from Scholarship Guidance, providing information for 15 different scholarship programs. Deadlines for all of these scholarships are coming up in October and November.
Please take a moment to review this list and determine which scholarships might apply to you. These are great opportunities to support your education after high school.
Husky Athletic News
October and Huskies are Headed to the Postseason!
Here are October District dates to mark down:
Cheer: Districts at Park View October 19 - Check Venue for Time
Cross Country: Districts at Morven October 20 (tentatively at 2pm for start)
Field Hockey: October 21, 25, 26 and 28 at the High Seed (tentatively at 6pm)
Golf: Regions at Bowling Green (tentatively at 9:00am)
Volleyball: Districts October 21, 25, 26, 28 at the High Seed (tentatively at 6pm)
TicketSpicket is our exclusive online ticket provider. Please follow this link to purchase tickets for all Tuscarora Athletic Events: TicketSpicket
Remember to search for the home venue to purchase tickets for Husky events. (Ex. If a game is at Heritage you will look for tickets by typing in Heritage on the school lookup)
*ALERT* The physical form has changed and must be competed on the new form: 2021 VHSL Physical Form
Our social media sites are @TuscaroraHusky on twitter and TuscaroraHusky on Instagram. We encourage you to follow those to receive immediate updates when they occur.
If you have other questions please email Athletic Director Tony Tallent; tony.tallent@lcps.org or Assistant Athletic Director William Moses; william.moses@lcps.org
Below is the Winter and Spring Coach contact information for the remainder of the year:
PowderPuff 2021!
The Junior Class, Class of 2023, is sponsoring PowderPuff 2021!
On October 15th at Fortune Field, the Juniors will face the Seniors in our yearly PowderPuff flag football game. Tickets will be sold at lunch the week of October 11th-15th for $5.
Tickets will also be sold at the door on the day of of the event. Please contact Abby Cheatham (Abby.Cheatham@lcps.org) or Dolly Roach (Debralee.Roach@lcps.org) with any questions!
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
Possible duties/activities: Helping fundraise, organizing focus groups (annually), monthly attendance at PBIS meetings.
If interested, please contact Anne Cobb, PBIS chair at anne.cobb@lcps.org.
UPDATE: Yearbook News!
Senior parents: Don’t forget to order your Senior Baby Ads. The deadline to order these will be November 12th! To get started with ordering your yearbook and/or Senior Baby Ads, visit: www.yearbookordercenter.com and enter our school code - 13699.
The FINAL SENIOR PORTRAIT days will be October 20th and 22nd. Visit www.prestigeportraits.com to book by simply searching by city and state, then selecting Tuscarora to make an appointment.
If you have any questions, please reach out to our Yearbook Adviser, Toni Kelley, at Toni.Kelley@lcps.org.
Honoring Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month
Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.
THS Calendar of Events to Celebrate this Month:
- Collaboration Poster Coloring: September 13, 14, 15 @ 4:05 PM - 4:45 PM and September 15 & 17 @ 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM in Sra. Paz’s Classroom, L212. See the final product on display in the main hallway for the rest of the month!
- Trivia: September 27th - October 1st on Morning Announcements
- Poetry Seminar led by a Published Poet, Tuscarora Teacher, Andrea Naranjo: September 22, 24: Library during all lunch blocks
- Visual Arts Contest: Submit a work of art that represents Hispanic Heritage in some way. Include a short written explanation of how it represents Hispanic Heritage. Submissions Due to L212 (Paz) Oct. 8th, Student Voting in Main Hallway: Oct. 11-14, Winner Announced: Oct. 15
News from School Counseling
Important dates to jot down:
(Financial Aid Night) FAFSA hosted by Loudoun County High School-October 4, 2021
Fall College Planning Night- October 14, 2021
Be on the lookout for additional information about the above events via Naviance, ConnectED, and on the School Counseling Newsletter.
Registration is now open for LCPS Credit Through Testing. Please see this link for additional information.
Senior Seal of Biliteracy Award
What is this award?
The State Seal of Biliteracy is an award given to graduating high school students, regardless of diploma type, that have attained proficiency in English and one or more languages. We are pleased to offer the Seal of Biliteracy to students who graduate from Tuscarora. They receive the Seal on their diploma upon graduation and are recognized at the Senior Awards Ceremony and at graduation.
How is it earned?
Students must take a test and provide acceptable evidence (defined by the VDOE) that they have the necessary language proficiency to earn the recognition on their diploma at graduation.
What testing opportunities does THS offer?
There are a variety of tests that can be used however, THS will offer the AAPPL test to all seniors this fall with a retake date in the spring. To take the test this fall, a student must turn $15 into Sra. Paz in L212 by the deadline of October 29th. The test will take place during the school day on November 9th in the school Library.
Contact catherine.paz@lcps.org with any questions.
Credit Through Testing
What is this test?
This test measures proficiency in another language. It can be used for credit on a student’s transcript or by seniors as acceptable evidence to count toward the Seal of Biliteracy.
Who is eligible to take the CTT exam?
1. Students who do not already have levels 1 and 2 credits in the language of the exam on their transcript (from another country or from; the U.S.).
2. Students who wish to earn the Seal of Biliteracy and already have credit for levels 1 & 2 in the language of the exam.
3. Students who are sufficiently proficient to write in the exam language.
What languages are offered?
Arabic, Bengali, Chinese/Mandarin, Farsi, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog/Filipino, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
Students may register for the CTT on LARS. A confirmation ticket will be sent to the student and the parent/guardian email on file.
When is it offered at THS this year? November 8th from 4:30-6:30pm. Sign-in opens at 4pm. Registration deadline is October 29th, 2021.
For more information, contact the Office of World Languages and Cultures at swyhs@lcps.org or call (571) 252-1410.
RISE Read!
WHAT:
RISE READ is an important literacy program at Tuscarora HS! For the first 10 minutes of Tusky Time, 4 days a week, all students and staff drop everything and READ! Besides library books, students and staff have access to our very own Little Free Library where they can take books and periodicals to keep!
Why RISE READ ? When students see reading modeled for them, they know it is an important (and fun) activity in which to engage!
HOW:
How you can help RISE READ ? Model reading at home with your teen and ask them about what they are reading!
Library Updates
Gently used arts, crafts, and tech supplies are welcome donations. Please email elizabeth.scheib@lcps.org to inquire about donating.
One Book One Community
Read Refugee by Alan Gratz along with your Loudoun Community. Copies are available in the public library and to THS students and families here at school.
Encourage your teen to pick up a copy in the THS Library!
See the link below for upcoming One Book One Community events including a talk with the author! https://library.loudoun.gov/
Updates from the English Department
Overview of the LCPS High School English Curriculum for Parents and Guardians
In the last few years, LCPS has made a number of changes to our high school English curriculum. In 2020, we adopted the online platform StudySync to replace our literature textbook. We have spent two years constructing a curriculum around the StudySync units, with four units selected for each grade level, and teachers responsible for using three of those units this year.
Over the last few years, we have worked to establish a more consistent and coherent set of books that students will be reading in each course, county-wide, which has enabled us to have a great deal more district-wide collaboration in developing engaging and rigorous units. Part of this work was also an attempt to ensure that a wider range of lived experiences was represented in our texts, so that more students might be able to see themselves reflected in these works, and that all students could get the chance to see the world through other perspectives.
We are also deeply committed to ensuring that high school students are engaged in enough reading to increase achievement - to read thoughtfully and critically. Reading achievement is highly correlated with vocabulary knowledge and with the volume of reading in which students engage (citation).
To become accomplished at any skill, playing the piano, swimming in competition, performing in dramatics, requires hours of practice and coaching from skilled teachers. To that end, students will be provided with 10-15 minutes in each English classroom for independent reading and access to a broad collection of high-interest, multilevel, curricular-related texts. Students will also be required to read 20-30 minutes daily outside of class schedules. This results in approximately 2-3 hours of reading each week. The average time it takes to read a high school novel is between 5-8 hours.
Check out this website to review the average time an average reader needs to read a selected text.
First THS Music Concert of 2021
Come out for a collaboration of beautiful music from our THS Orchestra, Band and Guitar Ensembles. October 21 @ 7pm, save the date for the Chamber Music Concert.
Musical Collaborations!
Tuscarora and Smarts Mill Choirs collaborated on an outstanding performance of the Star Spangled Banner at homecoming on September 17th. We had a great time at our pizza social before with singing and social games. Awesome job to our THS student leaders who helped prepare for the event and to all the performers.
We are looking forward to our combined performance with SMMS, Lucketts and THS on December 2nd in our Tuscarora auditorium.
New Shenanigans Team
Members include: Patrick Hensley (Team Captain), Will Anderson, Ryan De Angioletti, Rachael Giessmann, Sawyer Gonzales, Katie Heaver, Ava Peach, Cat Reed, Alyce Snead, Tyler Steeprow & Peyton Voorheis.
Come out to their FIRST show, October 27 @ 7pm in the Tuscarora auditorium ($5 entry fee).
Collaboration in Tech Theatre
From our PTSO
PTSO Meetings will take place at 6pm on the second Tuesday of each month. We are going to continue to meet virtually this year to make meetings more accessible to our families. Keep an eye out for the email with meeting links and details!
Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on THS happenings. We do our best to share information about sports, clubs and special activities at THS. Our social media information can be found on PTBOARD: https://thsptso.ptboard.com/home.
Membership is our main fundraiser each year. For more information or to join the PTSO, visit our membership page:
https://thsptso.ptboard.com/formvw?store=2471&form=1
Our PTBoard school code is 6NSUGA.
Feel free to email me at THSPTSOLeesburg@gmail.com with any questions!
Peachjar Updates: ICYMI
Back to School Parent and Caregiver Tips:
Supporting mental health in children and teens returning to school
Consejos De Regreso A La Escuela Para Padres:
Apoyando la salud mental en niños y adolescentes que regresan a la escuela
New location and information about the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic
Mark Your Calendars
Financial Aid Night (FAFSA) hosted by Loudoun County High School
- October 4
PSAT Administration
- October 13th
Fall College Planning Night
- October 14th
- October 15th - tickets sold at lunch from October 11 - 15th for $5. Tickets will also be sold at the door.
Hispanic/Latino Heritage Visual Arts Competition
- October 11 - 14th - Student voting in the main hallway. Winner will be announced on October 15th.
Final Senior Portrait Days
- October 20th and 22nd
Tuscarora Music Concert
- October 21st at 7:00pm
Shenanigans
- October 27th at 7:00pm
VA Seal of Biliteracy and Credit Through Testing Registration Deadline
- October 29th - registration deadline with Ms. Paz in L212. Test date will be November 9th.
Tuscarora High School
Website: lcps.org/Tuscarora
Location: 801 North King Street, Leesburg, VA, USA
Phone: (571)252-1900
Twitter: @TuscaroraHS