This month we often reflect on what we are grateful for. There are so many amazing things happening on our campus and I am grateful daily for the opportunity to work at Vanguard with an amazing staff and amazing students. What I’ve come to realize is that while I’m grateful for my family, my job, our country, and the day-to-day things that bring me joy, I’m also grateful for the challenges in life, because the challenges are what make us grow. It’s easy to list what we are grateful for, but it’s the challenges that make us closer as a family, and the challenges we have at school that make us a better school. It’s not the easy things in life that push us, it’s the challenge. It’s grit. That’s what we want to instill in our students too - grit. To quote Kara Lawson, Duke Women's Basketball coach, “If you have a meaningful pursuit it will never be easy.” I've attached her full speech below. It's worth a listen!

I want to thank the veterans who are part of our staff at Vanguard. We are thankful for their service and the work they do here! Student council made sure to bring them breakfast on Veterans Day.

Our Vanguard veterans are:

Officer OC - USMC

Mr. Adcock- Army

Mr. Manning -Navy (Active), Army (Reserves)

Sgt. Kell - Army

Major Wolverton - Army

Mr. Rushinskas -National Guard

Elizabeth Baker - Army

Next Friday we are hosting our 2nd annual Turkey Tourney kickball tournament. I want to extend a huge thank you to Dallas Regional Medical Hospital for their sponsorship of the Turkey Tourney this year. Their donation has allowed us to bring the turkey tourney to the next level. You won’t want to miss our Turkey Tourney Opening Ceremonies broadcast on FB live Friday, November 18th at 9:00 am.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Santa 5K Run! We had a great turnout from our campus and helped the Poteet feeder pattern win the district competition! We have THREE medalists in the Amazing Santacolor 5K! Ms. Garcia, Mrs. Delfyette, and Coach Brittain placed in their age group! The real winner was Santa though. He got to ride in on the Vanguard Fire Truck! Thank you Mr. Roysdon for bringing our firetruck out and delivering Mr. Claus to the race!

Congratulations to all of our students who were accepted into NHS! We will be having a ceremony this Monday night to officially induct them. Thank you to Ms. Pita and Mrs. Jimenez for their work with NHS!

We had a few field trips this week where our students got to explore their options in post-secondary education. Thank you to the teachers for taking them and to our Vanguard students who represent our campus well.

We also welcomed Kimbrough middle school this week and Gentry Elementary 5th graders. Remember the interest form in Skyward is available now through December 7th.

Make sure you take note of the spirit week we will be having next week as we head into Thanksgiving break!

Let's have another great week, Vanguards!

We had THREE medalists in the Amazing Santacolor 5K! Ms. Garcia, Mrs. Delfyette, and Coach Brittain placed in their age group!

Ms. Garcia placed 2nd in her age group

Mrs. Delfeytte placed 2nd in her age group

Coach Brittain came in 6th overall and 2nd in his age group!

We also have to celebrate the following staff members for crossing the line in the top 100!

Ms. DeRocha (4th in her division)

Ms. Alexander (7th in her division)

Mr. O'Neil (9th in his division)

Dean Elsasser (10th in his division)

Check out their times here: https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/117187#resultSetId-354663;perpage:100

The National Honor Society will be hosting the concession stand during our 2nd Annual Turkey Tourney Kickball Game on Friday, November 18th. Please take a look at the flyer below for concession prices. The concession stand will accept cash only. If you would like to help to volunteer for our concession stand, please reach out to Mrs. Jimenez or Ms. Pita - our NHS sponsors!

Students from Mrs. Jensen's College Transition class created motivational sticky notes. They are displayed in upper C Hall. Get One for yourself or Give One to a friend.

Mr. Jimenez and Mr. Fuentes took our Junior and Senior auto collision students to Collin College to see their automotive collision program and give our students a look at their post-secondary options. The Collision Repair Education Foundation hosted a Career Fair there and our students loved meeting industry partners from Caliber Collision to Sewell & Snell Motor Company!

Students got to use the 3D paint simulator that helped them learn to use the paint gun. Mr. Jimenez and Mr. Fuentes tried it out too and got the highest scores, of course! Mr. Jimenez and Mr. Fuentes said our students were blown away by how realistic the aspects of the simulation were. This field trip was an amazing experience and we hope to see some of our Vanguards apply to Collin College!

Engineering and Robotics students visited Richland College on Friday. They were allowed to tour the advanced manufacturing lab and industrial robotics lab.

Students learned about the FAME program where you can work 3 days and then go to school for 2 days. Students were also introduced to their 3D CAD program, machining, and robotics program. In addition to their A&M co-enrollment program, which allows students to transition from Richland College to Texas A&M after one or two years, and they only pay the Richland College tuition.

Students' tour included getting to watch the big machines like the mill and the laithe in action. One of our students said, "this trip made me want to get work done, make money, and actually do what they are doing at Richland. It sparked my interest because I would be able to work with my hands with big machines."

The December STAAR Retest is quikly approaching. Testing will take place on Tuesday, December 6th, Wednesday, December 7th, and/or Thursday, December 8th. Students have spent this semester reviewing with their Learning Recovery Teacher to prepare them for the STAAR before the start of STAAR 2.0 in the Spring of 2023. If your student is testing, please ensure that your students arrive at 9:00 AM with their Chromebooks fully charged.

We will have one more learning recovery session on Saturday, December 3rd from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM. This session will be the last chance to review test-taking strategies and build confidence leading into the STAAR Exams the next week. It is highly encouraged that students take advantage of this opportunity.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach Ms. Thomas by email at lthomas@mesquiteisd.org or phone at 972-882-0026.

Every year of Mrs. Jackson's career she has found her birthday twins on campus and shared birthday cupcakes with them! This year she added two freshmen to the birthday crew!

It's not too late to join if you missed the meeting! Just fill out this form and Coach Fofang would be happy to fill you in! Our first opportunity to have Dads and Difference Makers on campus will be as refs for our 2nd annual Turkey Tourney- a kickball tournament!

Fill out the form today!

Join BPA and Student Council for the STUFF THE SPACE food drive from November 1st- November 30th. There will be a class competition between Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors to see who can bring the most items. There will be a class reward given to the class that brings the most items. Dean Elsasser has said if we reach our goal we can wear Casual Vanguard dress on Fridays for the rest of the year - that means JEANS and a Vanguard t-shirt or polo every Friday!

We are looking for pantry staple items. Examples of items we are looking for include canned food, beans and rice, mac and cheese, hamburger helper, 5 pound bags of sugar and flour, peanut butter, canned tuna, spam or chicken! Start bringing items on Tuesday to the collaboration space at the end of downstairs H hall!

After November 11th the cost of the first Vanguard yearbook goes up!

Have you ordered your Vanguard yearbook yet? We are currently selling the yearbook online only! Students who are interested in owning the FIRST Vanguard yearbook must pre-purchase online!

The cost of the Vanguard yearbook is $45.00.

Ordering is easy! Click this link: https://tinyurl.com/vhsorder. Make sure you are on the Vanguard High School in Mesquite, Texas page.

Payment plans are available!

We are making memories at Vanguard, make them last a lifetime with your own Vanguard yearbook!

Check out the new robotics fundraiser! Get customized 3D prints, mugs, keychains, and anime lamps!

To place an order use the following link:

https://forms.gle/miMzEAeGxqrLyCLJ8