NOTICE FOR SENIOR SLIDESHOW

To seniors and their families,

As the yearbook advisor, I am writing to inform you of the requirements for the senior pictures and baby pictures in the yearbook and the senior slideshow for graduation. The yearbook staff would like one wallet size professional picture sent digitally by email or USB. We would prefer the pose to be that of a traditional head and shoulders shot without props, words or logos. Please inform the photography studio of these requirements. Many studios will provide them for FREE when you purchase your son/daughter’s senior pictures. The pictures must be sent to the school before Spring Break. I will be working with Mr. Couling, who is in charge of graduation and the senior slideshow, so you or your photographer can send the 300 dpi at wallet size photo to brian.couling@concordschools.net. If you do not plan to have photos taken before then, we will be using the “school” photo as the official photo for the yearbook. We will also need a baby picture for the yearbook and senior slideshow. Digital copies can be emailed to Mr. Couling at the address above, or a physical image can be brought in to Mr. Couling to be scanned and uploaded. If you have any questions about the yearbook, please email me at jessica.osterhout@concordschools.net or call me at 524-8384 ext. 6111.

Concord Middle School's FTC team #6811 and Concord High School's FRC team #5205 earned Best Design in their robotics level last Friday at the Consumers Energy Robotics Expo.

The event was created to bring talented robotics students from around the county into one location to celebrate robotics and engineering. The students have the opportunity to see some of Consumers' advanced robotics projects. This year one of the favorites was Spot the robotics dog that used sensors and pixel images to inspect transformer stations.

Our FTC teams #6811, #8656, #9458, and the newest FTC team #10552 along with the FRC #5205 got the opportunity to display their robot, share information about the design process, and talk about their team with judges. The judges typically use a rubric to score and then select the robots that they feel utilize the Best Design. This year the event has at least 12 different teams. AMAZING WORK CONCORD ROBOTICS!!!

Tyler Carpenter is in this senior spotlight. Read A. Hopkins incredible piece featuring this outstanding senior.

The Youth Basketball Camp was a huge success. Check out Georgia Weeks' article on the Hoop School.

March is Reading Month activities begin Tuesday, March 1. Our theme will be “Reading Gives You Super Powers” as we celebrate throughout the month with fun dress-up days, weekly prize drawings, special visitors, and more.

Children are encouraged to read at home, with a daily goal of 15 minutes for a kindergarten-2nd grade, and a daily goal of 20 minutes for 3rd-5th grade. Minutes may include your child reading to self or to others, or you reading aloud to your child. Keep track of minutes on the reading log for all reading done at home, and return it to school each Thursday beginning March 3rd for a chance to win some awesome prizes each week. Students meeting the minimum weekly goal will receive one ticket for the weekly prize drawing. Students doubling the goal will receive an extra ticket. The more they read, the more chances they have to win! Stay tuned throughout the month as we announce more special activities.

Check out our most appreciative YellowJackets!

The word “appreciation” means really seeing something (or someone!) for what/who they are; it means having an awareness of how special, how lucky, how unique, how blessed, how big, wonderful or awesome something is. When you appreciate something (or someone!) you don’t compare it/them to other things- you simply recognize the inherent value and goodness it has and validates that goodness.

Appreciation comes in two main forms:

1. Gratitude- this is usually the easiest type of appreciation to show because it simply means showing thanks or being thankful.

2. Another form of appreciation is respect toward someone or something you value. In relationships, this means showing care, concern, fair treatment, and courtesy toward someone.

On March 15th, Jackson County will be hosting a virtual job fair. Many districts and programs across the county are hiring for many different positions. If you or someone you know is looking for a job in a school district, please check out the opportunity below. Concord will be looking for several different positions this year. Stay tuned for more information. We would love to have you join our #ONEHIVE!!!

Dear Class of 2022 Parents and Guardians,

I wanted to pass on this scholarship information to you in the hopes that it will open the opportunity for you to encourage your student to apply for scholarships.

I have shared with them our (all can be found in our Class of 2022 Google Classroom):

• Local Concord scholarships
• Local Jackson County resident scholarships
• Calhoun County resident scholarships
• A couple of different legit scholarship search engines

I have informed them to:

• Check the financial tab on the websites of colleges that they have applied to and review that institution's scholarship opportunities.
• Check with each business that they visit to ask if they have scholarship opportunities (the worst they can say is no)
• Check with the banks and/or credit unions that they may be a member of for scholarship opportunities.
• Keep checking the listings as new ones may be added at any time.

• Never count yourself out. Apply, and let the scholarship committee decide. The only guaranteed no is not applying.
  

  
  

  There is also a spreadsheet that I made for them to use to keep track of scholarships that they are applying for. This will be good to keep with them if they choose to go the college/trades pathway, as many scholarships are renewable or can be applied for beyond their freshman year of college. Scholarships are out there for both college and trade schools.

Myself and Mr. Mojume (from the College and Career Access Center) are here to support them and have offered our assistance in scholarship completion. Looking ahead, we are going to begin working on applications and resumes for those headed to the workforce.

I hope that you all have a very restful break surrounded by your loved ones,

Kelly Otto

Ms. Price announced the date Concord will host the graduation ceremony this week. It is earlier than it has been in the past. Please see the letter that was sent to the parents of our seniors for more information.

This fall we have been working on upgrading the look of our website. Our hope was to make it more visually appealing and easier to navigate. The website is still under a bit of construction as some of the pages are begin reviewed for relevancy, but the new site is live. You can see the link below for more information. This winter we will be launching a new application for access information about the district on your mobile device. Stay tuned for updates.

Have you liked the Elementary/Middle School Facebook Page? What about the Concord Community Schools Facebook Page??

If you have not yet, this week is a great time to start. The Elementary and Middle schools use the Facebook page to post many updates, announcements, and student photos; the Concord Community Schools page is a great way to see how a YellowJacket week unfolds! Don't miss the news - like and follow the pages today.

Concord Elementary/Middle School Facebook Page

Concord Community Schools Facebook Page

Our district is facing a staffing shortage. We are in need of bus drivers, food service staff members, coaches, and individuals willing to work through EduStaff as Guest Teachers or subs for all of our positions. These staffing shortages are wreaking havoc across the state. If you are interested and able, we would love to have you on our team. Below you will find information about signing up to work as a Guest Teacher through Edustaff along with our fall Guest Teacher Incentive. Further, you can view unfilled positions on our website. If you have any questions, please call one of our offices.

At Jacket Java, on Tuesday Mr. Arbuckle talked about social media and 10 unsafe apps that parents need to be aware of. You can view the recording by following this link. Additionally, you can find more parent resources through this link.

The Food For Thought Backpack Program for Concord will be starting up soon. This program offers FREE wholesome food to students for the weekend. To become a part of the program parents must sign and return the registration form. If you are interested in receiving this free program, stop in the office for the registration form.