News from the Ridge
Shortridge High School News and Updates
November 29th, 2020
Dear Friends,
For the rest of this semester (and through January 18th), all IPS schools will be fully virtual. At Shortridge, maintaining consistency and reaffirming the rituals and routines, we will continue to start school at 9:00 each morning. Please continue to encourage your student to log into each class on time, each day, using Schoology and Teams.
We are also returning to the bell schedule we used when fully remote at the start of the school year. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday will follow the same AB rotation. Wednesday, will start with ATL and continue to feature World Changing 101, office hours, and additional instructional support opportunities.
Even though this year has not been ideal, I hope you had a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving break and are prepared to finish the year strong! At Shortridge, we have much to be thankful for... our excellent faculty and staff, our community partners, families, and of course, most of all, our students! Please continue to reach out to your teachers, counselors, or administration if you have any questions.
As a team, we can finish the semester strong.
Below you will find additional updates, celebrations, and important information from the Ridge.
Go Blue Devils!
Dennis Thomas
Principal
Pick up Art Supplies and 2nd Semester Novel Sets
Attention SHS Visual Arts Scholars.
If your student has not picked up their art supplies, please do so this week. Use Door 1, near the football field Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday between 9am and 4pm. If you have any questions, please talk to your art teacher.
Novel sets for the Spring Semester English Class will also be distributed this week for all students. Every day except Wednesday between 9am and 4pm.
Additional UPDATES
Do you know any families or students looking to join the Shortridge Devil Team? We had an Open House for prospective students and families on November 10th. We will upload the open house video recording this week on our website. Visit or share our website to learn more-SHS OPEN HOUSE info.
Please review the Updates to the Student Handbook with your student.
Links to Additional details and expectations-
- PowerSchool lists student schedules and course times.
- Schoology hosts student assignments
- Read the previous FAQ here
- For updates and additional information on Shortridge's remote and in-person plan, visit our complete FAQ found here.
Due to COVID-19 and the district's health and safety practices, all visitors, including parents, must have a confirmed appointment with a staff member to enter Shortridge. Upon entry, please be prepared to present the staff member's name, department, and your appointment time.
PTSA
Time for some teacher care!!
The staff at Shortridge have gone above and beyond this year. A small group of PTSA members will be writing cards to every staff person (140). The plan is to include a gift card as well.
If your family can help with a gift card donation, please contribute by donating through PayPal to sdekoven@hotmail.com. If you are not a PayPal person and would like to donate another way, please contact me at shaelweidenbach@gmail.com.
We are so thankful for our community partners!
In a highlighted section at the end of the newsletter, read how our community partner Tabernacle Presbyterian Church, Trinity Episcopal Church, Big Green of Indianapolis, Mid-North Food Pantry, IPS, and our Shortridge families and staff are supporting our neighborhood.
Academics
MYP Updates: Hello MYP Families (and especially 10th-grade families!),
Just a quick note to remind you that I've uploaded TONS of new resources to the Personal Project resource folder. This includes more videos, access to my own Personal Project Model workbook, a detailed view (still draft form!) of the calendar for ATL this year, and much more! If you're curious to see my own progress on my model project, follow the Instagram account I'm using as my Process Journal (a required component of the project for all students): @merlin_makes_shs. I'll be posting my own (beginner) woodworking stuff there, as well as guidance/details about my goals, criteria, and final product/outcome for my project.
NWEA aka MAP Growth Testing
We are continuing NWEA, aka MAP Growth Testing, this week. Students are taking this test in their math and English classes. Juniors and seniors enrolled in Algebra I, Geometry, or Algebra II will also be taking this test.
What is MAP Growth?
MAP Growth helps teachers understand what students know today, so goals can be set to improve their growth throughout the school year
Students cannot pass or fail this test.
This test does not affect students’ grades.
It is normal for students to only answer about half the questions correctly.
Please don’t help them while they’re testing!
Given the challenges of home learning and remote instruction, MAP Growth test results will be especially helpful for your students’ teachers this year.
These results will help us know the correct levels of learning targets students are ready to tackle.
For more information about how you can help your student prepare, please click on the link here for more information.
Thanks!
Anne Katz | MTSS Coach | Shortridge High School | myips.org/shortridge
Schoology Tutorial
We continue to improve ways of supporting parents and guardians during this time. Schoology not only creates a single hub for student access to their classes but also provides families the ability to keep up with your student's academic progress.
Below is a quick video tutorial on how to navigate Schoology and check grades/progress in their classes.
FRESHMAN ACADEMY
Freshman Academy:
This month, we focus on our IB Profile Trait “Principled” and will continue to focus on this trait through November. The “Principled” IB Profile Trait is defined as “students acting with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere. We take responsibility for our actions, and their consequences.” Our discussions, current events, podcasts, and films were focused on what it means to be “principled.”
Teachers are continuing to touch base with students about their grades and have conversations about improving their studies. Next week, ATL teachers will continue to have these conversations with students and holding them accountable for what was discussed this week. The goal is to see improvement in grades. The goal is to encourage students to try and not give up! Perseverance has never been more important as it is right now, and we are continuing to support and encourage as students work through these difficult times. If you still need help with understanding grades listed on Schoology, please use this video. As always, I am available if you have any follow up questions. My email is Salmona@myips.org.
Athletics
New home winter contest Covid regulations are that we are now only allowing two family members per participating athlete to all games. Tickets are preferably purchased at TicketSpicket.com.
Due to Covid, schedules are changing daily. Please download the athletics app and follow us on Twitter at: @Blue_Devils_SHS for all the latest updates.
Tuesday, Dec 1st-
- Boys Basketball JV and Varsity at Liberty Christian School
- Girls Basketball Varsity Home Guerin Catholic
- Boys Basketball Freshmen at Crispus Attucks
- Girls Basketball Varsity Home Bishop Chatard
- Girls Basketball Varsity Home Scecina Memorial
We will continually be doing our best to keep the athletes, coaches, and fans safe. Masks and distancing will continue to be required. Every little part each of us contributes is one day further that our athletes get to compete.
Craig Huljak
Athletic Director
Student Services
Shortridge Student Service Team Overview
Feel Good Friday -- weekly Mindful updates.
World Changing 101
Shortridge Speaker Series:
Archived Friday Connects
- Speak The Truth
- IPS Board Commissioner Evan Hawkins
- Liane Groth Hulka & Vote Safe Indiana w Ziv Zellars
- Shortridge Racial Equity Forum
- Dr. Payne's interview
- Nine13Sports interview Tom Hanley
- World Changing 101: Ashley Toruño
- 9/11 Presentations-Introductory Reflection from Mr. Zummo, Pre-recorded Interview with Pete Cowden
- Ms. Cory Interviews Two Shortridge Grads (share their SHS experiences)
- PIT week recordings (link to September 27th 2020 newsletter)
- Shortridge Racial Equity Summit: Shortridge Racial Equity Forum and Dr. Payne's interview
THIS MONTH, OUR IB LEARNER PROFILE FOCUS IS Knowledgeable
Technology Updates and Resources
Future Center
Through Their Eyes Scholarship
IUPUI hopes to repair the damage created over 50 years ago with a scholarship for descendants of families displaced when the university was constructed in 1969.
Students who are related to individuals displaced by the development of the IUPUI campus, are pursuing their first undergraduate degree at IUPUI, and can provide appropriate documentation showing familial linkage through documentation or photographs will be eligible for a scholarship award of up to $15,000, renewable for up to four years.
Applications for the Through Their Eyes Scholarship will open in January
Upward Bound
The IUPUI TRIO Upward Bound program supports low-income and first-generation college-bound students with preparing for college.
Learn more by attending an Open House held every Tuesday at 5:30pm. Email Upward Bound at ubound@iupui.edu for the link to attend. Or apply here
Helpful Resources
- FAFSA Friday events offered through the Future Center
- Creating Your FSA ID
- FAFSA Checklist
- Scholarship Search Help
Interested families, please email Mrs. Harris, Future Center Coordinator at harria@myips.org
Andrea Harris – Future Center Coordinator – harria@myips.org – 317-426-8423
Christie Powell – Future Center Resource Associate – powellc@myips.org – 317-732-5088
Chris Speckman – Writing Specialist – speckmanc@myips.org
FACE -- Family and Community Engagement
Happy Holiday Shortridge families:
What a great community we have. Linda, Kara, and I would like to thank TAB Church and Covenant 4 Life for helping our Shortridge parents this Thanksgiving Holiday. Below you will see our parents that received thanks this holiday season.
Read more about our Community Partnerships below.
Thank you 🙂
Malinda Scott
Family Community and Engagement Liaison
Transformative Community Partnerships
Much of downtown Indianapolis, including the Shortridge neighborhood, is a food desert. Community partnerships and the power of developing a network of support are critical in building awareness and overcoming food insecurity. Shortridge’s partnership with Tabernacle Presbyterian and Trinity Episcopal Churchs’ outreach programs are such partnerships that support and transform the shared neighborhood.
Shortridge’s community garden started as an initiative by parent Cathy McElroy with the goal of providing access to fresh foods and healthy cooking for our students. Over the past five years, it has grown to include a greenhouse, a community garden, and a teaching garden. It is used by everyone from the cooking club to biology classes to further education. Big Green of Indianapolis and the Foundation for Complex Healthcare Solutions have granted Shortridge money to make these programs possible.
Just three blocks East of the high school is another community partner, Tabernacle Presbyterian Church, tackling the issue of access to high-quality food. The two main programs, run by Terri Thorn, Tabernacle’s Outreach Minister, are Open Door and Fresh Stop. Open Door is a soup kitchen open weekdays and feeding anyone in the community who may need it. While this approach to addressing hunger may not seem revolutionary, their system is unique focused on building relationships and community. Additionally, they concentrate on having meals for those who have health issues that stem from or are exacerbated by living in a food desert, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Thorn states, “we cannot address the food desert (directly), but we can address the healthiness of those in our community.” The Fresh Stop program, which sources boxes of fresh produce bi-monthly from local farmers, provides healthy food at a sliding scale. More affluent parishioners pay twenty-five dollars a box, and other community members or parishioners pay either six dollars or three dollars. This supports local farmers and brings fresh produce into an area at an affordable price.
Two blocks South of Shortridge, Trinity Episcopal, addresses food insecurity through two main programs: Sunday Dinners at Trinity, which are open to all community members, and the Mid-North Food Pantry, which services this food desert. Shortridge, lead by the Student Service team, donates its leftover food from the cafeteria to help with these initiatives.
The 2020 coronavirus pandemic has changed the way these community partners function. While schools were closed, Mrs. McElroy continued to ensure that Shortridge’s community garden’s harvest was not wasted. She harvested and donated fresh produce to Tabernacle’s Open Door program. The chef said it has made all the difference because he could finally use large amounts of fresh food when all he had to cook were canned goods. The Open Door and Sunday Dinner programs have also made adjustments, like providing carryout meals or outside dining options, to ensure food is still available in the community.
All of these programs work together to address food needs at different levels. Each of these individual programs meets specific community needs and touch individual lives. The Big Green Learning Garden and McElroy’s work teaches students how to cook and eat healthy foods. Tabernacle and Trinty outreach programs help community members, support local farmers, and provide fresh produce in partnership with Shortridge. The goal of achieving health in food deserts is far from complete, but it starts in education. It requires community investment and support to ensure that no person goes hungry. We are so thankful for our community partnerships as the Shortridge students benefit through these investments.