The Souhegan Scoop
November 18, 2022
Veterans Day Assembly
Souhegan celebrated Veterans Day by honoring our Nation’s heroes on November 10, 2023. With assistance and thoughtful guidance from Marie Grella, the school welcomed numerous special guests including: Milford VFW Color Guard, U.S. Navy Commander Robert Schauman, and Retired U.S. Army Warrant Officer John Bowkett. Special guest student readers included: Gabriella Cook, Matthew Fowler, and Sammy Self. Each student reader represented not only their class, but veteran and active service members in their families. The SHS band seamlessly performed the Armed Forces Medly while two vocal soloists, Hannah Shepherd and Natalie Conklin, sang Taps. Souhegan is grateful to our music department and directors Kerri MacLennan, Joe Mundy for their time.
Charlie Swift helping the Theatre Club with a costume piece!
A big shout out to Christopher Wellen (Gr.12) for helping line the fence with American flags for the Veterans Day Assembly last week!
Meet the wonderful and talented staff members of SHS!
Angela Hildreth
What is your role at Souhegan?
School Nurse
How long have you been with Souhegan?
First year
What do you love about your job?
I love the people here. Everyone appreciates one another no matter their role. I can finally be myself.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I like being active and being around my family. I enjoy doing anything outdoors whether its just working in the yard, playing outside with my kids or going boating, fishing, or four wheeling.
If you were given one wish what would it be?
I have many wishes, some realistic and some not. Of course I would wish that my children grow up to be good, kind people and remain healthy and happy. But do I also wish I was a millionaire or had superpowers, also yes.
Do you have a favorite quote or mantra?
"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time"- My father has said this to me since I was a small child. Even now, if I call him overwhelmed he reminds me of this.
On November 15, 2022, we invited representatives from the International Institute of New England to talk to our school community about how the organization supports legal refugees and immigrants to the New England area. Paul Vyizigiro and Helene Sarah, two Manchester West High School students, shared their personal stories of fleeing the Democratic Republic of the Congo with their families due to civil war, spending time in a refugee camp in Burundi, and ultimately settling in the U.S. during the COVID-19 lockdown. Listen to the NHPR story about their visit here. Please note - SHS student interviewed was Tylee Jancar, not Ameila Wysor. NHPR will be running a correction on the print version of this piece.
Souhegan Friendships for Peace (SFP) and Souhegan High School are collecting donations of money and/or gift cards to help refugees and immigrants who are relocating to and living in Southern New Hampshire. This is the second year we have worked with IINE to support our new neighbors. Henry Harris, the Managing Director of IINE’s Manchester office, explained how making this type of donation affords people the dignity to choose what to purchase for their families including meals, clothing, or bedding.
All donations can be dropped off with Marjie Hobbs or you can donate directly to
IINE making a note of Souhegan High School.
Helene Sarah and Paul Vyizigiro shared their stories of how they came to the United States and what life is like two years later.
Career ExpositionOn Friday December 9th, 2022 Souhegan High School will be hosting its annual Career and College Expo. The purpose of this event is to raise awareness and exposure for students and parents of various post-secondary options, both educational and vocational. The event aims to provide information about a variety of careers, programs, and services available after high school. We are planning a fair/expo style event so students can speak with representatives and gather information about each organization. Some of our current attendees include representatives from: various branches of the armed services, local community colleges, first responder groups, local CTE programs, and area employers. If you are interested in participating as an employer at the Career and College Expo please fill out the Google Form at this link.
Telehealth CounselingAs resources for adolescent mental health services have become more challenging to obtain in our state, telehealth services have increased. While we are pleased that telehealth services offer our students needed mental health support, this presents some challenges to our students during the school day. We ask that students and their parents engaged in this type of treatment, review these guidelines.
BAE Systems is excited to announce their Women in Technology Program is back in person!
WiT gives female and female-identifying high school students with an aptitude in math and science a practical, hands-on opportunity to explore careers in various technical disciplines. It also provides mentorship to the students to encourage and support them in their pursuit of a technical career. After completing the program, seniors who have been accepted to college with a declared major in engineering are encouraged to apply for a summer internship opportunity at BAE Systems.
The program takes place at BAE Systems locations in Southern NH, beginning on January 17 through May 9. Students will participate on Tuesday afternoons from 3:30 - 5:30 p.m. Please note that this timing is different than in the past, to allow students to attend after school. Students in grades 11 & 12 from schools within a reasonable driving distance from Southern New Hampshire are welcome to apply for the program through December 6, 2022. Our application is hosted on Tallo: https://app.tallo.com/application/8334/view (note: students will need to create a Tallo profile to apply, this is easy and free and compliant with NH student privacy standards).
You can learn more about Women in Technology on the website: www.baesystems.com/wit
Questions may be directed to our program team via wit.es@baesystems.com or to Laurel Skiff, Pre and Early Career program manager.
Loss of Off Campus Privilege - How Do You Know?
It’s about that time of year where students start to feel the impact of their decisions and need a nudge with using their time more wisely. To communicate effectively, when students lose off campus privilege there will be a notification at the top of their schedule (see the images below). You may recognize this as the scale of justice. CLICK IT! This will inform you of the loss of privilege, potential reasoning(s), and timeframe. If the student has lost the privilege of being off campus, the expectation, then, is to be on campus. Additional consequences may arise if they are in violation of the expectation.
NCs & Semester Scheduling
At the semester if students have any NCs they are ineligible for off campus and will be expected to stay on campus during their open period to remediate and do what it takes to bring up their grade(s). This reflects student policy found in the Handbook that states, “Off-campus privileges will be extended to students in Grades 11 and 12 who have a signed parental permission form on file in the attendance office, maintained good behavior, and {…} have earned grades of all 'C's' or above based on their previous semester assessment”.
To earn back the privilege of Off Campus, the student will need to make an appointment with the Dean of Students to provide evidence as to how their grade has improved.
It is everyone’s hope that all students utilize the reassessment opportunities provided by each of their classroom teachers. Additionally, students may also utilize the following school-wide resources:
Learning Commons: adult and peer tutoring
Information Center: resource acquisition and technology support
Student Services: meeting with counselor for personal health and wellness; assist with scheduling, credit recovery, and off-campus resources
Teachers: all teachers offer some form of classroom support outside of regular classroom times
If you are concerned about your child’s progress, please contact their teacher(s). Grades are updated on the first and 15th of each month and can be located in PowerSchool. If you are having difficulties logging into PowerSchool, please contact Student Services.
Community Service Opportunities
Turkey TrotWhen - Saturday, November 26th from 8am to 11:30am
Where - Amherst Village
What - Amherst Junior Women's Club TURKEY TROT
Duties - Assisting with Registration, Flagging the Runners, Water-Stops, Food Table and Clean-Up
Contact - Tracey at nhshutterbug@comcast.net
Christmas Market on the Amherst VillageWhen: Saturday, December 10th – various opportunities between 10:00am-7:00pm
Where: Amherst Village
Event Help: Set up/work at the event/clean up after. Possibly some set up Dec. 9 & some clean up Dec. 11, but emphasis on the actual event date: Dec. 10!
(Tasks entail helping set up tents, arranging tables/chairs, help with Christmas decorations, hanging Christmas lights, assisting others as needed, acting as a cashier, shovel snow, and much more!)
Actors:
-Dress as Santa's elves and assist Santa with photos, handing out candy canes, etc.
-Dress/act as the character Krampus
Singers: Sing Christmas carols (can dress in costume if they'd like)
Musicians: to perform Christmas songs and/or folk/European music
Contact: AmherstGCM@gmail.com
Senior Project News
The next Senior Project panel meeting will take place after school on Tuesday, January 10. Between now and this deadline seniors should focus their efforts on confirming their Outside Expert and conducting in-depth research in preparation for their Applied Piece Proposal checkpoint. Seniors should also continue to meet with their mentors on a regular, weekly basis. Students who have not passed the first checkpoint (Project Proposal Letter) have had their off-campus privileges rescinded until completion.
The Learning Commons is open all periods for students to work, get support, and recharge. Need some help with math? Tara or Joann can help. Need help with an essay or reading a difficult text? Matt can help. Need a place to
recharge and chat
with some friends? The couches and chairs can help! Check the
Learning Commons Support Schedule to see who is available which period.
This week Community Council voted on Karen Chininis’ proposal asking for funds from Community Council to sponsor a student to send to the HOBY Leadership Conference. Karen’s proposal passed, and then we moved into committee time.
One of the results of committee time was that the Student Activities Committee decided on the dates to hold Fang Fest 2023, which will be the week of February 20th to the 24th.
Our next meeting will be Monday, November 21st in the Information Center from 3:00-3:45 Here is a link to the full meeting calendar for the year.
National Honor Society still has two ongoing drives: Health and Hygiene Drive and Winter Clothing Drive. The Health and Hygiene Drive is on going through the month of November. The Winter Clothing Drive is on going through December 15th.
As these drives are wrapping up, members are now hard at work brainstorming for the next initiatives that they will take up.
Juniors whose end of year GPA last year was a 3.6 or above will be notified of their qualification for application for National Honor Society on 11/22. Any student who wishes to apply must attend an information session to review membership and application expectations. Sessions will be held before and after school the week of November 28th and December 5th. Details of the information session dates and times will be in the invitation to apply letter sent to students on 11/22. Students who are unable to attend may still apply provided that they have an individual check-in with Erin Perry, NHS advisor by the end of the school day on 12/7. The deadline for applications is 12/9. Students will be notified of their acceptance status by mid-January.
Click here to view information from the latest Saber Spotlight that was held on Monday, November 14!
Chloe Luongo Named Souhegan’s Heisman Scholarship Award Recipient
Eligible player must maintain a weighted GPA of 3.0 (B average) or better. Applicants also need to be proven leaders and role models within their school and community and must participate or have participated in grades 9, 10, or 11 in at least one of the sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee in the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games or the National Federation of State High School Associations. As captain of our field hockey team, Chloe is certainly a force on the field as well as in the classroom. We are so proud of her and know she is going to continue her quest for excellence after her time at Souhegan.
Winter Sports registration has opened! Please log into PowerSchool, click "forms" on the left hand side, then "Athletic Registration-Winter." Registration will close on the day your sport begins.
Start dates for tryouts/preseason are as follows:
Basketball (girls and boys) 11/28
Bowling 11/14
Gymnastics 11/21
Ice Hockey (boys and girls) 11/28
Indoor Track 11/28
Alpine Ski 11/21
Nordic 12/1
Swimming 11/14
Wrestling 11/14
Weekly Schedule can be found here.
