Toms River High School East

We continued with our work on Habit #1, being proactive, this week. Students participated in an Activity period on Friday. We ask that you read through the highlights below and partner with us in reinforcing these same tips at home with your child. We had an exhilarating ( and freezing) Powder Puff Football game. The Senior class took the championship in OT. Fun was had by all! Earlier in the week we celebrated Hispanic Heritage with our annual Hispanic Heritage Thanksgiving Dinner. We had over 150 people come and participate in a night of fun and food! It is one of my favorite events run here at East! Thank you to Sra. Rodriguez and the Hispanic Heritage Club for putting such a nice event together! See the feature here.

Reminder that this is a short week and Wednesday school lets out at 11:15. I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with your family! Here are few jokes to bring to your Thanksgiving table:

• "Why did they let the turkey join the band?" "Because he had his own drumsticks."
• "What key has legs and can't open a door?" "A turkey."
• "What do you call a running turkey?" "Fast food."

Happy Thanksgiving!

Erin Anders

We are proud to announce that Abigail Cole has been selected as the WOBM Student of the Week. This is an honor given to Ocean County's top high school seniors. Abby's feature will air multiple times throughout the day on Monday, November 21st on 92.7 WOBM. Abby was selected as the Senior of the Week because of her commitment to athletics and extra-curricular activities at East, along with her strong academic success. Abby is ranked #3 in the senior class, and is involved in NHS, Ambassadors, Key Club, Yearbook, History Club, Writing Center, and more. She is also a 3-sport athlete, playing Tennis, Winter and Spring Track. Abby has earned High Honor Roll for every marking period at East, and she also scored a 5, the highest score, on the AP Biology exam. Abby's plans after East include attending TCNJ for Biomedical Engineering. Congratulations Abby! Listen to 92.7 at 2:50 today!

The Lighthouse Student Team is going to start a new recognition program called the Raider of the Day. This will be a student led initiative to recognize students that are demonstrating Raider Excellence. Hayden Kwiatek was nominated by Dylan Pentz for his kindness to his peers and always going out of the way to hold the door for his classmates. A special shout out to Mrs. Koenigstein who utilized her artistic talents to create this awesome necklace for the Raider of the Day to proudly wear! Follow us on Instagram to see the winners!

This month we will begin focusing on Habit # 1: Being Proactive

Activity Period Highlights:

Be Proactive: The Habit of Personal Responsibility

When we are proactive, we are responsible for our own life and the choices we make. We understand that we have the freedom to choose based on principles rather than on moods or conditions. To be proactive means to plan for and adapt to all aspects of life—positive and negative—no matter how or when they occur. Reactive leaders and reactive people are constantly involved in a game of catch-up with life. Rather than planning for the ups and downs of everyday existence, they simply react to them with varying degrees of success or failure. Proactivity is a balance between planning for what you can control and accepting and adapting to what you can’t control.

The big ideas that we want to convey to our students are these:

To Be Proactive:

1. Pause and respond based on principles and desired results.

2. Use proactive language.

3. Focus on your Circle of Influence.

4. Model positive behaviors and pass on effective habits to build others.

Winter sports get started this week! Go Raiders! Check out the winter schedule and catch a game/match/meet.

The Toms River East History Club went on its 67th overall trip this past weekend to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.

Check out October's behavior and attendance data!

I had the pleasure of stopping into Ms. Shultz's Spanish 3 Honors class and hear student presentations. Students gave the entire presentation in Spanish and even fielded questions in Spanish. Great job!

Thank you to George Psaradakis, a Toms River alumni, who spoke to students about his career in financial planning and advising.

The New Jersey State Seal of Biliteracy is a graduation honor awarded to students who have demonstrated proficiency in a language other than English, through biliteracy testing in reading, writing, speaking and listening. The testing is computer-based, and completed in school.

More information about the logistics of testing, and the test itself will follow, but the first step is to indicate your interest by completing the Google Form linked here by December 3, 2022:

NJ Seal of Biliteracy Exam 2023 Google Form

NJ Seal of Biliteracy Flyer

1) The Princeton Review is hosting Cracking the Test Week from December 4th to December 8th. They will have experts showing students what they need to do to crack the SAT, ACT, PSAT, and AP Exams. All sessions are free and virtual. Please click here to download the Cracking the Test flyer, which includes registration links for each event.

2) Volunteer hours need to be submitted at the end of every month. Please drop off your community service card in Guidance.

3) College/University representatives are coming to HSE to conduct information sessions. Please sign up in Guidance. For a full list of the Colleges and Universities visiting our Guidance office please visit our College and Career website or click on the link: College Rep visits

Thank you to the parents that attended the Google Meet chat this month. Save the date

( November 21 @ 9am) for the next Chat with the Principal: meet.google.com/toh-iuxw-bst

The next meeting will be November 29th at 6pm in the Main Office Conference room! All parents are welcome!

Thank you to MORANO TOURS for the monetary donation to our student fund! We appreciate you!

Thank you to, Steve Waunsch from Papa John's Pizza for his donations!

If your business is interested in making a donation please reach out! We can advertise you on our social media ( almost 3,000 followers on Instagram) : Eanders@trschools.com