The PHS Post

Hello Prairie Hawks!

The 1st semester is quickly coming to a close. With only 7 days until Winter Break and another 9 days once we are back to school in January please use this time to reach out to your teachers and take a second and third look at grades to make sure you have completed the requirements to earn every credit and continue to progress towards graduation.

Please take a minute to look through The PHS Post and take note of the opportunities that are available. If you have questions please do not hesitate to reach out to us here in the PHS Main Office or your counselor in Student Services.

Winter FUN Week #3...

• Monday, Dec. 12 - Ugly Sweater Day
• Tuesday, Dec. 13 - “Tinsel Tuesday” Wear something that sparkles.
• Wednesday, Dec. 14 - “Feliz Navidad Day” - wear cozy fleece
• Thursday, Dec. 15 - “Deck your Neck Day” - wear a holiday scarf or tie
• Friday, Dec. 16 - Ugly Sweater Day - Winter Assembly Celebration

Have a great week!

Mrs. Hawley

Congratulations to the CR Prairie FFA team that competed at the Iowa Cattlemen’s Beef Extravaganza Contest today. Team members earned 4th place rating and earned a $2,000 scholarship. The contest consisted of 10 stations: credit and finance, job interview, industry issues, nutrition, reproduction, health management, seedstock merchandising, keep cull heifers, beef management, and marketing.

Contestants were top teams in Credit and Finance and Keep-cull Heifers.

Team Members included: Belle Netolicky, Will Vlasek, and Olivia Zubrod

Please take the time to have a conversation with your student about the importance of following parking expectations at Prairie High School. As the the weather becomes cooler, there has been an increase in the vehicles parking illegally, leading to unsafe driving conditions in all parking lots. Parking spots are clearly marked and it is important that all drivers abide by the expectation that these are the only spots in which vehicles should be parked. When students park beyond the markings, it prevents safe traffic flow and increases the risk of accidents to occur. There are ample designated parking spots available in Lots A, B, C, and E for those that have been issued a parking pass. For those that are still on the waiting list for a parking pass, there is space available in Lot F.

Students who are unable to follow safe driving and parking expectations at Prairie High School will be given a warning for the first offense and a $25.00 parking ticket that will be changed to the student’s InTouch account for any further offense. If multiple violations occur, students will risk having their parking privileges revoked.

Thank you for partnering with Prairie High School in this effort to promote safe driving and parking on campus!

Mr. Jackson

Dean of Students (A-L)

The PHS Assignment Page is a single-stop reference for students and families to stay up to date on what is happening in all classrooms. On the PHS Assignment Page teachers provide a weekly update of daily assignments, long-term assignments and projects, and upcoming assessments and intervention opportunities.

For a more detailed understanding of what is happening in an individual classroom, please talk to your student or reach out to their teacher. Need assistance enrolling in the "Guardian View" of Google Classroom? Individual teachers can assist with this too.

Congratulations to all of the PHS students in Mrs. Beatty's and Ms. Widmer's classes who were recognized by the College Community School Board for their hard work in the Prairie Cares Market for providing food boxes to Prairie families each week. In the last 10 months, they have helped give out over 40,000 lbs. of food from HACAP to our Prairie families. THANK YOU for your service!

Underlining or highlighting text is pretty, and it makes it look like you’re studying, but the research just doesn’t back it up as a study strategy.

What it does help with is helping you focus during your initial reading. As you read text the first couple of times, highlight it, mark it up, and really engage with it. This is part of what is called annotating, and it is part of what it means to really read deeply, not just skim.

If you do a close reading while you are first reading, using highlighting, sticky notes, taking regular or visual notes, and really focusing on it, then highlighting during studying doesn’t help, according to the research.

To use highlighting effectively:

• use more than one color (particularly effective if you have a code for the colors, e.g., red = conflict or blue = equations)

• avoid using it as a way not to take notes – taking handwritten notes is vastly superior

• use a highlighter on notes you’ve taken, not just on text in a book

Visual notetaking can also help you engage with text. Don’t worry about your drawing skills :)

Please consider participating in the 2023 Drake Physics Prize Examination. Since 1970, Drake has offered this scholarship opportunity to encourage interest in physics, astronomy, and physical sciences, and to give recognition to outstanding high-school students.

Any high school sophomore, junior, or senior can compete in the Physics Prize. A variety of awards are available, however the first place award is an unrestricted four-year, full-tuition scholarship to Drake University!

The Drake Physics Prize Test will cover topics in physics that would normally be studied by students during the first semester of their high-school physics course: kinematics, dynamics (Newton’s laws), circular motion, universal law of gravitation, harmonic motion (simple pendulum and mass-spring systems), impulse, linear momentum, conservation of momentum and collisions, work, energy and conservation of energy, torque, rotational kinematics, dynamics and energy, angular momentum conservation, mechanical waves, and sound.

You can read full details about the scholarship here.

Your students can sign up for one of the following virtual exam times:

• Wednesday, February 1, 2023: 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. CST

• Wednesday, February 1, 2023: 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. CST

• Thursday, February 2, 2023: 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. CST

• Thursday, February 2, 2022: 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. CST

• Friday, February 3, 2023: 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. CST

• Friday, February 3, 2023: 1 p.m. – 3 p.m CST

Apply Here

Mrs. Hoffman

Sign Up for Kirkwood

Kirkwood registration for second semester courses started this week. If you are interested in taking courses, please see Mr. Stoffer to sign up. The sooner that you sign up, the better chance you have in receiving the sections/professors that you want. The deadline to sign up is January 3, but we would encourage everyone to sign up before winter break. Here are a few things to consider:

1. Seniors - if English Comp 2 is on your second semester schedule with Mrs Mullins, you do not need to register for that, you will do it the first few days of the semester.

2. If you are in an Academy at Linn Regional, you are already signed up for second semester courses.

3. If you have never applied to Kirkwood before, the instructions are linked below. Please do that before you stop in to sign up for sections.

4. Below is a linked course list that shows how the courses you select would transfer to Iowa, Iowa State, and UNI.

5. Prairie does not pay for Winter Term courses.

Apply to Kirkwood

Kirkwood Course List

Scholarships

Fall Scholarship List - Make sure to check XELLO for the information and applications!

Events and Information

• Volunteer Cord Process

Testing Information

• ACT Dates
• SAT Dates

ICAN Support

• ICAN Financial Aid Resources (FAFSA)
• Call ICAN 877-272-4692 or visit www.icansucceed.org/apt to set up in person or virtual appointment

Student Planning Guides

• ICAN Transition Guide
• ICAN College and Career Ready

Available NOW...

Mercy Urgent Mental Health Care

The start of the school year can cause some anxious feelings for students. This is common. But sometimes those feelings don’t settle down and start to impact life at school and at home.

Mercy Urgent Mental Health Care is available to all Prairie students and is conveniently located at the Mercy Prairie Creek office east of the Prairie Campus.

This service is free to all Prairie students and the referral process is simple. If you’d like more information or to schedule an appointment, please reach out to your student’s school counselor. All counselors’ contact information is available at this link.

We are grateful to the Mercy organization for their partnership with College Community Schools.

Attention PHS Seniors, submit the FAFSA by December 31st, 2022 and be entered in a raffle to win 2 Prom Tickets OR a $50 Casey’s Gift Card! Submitting and completing the FAFSA is one of the single most important things you can do to open access to various forms and sources of financial aid. College admissions and financial aid professionals encourage all families, regardless of income, to submit and complete the FAFSA as there are financial aid opportunities for everyone. For example, Future Ready’s Last Dollar Scholarship covers any remaining gap between federal and state grants/scholarships and tuition and qualified fees for students enrolled in an eligible program, regardless of financial need! Questions or concerns? Contact Ms. Rawson at nrawson@crprairie.org or 319-848-5340 x 2061. *The drawing will be held after Winter Break!

FAFSA Prep Checklist:

1. Both students AND a parent must create an FSA ID. An FSA ID is a username and password that will be used to access and sign the FAFSA electronically. The FSA ID will stay with you for life, so make sure to use an email that you will have access to after leaving PHS. Write down your username and password somewhere secure.

2. Start collecting the following documents:

• Parent and Student SSN# or Alien Registration #'s

• Parent 2021 federal income tax returns, W-2s, and other records of money earned

• Student 2021 federal income tax returns, W-2s, and other records of money earned (if applicable)

• Bank statements and records of investments (if applicable)

• Records of untaxed income (if applicable)

Sign-Up to attend a FAFSA Workshop: The FAFSA opens up on October 1st, 2022. Submitting and completing the FAFSA is one of the single most important things you can do to open access to various forms and sources of financial aid. College admissions and financial aid professionals encourage all families, regardless of income, to submit and complete the FAFSA as there are financial aid opportunities for everyone. For example, Future Ready’s Last Dollar Scholarship covers any remaining gap between federal and state grants/scholarships and tuition and qualified fees for students enrolled in an eligible program, regardless of financial need! Questions or concerns? Contact Ms. Rawson at nrawson@crprairie.org or 319-848-5340 x 2061.

• More events will be scheduled in December, stay tuned!

FAFSA Prep Checklist:

1. Both students AND a parent must create an FSA ID. An FSA ID is a username and password that will be used to access and sign the FAFSA electronically. The FSA ID will stay with you for life, so make sure to use an email that you will have access to after leaving PHS. Write down your username and password somewhere secure.

2. Start collecting the following documents:

• Parent and Student SSN# or Alien Registration #'s

• Parent 2021 federal income tax returns, W-2s, and other records of money earned

• Student 2021 federal income tax returns, W-2s, and other records of money earned (if applicable)

• Bank statements and records of investments (if applicable)

• Records of untaxed income (if applicable)

Have questions about college and career planning?

Reach out to Ms. Rawson at nrawson@crprairie.org or schedule an appointment here.

PHS Administration...

Mrs. Karla Hawley, Principal khawley@crprairie.org

Mr. Rocky Bennett, Athletic Director rbennett@crprairie.org

Mr. Travis Sprague, Associate Principal - tsprague@crprairie.org

Mr. Rich Jackson, Dean of Students (Last Names A-L) rjackson@crprairie.org

Mrs. Kelly Klekar, Dean of Students (Last Names M-Z) kklekar@crprairie.org

PHS Main Office and Dean's Complex...

Mrs. Brenda Haendler, Main Office 319.848.5340

Mrs. Lori Pleiness, Athletic Office 319.848.5350

Mrs. Debie Towe, Dean's Complex/Attendance 319.848.5360

Mrs. Angie Wagner, Dean's Complex 319.848.5340 x2052

Officer Janae Obbink, Student Resource Officer jobbink@crprairie.org

Mrs. Jackie Martin, Nurse 319.848.5340 x2011 jackiemartin@crprairie.org

PHS Student Services...

Mrs. Laura Fisher, Counseling Secretary 319.848.5344

Mrs. Angela Amunson, Counselor (Students with Last Names A-G) aamunson@crprairie.org

Mr. Mike Reshetar, Counselor (Students with Last Names H-O) mireshetar@crprairie.org

Mr. Clay Stoffer, Counselor (Students with Last Names P-Z) cstoffer@crprairie.org

Mrs. Erin Hoffman, Gifted and Talented Coordinator ehoffman@crprairie.org

Mrs. Nicole Rawson, Kirkwood: College and Career Transition Counselor. nrawson@crprairie.org

Mr. Nick Norris, Grades 7-12 Transition Specialist

Mrs. Mary Gudenkauf, Career Services: Internships & Job Shadows mgudenkauf@crprairie.org

Ms. Karinda Bacon, Counselor - Tanager Services

Ms. Kerry Kilker, Community Engagement Specialist