The Panther Press
Official Newsletter of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School
Welcome!
January 9, 2022 - Volume 4 - ISSUE 15
Welcome to the Whitman-Hanson Regional High School Newsletter! It is designed to keep everyone (parents, students, staff, and community members) informed of the many events that are happening in and around the school. It contains links, pictures, and videos so that you have a more interactive experience and the ability to learn more about various topics.
Communication is incredibly important to understanding so we ask that you share our news as much as possible. We also welcome feedback! It is the only way to continuously improve. So, please interact, get involved, and let us know what you think by contacting us and sharing our news!
Important Dates to Plan
January 17 - No School – Martin Luther King Day
January 20 - Delayed Opening
January 21 - Early Release – Grading Day
January 24 - Quarter 2/Semester 1 Ends
January 25 - Quarter 3/Semester 2 Starts
January 26 - Parent Portal Opens – Quarter 2/Semester 1 Grades
February 2-3 - MCAS Biology Retest
February 3 - Delayed Opening
February 4 - Early Release – Professional Development
February 17 - Delayed Opening
February 21-25 - No School – Winter Break
PARENTS OF SENIORS!
Yearbook Ads Are Due!
The deadline for parents to order parent recognition ads to be printed in the yearbook has been extended from Dec. 24, 2021 to January 28, 2022. Please consider placing an ad to help keep the cost of the yearbook down for everyone. It is a memory that will be seen for years to come. They are available in many sizes and prices and can be done from the comfort of your home 24/7.
Happy Holidays from the Yearbook Staff
www.jostens.com/yearbookads or go to https://whpanthers.wixsite.com/yearbook for all your WH Yearbook needs and information.
Dr. Christopher Jones
Think Like a Beginner
What does an Active Stretch Class and whistling to a song we don't know have in common and tell us about the importance of thinking like a beginner?
Watch the video to find out, but in the meantime consider how the act of approaching things with curiosity and a desire to learn more keeps out minds open to becoming better while falling into the routine of "knowing" keeps our minds closed.
Want to dive deeper, understand more, or improve your skills? Approach what you do with a beginner's mindset by stepping back and allowing yourself to learn; even if you already know.
Our Story...
Not everyone outside the walls of our awesome school get to see the fantastic things going on each day. This short video is meant to showcase some of the great things occurring at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School during the week!
Take a look and feel free to comment...this is our story...and everyone is part of it.
Mr. David Floeck
Hello Panther Nation and Panther Parents!
We wanted to take this opportunity to communicate some concerns regarding student driving on campus and parent pick up. These concerns have already been shared with students earlier this week.
Student Driving and Parking
Student parking on campus. If you do not have the appropriate student parking pass, you must see either Ms. Horton or Ms. McCarthy in the main office. There is a form that is required to be filled out with your vehicle information. Also, students MUST park in a marked parking space in their designated parking lot. Junior’s cannot park along the grass behind the turf field (it’s marked no parking.) Vehicle’s without a parking pass or parked in an unauthorized space will be towed.
Another concern is the manner in which students are driving. Students must obey the posted speed limit of 15 MPH while on school grounds. Students have been speeding out of the parking lots at the end of the day. THEY NEED TO SLOW DOWN! This goes for while exiting the school grounds and out onto the main roads. In addition to speed, our Senior drivers are being told to avoid the Junior Parking lot completely. We will be posting additional signage preventing traffic from cutting through the Junior Parking lot between arrival and dismissal hours. There is no need for it, Seniors will exit down the main driveway and Juniors will exit from the Junior lot on to Franklin Street.
Please speak to your student drivers about excessive use of their car horns. It is like a concert, at the end of the day, of students beeping at one another as they leave. After speaking with our School Resource Officers, the excessive use of a vehicle’s horn is a moving violation and operator’s can be fined for the violation. These actions have caused our inexperienced drivers to become distracted and it presents a safety concern for pedestrians, other vehicles and themselves.
Allowing students to drive themselves to school is a privilege. Failure to follow the rules that go along with that privilege can result in that privilege being revoked. Remind your students to follow the rules in the interest of everyone’s safety.
Parent Pickup
With the winter here, it is expected snow will soon follow. As snow builds up our already tight parking and pick-up/drop-off area will become that much tighter. Again, we are reminding parents that you are not to come on school grounds for pick-up prior to 1:50pm. Yes, dismissal starts at 1:40pm, but we need to load buses and get them on their way before parents begin to make their way up to the front of the building. If you are on school grounds prior to 1:50pm you must park in a marked parking spot/area. Please do not park along the driveway awaiting buses . The purpose of this is to maintain an open lane for emergency vehicles at all times. Arrival after 1:50pm will ensure a quick and efficient pick-up. At no time are you allowed to park in the fire lane in front of the building, even if you are just dropping something off!
Our concerns are in the interest of safety; safety of our students, our staff, and our visitors. Please do your best to adhere to the above information.
Thank you and Happy New Year!
High School Administration
School Resource Officers
School Counseling - Mrs. Ruth Carrigan
College Admissions Seminar - Virtual - Please join us for our annual College Admissions Seminar featuring admissions representatives from Boston College, UMass Boston, and Massasoit Community College. This panel presentation will provide excellent information on the College Admissions Process at WH, Opportunities at Two Year Colleges, Mass Transfer, The State College Admissions Standards, The College Essay, and the How College Admissions Decisions are made. The program will be held via Zoom on Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 6:30 PM. Please follow this link to register for the Virtual College Admissions Seminar.
Scholarship Info for Seniors - On March 1, 2022, a Virtual Scholarship Meeting will be held at 6:30 PM. Information will be presented about Dollars for Scholars and Local and Community Scholarships. All seniors and parents are encouraged to attend. Please sign up here for the Virtual Scholarship Meeting.
Post-Secondary Planning for Juniors - On January 26 and 27, counselors will be visiting grade 11 English classes for a lesson on post-secondary planning for juniors. In addition to this important lesson, juniors and their parents are encouraged to attend the virtual College Admissions Seminar on January 27th. A Coffee with the Counselors with a focus on college/post-secondary planning for Junior parents will be held on February 10th. Sign up details for that event will be available soon.
If you have any questions, please reach out for assistance.
School Counselors:
Mr. Amado
Ms. Rivera (Administrative Assistant)
School Adjustment Counselors:
Mrs. Siden
Ms. Dalton
Math - Ms. Deborah Caruso
IXL Plays Critical Role
The IXL program has a diagnostic tool built right in and as students answer questions within the diagnostic, the program will create an individually designed skill plan for the student. Students in grades 9 and 10, were given time to create a baseline for these plans at the start of the school year. In addition, math teachers have been allotting some time in class for students to take advantage of this tool. However, students are also encouraged to access this tool at home because the more a student works with the diagnostic tool, the more accurate and tailored the plan will become while also helping to solidify skills that they practice from their plans.
This is especially important for grade 10 students as they will be taking the Mathematics MCAS exam in the spring.
Social Studies - Mr. Bob Davidson
United States History II
In this picture, Mr. Andrews leads a discussion on life in 1920’s America
Psychology
World Languages & Business - Mrs. Kristen Thomas
Spanish Serenades
Los Monstruos del Cuerpo
Science - Mr. Mark Stephansky
“Mussel”-ing in on Marine Biology
Students in Ms. Jones’ Marine Biology class dissected Blue Mussels.
Got Hard Water?
Got Judges?
Nurse’s Corner
The indoor mask mandate remains in place for our district even if one is vaccinated. The Delta variant of Covid is active and so we must still take precautions. It is very important NOT to send your child to school sick! This is a good standard in general but especially living in the times of Covid! It remains more important than ever to adhere to the CDC guidelines of: wearing a mask, frequent handwashing, and maintaining social distancing in order to have success. Here is a useful tool that will help you in deciding whether to send your child to school: the Covid 19 Signs and Symptoms Check List.
Please keep your child home if he/she is exhibiting any of the symptoms on the list and if you have any questions -call the school nurse for further assistance. Please be advised that the school nurses must follow the Mass. Department of Public Health Mandates in deciding if your child must go home if he/she is ill during the school day. Please be advised that if it is necessary for your child to be quarantined as a close contact to a positive case that the school MUST adhere to the protocols as defined by the Mass. Department of Public Health. Also, if your child is an athlete and happens to test positive for Covid you must submit a written doctor’s note clearing your child to return to play sports. This is per the MIAA and there will not be any exceptions to this protocol. The school and the school nurses do not have any leeway in state Covid protocols and we are obligated to enforce them.
Please send in to the school nurse any documentation if your child has been vaccinated for Covid-19. There is further information available on Covid19 on our website.
Meningococcal Vaccine Requirement
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is requiring a second dose of the Meningococcal vaccination for all students in the 11th grade. Please send in your child’s documentation of the vaccine into the clinic as soon as possible.
Medication during the School Day
Please refer to the student handbook or the Health Services website regarding medication to be administered by the school RN during the school day. All prescription medications must be in the original prescription bottle with a written MD order and signed parental consent form. These forms may be downloaded from the website. Students are NOT allowed to carry medication with them during the school day.
Please do not hesitate to call the clinic at any time with any questions/concerns concerning your child’s health- we are here to keep your child healthy!
Ms. Margaret Baker RN, NCSN
Clinic phone: 781-618-7452
Clinic fax 781-618-7409
Athletics - Mr. Bob Rodgers
Teams Have Good Showings!
Between the snow day and covid, many games this week have been postponed, but there was still a lot of exciting action.
Whitman-Hanson Wrestling hosted it's annual Invitational on Saturday with a field of 14 area teams the Panthers finished a hard fought 3rd place overall. Winning the tournament with 140.5 points was King Phillip, followed by Milton HS with 131 points and host Whitman-Hanson finishing a close 3rd with 125.5 point. Leading the way for WH once again was 106 pound Champion Freshman Charlie Lussier going 3-0 on the day with 3 more pins, his finals match taking only :17. Charlie is now 15-0 on the season with 12 pins. Senior Joe Boss at 113 pounds finished in 3rd place going 2-1 on the day with 2 pins. This brings his record to 12-2 on the year with 9 pins. Sophomore Austin Gamber at 126 pounds suffered his first loss of the season but wrestled back to take 3rd place and improved to 13-1 on the season. Junior Aidan Guiliani at 132 pounds continues to be unstoppable by winning the championship and going 3-0 on the day bringing his win total to 10-0 on the season with 5 pins. Junior Braden Kain wrestling at 138 pounds and earned a hard fought 3rd place finish going 3-1 on the day with 1 pin bringing his season total to 12-4 with 6 pins. Freshman Cooper Lussier wrestling at 152 pounds also finished in 3rd place for WH. Cooper had 3 pins on the day and also won by 11-7 decision for 3rd place bringing his season total to 14-1 with 12 pins. Rounding out the place winners for WH was 285 pound Maddox Colclough. Maddox finished in 2nd place going 1-1 on the day and is currently 10-4 on the year with 7 pins. Next up for the Panthers is a Patriot League meet at Duxbury on Wednesday January 12. The Panthers are now 7-1 on the season and 1-0 in the Patriot League.
Whitman Hanson has an exciting new co op team with Silver Lake for swimming and while the team is 0-2, there have been some outstanding performances already. Haylie Pinola had a personal best in the 200 Free with a 2:30, a personal best in the 100 Back with a 1:03:22, along with assist in the 200 Medley Relay. Mary Lynam had her personal best in the 50 Free with a 44:14 and assisted in the 200 Free Relay. Sam Fernandez won first place in the 200 Medley, he also assisted in 1st place in the 200 Free Relay. Matt Ward did his personal best in the 100 Free with a 1:09:64 also assisting in the 200 Free Relay and the 400 Free relay. The team is excited to take on Pembroke Tuesday at home.
The boys hockey team recorded an impressive come from behind road win over division 1 Lexington this week, 5-4. Lexington started the scoring in their first shift of the game but Whitman-Hanson Sophomore Alex Ethier matched the scoring 30 seconds later with a feed from senior John Ward, and Sophomore Zakk Spano. The Minutemen came right back and scored a minute later taking a 2-1 lead. Lexington scored first in the second period to go up 3-1. Whitman-Hanson continued fighting in the second and got 2 goals from Joe Culley and another from Matt Solari to take a 4-3 lead heading into the 3rd. The Minutemen came out flying in the third and scored 5 minutes in to tie the game. The Panthers did not let that rattle them, and showed relentless compete when Sophomore Zakk Spano drove hard to the net, received a great pass from Alex Ethier, scoring his first career goal, and game winning goal. The team is off until Saturday when they host Plymouth North at Rockland Arena.
The Whitman Hanson /Silver Lake girls hockey team beat Marshfield this week by a score of 4-1 at the Bog in Kingston. WHSL was led by Shea Kelleher who had all four goals in the third period to rally the team from a 1-0 deficit heading into the third period. Caitlin Dilley added 2 assists playing a great 2 way game. Sadie Watchorn played well in net giving up 1 goal on 16 shots and kept the team in it during the first period.
With the games changing frequently parents and fans are reminded to follow us on twitter @whathletics to be sure you get the very latest information.
For the complete schedule of events click here - School Events (arbiterlive.com)
Contact Us
Email: christopher.jones@whrsd.org
Website: https://www.whrsd.org/our-schools/whrhs
Location: 600 Franklin Street, Whitman, MA, USA
Phone: (781) 618-7020
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrCSJones
Twitter: @DrCSJones