Wildcat Growl
August 27, 2021
Future Ready Wildcats
De Soto High School staff and students endeavor to model the following core values:
INTEGRITY, INQUIRY, COMMUNICATION, PERSEVERANCE, and REFLECTION.
Principal's Message
Wildcats and Families,
Congratulations to DeAnn Thaemert’s Seminar! They won the seminar competition during Back to School night. Mrs. Thaemert has had a string of consecutive seminar competition wins over the last few years. Congrats!
We are looking for two freshmen students to represent DHS on the District Student Advisory Team. We want to remind our freshmen students that the deadline to apply is September 3rd. The application was included in the Skyward message sent last week.
Picture retakes will take place Wednesday, September 8th during the 4th block class. Students will need to make their way to the Blackbox during their lunch if they need picture retakes.
The Board of Education approved three (3) delayed start days for the 2021-22 school year. The first delayed start date is Wednesday, September 22. Students will begin school two (2) hours later than normal. Students will need to be at school for their first block class at 9:50 a.m. The other two dates for delayed starts will be October 10 and April 6.
Homecoming week begins Monday, September 20th. Fun activities are planned to take place all week long, with an all-school assembly and Football game vs. Lansing on Friday, September 24th, and the homecoming dance scheduled for Saturday, September 25th. Student Council is looking for assistance with the parade. The details are below.
Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held virtually on Wednesday, September 29th, and Thursday, September, 30th. Look for detailed communication from teachers in the coming weeks about online conference appointment sign-up. If families need assistance with signing up, please contact us.
Go Wildcats!
Kind Regards,
Sam Ruff
Principal
Note from the Counselors:
It has been great to see our students in the building the past couple of weeks! All students should have full schedules and the deadline to request any schedule changes has passed. We are excited to get to know all of the students in our alphabet this year! Contact information for counselors and our social worker is below.
Senior Meetings: Counselors are now meeting individually with seniors to discuss plans for after high school. Some of the topics included in the discussion are: Post-Secondary options, How to Apply to Colleges, FAFSA Information, Scholarships, Transferring Credit from JCCC, etc. We have included some helpful links below to resources we reference in our meetings.
College & Military Representatives: This year we are allowed to have visitors in the building! We will be inviting various college and military representatives to DHS to share about all the opportunities their institutions offer. Students will have the opportunity to meet with the representatives during seminar. We will have the representatives from the following schools available to talk with students during seminar on Tuesday, September 14th: University of Arkansas, Missouri State, Pittsburg State, Wichita State, JCCC, KU and K-State.
Upcoming Deadlines for University Scholarships: Seniors who apply for these schools by the deadline listed will be considered for scholarships that are typically based on high school GPA and ACT scores:
· Kansas State University: December 1st
· University of Kansas: December 1st
· Wichita State University: Freshman Merit Scholarships – December 1st, Distinguished Scholarships – October 15th (Application deadline) and Scholarship Application – November 1st
Individual Plan of Study (IPS): Every DHS student will have a completed Individual Plan of Study upon graduating De Soto High School. Students complete different IPS lessons approximately twice each month during seminar. Xello is the platform for IPS and contains all kinds of important information, specific to each student including career matches, personality styles, skills, interests, saved colleges, saved careers, scholarships, etc. Students will review their IPS with their seminar teacher and their parents during spring conferences. This video gives a short summary of why IPS is important and gives students/parents an idea of what is to be expected.
Social Emotional Lessons (SEL): DHS seminars are now including SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) activities to help provide tools and resources for students. Upcoming topics include: analyzing emotions, goal setting, perseverance, and managing responses to emotions. The overall health and well-being of our students is important to us. If you are ever concerned about another student or your own, please don’t hesitate to reach out to their counselor or the social worker.
Resources from CollegeBoard:
Parent Action Plan for Seniors
FAFSA Resources:
Quick Video Instructions on how to fill out the FAFSA
Scholarships:
DHS Student Services Scholarship Page (updates frequently)
DHS Counselors and Social Worker
Crissy Johns (A-G): CJohns@usd232.org
Lindsay Hothan (H-N): LHothan@usd232.org
Kaitlin Britt (O-Z): KBritt@usd232.org
Joe Kordalski (Social Worker): Rkordalski@usd232.org
Notes from the Nurse
VACCINATIONS
The State of Kansas requires incoming 11th graders to have one Meningococcal vaccine on or after their 16th birthday. Your shot record might say MCV, MCV4, MCV40, MCV4P, Menveo or Menactra or just meningococcal. All of these meet the requirement.
If your student has already had these vaccinations, please email Anne Lightcap, BSN, RN the shot record (mfarverlightcap@usd232.org). If you have already submitted a shot record containing this vaccine, you do not need to send it again. How can you check? From your desktop (it will NOT work on your phone), go to Skyward, then choose:
Health Info (tab on the left side) Display Options Show Vaccinations
UPDATED Immunizations
If your child has received any UPDATED immunizations since last Spring- please send these to the nurse at mfarverlightcap@usd232.org
If no changes to your current immunizations, I do not need another copy unless you are a new student or have been contacted by me about state required immunizations.
Medications to be given by the nurse
For students that take a medication to be given by the nurse at lunch or during the school day. Please remember I must have a signed doctor's order. A link to medication form on the USD 232 district Health services website can be found here. Or you can print the form below.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Anne Lightcap BSN, RN
De Soto High School Nurse
fax-913-667-6251
Study Tables are back beginning September 7th!
Study Tables are back beginning September 7th!
Securly App
Parents can have peace of mind in knowing your student’s search history and time on their device. See your student’s online activity in real-time and catch up with weekly email snapshots by signing up with the Securly app. Follow the link for more information and directions.
Pep Club T-Shirts Orders
To order a Pep Club shirt please visit the site https://desotopepclub.itemorder.com/sale. The deadline to order is Monday, September 6th.