November, 2005 PTSA Newsletter

PTSA President's Message

It took an extra few weeks this year but fall finally seems to have arrived. Regardless of the weather, CHHS's fall activities have been in full swing. The second annual Senior Cookout took place on October 27th. Large quantities of hamburgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers were consumed by the seniors. The three day weekend for Halloween gave everyone plenty of opportunity for attending the CHHS Haunted House and various costume parties.

We had a very good turnout for the "Countdown for College" night at CHHS. Our counselors presented an overview for the college application and financial aid process. If you missed this informative presentation, much of the information is on the counselor's web page on the CHHS web site.

District Superintendent, Dr. Kay Waggoner, presented her State of the District message on October 25th at the CHHS Auditorium. Dr. Waggoner discussed school performance measures, including TAKS, SAT/ACT results, AP testing and other measures. She also presented a review of the district's budget and commented on the upcoming court decision for Texas school financing. The district is in the planning stage for numerous projects which were part of the recent bond election. Dr. Waggoner said parents can track the status of this planning on the GCISD web site (www.gcisd-k12.org).

Finally, have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday.

GO PANTHERS!

 Judy Davisson
CHHS PTSA President

CHHS Commended Students - National Merit Scholarship Program

Principal Robin Ryan of Colleyville Heritage High School is proud to announce that the following students have been named Commended Students in the 2006 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Lauren Anderson
Cliff Bielinski
Seungbeom Choi
Sarah Davis
Jennifer Ding
Angela Edwards
Nora Flood
Alicia Frinak
Bradley Hayes
Aaly Hirany
Hyungbin Kim
Samantha Matt
Tyler Newshott
Whitney Prickett
Scott Saunders
Stephanie Segien
Kelli Sims
Johan Sohn
Kirah Strnad
Catherine Turner
Sarah Watson

About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2006 competition for Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than one million students who entered the 2006 competition by taking the 2004 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

Seniors, it's time to register for Project Graduation 2006!

Attention Seniors and Senior Parents! Project Graduation 2006 will be held May 29, 2006 at the Main Event in Grapevine from 11:30 PM until 05:30 AM. This year's event is all-inclusive for $100.00 per student and involves NO FUND RAISING! The deadline for applications at this price is Oct. 31, 2005. From November 1 until December 31 the price per student is $125.00. There will be no applications accepted after December 31, 2005.

Don't miss this last chance to get together with all your CHHS classmates and friends and enjoy food, music, games, fun and PRIZES!!! A check for at least $25.00 paid by Oct. 31 will hold your reservation. Final payment must be made by March 31, 2006. Please send your check today to Project Graduation, P.O. Box 831, Colleyville, TX 76034.

Remember: WE'RE THE BEST OF THE MIX -- SENIORS, SENIORS ZERO-SIX!!!!

Website Tip of the Month:

CHHS Attendance Policy and Procedures Available On-line

Cold and flu season will be arriving soon. Do you know how to contact the attendance office in the event your student is absent? Important phone numbers are listed below. Check out the Attendance section of the school website (www.gcisd-chhs.org) for lots of information on the school attendance policy and procedures. Click on "About CHHS" on the home page and scroll down to "Attendance Policy."

Attendance Phone Numbers

Thank You, Counselors!

Thanks to our counseling department, in particular Michael Moss, for the excellent program "Countdown to College". If you were unable to attend you can go to the school website, www.gcisd-chhs.org and click on Counselor's Corner. Scroll down to the section "College Bound-Read Now!" Click on the links and you will be able to view some of the information that was given at the presentation.

This includes:

PTSA Membership - What's the secret word?

PTSA membership cards will be distributed with the new student directories. Check the back of the 2005-2006 PTSA membership card for the username and password you will need to sign onto the member pages of the Texas PTA website: www.txpta.org. Member webpages include contain legislative, committee and scholarship information for teachers, parents and students.

Are you keeping Track of your Community Scholar Hours?

Please remember to turn in your Community Scholar hours sheets to the box in the counseling office. They will be tallied once a month by the committee. There have been many questions about the various Booster club hours. The decision was made to allow 3 hours for each Booster club you are a member of. As an example, if you volunteered for the concession stands or selling programs at the football games, you can get up to 3 hours per year. This limit was made since many of the benefits of booster club indirectly benefit the student. If you have any questions about eligibility, just ask in the couseling office.

Carolyn Spann, PTSA Hospitality

FIND WHAT YOU NEED FOR SCHOOL AT DISCOUNT PRICES

AT THE CHHS PTSA STUDENT BOOKSTORE

The CHHS Student Bookstore is a great way for students to save money and time. Students can purchase outside required reading at discounted prices at the bookstore for English, Theatre I, Art, AP Economics, AP Government, AP American Studies and AP Psychology classes. The bookstore is located near the glassed panther by the front door.

Return Policy: New unmarked books can be exchanged within 4 weeks of purchase due to schedule or curriculum changes. Please check with your teacher for books needed yet this semester.

The bookstore will be open before school
on Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:00 - 8:30 am

THE DIRECTORIES ARE HERE,

THE DIRECTORIES ARE HERE!

That's right, it's that time of year again! The PTSA phone directories have been printed and are ready to be handed out to our families who signed up to be a PTSA member this Fall. Our membership chairman Dawn Patterson, and her trusty group of volunteers, will be handing out the directories to the students during their lunch hours throughout the first week of November, beginning Tuesday November 1st, so be sure to ask your student if they picked up your directory. Of course, some of you have already contacted me and requested an opportunity to pick up your copy of the directory, so watch your email for additional information.

If you still need to send your membership dues in so that you can get a directory, please contact our membership chairman Dawn Patterson by email or by phone Dgenepatt@aol.com  (817-421-3448) to coordinate those efforts. It's not too late and I know she would love to take care of that matter for you.

I would like to encourage everyone to make sure your cell phones and address books have the most current and correct phone numbers in them which pertain to the staff members you deal with most often, like our attendance ladies, Mrs. Bird and Mrs. Stephens.

Once again, we have several great resources in the directory, so please take a few minutes to flip through it when you see the directory and discover which pages are of special interest to you and your family.  Many people love having the Bell Schedule so they can refer to it when they need to schedule doctor appointments.  Others love the having the A/B Block Calendar for quick reference. Many of the resources in the directory can also be found on the website too so whether you like to refer to your directory, or the computer, we want to make things as convenient for you as possible.

I would also like to extend a special "Thanks" to the many wonderful supporters who have generously contributed advertisements to the directory. They all understand how important our efforts are in preventing the misuse of directory information, and keeping our students safe. It is because of their support, that the PTSA is able to provide the directory free of charge, to our CHHS PTSA family members in good standing.

Have a great year, and stay connected to one another.

Diane Dunlap
dcdunlap@mac.com