January 2006 PTSA Newsletter

PTSA President's Message

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. With the start of the New Year we have a new calendar for the 2006-2007 school year which can be found on the GCISD web site.

While we are on the subject of calendars, I would encourage you to visit the CHHS web site to check out upcoming athletic and extra curricular events. I hope that you will be able to attend some of these activities and help support our school spirit.

This year curriculum night is being scheduled earlier to help assist students and parents in selecting their next year class courses. Curriculum night is scheduled for Monday, January 23rd. We hope you will all take advantage of this evening to meet with the CHHS Faculty to answer some of your questions concerning next year's course selections for your student.

Congratulations to Tyler Saxton and Rachael Jensen on their recent success at our Council of PTAs Reflections contest. Their entries are advancing to the PTA Area contest. Good luck at Area!

For those of you who have made New Year's resolutions, I hope one of them was to volunteer some of your time at CHHS. You can easily accomplish this resolution by contacting our Volunteer Coordinator, Judy Atwood at chhsptsavolntr@yahoo.com

Go Panthers!

Judy Davisson
CHHS PTSA President

Start the New Year Right - Attend the PTSA General Meeting on January 23

The next general meeting of the CHHS PTSA will be held on Monday, January 23rd, at 6:30 p.m. in the lecture hall. We invite you to attend and become involved with this great organization. Immediately following this brief meeting, CHHS will host Curriculum Night. This is an opportunity for you to get assistance from teachers, counselors, etc. in formulating your student's schedule for the 2006-2007 school year. Hope to see you there!

Important Reminders from the Counselors' Office

Mark your calendar with a few of these important upcoming events! Visit the calendar section of the school website for a complete list of events

Scholarship Information Available On-line!

Congratulations on a Job Well Done!

Congratulations to Jaqueline Gloria and Tiffany Cornett on being selected as semifinalists in the 2005-2006 Coca-Cola Scholarship Program.

Baseball Booster Club News

The Baseball Booster Club First Pitch Dinner will be held on Thursday, January 26th, at 6:00 in the panther den. Admission is $5.00 per person. Baseball tryouts will be held the week of January 30th. Contact Coach McDougal for more details.

Scholarship Information Available On-line

Seniors, please refer to the Counselor's Corner link on the school's website, www.gcisd-chhs.org, for the most up-to-date information on scholarships.

PTSA Volunteers Donate over 3,200 hours at CHHS!

CHHS PTSA Volunteers have been extremely busy working in various areas in the school from assisting with registration, front office, counseling office, book handling, Principal cookouts, and even assisting with testing during first semester finals. During the first semester volunteers have given over 3,200 hours to the school. What would the school do without them???

Cheers to all those wonderful people who give to support your kids' education. Special cheers to our first semester top volunteers: Volunteers of the Month: Joyce Cardell, David Davisson, Cindy Eldridge, and Carolyn Ray. Board Volunteers of the Month: Mary Alice Rippe, Jan Mogged, Nancy Miracle, Stacy Lansford, and Karen Thompson

If you are interested in volunteering, email Judy Atwood at chhsptsavolntr@yahoo.com or call her at 817-858-9531. There are wonderful opportunities all the time.

Learn more about an AP booster club on January 23

Parents interested in supporting academic success at CHHS are invited to learn more about forming an AP Booster Club at Curriculum Night on January 23^rd at CHHS. Look for an information table at Curriculum Night and more information in the January newsletter. The booster club would provide AP and pre-AP students with classroom and test support and provide parents with important information on the opportunities available for their students engaged in AP study. We're looking for a group of parents who are willing to organize this effort. Contact Mary Alice Rippe for more information (macrippe@comcast.net).

CHHS Debate Updates

This past fall, parents and staff members joined together and created a Debate Booster Club for the families and supporters of the debate students here at CHHS. The club looks forward to supporting these great students.

The Debate Booster Club invites anyone interested to join membership of this organization. If interested, please contact Mr. Huston at the school.

At the University of North Texas, novice Cross Examiner debaters Keith Scharfenberg and Alex Nasr placed first. They defeated a team from Jesuit School in semi-finals.

The debate team had an outstanding weekend recently at the University of Texas Longhorn Classic tournament in Austin. This is one of the largest tournaments in the state of Texas which attracts teams not only from Texas, but neighboring states as well. Results of this tournament are as follows:

• James Hamrale and Tyler Levy placed 32 of 130 teams in the Varsity Policy Division.
• Derek Kelly and Andrew Murray were quarterfinalists in the Novice Policy Debate.
• Bekah Boyer and Elizabeth Hayden were semifinalists in the Novice Policy Debate.
• Alex Nasr and Keith Scharfenberg placed first in Novice Policy Debate.
• Melissa Butler placed 4th in Student Congress. Melissa now has one qualification towards participation in the Tournament of Champions Congress in May.
• In the Novice Policy division, CHHS placed 5 speakers in the top 10 speakers of their division. Overall, the team finished third in the sweepstakes trophy competition.

In the most recent tournament, at Hebron High School:

• Arti Bhati, a Lincoln Douglas Varsity Debater placed sixteenth out of fifty-eight competitors.
• For the Novice Lincoln Douglas, John Cody placed sixteenth of fifty-eight competitors. Congratulations!!

In Varsity Cross Examination Debate, the team of James Hamrale and Tyler Levy were in the semifinals. This place now qualifies them for the Texas Forensic Association state tournament.

The Novice Cross Examination Debate team of Keith Scharfenberg and Elizabeth Hayden were in the semifinals of their event, placing second. Team members Bekah Boyer and Alex Nasr placed first in this event. Alex Nasr was named top speaker of the Novice Cross Examination Debate. The Novice teams have distinguished themselves by winning five out of six tournaments that they participated in.

The CHHS debate team will host a Winter Invitational Tournament on January 13th and 14th. Good luck to all of our participants.

Reflections Entries Advance to Texas PTA Area 11

The winners of the district level Reflections contest have been announced. The first place winner in the Visual Arts category for high school level is Tyler Saxton, here at CHHS. For the Literature category, Rachael Jensen, placed second. These two entries have been forwarded to the District level. Congratulations to Tyler and Rachael.

Lighten up your closets and help brighten up some students' special nights

Are your closets brimming over with banquet dresses and accessories from events gone by? Would you like to help some CHHS students dress up for the banquets and special events to come in spring 2006? You can drop off dresses and accessories in the front office to the attention of Polly Wallace for Polly's Closet.