Challenger Early College High School The Firebird Screams

Student Announcements
December 16, 2011 Congratulations to our December Graduates!!! Your entire Firebird Family is proud of your hard work, achievement, and success! We stand together and wish you the BEST as you move towards college and careers. Please join us in May for all of the 2011-2012 Graduation Events. Calendar dates to note for this week: All fall semester textbooks (college and high school) return dates are December 12,13,14,19, and 20. Please remember that textbooks and calculators are borrowed for the semester. Students are responsible for textbooks and any fee assigned for lost or damaged textbooks. Early College student textbooks are the property of CHS and must be returned before the end of the day on December 20. **Bookroom is open on Friday, December 16, as a courtesy.** CVCC final exams are December 12-16; ALL high school classes run on regular schedules (except music electives, which are cancelled). Please make sure that high school teachers are informed if your exam is scheduled during class time. The college exam schedule is located on the CHS website High school final exams are December 16 and 19. These two days are regular school days. Dec. 16 will be a Family Schedule; Dec. 19 will be a regular school day. Students will have the opportunity to review a draft of their spring schedules on December 16 during Family. These schedules are subject to change if necessary; students will pick up changed schedules in January. Unchanged schedules will be used and not reprinted unless needed/lost. Schedule changes can be addressed on Dec. 16 and also in January; changed schedules should be picked up on January 3 or 4 in the office. If your club or team has any announcements for the Screamer, please email the information to Ms. Benfield at heather_benfield@catawbaschools.net
Friday, December 16, 2011

Update for Seniors: Now is a great time to go ahead and request a PIN for both you and a parent to use when applying for financial aid online. You will need this PIN to complete the FAFSA. To get your PIN, go to http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp Once you receive your PIN, make sure you put it in a place that you can access it again in the future. You will need this PIN again, so its a very important that you keep up with it. Remember, you can submit the FAFSA beginning on January 1, 2012, so begin gathering materials and financial information now. For those students graduating in December and entering College in January, you can complete the FAFSA now. For those graduating in May and not attending College until next Fall, you must wait until after January 1 st. For those students who will need assistance in completing the FAFSA, FAFSA Day will be held on February 18th. This free event will be offered at various The top Families with the highest number of Family Points are Mr. VonDohlens Family, Mr. Naylors Family, and Mrs. Americos Family. Mr. Rutherfords Family is closing the gap quickly!! Earning Family Points: show exemplary Integrity, Stewardship, and/or Citizenship (including highest grade level attendance for the week). Losing Family Points: any disciplinary infraction. Dont hesitate to ASK for points from the adult if you think you deserve Family points. Please check grades for CVCC classes via BlackBoard for each college class. There is a BlackBoard link on the CHS website. Periodically checking CVCC grades is critically important to staying up-to-date with progress in college classes. Note: Abuse of absences in CVCC or CHS classes is unbecoming behavior for early college students. If a student must miss class, they must notify their instructor and attempt to complete missed work. The Early College Guidebook (given at Open House) relays all policies and procedures for absences. FROM YOUR PSO: We are participating in the Valley Hills Mall My School's Cool program!! We could be awarded up to $5,000!! Shop on Wednesday and we get TRIPLE points for ALL retail purchases! Do you eat at the Mall?? EAT on TUESDAY OR THURSDAY and we will get TRIPLE points for every food court purchased! Please drop every receipt and/ or Points Pass from every purchase at the Valley Hills Mall in our orange drop box in the Nest OR in our CHS locker at the mall.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Looking ahead: EOCs are December 20. If you do not have an EOC, you are exempt from the school day. December 20 is an early release day for early college students that have an EOC. Hickory City Schools will pick up students at 12:30 p.m.; all other buses will pick up students at 3:30 p.m. If you are exempt from the school day, please let your bus driver know in advance. Campus is CLOSED to students after December 20 (unless retesting) and will reopen on January 3 for students for legitimate business. The campus opens officially on January 4 for high school classes. Next semester CHS will offer a Math CAPS course to support students towards college-readiness in mathematics. Students can enroll upon request. Students also will be notified about enrollment based on individual math course grades and COMPASS scores. Next semester CHS will again support NCVPS students to take online classes inside a block of their selection. This is exactly the same procedure as the current semester. Note: The only adjustment will be that all students will remain in their selected block unless they obtain written permission from the teacher and principal for an exemption, i.e. students will complete VPS course work inside their selected block unless they receive an exemption. On January 3 and 4, students can pick up college and high school textbooks with their schedule and student ID in the Nest. High school classes start (including music electives, Global Impact, and Connections) on January 4; CVCC classes start on January 5. Clubs start back during the week of January 9. Grade level meetings with Ms. Benfield are mandatory and as follows: Freshman from 4-5 on January 4, Sophomores from 4-5 on January 5, Juniors during Family on January 6, and Seniors during Connections on January 9. Reminder to all students: please remember that the school day is from 9 a.m. 5 p.m. which means that you can be scheduled for conferences and tutoring within that timeframe. Work, personal appointments, and leaving campus after your individual school day ends comes secondary to class, scheduled conferences, class meetings, etc. Any student that still hasnt paid CVCC student fees to the CHS office will be enrolled with their home district high school. (Please make sure to see Ms. Benfield for a payment plan if needed.)

Friday, December 16, 2011