THS Weekly February 8, 2008 | Issue #21
In This Issue... • From the Executive Director • From the Development Office • From the Admissions Office • From the Counselor’s Office • From the School Store ● From the Athletic Office ● Calendar of Events Directory Updates -none-		From the Executive Director One of our Main Events for next week will be the Parent-Teacher Conferences from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sign-up sheets are posted. Please take this opportunity to visit your child’s teachers. We will also have a Lenten Fish Fry in the cafeteria starting at 4:30 p.m. and lasts until 7:00 p.m. Please join us for both events. Admissions: We continue to reap the benefits of parent referrals. We have 26 families visiting The Highlands School next Tuesday, February 12^th for our Pre-K Open House. If you know of any other families out there who would like to be included please refer them to Patricia Walter at Ext. 235. New Signs: We appreciate everyone’s positive response to the posted 15 mph on the drive that connects Northgate Avenue to the school. Academics: Now is the time to resolve any downward trends for our student performance. Please take advantage of the Parent-Teacher night or schedule an appointment with teachers if you cannot make it next Friday. Preemptive action now will avoid disappointment at the end of the school year. Awards Ceremony: Please note in the calendar for next week that we have rescheduled the Awards for Catholic Schools Week on Tuesday, February 12^th. for the Lower School - 2:30 p.m. and February 14^th – Middle School- girls 2:00 p.m. and boys – 3:00 p.m. in the Assembly Room. The Awards Ceremony was postponed last week due to the special Mass for Father Maciel. Model UN Team: Our High School Girls Model UN team is headed to Washington D.C. next week to compete at Georgetown University. We wish Mrs. Ashour and the team the best of success in the competition and we are very proud of you. Soccer: The Boys Team will have their first round playoff game against Bullard Brookhill at home on Monday, February 11 at 6:30 p.m. Let’s get out there and show this team some THS support. Basketball: Our Girls Team made the playoffs and will play their first round next week. The Boys have not made the playoffs but have enjoyed a superb season with a 19-9 record, a huge improvement over the previous season. High School Math Competition:  The next High School Texas State Mathematics League contest will take place on Wednesday, February 20, from 2:40 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. in Room 132.  The student with the highest cumulative score after six contests will receive an award certificate.  After four contests, Jamie Park is leading in the 12th grade, Henry Kwon, James Meier, and Molly Miller are tied for first place in the 11th grade, Mary Elise Miller leads the 10th grade, and Wilson Kim leads in 9th grade. Thank you Mrs. Finkenkeller for all you do. Middle School Math Competitions:  All 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students will participate in Texas State Mathematics League contests on Tuesday, February 19, during one of their classes.  Please bring a calculator and a pencil. For more information, please contact Mrs. Eileen Finkenkeller at eileenfinkenkeller@sbcglobal.net. THS – Lower School Food Drive We will be working on a Lenten Service Project this year to help the students focus on the needs of others. We will be collecting canned goods and dry foods for a local food pantry. The food pantry is in need of peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, rice, and any canned goods. Please help us during this Lenten season to help others who are less fortunate. The canned goods will be donated to the St. Luke’s Food Pantry in Irving. Your child may bring the canned goods from Ash Wednesday until Friday, February 15^th. Thank you for your support! God bless you. Lower School Stations of The Cross - Fridays during Lent - 2:30 p.m. In the Chapel. Auction Shirt Policy:  If your family sells 20 raffle tickets, you may wear your “spirit wear” up to six (6) times during the school year.  We will not have a shirt made specifically for the auction this year.  “Spirit Wear” dates are Mondays only. The following are the remaining dates. February 11, 2008  February 25, 2008    March 3, 2008 PLEASE DONATE YOUR USED BOOKS AND DVDS! Do you have any books and DVDs around the house you no longer need?  Please consider donating them to The Highlands School.  THS will keep any useful book or DVD and sell the rest to buy resources. Children’s Books                              Cartoons Novels                                                Documentaries How-To Books                                  Drama movies Recipe Books                                Action movies Any book EXCEPT textbooks        Any DVD! Please drop your used books and DVDs in the BOXES LOCATED in the library, in the entrance to the Boys and Girls buildings, or in the Main Office. Thank you for your support! AUCTION How Can I Help? Donate a gift. What can I give? Airline Miles (50,000 per trip – Coach and 90,000 First Class) Electronics Religious Items Mexican pottery and ceramics Anything you can think of! Parents, Mr. Davis and Mr. Finkenkeller will be at The Highlands School every Friday morning, until the Auction, to collect gifts. Just bring them when you come to school in the morning and we’ll take care of everything thing else. Come to the Auction Fill out the RSVP and give it to the parent here in the drop off line. They will get it to the Auction Office for you. Bring a friend to the Auction The more people who come to the Auction and bid on items, the better the auction will be. Bring your friends- it’s a great evening of fun and it’s for a great cause: Our Children! What else? We need more live auction gifts Return your RSVP Sell Raffle Tickets Results of the Blazer Bake Off : Middle School Winners Best Taste: Carolyn Mackenzie 6G, Theta Fudge Cake Best Appearance: Mia Carrera 6G, Strawberry Shortcake Snake Most Creative: 5^th Grade Girls, Train Cake High School Winners Best Effort: Maria Albert and Julie Losoya 11G, Chocolate Chip Cookies Best Taste: Sarah Eshelman 11G Most Creative: Charlotte Ward 11G, Chocolate Chip Cake Faculty/Staff Winners Best Taste: Angela von Weber, The Best Ever Carrot Cake Best Appearance: Annie Offolter, Cream Cheese Fruit Tart Most Creative: MaAngeles Ibanez, Caramel Flan Parents Club – The PSIA Competition will be held next Saturday, February 16 at The Highlands School. The Parents Club, along with Challenge and the Athletic Department will be selling refreshments during this event. We are in need of Parents, Middle School and High School volunteers to work the concessions. If your child is participating in PSIA, we would especially appreciate an hour of your time. Please contact Jeannie Williamson at dorjwilliamson@verizon.net to volunteer. As Always, thank you for all you do for The Highlands School! From the Development Office Gifts-in-kind: The following items would be very helpful if anyone has any personal or corporate connections to donate to THS: Portable stage: For plays– contact Cris Hannis, ext. 261 or channis@thehighlandsschool.org. Event Chairs:  300 in bulk, new – contact Brad McKinnie, ext. 237 or maintain@thehighlandsschool.org. Six (6) - computers – capable of 1.6GHz Pentium Dual Core Processor or 2.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 Processor,512MB RAM (Memory), 80GB or better Hard Drive, DVD-ROM, Video Card, Sound Card, Network Adapter, No Operating System Required.  Contact Mr. Mulvaney at ext. 252 or mmulvaney@thehighlandsschool.org. DVD/TV – contact Cris Hannis at ext. 261 or channis@thehighlandsschool.org. One (1) defibrillator – child or adult – contact Nurse Karin Brown at ext. 212 or kbrown@thehighlandsschool.org. One (1) new or used vehicle in good operating condition such as a mini-van.  Contact Brad McKinnie at ext. 257 or maintain@thehighlandsschool.org. Fifteen (15) Digital Projectors – contact Kyle Roberts at ext. 217 or kroberts@thehighlandsschool.org. In-kind gifts are tax deductible and will be recognized by Cris Hannis in our Development Office, ext. 261. Click and Pledge for the Annual Fund: The Annual Fund Campaign is vital to the success of operating The Highlands School.  All of the funds raised go directly to support the annual operating budget.  Specifically, contributions fund financial aid and scholarships, academic programs, faculty enrichment and athletics.  As tuition does not cover the full cost of educating our students, we must rely on the support of our families and friends to close the gap.  Our expectation is that each family contributes at least $1,000 and we achieve 100% participation. Our community is the foundation of our existence.  Be part of it and participate.  Contribute today and together we will attain our goal of $275,000! Just click below and you can complete your contribution: http://www.thehighlandsschool.org/ths/forms/fundraising/annualfunddrive.asp Auction Program Advertising:  The Ad deadline has been extended to February Room Parents - make sure your child’s class is not left out.  Last year every class was represented in the Auction program.  Don’t have a picture of your class?  We have made it easy; just call Cecilia Arreola at 214-695-0785 to schedule a time to have your class picture taken.  Please contact Connie Borley at 817-481-2288 for more information.  Ad contracts are available in the main office and Auction Office. From the Admissions Office February will be “Re-enrollment Month”. The deadline for Re-enrollment and Financial Aid is February 29, 2008. Don’t forget to contact the Admissions Office for sibling applications. Entrance testing for Grades K-4 will be held Saturday, February 23, 2008. Please contact the Admissions Office, ext. 235, for more information. From the Guidance Counselor Approaches to the Critical Reading Section · Work on sentence completion questions first. They take less time to answer than the passage-based reading questions. · The difficulty of sentence completion questions increases as you answer them in order. · Reading questions do not increase in difficulty from easy to hard. Instead, they follow the logic of the passage. · The information you need to answer each reading question is always in the passage(s). Reading carefully is the key to finding the correct answer. Don't be misled by an answer that looks correct but is not supported by the actual text of the passage(s). · Reading questions often include line numbers to help direct you to the relevant part(s) of the passage. If one word or more is quoted exactly from the passage, the line number(s) where that quotation can be found will appear in the test question. You may have to read some of the passage before or after the quoted word(s), however, in order to find support for the best answer to the question. · Do not jump from passage to passage. Stay with a passage until you have answered as many questions as you can before you proceed to the next passage. · If you don't know what a word means in a sentence completion or reading passage, consider related words, familiar sayings and phrases, roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Have you ever heard or seen a word that may be related to it? · In your test booklet, mark each question you don't answer so that you can easily go back to it later if you have time. · Remember that all questions are worth the same number of points regardless of the type or difficulty. Please note that we will have a new college counseling tip each week from our Guidance Counselor, Mrs. Tracey Bonini. From the Athletic Office VARSITY BOYS BASKETBALL: Fri. February 8^th vs. Dallas Academy (SENIOR NIGHT) 6:30 p VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL: Fri. February 8^th vs. Dallas Academy (SENIOR NIGHT) 5:00 p DPL BOYS BASKETBALL: White (6^th D2): Sat. Feb. 9^th 12:00p vs. HFN @ IC Navy (7^th/8^th D3): Sat. Feb 9^th 2:00p @ Parish – Red Sun Feb. 10^th 1:00p @ St. Rita PL GIRLS BASKETBALL: White (6^th/7^th D2): Sun. Feb. 10^th 1:00p @ St. Thomas Navy (7^th/8^th D3): Sun Feb. 10^th 1:00p @ CKS VARSITY BOYS SOCCER: 1^st Round Playoff Game Mon. February 11^th 6:30p vs. Bullard Brookhill ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT NOTES: - Please come out and support the boy’s varsity soccer team on Monday the 11^th by wearing red to the game. These student-athletes have done a great job this year and they deserve your support for this very important 1^st round playoff game. - Girl’s varsity basketball won Thursday night vs. Dallas Lakehill 47-26 and will advance to the playoffs again this season.  - Boy’s varsity basketball team lost to Dallas Lakehill 61-53 on Thursday night and will need help from other teams to make the playoffs. From the School Store The Highlands School Store News Stop by the School Store and see what’s new! Your School Store is looking for additional volunteers to staff the store one hour a week during the following hours of operation. Weekday mornings, 7:45 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. and afternoons 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday & Thursday only.  The store hours have become widely accepted by our families and we are experiencing difficulty maintaining the hours with the current level of volunteers.  Your help is needed.  If interested, please call Joe Bieger at extension 222 to apply as a store volunteer. On behalf of the School Store and volunteers, thank you for your support. Events Calendar of Events This Week