CAC High School Principal’s Notes
Dear High School Parents,
Welcome to this week’s edition of Highro-Glyphics!
There are many “thank you’s” to give this week:
This week the seniors were back on campus as a full group for the first time since March! To celebrate, the Booster Club provided them with a week of treats: balloon arches, personalized luggage tags, ID holders, class of 2021 masks, donuts, and stickers, and cookies (this last item courtesy of the PTO). Thank you, Booster Club, for creating something special for our seniors!
Thanks to the Booster Club also for the amazing pumpkin patches, which have made our campus festive and even more beautiful. Next week Booster Club is teaming up with Student Council to provide some “Spooktacular” Halloween fun during lunches–please see the morning announcements for details.
Thanks to all parents for taking time to attend virtual parent/teacher conferences. A huge “thank you” to teachers, most of whom conducted well over 40 individual meetings from Monday afternoon through Tuesday.
Thanks to the PTO for organizing last night’s Q&A with the Head of School and Principals. We hope we were able to answer your questions and address your concerns, and we appreciate all the positive comments shared at the forum.
Thanks to the MUN student officers and their faculty advisors, who pulled off the remarkable CACMUN 42 conference online, providing a great experience for over 70 students last weekend. As students discussed real-world issues around the theme of “Embracing Change”, they produced quality resolutions and improved them through excellent debates.
“Embracing Change” is certainly an appropriate theme for this year. Thanks to all our students for their continued resilience and perseverance in these challenging times.
Stay safe!
Principal’s Notes Highlights:
● Parent-Teacher Conferences Survey
● Special Schedules October 25-27
● Skyward Gradebook
● Prophet’s Birthday Holiday
● Upcoming Grade Level Parent/Principal Virtual Coffees
● Health and Safety Checklist
● Travel for the SAT/ACT
● Winter Break Travel Plans
Parent/Teacher Conferences Survey
We welcome your feedback on Parent/Teacher conferences.
Please click here to complete a short survey.
Special Schedules October 25-27
The week of October 25 is a short week, with an Early Release day on October 27 followed by a four-day weekend. In order to ensure equal time for Groups 1 and 2 and all classes, we will run special schedules next week:
● Sunday, October 25—Blocks A-H, Group 1 (and all seniors)
● Monday, October 26—Blocks A-H, Group 2 (and all seniors)
● Tuesday, October 27—Tutorial Tuesday online, 8:00-11:30
The specific schedules can be found here.
Skyward Gradebook
Skyward is the secured student information system used at CAC. The gradebook section of Family Access allows students and parents to view student progress. With students attending classes fewer days than normal, we think students and parents can find it a useful tool.
Prophet’s Birthday Holiday
There will be no classes October 28-29 in celebration of the Prophet’s Birthday. Classes resume November 1. We hope everyone enjoys a safe long weekend. Please be mindful that all the social distancing rules should be followed while traveling, especially in hotels and restaurants. Practice the 4 W’s: Wash Your Hands, Wear Your Mask, Watch Your Distance, and Work Together.
Upcoming Grade Level Parent/Principal Virtual Coffees
We will continue to hold virtual coffees by grade level. This will allow us to discuss topics particular to each grade. We hope you are able to participate. Below is the schedule of upcoming coffees:
● Grade 12: Wednesday, November 4, 10:00 am
● Grade 11: Thursday, November 5, 10:00 am
● Grade 10: Sunday, November 8, 12:00 noon
● Grade 9: Monday, November 9, 12:00 noon
Parents will receive a Zoom link via email on the morning of the coffee for their respective grade level.
Health and Safety Checklist
Please regularly review the checklists for students and parents (click here) related to health and safety. It is important we do not become complacent.
Travel for the SAT/ACT
The cancellation of the SAT in Egypt has continued to cause great anxiety for seniors and juniors. Standardized tests are only one metric colleges and universities use to consider applicants, and many have announced they will accept (and even encourage) test optional applications. College recruiters have repeatedly confirmed this in sessions they have held for our students and parents. We strongly advise against traveling abroad to take standardized tests, especially in a time when flight cancellations and changing quarantine requirements may cause students to miss more school.
Winter Break Travel Plans
If you are making travel plans for the Holiday Season, a reminder that the first day of Winter Break is December 18. Students will have final exams and should not depart early. Classes will resume again on January 10.
Jerry Duggan Rachel McCall
HS Principal HS Assistant Principal
Counseling Department Announcements
Upcoming Virtual University Events, Visits, and Webinars
Counselors receive many emails and invites to virtual university events happening all over the world. Students and families may now view and register for these opportunities by visiting the CAC HS Counseling Resources Webpage. Upcoming CAC-specific university visits and Town Halls will also be posted here. This document will be updated regularly, and you can find it here: CAC HS Counseling Resources Webpage – University Visits.
Pomona College Town Hall
On Monday, November 9, Pomona College will join CAC for a Virtual Town Hall. This will be a great opportunity to learn more about Pomona and the value of a Liberal Arts education. More information about registration will be provided in the coming weeks.
Seniors- The USA Early Action/Early Decision external (university) deadline is November 1st. We are on break October 27 (pm)-29 and then we return to school on Nov 1st. Therefore, all EA/ED document request forms must be submitted (online) to the counseling office ASAP (the internal deadline was Oct. 15th) so files can be sent starting today as there will be no activity of CAC sending materials over that break.
Freshmen
As a follow up to the freshman seminars, freshmen are reminded to complete the Learning and Productivity Assessment on Maia Learning, share their results with their counselor, and schedule an individual appointment with their counselor.
Claudia Bean, Kasey Semler, Cameron Simon
HS Counseling
General Announcements
The Environmental Action Plan Committee
The Environmental Action Plan Committee has taken the initiative to eliminate the use of single-use plastic on the CAC campus. As a first step, we encourage ALL faculty members and parents to bring their own cups for coffee and avoid using disposable cups. There are cups for sale in the spirit store as well If you would like to buy one!
Environmental Action Plan Committee (c/o NHS)
CAC Libraries Open This Weekend
The CAC libraries will be open this Saturday, October 24, but closed on Saturday, October 31. Please see list of open Saturdays here.
You can book a 30-minute appointment slot on the CAC parent dashboard’s “CAC Campus Facilities Online Booking” form. Bookings are accepted until Fridays at 7 pm and a week in advance.
You can access the booking system through the new CAC School Stream app. Click “CAC” at the bottom of the screen, then scroll down to “Parents Dashboard.” You will be prompted to log in, which you’ll do with your parent CAC single sign on. Look for the “CAC Campus Facilities Online Booking” link and follow the prompts.
Sora, our ebook and digital audiobook app
With the Sora app, available on all mobile platforms, or soraapp.com, CAC students, parents and teachers can access a large and growing collection of ebooks and digital audiobooks. All you need is your CAC single sign on to log in.
See a preview here. (Sora will ask for your Follett account. That just means your CAC single sign on.)
Please write to librarian@cacegypt.org if you encounter any problems.
Josianne Fitzgerald
MHS & Head Librarian
The Booster Club is working together with HS/MS STUCO to provide you with some SPOOKTACULAR fun next week!
Come Sunday and Monday dressed in your favorite costumes/Spirit Wear/PJs and have some lunchtime fun on the MS field. There will be a “red carpet” for you to show off on with spooky music and other surprises. Don’t worry there will be sure to be “Treats” for all of your “Tricks”!!! There will also be “selfie” stations set up with some scary backdrops to let you spook up your social media. Can’t wait to SCARE you all there!!!
Spirit Store Opening
The Booster Club would like to announce the opening of the Spirit Store for all products! We are happy to now be open during every school day from 8:30-10:00am and 1:30-2:45pm. Please stop by using Gate 7 and shop through our windows. We still cannot have customers inside the store, but we will soon be offering an online catalogue of all of our products for you to make your list at home and bring to the Spirit Store for us to fill! Come on by and shop for spirit wear, lunch box items and school supplies (as well as masks and PE uniforms). We can’t wait to see you at the Store!
The Booster Club
PTO Monthly Meeting for OCTOBER
Join us to find out the latest and greatest at our next PTO Monthly Meeting for OCTOBER – held LIVE and virtually!
Zoom PTO Meeting Link: https://zoom.us/j/99506497883?pwd=d2NxNDFML25VQ01aM25vTitNeU9LQT09
Meeting ID: 995 0649 7883 / Passcode: 353379
PTO