CAC High School Principal’s Notes
Dear parents,
A random sampling of things that happened this week: Season 2 sports wrapped up their conditioning programs, and students signed up for Season 3; English 10 students performed scenes from Macbeth in the outdoor amphitheater; PE classes finished their softball unit; IB Visual Arts seniors prepared their exhibition for Sunday’s opening; seniors joined a virtual session from alumni who shared their university experiences (from before and after the start of the pandemic).
Next week is Spirit Week! It has been delayed, but the students are excited to have it back. It will be a week of crazy costumes, silly (but intense) competitions, and friendly class rivalries. Thank you to Student Council and their advisors, Mrs. and Mr. Knox, for their hard work in putting together a week of COVID-safe fun.
Have a wonderful week, and stay safe!
Principal’s Notes Highlights:
• IB Visual Arts Exhibition
• Sports Podcast Featuring a CAC Alum
• Alumni Session with Seniors
• NESA Parents and Partners 2.0 Webinars
• Spring Break
• Skyward Gradebook
• IB Exams
• Second Semester Exams
IB Visual Arts Exhibition
Congratulations to our senior IB Visual Arts for nearly two years of hard work, culminating in their exhibition this coming week. See more details in the morning announcements.
Sports Podcast Featuring a CAC Alum
CAC alumna Farida Osman appears in the latest episode of the Globetrottin’ ADs podcast. Farida is an Egyptian & African Record Holder, 2x Olympian, 2x world bronze medalist, NCAA champion and ISST record holder. Even more importantly, she is a role model for female athletes around the world.
In this episode Farida talks about her journey from a youth swimmer in Egypt to competing on the world’s stage. The conversation centers around Farida’s time in high school as a student at Cairo American College and how she managed to balance her training, school work and personal life. You can listen to the podcast by Clicking here.
Alumni Session with Seniors
This week, ten of our alumni participated in our annual Alumni/Senior session to discuss “Life and University After CAC” with our Senior students and support them as they graduate this year. The Seniors got the chance to ask alumni any questions they may have about their transitions, and our amazing alumni shared their experiences and tips on how to smoothly transition and decrease the anxiety that comes with transitioning to university and another country or culture. A big thank you to our alumni for generously supporting our Seniors.
NESA Parents as Partners 2.0 Webinars
The next webinar is Tuesday, March 30, from 4:00-5:00pm on the topic of
Parenting in a Pandemic: Part II.
The full schedule of upcoming webinars in this helpful series can be found by clicking here. You can register by clicking here. Webinar recordings, materials, and feedback forms are available here.
Spring Break
Spring Break is almost here! There will be no classes from March 26-April 4. We hope everyone has a safe and rejuvenating break. Classes resume April 5.
Skyward Gradebook
Skyward gradebook is open for student and parent viewing. Students are encouraged to reach out to the teachers if they have questions about assignments.
IB Exams
The International Baccalaureate has confirmed that schools in Egypt will administer exams in May as planned, with the first exams scheduled for April 29. Students in Year 2 IB classes should plan to attend those classes through April 28.
Second Semester Exams
Second semester exam dates are May 31 – June 1 for seniors (in non-IB/AP core courses) and June 2-7 for grades 9-11. Please keep in mind while you plan your summer travels that seniors are able to depart after graduation and underclassmen after their final examination.
Jerry Duggan Rachel McCall
HS Principal HS Assistant Principal
Counseling Department Announcements
Week Of March 18
Sophomores: Course verification forms are being delivered to English classes on Sunday and Monday, March 21-22. Students will take these forms home to review with family. Students are asked to return signed course verification forms to the HS Counseling Office (1st floor Administration building) no later than Wednesday, March 24th. If away from CAC, we will send the form as an email attachment and ask that it be returned via email.
Freshmen: Counselors will be visiting Study Halls on Sunday March 21 and Monday, March 22 for a check in prior to Spring Break to discuss 4th Quarter Overview and Planning for the rest of the school year. Students without study hall will be contacted with instructions.
Juniors: Reminder to schedule your university planning meeting with your counselor and parent to occur by April 14th. Contact your counselor or the admin. assistants in our office to set your meeting day and time (45-60 minutes).
All Grades:
Covid-19 Anxiety Handbook: This workbook contains tips, reminders, and resources for self-care and wellness. Please click on this link to view the handbook and to see if this might be helpful for your student.
Upcoming Virtual Events:
Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. March 26, 5:00 PM Cairo Time.
This live webinar will explore Bocconi BSc programs and touch on the application process for this Spring Session. Discussions will surround application timeline and requirements, together with academic offerings and student life. For Bocconi, The Spring session is now open and will close on April 8, 2021. This is the last application round for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Students and families interested in this webinar can register here
**please note this event is not facilitated by CAC**
Other Upcoming Virtual Events, Available Scholarships, and Summer Opportunities
See the CAC HS Counseling Resources Webpage to see the upcoming virtual events, available scholarships, and summer opportunities. This document is updated regularly: CAC HS Counseling Resources Webpage – Events
Appointment system: As usual, students can schedule appointments with counselors from the QR codes posted around campus.
Claudia Bean, Kasey Semler, Cameron Simon
HS Counseling
General Announcements
Moving on from CAC at the end of the year?
We are in the process of finalizing plans for the next school year. If you already know that you will be moving on from CAC at the end of this year it would be much appreciated if you could let us know at this time. You can use the link below as a withdrawal notification.
https://www.cacegypt.org/index.php/cac-withdrawal-request
Thank you
Registrar’s office
Transportation Office Announcement
After School Activities 4:20 p.m. buses are suspended till further notice due to the Covid 19 situation.
Transportation Office
CAC Libraries open Saturdays in March
The libraries will be open this Saturday, March 20. The libraries will not be open on either Saturday of the spring break, which means the next open Saturday is April 10. We will not be extending the 10 book checkout limit for the spring break, apologies.
Remember that you must book a 30-minute time slot on the CAC dashboard, but parents can only book for a Saturday appointment. (You can reach the booking system from the school app as well.) Bookings must be made by 7 pm on Friday.
Document with all Saturday open dates for the libraries can be found here.
Sora is open 24/7
Our ebook and digital audiobook library is open 24/7 to our CAC parents, students, faculty and staff. Download the Sora app, find our school by typing “Cairo American College” and use your CAC single sign on to log in. Books are checked out for 2 weeks and automatically returned so you never have to worry about overdues.
If you have trouble with your CAC single sign when logging into Sora, please contact Ms. Amira Youssef, ayoussef@cacegypt.org.
Josianne Fitzgerald
MHS Head Librarian
Booster Club Spirit Store – Cash Payments for Spare Account
The Booster Club Spirit Store will now be accepting cash payments towards your child’s SPARE account. Payments can be made any day during Spirit Store hours (8:30-10 and 1:30-2:45). Please review the following details before arriving at the Store:
1. You must have set up your account with the SPARE app to make a payment
2. Payments are accepted in EGP only
3. Please bring correct change
Booster Club Spirit Store
The Booster Club Spirit Store has resumed regular weekday hours, from 8:30-10:00am and 1:30-2:45pm. Entrance is at Gate 7 (next to the ATM). All transactions will be through the window with one customer at a time allowed inside the gate. Properly worn masks are mandatory when entering campus through Gate 7 (next to the ATM), with valid CAC ID. Temperatures will be taken at the gate. Customers will need to exit campus as soon as their store transaction is finished.
Please note that the payment methods accepted are only EGP and USD cash. No USD checks accepted.
Booster Club
CAC PTO GRANT
Once each year we invite all teachers, parents, staff and students to submit ideas for projects that could make a difference to our school community. Proposals should always be framed by CAC’s core values. Priority will be given to projects that identify a specific need, have a clear purpose, and are innovative and beneficial to our CAC community or beyond. The budget for the grant program for 2020-2021 is $1,000. There is a limit on each grant request this year of $500 or less per grant. If you have a funding idea for the PTO that exceeds this limit, please email us for discussion. Email cacpto@cacegypt.org for more information.
CAC PTO GRANT – DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL MARCH 21! Each year we invite all teachers, parents, staff, and students to submit ideas for projects that could make a difference to our school community. Proposals should always be framed by CAC’s core values. Priority will be given to projects that identify a specific need, have a clear purpose, and are innovative and beneficial to our CAC community or beyond. The budget for the grant program for 2020-2021 is $1,000. There is a limit on each grant request this year of $500 or less per grant. If you have a funding idea for the PTO that exceeds this limit, please email us for discussion. Email cacpto@cacegypt.org for more information.
Teachers! Parents! Administrators – you’re all already in the PTO, so join our monthly meeting in March! Our admin will be present to award the CAC Core Values Award and PTO will announce vacancies for the next school year. We will also discuss our upcoming initiative to gift Ramadan boxes to our GSS staff and can’t wait to tell you more.
Zoom Meeting Link:
https://zoom.us/j/97208854547?pwd=bzRlWlZpUG5taDdiVVRFMUdWSnoxZz09
Meeting ID: 972 0885 4547
Passcode: 661239
PTO