CAC High School Principal’s Notes
Exciting news! Last weekend, we began our move into the new HS building. The first department to start moving is Science. Boxes of materials and equipment, along with an array of chemicals, were carefully transported across the campus last Friday and are now safely homed in the new lab and storage spaces. A wonderful team of student volunteers (thank you, NHS!) has been busy this week unpacking boxes and helping teachers to organise the Science classrooms, ready for classes to move in very soon. This weekend, our counselling team along with the World Languages and Social Studies departments will be moving their supplies across. The counsellors (along with Mr. Buckman and Ms. Eman from the HS Office) will begin working from their new spaces on Sunday–the first folks to occupy the building full time! If things continue this smoothly, we hope to start classes in the building within a week or two. A big thank you to all our teachers and support staff teams for the hard work that is going into this move during a very busy period of time.
As well as moving into the new building, last weekend saw the end of season tournaments for the JV boys soccer and our volleyball teams. Suffice to say this was an excellent occasion with students excited to be playing competitively against teams from other schools. Congratulations to our successful athletes and well done to the coaches and athletics department for all the work that has gone into this season. Season 2 tryouts (basketball, swimming and dance) are now underway and we have been very pleased to see very strong student interest and turnout. Go Eagles!
WWW Update
It is with great pleasure that we announce the return of the High School Week Without Walls (WWW) Program to CAC!
Week Without Walls is an annual, one-week, experiential course for students, taking them out of the classroom and into new situations and unfamiliar environments. The week provides opportunities for service learning, action-oriented experiences, and curricular and cultural experiences. As in years past, international and in-Egypt trips will be offered, as well as local trips around Cairo and on-campus activities. All high school students are expected to participate.
Our WWW 2021/22 will run from February 24 – March 4th, 2022. The exact dates of experiences requiring travel out of Cairo will vary but will happen within that time frame. Experiences in Cairo will run from February 27 – March 3rd, 2022.
This year we will offer five international trips, in addition to several In-Egypt trips and a unique menu of on-campus /In-Cairo options. International trips application and registration will take place over the next two weeks.. Students who plan to travel in Egypt or take part in day trips from campus will register in January. We will share a preview of all of our offerings on Sunday, so families can make informed decisions. A more detailed letter explaining the process will be emailed to you separately. There will also be a virtual information session on Monday, November 22, at 7:00 pm for students and parents to ask questions.
Exams
Students will sit end of semester exams in many of their subjects between December 12 and 15. The exams are cumulative in nature, meaning they will test curriculum content that has been learned since the beginning of the course until now. The exam week is also an opportunity for students to practice taking exams in a formal setting. The schedule is set by the HS office, and students are expected to follow the schedule, unless a family or medical emergency prevents them from doing so. Please do not make travel plans that depart before final exams are finished.
The final exam day-to-day schedule can be found here.
The month leading up to examinations can be stressful, busy times for students. We have a few suggestions to make in order to help alleviate the stress that most of our students experience as exams approach:
• Make sure class notes and graded assessments are in order and readily available for study and revision.
• Devoting some time per day to prepare for exams as well as making wise use of Flex times during the school week.
• Make an appointment to see teachers for extra help if needed.
• Getting proper rest during the days/weeks leading up to exams. One of the best ways to prepare for an exam is getting adequate sleep. Exercise and make sure to make time for doing the things that you enjoy or that help you relax.
• Avoid ‘cramming’ – cramming is not a particularly efficient method of test preparation. Continually self-testing throughout the semester has been shown by cognitive scientists to be one of the most effective ways to prepare for final exams.
• Keep things in perspective; final exams are important but they are yet another assessment marker along the way towards mastering course content and are weighted accordingly so as not to have a huge impact on final grades. Talk to teachers about this to better understand how exams are factored into grades in each subject.
Following these suggestions will not ensure a completely stress-free, pre-exam period for your child, but it will help alleviate harmful stress, thus providing for a better outcome.
Dates for your Diary
• Grade 10 Introduction to the IB: Sunday 21 Nov. 6:30 p.m. MS Hall.
• WWW International Trips Information Session: Monday 22 Nov. 7:00 p.m. (Online). Link will be emailed on Sunday.
• Fall Athletics Awards: Tuesday 23 November, 5:30 p.m. (Theater)
• Annual General Services Staff Appreciation Lunch: Tuesday 23 November
• Thanksgiving Holiday: Thursday 25 November (No School)
• Early Release Day: Monday 29 November. 11:30 dismissal
• MS/HS Band and Choir Concert: Thursday 2 Dec, 5:30 p.m. (Theater)
• End of Semester Exams: 12-15 December
Yours in partnership and learning,
Andrew Buckman Rachel McCall
HS Principal HS Assistant Principal
Counseling Department Announcements
Week of Nov. 18, 2021
SAVE THE DATE: November 30th at 6 pm
Financial Aid Basics for US Universities: Zoom Session with Lehigh University
Presented by Dan Warner, Vice Provost for Admissions and Financial Aid, & Assistant Vice Provost for Financial Services, Jen Mertz of Lehigh University.
“In this presentation, we discuss how to apply for financial aid, what factors are considered, and the various components of a financial aid package (i.e different types of financial aid). We will also cover how citizenship can impact eligibility for financial aid, whether you should apply for aid even if you do not think you will qualify, and how merit scholarships factor into the financial aid landscape.”
An RSVP will be provided soon.
Grade 11 Counselor Programming
This past week counselors met with juniors and completed a Career Plan in MAIA Learning; an opportunity to reflect on what majors and programs may be of interest for post secondary and university planning. This session aimed at setting the groundwork for Junior College Night in February, and subsequent individual family meetings.
List of Upcoming University Visits
The counselors receive quite a few invitations to attend online events that universities are hosting. We don’t announce all of these, but we keep track of them on the HS Counseling Resources website. Explore this page to see the dozens of upcoming events you could attend from universities around the world.
Claudia Bean, Kasey Semler, Cameron Simon
HS Counseling
General Announcements
Need Help with Research? Want to avoid just “Googling it”?:
Check out the HS Research Resources Libguide! This site has all you will need to research for any class with reliable resources. There are tabs for different subject areas including News and Current events. There are also tabs to help you with searching, citation and also to book an appointment with a librarian.
Meghan Ennis
MHS Librarian
Alumni Who?
Our alumni continue to make us proud all over the world. Learn a little about a different alumnus every week and what he/she has been up to since graduation by clicking here.
Engy Rabie
Alumni Relations & Stewardship
Help 2 Causes for the Price of 1
Help 2 Causes for the Price of 1 is a student-led project brought by the HS GISC team. Get your Christmas shopping done early by purchasing cute and trendy items, produced locally by low-income families and small artisans, purchased from the organizations of Tawasol and Neya. All proceeds go towards sponsoring a child’s education at Educate Me. It takes around 7,000 LE for one child’s education, so let’s help as many people as we can! Help support the causes by pre-ordering items from our pre-order form, or pass by one of our booths from December 5th – 9th at the front gate after school, or in front of the library and Coffee Bean during HS lunch. If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact 23lahmed@cacegypt.org. We hope to see you at one of our booths! The deadline to pre-order is the morning (8:00am) of Nov. 27 – The form will be closed by then.
The Annual General Services Appreciation Lunch – Tuesday, November 23 – ALL DAY
CAC Community – It’s the time of the year when we ALL show gratitude to our General Services Staff!
Click this link to check all the details: THE ANNUAL GENERAL SERVICES STAFF APPRECIATION LUNCH
Cairo American College – EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATION IN A DIVERSE AND CARING COMMUNITY
Ereeny Gawdat
Service Learning Coordinator
Elementary after-school activities – Volunteers Needed
Elementary after-school activities are fun, optional activities scheduled from 3:15-4:00 on campus every weekday except for Tuesdays. Activities are offered to grades K-5.
We offer a range of choices to enable students to explore their talents and interests.
These activities develop useful life skills, such as responsibility, teamwork, communication, creative thinking, and self-confidence. We were really blessed to have our first ASA season this year.
Volunteer engagement would be much appreciated. Parents/Students who are interested in supporting the ASA program for the upcoming season, please contact me at mabdelfattah@cacegypt.org.
SESSION TWO TIMELINE
Week of Sunday, November 21 – First week of the Season
Week of Sunday, February 13 – Last week of the Season
Mahmoud Abdel Fattah
ES Activities Coordinator