CAC High School Principal’s Notes
Students enjoying the world cup
Students enjoying the opening games of the World Cup
Ms. Harris interviewing a senior about attitudes towards screen time
The faculty were deeply grateful to our wonderful Parent Teacher Organization today as we all met together at lunchtime to enjoy a beautiful lunch that was provided by our parents. The annual Teacher Appreciation Lunch is a fixture in the CAC calendar and I would like to reach out and give my thanks to all of our parent community for the wonderful support you show for our school through the course of the year.
Speaking of giving thanks and celebrations, we enjoyed a fantastic evening of sports awards last night. Season one athletes gathered in the theater to celebrate the successes of the volleyball, soccer and cross-country teams in their various competitions through the course of the season. The coaches gave heartfelt speeches to honor the contributions of students, and the pride that the athletes felt was clearly visible on their smiling faces. We now look forward to an equally busy season two of sports with basketball, wrestling, dance and swimming. For those students who will not be participating in season two sports, we encourage them to look around and seek other opportunities for engagement in the full life of CAC. There are many year-long activities which run and different ways to engage and connect. Students should speak to their homeroom teachers or the athletic and activities office for more information.
Celebratory flowers at the Athletics Awards
We also celebrated our Grade 12 DP students’ completion of the Extended Essays on Monday. Everyone enjoyed taking a few minutes to sit together in the sunshine and reflect on this milestone achievement. The essay titles collectively convey an impressive array of powerful and intellectual lines of inquiry that will stand our students in excellent stead when they arrive at university next year.
Grade 12 Extended Essay Celebration
Mr. Williams’ inimitable dress sense
Looking ahead, in classes over the next two weeks more time will be devoted to preparing our students for the end of semester exams. These cumulative assessments will take place for all students in grade 9 through 12 and they provide a valuable insight into how students are doing academically as they progress through the courses. For our Grade 9 students, this will be the first set of formal high school exams they have experienced and as such they may naturally be feeling a little anxious about it. As parents, you can help by reassuring your children that through carefully planned study, working collaboratively with their teachers, and taking a balanced and healthy approach to life in the run-up to the exams they will inevitably perform well.
Semester Exams Update
Semester Exams will take place December 11-15, 2022. There will be a special schedule during exam week, and students will be allowed to leave for the day when they are finished with their exams, with parent permission. The final exam day-to-day schedule can be found here.
Students are required to sit for their exams at the appointed time. Exams and final exams will not be rescheduled for early travel departures before school holidays or vacations.. In the event a student falls ill or has an emergency during exams, parents must notify the HS Office immediately, and submit official medical certification. Make up exams will take place on December 15. Please contact Ms. McCall with any questions (rmccall@cacegypt.org).
WWW Updates
At last! All High School students are allocated to WWW adventures! Families may begin making full payments for trips after December 4, 2022. This allows our finance office time to set up the accounts payable, now that the trip rosters are complete. The HS office will provide letters of support for visa applications upon request. Please email Ms. Natasha Bagsair (nbagsair@cacegypt.org), copying your trip leader, with the information requested. Visa applications should be started by December 1st. Trip cost and trip leader names may be found on the verification form email sent earlier.
Dates for your Diary
• Mon 28 Nov – Early Release Day, Students Dismissed 11:30 a.m.
• Thu 1 Dec – Winter Concert Part 1 5:30 p.m. Theater.
• Sat Dec 3 – Girls Get Strong, 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
• Tue 6 Dec – Winter Concert Part 2 5:30 p.m. Theater.
• Dec 5-8 – Exam preparation days in classes
• Sun 11 Dec – Thu 15 Dec – Semester One Exams – Please do not make travel plans that depart before final exams are finished.
• 16 Dec – 7 Jan – Winter Break. School resumes Jan 8.
• 12 Jan – Semester One Report Card Issued
Andrew Buckman Rachel McCall
HS Principal HS Assistant Principal
Counseling Department Announcements
Week of November 23, 2022
ACT Prep Course
CAC has partnered with Higher Ground Learning to offer a 2-weekend in-person ACT prep course at CAC in March. To learn more about registration and the cost, please click here. There must be at least 5 people enrolled for the course to take place.
ACT Test information:
Students may register for the upcoming 22-23 test dates at CAC or other test locations in Cairo. Please go here to find out more.
Grade 12
Upcoming Applications: Students should continue working on applications for the later USA EA & RD submissions, The Netherlands, UC’s, and UCAS. Students should continue to meet with their counselor to go over any motivational letters, CV’s and essays so you can stay on track for the upcoming Internal Deadlines this week.
Students should continue to check application portals on a regular schedule after an application is submitted, to see if there are any additional requirements or SRAR (Self-Reported Academic Record) forms to fill out.
Document Request Forms: Seniors submitting applications must be sure to submit a Document Request Form (DRF) to the counseling office. This form ensures we know exactly what documents are needed to send to each of the different institutions being applied to. Please be aware of looming deadlines such as November 30 for UC Applications.
Application Drop-In Seniors are able to drop in for help with their college applications! A counselor will be in the following locations on these days and times for college application help. Students are encouraged to stop by if they have a question, want feedback on an essay, or want a quiet space to work on their application. (details here)
Claudia Bean, Jody Stiles, Kasey Semler
HS Counseling
General Announcements
Moving on from CAC before the winter break?
Please use the link below to let us know if you are withdrawing from CAC this semester so that we can prepare records in time for your departure. Please note that this semester’s middle school report cards and the final high school transcript which includes this semester’s grades will not be available until mid-January 2023.
A few days before your departure, a withdrawal form that includes several signatures must also be completed by middle and high school students in order to clear any outstanding obligations, and turned in to the Admission/Registrar’s Office to release records.
https://cacegypt.org/index.php/withdrawal-request
Registrar’s office
CAC Winter Concert Series 2022
CAC Music Department presents: CAC Winter Concert Series 2022
Two nights of choral and instrumental music.
Thursday December 1st: MS/HS – Choir & String Ensemble
Tuesday December 6th: MS/HS – Bands
Free Admission – CAC theater
Doors open at 5:15pm
Show times begin @ 5:30pm.
Ian McCuaig
MS/HS Choir/Band
Ms. Sandra Gamal’s Commemoration
CAC community members leave their marks on the learning experience, in all kinds of ways. This week, CAC commemorated one of its longest serving staff members, the late Ms. Sandra Gamal, and celebrated our library history with an art piece placed at the entrance of the MHS library where she worked for 40 years as Head of Library for ES/MS/HS. We are delighted that her CAC alumni sons were able to join us in a small celebration along with other current and previous CAC community members.
To learn more about the symbols behind the artpiece and the library, please watch the video below, which includes a student interview with Mr. Ahmed Marzouk, our Design Tech instructor, and creator of the art piece.
Engy Rabie
Community Outreach, Engagement and Stewardship
HS Library
Bill Gates has given our Little Free Library new books!
We were excited to learn this week that our Little Free Library was one of the 100 chosen around the world to receive Bill Gate’s all-time 5 Favorite Books! You are welcome to borrow and then return these books to our Little Free Library by the front gate! Also follow us on Instagram @cacegyptlibrary
The Library is Closed this Saturday!
Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, we are closed this Saturday (Nov 26th). BUT, the library is open until 4pm on Sunday/Monday/Wednesday and 10am – 2pm on most Saturdays! Stop by to check out books or get some work done.
It may be time to RENEW your CAC NY Times Subscription.
CAC’s Libraries offers a free subscription to the NY Times for all CAC email holders. However, this subscription needs to be renewed each year. If you want to sign up for the first time, or renew your subscription, use this link: https://myaccount.nytimes.com/verification/edupass/check
Meghan Ennis
Library
Girls Get Strong
This year’s Girls Get Strong event will take place on Saturday, December 3rd, from 8 am-2 pm. The theme of this year’s event is “All Day, Every Day” and was selected by the GGS Student Leadership team after a thoughtful discussion on how to best empower our female students. This year’s theme reflects a commitment to help empower girls with the confidence, knowledge, inspiration, leadership, and strength to live a healthy lifestyle every day of the year.
Registration for this year’s event closes on Sunday, November 27th. The event is free for all female students at CAC in grades 5-12, thanks to a generous donation by the Booster Club and our community sponsors. Each participant will be provided with a conference t-shirt and lunch. More details about the event schedule and activities can be viewed on the conference website https://girlsgetstrong.org/2022-2023-conference/.
As this is a community event, volunteers are needed to help with the registration process and oversee the various activities throughout the day. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Ms. Riddle at rriddle@cacegypt.org.
Rebecca Riddle
PE Teacher
Thank you, CAC!
Grade 6 Annual Fundraiser
Bake Sale & Books!
Tuesday, November 29
Since Christmas is just around the corner, the 6th graders are putting together their annual gift bags for the students at African Hope Learning Center. Please come visit their Bake Sale booths in the MS during lunch on Tuesday, Nov. 29th to purchase delicious treats. All funds will be used to purchase essential gifts for the African Hope students.
This year, we want to add books too. Please donate children’s books in good condition for kids ranging from kindergarten up to eighth grade. The red donation box is located at the front gate entrance. We really want to make these children feel appreciated this Christmas and a book is a perfect way to do that. To know more about African Hope Learning Center, please visit their website.
If you have any questions, please contact;
Ana Warman 29awarman@cacegypt.org or Raelin Powers 24rpowers@cacegypt.org
Ereeny Gawdat
Service Learning & CAS Coordinator
NESA Parents as Partners 22-23: Webinar 2 Recording
Thank you for joining us for the second session of NESA Parents as Partners 2022-2023: Manage Your Family’s Screen-Time So It Doesn’t Manage You! with Joy Marchese.
The recording and slides from the November 16 session have now been added to the Parents as Partners InfoHub.
We look forward to seeing you at the next and final webinar of this first semester series on:
Tuesday, December 6, 2022 at 4pm Athens, Greece time (GMT+2).
Please note: If you have already registered, you do not need to re-register to join the next session. You may use the same personalized link you were sent by email. Or, to receive a new email/link, you may register again here:
https://nesacenter-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwufuyvqzssGtyPFUlaraZnb0rNFQZHv4d_
Thank you,
The NESA Team
Parenting Together With Positive Discipline
Join Carey Harris for a parenting course designed for CAC parents!
The 8-week long course meets weekly to…
• address real issues for parents of today’s tween & teens
• learn over 50 long-term, take-away tools for parenting during the adolescent years
• create a support network for parents of the Cairo American College community
Parenting Together Course – Sign Up
To learn more about the course visit: https://parentingtogether.edublogs.org/
Carey Harris
ES Guidance Teacher / School Counselor
Positive Discipline Parent & Classroom Educator
CAC PTO