CAC High School Principal’s Notes
CAC track athletes training at the Olympic Stadium
It’s IB Exam Season
It’s officially exam season at CAC. This week, IBDP exams have kicked into full gear with many Grade 12 seniors on campus today for the IB English exam. While these exams are certainly stressful and high stakes, from the student perspective it’s good to finally get them started after spending the past few weeks anticipating their arrival. Walking around today and talking with our seniors, they are all approaching the exams with a positive mindset, confident that they have been taught the material well and fully prepared to take on the demands of these incredibly challenging assessments. We wish them all the best of luck for the remaining two weeks of the exam season.
Soon, our Grades 9 to 11 will also be taking their end of semester exams and work in class over the next few weeks will focus on wrapping up course content and preparing them for these final assessments. Although these exams can be a stressful and challenging experience for students—and they certainly are challenging in their cumulative nature (testing material covered in the full semester)—it’s always worth remembering that the semester exam is only one more assessment task in a wide range of assessments that have been completed throughout the semester. Semester exams are weighted in such a way that it does not have a more significant impact on a final grade than the other assessments that have preceded them through the full course of the semester. As parents you can help your student understand this and manage their stress levels by making sure that they study effectively in small increments on a regular basis, rather than cramming study into the final few days.
There was much excitement in the high school today as we launched our Week Without Walls program for October 2023. You will have seen the emails from Ms McCall by now encouraging you to look at the Week Without Walls website and help your child make good choices about which courses they wish to enroll in. We’re excited to be able to offer many fantastic, innovative and worthwhile learning experiences, both internationally and here in Egypt. As we have said many times, there is a high demand for international travel and as such, we cannot guarantee international travel for every student who may wish to do so. The selection process has been designed to require students to select both international and local experiences as options. We will, of course, do our best to assign students to their WWW courses according to their preferences. See the notes below from Ms McCall for more details.
It’s WWW sign up time
WWW Course Request Form on Skyward is now open!
Please take time with your high schooler(s) to read the course descriptions on the Week Without Walls website and complete the form on Skyward with them (you must log in to your CAC account first). Students and parents should make careful choices based on interest and ability to travel. Every effort will be made to place students according to their preferences based on availability.
Please remember that WWW experiences are made up of students from all HS grade levels, and only 5-7 spaces may be available per each grade level. Once submitted, the form can not be edited.
Kindly Note: While many families opt to register for WWW courses that travel abroad, due to high demand and the wide availability of local courses that satisfy the WWW program objectives, international courses are not guaranteed for all those who wish to travel abroad. Priority will be given to older students for international courses.
Next Steps
To indicate your preferences for WWW 2023-24, please login to Skyward and fill out the WWW Preferences form. Please click here to view the form instructions. Forms must be submitted by 11:00 pm on May 10, 2023 to be considered. Please refer to Ms. McCall email sent on Thursday 5/3 around 4:00 pm for more detailed information.
List of upcoming events and important dates:
• Thu 4 May: Labor Day Holiday
• Sun 7 May: Grade 11 TOK Exhibition. 6:00 p.m.
• Mon 8 May: Spring Music Festival: HS Choir Special Performance. 5:30 p.m. Venue TBC.
• Tue 9 May: Spring Music Festival: Band and MS Choir. 5:30 p.m. Theatre.
• Wed 10 May: Spring Music Festival: MS/HS Strings Ensemble. 5:30 p.m. Theater.
• Thu 11 May: Grade 9&10 Spring Formal Dance (on campus, evening)
• Fri 12 May: Booster Ball on campus (7:00 p.m.)
• 14-18 May: MAP testing (Grade 9)
• Thu 18 May: Eco Fair (after school)
• Fri 19 May: Prom (off campus, evening)
• Mon 22 May: HS Recognition Night (Awards) Invitation Only, Theater 6:30 pm
• Mon 29 May: Season 3 Sports Awards 5:30 pm
• Wed 31 May – Tue 6 June – Final semester exams, grades 9-11 (attendance is required)
• Fri 2 Jun: Grade 12 Graduation. Early morning, Pyramids
• Wed 7 Jun: Last day of school
Andrew Buckman Rachel McCall
HS Principal HS Assistant Principal
Counseling Department Announcements
Week of May 3, 2023
Class of 2023- Seniors!!! Counselors have reminded seniors to update MAIA Learning now with the final university offers; reply to the universities that they will/will not attend so they can plan to either send your senior the next steps or give that spot to someone else. In late May, seniors will meet with counselors for 15 minutes for an individual check out to summarize the college process and make sure Maia Learning is completely updated.
Grade 11 Tuesday Lunch Sessions
Counselors are still facilitating Tuesday lunch sessions on a variety of university application related topics. This past week students learned a bit more about how to get started on their Netherlands Motivational Letters/CV’s./ On Tuesday, May 16th, we will host Canada Part II. The NCAA Athletics session will follow on May 30th. Students and families can view past presentations by going to our CAC HS Resources Webpage.
Grades 9-11: Summer Programs
There are thousands of summer opportunities and programs being offered around the world each year. Click HERE to check out a few we have come across.
ACT test information:
Students may register for the remaining 22-23 test date of June 10th at CAC, or other test locations in Cairo (if CAC is full). Please go here to find out more. The registration for 23-34 test dates will open up late June (date TBA). Those dates are as follows (all tests will be held in the morning, starting at 8 am sharp):
Saturday, September 9, 2023
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Saturday, December 2, 2023
Saturday, February 10, 2024
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Saturday June 8, 2024
Claudia Bean, Jody Stiles, Kasey Semler
HS Counseling
General Announcements
Moving on from CAC at the end of the year?
To help us plan for next year and in order to prepare your records, if you haven’t already done so, please use the link below to let us know if you are withdrawing from CAC at the end of this year.
https://cacegypt.org/index.php/withdrawal-request
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.
Elementary and Middle School records will be ready for pickup on or after the last day of school (June 7th) and High School records will be ready on or after June 15th.
Registrar’s office
All Books Due back May 28th!
Students, faculty and parents should all return their library books by Sunday May 28th. Once your library account is cleared you may check out books for the summer. If students do not clear their library account before the end of the school year, they may not receive their report cards.
The CAC Libraries will be open this Saturday 10am – 2pm!
Feel free to stop by to check out books or get some work done.
Meghan Ennis
MS/HS Library
Fresh&Co
CAC, are you ready to go green? Starting Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023, Fresh&Co is offering a 10% discount via its QR code (see the poster below) or payment by card for drinks and salads if you bring your own reusable container! Your choices matter, so start using your own cutlery, bowls, and bottles to help our planet.
The CAC Green Team and Fresh&Co
Booster Club
CAC Green Team Eco Month Bingo!
This month the CAC Green Team is challenging you to complete eco activities. Scan the QR in the below poster to take part. Open to all CAC students and community members. Participants will get a special prize from the CAC Green Team.
Save the date, May 18th 2023 for this year’s ECO-FAIR!
What is the ECO-Fair?
This is a student-organized environmental event hosted annually by the CAC Green Team to spread awareness about eco-excellence in Cairo and celebrate the planet we call home. Participants will Learn how our community can implement eco-friendly practices, Enjoy our sustainable vendors, and Contribute by donating electronics, clothing & recycling paper. Don’t miss our one-day-only CAC Thrift Store and Recycled Material Fashion Show.
If you are passionate about recycling arts and crafts, you may have the opportunity to display your project at this year’s Eco-Fair!
If you know of any sustainable local brands in Egypt you are welcome to send them our invite: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfon2SYvR1Klk8KwYjvapapdS6c1osEUh9pLg7bGbG2AHeuwg/viewform
Please contact: greenteam@cacegypt.org if you have any questions.
CAC Green Team
Parenting Together with Positive Discipline (Tweens/Teens) course is full.
However, sign up for the 2023-24 Parenting Together Courses at CAC is now open!
Here are the course dates for the upcoming 2023-24 school year:
SPACE IS LIMITED! Sign up & save your spot today 2023-24 Course Sign Up Form
To learn more, visit the course blog at https://parentingtogether.edublogs.org/
If you have any questions, contact Carey Harris at charris@cacegypt.org
Carey Harris
ES Guidance Teacher / School Counselor
Positive Discipline Parent & Classroom Educator
CAC PTO