625 Lower Road Souderton, PA 18964 215-723-2808

April 2018

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Calendar 2

Course Request Changes

4

Final Exams 3

Graduation 3

Graduation Practice

3

Keystone testing days

4

Project Purple 4

Senior Check-Out 3

Students of the Month

6

Student Spotlight Winners

5

Inside this issue:

Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s),

The year continues to be a great one for Souderton Area High School! Recently, our Academic Decathlon Team, which was initiat-ed six years ago by chemistry/physics teacher Phil Cerami, very im-pressively won a state championship in March. The team advances to nationals in Dallas, Texas. Academic Decathlon represents the epitome of students striving to build skills, such as speaking and writ-ing, in multiple subject areas, based upon one theme. Additionally, our girls basketball team made it to the final four in the state tourna-ment for the second straight year. Finally, Souderton’s Academic Team took first place in the Montgomery County competition, defeat-ing more than 20 other high schools.

The above three accomplishments excellently represent Souderton’s focus on the whole child, especially by presenting stu-dents with a variety of opportunities to explore their interests and build upon their talents.

In addition to supporting your student’s efforts outside of the classroom, please encourage them to persevere academically as we approach the final quarter of the school year.

Sincerely,

Samuel A. Varano, Jr., Ed.D Principal

Calendar

End of Marking Period 3 ......................................................................................... April 5 Spring Musical—Bye Bye Birdie............................................................April 5-7, 7:00 PM Spring Musical—Bye Bye Birdie............................................................... April 8, 2:00 PM Report Cards available on HAC………………………………………………....April 13 Jazz Band Home Show .......................................................................... April 13, 6:00 PM ACT Testing ......................................................................... April 14, 8:00 AM-12:00 PM SAHS Spring Orchestra and Chamber Ensemble Concert .................. April 20, 6:30 PM 8th Grade Parent Orientation ............................................................... April 23, 6:30 PM Health & Human Services Career Expo ............................................. April 24, 9:30 AM SAHS Spring Symphonic Band Concert ............................................. April 25, 6:30 PM Parent Participation Meeting .............................................................. April 26, 9:00 AM Souderton Bingo Night………………………………………………..April 26, 6:00 PM 8th Grade Mixer ............................................................................. April 27 7:00-9:00 PM Junior Prom ................................................................................ April 28, 7:00-10:00 PM Secondary Jazz Band Concert..………………………………………....May 1, 6:30 PM SATs .......................................................................................... May 5, 8:00 AM-1:00 PM SAHS Spring Choral Concert ....................................................... May 10 & 11, 6:30 PM Keystone Exam—Literature .......................................................................... May 14 & 16 Election Day—NO SCHOOL/In-Service .............................................................. May 15 High School Art Show ................................................................... May 17, 6:00-7:30 PM Keystone Exam—Algebra ............................................................................. May 17 & 18 Special Olympics…………………………………………………… ..................... May 21 National Honor Society Induction Ceremony ....................................... May 21, 6:30 PM Keystone Exam—Biology .............................................................................. May 22 & 23 Scholars’ Banquet .................................................................................. May 23, 6:00 PM Special Olympics (rain date) .................................................................................. May 24 Memorial Day—NO SCHOOL .............................................................................. May 28 Kool Aid and Cram………………………………………. .May 31, 3:00 PM– 5:00 PM Senior Prom ............................................................................................. June 1, 6:00 PM Senior Awards Night ............................................................................... June 4, 6:30 PM Senior Check-Out……………………………………………………………..June 6 & 7 Final Exams ....................................................................................................... June 7& 8 Mandatory Graduation Practice ............................................................. June 7, 3:00 PM Senior Bash .............................................................................................. June 7, 4:00 PM Early Dismissal ...................................................................................... June 11, 1:00 PM Graduation ............................................................................................. June 11, 6:00 PM Last Day of School/Move Up Day—Early Dismissal ......................... June 12, 10:00 AM Report Cards Available on HAC ........................................................................... June 18

2

3

GRADUATION

The graduation ceremony is on Monday June11th, beginning at 6:00 PM on Indian Field. The ceremony will be held on June 11th, rain or shine. In the event of inclement weather, the cere-mony will be moved into the Gym. This decision will be made by 9:00 AM on June 11th. All stu-dents will receive 7 tickets for grandstand seating in the Stadium and 4 tickets for Gym entrance in the event of inclement weather. Please understand a ticket is required for those who sit in the grand-stands in the Stadium; a ticket is not needed to enter the Stadium to stand to see the ceremony. Ad-ditionally, in the event that the ceremony is held in the Gym, it will be simulcast in various places in the building. Please continue to give the Class of 2018 your encouragement as we move toward celebrat-

ing their school careers in the Souderton Area School District.

SENIOR CHECK-OUT

Check-out/cap and gown pick-up for seniors whose last names start with the letters A through M is in the Concourse (near the Natatorium) on June 6th, between 12:30 and 2:30 PM. For students whose last names start with the letters N through Z, check-out is on June 7th, between 12:30 and 2:30 PM. Mandatory Graduation Practice will follow at 3:00 PM on June 7th for all seniors.

All seniors must pay a $30 fee before they are able to check-out. This must be paid in the 2nd Floor Student Services Office any time between now and check-out. If you would like to pay by check, please make the check payable to SAHS.

GRADUATION PRACTICE

A mandatory graduation practice for all graduating seniors will be held on Thursday, June 7th, from 3:00-4:00 PM. To participate in the ceremony, graduating seniors must attend.

FINAL EXAMS

In order to provide our students with an excellent testing environment, during the exams, on June 7th and 8th, the sole focus of our school community will be on administering the exams. Each of the days will consist of four sessions, with the teachers in each department administering their exams at the same time. With a signed parent permission form submitted, students will be permitted to not be in school during exam sessions when they do not have an assessment to take. If parents/guardians signed a form for the First Semester finals in January, that permission form will also pertain to these finals. If a parent/guardian would like to revoke that permission, please contact Dr. Coddington at wcoddington@soudertonsd.org. Additional forms are available in the Main Office and on the website. Supervision will be provided for students who do not have permission to not be in school when they do not have exams.

4

COURSE REQUEST CHANGES: DUE MAY 1st

Please be reminded that any and all changes to students’ course requests are due by May 1st. If a student wishes to change his/her course requests, he/she needs to either e-mail the school counselor or stop by Guidance. After students receive their schedules, if all of their course requests were scheduled in a balanced way, students will not be permitted to change schedules at that time.

UPCOMING KEYSTONE EXAM TESTING DAYS

Test Dates

Literature May 14 & 16

Algebra I May 17 & 18

Biology May 22 & 23

Project Purple

Souderton Area High School is excited to welcome former NBA player, Chris Herren. He will be coming to speak to our entire student body on May 30th, at 9:30 AM in the SAHS Gymnasium. He will share his personal story of his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. In preparation for our May 30th Chris Herren School Presentation, we have started our own Project Purple. Chris Herren started Project Purple in 2011, which is an initiative that brings awareness to drug and alcohol abuse. In preparation, we engaged in a few initiatives: Formed Project Purple Committee Purchased Project Purple T-Shirts Sold T-shirts in the lunches in preparation for our “Purple Out” boys basketball game on January 19th Created a video to bring awareness to the initiative, showing our athletes making the Purple Pledge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9sZN0PWNXA\ Purchased a banner sign with the pledge for students to sign We are hoping to plan another “Purple Out” game in the spring for lacrosse.

5

Student Spotlight winners are selected each month by designated departments to recognize students who

are committed to working hard, who display excellent character traits, and who are a composite of the best of

Souderton’s pride. We are proud to feature these students and to recognize their accomplishments. These

winning students’ pictures and interviews can be found in the display case near the Lower Road Entrance.

MONTH DEPARTMENT STUDENT WINNERS

December

Science

9th- Sophie Schaeffer & Stephen Butler 10th- Campbell Bache & Richard Gray 11th– Sara Readinger & Justin Ubele 12th- Chantell Bobak & Derek Booz

January

PE/Health

9th- Gina Smyth & Nicolas Morales 10th- Mariah Bainbridge & William Leyland 11th- Kayla Yakelewicz & Kevin Walter 12th- Cecilia Puente & Nathan Renner

February

FCS

9th- Bailey Munsell & Rohan Mehta 10th- Sierrah Wiszneski & Dominic Natale 11th- Marissa McMullen & Branden Stauffer 12th- Julia Sampieri & Keith Sadler

February

Business

9th- Lilian Castro & Steven Wicher 10th- Ryan DiCesare & Emily Schaffer 11th- Hyun (Amy) Cho & Jake Etzler 12th- Mary Kaelin & Clay Mazurek

3 4 7 6

THE 2017-2018 STUDENTS OF THE MONTH

Grade 9 - Boy Rohan Mehta

Grade 9 - Girl Caroline Kelly Grade 10 - Boy Miguel Dionne Grade 10 - Girl Aubrey Renner Grade 11 - Boy Brydon Bateman

Grade 11 - Girl Elyse Steklenski

Grade 12 - Boy Trevor Watts

Grade 12 - Girl Haley Wawrzynek

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

Grade 9 - Boy Anthony Palonis

Grade 9 - Girl Emily Manchester Grade 10 - Boy Cole Keel Grade 10 - Girl Cassie Rodrigue Grade 11 - Boy Christian Souder

Grade 11 - Girl Sunny Muthuswami

Grade 12 - Boy Matt Lista

Grade 12 - Girl Catherine Smith

DECEMBER

Grade 9 - Boy Jack Bakey

Grade 9 - Girl Valory Smith Grade 10 - Boy Jonah Epps Grade 10 - Girl Amelia Hanson Grade 11 - Boy Dan Pineda

Grade 11 - Girl Nicole Zarzycki

Grade 12 - Boy Dominic Adamo

Grade 12 - Girl Brianna Neely