December is here and so is the end of semester one! Finals are the week of December 17-19, 2019
With the first semester coming to a close, I would like to ask parents and guardians to continue to encourage their students to remain focused and finish strong in their classes. Final exams are right around the corner, but it is still not too late to take advantage of the time we have left. Students can still participate in tutoring, and talk with teachers to get that extra bit of help down the home stretch.
Final exam days are minimum days and our Finals Week schedule is listed below:
Monday, December 16: Collaboration Day
Tuesday, December 17: All offices and teachers unavailable 12:35-2:00 p.m.
Finals Period 1 or 7 8:14 - 10:11
Break 10:11 - 10:27
Period 4 10:33 - 12:30
Wednesday, December 18
Finals Period 3 8:14 - 10:11
Break 10:11 - 10:27
Period 5 10:33 - 12:30
Thursday, December 19 – last day of fall semester
Period 5 10:33 - 12:30
Thursday, December 19 – last day of fall semester
Finals Period 2 8:14 - 10:11
Break 10:11 - 10:27
Period 6 10:33 - 12:30
Friday, December 20 Teacher and Staff Work Day – No students
Winter Formal 7:00-10:30
Go Wolf Pack! We are Respectful, Responsible and Honorable
Mrs. Robin Ballarin
Attention military families and students: Are you aware of the FREE tutoring services online for you via your tutor.com website? In addition to our own tutoring services, these tutoring services are available 24 / 7 for you. Check out the website and see how easy it is to access more support for your academics.
There are two weeks left in this semester until final exams-- Final exams are December 17-19, 2019. Please avoid pulling your student from this week for travel. This is VERY difficult for students to return and "make up" final exams--they typically do not do well and their permanent, final grade on their transcript is often affected negatively. Our complete bell schedule, including Final exam schedule, is available on our website.
All students must earn 220 credits to graduate and colleges and universities accept "C" grades and higher. Military careers ask for many of the same requirements so this is a CRITICAL AREA for support and encouragement for our students. Any grade of an "F" must be made up to earn credits towards graduation. Teacher contact information, as well as Guidance information and our tutorial schedule, may be found on our website at wolfpack.guhsd.net.
To our College Signing Day Athletes!
Colleen Kennedy, Volleyball, Cal Poly Pomona
Dylan Shubert, Cross Country, Cal State East Bay
We know we have many other athletes making decisions, these were the ones we knew of at publication time.
Innovation in Collaboration Teaching Award
West Hills High School's Pete Mergens, Santana High School's Ramey Rahiband ECVHS's Matt Kershaw worked many hours to make the new Integrated Math II curriculum roll out go easier on students and staff. They created additional student and staff resources for all to use. Working together, in a way that will also benefit staff and students at every GUHSD campus earned them this prestigious award! There is this great video posted on the East County Schools Federal Credit Union - ECSFCU Facebook page. Check it out!
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| Pete Mergens with the School Board accepting this award on behalf of himself and fellow teachers. |
To our Blue and Black Brigade and Music Teacher and Director Elise Reinert!
While competing on Saturday in the California State Championship
CSBC Division 2A Semi Final Field Tournament, they placed 6 out of 16 teams
and moved on to the FINALS next weekend! Our hardworking Color Guard
placed 4th overall! We are so proud of all of you!
Fall Sports wrapped up with another great season of fine West Hills competitors and coaches! We want to THANK ALL student athletes and parents for their continued excellence in coming out and competing for West Hills. Winter Sports are underway with Boys and Girls Basketball, Boys and Girls Soccer, Wrestling, and Girls Water Polo. If you are an adult, have some volunteer time and have an interest in helping us maintain our Athletics web page and Athletics APP for mobile devices, please contact Athletic Director Don Rutledge. We are looking for a tech savvy volunteer who would like to help us improve our online information and presence with Athletics.
Congratulations to Juan Naranjo (World Languages; Cross Country / Track and Field Head Coach) and the Boys Cross Country team for competing in CIF at the State level this past weekend. Our boys Cross Country team qualified for the second consecutive year to the State Championship in Fresno, CA. West Hills took 3rd place in Boys Div. III race with only 2 points away from 2nd place. Dylan Shubert (12) was 3rd overall and Mark McCowin (10) took 11th place making them all-CIF athletes. Congratulations to all the coaches, parents and students in this program!
To Varsity Cheer!
On Saturday, December 7 they won CIF! We are grateful to Coach and Special Education
Aide, Krystal Kammeyer and Adviser Alumnus Jessica Gardner for their dedication
and leadership with ALL of the Cheer team at each level! In addition to winning CIF, they have qualified to compete in the World Championships in Florida
in February. We are so proud of you!
Here is a short video excerpt if you want to see them in action!
Ardy Riego (CTE Sports Medicine / ASB) organized the first GUHSD Sports Medicine Competition for students from the Districts' CTE Sports Medicine Pathways on Saturday, Nov. 23 here at West Hills. Three schools-- Granite Hills, Grossmont, and West Hills have this pathway and had students enter themselves in this rigorous, challenging and real-world competition. Bringing in 13 practitioners as judges & volunteers as well as 18 student volunteers, 27 students competed in either a Novice or Advanced division with points awarded for how well each student completed their tasks (taping, CPR, and a comprehensive 100 question exam). Results include:
Novice:
1st Place: Kiera Fullerton (WHHS) = 125 points
2nd Place: Tracie Lingard (WHHS) = 109 points
3rd Place: Ryan Dobbs (GHHS) = 107 points
Advanced:
1st Place: Miah Canales (WHHS) = 123 points
2nd Place: Jenae Hernandez (GHS) = 119 points
3rd Place: Mark Tapia (WHHS) = 117 points
Overall School:
1st Place: West Hills High School = 110.5 points
2nd Place: Grossmont High School = 91.7 points
3rd Place: Granite Hills High School = 87.4 points
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| West Hills |
Science Club had fun performing the classic "elephant toothpaste" demo. It is a decomposition reaction where hydrogen peroxide breaks up into oxygen gas and water. The process usually happens slowly over time, however when active yeast is added, it catalyzes the reaction to happen quickly. Dish soap is part of the reaction mixture, and the rapid production of oxygen gas causes the soap to foam up out of the container. Science Club meets on Tuesdays in S5 at lunch and gives students a chance to bond over science and do fun experiments there may not always be time or supplies for in class.
AVID Students promoting colleges
The Avid class of 2022 created college chalk drawings in November. This is to promote and spread awareness about the November college application process. Students picked their colleges and groups, researched their choices and presented in class to peers regarding their findings. The
chalk drawings and Halloween pumpkins were out on campus to ¨spread the word"about college and post high school programs.
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| AVID Group 1 with college logos in The Pit |
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| AVID Group 2 with college logos |
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| AVID Group 3 with college logos |
Seniors: If you are a member of PTSA, keep an eye on the Counseling Scholarship page. PTSA sponsors scholarships each year for deserving Seniors but you have to be a PTSA member to apply AND you have to complete the application and turn it in. PTSA membership forms are in the main Admin building in reception.
Did you know that if you shop at smile.amazon.com and choose "whhs PTSA", Amazon will donate a portion of your purchase (at no cost to yourself) to WHHS? smile.amazon.com is the same exact pricing and website as the traditional Amazon url but it allows you to select a non-profit organization for Amazon to support.
Please "share" with family and friends and help WHHS!
To our PTSA Board volunteers for making our fourth annual Pie Day a great success! New this year, we are partnering with Office Depot in Santee as they reach out to West Hills to support our work with office supplies and donations from the community!  |
| Pies ready to eat! |
PTSA President Aimee Smith, VP and Supply Drive Co-Chair Tina Westergren and Supply Drive Co-Chair, Beverly James smile with Office Depot Representatives as they brought hand sanitizer, tissues and reams of paper for teachers and staff to take back to class rooms and work places as a preview of what is to come with Supply Day.
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| Boxes of donated paper for students and teachers |
The West Hills Performing Arts Department has been busy with concerts, competitions, and our terrific run of the musical "Guys and Dolls"! Our programs are OUTSTANDING and doing SO MUCH...it is often hard to keep up with them.
Beginning and Intermediate Guitar Concert was held on Dec. 5. and the Advanced Guitar and String Orchestra performed on Dec. 7.
Everyone was impressed with these fine young musicians and their
Everyone was impressed with these fine young musicians and their
demonstration of learning since August!
Our Guitar program is one of the absolute best in the county, and it shows in the pieces the students play come together beautifully.
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| Mr. Steve Lorentz, teacher, conducts students for all to enjoy. |
Winter Band & Choir Concert: Friday, Dec. 13, 6:30 p.m.
Bob Guess Theater for the Performing Arts
8756 Mast Blvd. Santee, Ca. 92071
$10.00 adults; & students w/out ASB sticker, $8 .00 students w/ASB
Children 5 and under free
The deadline for senior memory ads is rapidly approaching. Please go to yearbookforever.com to create yours while space is available.
Prices start at $30.
December 2019 “Universal Human Rights Month” Calendar (bit.ly/dec2019cal) - Follow along with this month’s calendar for information and resources to help observe Universal Human Rights Month.
Resource Snack Time: Linking PSAT Results with Khan Academy - PSAT scores will be released very soon! Learn more about how to access your results and link them with Khan Academy in order to customize SAT test practice.
West Hills Maker Hub Design Time - Brand new opportunity! Are you interested in trying 3D printing? Creating custom buttons or vinyl decals? Tinkering with robots? Wednesday, December 11th will be the first session of the West Hills Maker Hub Design Time. Just meet in the library after Period 7. The open session will go from 2:45 to 3:45 pm as long as students arrive by 3. Any student is welcome. No experience or advanced sign-up is necessary. Optionally join the Google Classroom for more info with code kmfdig or contact Ms. Sannwald (ssannwald@guhsd.net). If you miss this first session, check the link for future dates.
Job Club is now selling hand-made dog toys for $5 AND customized greeting cards for $3 (birthday, holidays, etc)! They are available for purchase in the Finance Office online, or in person. Just bring the receipt to Mrs. Jimenez in room Pack 3 after you have paid.
Job Club is an in-class club that is designed to provide students with moderate to severe disabilities with real-life job experiences. We have many different jobs on campus including making and selling dog toys, making and delivering coffee to staff who order it, creating small flower bouquets and selling them to staff and students who order them, along with many cleaning jobs around campus to help keep the spaces we use regularly clean while providing directly applicable skills to the students. We will also be making greeting cards using a Cricut printer very soon! All proceeds go into our account to be able to purchase items for the "Wolf Den Store" where the students can then "buy" items using the "Wolf Bucks" they earn from working on campus (they are paid $15 Wolf Bucks per hour they work), which is a deeper layer of lessons for the students to learn about money through spending and saving for items they want to purchase.
Go Wolf Pack!
The "Wolf Call" is a monthly news blog for students, parents and community partners.
The "Wolf Call" is a monthly news blog for students, parents and community partners.
