November 2019

The mission of West Hills High School is to graduate critical thinkers and problem-solvers who contribute positively to society as productive, responsible citizens.

Mrs. Robin Ballarin

A heartfelt "Thank you" to all parents, students, guardians and community members who support our students, faculty and staff here at West Hills. Each and every day we strive to focus on student learning and supporting students in all ways. We can not do it without involved, caring and wonderful parents and community members like yourself. Like our "tree of gratitude" below, we thank you for your continued support. 

Students, teachers and staff made "leaves of gratitude" to "grow" our 

"Tree of Life" in the Administration building. We are grateful for so much and continue to practice thankfulness and gratitude in all we do. 

We are heading into the last 6 weeks of the semester...Fall Sports is wrapping up and Winter Sports is happening! Please check out our Athletics page for information on all of our Athletics programs.

Our 12 week progress grades to students have been recorded and will be available to view in the Parent and Student portal once they are certified, in about a week. However, since our grades are "live" in the Parent and student portal, they may always be viewed.  Please look at your students' grades and talk with them about their progress--both successes and challenges. Please know that our goal is your students' success!  Contact teachers with individual questions about the grades you are viewing as well as ways for your student to improve if they are earning below a "C" in any course. There are about 6 weeks left in this semester-- 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.

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.

 West Hills is closed Monday, November 11 in honor of all those who serve, past and present. We thank you and your families, for your service and your sacrifice.

In addition, West Hills is closed November 25-29 for Thanksgiving Break

West Hills Adopt a Family

Positive Acts of Collective Kindness

West Hills staff is once again collecting donations for West Hills Families in need. Our goal is to give each family the freedom to purchase whatever makes their holidays the most rewarding, so we'd prefer to collect donations of gift cards or cash.  Our suggested gift cards would be: Famous Footwear, Walmart, Target, (inexpensive) restaurants (including fast food), Kohl's, gas cards, grocery store, entertainment (movies, miniature golf, etc.), and Costco are all appreciated, just to name a few.  

If you would like to make a donation, please drop off gift cards or cash (no checks please) to our front receptionist, Shelley LaFata. We can provide a tax receipt if requested.

The deadline for collection is Wednesday, December 11th.  Our plan is to get the gifts to the families before we leave on winter break. We thank you in advance for supporting students and families in need.

We are One, We are the Pack!

News from around the campus...

We survived another Halloween with great costumes and an ASB contest at lunch in the Pit. Thank you to teachers and staff who came out to judge the contest...school spirit and fun was had by all! It was neat to end October with some great costumes--check out some of our students and staff! 

ASB / Sports Med teacher Ardy Riego and
Math / Engineering teacher Tiffany Jokerst 
get in the Toy Story / Beauty and the Beast spirit!

"Mrs. Frizzle" meets science teacher Marilyn Cabral!

Some of our students showed off their costumes at lunch in the Pit!

Our spirited Science team kindly shared a photo.

The Wolf Pack Theatre program proudly presents and invites all in our community grab some laughs with our talented cast and crew:

When a man is accused of abducting half a dozen cats, it’s a simple open and shut case, even for a jury filled with oddballs like a dim-witted PR guy, a bickering couple, and a man obsessed with French fries. After all, every scrap of evidence indicts the accused. And yet, Juror #8 believes the Cat Burglar is innocent. Will he be able to sway the other jury members? 

To find out the outcome of the case, come out and support our Wolf Pack Theatre program on Friday November 8th, Saturday November 9th, Friday November 15th, or Saturday November 16th at 7pm at the Bob Guess Theatre for the Performing Arts. $8 for students, $10 general admission.

Job Club is now selling hand-made dog toys! 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. They are $5 each and we've had great feedback from happy dogs so far!

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.

West Hills teachers are committed to student learning both inside and outside the classroom. We have several educational field trips (paid for by student) teachers are offering in the 2020-21 school year. If you or your student have an interest in any of the following, please contact the teacher sponsor directly: 

Japan: Mrs. Jodi Kohler  jkohler@guhsd.net

Germany: Mr. Torben Holzhausen  tholzhausen@guhsd.net

The World at War in 20th Century Europe: Mr. Dan Sutton  dsutton@guhsd.net

Connect with the library @WestHillsLIB: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

“Get to Know Us” November 2019” Calendar (bit.ly/nov2019cal) - This month’s calendar is dedicated to getting to know our West Hills staff members better. An optional survey was sent out inviting staff members to share some “for fun” information. There were many excellent responses, and we are excited to reveal the shared answers daily on social media: @WestHillsLib on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

MLA Citation Help with MyBib - Do you ever get stressed out trying to create MLA citations? The library recently came across a new, free tool that we recommend called MyBib (an alternate option to EasyBib). Some students have already tried it out and reported that it is helpful and simple to use. For more general help, students may also access MLA Checklist & Hints linked on the library’s homepage.

#FirstChapterFriday - This year, Ms. Worth/Juhl and Ms. Edwards decided to try out #FirstChapterFriday at West Hills. They have been regularly reading aloud a chapter (or other beginning portion) of a book in class so students can build awareness about the wide variety of writing that exists. The hope is that students might connect with and have their interest sparked by different books that are shared. The library has been helping to select and supply books and students are able to check them out on the spot in class, when interested. See titles shared so far. We are excited that so many have been checked out already! 

On October 24, AVID  took 43 of our top students to Chapman University and UCLA. Social Science teacher, Randy Cambou and English teacher Todd Peterson joined Ashley Worth and Carrin Edwards as chaperones for the field trip. Students were able to tour the campus', ask questions of current college students and explore what it "feels like" to be part of a college community. 

AVID  9th and 11th graders completed research on a university of their choice and painted pumpkins with their university colors/logos. Attached QR codes offered a way for others to access supplemental student-produced informative documents about the university.

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!

Emergency Preparedness & Family Safety Plans
Please see this information from the San Diego County Emergency
Resource Center.

Please check out our ATTENDANCE policies linked in our STUDENT HANDBOOK online at wolfpack.guhsd.net under "Students". Please remember to CALL in 956-0434 all day absences, and send a note for partial day absences. We are sorry, but we are not able to deliver to classrooms forgotten items--if a student knows to come to attendance to come pick up their items, they are welcome to do so without MISSING class. 

Please remember to UPDATE your home address or phone number with the West Hills office staff if you move or you have changes.This is critical if your student has an emergency and we need to reach you. Simply call 956-0400 and tell us you need to update your information. The PRIMARY parent or guardian listed in our parent portal can also do this online via their login. 

 A  friendly reminder from our school nurse, 

Mrs. Lori Farra...please drop off  any medications that your student needs during the school day in the Nurses' office. Students are not allowed to carry medications of any kind unless cleared with her and Administration. This includes over the counter medications of ALL kinds. At no time may students "share" medications with other students. 

We thank the parents and students who have already done so for this school year. 

Go Wolf Pack! 

The "Wolf Call" is a monthly news blog for students, parents and community partners. 

wolfpack.guhsd.net