WHS eNotes

Dear students, staff, and parents/guardians:

Next week is February vacation, and I hope each of you finds time to rest, recharge, and enjoy the break. You’ve all worked so hard, and this time off is well deserved!

As I reviewed Mr. Connor’s Attendance Newsletter (see below), I was thrilled to see that 71.5% of our students have had five or fewer absences so far this year. Here’s how that breaks down:

• 5 absences – 7.8%

• 4 absences – 9.4%

• 3 absences – 12%

• 2 absences – 15.4%

• 1 absence – 12.8%

• 0 absences – 14.1% (That’s 131 students who haven’t missed a single day—amazing!)

A huge congratulations to our students for their dedication and commitment to showing up every day. To those with perfect attendance so far—you are rock stars! Keep up the fantastic work.

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine’s Day and a restful and enjoyable February vacation!

Sincerely,

Stephen Imbusch

Principal

Mass. Broadcasters Association- MassBroadcasters.org/scholarship due April 18th

Mass. Assoc. of Women in Law Enforcement- https://mawle.org/scholarship/ due April 11th

Chief Carmichael Jr. Scholarship- Application in Counseling office due April 28th

The Assoc. of Teachers of Mathematics-https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQZSsJlvmgwLCXfbKrllwQSnCxL?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1 due March 1st

Applications for the 2025 James Erker and Fiona Murphy XC/Track & Field Scholarships will be available beginning Friday, February 14. Any senior who participated in XC, Winter Track & Field, or Spring Track & Field during their high school career is eligible to apply.

Seven ($500) scholarships will be awarded at graduation to seniors who have exemplified excellence in dedication, leadership, team spirit, sportsmanship, cooperation, and respect. Scholarship applications are available in the guidance office or can be accessed via the Boosters website link below. The deadline for completed applications is Friday, March 21. If you have any questions, please contact the scholarship coordinator at whs.track.scholarships@gmail.com.

https://sites.google.com/site/walpolexctrackboosters/scholarship

WHS Counselors will explain the course selection process and answer your burning questions. This will be a great opportunity to hear first hand about the many course offerings available in the WHS curriculum and to gain a better understanding of how you can best support your students during the process.

Topics will include:

• Academic requirements
  
• Course levels, prerequisites, teacher placements, and waivers
• Electives offered to all students

All parents/guardians are encouraged to attend! Please rsvp with this link to help us prepare for the meeting. We look forward to seeing you for this engaging and informative session.

Thank you.

Kathy Falvey, Meghan Alson, Mary Patey, Nancy Niles
WHS PAC Committee

If you haven't already encouraged your student to sign up for the SAT's, the Counseling Department recommends most students take the SAT or ACT one time in the spring and possibly a second time in the fall. There are no remaining spots in March at WHS, but many schools in the area will offer the test throughout the rest of the school year. Sign up at Collegeboard.com or act.org.

Students enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program are eligible to take the SAT or ACT for free. Please contact your student's school counselor for more details. Students will also be able to apply to colleges for free next year.

Mass General Brigham has announced a new internship program for Juniors and Seniors, aged 16 and over. This immersive experience spans 4 days and will introduce students to pathology and laboratory medicine at Mass General Brigham as a hands-on experience bridging classroom knowledge with real world medical science. This internship will be held over vacation weeks and summer break and requires an application but is no cost. See website for more information:Mass General Internship

PricewaterhouseCoopers Accounting Careers Leadership Institute (PwC ACLI) at Bryant University

PwC ACLI is a five-day, hands-on opportunity for rising high school seniors (current juniors) to learn more about the accounting profession and about the key role accountants play in society. Throughout the program, participants will work directly with Bryant University faculty, staff, and students, as well as professionals from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Except for transportation to and from Bryant University, there is no fee to participate in the program. The program will provide overnight accommodations, meals, planned activities, and educational materials.

To apply, students must have a minimum of a 3.0 GPA (4.0 scale) and completed at least Algebra 2 by the end of junior year.

Follow this link to access the official program brochure and to apply, click here. Please note that space is limited. The application deadline is set for Friday, April 11, 2025.

This is our final call for candid pictures of the graduating class. Share your favorite pictures from childhood through today. The more pictures we receive, the more personal the Yearbook will be. Upload your pictures here: https://photos.jostens.com/4NDFVZ

One goal for the WHS UNICEF Club is to educate the public about what UNICEF at large does. To further this goal, we will be sharing the monthly mission in eNotes which highlights a different issue that UNICEF fights for. This is our first mission!

UNICEF’s Mission of the Month: Climate Change

Climate change is a worldwide problem that results in long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns such as frequent and intense droughts, storms, heat waves, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and warming oceans. These natural disasters and environmental issues are not only problems for our planet, but for everyone who lives on Earth too, especially for children when humanitarian action falls short. This brings us to UNICEF’s goal: to have a livable planet for every child.

At least 1 billion children face extreme risks to their ability to survive, grow, and thrive. To combat these issues, UNICEF focuses on climate action, disaster risk reduction and recovery, environmental action, and sustainable energy. With these goals in mind, the organization

• Advocates with governments and business partners to put children and young people first in their sustainability plans, budgets and actions towards a green transition

• Strengthens the resilience and continuity of social services to climate and environmental impacts, including humanitarian action in response to disasters.

• Supports and empower children and young people to adapt and create a better world.

• Aims to become sustainable within their own global programming, operations and supply chain.

The first step for everyone who wants to aid UNICEF, environmental scientists, and humanitarian aid workers is to educate yourself. To learn more about climate change and how you can help, click the following links!

Learn about Climate Change: https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/

Take Action with UNICEF: https://www.unicef.org/climate-action

The French Club will be having a French movie night after February vacation. Please email Madame Frattasio at kfrattasio@walpole.k12.ma.us if you are interested in attending.

The Photography Club will not meet again until after vacation on February 27, 2025. Hope everyone has a wonderful week off. We decided this week we will make it interesting and have a scavenger hunt for photos. The 5 photos to take pictures of are: 1. A Drink 2. A Car 3. Snow 4. Any Animal 5. Free Choice - A picture of anything you'd like to show. We thought with a whole week off there would be a lot of time to take pictures and have some fun with it. Come back after break and show us what you took photos of. Have a great week off! Anyone that is interested in the photography club can contact Mrs. D'Agostino: jdagostino@walpole.k12.ma.us Follow our instagram to see the pictures from the students in the club: @photography_whs123

The PM Club is heading to Frog Pond after school on Friday, February 28th. All students who have paid their Student Activity Fee are welcome to join. Permission slips are outside of room 1319, Señora Bacon's room, and MUST be returned by Monday, February 24th. Please see Señora Bacon for information on cost.

This past Saturday, Walpole Speech and Debate competed in the NCFL National Qualifying Tournament. Join us in congratulating two students who earned the right to represent Boston at the national tournament this May in Chicago by placing in the top 6 of their event: Senior Bhakti Belle in Dramatic Interpretation and Sophomore Aaron Arora in Declamation! Congratulations!

The Robotics Team is very busy this month with the 2025 game Reefscape being unveiled. The team will be very busy getting to work on designing, building and programming their newest robot for the new season. They just finished up their fall training session by building an elevator mechanism with a wrist. It was a great experience for many members of the team to learn how to design this mechanism on CAD, build it, and program the elevator for the first time. These will all be useful skills in the upcoming season.

First Lego League (FLL) just wrapped up with the 3 teams and they had a great season with one team making it to states. Congratulations to them.

So please read the newsletter to find out all the news because there is a whole lot more.

Robotics Newsletter

All event information is listed in the link below. We look forward to seeing you at the games.

Walpole Timberwolves apparel check out the link below.

https://sideline.bsnsports.com/schools/massachusetts/walpole/walpole-high-school

For a list of upcoming events please click on the following link: https://sites.google.com/a/walpole.k12.ma.us/athletics/

Email: rdowd@walpole.k12.ma.us
Phone: 508-660-7257
Twitter: @WalpoleAD

Email: simbusch@walpole.k12.ma.us
Website: http://walpolewhs.ss5.sharpschool.com/
Location: 275 Common Street, Walpole, MA, USA
Phone: (508) 660-7257
Twitter: @WalpoleHS