WHS eNotes

Dear students, staff, and parents/guardians:

This Monday, February 10th, the construction company working on the high school project will shut off water to the entire building after school. As a result:

• No afterschool events will take place inside the high school.

• Coaches may relocate practices to alternate locations—students should check with their coach for details.

• There will be no late bus service.

Please plan accordingly, and thank you for your understanding!

Last month, a bill known as the STUDY Act was introduced in Massachusetts. This legislation aims to enforce a “bell-to-bell” restriction on cell phone and personal electronic device use during school hours to enhance the learning environment and overall school culture.

For now, we will continue to follow our Limited Use policy, which requires students to power off their cell phones and store them in the designated holders provided in each classroom during instructional periods. However, students may use their phones during designated times and in specific areas, such as lunch or passing periods.

Unfortunately, not all students comply with this policy. Moving forward, students should expect that if they use their phones during instructional time—whether in or out of the classroom—their device may be confiscated. Repeated infractions will require parents to retrieve the phone from school.

Let’s avoid unnecessary disruptions—put your phones away during class!

Have a wonderful weekend.

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

Here is the January newsletter that highlights the current Chronic Absenteeism rate in Walpole. Spoiler alert: Families and schools are doing a great job! Chronic Absent totals are down!

Click here to see our numbers: https://secure.smore.com/n/kgqr0

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

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

Yearbooks must be ordered by February 28, 2025. Seniors receive their book with their Class Dues. Order yours here: Underclass Yearbook Orders

See flyer attached for how to order a book. Yearbooks must be ordered by February 28, 2025. Seniors receive their book with their Class Dues.

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 Spanish Club will meet on Thursday, February 13th (rescheduled from Thu. Feb. 6th) in

Room 1332 2:15PM

Photography Club will meet Thursday February 13th. The theme is Red, Pink, and White for Valentine's Day. Find all the Pink, Red, White, hearts anything that you can. It doesn't have to be the Valentine's theme if you don't want to but at least those colors. Whatever you want, if you want to go Valentine's theme that is great too. We will also look at our Windows theme from this past week as the snow canceled our last meeting so bring all your Windows pictures too. This is our last meeting before vacation so let's make it a great meeting with a lot of great pictures. For more information on the Photography club contact Mrs. D'Agostino: jdagostino@walpole.k12.ma.us and follow our instagram: @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.

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