Panther Press

February 11, 2024 - Volume 6 - ISSUE 20

Welcome to the Whitman-Hanson Regional High School Newsletter! It is designed to keep everyone (parents, students, staff, and community members) informed of the many events that are happening in and around the school. It contains links, pictures, and videos so that you have a more interactive experience and the ability to learn more about various topics.

Communication is incredibly important to understanding so we ask that you share our news as much as possible. We also welcome feedback! It is the only way to continuously improve. So, please interact, get involved, and let us know what you think by contacting us and sharing our news!

February 14: WHRHS Panther Release Day

February 15: Junior Prom completed Outside Guest Forms Due

February 19-23: No School - February Recess

February 19-March 1: Junior Prom Tickets for sale afterschool in Room 210

March 4: ELA MCAS Retest

March 5: No School for Students - Election Day

March 6: ELA MCAS Retest

March 7-8: Math MCAS Retest

March 13: WHRHS Panther Release Day

March 20: In-School SAT for registered students

March 22: District Early Release - Professional Development

March 22: Freshman & Sophomore Semi 6-9PM at WHRHS (more information to follow)

March 26-27: ELA MCAS Grade 10 Students

March 28: Junior Prom at Lakeview Pavilion 6-10PM

March 29: No School - Good Friday

April 2: Quarter 3 Ends

April 3: Quarter 3 Begins

April 5: District Early Release - Grading Day

April 5: Meet the Teacher Opens to Schedule Parent-Teacher Virtual Conferences

April 9: Quarter 3 Grades available via Parent Portal

April 9: HS Early Release - Parent-Teacher Virtual Conferences 12-2PM & 6-8PM

April 15-19: No School Spring Break

April 24: HS Panther Release 11:40PM

Junior Prom will be held on Thursday, March 28, 20024 6-10PM at the Lakeview Pavilion located at 45 Lakeview Road, Foxborough, MA 02035.

Tickets will be $100 each and will be on sale February 26th - March 1st after school in Mr. Moriarty's Room 210.

Anyone bringing an outside guest MUST fill out the attached Outside Guest Form. Outside Guest Forms are also available in Rooms 210, 214 and the Main Office. Outside Guest Forms MUST be turned in to the office before Thursday, February 15th.

Any tickets purchased after March 1st will be subject to a $25 per ticket late fee.

Please ask your Senior to check their school email for an important message about Diploma and Cap & Gown ordering for Graduation.

Email includes a link that each senior must visit to provide information for Diploma and Cap & Gown ordering. This should be completed by Wednesday, February 14, 2024.

Weather changes, sometimes rapidly. So does life.

Both can have the same effect on us. It can cause us to feel run down, not up to our everyday activities, or even down or sorry for ourselves. The thing is, we have no control over the weather, but we do have control over how we react to the changes in our lives and the feelings that accompany them.

I offer some small, simple but maybe not easy, steps in this message. Have a listen and let me know your thoughts.

School counselors will be working with the sophomore students on Monday and Tuesday this week on a Panther Pathways Initiative lesson “Do What You Are”. Our grade 10 students will have the opportunity to do a bit of career exploration and to take the Achieveworks Personality Assessment via the Naviance program. Thanks to our grade 10 social studies teachers for partnering with us on this lesson

On Thursday, February 29th, a Virtual Scholarship Meeting will be held at 6:30 PM for members of the senior class and their parents/guardians. Information will be presented about Dollars for Scholars and Local and Community Scholarships. All seniors and parents are encouraged to attend. Follow this registration link to sign up.

Students from the Class of 2024 who wish to apply for a Dollars for Scholars scholarship award may begin filling out their student profile. The profile can be found at www.whitmanandhanson.dollarsforscholars.org under the “Student & Parent” section.

Students may fill out the profile and return to update it regularly. By creating a profile, a student will automatically get access to Scholarship America’s valuable resources and will have the opportunity to match and apply for local and relevant national scholarships. Beginning

February 1, students may submit their application electronically to Whitman & Hanson Dollars for Scholars. The deadline for such submission is March 15.

Any graduating high school senior who resides in Whitman and Hanson and has a 2.5 GPA is eligible for a DFS scholarship. Students who reside outside of Whitman & Hanson and attend Whitman-Hanson Regional High School and have a 2.5 GPA are also eligible. In addition to scholarships, students will find college guidance, financial aid advice, video tips and much

more. The list of national scholarships is changing frequently, so students are encouraged to return to their profiles often.

For more information please visit: www.WhitmanAndHanson.DollarsforScholars.org or contact Mike Ganshirt at 781-252-9683.

Massasoit Instant Decision Admissions - On March 21, 2024 , admissions representatives from Massasoit Community College will be visiting WHRHS for an Instant Decision Admissions event where students will be able to meet with admissions and receive an “on the spot” acceptance. Interested seniors should contact their school counselor to sign up.

The WHRHS School Counseling Office is pleased to invite grade 10 & 11 parents/guardians to Naviance Night for Parents on Thursday, March 14, 2024 at 6:30 PM.. This program will teach you how to conduct a comprehensive on-line college search that will get acquainted with Whitman-Hanson’s Naviance Family Connection program that offers:

• College Match – narrows down choices by location, size, surroundings, and more.

• College Look Up – read profiles of specific colleges

• Scattergrams – matches your student’s GPA and SAT scores with recent graduates to find great college choices for your child

Please follow this link to register for Naviance Night

School Counselors:

Mrs. Carrigan

Mr. Murphy

Mrs. Selig

Mrs. Cunha

Mr. Amado
Ms. Rivera (Administrative Assistant)

School Adjustment Counselors:
Mrs. Siden: Grades 10 & 12
Mrs. Robichaud: Grades 9 & 11

Transition Room Counselors

Mrs. Scheim

Ms. Dauksevicz

• Grade 11 & 12 Students the Spellman Oratorical Competition will be held on March 21st. Please see your English teacher if you are interested in participating.

• Grade 9 and 10 IXL mid-year diagnostic testing is complete! As many of you know, the purpose of the diagnostic is to monitor student skill levels and to provide individualized skill plans to strengthen reading and writing skills. On March 26th and 27th, grade 10 students will be completing ELA MCAS testing; these plans can be a great tool to help students prepare and review past concepts/skills before their “high-stakes” exam. Additionally, IXL offers useful reports that can give you some insight into the work your child is doing and the progress they are making. If you are interested in learning more about your child’s progress, click here. To access these reports, simply sign in to your child’s IXL account through Clever and click on the Analytics tab.

• Each week, ELA teachers require that students accurately complete a minimum of 35 questions. While doing this, students should be reaching an 80 Smartscore to earn proficiency in a skill. Below, you can see the IXL recommendation as well as the number of questions our students completed during January.

Anatomy and Physiology students in Ms. Geagan’s class have been studying the skeleton; it’s basic anatomy, different bone types, and how the bones articulate. Students worked on a bone identification practical lab to put their knowledge to the test! To introduce their unit on DNA and protein synthesis, students in Ms. Geagan’s class extracted DNA from strawberries!

Our cheerleaders have been hard at work all winter and finally got to see the benefits of all that time as the girls not only won first place at the Flyer Invitational in Framingham, they also earned the title of Grand Champions with their best score in years. The team will host the Patriot League Championships on Friday here at Whitman Hanson.

The Whitman-Hanson/Duxbury Gymnastics team competed in their final meet of the season Friday night at the Patriot League Championships. The team came in 5th place with a 125.25. Highlights include sophomore Morgan Nessralla (8.0) and senior captain Morgan Astuto’s (8.4) vaults. Junior Katelyn Ferraro had another amazing meet with a season high beam score of 8.3. She also had an incredible night on floor (8.4) and vault (8.6) and placed 10th in the All-Around. Senior captain Emma McKeon came away with 4th place AA including a 9.2 on vault, 8.7 on beam and 8.5 on floor. Emma was also named a Patriot League All-Star for the All-Around after coming in 3rd for the season. Duxbury’s junior Emma Galpin was named the team’s Scholar-Athlete and WH’s Ferraro was awarded team Sportsmanship.

The Whitman-Hanson Girls Track and Field team competed in the Patriot League Championship Saturday evening at the Track at New Balance. There were many individual milestones achieved at the meet. Senior Captain Leila Keaney started things off with a 6th place finish in the 55 Hurdles in a new Personal Record of 9.86 seconds. In the 55 Dash, Sophomore Victoria Sheehan ran a new Personal Record in a time of 7.58 and automatically qualified for the D3 Championship Meet to be held next week. Sophomore teammate Molly Burnette also ran a new Personal Record in the 55 with her time of 7.96. Burnette then went on to run a D3 qualifying time in the 300 with a new personal record of 44.97, while her teammates Willa McKay (45.95) and Victoria Sheehan (46.02) also set Personal Bests. Other girls establishing new Personal Records included Amiliya Gretsky (Mile, 6:36), Lynn McCoy (3:45) and Savannah Kamperides (3:26) in the 1000, Haley GIllis in the 600 at 1:56.44 and Bella Furtado in the Long Jump (13' 6").

The boys team also competed and Senior Captain Jake Cappelletti medaled in 55m Hurdles 8.29 seconds for 5th place, and medaled with a jump of 19'1.5 " for 6th place in the long jump. Sophomore Kevin Brzuszek placed 7th with a long jump of 18'10.5 inches. Senior Captain Alex Kehayias placed 6th in the Mile with a time of 4:45.23. Sophomore Ben Andrews placed 5th in the 2 mile with a time of 11:06.91.

On Saturday the WH wrestlers competed in the D2 South Sectional Tournament placing 5th overall. Captain Charlie Lussier 120lbs and PJ Katz 113lbs were both champions in their respective weight classes. Tristan Forest placed 4th at 132lbs. Lawson Giove 106lbs, Captain Austin Gamber 138lbs, Captain Jacob Metivier 150lbs and heavyweight Eric Sildauskas all placed 5th in their individual weight classes. Tim Donnelly 157lbs placed 6th with Dan McPhee 126lbs and Jaylen West 144lbs picking up individual wins to help the team.

The girls basketball team has clinched at least a share of the league title as they bounced back from Tuesday's loss to Duxbury when Captain Taryn Leonard scored 15 points and grabbed 7 rebounds and fellow front court partner Jenna Mishou poured in 16 and also added 7 rebounds to push Whitman Hanson (13-2; 12-2) past Marshfield 66-42. The team hosts Bishop Fenwick Monday night.

The boys basketball team has been hit hard with injuries of late with 4 of the 5 starting players all battling some type of ailment. The Panthers though are fighting through it and wrap up the Patriot League portion of the schedule with 2 games this week. The boys lost both games this week (Duxbury and Marshfield).

Boys hockey had a light week with just one game and unfortunately lost, 3-1 to the Hanover Hawks. Hanover scored with 11 seconds left in the second to take a 1-0 lead. They scored again in the third to take a 2-0 lead. Zach Boss scored with 10 minutes left in the third, with an assist by Luke Tropeano, and Zakk Spano to cut the lead back to 1. Hanover answered with under 5 minutes left to take a 2 goal lead again to win 3-1.

The girls hockey team had a very busy week going 1-2 with a win over West Bridgewater/East Bridgewater and losses to Hingham and Plymouth. In the win over WEB, Calliegh Vurpillatte got WHSL going with her first goal of the season assisted by Chloe Duff. Caitlin Dilley followed with an unassisted goal. Brenna Hohmann got the game winner with a nice pass from Caitlin Dilley. Christina Curran added the final goal with sweet passes from Freshmen Sammy Webb and Grace Keshishian. Julie Munroe got another victory between the pipes.

Interested in more videos, reflections, and where a many of these ideas come from and are expanded on? Don't forget to check out and subscribe to my YouTube Channel and WordPress Site

Email: christopher.jones@whrsd.org
Website: https://www.whrsd.org/our-schools/whrhs
Location: 600 Franklin Street, Whitman, MA, USA
Phone: (781) 618-7020
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrCSJones
Twitter: @DrCSJones