270° of IB - February 2022

After reading various news items that have been circulating around the globe in recent weeks/months discussing the Russian figure skater, Uyghurs in China, Joe Rogan, Supreme Court nomination process, and much more, I am consistently reminded of two IB Learner Profile traits that will help our students discuss/examine these topics and should help the adult world as well - Knowledgeable and Open-Minded.

These topics can be viewed from many different perspectives and the first question we must ask ourselves is whether we know enough about the topic to discuss them in detail. If we judge a topic by its social media blurbs and traffic, we may get a skewed sense of evidence/understanding based on our friend circle, who we follow, and what we decide to view. If we read a news article from a singular source, we may receive some information on the topic, but some aspects may be left out depending on how the author/organization views the topic and how in-depth their reporting is. By investigating the topic from multiple angles and sources, we can become more knowledgeable about the topic and connect the information shared between sources. We may not ever receive the "full story" about a certain topic, but we can definitely have a clearer and more complete picture.

Even if we are all very knowledgeable about a topic, we may interpret the information differently and come to a different conclusion. This is completely natural based on our inherent biases and personal life experiences, which is why we must be open-minded and respect multiple perspectives. We may come to completely opposite conclusions and that's okay because we can agree to disagree. Having a differing opinion does not mean the disagreeing person is evil or less than; it just means they have come to a different conclusion. We may have strong feelings about a certain topic and someone may have the polar opposite view - we can think what we want about their opinion, but we must separate the opinion and the person and respect the person for having it. Let's have conversations, share supporting evidence, and learn about each other's position and why we have come to the conclusions that we did. When we are open-minded with each other, we can be more empathetic and begin to heal the divisions that we all see and experience. We will never agree on everything with everyone, but at least we can respect each other's opinions and humanity.

Let's examine a skill to help alleviate anxiety called "4-7-8 Breathing"

Take a deep breath in your nose (counting to 4)

Hold that breath (counting to 7)

Exhale slowly from your mouth (counting to 8)

Repeat until you feel a bit calmer. Military branches and first responders (police, fire, EMT, etc.) use similar skills called tactical breathing or box breathing. It works for many people - maybe it can work for you!

Congratulations to Leah Yeshitila from your IB Teachers and Counselors!

Learner Profile Trait - Open-Minded

This young leader frequently seeks to understand multiple points of view with any historical event or theory we study in class. They consistently ask questions, share additional insights about their own culture and experiences or knowledge about things they've read in sources outside of class. This strive for multiple perspectives has added a great deal of nuance to our understanding of historical events as a class and has deepened all of our appreciation for the nature of History.

Please fill out this Self-Study Questionnaire before February 25th.

We need this completed as part of our program evaluation.

Texas IB Schools (TIBS) has released the TIBS Virtual College Fair information and videos on their website! They have informed us that the 2022-23 TIBS College Fair will be back to an in-person fair so that is something exciting for 9th and 10th graders to look forward to! Regardless of your grade level, take a look around and let me know if you have any questions or would like any further details.

2021-2022 TIBS College Fair link

Take a look at the attached Flyer and Brochure about QuestBridge that pairs students with Ivy League schools to see if you qualify.

If you are interested in learning more, contact Mrs. Martin in the counseling office!

Link to site - https://www.questbridge.org/

February 23rd-24th - UIL Orchestra

February 25th - Letter Writing CAS Project in cafeteria @3pm

March 1st-3rd - UIL One Act Play

March 2nd-3rd - IB/AVAPA Recitals - flyer below

March 4th - NHS Owl Show in auditorium @7:30pm

Seniors and Testing Juniors - IB Exam Schedule for May 2022

(you must open this link with your GISD email account)

We have ultimate faith that you will rock your exams! Your hard work is paying off! :-)

I am asking for help to reach out to any and all IB Alumni from GHS who are interested in staying connected (or re-connecting) with us. Help me add more pieces to the IB Alumni page of the website as well as include an Alumni of the Month section on this newsletter. Please share this Alumni Connection Link with any IB Owls you know! Thank you so much!

We are Game Day Varsity Co-Ed National Champions!! We have a new banner to hang proudly in the gym and some awesome Championships rings!

Big shout out to the 3 Bell Guards that we wrangled in to work on this with us! They did an amazing job!! We've been working on this routine since October and these kiddos are pulled so many different directions from academics, Varsity athletics, so many clubs and organizations, and having jobs; I am so proud of their hard work.

Please help me congratulate the following students for a show stopping win this weekend at Small Program Super Nationals:

Leslie Martinez

Gracyn Buckner

Alyssa Garza

Diamond Powers

Joseph Arce

Brianna Conner

Dana Pham

D'Ivyion Bray

Reece Roberson

JaNae Tutton

Brianna Sublet

Mackenzie Young

Tatum Sherer

Gueren Sanford

Taylor Hill

Josh Alvarado

UIL Film is in progress at the moment and we’re off to the races already. The following films advanced (and can be seen in this year’s film festival in May). These kids deserve recognition and celebration. These films were a lot of work to create.

Grasp

Created by:

Micah Fitzhugh

Justin Sam

Andrew Hildago

Alex Cormier

Assisted by and starring:

Carly Mitchell

Steal My Heart

Created by:

Justin Sam

Andrew Hildago

Aiden Waclawcyzk

Starring:

Micah Fitzhugh

Carly Mitchell

Our GHS Academic Decathlon team spent the weekend at Regionals held at John Paul II High School in Plano and we are pleased to announce that we scored high enough to advance to the State Competition in Frisco. We will be the 14th ranked team at the Frisco Meet.

Our Owls spent Friday and Saturday taking eight extremely difficult 30-minute tests over the subjects of Math, Science, Art, Music, Economics, Literature, Social Science, and one mixed-topic final test all related to the general theme of "water." They also wrote an essay, had a professional interview, and delivered one prepared speech and one impromptu-topic speech. Our Owls have been preparing for this competition since the study guides were first made available on May 15, 2021.

Our team members and their individual awards are listed below:

Honors Division

• Margaret Bryant (sophomore) - 1st place Speech, 3rd place Interview
• Sweedal Dsouza (freshman)
• Leah Tharakan (senior) - 5th Interview
• Nataly Castillo (junior)

Scholastic Division

• Gracie Graham (senior) - 5th Literature, 5th Essay
• Anna Schnacke (junior) - 3rd Literature

Varsity Division

• Carly Mitchell (senior) - 1st Essay, 4th Art, 4th Speech, 5th Science
  
• Jessica Ramos Salazar (senior)
• Steven Garner (senior) - 3rd Economics, 3rd Science, 4th Art, 5th Math, 5th Social Science

Final Region 10 Team Standings (a perfect team score is 60,000):

1. Highland Park 48,776 <-- finished 2nd in the nation last year
2. Rockwall Heath 39,642
3. Plano East 38,337
4. Richardson 37,164
5. John Paul II 35,635
6. Rockwall 35,260
7. Garland 34,232
8. Richardson Berkner 33,617
9. JJ Pearce 32,743
10. Plano Senior 30,298
11. Lake Highlands 28,366
12. North Garland 27,291
13. Lakeview Centennial 26,376
14. Rowlett 25,827
15. Naaman Forest 23,585
16. South Garland 17,192
17. Plano West 16,943
18. Sachse 11,432

The Swimming & Diving teams competed at the District 9-6A Swimming & Diving Championship.

The girls 200 Medley Relay of Cathy Nguyen, Ava Ngo, Tram Vuong and Elizabeth Arreola finished 5th.

The girls 200 Free relay of Vuong, Arreola, Nguyen and Ngo finished 5th as well.

Both relays advance to the regional meet on Feb. 4th and 5th!

Individual Swims of Note:

Cathy-50 free and 100 back

Elizabeth-50 free and 100 free

Tram- 50 free and 100 free

Ava-50 free and 100 breast

The boys 200 medley relay of Isaac Hilbun, Charlie Tran, Kenny Sanchez and Shawn Tran finished 5th.

The 200 free relay of C. Tran, S. Tran, Sanchez and Hilbun finished 4th.

The 400 free relay with Daniel Pham, S. Tran, Sanchez and C. Tran finished 5th.

All relays advance to the regional meet on Feb. 4th and 5th!

Individual swims of note:

Charlie-100 Breast

Shawn-50 free and 100 free

Kenny- 50 free and 100 free

Daniel-50 free and 100 breast

Isaac- 50 free and 100 back

The girls team finished 7th in the team scores and the boys were 5th.

Congratulations to Chloe Grammer for advancing to state-level judging in the Texas PTA Reflections program! Only 3% of almost 60,000 entries make it to state and her entry, One Hit Wonder, has advanced to that level! Final results will be announced March 15th - good luck Chloe!

Singers from GHS Choir competed at the TMEA Area C All-State Choir competition recently. We are THRILLED to announce the newest member of the Texas All-State Choir, Sara Dacon!!!

There are over 3,000 Sopranos across the state that competed starting in September, and Sara placed FIRST CHAIR. She will perform in San Antonio with the All-State Choir on February 12th, 2022. Please help us give her a big congratulations for this huge accomplishment!

Congratulations to the 22 MOB Owls, including 6 freshmen, who will be representing GHS at the Region Concerts! This is a tremendous achievement that encompasses the VERY BEST musicians from GISD, Mesquite, Forney, Rockwall, and Royse City to name a few. Furthermore, several students get the chance to audition for All-State Band!

All-State Audition Group:

Axel Pacheco

Jay Hernandez

Zachery Watson

Lesley Silva-Garcia

Carlee Morales

Congratulations to Michael Dunnican and Elliot Huss for making the Academic All-State Football team! We are so proud of your accomplishments on and off the field - you are truly leaders among Owls!

Let's congratulate the hard working, extremely talented GHS Speech and Debate team! This past weekend we competed at Creekview and brought home NINE awards as well as THIRD PLACE OVERALL SWEEPSTAKES! Our program is significantly smaller than some of the other schools that competed, so to have almost every student we brought final and rank up there with the big schools for sweepstakes is HUGE!!! I could not be more proud and I hope you’ll take a moment to congratulate them as well if you see them!

I would also like to recognize Leah Yeshitila for achieving the Academic All American Award for the national speech and debate association. Of 141,000 students, fewer than 1% receive this award! Therefore Leah is now the 3rd ranked debater in the nation, and is also among the top 1% of speech and debate competitors nationwide.

3 students are already qualified for the National and State tournaments, and several more are well on their way! Thank you for your support and encouragement! These students are crushing it!

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GHS - See My Counselor for '21-'22

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Email: tdschmidt@garlandisd.net
Website: http://bit.ly/GHSIBDP
Location: 310 South Garland Avenue, Garland, TX, USA
Phone: 972-494-8492
Twitter: @GHS_Magnets