CHS Newsletter

Bobcat Nation,

What an incredible week it has been! Our Homecoming festivities truly reminded us of what makes Celina so special — our sense of community, tradition, and Bobcat pride. From the energy of the community pep rally and the excitement of the parade to Friday night’s big game and the dance that capped it all off, it was a joy to see our students participating and celebrating together.

Homecoming is such a meaningful time to honor our traditions while making new memories, and our students represented Celina with spirit, pride, and class. A huge thank you to everyone who worked behind the scenes to make the week a success.

As we wrap up the first quarter, I hope everyone enjoys the well-deserved long weekend. We look forward to welcoming our students back on Wednesday, recharged and ready for another great 9 weeks at Celina High School!

For Kids,

John

Each week, you will find the Athletics Calendar here and you can click on it to see what is going on for the week. We will advertise for other events in Academics, CTE, and Fine Arts.

• After a tough loss to Panther Creek 3-2 in the first half of district, our Varsity Volleyball team came up with a huge win on Tuesday against them 3-0!!! They picked up another win Friday against Van Alstyne to improve to 8-2 in district play.
• Our Cross Country teams ran in the district meet on Thursday. Our JV girls took second overall. Varsity boy's Ryder Phillips took 9th overall to advance. Our Varsity girls took 2nd in District by 1 point and will be advancing on. Senior, Ava Samuel took 3rd overall and sophomore, Peyton Cramer placed 8th.
• Our Varsity Football team took home a big Homecoming win 38-14 against Sulphur Springs!

Our CHS Tennis team is Bi-District AND Area Champions!!! They will face Prosper Richland in the Regional Quarterfinals on 10/14 at 10 am. Let's support our amazing Tennis team!!!

Each 9 weeks, teachers nominate a student of the quarter for their classes. These students have exemplified one of our core principles: stewardship, leadership, innovation, community, or excellence. We are proud of these students and their commitment to making CHS so great!

Thank you to Mandy Harvey Photography for the amazing pictures and to our CHS Cheer Team, Las Gatitas, and coaches for all of their hard work in making this the best pep rally of the year!!

Photos by Ryder Phillips (12)

Photos by Mandy Harvey Photography

Congratulations to our 2025 Homecoming King and Queen, Oliver Denson and Natalie Everill!!

Phots by Yearbook Student, Ethan Weston (11)

Our Celina Girls Basketball teams competed in a preseason tournament in McKinney. They all worked so hard and set the tone for our upcoming season. We start in November, so please come out to support these amazing student athletes as the compete on the court.

Zuri and her twin sister are sophomores at CHS! Zuri is a part of our CHS theater program and on the homecoming decoration committee. She is also the lead in our upcoming play, Matilda! Zuri is a part of Casa Manana’s Apprentice Program in Fort Worth which focuses on strengthening musical theater skills. She loves to nap, practice singing and playing piano, dance, walk her dogs, watch How I Met Your Mother, and spend time with her twin sister, Zoya. She recently won a national contest for The Great Gatsby on Broadway; she has worked with actors such as Neil Patrick Harris in a commercial and Tina Fey on the show 30 Rock when she was younger, and she also did modeling and won awards for that as well. Her acrobatics team also placed 4th at the U.S National Acrobatics Championships. As if that all wasn't cool enough, Zuri has also lived in 3 states, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, moved to Columbia, Maryland, and now Celina, Texas. Her favorite part of CHS is the community. She says, "I’m truly blessed to have great classmates and teachers. Everyone is very kind and helps me when I need it. Everyone welcomed me with open arms, and I am truly grateful for that." Her future plan is to hopefully go to the Institute for American Musical Theater to study musical theater, and be on a Broadway stage, on TV, or performing anywhere she can.

We have the coolest students at CHS!

Q. How long have you been cheering? What is your role on the team? What are some hobbies/fun facts about you?

A. I’ve been cheering since 2nd grade, and I’ve loved it ever since! I’m a main base on the team. A fun fact about me is that I’m a twin! Outside of cheer, I enjoy hanging out with my friends and making fun memories. Cheer has taught me a lot about teamwork and always pushing myself to improve.

Q. What is cheer's role in the Homecoming pep rally, parade, and football game?

A. Our role in homecoming is huge. Not only do we spend the week decorating, we also are preparing for our community Thursday night pep rallies! We get the players and the crowd excited the night before so that the next day they can keep that same energy going into the game! Cheer walks the whole parade, spiriting and dancing to the beat that the drum plays while also walking the parade. The game being one of the most exciting parts is one of the biggest roles we have. Cheering on the players and creating a big and exciting atmosphere for everyone around gets not only the students excited, it gets the parents and other community members pumped. This energy uplifts our football team helping them secure the win. I would say cheer's role is often overlooked, but we are always there doing the things you may not even notice.

Q. As a senior, what makes this Homecoming different than past years for you?

A. As a senior, this Homecoming feels more special because it’s my last one. I’m trying to take in every moment and make the most of it, whether it’s cheering at the game, being part of the spirit days, or just spending time with my friends. It’s a little bittersweet, but it also makes me appreciate all the memories I’ve made over the years.

Q. How many hours do you spend preparing for Homecoming festivities?

A. Even when we are not in school working on the pep rally we dedicate countless hours outside of school to bring spirit and energy to the square. From taping the streamers downtown, to staying late at the high school decorating, we are committed to making Celina a spirited atmosphere that gets everyone excited.

Q. What is your favorite part about Homecoming?

A. My favorite part about Homecoming is getting to cheer at the game in front of such a big, excited crowd. it’s always such a fun and energetic night! I also love dressing up for the dance, taking pictures with my friends, and just enjoying the whole experience. It’s one of the best times of the year where we get to celebrate, make memories, and have fun together.

Q. If you had to describe what a Celina Homecoming is to one of our elementary students, how would you?

A. Celina homecoming could be described as the biggest party of the year for our town. There are huge sparkly mums that dangle to your feet and parades with music and floats and loud, exciting pep rallies where everyone cheers for our team. The whole town comes together, families, students, teachers and even people who graduated from Celina many years ago. We all come together to celebrate our school, our team, and each other. It’s a time when Celina feels the most like one big, happy family!

Check out our CTV "C" Team's Episode 3!

• Old Celina Park New Area
• Friday Night Lights - Working the Jumbotron
• Band
• Sports - Tennis

This year, Mr. Lemaire has helped our house leaders create committees to meet needs within our school. Our new Bridge Committee held a New Student Social this week where they served Cinnamon Rolls and welcomed new students within our school.

Past student and owner of JL Studioz and Graphics, Jacob Lopez, came to our Commercial Photography classes to teach them how to design graphics with photoshop. Check out some of their work below!!

This week, our Intro to Culinary classes learned to bake made from scratch cookies! (Photos by Ethan Weston, 11)

US Foods paid a visit to our Celina High School's SLC and FA program on Wednesday morning! Students were provided the opportunity to learn about food safety, how it is transported, and more.

The first Spanish Honor Society Meeting will be October 16th during CATS.

Hey CHS Students! Get ready for our second club meeting happening on Thursday, October 16th during CATS — and this time, we’re meeting in the cafeteria! We've got a fun and interactive activity planned just for you, and the best part? You’ll have the chance to earn volunteer hours while participating! Don’t miss out on the fun, the friends, and the opportunity to make a difference. See you there! Join our google classroom if you haven't already! Code is 5wtovxqk.

Our 2025-2026 yearbooks are on sale now! https://jostensyearbooks.com/?REF=A08128000

Coach Walton serves as a History teacher and Football/Track Coach at CHS. He has five years of teaching experience, with the last three years spent at CHS. He values Celina's faith-based community and the strong atmosphere of mutual support in this town, sharing that, "it reminds me of my hometown." In his free time, Coach Walton enjoys spending time with friends, watching college football, and playing pickleball and basketball. He hopes his legacy will reflect the message that Jesus loves everyone and the importance of treating people with kindness. A fun fact about Mr. Walton is that he loves jalapeño cheetos, and he is an Aggie, WHOOP!👍

(Interview by Journalism students, Maggie H. and Liv Higgins)

For entry into CISD events, we are using the HomeTown app to make it easy to purchase tickets. You can scan the QR code below to download the app.

Ms. Hunter's classes have designed posters to highlight October's Bullying Prevention Month.

Thank you for taking time to read some of the ways in which we connect and grow in order to Love Kids and Drive Rigor.

For Kids,

John

Join us for the 2025-2026 Lunch n Learn Series! Brittany Cortez is a College and Career Counselor from Collin College and will cover a variety of college related topics throughout the year. The sessions will start at 12pm via Zoom. No sign up is required, just grab your lunch and click on the Zoom link in the flyer. Each of these topics will also be offered to all students to attend throughout the school year.

Helping Hands of Celina

Community Action Team (CATS)

Our CATS is our parent organization that helps to support all 1500 students and 135 staff throughout the year with bake sales, selling the official Homecoming t-shirt, and providing goodies/luncheons for our staff. Please join to add a layer of support for our kids and our staff. You can join through your School Cafe account and look for CATS (HS PTO) Membership '25-'26.

If you do not have a School Cafe account, you can click here to set up one and this will allow you to join CATS, purchase the official Homecoming t-shirt designed and sold by our CATS, set up a lunch account, and order other items like paying for parking spots and dues for various classes.

School Lunch

Free and reduced lunch applications can be found in the following link: https://www.schoolcafe.com/CELINAISD The grace period will end September 26, 2025, so please take time to complete your application.

For our new families, you can create school cafe account using the link above, you can send money with your child, or you can have your child bring their lunch. In School Cafe, you can monitor your child's account and place restrictions on their meal accounts if you would like to do so (e.g., your child can only buy one ice cream).

For those who were in Celina ISD last year, any balance that you have in School Cafe rolls over from the previous school year. Please add funds to your account before the first day of school.

GPA Update beginning for Class of 2026

Please click this link for the GPA update for the Class of 2026.

GPA Update beginning for Class of 2029

Please click this link for the GPA update for the Class of 2029.

2025-2026 Attendance Goal = 98%

We achieved 95.1% attendance last year so 98% is a very bold and ambitious goal! Furthermore, the more students are here, the more connections and positive relationships that they have, and the more that they learn!

Attendance-Truancy Tribunal

Chapter 25 of the Texas Education Code details the attendance requirements for students in Texas. Students must be in attendance for 90% of their class in order to receive credit for the class (remember that our goal is 98%). In addition, there is language in this code that directs schools/school districts to take action when a student accumulates a certain number of unexcused absences (including tardies - 3 tardies = an unexcused absence) and this includes filing truancy charges on the parent. Celina ISD wants to partner with our parents in order to prevent truancy charges from being filed. Therefore, when a student accumulates 7 unexcused absences/tardies, we will send a summons to the parent and student to attend a Truancy Tribunal Hearing in order to develop a plan to improve the attendance of the student. The Truancy Tribunal process has proven to decrease unexcused absences, decrease failed classes, and decrease discipline incidents of students. We are proud to implement the Truancy Tribunal Hearings and we know that this will benefit our kids and our families. If you have questions about the Truancy Tribunal process, please reach out to me via email or phone call at the information in my signature

Student Code of Conduct

At CHS, we start with the knowledge that we have the best students and parents on the planet! As such, we hold the highest standards for our kids because we know that they will live up to these standards. Likewise, we hold ourselves the to the highest standards to support our kids and our parents. We want to make sure that you have all of the information needed regarding our dress code and the passage of the new "cell phone ban" HB 1481. The dress code and standards of conduct are contained in the link above. The dress code is addressed on pp. 58-59 so please take a moment to familiarize yourself with CISD standards of dress and decorum.

HB1481 Device Ban

The major change for this year is the passage of HB 1481 that prohibits personal communication devices. Celina High School will strictly enforce this law/policy between 8:45-4:10. Prior to 8:45, students should turn off and put any prohibited devices in their backpack. This will prevent any prohibited devices from being seen or heard and will allow students to form relationships with other students and teachers and focus on learning. If you need to contact your child, you can send a message to their school email account and if there is an emergency, you can contact our front desk and we will assist in getting the message to your child(ren).

Although HB 1481 does not go into effect until September 1, 2025, CISD has chosen to implement this law beginning Wednesday, August 13, 2025. Our staff will continue to only use their personal devices for professional use only during the work day and because we receive emergency notifications and we send emergency notifications through our personal devices.

Prohibited personal communication devices include, but are not limited to:

• Smartphones
  

• Laptops and tablets
  

• Smartwatches
  

• Earbuds and earphones
  

• Smart eyeglasses

• Portable gaming devices

Contact Information for Administrators and Counselors

Administrators

• Dr. John M. Burdett (Principal) - johnburdett@celinaisd.com
• Kristy Carr (Student last names A-Gan) - kristycarr@celinaisd.com
• Greg Sherwood-(Student last names Gar-N) - gregsherwood@celinaisd.com
• Dr. Adam Washburn (Student last names O-Z) - adamwashburn@celinaisd.com

Counselors

• Carrie Crane (Student last names A-Gan) carriecrane@celinaisd.com
• Denise Moore (Student last names Gar-N) denisemoore@celinaisd.com
• Karen Pelkey (Student last names O-Z) karenpelkey@celinaisd.com