HF FYI

Last week, we welcomed HF's incoming Superintendent, Dr. Jennifer Norrell! Season 3, Episode 3 of Walking the Path features Dr. Norrell, who will return to the south suburbs when she takes the helm of the HF Viking Voyage. She will officially begin in the new position on July 1, 2025 following the retirement of Dr. Scott Wakeley.

She took her first walk on the path, sharing her excitement to join the Viking family and how she will be a "champion for all students". Check out the new episode here!

The Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School District 233 Board of Education unanimously approved the appointment of Dr. Jennifer Norrell as the next Superintendent of Schools, effective July 1, 2025. This announcement follows a comprehensive and inclusive community engagement process that involved input from a wide array of district stakeholders, including students, families, staff, and community members.

Tomorrow, November 15 is recognized by the Illinois Association of School Boards as School Board Members Day: A day to "build community awareness about the essential role of volunteer school board members and thank them for providing the local governance necessary to shape the future of community school districts." Join us in recognizing our valued members of the District 233 Board of Education!

Don't miss the HF Steppers as they host their annual Step Show this Saturday, November 16 at 2 p.m. in the Auditorium!

The winners of the competition will receive $1,000 and big trophies, with 6 teams hailing from Illinois, one from St. Louis, and another from Virginia. This will be the biggest HF Step show yet. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $15.00 on GOFAN (no tickets sold at the door).

VTV will host its 11th Annual Lip Sync Contest on this Tuesday, November 19 at 7 p.m. in the Auditorium. 12 groups will strut the stage to compete for a $400 cash prize. Parents and students are invited to attend and participate in the concert-like experience, and win some prizes of their own! HF Teachers Mrs. Alexander and Ms. Kelly will host the event, and over 20 other teachers will be featured in their own music videos! Get your tickets on GoFan-you must have a ticket to enter! Use the link below or scan the QR code.

Our Varsity Scholastic Bowl team had an outstanding performance at the Sco Bowl Solo tournament at Carl Sandburg High School last Saturday.

The team was led by Junior Luke de Bruin who finished the day tied for 9th during the preliminary rounds with a record of 5-2 and 53 questions answered correctly. Sophomore Oreoluwa Owolabi took home 1st Place in two subject categories--both she and Eliot Wheat tied Luke with 53 answers correct. Everett Van Til also finished the day with a winning record, and with 50 answers correct.

The team competes this Saturday at the Chicagoland Fall History Bowl tournament here at HF. Go Vikings!

Congratulations to the HF Mathletes for some exceptional performances at the SWSC Meet III Competition at Stagg High School on Wednesday.

The team was led by Senior Everett Van Til, and Sophomore Oreoluwa Owolabi, who both took 1st place at the competition in their oral presentations. Junior Alex Wettstein also had a perfect competition score on the Junior-Senior calculator competition. The Junior-Senior Group competition took first place, consisting of Everett Van Til and Juniors Taylor Alexander, Gregory Mitchell, and Nikolai Lawrence.

The team competes again on December 11 at Andrew High School. Go Vikings!

It's time for our 2nd Quarter school-wide incentive! This will be another way to thank our Vikings for performing well academically, maintaining a low level of tardies, and receiving zero referrals this quarter. Last quarter's incentive was a silent party--stay tuned for this reward happening January 9!

Thanks to all who came out to last week's Early College & Career Awareness Program night! If you happened to miss, take note of these key takeaways and check out the presentation slides below.

1. Use Schoolinks.com to assist with career and college searches..Do your RESEARCH! Find the career pathway and then research the training and education it takes.
2. If college is the goal, VISIT college campuses. Even if that college is not your intended school, visit to get an idea of what it will be like and an idea of what you want and what you DON'T want.
3. Great advice from HF's own Mr. Merchantz: "It's important to have a career in mind before looking at a college or university to better understand if the necessary career pathway to that job or career will require it. No sense in getting a Bachelor's degree if the career only requires an Associate's degree."

A principios de este año escolar, la maestra de idiomas mundiales, la Sra. Acebes, y el consejero postsecundario, el Sr. Kain, comenzaron a presentar información universitaria a las clases de estudiantes que aprenden inglés (ELL). Esto llevó a conversaciones (¡y ahora a la creación!) de una serie de videos para ayudar mejor a nuestros estudiantes ELL con la planificación universitaria.

La Sra. Acebes ha estado trabajando con el Sr. Eric Ruiz, Vicepresidente de Admisiones e Inscripciones de la Universidad de St. Francis para crear estos videos, ¡algunos de los cuales puede ver ahora!

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Earlier this school year, World Language Teacher Ms. Acebes and Post-Secondary Counselor Mr. Kain started presenting college information to English Language Learner (ELL) classes. This led to conversations (and now the creation!) of a series of videos to better assist our ELL students with college planning.

Ms. Acebes has been working with Mr. Eric Ruiz, Vice-President of Admission and Enrollment at the University of St. Francis to create these videos--some of which you can watch now!

Video series on university planning in Spanish: Introductions_ General Information

College Planning Video Series in Spanish: Financial Aid

El próximo video se centrará más en el proceso FAFSA y la ayuda financiera. Este momento debería ser perfecto ya que las familias comenzarán a completar la FAFSA en diciembre. Estén atentos ya que se crearán videos futuros que serán más apropiados para compartir con las familias al comienzo del año escolar, pero por ahora, ¡estamos avanzando donde todos están en el proceso!

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The next video will focus more on the FAFSA process and financial aid. This timing should be perfect with families beginning to fill out the FAFSA in December. Stay tuned as future videos will be created that are more appropriate to share with families at the start of the school year but for now, we are jumping in where everyone is at in the process!

Congratulations to these student-athletes for signing their college commitments this week! We're excited for their next chapters of collegiate-level sports--we know you'll make us proud.

Noelle Dolan, Soccer: Washington University

Arden Eaves, Basketball: Lewis University

R.J. Robinson, Wrestling: American University

Skylar Skinner, Volleyball & Softball: University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Elodie Sullivan, Softball: University of Wisconsin-Parkside

Jayden Tyler, Basketball: Wofford College

Join James Hart for its Fall Musical, Moana Jr. The school welcomes Senior Citizens for this special preview on Wednesday, November 20 at 9 a.m. Admission is free!

Get your tickets in the James Hart Office to see their Fall Musical, Moana Jr., on Friday, November 21 and Saturday, November 22 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8 (kids under 3 are free!)

Please note that HF will be closed Wednesday, November 27-Friday, November 29 in observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday.

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