The Weekly Update #4

Dear SBHS Vikings Families,

With Fall Parent-Teacher Conferences coming up on Monday, November 2nd, our wonderful teachers and staff will be working through a long day to connect with us about our students. To show our appreciation and keep their energy high, the SBHS PTO is excited to sponsor a special teacher appreciation dinner!

We would love your help in making this meal extra special for our team. If you're able, please consider donating food items or making a small monetary contribution.

How You Can Help

1. Donate Food, Drinks, or Snacks

Check our sign-up form to see what items are currently needed and claim what you’d like to bring:

• Sign Up Here: SBHS Parent-Teacher Conference Food Drive Form

Drop-Off Details:

• When: Monday, November 2nd, before 3:00 PM (or bring your items with you when you arrive for conferences!)

• Where: SBHS Main Office Front Desk

• Note: Please ensure all donated items are unexpired.

2. Make a Monetary Contribution

If dropping off items doesn't fit into your schedule, you can easily contribute to our food fund online. The PTO will use all collected funds to purchase catered dishes and extra supplies for the event:

• Donate Online: SBHS PTO Cheddar Up Donation Page

Every little bit helps us treat our amazing staff! Thank you so much for your continued kindness, generosity, and support.

Warmly,

Your SBHS PTO

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Have a great rest of the week.

This Week on The Viking Vibe!!!

• Behind the scenes at the Senior Sunrise (with a slideshow!)

• How to survive the first weeks of freshman year

• Pondering the qualities of a great Halloween Song

• An update on the SBSD AI Committee and the latest Board of Education Meeting

• In Politics: Articles on the death penalty, Cornell, AI data centers and the Georgia Six Flags tragedy

• In Entertainment: The failure of sequels like Camp Rock 3 and Taylor Swift’s latest release

• In Sports: The recent success of the Girls Soccer and Girls Volleyball teams, diaries of a female wrestler and our updates on the NFL and NJ Football seasons

We publish two new articles every school day, so check back regularly, follow us on Instagram (@sbvikingvibe), and share! And if you have story ideas or suggestions for events that we should be covering, email Peter Honig at peter.honig@sbschools.org

PICTURE RETAKES FOR GRADES 9-11: Underclassman retakes will be held on Wednesday, October 28th in the auditorium. Students who need to have their picture taken OR retaken will need to find AN APPROPRIATE time in their schedule on that day to go to the auditorium. Every single student MUST have their photo taken because these images are used to create student IDs for the 2027-2028 school year. All questions regarding retakes must be directed to the yearbook advisor (anna.lehre@sbschools.org)

FINAL CALL FOR SENIOR PORTRAITS: ALL SENIOR PORTRAIT APPOINTMENTS FOR OCTOBER 27TH, OCTOBER 29TH, and NOVEMBER 12TH ARE COMPLETELY BOOKED! If you are having your senior portraits retaken on one of those days, please remember to bring $10 CASH with you to your appointment. If you still need to have your senior portrait taken, you have two choices: (1) Contact ME (anna.lehre@sbschools.org) and I will double book you on one of the make up days. I can take double bookings for the 27th and 12th only now. (2) Contact Lors Photography and schedule an appointment on the one Saturday each month that they hold studio hours in Red Bank, NJ. The customer service photo number is in the linked packet. Please read the linked information packet which will alert you to the process and expectations of senior portraits (including HOW to enter the building and WHAT to wear!).

Congratulations to the boys' and girls' varsity cross country teams, which won titles at the 2026 Greater Middlesex Conference Cross Country Championships at Thompson Park in Jamesburg on Wednesday afternoon. The boys' and girls' teams finished 1st in 20-team and 17-team fields, respectively.

It was the girls' team's 15th GMC title, which ties Old Bridge for the most team titles in Middlesex County history. The girls also won titles in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2025.

The boys' team won its 8th GMC title, having also won titles in 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2024, and 2025.

Viking junior Natasha Kenny finished 1st in a field comprising 116 runners, finishing 1.57 seconds ahead of Viking senior Ovi Telavane. Natasha became only the 6th girl in SBHS history to win a GMC Cross Country title, joining Viking legends Jillian Stein (1997, 1998), Sophia Ginez (2007), Lyndsey Sample (2009), Cayla Del Piano (2010, 2011) and Nikhila Obbineni (2018).

The South Brunswick High School Small Ensemble Strings proudly represented South Brunswick School District at the New Jersey School Boards Association’s Workshop 2026 on Tuesday, October 20, at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

The talented six-member ensemble performed at noon for an audience of school board members, district administrators, educators, and education leaders from throughout New Jersey, showcasing the outstanding musical talent and dedication of our students.

All six musicians are juniors at South Brunswick High School: Nishant Vasanth, Lasindu Gunasekara, Justin Zhang, Raghav Gnanasabapathy Kiruthika, Korok Das, and Aditya Aras. Congratulations to our outstanding student musicians, their director, Mark Lalumia, SBHS Orchestra Director, and Robert Sears, K–12 Supervisor of Music, on this wonderful achievement! We are incredibly proud of these talented students for representing South Brunswick High School and our district with such exceptional musicianship, dedication, and Viking pride. Way to go, Vikings!