CHS Newsletter

Bobcat Nation,

Victory Plus was here Friday videoing our best pep rally yet! We had our annual staff and student dance, and each dance was fantastic. Junior, Lenora Aziz, played the Star-Spangled Banner on her electric guitar and rocked the gym away.

We had our first home football game Friday, and we came out with an awesome victory over Panther Creek. Our students packed the stands, and we celebrated our 4x state champion girls soccer team before the game. It was a great night celebrating our Bobcat excellence.

Looking ahead, we have two more school weeks until the end of our first quarter. Students will have a Fall break holiday off of school on October 10th, 13th, and 14th. Please plan to be at our Homecoming festivities on October 10th. This Friday’s dress up theme is space.

Let’s have a great end to our first quarter and continue to make this an incredible year.

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.

• Our Cross Country teams ran in the Celina Cross Country Invitational on Friday morning and had some awesome times. Men's Ryder Phillips placed 11th overall. We had six of our Women's Varsity team place in the top 30, and senior Ava Samuel placed 7th overall.
• Our Varsity Volleyball team defeated both Richland and Gainesville 3-0 this week to move to 5-1 in District play. They will have a home game against Aubrey at 6:00 pm on Tuesday and will be celebrating teacher appreciation.
• Our Varsity Football team took down a great Panther Creek team 35-28 in their first District game. We will take on Aubrey next Friday night at Aubrey.
• After performing at the football game on Friday night, our Band went from 6am-midnight on Saturday to compete in the Director's Assistant Marching Showcase at Melissa High School. We won best 4A Woodwind, Brass, Visual and came in 1st in the small schools division! Our Band continues to impress year after year! Our Band will compete again this weekend in McKinney and Princeton.

Photos by Junior, Anna Huynh

Photos by Senior, Ryder Phillips

Homecoming Dance Tickets

https://events.hometownticketing.com/boxoffice/celinaisd/L2VtYmVkL2V2ZW50Lzg5

Please enjoy the second episode from our CHS "C" team CTV class!

Our Biology students completed a jello lab this week where they experimented with fresh and canned fruit to demonstrate enzyme activity!

Mrs. Brown's floral design classes are working on Flower of the Month Club arrangements!

Celina High School Spanish Honor Society is thrilled to celebrate Spanish Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15! This special time allows us to recognize and honor the rich cultural traditions, history, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino communities. We’re excited to foster appreciation and understanding while celebrating the diversity that strengthens our schools and community. ¡Feliz mes de la Herencia Hispana!

Hey everyone! If you’re looking to get involved and make a real impact, you should join the UNICEF Club. We're a group of students dedicated to supporting UNICEF's global mission of helping kids. Our club organizes and runs fun fundraisers, creates awareness campaigns to educate our school about important issues, and advocates for children's rights. It's a great way to gain leadership experience, earn volunteer hours, and be part of a team that's working to make the world a better place. You'll also get to meet other students who are passionate about helping others. We’d love to have you!

Interested? Come to our first meeting to learn more! The date and time will be announced in the Google Classroom, code cgmirjxa. In the meantime, you can talk to Mrs. Weddle in H254, or contact Harshitha Challa for more information.

Want to help build a new school organization? Check out this new opportunity below!

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

Looking for some Fall activity ideas? Freshman Commercial Photography student, Presley Raymond, created a Bucket List full of fun Fall things!

This is Ms. Swi's first year teaching! She graduated from Austin College and played softball there. Her favorite thing about Celina is the faith-loving community and the growth of a small town that feel small. Outside of teaching, she loves to do crafts like diamond art, cross stitching, and coloring. Ms. Swiatkowski, would love for her students to remember her by her safe space she creates and her kind heart she brings to the classroom.

(Interview by Journalism student, Maggie H. )

Party on the Patio at SONIC – Celebrating 5 Years of Helping Hands of Celina!

Come join us as we celebrate Helping Hands of Celina’s 5th Anniversary with a fun-filled night at Sonic in Celina!

Date: Wednesday, October 1st
Location: Sonic, Celina

Time: 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Here’s what’s happening:

• Games & Dance Contest

• Photo frames for fun pics

• Slush-eating contest (bring your brain freeze face!)

• Giveaways

• Sonic Community Discount Cards for sale (usable at ANY Sonic!)

• An exclusive Celina Cooler drink, only available during our event!

Best part? 40% of all sales will be donated back to Helping Hands of Celina—but you must show the Sonic ad from your phone or a printed flyer when ordering.

So grab your family, hang out on the patio, celebrate, and connect with the community while supporting a great cause.

Don’t forget to tag us in your photos and use the hashtags:
#hhoc5th #hhocsonic

We can’t wait to celebrate with you!

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.

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