October News

Greetings all! It has been a great start to the school year. Now that we have finished up the first month of school, staff and students have settled into routines nicely. There has been a lot of great energy and school spirit between all the Homecoming festivities and our weekly PROUD activities during advisement. It's nice seeing students participating and working together! Please see below for highlights from the start of the school year and info for the month ahead. Hope everyone enjoys the extended weekend!

Throughout the first week of school, students participated in PROUD community building activities. Activities included creating leaves for the PROUD tree that Art Club painted last year. For each leaf, students wrote a commitment on how they will make the school a better place this year. During the first week of classes we also dedicated the advisement period to icebreakers and creative team challenges such as building the largest card tower during Advisement and a trivia game about staff.

The Class of 2025 commemorated their final year of HS with their Senior sunrise event.

We kicked off Homecoming week with "Anything but a Backpack" and "USA" dress up days. There were some creative ways that students participated! The wall decorating competition was impressive as always. Each grade did a great job making their Disney themed walls come to life. In the end after all the class competitions were over, the Class of 2025 ended up repeating as Homecoming champs for the second year in a row! Nice job Seniors!

In addition, Gananda Dollars for Scholars raised the most amount of money than they have had in the past 6 years of the Homecoming Jar Wars competition, and National Honor Society's Canned Food Drive also brought in over 400 items for the local food pantry. Awesome job by the students supporting these causes during Homecoming Week.

Great job to Mia, Bayley, Henry and Dylan for earning the September Student of Month award! They have done a great job exhibiting our PROUD behaviors!

Mia has been extremely driven and dedicated in her classes to start the school year. She has been an outstanding peer to her classmates by being willing to help others in class, and she is always Respectful to everyone.

Bayley is driven to achieve on the highest possible level, and she displays complete respect in her collaboration with peers and faculty. This honor is well earned. Congratulations Bayley!

Henry has demonstrated that he is driven to succeed in the classroom from the very beginning of the school year. His unwavering efforts have led to outstanding achievements across content areas.

Dylan has done a great job uniting his classmates this year and is always willing to include others. He is driven to succeed and his work ethic rubs off on his peers, leading to some outstanding moments in class.

Logan Potter and Sydney Richards have been named as Commended Students in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program. "Those being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success," commented a spokesperson for NMSC. "These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their education opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success."

Please continue to remind your child/children that they need to be in class by 7:30am. As we progress further into the school year, and especially as the weather turns, we often see an increase in tardies to school. We appreciate your support in helping to reinforce the importance of punctuality.

Please note that after 4 unexcused tardies in a marking period, contact home will be made, and students will be assigned consequences starting with lunch detention and/or after school detention.

Absences need to be reported to the school health office by the parent/guardian of the student. This may be done so online by completing this form.

Please note that Friday, October 25th is picture retake day at the HS. Students that missed picture day back in September, or would like to have their picture retaken, may do so on this day. Clubs will also have their photos taken on this day as well.

You can also click on the buttons below that will take you directly to the Instructional Calendar and Daily Schedules.

If you have not received an invitation to join ParentSquare, please contact the HS main office.

Reminder for those that have registered, the PSAT for Juniors is on October 16th. Registration is now closed.

On September 25th we held a Financial Aid Night in the High School Library with Cindy Cockhern, Financial Aid Counselor from Finger Lakes Community College. If you missed it and would like the information that was covered shared with you, see the pdf below for the slideshow presentation that was shown.

Last Friday, October 4th, marked the 5th week of classes and our first interim reports. This also is the first review of grades in terms of student eligibility for sports and other extracurriculars.

Any students who are not passing a course at the 5-week mark will be ineligible for a minimum of one week.

Ineligible students and their parents/guardians receive notification (school email for students; ParentSquare message for parents/guardians) after 12:00pm on the Friday of each 5 week reporting period with instructions on what the student must do during the week of ineligibility in order to attempt to regain eligibility the following Friday.

Regaining eligibility requires a current passing grade in any courses in which the student was failing as of the 5-week mark, OR, a signed Work Ethic Contract between the student, the teacher, and Dr. Whipple.

Students will remain ineligible to compete in sports (they may practice) or participate in extracurricular events until academic eligibility is regained and the list is updated. Ineligibility lists are updated and published to teachers, administrators and sports coaches each Friday at noon.

If you or your student has any questions about the eligibility process, please contact Mrs. Richards in the Counseling Office for step-by-step help.

On October 2nd and 3rd we administered the ASVAB - an assessment that measures a multitude of abilities and interests. The assessments occur in Mr. Broussard’s Parenting and Daily Living classes for 10th graders and is available to any interested Senior upon request. Requests for spring testing are due by 12/1/2024.

Seniors are currently meeting on-on-one with their counselors for a personalized review of their progress toward post-graduation plans. These meetings are tailored to each student's goals, whether they're pursuing employment, vocational training, or two- or four-year college paths. Discussions may include employment resources, technical school options, financial aid, college applications, Common App completion, resume updates, scholarship searches, and more. After each meeting, parents/guardians will receive a summary of the key points and any follow-up tasks. Please feel free to reach out with any questions: Please reach out to Kristen Kelleher KKelleher@gananda.org (A-K) or Calisha Bertram CBertram@gananda.org (L-Z).

Throughout the month of October, students in multiple classes will have the opportunity to explore a variety of career fields through the use of VR headsets! We are hoping to borrow the headsets again this spring to expand the opportunity to more students.

Juniors and Seniors have begun the paperwork requesting the consideration for shadowing opportunities. One of the most comprehensive shadowing experiences is offered through The Seneca Waterways Council Exploring Program. They are currently offering opportunities in the skilled trades and law. More opportunities come available every month. See Mrs. Marang for additional information.

Respectfully,

Dr. Christopher J. Whipple, Principal

cwhipple@gananda.org

Ms. Mairi Greibus, Assistant Principal

mgreibus@gananda.org

(315) 986-3521, 8, 3154