P a l at i n e H i g h S c h o o l
NEWSLETTER
A Recognized School of Excellence
PRINCIPAL
January/February 2011
From the principal:
Welcome Parents of the Class of 2015!
With the start of a new year, it is already time to start
thinking ahead to next fall. For our veteran parents, this
newsletter comes along with your sons or daughters’ first
semester grades. For our new parents, this is the first issue of the
newsletter you will be receiving approximately every 4 ½ weeks. I hope
these provide you with some of the necessary information you need to
keep up with what is going on at the high school. Welcome to Palatine!
Hopefully you have already had a chance to review first semester
grades with your student. Take a moment to congratulate successful
efforts and encourage hard-earned progress. If grades were not quite
what your student had hoped for, encourage him or her to remember
that the new semester is a time for a fresh start. Remind them that there
are many resources available here at PHS to help them be successful
and that there are certain privileges tied to academic success. Work on
setting both long-term and short-term goals for second semester; make
sure the goals are clear, reasonable and achievable.
Students will also be working with their counselors to select courses
for next year. Be sure to talk with your student about future educational
plans and possible career goals. Keep these plans and goals in mind as
you review the course selection sheets and curriculum guide together.
Palatine has over 200 courses in its curriculum, with many new ones
being offered this year. I encourage students to take advantage of the
many elective classes PHS offers in addition to the required courses -they are a great way to round out and enrich the educational experience.
The elective classes give students the opportunity to take a class that
might help them decide on a possible future career or just learn more
about something that interests them. If you have any scheduling
questions, please feel free to contact your child’s counselor or teachers.
Gary Steiger
Principal
Guided Study Hall and the Student
Success Center
At Palatine High School, we have high expectations for all our students to
succeed in reaching their academic potential. For those who are struggling,
we offer a variety of programs to help them succeed. In the Student Success
Center, math, English, and science teachers provide academic support to
students every period of the day, as well as before and after school on Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Thursday. Students are encouraged to drop in for help with
homework, test preparation, or a for a little extra help with something they
didn’t completely “get” in class.
At PHS, students who failed an academic course in the previous quarter
are also assigned to the Guided Study Hall program. Students have a Guided
Study Hall during an open period in their schedule or the first half of their
lunch hour. During the assigned Guided Study Hall, students have time to
work on homework and study in a academically supportive environment.
Students monitor their own academic progress and have regular grade checkins with the study hall teacher. Students in Guided Study Hall may also visit
the math, English, and science tutors in the Student Success Center during
their study hall time.
If you require assistance while visiting our school, please contact the
principal’s office at (847) 755-1600.
GARY STEIGER
Scholarships Available
Did you know that the High School District 211 Foundation awarded over
37 scholarships last year, totaling over $54,000? Check the website for a list
of available scholarships. The applications become available during second
semester, so keep checking back as they are updated often. The Foundation’s
website address is http://d211.org/foundations_scholarships_phs.shtml.
Other scholarship applications, such as the VIP, Rotary, along with other local
and national awards are available through the Palatine High School Student
Services department. There is a scholarship bulletin board located outside the
Guidance Office which lists the current awards. This information is updated as
the applications become available. They are also listed on the PHS home page,
under the “scholarships” link on the left side of the page. If the scholarship
application is available online it will be noted. If a paper application is required,
see the Guidance receptionist for the application. Please check these sites weekly
throughout the school year. Meet all deadlines and follow the application
directions carefully. Keep in mind that most scholarship applications require
recommendation letters and a transcript. These documents take time to order
and mail out. We do not provide electronic transcripts. These awards can help
with rising college costs and are well worth the effort! Also, don’t forget to fill
out the FAFSA if your student is a senior. This should be done after January 1st.
The link to the FAFSA is: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/. If you were unable to attend
our Financial Aid Seminar back in November, send your student to the Student
Services office to bring home a packet of helpful financial aid information. There
are also many other links such as Fast Web and other scholarship searches,
through the Student Services website under financial aid. For further assistance,
contact your student’s counselor.
Pirate Pete’s 4th Annual Feast A Huge Success
For the fourth straight year, Pirate Pete’s Thanksgiving Feast has helped
raise awareness and funding for notable causes around the globe. Once again
the feast was able to raise enough funds to support the financial needs of a
students at our sister-school, the Kibaoni Primary School, in Tanzania, East
Africa. In addition, the ICompete program donated and raffled off beautiful gift
baskets to assist with their costs. Throughout the night community members
were treated to an excellent spaghetti dinner, live musical performances from
students and staff, as well as over 70 raffle prizes from local businesses, including
tickets to Wolves, Bulls and Blackhawks games. Fabbrini Florists and the Eich
family also brightened the event by providing for center pieces at each table.
Throughout the evening, students served over 550 meals to members of the
Palatine Community. The collective efforts of over 100 student volunteers
continues to be a unique opportunity to learn the importance of citizenship and
recognizing that their efforts help to make a positive impact within the community.
Guidelines for Senior Final Examinations
District 211 allows seniors who meet appropriate criteria to apply for
exemptions from second semester examinations.
To qualify, a senior student must have at least a “C” average in the class,
have fewer than six absences from the class, have never been suspended
or truant from the class, and not be incomplete on assignments required
by the teacher. Seniors who qualify for exemption may elect to take final
examinations to improve grades. Seniors wishing to take final examinations
or those who do not qualify for exemption will take their examinations on
June 8, 9 &10 after graduation ceremonies scheduled for June 5, 2011.
Ecuador Here We Come - 2011
In place of the usual Costa Rican exchange, a group of students from PHS,
SHS, CHS and HEHS will participate in a trip to Ecuador through Interact
Travel, Inc. in June of 2011. The students will live with host families for
the majority of the 10-day trip in the capital city, Quito. The students will
have the opportunity to experience authentic Ecuadorian culture and tour
the diverse area, while enhancing their language skills. The enrollment date
has already passed for 2011, but keep this amazing opportunity in mind
for the future! For more information, please contact Emily Kosmella at
[email protected] or (847)755-1730.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION BLUE RIBBON SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE & NEW AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL
dates to remember
Jan. 17
Jan. 24
Jan. 25
Feb. 1
Feb. 2,3,
4 & 5
Feb. 15
Feb. 18
Feb. 19
Feb. 21
Feb. 25
Martin Luther King Jr. - No School
Teacher Institute - No School
2nd Semester
LATE START
Musical - 7:30 p.m.
LATE START
Early Dismissal – 12:35 p.m.
State Girls’ Gymnastics Meet - 5:00 p.m.
State Girls’ Gymnastics Meet - 5:30 p.m.
Presidents’ Day - No School
VIP Dinner Dance
VIP (Very Interested Parents)
Booster Club
The Palatine High School Booster Club provides a
tremendous amount of support to our students and staff
throughout the year. The VIP’s provide financial support
as well as sponsor a safe, drug and alcohol-free post prom
cruise on Lake Michigan, sell and operate concessions
and spiritwear, provide coat check at school dances,
sponsor the Spring Craft Fair, help plan and organize a
wide variety of events to benefit our students, as well as
plan the annual VIP Dinner and Auction.
Included in this mailing is a reservation form for our
dinner dance this year. Plan on joining us on Friday,
February 25, for our 27th Annual Dinner and Auction.
There will be door prizes, raffle prizes, plus live and silent
auctions. Profits from this event benefit all students at PHS.
Last year we were able to award twelve $1,000 scholarships
to deserving seniors, as well as fund an After The Prom
Event, Athletic Facility Improvement Fund, Royal Rally
events, Trick or Treat with Pirate Pete, and over $32,000 in
other events/grants to Palatine High School. Please help us
do all of this by coming to the dance, donating an auction
item, or just donating if you can to this worthwhile event.
The 18th Annual Spring Craft Fair will be held on
Saturday, March 12 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s always a
huge undertaking and the Boosters are always looking for
volunteers to help. It’s a great way to meet new friends and
get involved.
Check your mail for the Booster raffle tickets in
February. This is the last fundraiser that the After-theProm committee will run this year. The Grand Prize will
be $1,000! Please support the Boosters in their efforts to
provide our children with a drug and alcohol free event.
For additional information, if you have any questions,
or would like to help in any way, please call Jan O’Brien
at (847)359-1330 or Susan Stamatkin at (847)359-7941.
How Can Cooking Your Family Dinner Help PHS?
By Purchasing Market Day Meals
Market Day’s mission is to raise funds for education;
their organization has raised millions for schools all over
America. Palatine High School has used Market Day as
a way to help bring in funding for our school for over 20
years. Our Market Day profits have helped several groups
and organizations over the years, such as: The Ray Mills
Fund, Halloween, The Wishing Tree for needy families,
and many many more. Several of our clubs, sports, and
activities have donated their time to help with Market
Day pick-up day; and in turn, they receive monies for
their activities.
This is important to know - Palatine High School also
receives a percentage from anyone that purchases groceries
from the Sara Lee/Market Day stores. Simply mention
PHS and we receive a percentage of your purchase. So,
next time you receive a Market Day form, think of all
the students you will be helping by making a simple
grocery purchase.
Pirate Pride 1st Semester 2010
Oscar Alanis, Fernando Alcantara, Kyle Allen, Irving Alvarado, Jeffrey Anderson, Jeremy Arnold, Andela
Avdi, Chase Balk, Anna Baran, Betsabe Bautista, Sarah Belkhadir, Anthony Bernal, Peter Blackham, Megan
Bloomquist, Oscar Bracamo, Prentiss Brooks, Linda Bui, Abigail Bustamante, Kimberly Butler, Isamar Caballero,
Sylvia Cameron, Caitlyn Campbell, Edgar Campos, Ana Campos, Casey Cannon, Melissa Cannon, Jennifer
Cardenas, Juan Carlos Huila, Vanessa Castillo, Moshae Chambliss, Jonathan Clark, Maria Concepcion, Carina
Cortez, Alicia Cruz, Maria Del Rayo Rojas, Joseph Desario, Quinn Devero, Daniel Dimeo, Nicholas Dorsen,
Zuleima Duarte-Adan, Sarah Dudek, Claudia Dumitru, Kayla Eckstrum, Noemi Elias, Gabriel Flores, Uriah
Fracassi, Morgan Gallagher, Udelia Gamboa Sanchez, Mauricio Garcia, Trevor Gere, Sarah Gill, Kiranjit Gill,
Gabriela Gonzalez, Salvador Granados, Zoe Gray, Phillip Grunewald, Brian Hall, Ashley Harris, Thomas Hauert,
Emma Heckelsmiller, Diego Hernandez, Nicholas Heuertz, Jonah Hinz, Daniel Hoffman, Brandon Huerta,
Marcos Hurtado, Joanne Jablonski, Carlos Jimenez, Steph Jimenez, Brittany Johnson, Yana Kalyuzhnaya, Jasveen
Kaur, Paras Kaushal, Dominik Kneip, Tiffani Knopp, Peter Koutroumbis, Gretchen Krause, Thomas Laabs,
Jessica Lindsay, Shamarri Lindsey, Jamie Lloyd, Sonnya Lozano, Andrea Lupo, Shannon Luschen, Karolina
Malska, Jonathan Marsh, Nikolai Martino, Samuel McDonald, Angel Medina, Eric Mendoza, Daniel Michie,
Kasey Miehlke, Michael Mitchell, Haeun (Angela) Moon, Carly Mulert, Monica Murillo, Joseph Nagy, Marcos
Navarrete, Sarah Nisivaco, William Nowacki, Samuel Olvera, Brenda Orozco, Alec Owens, Archan Patel,
Shaan Patel, Jasmine Pathan, Jordan Payne, Andrew Pecson, Milthon Plascencia, Nestor Ponciano Torres, Julie
Prombo, Roberto Puntos Avila, Angela Quandt, Kristina Ramirez, Roy Ritner, Alyssa Robinson, Patrick Roche,
Yazmina Rodriguez, Rita Rodriguez, Miguel Rodriguez, Buchanan Rogala, Maria Rojas, Ricardo Ruano, Karolina
Rutyna, Elias Salas, Samantha Salomone, Alejandra Sanchez, Vishrut Saran, Amanda Schafer, Megan Schanz,
Kara Schoiber, Rachel Schroeder, Emily Schulte, Austin Silver, Kelsey Sobotka, Byron Socop, Jasmine Solorio,
Crystal Sosa, Roberto Sotelo, Zachary Stella, Justin Stuck, Jenna Studtmann, Harsh Thakkar, Ashley Theis,
Markus Thut, Paulina Trejo, Sam Tyack, Gabriel Valcheva, Margaret Van Grondelle, Tanya Veschuroff, Kevin
Villanueva, William Wagner, Teresa Walker, Colton Walthall, Lei Watanuki, Samuel Wiebe.
The following is a list of Illinois State Scholars for 2010 - 2011
Anique Aburaad, Jacob Alberti, Alyssa Alden, William Allen, Hanna Anderson, Alyx Ballenger, Bryan Bartyzel,
Kelsey Batz, Jacob Belica, Erik Bethke, Siddharth Bhayani, Cody Bobbit, Elizabeth Bombal,Julianne Borgardt,
Ethan Chaplinsky, Hayley Chartier, Kevin Christensen, Claire Cinquegrani, Kendall Cox,Bridget Damisch, Joseph
Daumen, Yekaterina Degtyareva, Jared Dennison, Emily Dineen, Robert Egan,Meghan Flanagan, Uriah Fracassi,
Reuben Frey, Mark Froehling, Joseph Froelich Jr., Alex Gajeske, Zachary Gray, Valere Guertin, Peter Haney,
Taylor Harding, James Hargrove, Daniel Haze, John Healey,Lisa Heatherly, Jennifer Herr, Charlene Hoffman,
John Hogan, Joanne Jablonski, Samuel Jefferson,Daniel Jump, Alex Kehe, Ashlynn Kendzior, Benjamin Kohn,
Gregory Kucab, Erich Kuerschner,Michael Kunzweiler, Justin Lebo, Kevin Lebo, Ryan Lebo, Jesus Leon, Cully
Leverenz, Steven Logan,Michelle Lui, Dale Manalo, Jennifer Margono, Gabrielle Mattes, Kevin McCall, Elizabeth
Mohr,Kelly Molinaro, Sean Murphy, Gregory Overdorf, Priyanka Pate, Riki Patel, Vivek Patel, Anna Pazderski
,Laura Pettersen, Jacob Poklop, Julie Prombo, Lauren Radtke, Michael Rogers, Katherine Scovic,Victoria Sekrecki,
Claire Shipton, Sara Shoemake, Emily Smith, Thomas Smith, Daniel Sommerfeld,Andrew Stoffer, Rebecca Sund,
Madeleine Thomas, Lisa Tomlinson, Elizabeth Tucker, Medina Uddin, Rohan Vettiankal, Stanislaw Warcholek,
Nicholas Weis, Grace Whitmore, Sabrina Williams, Kurt Wittmeyer, Kaitlyn Worth, Dzmitry Yankouski, Taylor
Young, Mitchell Zielinski, Sarah Zwirkoski.
PE Academic Corner
Physically fit children do perform better
academically! The National Association for Sport and
Physical Education (NASPE) commends the California
Department of Education (CDE) for its study that
shows a distinct relationship between academic
achievement and physical fitness of California’s public
school students.
“It makes great common sense to physical educators
that active, physically fit children will perform better
academically,” said Judith C. Young, Ph. D., NASPE
Executive Director. “Now the California Department
of Education has provided specific evidence. NASPE
urges further research to examine relationships
between physical activity and academic performance.
In addition, information is needed which compares the
students’ physical education programs to their various
levels of fitness.”
In the study, reading and mathematics scores were
matched with fitness scores of 353,000 fifth graders,
322,000 seventh graders, and 279,000 ninth graders.
Key findings of the study are:
•Higher achievement was associated with higher
levels of fitness at each of the three grade levels
measured.
• The relationship between academic achievement
and fitness was greater in mathematics than in
reading, particularly at higher fitness levels.
Study Supports Physically Fit Kids
Perform Better Academically
• Students who met minimum fitness levels in
three or more physical fitness areas showed the
greatest gains in academic achievement at all
all three grade levels.
• Females demonstrated higher achievement than
males, particularly at higher fitness levels.
According to Delaine Eastin, State Superintendent
of Public Instruction in California, “This statewide
study provides compelling evidence that the physical
wellbeing of students has a direct impact on their
ability to achieve academically. We now have the proof
we’ve been looking for: students achieve best when
they are physically fit. Thousands of years ago, the
Greeks understood the importance of improving spirit,
mind, and body. The research presented here validates
their philosophic approach with scientific validation.”
Eastin pointed to physical education as a primary
source for promoting physical fitness. “Every student
in California should have quality physical education
experiences from kindergarten through high school,”
she said. “The goal of these programs should be to
provide students with the knowledge, skills, and
confidence to participate in health enhancing physical
activity throughout their lives.”
Families are encouraged to plan activities that
include opportunities for all family members to be
physically active together. Health-related fitness
assessment results can be used as tools to help students
understand, enjoy, improve, and maintain their
physical health and well-being.
Information about the National Association for Sport
and Physical Education (NASPE) can be found on
the Internet at www.aahperd.org, the web site of the
American Alliance for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation & Dance (AAHPERD). NASPE is the
largest of AAHPERD’s six national associations.
A nonprofit membership organization of over 18,000
professionals in the fitness and physical activity fields,
NASPE is the only national association dedicated
to strengthening basic knowledge about sport and
physical education among professionals and the
general public. Putting that knowledge into action in
schools and communities across the nation is critical
to improved academic performance, social reform, and
the health of individuals.
This Principal’s Newsletter is computer-designed and photocopied at school on recycled paper for Palatine High School parents.
Palatine High School 1111 N. Rohlwing Road, Palatine, IL 60074-3797 • (847) 755-1600