Recent grads return for College Alumni Panels |
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More than 20 Keystone alumni who are now in college returned to their alma mater to pass along their experiences and advice from this next step in their educational journeys.
The alums are attending college throughout the country, and spoke with current Upper School students about their new schools, and touched on other college-related topics such as adjusting to life away from home, learning how to create new routines, making new friends and how to navigate new cities.
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Senior wins Alamo Bowl scholarship |
Congratulations to Tessa a senior, who won an Alamo Bowl Scholarship.
She and the other 87 student-athlete scholarship winners from public and private schools were honored at a luncheon in December, and were recognized on the field during the Alamo Bowl game.
The scholarships are based on academic achievement, teacher recommendations, involvement in extracurricular activities, and varsity sports as well as honors received and a personal narrative.
Among her many activities, she plays basketball and participates in her school’s robotics club.
Way to go!
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Change in COVID notifications
Dear Parents,
As you know, COVID numbers are surging with the Omicron variant and the city now rates the local risk level as “severe.”
With this in mind, beginning this week and while the numbers from Omicron remain high, we will send out a daily roundup of new COVID cases and exposure in the Keystone community. We will send this daily update rather than emailing on a piecemeal basis. Once numbers decrease to where they were pre-Omicron, we will return to our former communication protocols.
Unless otherwise notified, students in grades where there are positive cases are not considered close contacts (within six feet of an infected individual for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period) and do not need to quarantine. Students and parents should watch for symptoms and get tested if symptoms occur.
If you are able, please consider getting vaccinated/boosted and please let us know your student’s vaccination status. As with other vaccinations (measles, flu, etc.) please make a copy of the vaccine record and send it to our nurses.
As a reminder, here's a summary of Keystone’s isolation and quarantine guidelines:
If you test positive:
- Stay home for 5 days. If you have no symptoms or your symptoms are resolving after 5 days, you can leave your house.
- Continue to wear a mask around others for 5 additional days. If you have a fever, continue to stay home until your fever resolves.
If you have been exposed:
- If your COVID vaccines are current and you do not show symptoms, you may continue to attend classes and do not have to isolate or quarantine, but must wear a mask around others. Monitor for symptoms and test on Day 5 after suspected exposure. If you do show symptoms, get a test and stay home until the symptoms end.
- If you are unvaccinated, or are not current on COVID vaccines, stay home for 5 days. After that, continue to wear a mask around others for an additional 5 days. Test on Day 5 after suspected exposure. If you do show symptoms, get a test and stay home until the symptoms end.
Take care and please stay safe.
With hope,
Billy Handmaker
Head of School
Penny Moyer, LVN
Monica Gutierrez, RN
School Nurses
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Cobra Radio podcast launches Jan. 11 |
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Introducing the Cobra Radio podcast!
Hosted by Mr. Tijerina, Keystone's Director of Strategic Marketing & Communications, the podcast visits with students, faculty, staff, alumni and others who discuss their experiences with Keystone and show how this school is a special place.
The first episode features Student Council President Avril, and it will be released Jan. 11.
New episodes come out every two weeks during the school year. It will be available on:
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Billy's Blog - From our Head of School |
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One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things.
–John Burroughs
The week after winter break offers a type of fresh start for the school year: new semester, new energy – and typically – a desire to consider resolutions for the new year. Now some people might wonder about waiting until January 1 to change, and say the best time to try something different is today, regardless of the calendar date. Other people might argue that after all we’ve been through in the past couple of years, the last thing you need to do is find another reason to be anxious by making promises that will be hard to keep. And a third group may suggest that January’s promises become February’s failures, so don’t even bother.
Nevertheless, there can be a benefit in taking stock at the end of one year and resolving to improve in the next twelve months. Perhaps the act of making a resolution even if one doesn’t keep it is in of itself beneficial. It forces us to pause, reflect, and commit to doing better in the days and months ahead.
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Important events and notes |
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NHS holding book drive through Jan. 14
A note from Keystone NHS President Antoine:
As you may have heard, Keystone’s National Honor Society has been partnering with SA Youth, a local educational organization, in a volunteer tutoring program called Reading Buddies, which has been active since March 2021. Much of this tutoring has involved online reading, but it would be awesome to have more physical copies of books at the SA Youth sites for the children to get even more practice.
For this reason, I am coordinating a book drive between January 5th and January 14th. If you have any gently-used children’s books (grades K-5) and would be interested in sharing them with an awesome group of SA Youth elementary students from the South San Antonio School District, there will be donation boxes set up in various locations around campus, including the hall outside of Mr. Spedding’s office, in the main building’s reception area, and in the first floor of the library.
This is a great opportunity to make a difference in the community!
Please feel free to reach out to me here with any questions about the book drive or if you would like to learn more about the Reading Buddies tutoring program.
Thank you,
Antoine
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Do you have internships for Keystone students?
As part of Keystone’s annual Alumni Day, the Development and Alumni Office are including an Internship Fair for Upper School students on Friday, January 14 from 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm. If your company or someone you know has an established internship program in place and would like to join us or share information, please contact Adriana Villafranca at avillafranca@keystoneschool.org.
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9th Grade Parent Session - Jan. 13
From Ms. Christiansen:
9th grade parents are invited to a virtual college counseling update on Jan. 13 from noon-1p.m., to share information about the college counseling program and answer any questions. Zoom details will be sent separately by email.
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Keystone Night at a Spurs game - Jan. 21 |
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Keystone Night at an upcoming Spurs game takes place Friday, Jan. 21, 2022 at the AT&T Center.
The Spurs are playing the Brooklyn Nets, featuring Kevin Durant and James Harden, along with former Spurs Patty Mills and LaMarcus Aldridge.
All tickets purchased automatically include a food voucher and access to the Courtside experience, which allows fans to sit near the court before the game to watch both teams warm up.
Ticket prices range from $33.50-$58.50 for Balcony Level; $98.50-$128.50 for Lower Level; and a few seats at the VIP Charter Level at $353.50.
See you there!
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Navigating College Admission Tests - Jan. 26
From Ms. Christiansen:
When: Wednesday, Jan 26 at 6 p.m., Zoom
What: Navigating College Admission Tests with Compass Education
Who: Families in grades 9-11
Details: registration and more information will be emailed to families in early January
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Save the Date: Alumni Basketball Game - Dec. 16 |
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There's no reason to miss the next Alumni Basketball Game. It's set for Dec. 16.
Above is a photo from the game just before Winter Break. If you're an alum, make plans to play or cheer for the players -- and then enjoy some time for socializing and catching up.
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Sponsorships available for Keystone Food and Drink Festival |
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If you have a business or other organization, you will want to sponsor the upcoming Keystone Food & Drink Festival.
The Food and Drink Festival offers exciting opportunities to strengthen your brand while helping students who will take on the future challenges of our world.
This year's spring fundraiser will bring parents, grandparents, alumni, parents of alumni, and friends of Keystone onto campus for an evening of enjoying outstanding dishes, along with alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, while coming together and catching up in person. Funds raised through the Food and Drink Festival will support Keystone’s students, faculty, and campus. Tickets for this event will go on sale on February 18th.
This event will be held on the evening of Friday, March 25, 2022, so be sure to mark your calendars!
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Get your Keystone gear now |
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We are working with Follett, which provides fanwear and other merchandise to colleges, universities and K-12 schools. Place your orders with Follett, and your merchandise will ship directly to your house.
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Support Keystone while you shop |
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If you're shopping with Amazon, please use AmazonSmile |
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If you're purchasing items from Amazon, please consider supporting Keystone with your purchases and use AmazonSmile. Just designate Keystone as the beneficiary and a portion of your purchases will go to the school.
Make sure to install the Smilematic browser extension. It works with Firefox, Chrome and Safari and automatically redirects users to AmazonSmile when they visit Amazon. Here's the tool: https://couponfollow.com/smilematic.
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We want to hear from you! |
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Follow Keystone on social media |
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