I hope this update finds you well…
A belated note of appreciation to our veterans. Though we can never fully repay our debt of gratitude to the more than 650,000 American service members who died in battle or the 1.4 million who were wounded; we can, however, recognize and thank the 25 million veterans still living today. Thank you for your service and sacrifice!
Thank you to all of our families who attended Parent Teacher Conferences. We had over nearly 1,800 individual conferences scheduled with quite a few more walk-ins -- thank you for your partnership!
Next week marks the start of American Educator's Week. As a community, we celebrate this week by recognizing all employees who support your child's education regardless of the role. The week includes Family Day on Tuesday, Education Support Professionals Day on Wednesday, and Substitute Educators Day on Friday. We are absolutely blessed to have such a dedicated, tireless and talented group serving your students!
The daily bell schedule for the week of November 15th is listed below:
- Monday, November 15th - A Day
- Tuesday, November 16th - B Day
- Wednesday, November 17th - C Day
- Thursday, November 18th - A Day
- Friday, November 19th - B Day
The daily bell schedule for the week of November 22nd is listed below:
- Monday, November 22nd - A Day
- Tuesday, November 23rd - B Day (1:30 p.m. dismissal)
- Wednesday, November 24th - Thanksgiving Break
- Thursday, November 25th - Thanksgiving Break
- Friday, November 26th - Thanksgiving Break
Included in this update:
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Thank you for your service - new item
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Monthly Calendar - November - December - updated item
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Fall Outstanding IVVC Students - new item
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Just ONE! - student recognition - new item
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Be the Change Week - new item
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YHS Athletics Update - new item
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Get your Fox Gear - new item
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Spotlight on Learning - Social Studies - new item
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This week in Advisory...- new item
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Digital Citizenship Tip of the Week - new item
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Dean's Safety & Security Update - new item
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Program Spotlight - Dual Credit - new item
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Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) results - new item
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PSAT/SAT Informational Update - old item
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Map My Next Move - College & Career Center - updated item
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Hey Seniors - FAFSA available - updated item
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SAT National Test Dates - old item
In addition to my weekly email updates, I encourage everyone to follow us on Twitter and “like” our Facebook page to learn about all the great things happening at YHS. We have so many great things happening— so don’t just FOLLOW but SHARE our FOX PRIDE within our community—help us build our following!
As always, if this update raises questions, please ask. Thank you for all that you do—it does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. Have a great day! GO FOXES!
With PRIDE,
David S. Travis
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Thank you for your service! |
In honor of Veteran’s Day, YHS Social Studies Department welcomed six Veterans who shared their stories. Thank you to the following Veterans who presented to students and staff: David Orton, Dan Cornwall, Jerry Sperry, Donovan Torres, Caitlin Bridges, and Doug Miller.
Representing various branches of the Armed Forces, many of these Veterans have ties to Yorkville; including former students, teachers, and community members. We were honored to hear about their experiences, but more importantly, fortunate to have the opportunity to recognize their service to our country.
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Monthly Calendar - November -December |
Provided for our families is a month at a glance summary.
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A Days are highlighted in "Red" - November 15, 18, 22, 29; December 2, 6, 9, 13, 16
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B Days are highlighted in "Gray" - November 16, 19, 23, 30; December 3, 7, 10, 14, 17
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C Days are highlighted in "Green" - November 17; December 1, 8, 15
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November 11 & 12 (Parent Teacher Conferences), November 24, 25, 26 (Thanksgiving Break); December - 20 -31, January 1-2 - Holiday Break
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Fall Outstanding IVVC Students |
Congratulations to the YHS Fall Outstanding IVVC students! The criteria for selection includes qualities such as outstanding professional work, enthusiasm, attendance, initiative and demonstrated work ethic. Great job, Foxes!
Kirk Harding - Culinary Arts, Jenna Lietz - Health Occupations, Ralph Cobb - Certified Nursing Assistant
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Each quarter, Yorkville High School staff members have the opportunity to nominate "JUST ONE" student they feel deserves recognition for a job well done! I would like to extend my congratulations to the 88 students who were nominated by a staff member for their efforts this past quarter.
April Alanis, Yamile Alvarez Lievanos, Kendrick Bakel, Samantha Bearden, Derek Becker, Logan Brasfield, Paige Brasfield, Megan Breon, McKenna Calloway, Adrian Camacho, Zelda Carlson, McKayla Conley, Gabe Contreras, Dominick Coronado, Jackie Cruz, Jessoni Culbreath, Lailana Davila, Elijah Dayal, Diana Diaz, Abby Diaz, Gianna DiVerde, Aidan Donahue, Cam Duran, Tyler Enczur, Connor Evans, Naytona Faedtke, Gianna Falcone, Caitie Famera, Alexis Fedanzo-Dudley, Peyton Finkenhoefer, Marsden Fisher, Sydney Freiberg, Kaitlyn Gerrick, Ava Glenn, Robert Gonzalez, Landon Gorges, Nayeli Gutierrez, Caden Hall, Christian Hall, Nadia Hansen, Logan Herrera, Tavoress Hines, Katie Hollenbeck, Kailey Holtquist, Chiara Isaia, Collin Janusz, Isabelle Jones, Ryan Keefe, Aiden Knutson, Jakob Kubeczko, Mason Lakatos, Alexandria Lindsey, Trevor List, Jay'la Little, Kassadie Manukas, Liam McGovern, Caty Mokelke, Peyton Moore, Dexter Morerod, Mia Natividad, Shay Oseni, Mason Paprzycki, Edgar Perez, Anastasia Prutch, Kailey Ramirez, Evan Rhody, Ryan Richmond, Alayah Rodgers, Sofia Rojas, Brennen Sahuri, Rebekah Sanders, Yaritza Santiago, Sal Segura, Izzy Shaughnessy, Lily Smogor, Alex Stenz, Kyle Stevens, Kaylyn Sudnik, Charlie Sygnator, Carmen Tamayo, Will Thomas, Sarah Ticer, Allegra Triner, Danica Tuohy, Alex Ward, Athena Westphal, Matthew Wheeler, Emma Williams
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Be The Change Week! - November 15th-19th |
Be the Change Week, sponsored by the Student Ambassadors Club, was established at YHS in 2010 in an effort to increase education regarding bully prevention. We want to empower our students to have a voice and make YHS a safe place for everyone involved. Bullying is repeated behaviors that may cause the likelihood of physical or psychological harm to others. It is also about the power that a person is trying to gain from others; whether the power is real or perceived. By speaking up and intervening, bullying decreases tremendously. Direct intervention and indirect help are effective ways to let other students know that this will not be tolerated within our school. As parents, please encourage your student to make a difference in someone’s day or in their life; simply by speaking up. BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world!
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Congratulations to the following student-athletes on earning Academic All-Conference in a fall sport (Junior or Senior student on a varsity team with a 3.5 or greater GPA)!
Boys Golf: Domenick DiVito, Payton Tarulis-Morris, Ryan Waugh
Girls Golf: Madeline Battaglia, Laine Leonard, Mia Natividad
Boy Soccer: Aiden Knutson, Elliot Goodwin, Caden Nadler, Michael Ripsch, George Reinert, Josiah Gulbro, Hudson Fiene, Joey Winkelman, Isaac Ferrer, Logan Brusak, Ryan Karpiel
Girls Tennis: Ashlee Dasenbrock, Kaitlyn Gerrick, Kaitlyn Hix, Jenny Lietz, Kylie May, Brittany Pomierski, Payton Reilly, Kaitlyn Rojas, Kylee Sandon, Elizabeth Taylor
Girls Volleyball: Grace Lindgren, Ella Bourque, Kendall Heitz, Saige Avery, Carly Suddeth, Maddie Magos, Janelle Pye-Blacknard, Hailey Edanzo-Dudley, Anna Burson
Football: Adrian Alvarez, Kyle Clabough, Ralph Cobb, Macy Cyr, Jake Davies, Logan Fenoglio, Lucas Fisher, Tanner Gardner, Kyle Gettemy, Riley Hall, Colby Henry, Hunter Janeczko, Blake Kersting, Nathan Kraus, Andrew Laurich, Randy Mezger, Spencer Price, Ardian Qitaku, Mac Smigielski, Colten Stevens, Kyle Stevens, Samuel Tholen, Andrew Zook
Poms: Kaitlyn Lay, Allison Paletta, Ariel Pomierski, Mia Williams, Anneliese Wolf, Concetta Zamora
Cheerleading: McKenna Calloway, Jasmine Craig, Gianna DiVerde, Ashley Duda, Parker Gaul, Madelyn Greiff, Paige Ingemunson, Rachael Jaskowski, Jacqueline Kraus & Caroline Walton
Girls Cross Country: Lucy Anderson, Makenna Edwards, Ava Glenn, Anna Hunter, Margaret Hunter, Emma Jasutis, Katie Melzer, Renee Niles, Nuria Pugh, Alexandra Stewart
Boys Cross Country: Nicholas Clever, Ian Goodwin, Jack Stillmunkes, Nathan Summers, Benjamin Whaley
Girls Swimming: Kiley Gebhardt
Congratulations to the following student-athletes on earning Southwest Prairie All-Conference in a Fall Sport!
Boys Golf: Ryan Waugh, Evan Stribiak
Girls Golf: Mia Natividad, Laine Leonard, Madeline Battaglia
Boys Soccer: Caden Nadler
Girls Volleyball: Saige Avery, Ella Bourque, Keelyn Muell, Janelle Pye-Blacknard, Grace Lindgren
Football: Andrew Laurich, Jake Davies, Blake Kersting, Andrew Zook
Honorable Mention: Ben Alvarez, John Swarn
Girls Cross Country: Anna Hunter, Margaret Hunter, Makenna Edwards, Alex Stewart
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Congratulations to the varsity girls cross country team on placing 5th in Class 3A at the IHSA State Finals on Saturday, November 6th at Detweiller Park in Peoria. Senior, Anna Hunter, earned All-State honors with a time of 17 minutes, 6.77 seconds to finish in 20th. Maggie Hunter finished 45th; Ava Galloway 76th; Katie Melzer 92nd; and Makenna Edwards 108th for the Foxes! |
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The annual boys and girls basketball Red/White Scrimmage is this Saturday, November 13th in the main gym at YHS. All spectators attending will need to complete the health self-certification survey linked, take a screenshot and be prepared to show the green check mark to athletic department staff upon entry. The scrimmage will also be streamed on the NFHS Network.
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Congratulations to the 20 student-athletes that committed to participate in athletics in college at the National Letter of Intent Signing Day event on Wednesday, November 10th! |
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Volleyball
Isabella Bourque, Canisius College, Micaela Olsen, Aurora University, Saige Avery, Ohio Dominican
Soccer
Ava Glenn, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, Alyssa Wallner, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
Softball
Ellie Alvarez, Bellarmine University, Lauren Koster, Augustana College, Avery Nehring, Rock Valley College
Dance
Alli Paletta, Illinois State University
Track & Field
Kyle Clabough, University of Wisconsin
Baseball
Connor Corrigan, Aurora University, Lorenzo Rios, Presbyterian College, Owen Ross, Kirkwood Community College, Gavin Dobbels, Ashland University, Michael Hilker, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater,
Ryan Harris, Edgewood College, Ben Hixon, UNW – St. Paul, Matt Bivens, Iowa Central CC
Cross Country
Anna Hunter, Arkansas State University, Margaret Hunter, Arkansas State University
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The Sophomore Class Council is having a fundraiser by selling Yorkville Apparel. The money raised will be used to host Prom in 2023. If you are interested, please use the link below to order some Fox gear. The link will close on November 21st in order to receive the apparel by winter break. This is a great opportunity to get some gear for the holidays!
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Spotlight on Learning - Social Studies |
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Each week we will feature a department to provide information about courses that your student may be currently enrolled in, or may be interested in registering for in the future.
This week, our featured department is Social Studies.
Did you know that students need 2.5 credits (5 semesters) of Social Studies to graduate? US History and American Government are required courses for graduation.
Our students have been engaging in learning through discussions, simulations, and creative lessons. Last week in World Geography & Cultures, students used their knowledge of political and economic systems, environmental issues and culture/geography to design unique countries from scratch. Students in World History have been working on an awareness project, selecting a misconception about Yorkville High School and bringing awareness to the topic. Our AP Human Geography students completed a unit on Population & Migration and explored causes and consequences of different population structures. Our next unit is all about Culture- bringing up the most heated debate of the year- is it “soda” or “pop”?
Our juniors in US and AP US History got a blast from the past by playing the classic Oregon Trail game as they began the study of Westward Expansion and the hardships faced by settlers as they moved West. Seniors in the American Government courses completed an interest project which provided students the opportunity to explore and create their own political party. Students in America at War visited the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park and explored exhibits with artifacts from WWI to the Vietnam War. It was an awesome experience!
Our AP European History and AP US Government students completed Escape Rooms last week in order to interactively explore class concepts. Students loved solving the puzzles in order to “Escape” the class period! In the wonderful world of Psychology, students are learning about the most important part of the body ...THE BRAIN! We’ve loved using candy in order to understand brain chemistry and have been doing some fascinating reflections regarding sleep (or, lack thereof) and dreams.
We are excited about the learning experiences offered to our Foxes in our Social Studies courses. If you have questions about the Social Studies Department or it’s course offerings, please contact us! Department Chair, Mrs. Jory Regnier at jregnier@y115.org, or your student’s guidance counselor.
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This past week, students began to work on their Quarter 2 "Passion Project''. Students defined what they would consider a personal passion, brainstormed ideas of what they would consider a passion, and were assigned "accountability partners". Accountability partners allow students the opportunity to collaborate and provide feedback as they progress through the project. The purpose of this project is to help students identify how they can align their personal characteristics, qualities, interests and passions with future aspirations and post secondary plans.
Listed below is a summary of the academic and social emotional lessons that will be taking place in your student's advisory period for the upcoming week:
Monday, November 15th and November 18th: The primary focus for both lessons is for students to identify their extracurricular passions. Students will differentiate between extracurricular and personal passions, and identify extracurricular and structured activities they currently pursue or are interested in pursuing. Students will collaborate with their accountability partner to create a PowerPoint slide that communicates their extracurricular interests and passions.
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Digital Citizenship Tip of the Week |
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Parents and Students - linked below is a fun website that allows you to test the strength of your passwords and helps to break bad password habits. Hopefully this site will help you ensure security in the password creation process.
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We have successfully completed the 1st quarter of the 21-22 school year and we are proud to say it has certainly been a success. We have seen many changes for the better, and look to improve upon different areas in the dean's office. One aspect that we will be looking into is our parking procedures. We are currently completely full with student parking spots. If you would like your student to drive to school this year, you may complete the application and pay the discounted registration fee for the remainder of the year. This will lock you into a waiting list and when a spot opens up, you will be notified. Also a reminder, please remind students that they must refrain from driving and parking in the "visitor" lot. These spaces are meant to allow our scheduled visitors a place to park. We will be enforcing this as we have many students parking in the front without permission. Thank You. |
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Program Spotlight - Dual Credit |
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What is Dual Credit? - Dual Credit coursework provides students with the opportunity to earn college credit while enrolled in high school. This coursework allows students to begin college-level coursework and ensure a smoother transition from high school to college.
Why Take Dual Credit?
- Allows students to complete their Associate’s and/or Bachelor’s degree faster.
- Taking Dual Credit courses allows college credit to be obtained at a significant savings, often saving hundreds or thousands of dollars.
- Obtain credit at Waubonsee Community College and other participating universities.
Yorkville High School offers multiple Dual Credit courses for students to take during their junior and senior year. Courses include:
- Transitional English
- English 101/English 102
- Introduction to Education 200
- Clinical Experience in Education 202
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Quantitative Literacy
- College Math 101
- Basic Statistics 107
- Basic CAD Drafting (CAD 101)
- Technical Drafting (CAD 102)
- Geology 100/Geology 101
- Astronomy (AST 100)
- CIS 110 Business Information Systems
- CIS170 Networking Essentials
- CIS115 Introduction to Programming
- WEB 110 Web Development w/ HTML
- CIS 205 Information Technology/Project Management
For more information: Connect with your student’s teachers & counselor during this year's course selection process. Course selection for the 2022-2023 school year will be promoted shortly. We looked forward to supporting all of our students to achieve success!
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On Monday November 15th, students will receive a paper copy of their Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) results in their Advisory.
In addition, the Illinois State Board of Education has created a new digital platform for parents/ guardians to view their child's results and progress on this assessment.
Please see this letter for more details.
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PSAT/SAT Informational Update |
Parents of 9th, 10th, 11th grade students:
Students took a practice SAT on September 15th and received their scores in Advisory on October 18th. Advisory teachers provided students information about their practice SAT scores and how to increase their scores in the future. Additionally, students were provided with strategies for SAT practice through Khan Academy. Khan Academy, a free website, offers full-length practice SAT tests. Students can watch videos showing step-by-step solutions to problems they missed or found challenging.
Please look for future direct communication to families regarding your students’ scores in relation to the College Board Suite of Assessment benchmarks. Future communication will also include information about our SAT Prep Program that is offered at YHS.
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Map My Next Move Update - College & Career Center |
Each year, the Counseling Department requires that all students complete the Map My Next Move survey, detailing their individual post-secondary plans. This survey allows Counselors to collaborate with students and families to support the college and career aspirations for all students.
Post-secondary planning involves evaluating all options for students to pursue after high school graduation. These plans may include: entering the military, going straight into the workforce, attending a trade and/or vocational school, and attending a 4 year college or university. As a Counseling Department, we strive to ensure that all students have identified a post-secondary plan, and have the tools to help that plan turn into a reality.
Post-secondary plans should be attainable, researched and have a "back-up" plan. In the event that your student is planning on attending college, that means that they should have an identified "safety" school to apply to. Safety schools are defined as those in which a particular student has a 75% chance or better of being accepted.
Please click here to have your student complete the survey.
As of Wednesday, November 10th , the Map My Next Move survey completion rate is as follows:
Class of 2022 (Seniors): 425/512; 83% completion rate
Class of 2023 (Juniors): 355/496: 72% completion rate
Class of 2024 (Sophomores): 468/517; 91% completion rate
Class of 2025 (Freshmen): 490/536; 91% completion rate
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Hey Seniors - Let's Complete the FAFSA! |
Senior Families: Completing the FAFSA or the FAFSA waiver is an Illinois state high school graduation requirement--in order to graduate, you MUST complete it! The FAFSA is the free application for federal student aid, that must be completed to qualify for federal grants, state grants, and institutional scholarships provided by colleges and universities. Remember, grant money is obtained by completing the FAFSA on a first come, first served basis! The FAFSA application is open now!
Each year, the amount of Illinois grant money runs out earlier and earlier. By completing your FAFSA as soon as possible beginning October 1st, you put your student in line to receive the money for which they qualify. The FAFSA application is based on your tax documents from the previous year; no need to estimate or update!
Six years ago, only 59% of the Class of 2015 grads completed the FAFSA, with less than 30% completing prior to the announcement that state grant money was depleted. Last year, 58% of the Class of 2020 completed their FAFSA prior to the announcement that state grant money was depleted.
As of Sunday, November 7, 163 families have completed the FAFSA graduation requirement!
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To maximize your post secondary options and merit based scholarship opportunities we encourage you to take the SAT or the ACT. Please consult with our College & Career Counselor Kendall Sims at ksims@y115.org if you have any questions in regards to test options and college admissions. Senior Counseling Lessons will also showcase the testing experience to support your student's decision. Test registration dates are approaching!
National SAT Test Dates in Early/Late Fall 2021
Test Dates:
December 4, 2021
National ACT Test Dates in Early/Late Fall 2021
Test Dates:
December 11, 2021
*Go to www.act.org for test day registration information
Good Luck!
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