The Month of May has moved extremely fast as we now only have six school days remaining until the final day of school on Friday, May 26th. We encourage all of our Oak Ridge families to support their students in making each of these final instructional days count so that our Pioneers can continue to learn from our outstanding ORHS staff. 

With respect to our staff, we just finished celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week (picture at top). These are a few days set out each May to recognize both teachers and staff that have worked so hard since the prior summer to make sure each student gets the quality education they deserve during their time at ORHS. If there was a teacher, staff member, or coach that in your opinion did an extraordinary job this year, kindly send them a note or email before the school year is over. Hearing from students and our community carries a lot of weight, especially just before they leave for the summer.

Our Class of 2023 is preparing to graduate on Friday, May 26th. The graduation ceremony will be held at the Amway Arena, but there is also a mandatory graduation rehearsal scheduled before that on Tuesday from 5pm-7pm. If this applies to you or your student, please plan accordingly. We are all looking forward to the commencement as the Class of 2023 seniors have certainly lived up to our mantra—BOUND FOR GLORY!

With this latest issue we continue as we began last August: spotlighting a variety of student and staff achievements in the classrooms, in sports competitions, in our clubs & organizations, and in serving others. By any yardstick you like, this has been a successful school year due in no small part by the involvement of our families and community. Thank you so much for your support. Please be sure to stop by our social media platforms and website all along for additional news and announcements.

Thank you very much for reading and Pioneers, let's finish the last week of school with momentum just ahead of a well earned summer break. Make every day count.

Administrative Team

Oak Ridge High School

Pictured very top: Teacher Appreciation Week

We continue to remind students of the electronic policy of no headphones, no AirPods and no cellphones. We have seen vast improvements, and the goal is to make it part of our school culture. The policy is in place from 7:20a-2:20p. Please assist us in enforcing this necessary policy through the last day of school.

Students who arrive AFTER 7:20AM will need to go through the attendance office, 6-102 or 5-111 to receive a pass to class. This is the same procedure for students that are late to a class period. Please assist us in having your students arrive on time.

Shout to all of you who committed your time and energy to assist with testing students this week. (coordinators, proctors, hall monitors, runners, etc.). Your energy, sacrifice, and commitment are appreciated.

Shout out to Mr. Noel and the SGA for organizing and executing an amazing Jolley Awards Pre-Party at Leu Gardens!

Shout out to Ms. Gooseman, Mr. Descartes, Ms. Hamilton, Clavensky Francois (11th), Martain Grant (11th), Travis Fulcher (11th) and Kimari Guthre (12th) for their dynamic job with the first wave of device check-in.

Shout out to our Senior Class Sponsors Ms. Gittens and Ms. Johnson for organizing a very successful senior class of 2023 walkout on Friday, May 12th. It was definitely a day, and an event, that our seniors will remember for a lifetime! Thank you to all who participated and helped make it a successful last day for the class of 2023!

Shout out to Mr. Abia for hosting volunteers from UCF’s Center for Ultrafast Dynamics and Catalysis in Emerging Materials program. These volunteers visited physics and chemistry classes to discuss nanomaterials catalysts and 2D materials and also provided students interested in taking up a STEM-related career an opportunity to do summer research in one of their labs.

Shout out to Ms. Householder and all the daily sponsors who helped to make Teacher Appreciation Week 2023 a success.

June 5 - 9 Monday - Friday

June 12 - 29 Monday – Thursday

Student hours are 7:30am - 12:30pm including lunch

In order for your child to participate please print, complete, sign, and return this registration form –

Or register digitally by going to: tinyurl.com/ORHSSummerSchool2023

Congratulations to our very own Mr. Ranie Abia, Chemistry Instructor! Mr. Abia wrote an article entitled “Embracing a Challenging Opportunity” and was published in the Chemistry Solutions of the American Association of Chemistry Teachers publication. In his article he shares his story about moving from the Philippines to Orlando to accept his teaching position at Oak Ridge HS. He highlights an unanticipated challenge and his successful journey to overcome it. He is an inspiration to other educators and all students who are fortunate enough to be a part of his daily instruction and/or his Chemistry Club. #BoundforGlory

NHS Field Day was nothing short of amazing! Big Pioneer SHOUT OUT to Ms. Gomez who orchestrated this event #NHSLife #Pioneers

Congratulations to the student athletes below on receiving a football 🏈 scholarship offer from the D-1AA (FCS) University of Rhode Island.  #OakRidgeFootball #PioneerNation #PioneerCountry #WeCollegeBound

Congratulations to the following student athletes of The Oak Ridge High Football Program for being offered 🏈 scholarships by Lake Erie College (D-2 school). #OakRidgeFootball #PioneerNation #PioneerCountry #CollegeBound

Congratulations to Sophomore Safety/ATH Elijah Jones for picking up his 4th D-1 🏈scholarship offer from the University of Connecticut (UConn). #OakRidgeFootball #PioneerNation #PioneerCountry #WeAreCollegeBound

Last week, Oak Ridge competed in the Region 4A-3 Championships.

The event was attended by our Chemistry, Forensic Science, and AP Physics students and made possible through the collaboration of Chemistry (Mr. Rodriguez), Physics (Mr. Miller), and Forensic Science teachers (Mr. Cruz). We have a good number of students who expressed their interest in taking up science and a few who are interested to do a summer research internship at UCF in the future.

We look forward to establishing a collaboration between NSF PREM Center and our science teachers and students!

 National Scholarship searches- Fast Web and Scholarships.com

Source: CollegeBoard  

The charts are adjusted for inflation which allows you to fairly compare college expenses from one year to the next for both public and private schools. If any of our Oak Ridge seniors or for that matter, any student, has questions before the school year is over about college financial aid and other related post secondary issues, please stop by the College and Resource Career Center. This is a valuable asset available to our students and families. 

This site has been created to link families with needed existing local resources.

Need to Locate Resources? You can search for free or reduced cost programs such as food, housing, mental health, education programs, and other social services provided directly by Community Based Organizations.

-------------

Please remember Pioneers, if you ever see or hear of something suspicious or unusual, say something to any teacher, staff member or coach right away. You can also use the free FortifyFL app. Thank you!

Copyright Notice

Reproduction of this material, either written or electronically, including the general layout, graphics, analyses, and content topics without the express approval of Target Performance Systems, Inc., a Florida corporation, and OCPS - Oak Ridge High School is forbidden without written consent. Thank you for your support of the Orange County Public Schools and especially Oak Ridge High School. Please contact Mrs. Laurene Householder at laurene.householder@ocps.net with any questions related to the program.

Oak Ridge High School | Dr. Duroseau, Asst. Prin. | 407.852.3200 | ORHS Website