March 01: Deadline for Valencia College Dual Enrollment applications

March 03: Long Wednesday - No Early Release

March 12: Student Holiday (Teacher Workday)

March 15-19: Spring Break

March 1 & 2: Algebra 1 Retake (2 sessions - all students who have not yet passed the Algebra 1 test)

March 3: SAT School Day (11th) - NO EARLY RELEASE

March 4-8: PMA 3 (Super Six Classes)

March 9: ACT Non College Reportable School Day (Select Juniors and Seniors)

If you have a student at CCHS and have already taken the 2021 parent survey, thank you for your help. If not, would you kindly do so today as the survey will be taken down in March.

We rely heavily on the feedback for our ongoing school improvement efforts. Please know that the surveys are kept anonymous and we only see the combined results of the survey, not individual parent responses.

OCPS announced graduation dates for the Class of 2021 with preliminary plans to hold all ceremonies in person at the Amway Center. This schedule is based on the availability of the Amway Center during the NBA playoffs or Solar Bears games, and safety conditions due to COVID-19.

In the event graduations cannot take place at the Amway Center, alternative locations will be determined.

Safety precautions will include, but are not limited to, the mandatory wearing of face masks, social distancing, limited ticketing (exact number per graduate to be determined), strict arrival, departure and stage procedures.

All guidelines and protocols are being developed in conjunction with the Florida Department of Health in Orange County and the Amway Center.

Cypress Creek will live stream their graduation.

Our Cypress Creek FFA team competed in State Preliminaries for the Floricultural Career Development event. Our team of four included Leslie Moran, Dayna Becker, Omayra Rodriguez, and Melissa Santiesteban. Out of thirty-nine (39) teams across the State, our Cypress Creek FFA team placed 2nd, which advances them to the State Finals.

The goal of this competition was to stimulate interest in learning activities related to the Floriculture industry, including the identification of plants, business situations and safety issues. Event highlights include the ability to: Identify common floriculture plants, participate in a hands-on floriculture live practicum, price floriculture products and properly handling common customer complaints.

If you graduated from Cypress Creek and would like to be feature in our "Bear in the Woods" section of future of this community brief and in our social media, please click on this link

and complete the Google form.

Your story can benefit our current students as they can draw insight from your message.

Cypress Creek's PLTW Biomedical Science students are taking on some real-world challenges! The students work with the same tools used by professionals in hospitals and labs. They engage in compelling, hands-on activities and work together to find solutions to serious problems. Students take from the courses in-demand knowledge and skills they will use while still in high school and for the rest of their lives, on any career path they take.

If any of Bears have questions about this wonderful CTE program, please contact Mr. Canone, Career Specialist

Cypress Creek 3D art student winners - "BeARTistic 2021"

Cypress Creek young artists' new challenge is to create a Black Floridian Bear (our mascot) using any material! Please click here for examples of more student and larger views.

We are looking for captivating designs that are visually appealing to the Cypress Creek audience and will contribute to beautifying our campus. This project aspires to trigger our imagination and create a deeper sense of community at Cypress Creek High School.

Your design does NOT have to reflect one of the following themes, these are just suggested categories to help foster ideas in the direction we are wanting this project to take. If you have another idea, please do not let these restrict your creativity!

Submit your designs to this google form: https://tinyurl.com/CCHSmuralContest

Email Ms. Stapleton if you have any questions- Regan.Stapleton@ocps.net

1) Hispanics working in the healthcare system. Hispanics make up a large portion of healthcare workers, with 2.2 million Hispanic healthcare workers nationwide. Of this 2.2 million, almost one-third are foreign-born.

Source: New American Economy; Read full article

Source: Florida Dept. of Economic Opportunity; Read report

Making sense of the table for our Bears: Using a 4-year degree in nursing as an example (Bachelor's degree - row #1 in the table) the typical nursing graduate in the USA (this will depend on where you work plus any past experience) starts their career out at $64,930 in year one with college loan debt of $21,812. That means that what they earn in their first year out of college is about 3X greater than the college debt they will need to repay at some point. Whether a multiple of 3X is fine or too low depends upon the individual. This is because after college many will want to buy a house, new car, start a family, etc. and if a college grad has too much debt already on their record, this can impede borrowing for these other important life goals. Food for thought and another reason why our college bound Bears should consult with Talani Nelson in our College & Career Resource Center while they are still here.

Source: The Brookings Institute; Read full article

Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991) — Dr. Seuss of children's book fame — is loved by millions of readers including many of our Bears who still likely remember his books very well. No children's author/illustrator's work is more immediately recognizable worldwide than that of Dr. Seuss. His most popular book, "Green Eggs and Ham," has sold 8 million copies since 1960. (Did you know that Green Eggs and Ham contains only 50 words?) In fact, Dr. Seuss has sold 650 million copies and counting to children and adults around the world.

One character trait our Bears should know about Dr. Seuss is that he was very persistent — he knew how to bounce back from rejection and failure. Early on, he was rejected 27 times in trying to get his first book published. But the 28th, Vanguard Press, published it and it sold 6 million copies! How did he learn to get over setbacks? He simply worked through it and jumped back into the game right away. Plus, he was always trying to learn from his mistakes.

Fax 407-850-5160 | EEO Statement

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 - Cypress Creek High School is forbidden without written consent. Thank you for your support of Cypress Creek High School and the Orange County Public Schools. Please contact Dr. McHale at walton.mchale@ocps.net with any questions or for further information.