Comments & a Question... 09/20 - 09/26

Welcome to those of you that found this link on the Gazette's ViewPoints column! We encourage you to leave comments, suggestions, recommendations, etc. for us here at the high school so we can better serve our students and our community.

Here's a quick question - Would you rather have Augusta High School be known for it's students' ability to achieve Standard of Excellence in all subject areas from year to year, or for it's ability to produce student graduates that are prepared for work in the 21st Century, regardless of what their state assessment scores indicate?

General Comments 09/13 - 09/19

Welcome back to a new school year!

If you haven't yet been to the high school, you're in for quite a treat... the remodel is done and we're very pleased with how things have turned out. Stop by and let us show you around.

We're also excited to see the new science wing nearing completion - the four new rooms should be done before Christmas, and then the remodel of the physics/physical science rooms can begin.

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please leave us a note and we'll get back to you as soon as we have an answer.

July through beginning of school (August 18th)

Just a quick note to remind everyone that school will be starting back up soon (Tuesday, August 17th for freshman orientation - Wednesday, August 18th for everyone) providing the construction timeline holds up...

There will also be an Open-House at AHS on Monday, August 16th, primarily for students new to the district and freshmen (and their parents, of course), but it is open to any community member that wants to see first-hand the changes from this summer's construction projects.

1st full week of Summer break - 05/24 - 05/30

Thanks to all students, parents, faculty, staff, and administration for a great 2009-2010 school year!

Congrats to our science students for 90.5% of them meeting or exceeding state standards on the KS State Science Assessment this year (out of 263 assessments taken)!

Students taking Driver's Ed. this summer should have a schedule of their driving dates and times - this was posted at least two weeks ago at school and given to them at the Saturday classes. They'll continue to meet at the middle school all next week (until further notice).

Welcome to our new principal, Donna Zerr, coming to us from Pittsburg, KS (USD 250). Please help to make her and her husband feel welcome and part of the community!

Lots of new construction and remodeling/renovation will be taking place at the high school this summer - we know everyone is excited to see the results, but let's try to let the crews get their work done in the short time they have without too many of us in their way!

Finally, this blog will be updated, but only about once every two weeks or so - feel free to leave comments on ANY posts (current or past) as it will continue to be moderated on a regular basis.

Thanks, and have a productive summer!

Last Week of School - 05/17 - 05/23

Well, it's the end of another great year at AHS this week - most classes will be taking (or will already have taken) their final exams, and some students will be scrambling just to get caught up so they can raise their grades. Teachers will have until Thursday at noon to get their grades finalized and turned in, so most will be accepting work up until around 10:30 or 11:00 that morning - just in case you (or someone you know) need to turn in something or make up a test...

On another note, this blog will be on 'maintenance-mode' for the summer months; instead of monitoring it for comments on an almost daily basis, someone on our committee will be checking it once or twice a week until right before school starts up again in the fall, then we'll be back to our previous moderation schedule.

See you next semester!

Renaissance Week - 05/03 - 05/09

Every semester, the Renaissance Committee, headed by Jeff Regier, rewards students for various accomplishments, the most prestigious of which are the Teacher Choice Awards. Each teacher in the building nominates one student from their current classes that they feel exemplify qualities such as scholarship, determination, perseverance, or any number of other traits that teacher identifies in top students. These awards will be handed out on Tuesday this week in a special assembly with their parents/family members in attendance to commemorate the occasion.

The other four days are reserved for recognizing things such as student involvement in extracurricular activities, 'A' performance in classes, and high/improved GPA. Thanks to many local businesses and individuals, this program has been funded completely from outside donations!!!

Way to go, Augusta, for supporting AHS students and the future of our community!

Spring Sports are underway

Many of you are well aware of how busy kids (and parents) can get when spring sports are in full swing, but some of you that haven't been to a spring sporting event in a while might really enjoy watching some of our outstanding student/athletes compete this season. There are a wide variety of events to choose from: baseball, softball, track and field, girls soccer, and boys tennis - many of which will host competition at AHS facilities over the next few weeks. Our kids would love to have your support!

State Assessments

It's that time of year again... state assessments are upon us and kids (and teachers) are wringing their hands over how well they've performed. If you have comments or questions about these assessments, let us know - we'd love to hear what the community's opinion is on their importance.

General Comments 04/05 - 04/11

Well, spring sports are in full swing and state assessments (if they haven't already been administered) are nearly upon us. Seniors are anxious about graduation, next year's enrollment (and class scheduling) is winding down for the underclassmen, and construction on the new science wing is finally underway!

Hopefully, parents and community members are becoming aware of the existence of this blog and we can start to utilize it more fully as the communication tool for which it was originally intended. For those of you who have visited, please spread the word about this blog!
Thanks!

Spring Break 3/12 - 3/22

Just wanted to leave a note here to let the community know that this blog won't be moderated very often during the break since many of our committee members will be out of town. Feel free to leave comments, though, and we'll get to them as soon as everyone returns the following week.

As a sidebar, many teachers are going to be working on their rooms from now until the end of this semester so that other renovations can take place during summer break. We'd like to invite you to come in early next school year and see what they've accomplished in that time!

General Comments 02/28 - 03/06

Congratulations to all the Augusta High wrestlers for a successful season, especially to Luke Henning and Nick Collins, who placed 2nd and 4th respectively in their weight classes at the 4A state tournament this past Friday and Saturday! Basketball Sub-State play commences this week as well, and our athletes would love to have your support if you can make it to any of the games!

As a staff, we'd really like to know how Parent-Teacher conferences are viewed by the community, considering the advent of on-line grade checking abilities that parents now have through PowerSchool. Let us know what you think about the times, format, etc.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

We'd like to encourage everyone with high school students to attend conferences this Wednesday (2/17) or Thursday (2/18) starting at 5:00 and running through 8:30 each evening. Even if you don't have kids at the high school, this would be a great opportunity to meet some new teachers and check out some of the completed renovations!

General Comments 01/25 - 01/31

A quick reminder to seniors and senior parents - this week, on Monday and Tuesday, Cap and Gown pictures will be taken starting at 8:00 a.m. both days in the auditorium.

Attention all winter sports athletes -- team and individual sports pictures will be taken this week on Tuesday, during seminar, starting at 2:00 p.m.

Stay posted for next week's "Topic of Conversation" and, as always, we'd love to hear any comments, concerns, opinions, or ideas you might have for us at Augusta High School.

Harlem Ambassadors at Hutter Gymnasium

If you haven't been at the High School lately or gotten a chance to see the newly renovated Hutter Gym, Monday night would be a great opportunity! The Harlem Ambassadors professional "show" basketball game that will be held here that evening is a family-friendly community fundraiser that will help to fund a number of community projects as listed in the Gazette's article about this event. The article also states that tickets can be purchased for $7 in advance at the locations listed and will be available for $9 at the door.

You can find out more about the Harlem Ambassadors at their website, www.harlemambassadors.com

We look forward to a great turnout in watching some AHS alumni relive their glory days and benefiting our community at the same time!

General Comments 01/11 - 01/17

Since one of the purposes of this blog is to provide another line of communication between the high school and its stakeholders, this is a great place for you to pose some questions about AHS that you might not have been able to ask otherwise. If you don't have any questions, go ahead and leave a comment or two...

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a great break and we look forward to getting things started in preparation for second semester!

Some of you may have noticed that the initial stages of construction on the new science wing have begun on the northwest corner of AHS - if you haven't seen the finished auditorium or renovated Hutter gymnasium, we'd invite you to stop by and see them and let us know what you think...