Principal's Weekly Update: Summer Edition

Dear Parent/Guardian:        

I hope this letter finds you enjoying the summer with family and friends.  This time of year is routinely busy at HHS, with numerous projects underway, and preparing for the upcoming school year.  In just a few short weeks, we will be back in full swing and I would like to take this opportunity to inform you of some important information.

Class of 2020 and New Student Orientation  All incoming 9th grade students are invited to orientation on Wednesday, August 24, from 8:30am to 1pm.  Incoming 9th grade students will have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the building layout and the locations of their classrooms. Administrators, class advisors and UNITE student leaders will also provide a general overview of our curriculum, rules, procedures and extracurricular activities.  Laptops will also be distributed at orientation for the Class of 2020.  Any students new to Hopkinton High School, grades 10 - 12, are invited to our New Student Orientation on Thursday, August 25 from 11:30 -1pm.

Student Schedules/ ID Pictures: Pictures for student IDs will be taken on Wednesday, August 24, for all high school students any time between 8 - 2pm.  Students will be able to receive a printed copy of their schedule, along with biographical information and medical forms after they have taken their ID picture on the 24th. Schedules will also be made available online through your iStudent/iParent account on Friday, August 26. Student schedules received prior to the first day of school may reflect some unresolved scheduling conflicts. If that is the case, please set up an appointment with your guidance counselor. Counselors will be in starting the week of August 22.  

Fall Sports: Varsity & JV Football start on Friday, August 19th, Freshman Football & Cheerleading start on Monday, August 22, and all other fall sports start on Thursday, August 25. Please remember to sign up to be eligible to participate through FamilyID on the HHS website asap!  For other athletics questions, please contact our new Athletic Director, Dee King, at dking@hopkinton.k12.ma.us or by phone at 508-497-9845.    

School Opening:  This year school starts Wednesday, August 31st.  Out typical school day starts at 7:25 am and ends at 1:50 pm. 

Save the Date!  HHS will host its annual Back-to-School Night on Thursday, September 15, from 7- 9pm. Parents will have the opportunity to meet with teachers while experiencing a simulated school day. More information about Back-to-School Night will be sent out as we get closer to September 15.

I look forward to another very productive and exciting year.  If you have any questions, or if I can do anything to assist you and your family, please do not hesitate to contact me at 508-497-9820.  With only a few weeks left, I wish you continued relaxation, enjoyment, and fun this summer.

Go Hillers!

Evan Bishop, M.Ed

Principal

HHS Weekly Update for April 11 - 15th

Weekly Announcements:

- On Wednesday, Peer Leaders is hosting a Boston Strong Day at HHS.  All are encouraged to wear blue and yellow to school.  In addition, former marathon winner, Meb Klefezighi, will be attending our spring track meet against Medfield High on Wednesday, hopefully we can get him to run for us!

- Also on Wednesday our music department will be hosting a Jazz night in the auditorium at 7pm. All are encouraged to come listen to some great music.

- Thursday is a busy day/night.  We have our first annual Girls Robotics Day in C206 & C207 from 2  4pm, and the HHS library will be hosting two henna artists, during long block. There are also 2 events that evening.  The seniors have their 50 days to graduation dinner in the cafeteria and the district is hosting a STEM informational night (science, technology, engineering & math) at the middle school from 6:30 - 8pm.

- On Friday, April 15, over 90 of our students will be participating in the Day of Silence, a national day of action in which students across the country call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools.  This is the 12th year that HHS will be a part of this national movement.The first-ever Day of Silence took place at the University of Virginia in 1996 and has since become the largest single student-led action towards creating safer schools for all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.  It is expected that over 8000 middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities will be participating this year.    Please support those students who are taking the vow.  

Student Spotlight/Article of the Week: HHS students play key role in upcoming marathon:

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/article/20160405/NEWS/160407735

Hiller (Home) Varsity Sports:

Monday, April 11th: Girls Tennis vs. Medfield@3:30pm

Tuesday, April 12th: Girls Lacrosse vs. Holliston@3:30pm

Wednesday, April 13th: Girls Track vs. Medfield@3:30pm, Boys Track vs. Medfield@3:30pm

Thursday, April 14th: Boys Tennis vs. Holliston@3:30pm

Friday, April 15th: Softball vs. Holliston@3:45pmSaturday, April 16th: Boys Lacrosse vs. Agawam@4:00pm (Fruit Street)

Go Hillers!

HHS Weekly Update for Apr 4th - 8th

Weekly Announcements:

- Please come support the Relay for Life of Hopkinton on Wednesday night, April 6th, at 6:30 PM in the AC for the second annual students vs. teachers basketball game! The cost for admission is $3 if you are registered for Relay for Life and $5 if you are not, so sign up soon for the discount! There will be a bake sale, as well as a 50/50 drawing and all proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society.

-beFREE is hosting it's Spring Jam on Friday, April 8th, at 7pm next door at the newly renovated HCA building. All are welcome to attend to hear some great music!  

- At the MICCA music festival this past weekend our Concert Band took home a gold medal, while our Chorus, Orchestra and Symphonic band took home silver medals. Congrats to Mr. Hay, Mr. Brody and all the students for their hard work and effort.   

- Congrats to our own Officer Powers on receiving the SRO Exceptional Service Award from the Mass Juvenile Officers Association.  A very well deserved honor for Officer Powers. 

- April is National Poetry Month! Please encourage your son/daughter to visit the HHS library for displays and programing related to this month-long celebration. And please encourage your son.daughter to submit their own works of poetry, to be spotlighted in the HHS library!

- On Thursday, April 14th, the HHS library will be hosting two henna artists, during long block. Stop by and learn more about the history of henna art, and get your own temporary henna tattoo! Sign-ups are required, as spots will be limited. Appointments are available during all lunches; stop by the library's circulation desk to reserve your spot! Open to all students and staff. Also, the April issue of the library newsletter is now available.

- The community is looking for families to participate in Keep Hopkinton Beautiful by focusing on volunteering their time on school property April 9th.  Will Stearman has a letter in this last week’s Hopkinton Independent with contact information www.keephopkintonbeautiful.org or letskhb@gmail.com

Student Spotlight of the Week: 

- Sophomore Avery Sherffius won the 1^st place prize ($5,000 scholarship) in the 3^rd annual Frederick Douglass U.S. History Essay Contest. Additionally, the top prize winner’s school also wins an award of $1,000. Congratulations (and thanks!!) to Avery on this amazing achievement!

Article of the Week: Embracing Mindfulness

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/03/30/what-changes-when-a-school-embraces-mindfulness/

Hiller (Home) Varsity Sports:

Friday, April 8th: Boys Tennis vs. Dover/Sherborn@3:30pm, Baseball vs. Dover/Sherborn@3:45pm, Softball vs. Dover/Sherborn@3:45pm

Go Hillers!

HHS Weekly Update for March 28th - Apr 1st

Announcements:

- The HHS Blood Drive sponsored by the Student Council is this upcoming Tuesday from 8 - 1pm in the auditorium. Students must be 17 years old, 16 years old with a signed parental permission form, have a positive ID and meet the high school weight requirements to donate. Before donating, get a good night's sleep, have a healthy meal and try to avoid fatty foods.

- On Tuesday, 3/29 after school, HHS parent Ms. Barnes will be visiting the makerspace to teach us all how to sew scarves! This event is open to students and staff; no experience necessary!

There will be a screening of the documentary The Homestretch, at the library during long block on Wednesday, 3/30. The Homestretch follows three homeless teens as they fight to stay in school, graduate, and build a future. Curious? Watch the trailer here! For those that can't make the screening during long block, there will be a screening and discussion after school on 3/30 as well. All are welcome!

- The HHS Honors Art Exhibit begins on Wednesday night.  The Opening Reception is from 6:30 - 7:30 at the new Hopkinton Center for the Arts.  The student Artwork will be on display through April 22nd.

- We have another Talent Show on Thursday night starting at 6:30 in the auditorium.  All are welcome to come check out the amazing acts!

- The MICCA festival is this upcoming weekend.  Here is the complete schedule of our chorus and band performances.  Best of luck to all the performers!

- Here is a little blurb about our science olympiad team's performance at the state competition. Congrats Ms. Baldiga and the students. They did a great job for our first competition!

- This summer 45 HHS students will travel to Appalachia, WV for a week-long mission trip.  On Saturday, April 9th from 6-10 pm at St. John's Church Hall, they will host a Country Spaghetti dinner with salad and breadsticks from Olive Garden and live music provided by junior Ben Fargiano's band, The Fuse.  There will be drawings, a silent auction, and a big 50/50 draw for $50 a ticket (this admits two to dinner).  Dinner tickets are only $10 per person for this fun night out to support their trip. All are encouraged to attend.

Student Spotlight of the Week:

- Congrats to HHS senior Maggie Reynolds on winning the Massachusetts Daughters of the American Revolution State Conference!! 

Article of the Week: 10 Questions to ask to help develop a growth mindset in children.

Go Hillers! 

HHS Weekly Update for March 21st - 25th

Announcements:

- Our Music Department will be performing two concerts this week.  On Monday night, the Symphonic Band and Concert Band will be performing pieces by Ticheli, Vaughan-Williams, and Jenkins; all standard repertoire for wind band.  There will also be a student teacher conductor, Ronni Gillette, from UMass Amherst.  On Tuesday night, the Chorus and Orchestra will perform a variety of songs including classics such as Coplands arrangement of "Simple Gifts" and Brahm's "Hungarian Dance #5" amongst other songs.  The concerts are free and open to the public.  The Music Department really hopes to see you there!

- All Sophomores will be taking the MCAS ELA test this week. The testing schedule is:

• Tuesday, March 22 (D day Periods 2,3,4): ELA Composition Session A and B,
• Wednesday, March 23 (E day Periods 7,1, and 2): Reading Comprehension Sessions 1 and 2,
• Thursday, March 24 (F Day Periods 5, 6, and 7): ELA Composition 3.

-  UNITE will be hosting a 9th Grade Trivia Night in the cafeteria Wednesday night at 6:00pm.  The event is open to any 9th grade students and 9th grade advisors and will pattern itself after the popular app Trivia Crack.  There will be food and prizes. 

- On Tuesday, 3/29 after school, HHS parent Ms. Barnes will be visiting the makerspace to teach us all how to sew scarves! This event is open to students and staff; no experience necessary!

- There will be a screening of the documentary The Homestretch, at the library during long block on Wednesday, 3/30. The Homestretch follows three homeless teens as they fight to stay in school, graduate, and build a future. Curious? Watch the trailer here! For those that can't make the screening during long block, there will be a screening and discussion after school on 3/30 as well. All are welcome!

- Spring Sports tryouts begin on Monday, March 21st.  Good luck to all players and coaches!

Student Spotlight of the Week:
- Our science fair students had another great day at the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Boston. In the competition, all three of our students won awards! Brian Best- 3rd in oral presentation category, and 3rd overall project. Parima Sharma- 1st in poster presentation category, 4th overall project and Freya Proudman- 2nd in poster presentation category. Brian and Parima will be going to the national JSHS in Dayton OH on April 27-30th, with all trip expenses covered by the Army outreach program. Both students will be presenting in the poster category. 230 students will compete in Dayton from all over the US and territories, including schools of military bases around the world. 

Go Hillers!

HHS Weekly Update for Mar 14 - 18 (De Stress Week)

Announcements:
- This upcoming week is a De Stress Week at the high school.  De Stress weeks were designed to help of students and staff find ways to manage their stress in healthy ways. There will be fun activities during lunch, therapy dogs in guidance, daily trivia, music between classes each day and much more! 

- BeFree is sponsoring a HandBall tournament for all students and staff on Monday at 6pm in the AC.  Last time we had over 75 kids participate and we're looking for an even better turnout this time! 

- On Tuesday, March 15th @ 2:00pm there will be a Learn-to-Sew workshop taking place in the library makerspace. Learn some basics, or create something fun! All are welcome (and staff members with sewing expertise who might be comfortable teaching others are particularly welcome).

- Rebound: The Chris Herren Story comes to HHS for all students and interested parents & community members on Thursday.  There will be an all school assembly during the day Thursday and a parent presentation that evening at the middle school.

- The 9th/10th Grade Cotillion is Friday night from 6:30 - 10pm in the AC. Tickets are $10 per person and will be sold at the door. 

- This week Hopkinton Middle School was selected to host Google Expeditions Pioneer Program. Check it out here. http://www.hpsdigital.org/2016/03/11/google-expeditions-visits-hopkinton-schools/

Student Spotlight of the Week: - Congrats to the Hopkinton Cheer team as they earned Hopkinton's first State Championship, and the first ever Game Day State Champion in the state of Massachusetts!  What an awesome accomplishment.

- We are pleased to announce that this year's Jazz Ensemble was the first in Hopkinton's history to be named an honorable mention at the 40th annual Clark Terry Jazz Festival.  This festival is incredibly competitive and this result places us in the top four bands of the 19 that competed as seen by the fantastic judges panel at UHN yesterday.  We look forward to sharing these experiences with you at Jazz Night on 4/13 and again at the Pops concert in May.  

- Next time you are surfing online, be sure to check out '09 alum Alex Moothart! Alex moved out to LA to break into the entertainment business and, among other things, right now is the assistant to the writer/producer the new show Recovery Road, one of the first television shows to highlight the process of recovery instead of highlighting the sometimes sensationalized stories of addiction. He also has a popular YouTube show called "The Moot Point" (we recommend checking out his 5 part coming out series) and has all sorts of snapchats and vines... one vine in particular, a "loop" of him doing the Carleton dance, has gone viral and this Sunday he'll get about 12-18 seconds of fame when it airs on America's Funniest Home Videos - don't forget to set your DVR!!

Video of the Week: In anticipation of Chris Herren's visit to HHS, here is a short video about his amazing story and journey http://youtu.be/sM5k_vcjQPg

Go Hillers

HHS Weekly Update March 7th - 11th

Weekly Announcements:

- Just a reminder, up-to-date grades will be available for view to both students and parents in iPass Rankbook starting at 3pm on Monday.

- On March 10 - 12, The HHS Drama Ensemble will be presenting a dramatic interpretation of Edgar Lee Master's literary masterpiece Spoon River Anthology in the high school auditorium. Performances are Thursday at 4 PM and Friday and Saturday at 7 PM.  

- If you did not get a chance to see the science fair here is a close-up look at the work Chemistry teacher Devon Grilly does in running the program in a blended environment and the fair as a whole. You also get a glimpse of the winners and a number of alumni judges!

- The March issue of the library newsletter is now available. Also, looking to build your professional learning networks a bit more? Check out this list of influencers to follow! 

- The week of March 14 - 18 is our next De Stress Week at HHS. Details of the week will be sent out in next week’s update. 

- A literary magazine will be starting back up shortly and is seeking submissions!  Please use this link for anyone who is interested in submitting a work.  Please see Mr. Zinger if you have any additional questions or if you need any clarification.   

Student Spotlight of the Week:

The following students recently earned the prestigious Eagle Scout award with Troop 1 in Hopkinton - Eric Landreth, Trevor Perkins, Matthew Paolucci, Sam Darkow & Jack Dionne.  Many of these young men have been in scouting since first grade and made a tremendous commitment to fulfill this exceptional goal.  Congrats to all 5 of you! 

Article of the Week: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers Who Use Educational Technology Infographic - e-Learning Infographics

Hiller (Home) Varsity Sports: Postseason Tournament

Wednesday, March 9th: Girls Basketball vs NDA @7:30pm (Clark University)

Thursday, March 10th: Boys Ice Hockey vs. Norwell @8pm (Gallo Arena in Bourne)

Go Hillers!