Principal Matters

Welcome back from Spring Break. I hope you had a much needed break and had time to enjoy your friends and families! The month of April marks the end to college acceptances and many of our seniors got accepted into esteemed universities and colleges and we want to say congratulations! It is also during this time, that some of our seniors realize that they did not get into their top choices, but I think it should be noted, that their college preparatory experiences at Capuchino will pay off in the long run.  Success in life has more to do with the ability to persevere than the name of your college, so it is my hope that our seniors take the good and bad news all in stride and pursue their dreams.

Next, we will begin STAR testing next week and we want to encourage all of our students to take this test seriously. Last year we jumped 39 points, when the federal government only requires a 5 point gain. I believe we made this leap due to targeted efforts of our faculty and our student body. For a detailed schedule please check Schoolloop.

And finally, with 8 weeks of school to go, you will notice several activities on the horizon. School activities include: Lockdown Safety Drill, Visit to St. Roberts to showcase our school, Latinos Unidos Dance, Spring Concert, and Dance Show. We hope to see you in the near future and we thank you for helping to bring this year to a smooth end. And as always, if you have questions and/or are in need of support, the administration, counseling staff, and teachers are available and can be contacted directly over the phone or emailed through Schoolloop.

Best,
Mrs. Shanks

Course Preview Day, Feb. 15th

In preparation for Spring Programming, students will have an opportunity to learn more about the classes they are signing up for on February 15th at lunch time. We will extend lunch to 40 minutes and students will visit tables to learn about our wonderful course offerings. Both teachers, current students and counselors will be available to answer any questions.

Course Programming for 2012-2013

Spring is just a few short months away and believe it or not it's already time to start planning for next year. Starting on February 27th counselors will meet with students to choose courses for next year. They will begin with Juniors the week of the 27th, Sophomores the next week and so on, culminating in visits to Park-side and Taylor Middle School beginning the week of March 20th.

There are several important things to be aware of during programming:

1. The course request sheets ask for a parent signature, so please sure to take a look at your students' course request sheets and discuss the best choices for your son and daughter. Course request sheets are handed out to the students the week before they meet with the counselor.
2. We are an open access district, which means students can enroll in honors or IB classes without having to satisfy specific prerequisites. For example, students can take IB English even if they didn't take advanced standing English the year before. With that said, please keep in mind that students and parents will be asked to sign an IB contract which acknowledges that the student has carefully considered the rigor of the IB curriculum and will commit to the class for at least a semester. We need students to honor their commitments because the school builds the master schedule and makes staffing decisions based on student course requests.
3. We will ask teachers to complete a Google doc with student course recommendations, which will inform student placement.

Students are strongly encouraged to talk to their current teachers to see what course makes the most sense for the student next year. The current teachers are an important re-source in determining proper student placement, so students should talk with their teachers to help determine the best fit. We have many exciting course offerings and we all want to work together to make sure all students have the most beneficial schedule possible for next year.

-Mr. Montgomery

College Knowledge...a Counseling Update

Counselors have been nice and busy helping Seniors with college applications, writing recommendation letters and reading over Personal Statements. This is an exciting time of year for both counselors and Seniors. We feel like we have written more letters this year than ever, which means we have more students applying to universities. That is fantastic! 

A good piece of advice for Senior parents: Make sure your Senior is keeping up his or her grades. Seniors will have to submit a final transcript, and universities are checking to make sure GPA's are meeting minimum requirements. Happy Holidays to you and your families!

-The Counseling Department

9th Graders Visit SF State

Our school goal states that all students will graduate demonstrating the knowledge and skills necessary to be prepared for college and career and a major goal for our school is to make sure we establish a college-going culture. With this in mind, on Wednesday October 5th, close to 100 freshman will visit San Francisco State University, hosted by Project Connect. They will meet with students from SF. State to learn what college life is about and what the admission process is like. Freshman who don’t attend this trip will be invited to go to UC Berkeley for a similar experience.

Preparing for College Begins Now

On Oct. 12th all students will participate in CHS’ second annual college testing day. This is a minimum day for students and great opportunity for students to receive feedback on their performance on these important tests. The day provides students an opportunity to practice taking tests necessary for high school graduation and college admission and placement. In addition to preparing students for college, the top scorers on one of the tests, the PSAT may be eligible for National Merit Scholarships. These tests are given on October 12th because that is the date set by the College Board for giving the PSAT.
The tests and costs are as follows: 9th graders take the English Common Assessment and a practice California High School Exit Exam: cost= free. 10th graders take the PLAN, which is a practice for the ACT, a college admissions test: cost= $10, payable to Ms. Lynn in the College and Career Center. 11th graders take the PSAT, which is the preliminary SAT, a college admissions test: cost=$21 payable to Ms. Lynn in the College and Career Center, 12th graders take a practice EAP (early assessment program), the EAP is used to determine college level place-ment in math and English classes: cost=free.
Please pay your fees to Ms. Lynn if you have not already done so, and "bring your best, expect success" on October 12th.

-Mr. Montgomery