Mr. McMahon’s Biology Honors students at work during the last week of August. | |
Monday, September 2, 2024 | | |
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This is only a four-day school week due to the Labor Day holiday. Thank you again to all of our Colonial families that turned out for Open House as this is one of our major community events of the school year. Coming up next week we will hold our first School Advisory Council (SAC) meeting on Wednesday, September 11. These are one-hour meetings with the primary objective of discussing progress against our annual school improvement plan. It is at these short monthly meetings where feedback from our families is extremely valuable. If you have a student at Colonial this year, this first SAC meeting would be an excellent opportunity to get some of your school-related questions answered plus hear about this year's goals.
September is Attendance Awareness Month at K-12 schools across the United States. During the first two school weeks in August, our students' overall attendance rate consistently averaged better than 90% per day. However, it was during the last school week of the month where we fell below 90%. In this issue you will find some important information pertaining to "attendance for academic credit." Please read this over closely as this is OCPS policy. Please also keep in mind that daily attendance is vital to student achievement. We hope to see the average attendance rate for this first week of September bounce back above 90%.
I hope you had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. Thank you for reading.
It's Great To Be A Grenadier!
Mrs. Reussow
Principal
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Main Campus:
6100 Oleander Drive
Orlando, FL 32807
(407) 482-6300
Freshman Campus:
7775 Valencia Collage Lane
Orlando, FL 32807
(407) 249-6369
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Monday, Sept. 2:
Labor Day - No School
Wednesday, Sept. 4:
JV Football at Freedom
Swim Meet vs. Cypress Creek and Wekiva
Bowling vs. Olympia and Boone
Friday, Sept. 6:
Football vs. Windermere
Homecoming Reveal Lunch Jam
Saturday, Sept. 7:
Cross Country at St. Cloud Invitational
Senior Parking Space Painting
Tuesday, Sept. 10:
ELA FAST - 9th & 10th (Modified bell schedule)
FAST Reading Retake - Select 11th & 12th (Modified bell schedule)
Girls Volleyball vs. University
Bowling vs. Winter Park
Wednesday, Sept. 11:
Pencil Boy Express on Campus - School Supplies for Teachers
JV Football vs. East River
Swim Meet at Edgewater
Bowling vs. Edgewater and Innovation
Boys Golf at University
Girls Volleyball at East River
Career Source Parent/Student Orientation
SAC Meeting #1
Thursday, Sept. 12:
Algebra I Retake (All students who have not passed Algebra I test)
Geometry EOC
Girls Volleyball at LBV
Senior Night - Student Services (please see details below)
Friday, Sept. 13:
Football at East River
Saturday, Sept. 14:
Cross Country at West Orange Invitational
Sunday, Sept. 15:
Start of National Hispanic Heritage Month
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Tuesday, Sept. 17:
Biology & US History EOC
Boys Golf vs. Lake Howell
Girls Volleyball vs. Evans
Wednesday, Sept. 18:
Girls Volleyball vs. Jones
JV Football vs. Oak Ridge
Swim Meet vs. University and Lake Howell
Bowling vs. Oak Ridge and Lake Nona
Girls Golf at University
Thursday, Sept. 19
Girls Volleyball Metro Tournament
Parent Leadership Council and Title 1 meeting
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Grenadier Spotlight
Flight Academy Dual Enrollment Ground School
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Our Flight Academy Dual Enrollment Ground School students shared their experience with special guests. This past week, two members of Elevate Orlando and Ms. Brun, ERAU adjunct professor and US Air Force veteran, from Brevard County had the opportunity to soar above the clouds! | | |
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Biology Honors with Mr. McMahon
Mr. McMahon’s Biology Honors classes engaged in an annotation activity learning about different types of renewable and nonrenewable energy. He also had a featured data wall to show student scores on SBUA 1.1 from last week!
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School Advisory Council (SAC) Meetings | | |
First meeting is Wednesday, Sept. 11th: | | |
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Florida Department of Education and Volunteer Florida announce 2024 Hispanic Heritage Month contests
The Florida Department of Education and Volunteer Florida are encouraging students to participate in the Hispanic Heritage Month student art and essay contests with the theme “Honoring Hispanic Contributions to Florida’s Success.” Hispanic Heritage Month is recognized and celebrated in the United States from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.
About the Student Art Contest
The Hispanic Heritage Month art contest is open to all Kindergarten through third-grade students in Florida. Each student will submit original, two-dimensional artwork based on this year’s theme. Four statewide winners will be selected, and each winner will receive a $100 gift card for school supplies and a one-year pass to Florida State Parks.
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About the Student Essay Contest
The Hispanic Heritage Month essay contest is open to all students attending any Florida school in grades 4-12. Six winners will be selected: two elementary school students (grades 4-5), two middle school students (grades 6-8), and two high school students (grades 9 through 12). Each winner will receive a two-year Florida College Plan scholarship provided by the Florida Prepaid College Foundation and a $100 gift card for school supplies.
Contest entries and nominating forms and guidelines
Student contest forms and educator nomination forms must be mailed to Volunteer Florida or submitted at FloridaHispanicHeritage.com.
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1) Superintendent Dr. Maria Vazquez's Weekly Message: | | |
On this week's Mondays with Maria presented by Addition Financial, Superintendent Maria Vazquez is addressing concerns that some families might have about transportation this year and what the district is doing about it. You can see a list of frequently asked questions on the front page of our website. | | |
2) Attendance for Academic Credit:
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Parents and Students;
Please be aware of Orange County Public School’s policy regarding Attendance and Academic Credit:
No student shall be awarded a credit unless the student has been in attendance for instruction for a minimum of 135 hours. The 135 hours required for attendance for instruction corresponds to twenty (20) absences in a school year or ten (10) absences for each semester. The principal or designee may provide a student who has been in attendance less than 135 hours an opportunity to receive credit by demonstrating mastery of the student performance standards in that course of study.
Thank you!
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Personal Financial Literacy | | |
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Teen Finance & Economics - September 2024 Update
1) Personal Financial Literacy Graduation Requirement
Florida high school students are required to earn one-half credit in personal financial literacy and money management, including instruction on types of bank accounts, credit scores, taxes, and managing debt (Senate Bill 1054). The legislation became a graduation requirement for students who entered high school in the 2023-2024 school year. It did not affect students already enrolled in high school before last year.
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2) Personal savings have shrunk
The easiest way to see if Americans are saving any money is to look at the "personal saving rate," which measures the share of after-tax income that doesn’t get spent. In April of 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, this rate surged to 33.8% when many businesses were closed and people had no choice but to stay home. This 33.8% compares with 8.8% over the course of 2019. As of July 2024, the savings rate stands at only 2.9%; in part due to inflation as households use savings to pay for everyday expenses.
Lesson for our Grenadiers: One major goal of saving is to have money readily available in case an emergency—adult life comes with the unexpected. After high school, having some money saved can help you from depending upon credit cards or other loan options that charge high interest rates which can lead to lasting debt problems. Too much debt will reduce your financial freedom and as a result, limit your ability to make certain purchases like home ownership, a new car, travel, etc.
Monthly US personal savings rate from Jan. 2019 to July 2024:
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Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, FRED Database
3) Colonial Financial & Economic Indicators report for Sept. 2024:
Screenshot of Page 1 - Larger view & Full report (Part 1 is for Teens & Gen Z)
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Monday's Motivational Moment | | |
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GRENADIER WISDOM TO LIVE BY
Read inspirational quotes about setting ambitious goals, blazing your own path and practicing to be your best.
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Devers On Conviction
Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.
~ Gail Devers, track star
Emerson On Leadership
Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet
Knight On Practice
The will to succeed is important, but what's more important is the will to prepare.
~ Bobby Knight, basketball coach
Berlin On Consistency
The toughest thing about success is that you've got to keep on being a success.
~ Irving Berlin, songwriter
Picasso On Challenges
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
~ Pablo Picasso, painter
IT'S GREAT TO BE A GRENADIER!
Mrs. Reussow, Principal
Colonial High School
Sunday, September 1, 2024
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This communication may contain information that is legally privileged, confidential or exempt from disclosure, and intended only for the use of the addressee(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please note that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. Anyone who receives this message in error should notify the sender immediately by telephone or by return e-mail, and delete the message from their computer and any printout thereof. Please note that OCPS utilizes spam and junk e-mail filtration applications in its e-mail systems. That filtering process may prevent or delay delivery of certain e-mail communications. If you do not receive a timely response to an e-mail communication, please contact the intended recipient by phone.
OCPS EEO Non-Discrimination Statement
The School Board of Orange County, Florida, does not discriminate in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in its programs and activities, on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, marital status, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other reason prohibited by law. The following individuals at the Ronald Blocker Educational Leadership Center, 445 West Amelia Street, Orlando, Florida 32801, attend to compliance matters: Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Officer & Title IX Coordinator: Keshara Cowans; ADA Coordinator; ADA Coordinator: Jay Cardinali; Section 504 Coordinator: Tajuana Lee-Wenze. (407.317.3200)
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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-Colonial High School is forbidden without written consent. Thank you for your support of the Orange County Public Schools and OCPS-Colonial High School. Please contact Dr. Tayler Boyer (assistant principal) at tayler.bray@ocps.net with any questions.
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