Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful winter break and you're ready for the 2nd half of the year.

If your child was absent the last week of 1st semester and missed a summative, please have them make arrangements with the teacher ASAP to take. If your child did not pass the 1st semester of a course, please encourage them to work hard this semester, so the 2 semesters can be grade averaged at the end of the year to possibly earn credit for the course.

Report cards will be available on HAC on Friday, January 19th.

NEASE LANYARDS FOR SALE!

Support the Boys’ Basketball team and purchase a Nike Nease Lanyard for $15 In Ms Gebauer’s room PH203

Exact Cash or Venmo the team @Nease-Boysbasketball (center of the gym floor for verification picture). If you Venmo just come up to Ms. G’s room and grab your awesome lanyard! If parents purchase for a great stocking stuffer, we can leave it in the front office for you with your name on it. Email Kelli.Gebauer@stjohns.k12.fl.us with any questions. THANK YOU for your support.

Phase I: Learner Permit Preparation – $30.00

A classroom lecture designed to assist a student preparing to obtain a Learner Permit. The classes are conducted prior to school from 8am-9am for a total of 10 consecutive school days. On the last day, students will be administered the Learner Permit Knowledge Exam that is required to obtain a Learner Permit. In addition to the Phase I course, students must also complete a state required 4-hour online drug and alcohol course prior to obtaining a Learner Permit.

Link to register: SJCTC DRIVER EDUCATION PROGRAM – St. Johns County Tax Collector (sjctax.us)

Upcoming class at Nease:

02/14-02/28/2024

The presentation from our Financial Aid Night can be accessed using the following link: 

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:7c92c3fc-4a80-31b5-8b4d-68289ea57010

Thank you to all who joined us virtually

Friday, May 10^th is the last day for seniors who have met all graduation requirements.

MANDATORY Graduation Rehearsal - Thursday, May 16th from 9am to 11am at UNF Arena.

Graduation - Tuesday, May 21st at 6pm at UNF - students will receive 7 graduation tickets.

Monday, January 8^th – Green Day – 1, 3, 5, 7

 Tuesday, January 9^th - Gold Day – 2, 4, 6, 7

• AWAY: 5:30pm/7pm – JV/V Boys’ Soccer at Tocoi
• HOME: 6pm & 7pm – JV/V Girls’ Basketball vs Beachside & Pedro (Abbs)
• HOME: 6:30pm – V Girls’ Soccer vs Fernandina Beach (Kunze)

Wednesday, January 10^th – 1, 2, 3, 4^th w/2 lunches, 5 & 6 – 2:50pm dismissal

• Voter registration in Media Center
• Behavior Expectation Assemblies in auditorium

1^st – 9^th grade

2^nd – 10^th grade

3^rd – 11^th grade

4^th – 2 assemblies to accommodate for 2 lunches – 12^th grade

• HOME: 5pm – Girls’ Weightlifting vs Ponte Vedra (Johnson)
• HOME: 5:30pm – Girls’ Wresting Round Robin (Johnson)
• AWAY: 5:30pm/7pm – JV/V Boys’ Basketball at Andrew Jackson

Thursday, January 11^th – Green Day - 1, 3, 5, 7

• HOME: 6pm/7:30pm – JV/V Girls’ Basketball vs Ponte Vedra (Newman)
• HOME: 6:30pm – V Girls’ Soccer vs Pedro – SR Night (Kunze)

Friday, January 12^th – Gold Day – 2, 4, 6, 7

• AWAY: 5:30pm/7pm – JV/V Boys’ Soccer at Pedro
• HOME: 6pm/7:30pm – JV/V Boys’ Basketball vs St Augustine (Abbs)

Saturday, January 13^th

• AWAY: JV Girls’ Basketball at Atlantic Coast Tournament

The Miss Nease scholarship pageant will be held on March 2nd. Any interested junior ladies can still sign up! A wide range of talents will be accepted, so no need to sing or dance! For more information, see Mrs. Case in D-27 or Mrs. Michael in F-107, or Ms. Cowart in F-103.

NATIONAL ENGLISH HONOR SOCIETY

• If your writing was selected, please remember to submit your winter writing submissions by January 8th. See Schoology for details.
• Quarter 3 meeting schedule will be announced soon.

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL NEASE STUDENTS 9^th through 12^th grades!

2024 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest! OPEN TO ALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 9th grade through 12th grade! Deadline for submission is January 12, 2024. Click on the link below for all details. GOOD LUCK!! 

JFK Profiles in Courage Essay Contest

The top 25 students receive the following awards: 

·        1st place - $10,000

·        2nd place - $3,000

·        5 finalists - $1,000 each 

·        10 semi-finalists - $100 each 

·        8 honorable mentions

9th and 10th grade students will start Progress Monitoring 2 of FAST this week. Please take all testing seriously, so teachers know where to focus before May administration.

Congratulations to Advait Nair, an IB freshman at Nease for his remarkable achievements in the 2023 National Grade Level Chess Championship in Orlando, Florida. Advait excelled in the National 9^th Grade Championship by securing 5^th place, he also secured 8^th place in the National K-12 Blitz Championship and 3^rd place in the National K-12 Bughouse Championship (two-person team). This year, the National Grade Level Championship saw the participation of nearly 2500 students from 45 states, competing across K-12 grades.

🌟 Gold Level Plus Business Partner 🌟

Oasis Boatyard & Marina has been family-owned and operated since 1999. John & Jodi Spires, the owners, have been part of the Panther Community since 2006. Oasis Boatyard offers a wide variety of marine services, from quick hauls to full refits. With a combined experience of 30+ years in the industry, you can count on Oasis for all of your boating needs. For more information or questions regarding work, don't hesitate to get in touch with John or Jodi Spires at @904 824-2520

Thank you, Oasis Boat Yard and Marina, for supporting Nease High School since 2006!

www.oasisboatyardandmarina.com

1 904-824-2520

🌟 Gold Level Plus Business Partner 🌟

Part of Publix's mission is to be involved as responsible citizens in our communities. For over 90 years, Publix has been a company our schools & communities can count on. Publix is honored to be a part of the Nease family.

Thank you, Publix, for supporting Nease Hiigh School.



Academy Intent to Return Process: Continuing in a program or dropping one for 2024-25

Before winter break, all Communications, Hospitality, and Engineering Academy students will be asked to indicate if they want to remain in their current Academy for the 2024-25 school year by signing an Intent to Return roster. If the student checked “Yes,” than that student will be automatically re-enrolled in the Academy for 2024-25. The student will also receive a recommendation to move on to the next level Academy course, as long as they are meeting Academy requirements. If an Academy student checks “No” on the roster to indicate that they do not want to continue in the Academy next year, a Program of Choice Drop Form will be sent home with those students in January. The drop form must be completed by the student and parent and returned to Mrs. Combs. If you have any questions about the Intent to Return process, please reach out to Jaime Combs at Jaime.combs@stjohns.k12.fl.us

Academy Application Process for the 2024-25 School Year

If you are a rising 10^th grader interested in joining a Career Academy or Program of Interest for the 2024-25 school year (a program you’re not already enrolled in this school year), the application window opens up on January 4^th and lasts the entire month of January, through January 31st. Students will apply by logging into their HAC account and selecting up to three Programs of Interest/Career Academies. Once the application window opens, here are directions to apply—

Step 1: Log into STUDENT’S HAC account      Step 2: Click on “Classes”      Step 3: Click on “Requests” tab      Step 4: Select “Edit” for Academy/Program of Interest Application         Step 5: Select/check 1, 2, or 3 choices (can select only one or two programs, if the student is not interested in three)       Step 6: Click “Save”

Academy Open House Event for Rising 9^th & 10^th Graders Interested In Joining An Academy

STEM Camp Applications Available Now

Students interested in applying for a week-long STEM camp, run by the The Society of American Military Engineers is hosting a week-long camp at NAS Jacksonville this summer. If you’re interested, learn more via this flyer: 

Computer Science/Technology Scholarship Available

The CSTA/ACM Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing was established to honor outstanding high school seniors who want to pursue advanced studies in computer science or technology. In addition to empowering young and ambitious students to explore computing challenges outside of a conventional classroom setting, this program aims to promote and encourage computer science. You can learn more about the scholarship, and submit an application, here: CSTA/ACM Cutler-Bell Prize - Computer Science Teachers Association (csteachers.org)

If you have any questions about the Communications Academy, Stellar Academy of Engineering, or the Academy of Hospitality & Tourism, reach out to Mrs. Combs at jaime.combs@stjohns.k12.fl.us

IB Seniors

All IB seniors received their college application “gold envelope.” There is at least a 2-week (14 working days) turnaround for the processing of the envelope. Please allow for this prior to submission.

Reminder: The FFAA (Bright Futures) Application is now open. The FAFSA is scheduled to open at some point in December. Click here for more information on changes to the FAFSA and the reason for the delay in release. Please be mindful, that you must complete these applications in order to be evaluated for postsecondary financial aid eligibility.

If a senior is currently taking a virtual course, they MUST have the course completed by January 4th for the course grade to be calculated into their first semester GPA. The cumulative GPA after 1st semester of senior year determines final class rank and is used to issue graduation honor cords.

IB Juniors

Juniors are working on selecting their extended essay topic for the upcoming mentor selection process. Ask them what they plan on writing on and what research they are interested in.

All IB Students & Parents

Lots of information is being posted on the Nease IB Schoology Page. All IB students have been placed in the group and provided the group code to join during the beginning of the year meetings. Please ask your student what has been posted lately.

Carolyn Milian – School Librarian Media Specialist

Lorna Patterson – Media Clerk

Media Center phone number – 904-547-8367

Email – carolyn.milian@stjohns.k12.fl.us

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Welcome back to the 2^nd half of our school year and the BUSIEST semester for our media center and all the activities/events we have planned! Please be sure to stay tuned to the Panther Press and have your students check our media center Schoology group page in the upcoming weeks with contests and events planned in our media center.

HOLIDAY READING BINGO!

Bingo boards and reading logs will be due on Friday, Jan. 26^th, 2024. For more information, please click here to take you to our “Holiday Reading Bingo” page on our media center webpage. You can also contact me directly in the media center for additional questions. 

COFFEE STATION DONATIONS!

THANK YOU SO MUCH to all our families that have donated so many supplies to keep our student coffee station running! The students absolutely love this little FREE perk we offer in our media center, ESPECIALLY with more chilly days heading our way! We could still use some of the following items if you are willing and able to help donate so we can keep this going for our students.

·        10 oz. coffee cups

·        Hot chocolate packets

·        Tea bags (for our tea drinkers 😊 )

·        Creamer (individual packs or powdered. No refrigerated creamers please)

·        Sugar (individual small packets)

Thank you so much for anything you can help out with so we can continue this little “perk” for our students.

CELEBRATE LITERACY WEEK FLORIDA! – JAN. 22^nd through Jan. 26^th

This is a statewide event where schools across the state are invited to host and participate in events and activities focusing on literacy. Below is a small sample of some of the events we will be hosting during the last week of January throughout our school so start marking your calendars! More fun events will be added as the days go by. If you have any questions about them, please email me for more information! 

Ø Door Decorating contest – teachers will be invited to participate with their students to decorate their classroom door in the jacket or theme of their favorite book, author, or favorite reading quote/phrase. 1^st place prize is their choice of a Chick-Fil-A breakfast, class pizza party or ice-cream sundae party, 2^nd place will choose from the remaining 1^st period prizes, and 3^rd place will receive the remaining prize from 1^st and 2^nd place!  

Ø Reading in Unusual Places – students will be asked to create innovative and dynamic images of themselves reading in unusual places. Submission details will be provided in next week’s Panther Press and on my Media Center Schoology group page. Students and faculty members will vote for their favorites and the top 5 votes will receive gift cards to spend!

TEXTBOOKS AND MEDIA FINES –

I will be sending out overdue notices AND fines notices for outstanding balances sometime next week. If your student has any textbook or library fines on his/her media account. PLEASE take care of these as soon as possible, ESPECIALLY JUNIORS & SENIORS! Juniors and Seniors with any fines on their account will NOT be allowed to purchase prom tickets and Seniors will not receive graduation tickets until these fines are satisfied.  If your student still has a book that has been charged to his/her account, as soon as they return it to the media center, these fines will be deleted from their account.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Get your “Panther Café Ceiling Tile”! This is your chance to IMMORTALIZE yourself in our library!

ALL students have the opportunity to take home one of our café area ceiling tiles, paint and personalize it, then have it placed back into our ceiling for a donation of $20. The money raised from this fundraiser will be used to purchase new computers for our media center and at the same time have our seniors immortalized in our café as these will never be repainted! Please contact me in the media center for more information. 

Follow Nease Athletics on Instagram #NeaseAthletics and Twitter @NeaseAthletics

You can support Nease Athletics by becoming a member of our Booster Club! Everyone is welcome to join. There are five membership levels. All funds will directly support Nease High School athletic programs. All athletes and coaches will benefit from the funding. Show your Panther Pride and sign up here https://neaseathletics.com/gpbc-membership/

Link Below for Apparel purchases:

https://sideline.bsnsports.com/schools/florida/pontevedra/nease-high-school

Athletic Clearance

Prior to participating with a Nease High School athletic team, all students are required to complete the athletic clearance process.

Please keep in mind that the FHSAA requires all student athletes to view free NFHS video courses on concussions, heat illness, and sudden cardiac arrest (see instructions below). Signatures on the EL3 form indicate that your athlete has completed these three video courses. The FHSAA also requires that all student athletes have at least a 2.0 unweighted GPA to be eligible for participation.

For step-by-step athletic clearance instructions please visit: https://neaseathletics.com/athletic_clearance/

Athletic Fee/Pay to Participate

The purpose of the Nease Athletic Fee is to help address the costs associated with operating a high school athletic department. Currently the St. Johns County School Board pays each coach’s coaching supplement, and all remaining costs are the responsibility of the athletic department and teams. The athletic fee helps cover the following expenses:

·        Game officials

·        Indoor and Outdoor Athletic Facility maintenance

·        Sports Medicine

·        Security

·        Athletic Leadership Council activities

·        Student-Athlete Letters and Awards

·        FHSAA membership dues and other fees

The 2023-24 fee will be as follows: $75 Per Sport Played

This fee must be paid prior to the student-athlete participating in his/her first contest. Nease Athletics appreciates your attention and compliance regarding payment of this fee. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Nease Athletic Department.