February 11, 2025

Please note that there will not be a Titan Tuesday next week due to the extended break.

That means that this week's Titan Tuesday is a little longer. Make sure to click "View Entire Message" at the bottom of your email to get all of the important updates and reminders for the next two weeks!

With the weather forecast this week predicting snow and ice, we want to update you on schedule modifications being made to prioritize the safety of students, colleagues, and families.

Wednesday, February 12

• SIR and Internship travel is canceled. SIR and Internship students will receive communication from their IMSA program managers regarding expectations. Where possible, students may be able to connect with their mentors remotely.
• Meal service will follow a regular schedule.
• Sophomores will meet for LEAD classes from 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• The Clash of the Halls Game Show will be moved to Wednesday evening from 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Thursday, February 13

• The Clash of the Halls Pep Rally will be held Thursday evening from 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Friday, February 14

• The adjusted class schedule will continue as planned, with classes ending at 3:00 p.m.
• The downstate bus will depart Friday, February 14, at 3:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 15

• Family Day will transition to a fully remote experience on Saturday.
• The residence halls will close at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday.
• Food service will be available on Saturday morning.

Time is running out to order graduation merchandise through Herff Jones! Order today!

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

E117

Thursday, March 6, 2025

4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

E117

Get ready for the ultimate fashion event! Titan Thrift is hosting a Prom and Professional Attire shop in Room E117 (next to the Art Room). Don’t miss your chance to shop a fabulous selection of formal dresses—some still with the tags on! Plus, snag the perfect professional outfits for spring events like SLX, IMSALoquium, and graduation.

This is the FINAL thrift shop event, so make sure you're there to find your perfect look before it's too late! We hope to see you there. 

Internship Opportunities

Thursday, February 13, 2025

2:00 p.m. - 2:35 p.m.

Lecture Hall

Sophomores and Juniors looking for a Summer Research or Internship Opportunity are invited to attend an upcoming information session.

The Summer Research and Experiential Learning Opportunities (SRELO) Program is a special summer program with the goal of increasing the number of culturally, linguistically and economically diverse (CLED) students participating in research/ internship projects. We will host an information and Q&A session for current sophomores and juniors interested in summer opportunities that are

• Residential (IMSA and partner college campuses)
• Commuter
• Remote
• Hybrid

If your student has medication in the Health Office, please let the office know if you need a supply of their prescription medication(s) for the upcoming break. Failure to notify the health office may result in your student not having enough medication to last the entire break. You can reach the health office at nurse@imsa.edu.

Parents/guardians should pick up medication(s) from the Health Office before 3:00 p.m. or in the Hall RC office after 3:00 p.m. Students riding the downstate bus will be given their medications as they board the bus. Please return all medication bottles that are sent home, as we reuse them to send medication to the halls on nights and weekends.

When sending refills back to campus, please complete the medication receipt form and turn it in with the refill. If your student goes home frequently, please remember to keep a supply of medications at home.

The Mental Health Day Lounge needs some renovation! The counseling team, StudCo and SPARK would like to add some more items to the lounge and would love to get some student feedback to make the room better. 

Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) seeks evaluators for this year's Student Leadership Exchange (SLX) on April 30, 2025. Evaluators will join us for an afternoon of listening to the Class of 27's projects surrounding social entrepreneurship, activism, and data journalism in correspondence with the UN's Sustainability Development Goals.

Evaluators can evaluate both in person and virtually. However, we prefer in-person evaluations. If any professionals in your network are interested in participating, please send them the form below.

Speech Regionals

Congratulations to the Speech Team for their amazing performance at the IHSA Regional Tournament. The entire team made it to finals with multiple team members moving on to Sectionals!

Ellen Hsuan '25, 4th place, Special Occasion Speaking--Qualified for Sectionals

Rishima Mukherjee '26, 4th place, Original Oratory--Qualified for Sectionals 

Devika Kalavagunta '27, 4th place, Informative Speaking--Qualified for Sectionals

Eric Lee '26, Finalist, Extemporaneous Speaking

Molly Federici '26, Finalist, Radio Speaking

Ibrahim Bah '25, Finalist, Impromptu Speaking

Emily Schart '27, Finalist, Prose Reading

Kavya Uppal '25, Finalist, Poetry Reading

Sonya Patel '26, Finalist, Original Comedy

Navya Dixit '25 and Rachel Qi '25, Finalist, Humorous Duet Acting

Madhulata Prabha '27, Finalist, Dramatic Interpretation

Shihan Cheng '27, Finalist, Oratorical Declamation

FTC Robotics Regionals

IMSA's FTC Robotics team, the TITANS, had an outstanding performance at the Regional competition, earning the Third Place Inspire Award. This award recognizes teams for their engineering, innovation, teamwork, and outreach efforts. Their hard work has secured them a spot at the Illinois State Championship, where they will compete against the top teams in the state.

Congratulations to the team for their success, and best of luck at State!

Student Spotlights

Kane County Health Department Recognizes Student Research

Sophie “Soap” Pehlke '25 was recently recognized by her mentor at the Kane County Health Department for her invaluable contributions to the Vaccines for Children program. Soap's research provided data-driven charts with additional vaccine information that became integral to the success program. Her work helped create a resource that the department will use for years to come.

Katie Glomp, Program Support Manager for the Kane County Health Department, said:

"I am sincerely appreciative of the hard work Sophie has put into the Kane County Health Department in such a short period of time and am looking forward to following her career. Sophie has proven to be a natural in the field of public health and supportive of our nursing staff. She excels at project management, and any school or organization should be excited and eager to bring her on board."

Thank you for helping keep our community safe and healthy, Soap!

IMSA Student Heads to National Brain Bee

Congratulations to Manu Gadhraju '26 for taking first place in the 2025 Chicago Brain Bee at DePaul University. The Chicago Brain Bee is an annual competition that tests high school students' knowledge in neuroscience, covering topics such as neural communication, neuroanatomy, brain-behavior relationships, and neurological diseases.

As the first-place winner, Manu will represent Illinois at the National Brain Bee competition this April. This achievement reflects a deep understanding of neuroscience and a commitment to academic excellence. Good luck at Nationals, Manu!

This week's IMSA Impact Maker is Dr. Angela Ahrendt. Dr. Ahrendt has been a member of the IMSA science faculty since 2015 and teaches Scientific Inquiries in Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Environmental Chemistry. 

The students who nominated Dr. Ahrendt shared, "We would like to nominate Dr. Angela Ahrendt for her kind, caring, hardworking, and passionate spirit and she always goes above and beyond to help us out whenever we are struggling."

Thank you, Dr. Ahrendt, for being an IMSA Impact Maker!

To nominate an IMSA Impact Maker for an upcoming Titan Tuesday, email officeofpublicaffairs@imsa.edu.

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

**4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.**

Absences should be emailed to Ms. Emma Wilson Parker by Tuesday night at 4:30 p.m. in order to be counted as an excused absence. Please bring your laptop, a notebook, and a writing utensil to every LEAD session. View the syllabi here.

Family Day

Saturday, February 15, 2025

**Fully Remote**

Stay tuned for more information from the Principal's Office as they transition to a fully remote agenda.

Thank you to the 39 students and 9 staff members who attended the first Community Conversation last week. The focus of the first session was to define the purpose and structure of future Community Conversations and to generate ideas for future conversation topics. 

This week's Community Conversation will be led by Dr. Glazer and Dr. Rowley. Join Dr. Glazer and Dr. Rowley to hear a short update on steps taken since the Remesh survey administration, and then engage in a conversation about next steps. 

If you have ideas for future Community Conversations, submit them here. Students will be able to vote on future Community Conversation topics.

Curious about the latest AI tech? Join the AI Center for a hands-on AI Bytes series where you’ll explore cutting-edge tools and emerging technologies. Whether you're new to AI or looking to deepen your skills, these sessions will give you a chance to learn and experiment. All sessions are held in the AI Center (near the math study area) during S&E (2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.):

February 25 – Introduction to Quantum Computing (Quokka Pucks)

March 4 – Introduction to Microcontrollers (Jetson Nanos)

March 11 – Guest Speaker: Vikram Anjur ‘15, Software Developer at Nvidia

March 25 – AI Ethics Series with Dr. Rettberg (Ethical Use of AI Tools and Tech)

Badminton

Monday, February 10, 2025

4:45 p.m.

E121

Students must have up-to-date sports physicals submitted to the Athletic Trainer to participate. If you are not sure if yours is up to date, please contact Josiah Douglas directly. 

The coaches will host open gyms from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. in the West Gym on February 11, 13, 20, 25, and 27.

Spring Sports Meeting

Thursday, February 20, 2025

7:15 a.m.

Ac Pit

If you plan to join a spring sport (Boys Tennis, Girls Badminton, Boys Volleyball, Girls Soccer, or Boys & Girls Track & Field) as an athlete or team manager but haven't attended a previous athletic meeting, you MUST attend this final session to be eligible to participate.

If you are unsure if you attended a session, please email Chris Moment at cmoment@imsa.edu so he can confirm you attended a previously offered meeting.

Upcoming Peer Tutor Review Sessions

February 20, March 11, and April 8

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

IN2

Peer Tutors are available to work with any student from any hall. Use the link below to find a tutor for any subject!

Please reach out to Peer Tutor Liaison, Caleb Schlesser and Ms. Keck at peertutor@imsa.edu for any questions or feedback.

Improving Social Skills

Sometimes, our stress can come from other areas of our lives outside of academics, such as social situations. It can be nerve-wracking being around new people or even being around people you know. Working on social skills can help you feel more confident when you're around others. Here are some tips to help you improve your social skills:

• Active listening - The first part of any social interaction is listening. To show you are listening, you can ask clarifying questions or display body language, such as a nod.
• Good eye contact - Eye contact will show that you are interested in the conversation and what they have to say.
• Asking open-ended questions - When you ask questions that are more than a yes or no answer, it shows that you're interested and encourages deeper conversation.
• Initiating conversation - Do not be afraid to start conversations with people. The only way you will get better is to try. Conversations can be as simple as a small compliment or a question about something.

As a result of PowerSchool's nationwide data breach, PowerSchool is offering two years of complimentary credit monitoring for families and educators impacted by the breach. If you are interested in enrolling in this free resource, follow the link below.

If you ever need to refer back to a previous Titan Tuesday, visit the Titan Tuesday Archive.

February 10 - 14 - Clash of the Halls

February 14 - Clash Pep Rally

February 15 - Family Day

February 15 - 19 - Extended Break (Halls close at 3:00 p.m.)

February 17 - Academy Closed (Presidents Day)

February 19 - Halls Reopen at 3:00 p.m.

Notice of Nondiscrimination: IMSA prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity that it operates. Individuals may report concerns or questions to the Title IX Coordinator.