Maeser Updates: 9 December 2022

In This Edition

Pre-Cram Chill, Finals Week Schedule, MS Spelling Bee, Mock Trial Courtroom Artists and Journalists, Applications for New Students Now Open, Winterim Volunteer Opportunities (MSI Sewing Basics, Used Board Games Needed, Hispanic Culture Winterim, Healthy Eats Winterim, Family Science Winterim), Volunteer Help Needed (Mock Trial Attorney Coach, Teacher Appreciation, Report Your Volunteer Hours, Questions About Volunteer Hours), Sports Announcements (Winter Sports Academic Eligibility, Sports Physicals, Maeser Sports Guide), Counseling Announcements (Getting Ready For Finals), Can We Reach You In Case Of Emergency? (Opt In For School Text Messages, Update Your Contact Information)

Front Office Hours This Week

7:30am-4:00pm Mon-Tues
8:30am-12:30pm Fri

**PARENTS: Please remember to check in at the front office when visiting the school during school hours, including Fridays. We appreciate your help in keeping our students safe!**

Upcoming Dates and Deadlines

Friday, December 9
12:00-3:30pm Pre-Cram Chill at the school

Monday, December 12
LAST DAY to Return Signed MSI Paperwork for Middle School Students

Semester 1 Finals Week: December 12-16

Monday, December 12
Review Day (regular schedule)

Tuesday, December 13
8:00-10:00am 1st period
10:30am-12:30pm 3rd period

Wednesday, December 14
8:00-10:00am 2nd period
10:30am-12:30pm 4th period

Thursday, December 15
8:00-10:00am 5th period
10:30am-12:30pm 7th period

Friday, December 16
8:00-10:00am 6th period
10:30am-12:30pm 8th period

Christmas Break

December 19-30
School and Office CLOSED for the Christmas Break

Pre-Cram Chill

TODAY — Friday, December 9th — the National Honor Society, High School and Middle School Student Councils will sponsor a school wide “Pre-Cram Chill” from 12-3:30. Bring your comfiest school-appropriate clothing and come chill with your friends. (Maeser uniforms are still required for Advisory Friday until the Pre-Cram Chill begins!) Activities include crafts (to Deck Maeser’s Halls), Karaoke, Mario Kart tournament, Ugly Sweater Contest, cookie decorating, a visit from Santa Claus, movie rooms, Hot Chocolate Bar, Board Games… and so much more. Each student who brings a snack to share will receive a ticket to be entered into a drawing for some spectacular holiday related prizes. Please spread the word and prepare to de-stress before final exams. More details forthcoming!

If you would like to support this school-wide event, please click on the following link and donate an item or two for this amazing event: Sign-up Genius Link for Pre-Cram Chill.

Finals Week: December 12-16

Finals for Semester 1 are coming up soon! Please make sure to check PowerSchool for your most updated grades, as we only have two Advisory days left before finals.

Monday, December 12: Review Day

Our Semester 1 review day is Monday, December 12. All regular classes will be held and Maeser uniforms are required as usual.

Tuesday-Friday, December 13-16: Final Exams

Final exams for Semester 1 will be held Tuesday-Friday, December 13-16.

HOURS: School hours during Finals are 8:00am to 12:30pm, with two periods per day: 8-10am and 10:30am-12:30pm, and a break from 10-10:30am.
BRING: Your student should bring a snack for the break; lunch options are not offered on Finals days.
WEAR: Maeser uniforms are required during Finals Week.

Tuesday, December 13: 1st & 3rd periods
Wednesday, December 14: 2nd & 4th periods
Thursday, December 15: 5th & 7th periods
Friday, December 16: 6th & 8th periods

**PLEASE NOTE: Friday, December 16 is a scheduled school day for Final Exams and attendance is required.**

Regular attendance excusal and check-out procedures are still in place during Finals, so if your student will be coming in late or leaving early, be sure to follow our regular excusal/check-out procedures. (Questions about excusing absences? Email attendance@maeserprep.org.)

We do not allow students to take finals early. If your student has an unavoidable conflict and will miss a scheduled final, please make arrangements with your student’s teacher for your student to take the final during a period when they do not have a scheduled final or at a later date. (If your student needs to take a final late, they may receive an Incomplete grade until the final exam is made up.

Seniors must pass all of their courses in order to participate in their selected Winterim courses. Our counselors will be reviewing all their finals and, if needed for graduation, they may be placed in Credit Recovery. We will also be checking final grades for Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshmen. If there are multiple Fs, they will also be placed in Credit Recovery.

Please help your students take advantage of the next week of opportunities to check PowerSchool and work with their teachers to FINISH STRONG!

MS Spelling Bee

We will be holding our annual spelling bee during Middle School Intensives. Classroom spelling bees will be held January 2-5, with the school spelling bee on Tuesday, January 17 at 10:30am.The top three winners of the classroom spelling bees will qualify for the school spelling bee. 1st and 2nd place school winners of the school spelling bee will then compete in the regional spelling bee. Winner of the regional spelling bee will then compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

Middle school students can prepare for the class spelling bees by studying the 2023 Maeser Spelling Bee Rules and List.

Questions? Please contact Andi Howard, our spelling bee chair, at andihoward1121@gmail.com.

Mock Trial Courtroom Artists and Journalists

We are looking for artists and journalists for our High School (9th through 12th grades) and Middle School (7th and 8th grades) Mock Trial teams. We need an artist and a journalist for each team. Artists will be sketching a courtroom scene to be submitted in competition with other High School teams around the State. Journalists will be writing an article on one of the courtroom trials we will be having and submitting it for competition. If you are interested in either of these, please email Mr. Geary.

Applications for New Students Now Open

If you would like to apply to Maeser for your student’s siblings for the 2023-2024 school year, be sure to submit an application by January 31. Applications can be found on the Maeser website under Admissions. Please be sure that you are using the 2023-2024 link.

All applications received by midnight on Tuesday, January 31 will be entered into our lottery. Siblings of current students will receive priority status in the lottery. After the lottery, any applications will be added to the waitlist.

If you have any questions, please contact our registrar at registrar@maeserprep.org.

Winterim Volunteer Opportunities

MSI Sewing Basics

Volunteers needed for every section. Sewing skills not required, you can learn with the students, mostly supervision and assisting with supplies. Come join your student in this fun class. Many helping hands make it easier. Contact marlene.goodrich@maeserprep for information.

Used Board Games Needed

Have a used board game you no longer want to keep? Used board games can be donated to the Board Game Winterim at the rate of 3 volunteer hours/game. Contact steven.dowdle@maeserprep.org or erin.smith@maeserprep.org to arrange drop off/delivery. Donations will be accepted up to the first week of January. Thanks!

Hispanic Culture Winterim

The Hispanic Culture Winterim is in need of some gift card donations to support the activities during Winterim. Every $5 spent = 1 volunteer hour. For more information and to sign up, please visit our SignUp Genius: Hispanic Culture Winterim.

Healthy Eats Winterim

The Healthy Eats class needs to borrow some kitchen items for their Winterim. These will be returned on 1/19/23 as there is no storage space available at the school for these items. For every item you lend for the full Winterim time, you may receive 40 hours of volunteer time. For more information and to sign up, please visit our SignUp Genius: Healthy Eats Winterim.

Family Science Winterim

The Family Science Winterim is in need of snacks for their trip! Every $5 spent = 1 volunteer hour. For more information and to sign up, please visit our SignUp Genius: Family Science Winterim.

Volunteer Help Needed

Mock Trial Attorney Coach

Our HS and MS Mock Trial Teams are in need of an Attorney Coach. If you are a practicing/retired attorney with time to help train our teams in preparation for our State competition, please contact Mr. Geary at douglas.geary@maeserprep.org.

Teacher Appreciation

Volunteer to help bring Teacher Appreciation treats for the year by month. Thank you for putting a smile on a teacher’s face today! This is TRULY a blessing for our team. The little things are often the BIG things! For more information and to sign up, please visit our SignUp Genius: Teacher Appreciation Opportunities.

Report Your Volunteer Hours

DON’T FORGET! Report your volunteer hours once you’ve dropped off your donation: Report Parent Service Hours. Each $5 spent for donations counts as one hour of volunteer service!

Questions About Volunteer Hours?

Contact us at volunteer@maeserprep.org.

Sports Announcements

Winter Sports Academic Eligibility

Eligibility for participation in winter activities/sports will be determined by 1st term grades. All students must have earned a Q4 2.7 GPA with no Fs. In addition, high school students cannot have any Fs/NGs/Incompletes from previous high school terms. All Fs/NGs must be made up by October 12th (the last day of the term).

Sports Physicals

All students, middle school and high school, who will be playing sports next year (2022-23) need a physical in order to play. Physicals completed on or after March 10, 2022 will be good until July 15, 2023. Any physicals completed before March 10 of this year will not be accepted (per UHSAA policy) for the upcoming school year.

Here is a link to the UHSAA form which Maeser uses for ALL athletes: UHSAA Physical Form

Maeser Sports Guide

For a list of the sports that are available at Maeser for both MS and HS students, click here: Maeser Sports Guide. The Sports Guide includes whether the team is boys, girls, or coed, when tryouts are, who the coach is, and the coach’s contact information, if it is available.

Counseling Announcements

Getting Ready For Finals

Here are some tips to help your student get ready for finals next week. These tips are taken from Creating Positive Futures and you can find the study tip article here: Why the most common study method is the least effective…and what to do instead

Instead of reading over notes and texts, have your student try:

  • Taking a practice test or quiz from their teacher, textbook, or a website online
  • Practicing definitions or formulas with flashcards or Quizlet>
  • Teaching the material out loud to a friend or family member (without looking at notes)
  • Making up their own test questions, and practicing answering them from memory

How you can help:

Encourage your student to try out more study methods that involve actively recalling the information from memory. For example:

  • Volunteer to quiz your student on their notes from history class.
  • Ask your student to teach you the main concepts from their chemistry class, and ask them lots of “why” and “how” questions to test their understanding of the material.
  • Offer to help your student put together a practice exam with questions from the teacher’s study guide, the textbook, and websites online – and use it to test their knowledge.
  • Host a study session for your student and some of their classmates where they can quiz each other on hard questions before the upcoming test. (If possible, set this up so that individual students are responsible for answering the questions, so one or two well-prepared students don’t end up dominating the session.)

Can We Reach You In Case Of Emergency?

It’s important to keep your contact information up to date and opt-in to receive text messages from Maeser — in case of an emergency, this is how we notify parents! In addition, we use your contact information to notify you about important school events and school fees deadlines.

Here’s how to make sure you’re getting all of our important announcements and information:

Opt In For School Text Messages

Our school utilizes the SchoolMessenger system to deliver text messages to your mobile phone with important information about events, school closings, safety alerts, student fees, and more. We will only use text messaging for urgent and important information.

You can participate in this service by sending a text message of “Y” or “Yes” to our school’s short code number, 67587.

You can also opt out of text messages at any time by simply replying to one of our messages with “Stop”.

Update Your Contact Information

If any of your contact information has changed – email address, mailing address, phone number – please let us know asap so we can be sure you’re getting school and teacher communications.

Thank you for helping us keep in contact with your family!