PRINCIPAL’S NEWSLETTER March 15, 2019 Happy Friday, Vikings! Today I had the absolute joy and honor of spending the school day with nearly 100 of your superstars at our Student Leadership Retreat at the Howard County Conservancy! The purpose of our retreat was to get student input regarding our shared values at Mt. Hebron. Earlier this week, we had our third parent input session prior to our PTSA meeting. We had an engaging discussion Tuesday night, and my heartfelt thanks goes to everyone who is contributing to this process and important work. Highlights from our parent input sessions include shared values around caring, compassion, and ensuring equal opportunities for everyone. Your students shared similar thoughts today as they engaged with one another to build genuine interpersonal relationships. Our incredible facilitators from the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion asked them fun questions like, “What’s your most memorable meal and who was it with?” as well as more reflective questions like, “How would you define an inclusive school community?” and “What does it mean to be a student leader?” I am continually blown away by your kids and their insights and compassion. On March 27, during Viking Time, we will give all of our freshmen an opportunity to share their thoughts as well. We’ve spent much of this school year gathering input from all of our stakeholders: students, staff and parents and will next compile and use everyone’s ideas to help drive our vision and mission statements for next year and then create a plan to put them into action. I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, “Thank you to all of the Viking students, staff, and families who have joined us in this work that is ongoing as we continue to build a school community based on trust, respect, and inclusion.” And if you want to see what that looks like in action, look no further than this week’s Pi Week activities, spearheaded by Math Teacher, Ms. Sara Tagget, and our School Psychologist, Mr. John Klyap. Our students spent the week taking advantage of an array of activities to raise awareness around mental health and suicide prevention. School Counselor, Ms. Trish Marton, offered restorative yoga. Students could play soccer with Ms. Tierney Ahearn or learn re-channeling with Ms. Melissa McCarthy. We had numerous guest speakers from which students could choose and staff have been having fun putting out dares to students on the morning announcements to give them a “pie in the face” next week. It’s been a joyful five days shining a light on a serious topic. And all of the money we collected (OVER $2400!!!) this week will go towards a day of support at Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, Howard County's 24-hour crisis center and homeless shelter. Your generosity contributes to so much for our students and community, and I know I’m going to see many of you tomorrow at our first-ever MTH Marketplace! Lisa Scarbath, Beth Snyder, Amanda Peterson, Pat Lang, and Patti Lizzo along with countless others from our Viking Backers Booster Club have put innumerable hours into organizing this event, which will directly benefit our school. I hope you’ll stop by to support the incredible line-up of vendors. Concessions will be open all day. There will be door prizes and raffle tickets, and a few of our student clubs, Veg Club, Junior World Affairs Club, and MTH Lacrosse are participating as well. Your students encapsulated our week perfectly today at our Leadership Retreat when they said, “It ROCKS to be a Viking!” I couldn’t agree more. Joelle P.S. Look what showed up in all of our staff mailboxes today! Our clever PTSA Staff Appreciation Committee continues to surprise and delight us! We are so very, very appreciative! Thank you!! FOLLOW US & STAY CONNECTED Twitter: @hcpss_mhhs Website: http://mhhs.hcpss.org/ Student Online Newspaper: The Mountain: https://mthmountain.com/ UPCOMING DATES/EVENTS See the calendar on our website for additional dates. Date Time Event March 12-April 12 Senior Banner Sales March ~ 15 6pm Summer School registration window for Lifetime Fitness, Health, Art, ESOL, and World Language March 18, 25 6-8pm International Parent Leadership Program(IPLP) @ Hebron March 19, 26 5:30 – 8pm 4-week series of Guiding Good Choices Parenting Classes by HC DrugFree & HC State's Attorney's Office @ Elkridge Library March ~ 27 Online Mulch Sales March 27-29 During Lunch Prom Ticket Sales $85 @ Cafeteria March ~ 29 AP Exam Registration Online March 16 10am-4pm MTH Marketplace in Gym & Cafeteria March 17 11am-2pm Soup’r Sundae Fundraiser for Grassroots @ Wilde Lake High School March 17 Deadline Entries for Choose Civility Poster & Video Contest March 18 During Lunch M. Stein will measure students for Prom Tux Rental March 18 7pm HC DrugFree offer Senior Week: Staying Safe in OC programs @ Howard High March 22 Immunization Consent Form Deadline to Health Room for Clinic March 22, 23, 7pm Hebron Theatre Performances of The Wizard of Oz 28, 29, 30 in the Auditorium 3/21 @ 9:30am/ Seniors & 3/24 @ 2pm March 30 9am - 2pm Becca’s Closet @ Atholton High Cafeteria April 1 4:30-7:30pm Ellicott City Brain Bee Competition @ Hebron April 1 7pm HC DrugFree offer Senior Week: Staying Safe in OC programs @ Marriotts Ridge High April 3-4 During Lunch Prom Ticket Sales $85 @ Cafeteria April 4 Last Day Online Sale Prom Tickets April 4 HebronFest April 5 Early Dismissal @ 11:10am/Professional Work Day April 6 Mulch Sale Delivery April 7 8:30am - Women in Aeronautics & Astronautics Presentation 4:30pm @ UMD College Park, Kim Engineering Bldg April 8 6:30pm Viking Backers Meeting in the Media Center April 13-22 Spring Break – Schools Closed April 23 Last day to turn in your PTSA Scholarship Application April 24 Report Cards Issued for Quarter 3 April 27 10am - 2pm Drive-thru EpiPen, Medication and More Collection @ Wilde Lake Village Center parking lot April 27 8pm-12am Prom @ The Hotel at Arundel Preserves April 28 12am-3:30am After-Prom @ YMCA in Ellicott City April 29 NHS Applications Deadline to Mrs. Sankey & Ms. Stafford May 6 6:30pm Viking Backers Meeting in the Media Center May 16 Interim Reports Issued for Quarter 4 May (TBD) Senior Banners handed out to students @Graduation Rehearsal May 20-31 Graduation Window June 3 6:30pm Viking Backers Meeting in the Media Center June19, 20, 21 Early Dismissal @ 11:10am/Final Exams for HS June 21 11:10am Last Day of School CELEBRATIONS! **For the most up-to-date celebrations, be sure to follow us on Twitter: @hcpss_mhhs Congratulations to Jaiden Ritter, Blaire Ridgely, Sierrah Matthews and Garcelle Pierre. This incredible relay team ran their personal best at Indoor Nationals with a time of 1:42.02 in the 4x200 meter relay (placed 13th in the nation) and 3:55.4 in the 4x400 meter relay (placed 11th in the nation). Both times qualified them for Outdoor Nationals! Special Congratulations to Sierrah Matthews who has been named to the Baltimore Sun All-Metro first team for the 2018-2019 Indoor Track Season and Jaiden Ritter who has been named to the Baltimore Sun All-Metro second team for the 2018-2019 Inoodr Track Season. So proud of these student athletes! Congratulations to Odell Dickerson, Brandon Prox, Ryan Kinloch and Terrell Coleman! These basketball players have been selected to participate in the 2019 Howard County Senior All-Star Game. Top 20 All-Star Game: Odell Dickerson & Brandon Prox 2A vs. 3A All-Star Game: Ryan Kinloch & Terrell Coleman This is a wonderful accomplishment for these student athletes. If you are interested in attending, the game is next Wednesday night, March 20th at Oakland Mills HS. The Boy’s 2A/3A game is at 6 pm, the Girl’s 2A/3A game is at 7pm, and the Boys Top 20 game is at 8pm. There is also a dunk and 3 point contest. Congratulations to Trisha Anand, Bryan Tam, Elizabeth Jackson, Josh Starling, Lexi Croft and Mackenzie Strozyk who have their art currently on display at the Howard County Center for the Arts. The show opened last Friday, March 8th & there will be an artist's reception on April 4th from 5-7pm. Congratulations to Mt. Hebron Mock Trial debate Team!! The team finished its regular season 4-1 and earned a berth in the county finals versus River Hill on March 19th to determine this year’s Howard County champion. The winner of the match will go on to the Circuit Championship in Annapolis March 25 and 26. This season, the legal Vikings were led by dominating performances from attorneys Uma Phatak, Lorelei Loraine, Craig Hamm and witnesses Ryan Jung, Aditya Krishna, and Faith Kipchur. Congratulations to our Mt. Hebron Band Program & Director Mr. Fischer! All three bands recently took-the-stage during our annual HCPSS District Band Assessments. Each group prepared three pieces of music and was rated by four music education professionals using the Maryland Music Educators Association performance rubric (I - Superior, II - Excellent, III - Good, IV - Fair, V - Poor). Students also sight- read a piece of music with only 3 minutes to prepare. This is our annual assessment (similar to HSA’s!), except that we are graded as an ensemble, rather than as individuals. Mt. Hebron Wind Ensemble received an overall rating of I - Superior. Mt. Hebron Symphonic Winds received an overall rating of II - Excellent. Mt. Hebron Symphonic Band received an overall rating of II - Excellent. Please join us in congratulating our hard-working students! We are so proud of their dedication and joyful music-making! Congratulations to junior Sara R.