Time to Catch Up!

Well, I've fallen behind here for awhile. Sorry about the lag on this blog, I've been concentrating more on the new HHS webpage. You can check it out at

http://hhs.holtville.k12.ca.us/

We've had a lot going on at HHS this first quarter...

We've just wrapped up Cross Country and Volleyball seasons, and the Varsity Football season is extending into the playoffs...

Cross Country featured standout performances by a Frosh heavy squad including the Lara brothers.

Our Freshman Volleyball won their league this year.

Our Football squad will be facing Army-Navy in CIF action this week, following last Friday's exciting match with Calipatria as the Boys of HHS reclaimed the AXE!

Our First-Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Night in October was a rousing success, with staff and students showing our community that we care.

We are seeing record numbers of Seniors exceeding our 2.o GPA level this fall, and had 33 students exceed the October AR Goal of 25 points.

District and Site staff barbecued Hamburgers and Hotdogs for the school on Homecoming, and will do it again this FRIDAY!

Our parent nite in October saw record setting attendance as the community turned out for food and fun at HHS.

Our MESA club has begun preparing for their first-ever Robotics competition and our FFA took officers to the National Conference in Indiana.

So yes, we are still here.. we are still active... and we are still SUCCEEDING!

I'll work harder on keeping this blog up to date, so keep checking in!

School Opens

Well HHS couldn't have asked for a nicer way to begin school... West winds over the weekend meant our kids returned to temps in the 70's! Gone were the white flies and the humidity and back were the smiles and hugs!

550 bright and shining faces made their way to their new Advisory class at 8:00am and the energy and excitement bode well for the coming year!

New Web Page!

The Holtville High School web site, together with all Holtville Unified School District websites, has undergone a major overhaul to help us improve our ability to communicate in a timely and professional manner with our staff, parents, students and community.

New elements include easier navigation, better news update features, a dynamic new calendar and even the opportunity to immediate twitter updates of news stories and events.

Our school web address has changed as well... we may now be found at:

hhs.holtville.k12.ca.us

and don't forget to sign up for our new Twitter Feed at http://twitter.com/HHS_Vikings .

Changes on the Horizon...

Holtville High is preparing for the 2010-2011 school year already, and as we look ahead we want to share some of the changes we see on the horizon...

New Staff:
We will be welcoming at least two new teachers to HHS.
Mrs. Samantha Williams nee' Stacey will join our Math Department, and
Ms. Cynthia Lopez will join our English Department

New Assignments:
Mr. Queen will move from 9th Grade English to 11th Grade English,
Mr. Van Acker will move from 11th Grade English to 12 Grade English

New Class:
Every student will see a new class on their schedule this August. All students will have an Advisory period each morning from 8:00 to 8:13. This short class will be the home for all announcement, surveys, and will involve regular notebook checks and conversations about class and school concerns.

New Bell Schedule:
Classes will now begin at 8:00AM every day. This is five minutes earlier than in the past, so it will be an important change for students and families to get used to.

Congratulations to the Class of 2010

HHS bids a fond and sad farewell to our young men and women of the class of 2010. This remarkable group of ladies and gentlemen took a final walk across the field at Holtville High School's Jim Birger Field on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 and began the next part of their journey.

We wish them and their families all the best and want to express the deep joy we have felt in working with them for the past 48 months!

Good luck and great discoveries!

Public Schools Week

This week is Public Schools week, and at HHS we are celebrating by holding our annual Spring Showcase. Tonight at 6:00 parents and community members can visit our campus and catch a glimpse of the terrific work being done in classrooms. Our Band and Chorus will be performing in front of the Gym, so come check out all the great things happening at HHS.

Testing on the Horizon

Coming Soon...to a classroom near you... the 2010 California Standardized Testing!

That's right, the CST's are back!

On Tuesday, May 4 the students of HHS will begin a week of testing. This annual event is especially important this year as we look to make up the ground we lost on our API last year and show strong gains in student performance.

Students need to make a special effort to be at school every day for testing, as there is a very tight window for the testing and makeups.

So plan ahead... schedule any appointments for late in the day or postpone them until after testing!

Just a bit rattled...

I'm hoping that this post finds all safe and sound after all the excitement of the last week. While HMS did sustain some damage to a few classrooms, HHS was able to come through the Easter Sunday earthquake largely unscathed.

All schools in Holtville will be in session on Monday, April 12th, with some of the HMS students being shuffled to new classrooms.

For all of you parents out there, please know that we are committed to ensuring the safety of your children and have ample resources and planning in place in the event of any future earthquakes or other emergencies.

Spring Break and 3rd Quarter Grades

The 3rd quarter of the school year will come to an end on Thursday, April 1st.

Spring break will begin on Friday, April 2nd and there will be no classes until Monday, April 12th.

The week ahead...

HHS 10th graders will be traveling to UCSD on Monday, 3/22 as part of our GEAR UP student support program. Students and counseling staff will be given tours of the campus and an introduction to the opportunities which may be found at that prestigious university.

Later in the week, teams of US Border Patrol and Homeland Security agents will be meeting with all of the students at HHS in small, class size discussion groups, to explain the reality of the dangers involved in smuggling across the border. Officers will have a video presentation for each group, and be taking questions from the students. This eye-opening presentation has already been seen at Calexico High School, and was very well received.

For more information, please contact the school.

ALSO>>> Friday night, March 23rd, the Senior class of HHS will be putting on a SADIE HAWKINS dance in the gym. The Beach themed dance is open to all HHS students and their guests.

Great Movie Night

Last Thursday it was a full house for the HHS Spring Movie / Family Night. Students and local families turned out in force to enjoy the beautiful Spring evening, and young and old alike enjoyed the screening of UP! in the school library.

These events are held three times each year at HHS and continue our mission of expanding our support for our local families.

Thanks to all of you who helped set-up and put on the event. And a very gracious "Thank You" to all our guests!

UP! and coming...

Next Thursday, March 18th, HHS will be hosting our Spring Edition of our Family Movie Night.

Featured on the Big Screen will be the Academy Award winning hit.. UP!

Clubs and Classes will have booths set up for food and fun, so bring out the Kids and lets have a great Family Friendly Event!

Testing Alert!

MAJOR TESTING ALERT!!! CAHSEE IS HERE!

Tuesday - 3/16 - CAHSEE TESTING in English Language Arts
-- This will be the first shot for the members of the Sophomore Class, who will be joined by any Juniors and Seniors who have not yet passed this section. This is an especially big test for the Seniors who will have no further chances at the test before the end of the school year.

Wednesday - 3/17 - CAHSEE TESTING in Mathematics
-- This will be the first shot for the members of the Sophomore Class, who will be joined by any Juniors and Seniors who have not yet passed this section. This is an especially big test for the Seniors who will have no further chances at the test before the end of the school year.

ATTENDANCE is ESSENTIAL - the High School's AYP is fundementally based on our 10th Grade participation and achievement on these two days of testing. We have maintained near 100% attendance for the March test dates over the past 4 years and are pushing hard for the same this year!

Vikings Fall in Soccer Semifinals

The Boys Soccer squad suffered a heartbreaking loss here on Wednesday evening, falling to the La Jolla Country Day Torreys by a score of 5-2.

The Vikings went into the half leading 2-1 but were unable to put it away during the second half, despite the valient efforts of the guys!

The Viking boys end their season as the highest ranked Public School in SDCIF- Division IV soccer.

Click Here for more Soccer Photos

Another Article

In keeping with the idea of sharing emerging information on Education, here's a link to an interesting article on programs being tested around the country to encourage students who wish to graduate early and to give them access to higher education resources and support services.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35691845/ns/us_news-education/

An interesting article...

As an educator and a bit of a techno-nerd, I am often intrigued by some of the information and theories that float around regarding the effect the increased used of technology for social purposes is having on young people. In that vein, I'd like to share the following link to an article from the Edutopia web site... http://www.edutopia.org/serious-games-computer-simulations-study

And in the interest of fairness... another point of view... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35672752/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

Soccer Semi's on Wednesday

HHS Boys Soccer Team will be back in action tomorrow, Wednesday, March 3 against the Torrey's of La Jolla Country Day.

The game has been scheduled for 5:00 PM at Birger Field in Holtville.

The top-seeded Vikings enter tomorrows game following playoff wins over Tri-City Christian and Vincent Memorial High School in the past week.

The game will be free for all fans, so come on out and cheer on our Boys!!!

Boys Soccer Wins Again!

The HHS Boys Soccer team kicked their way through the cold wind and drizzle to put away Vincent Memorial by a score of 4 - 0 in CIF Quarterfinal action!

Congratulations Boys!

And a special thanks to Mrs. Lisa Natwick for pulling together the video clips!

Soccer Boys Kick It Off With A Win!

The gentle men of the Holtville Vikings Soccer Squad set out on their quest for a CIF championship on Wednesday afternoon with a tremendous victory over the visiting team from Tri-City Christian Academy by a score of 7 - 0.

Excellent ball handling and unselfish play seemed to be the hallmark of the afternoon for the Vikings as they performed before the largest crowd they had seen this season.

With the win, the Vikings are advancing to the quarter-final round, with a game this Saturday at 5:00pm against the Vincent Memorial Scots.

Girls Soccer and Boys Basketball Fall in 1st Round.

Tuesday night proved to be a brutal night for all of the Imperial Valley squads in CIF playoff action, and the results for the HHS Boys Basketball and Girls Soccer teams were no exception.

On the hardwood, the Viking Boys fell to Santa Fe Christian by a score of 84-38. This gut-wrenching loss closed out the season for Coach Reschert and the boys who finished up with an overall record of 10-13.

On the coastal turf of Bishop's High School, the Girls Soccer team endured an evening of frustration, finally falling 11-0 to the Bishop team. The girls in the Green & Gold end their season with a record of 7-8 overall and 5-5 in league.

CIF Update

WELL ITS CIF SOCCER TIME AGAIN!!!!

This winter was witness to some great athletic action among the teams of HHS, and none was better than the action on the soccer turf of Birger Field.

Our Boys Soccer squad not only qualified for CIF playoffs, but actually were seeded high enough to land a first round home game this year.

The game will take place today at 4:00 with our own Viking boys hosting the gentlemen from Tri-City Christian.

The school is pumped up and ready for this great event and hope to have a terrific turnout! See Ya There!

Let the Festivities Begin!

Well it's Carrot Festival time again here in Holtville, and everyone is ready. Students will be racing in the 5k on Saturday morning, Clubs and Team will have booths up in the park for fundraising, and Vikings will be marching with pride down the parade route.

I hope you all will turn out tomorrow for the Parade and all the fun in Holt Park!

CAHSEE is COMING!!!

Just a quick Heads Up to those Seniors who still haven't passed the California High School Exit Exam yet. This week is a big one for you... Testing on Tuesday and Wednesday means you have another chance at passing.

There will only be one more opportunity after this for the CAHSEE... In March when we offer it to all the Sophomores as well as the Juniors and Seniors who haven't passed yet.

ALSO... A+ has started up, so make sure you are there if you are scheduled!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Vikings and Fans!

This week sees our students back on campus and our teachers back in the classrooms! Final exams will begin on Wednesday, January 20th in all classes. We will be releasing students at 1:45 on Wed. (1/20), Thur. (1/21), and Fri. (1/22). Term papers and semester reviews are keeping our students busy until then.

Sports are pounding ahead too... Boys and Girls Basketball, Wrestling, and Boys and Girls Soccer are all being featured this Winter, so make time to turn out and support our Vikings...

At the end of the month, we will be hosting our annual Wrestling Tournament, featuring many of the best wrestlers in California as approximately 30 high school's send delegations to the mats of the Kirchenbauer Sports Complex here at the heart of HHS.

Hope we can see you at some of these upcoming, and exciting, events!