Updated Senior Information - 4/29/2020

  • Dear Seniors and Families,
     
    Who would have believed that all of this would have happened this year? I miss you and I am very proud of you Class of 2020! I also continue to be inspired by our Bulldog strength, courage and unity! I write to share some updates related to senior events and to assure you that I will continue to communicate updates as we have more information.  
     
    As a high school team, we have been engaged in conversation with your Senior Class Advisor, PAC, Student Council, members of the broader school community, neighboring districts and our district team to make this year special. Please remind your child to take the senior survey on their Google Classroom page to provide their input and ideas related to senior events. Students can also contact Ms. Ippolito or a senior class officer if they have any questions related to this survey. Student feedback will help to guide our planning of the key end-of-year experiences. Below, you will find early thoughts on many of these events.
     
    Senior Internship:
    • Seniors should receive an email from their teacher mentor on or before April 30th. If you do not receive an email, please email me.  
    • Your teacher mentor will also share a document entitled IRVINGTON HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR INTERNSHIP CHECKLIST, which you must complete and submit to your mentor on or before May 22nd. A PDF of this document is included in this blast for your information; however, your mentor will share a writable version of this form for you to return to your teacher mentor.  
    • For most seniors, Friday, May 22nd will be the last day of classes. Any seniors who still have unfinished coursework may be obligated to continue to attend classes until that work is satisfactorily completed. Your school counselor will let you know if that is the case because we want to ensure that you have fulfilled all of your class obligations before your internship experience. If you have any questions or are not sure if this applies to you, please contact your school counselor.  
    • Given the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our internship community hosts shared they would be unable to host interns from a distance this year. Therefore, in an effort to ensure equity of access, the Senior Internship will be different this year than it has been in previous years. This year, students can select one of two possible options for their internship. Senior Internship Options for 2020 (Choose One Option and let your teacher mentor know on or before May 22)
      • The Bigs: The first option is reading The Bigs and completing 3 Journal Entries related to the book. Please note that seniors should plan to come to the IHS parking lot on Wednesday, May 6th rain or shine between 1-2pm to pick up a free copy of The Bigs via drive through. Wednesday, May 6th from 1-2pm will be the only time you can pick up a copy of The Bigs, so please be there or send a friend or neighbor to drive through and pick up a copy for you. One person can pick up as many copies as needed if they are getting them for a friend or neighbor who can’t make it on Wednesday, May 6th from 1-2pm. I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday, May 6th:-)
      • YouScience: The second option is engaging in YouScience Activities for 3 weeks. All seniors will receive a personal invitation to YouScience via their Irvington email address on May 6th. If you do not receive that email please contact your teacher mentor who can provide your access code. 
    • The Senior Internship will begin on Monday, May 25th and it will end on Friday, June 12th.  
    • Seniors will have 3 assignments to submit to their teacher mentor on or before the following dates: 5/29, 6/05 and 6/12. Please see the attachment below for more details
    • If you are able to engage in a remote work experience and/or if you are teaching yourself a new skill or hobby, we encourage you to continue to use this time for such enrichment, exploration and development in addition to engaging in one of the two internship options this year.
     Please click on the attachment at the bottom of this blast to read details regarding your senior internship options and assignments. 
     
    Senior Scholarships and Awards: 
    Although we will not be able to gather at the DoubleTree to honor our students, we will be posting a beautiful IHS Awards announcement online on June 9th. All scholarship checks will be mailed to the selected students. Book awards, medals, certificates and plaques will either be mailed, PDF emailed or an arrangement for pick-up at a future date will be planned.
     
    Senior Celebrations:
    Personalized Signs: In partnership with PTSA and the Booster Club and our community, we are working together to create an opportunity to honor our students by creating personalized signs. We will share more details as they become available.  
     
    Memory Lane Photo Montage: In partnership with our Yearbook advisor Mr. Pat DiBenedetto and our students involved with the yearbook, we will be sharing a video that captures images of each senior. Our Yearbook Team will reach out to seniors seeking submission of a current photo and one of your senior in lower elementary (K-3) for inclusion in our Memory Lane photo Montage which we will share with you in advance of graduation. More details to follow.
     
    Spring Senior Athlete Profiles: Coach Pat DiBenedetto worked with Anika Manchanda, a junior in our Yearbook class, to create this spectacular senior athlete profile for our seniors who were expecting to be playing their spring sports now. Our seniors have been engaged in distance training during this COVID-19 pandemic. 
     
    Additional Experiences: We will continue to work with our students, IHS team, PTSA and the PTSA Graduation Planning Committee to plan and share additional new ways to celebrate with and honor our students!
     
    Yearbooks:
    The Herff Jones Plant is closed until at least the beginning of May. We will update you as soon as we know more about their ability to resume production. Mr. Dibenedetto and Mr. Resendiz will share more details regarding production and distribution as they become available.  
     
    Senior Prom:
    The status of our prom is still unknown. In the event that we are unable to have this event in its original form, we will continue to seek input regarding potential alternate options. So far much of the student feedback we have received is that a virtual alternative is not desired. We will share more information as it becomes available. 
     
    Graduation:
    We share our community’s belief that the graduation ceremony is an important one, a moment that puts a beautiful culmination on many years of hard work and growth. While we may not be able to hold the ceremony in the same way we’ve done in the past, we are identifying a number of potential ideas that will look to create pomp and circumstance with the safety of all of our students, families and staff in mind. Thank you for your patience and partnership and please understand that we will share more information as it becomes available.  
     
    We remain grateful for your partnership and want to remind you that as we continue to be engaged in distance learning, it remains quite stressful for students, teachers, parents and families. Our School counselors, psychologists (Kelly Murphy/Noreen Sabia), our Student Assistance Counselor (Danielle Gamar) and our district Social Worker (Gina Menendez) continue to be available to students and families should you need additional support at any time.
     
    Also, as a reminder, Ms. Gamar is hosting Senior Meetings to connect with our seniors during this time- she will have a forum to listen and offer support. Mr. Samuelson and I also plan to be there! Seniors with a last name ending in A-K should log into the Google Hangout on Thursday April 30th, 2:15- 3:00pm and seniors with a last name ending in L-Z should join Ms. Gamar’s Google Hangout on Friday May 1st, 2:15- 3:00pm. Ms Gamar will share the links via students’ Irvington emails early next week.
     
    Remember we miss you and please stay safe! I look forward to writing soon with more information!
     
    Best,
    Ms. GM
     
     
    ‌