UDHS Community Update
March 14, 2024
Good afternoon, UDHS Family,
Last Friday, Mrs. Leanne Jones took a team of high school students to Penn State Abington to participate in the Science Olympiad regional competition. Congratulations to the following medalists: Chemistry Lab - 1st place earned by Lance Yang and Alan Jiang; Disease Detectives - 2nd place earned by Lance Yang and Yuna Jung; and Microbe Mission - 3rd place earned by Lance Yang and Prajvala Mysore.
We are very pleased to announce that the winners of the Class of 2024 Upper Dublin Student Leadership Award Medals are Julia Axler and Gus Platt. They will be joined by finalists Talia Hoffner, Chris Kohlbrener, Noah Morginstin, and Amy Ngo, and acknowledged for this prestigious honor at the 40th Annual Medals Program which will take place on May 15. Congratulations to the students and their families.
Mr. Sobieski is collaborating with Fort Washington Elementary School's Mr. McAleer to provide PSSA Tutoring Sessions. A team of students from UDHS travels after school to Fort and works with their students to help them sharpen their reading and math skills. The leadership of the high school visitors has been incredibly well received by the energetic elementary school group. Thanks to all involved.
Upper Dublin graduate Ben Zauzmer was recently featured in a Channel 6 report. He uses his considerable mathematics skills to make predictions for the Oscar winners. To read more about his achievements and prognostications, click here.
The high school is excited about our annual "March Attendance Madness" competition. This is an attendance competition among the Period 1 Red and Period 1 Gray classes. Each week (bracket style) two classes will go head-to-head to see which class has the highest percentage of attendance. In single elimination, Period 1 classes will progress on an actual bracket until an overall winner is determined at the end of six weeks. The tournament will run from February 12 - March 22. The two winning Period 1 classes will receive a catered breakfast the week after spring break. Thank you to our school-wide PBIS committee for sponsoring this event.
In closing this section of the newsletter, I recently came across an article that provided interest to me both as an educator and as a parent. I debated including it with concerns that it might come across as judgemental. I assure you the intention here is simply for consideration and discussion. If you are interested, please take a look. There was a similar piece on a local news program on Tuesday. To be clear, I am sharing this as food for thought and as an opportunity for possible conversation at home. Thank you for your ongoing partnership in the education of our students.
On Wednesday, Chris Kohlbrenner, Matt Casey, Cole Coffey, and Al Eby held the annual UD Wingbowl for their culminating project. Junior Evan Sanders defended his title beating fellow classmate and friend Dom Paone in an Overtime Wing-Off eating a total of 45 wings through three rounds. A special shoutout goes to Mr. Pring who earned the Teacher Champion title. Thanks to Fireside and the Penna Family for donating their wings and hosting a Dine & Donate. All proceed from the event benefit the March of Dimes.
For their Culminating Project, two of our seniors, Maxwell Obando and Zachary Hunter, hosted a for-charity chess tournament. All of their proceeds will go to The Gift of Chess, a nonprofit, charitable 501(C)(3) organization that "distributes chess sets and access to chess technology, providing an equal opportunity to learn chess and benefit from the many life skills the game cultivates." The students have already raised over $200 from their tournament, but additional funds would help them make an even greater impact on lives around the world. Every $10 finances a chess set that will be donated to a refugee, prisoner, or underprivileged child in an attempt to expand their opportunity through the universal language of chess. Please consider contributing to their cause using this link.
Our annual Music in Our Schools Concerts are extraordinary celebrations of our music at Upper Dublin. The Vocal Concert will take place tonight and Strings Concert on March 19. While the vocal night is sold out, tickets still remain for the instrumental evening, so please purchase your tickets by scanning the QR code. This will be an unforgettable event you do not want to miss.
Everybody Cut Loose last week during our spring musical. From the moment the curtains opened, the production was amazing. We thank our immensely talented students and staff for how fantastic it was. The acting, singing, dancing, staging, music, and everything else involved were ingredients to one of the best shows at UDHS. They certainly brought us a heavy dose of Cardinal Pride.
Thank you to Mr. Heiland for his update on UDHS athletics.
Good luck to our swimmers who are currently out at Bucknell participating in the PIAA State Championships. The girls' team is currently in first place with 114 points heading into this evening's finals. You can tune in on PCN.
- Wednesday Highlights
- Boys
- Toby Herzog finished in 9th in the 200 YD IM.
- The 200 Free Relay finished in 13th
- Girls
- Congrats to the 200 Yard Medley Relay ( Vikki Williams, Sophia Sileo-Magliari, Olivia Auwarter, & Maddie Shapiro) who won the gold medal.
- Arina Vorobyeva earned a state silver medal in the 200 YD Freestyle
- The 200 Free Relay (Vorobyeva, Shapiro, Sileo-Magliari, & Alicia Taylor) earned a 4th place medal.
Congrats to Rylee Netter who finished in 7th place at the first PIAA Girls Wrestling state championships last weekend. Rylee lost her first match, but battled her way back into the medal rounds with 2 impressive pins! A truly remarkable career for Rylee.
Our swimmers are our last winter sports team competing, so with that please take a look at the recap of our outstanding success this past winter season.
- 38 All-League Selections
- 6 Individual / Relay League Champions
- 4 Team League Champions
- 30 Individual District / Regional Qualifiers
- 3 Team District / Regional Qualifiers
- 16 Individual / Relay District Medalists
- 2 Individual / Relay District Champions
- 1 District Finalist Team
- 1 District Champion Team
- 33 Individual State Qualifiers
- 2 Team State Qualifiers
- 5 Individual / Relay State Medalists (with one more night of swimming still to come)
- 2 Individual / Relay State Champions (with one more night of swimming still to come)
Spring season is underway! Our tennis team gets their regular season started today at Pennridge. Softball (@ Dock), Girls Lacrosse ( Home vs. Methacton) & Boys Lacrosse ( Home vs. Marple Newtown) get their seasons started tomorrow.
This week Mr. Heiland sat down with the 4x800 girls indoor track and field state champions, Emily Kulak, Talia Hoffner, Faith Castronuovo, and Mason Kullmann, for his Cardinal Student Athlete Spotlight. They talked about their roles in the race, the girl's track and field program as a whole, and some goals for the upcoming spring season.
Check in to the Upper Dublin Athletics Update Page for up-to-date information.
9th, 10th and 11th grade students - Please join the Guidance Department for our STEM Themed college fair scheduled on March 19th during office hours. The event will be held in the Library and there will be representatives from nine different universities. Linked here is the flyer with more information. All students that are interested should attend. We look forward to seeing you there for this exciting opportunity.
Guest speaker - UDHS students Seyawash Azim, Andrew D'Ambrosio, and Michael Rothkopf are sponsoring a guest speaker on March 22 at 5:00 in the Forum Room.
Yard Signs - Class of 2024 soon to be Graduates and families, Graduation Yard Signs go on sale March 1st through March 22nd. This link gives a few options for purchasing a yard sign for 2024 Upper Dublin High School Graduates. Families should expect to pick up the signs at Upper Dublin High School sometime in late April. A notification will go out through the Principals Weekly Community Update as well as, Schoology for the students.
Spring Cricket League - Please see attached.
Winning Cards Casino Night Auction - The Winning Cards Casino Night Auction is now open for bidding, and you don't even have to attend Saturday night's event to participate! Items range from a Trek Bike to Phillies Baseball Camp, and even the chance to record at UDHS Greenfield Film Studio or host a Planetarium experience at SRMS. Don't miss out on the opportunity to bid for these unique experiences and support our schools and local community. The auction closes on March 16 at 9:30pm.
UDHS MiniTHON - Join us in Candyland tomorrow night for our 10th Annual MiniTHON. Register at lunch or the door for only $20! Registration includes music, food, 3v3 basketball, your donation, and everything else. Bring a friend and come for a fun night and fight cancer. UDHS is coming together for ONE night, for ONE mission as ONE SCHOOL, For the Kids! Thank you for any and all support. Feel free to donate here. Email Mrs. Sachson - jsachson@udsd.org, or Mrs. McNamara - dmcnamar@udsd.org with any questions.
