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Pony Express
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER OF O. HENRY MIDDLE SCHOOL
In this Edition
NEW featureed items will be in BOLD
- Happening This Week- calendar of events and announcements
- Art In Action- Each week we will feature student Art
- Athletics- Football to Championship Game on Tuesday
- Counselor Corner-
- Fine Arts News- Theatre Show on November 4th
- Library News- Scare Fair Starts Monday
- NJHS Update
- Nurse Update
- Mustang Council- Campus CAC- next meeting Tuesday, October 25th
- PTA News--Bond- Voting November 8,Virtual Academy Coaching
- From AISD-- AHS Academy Information Night, LASA Information Sessions, AHS Vertical Team Night, Austin High Red Jackets Dance Clinic, Mountain Biking Club
HAPPENING THIS WEEK
Save the Date
- Monday, October 31-Halloween-- Students may dress up for the day.
- Students may dress up for Halloween--please see guidelines here:
- Yes, you can wear a costume onMonday to school - It must be school appropriate
- Letter to students and families on costume guidelines
- No Fake/look-alike weapons
- Monday, November 7th-- PSAT for all 8th graders
- Tuesday, November 8th-- Student Holiday, Staff Development
Monday,10/24-A Day1,2,3,ACES, 4
Library Scare Fair Book Fair Starts
4:00-5:30 UIL Theater Rehearsals Cafe
4:00-5:30 Twilight Grade Recovery, Homework Club, Science Club
Tuesday, 10/25--B Day 5,6,7, ACES, 8
4:00-5:30 UIL Theater Rehearsals Cafe
Championship Football Games-Playing for 1st place
6:00 7th A Team @House Park
7:30 8th A Team @House Park
Wednesday, 10/26--A Day---1,2,3,ACES, 4
4:00-5:30 Twilight Grade Recovery, Homework Club, History Club, GSA Club
4:00-5:00 Cheer Practice OHMS
4:00-5:30 UIL Theater Rehearsals Cafe
4:00 Boys Soccer Practice
Thursday, 10/27--B Day-5,6,7, ACES, 8
7:30 FCA in Big Gym
4:00-6:00 Scare Fair Family Night with Jazz Band
4:00 Boys Soccer Practice
4:00-5:30 Twilight Grade Recovery, Homework Club, Math Club
4:00-5:30 UIL Theater Rehearsals Cafe
6:00-- Girls Basketball vs Bailey
6:45-8:15 Cheer Practice WAYA
Friday, 10/28- C Day 1-8:
Student Council Spirit Day-
6:30-- AHS Vertical Team Night
Income Verification Forms
This coming week Austin ISD will be sending an email to families regarding the Income Verification Form. We would appreciate if you take a few minutes to complete the survey because our campus could get additional funding if you complete the income verification form.
Austin ISD also uses this information to help determine staffing, technology allocation, and more.
Why it matters: The state and federal governments use this information to help them distribute grants and other forms of funding. If you don’t complete it, your student’s campus could miss out on some of this important funding.
In addition, your student could get fee waivers for college applications and exams, access to scholarship opportunities, after-school academic enrichment programs and increased health and wellness services.
ART IN ACTION-Printmaking
ATHLETICS
Counselor Corner
Austin Community College Partnership
Austin Community College is partnering with Verizon and the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) to offer a free hands-on STEM learning event for middle school students. The event will take place on November 5th at our ACC Highland Campus.
ACC hosts a summer camp through our Verizon Innovative Learning STEM Achievers program every summer. This year we are hosting a one-day workshop that will allow students to experience a day of camp. Students who attend the event will be given first access to information on signing up for the 2023 free summer camp.
Save the Date - Pre-Med Summit at UT
The University of Texas' American Medical Student Association, a pre-medical student organization at UT Austin, is planning to hold the second annual Pre-Med Summit on Saturday February 18, 2023. Please save this date in your calendar! This event is primarily for students interested in going to medical school, but it is open to most any student interested in the biomedical field. As we plan, I will be sending updates with more detailed information, so keep an eye out for them!
Need to Reach Your Counselor
You can email at ohenry.counselors@austinisd.org
Grading Periods and Progress Reports
Progress 1-- Closes 9/2
Progress 2- Closes 9/23-- student eligibilty check
1st Nine Weeks- closes 10/7-- student eligibilty check on 10/13, lost or gained 10/20
Progress 3- closes 11/4--student eligibilty chek on 11/4, lost or gained 11/11
Progress 4- closes 12/2-student eligibilty chek on 12/2, lost or gained 12/9
2nd Nine Weeks-closes 12/20, lost or gained 1/17
Fine Arts News
Theatre News
The theatre production needs some help. Do you have a large doll house or a set of golf clubs in a bag or just 2-3 clubs that you can loan.
We need them ASAP till Nov 14. We will return them to you after the show.
Please contact. Mrs. White (becky.white@austinisd.org) if you can help us out.
Thank you so much for supporting the fine arts.
Large doll house. Should stand around 3 ft high (does not have to be in great condition)
OHMS Mustang Theatre Presents: The Brothers Grimm
One Night Only
Nov. 4 @ 6pm
Tickets $5:00 at the door(cafateria)
Library News
On Monday, October 17th, the district started the 1 Million Minute Challenge! This is our chance to shine as a campus and show that we are a community of readers. Students can log the minutes/books they are reading using this form: bit.ly/3SRqWBt (must be logged into AISD account)
Scare Fair is just around the corner! We will be holding the Scare (book) Fair from Oct 24th-Oct 31st.
Please visit the Scare Fair page (https://www.scholastic.com/bf/ohenrymiddleschool1) to set up an eWallet, volunteer, preview books, and plan to come to our family night event.
Finally, for the 2nd year we are also asking for donations to our Scare Fair eWallet so every student can come home with a book! It was a huge success last year and made so many kids really happy! Please donate if you can: https://shop.scholastic.com/ewallet/fund?lang=en_US&walletId=c5ab772a-51bf-461d-aaee-4144e4322298
O. HENRY CAMPUS ADVISORY COUNCIL (CAC)-- MUSTANG COUNCIL
O. HENRY CAMPUS ADVISORY COUNCIL (CAC)-- MUSTANG COUNCIL
Mustang Council meetings are held monthly in the school library and are open to all O. Henry community members. If you would like to speak during an upcoming meeting, please send an email to both co-chairs Paula Cook (paula.cook@austinisd.org) and Suzanne Perez (suzannep@gmail.com) with your name and specific topic of interest at least 14 days prior to the next meeting. You may also submit agenda suggestions, concerns and/or questions via email to the co-chairs which the co-chairs will share during meetings on the behalf of community members.
Our next CAC meeting will be Tuesday, Ocotober 25th from 4:00-5:15. If you are interested in speaking to our CAC using our citizen communication time, please email our CAC Co-chairs Paula Cook at paula.cook@austinisd.org or Suzanne Perez at suzannep@gmail.com.
Meeting Agendas and Meeting Minutes can be found on our campus web page.
Citizen Communications is the first item on the agenda and is time set aside for non-members to make comments to the CAC. The co-chairs may limit the time given to individual speakers and will ensure that the districts "Citizens Communication and Visitor Guidelines" are applied. Under these guidelines, except for requests for clarification, dialogue shall not occur between the speaker and the members. If the CAC is interested in hearing more from a speaker, the speaker may be invited to a future meeting and be placed on the agenda. The CAC may also call a special meeting specifically for the purpose of open-dialogue with non-members but it must be posted for discussion on specific topics.
PTA News
PTA News Updates
Round Up was a huge success! Thank you to all the volunteers and staff that helped make it run smoothly. Way to go, Mustangs!
Election Day is November 8th!
For more information about the 2022 bond in general you may visit www.austinisd.org/bond.
The Virtual Academic Coaching program supporting O. Henry students is back! This program provides parent/community member volunteer-led, free, VIRTUAL ACADEMIC COACHING for students!
Students nominated by their family will receive free, after-school or weekend one-on-one virtual support to reach their academic goals. Academic coaching support includes managing schedules, planning and prioritizing school work, turning in missing assignments, coaching on executive functioning skills and more!
This program is supported by O. Henry parents and community members for O. Henry students and we need more volunteers to support more students! Interested in volunteering one hour per week from home or interested in nominating your student for the program? Learn more here:
https://ohenrypta.org/new-virtual-academic-coaching/
Interested in learning more? Please read our FAQ!
Interested in volunteering? Please complete this volunteer form!
Interested in nominating your student? Please complete this student nomination form!