President’s Letter Welcome to 2013! I hope each of you enjoyed a healthy and happy holiday and are experiencing a wonderful new year. Our Huntsville High School family and community are fortunate to have such outstanding faculty, administration and staff, as well as wonderful students, PTSA volunteers and parents. Thank you—each and all of you! You and your PTSA volunteers are the greatest. Here is a partial list of recent activities: The Newsletter Committee (Carmen Thompson and Kris Valentine, Co-Chairs), and Susan King, working with our sponsors, continue to publish an excellent PTSA Newsletter where we can read expanded articles on HHS happenings and also have an opportunity to see some pictures from our school and community. You can find the current and archived copies of the newsletter at www.hhsnewsletter.com. The Hospitality Committee (Holly Butler and Talitha Yokley, Co-Chairs) continued their outstanding support of the teachers and staff with a Holiday Cookie and Hot Chocolate event in December and their famous Crock Pot Chili Luncheon on the first day back to school from winter break! Our First VP, Programs, Kari Smith, planned two of our most popular events: our Lunch and Learn with Mr. Mincher, and our Club Fair and Rising Freshman Orientation, which will be held on February 26. The Lunch and Learn was fabulous and we filled the room. Special thanks to Mr. Mincher for being willing to answer our questions and to Mrs. Lambert for hosting us. PTSA assisted the HHS Counselors at their January 12 event, “Parental Strategies for Today’s High School Challenges”. This free community event received excellent feedback from attendees and PTSA looks forward to assisting in coming years. Thank you to Nancy Wolfe and the rest of our Counselor Staff, David Whitener, Quaynteece Mosby and Catherine Taylor, for providing excellent counseling services to our students and our school. Thank you also to our community expert speakers and our Sponsors. The Technology Committee (Susan and Steve Solomon, Co-Chairs) continues to support and enhance technology available to our students. Thank you, Susan and Steve! Please take time to read the Technology Committee report in this issue of the Newsletter. The Health and Safety Committee (Michelle Packard, Chair) is planning to share some important information with all HHS students. We are grateful to be able to use the latest technology and our talented student production team to bring this information to the HHS family The Student Activities Committee (Karen Kimbrough, Chair) continues to support the InterClub Council--a group where all clubs and organizations can meet and share information. Panther Postings (Elise Taylor, Chair) continues to send out the most current HHS information to subscribers. If you are not receiving Panther Postings and wish view the archives, please go to: http://archive.benchmarkemail.com/pantherpostings. To subscribe, simply click the “subscribe now” button found on each Posting. To submit information for publication, send to pantherpostings@gmail.com . We have been able to fulfill many teacher requests due to your generosity. More requests are being received this semester and we have been able to help with these. Your membership and your donations make all of this possible! Thank you again to all dedicated PTSA volunteers and parents—we simply could not do this without each one of you. Warmest regards,
Lisa Miller President, HHS PTSA lmillerhsv@comcast.net
Nominating News
PTSA Committee News
The Nominating Committee will soon begin work on a proposed slate of HHS PTSA officers for the 2013-2014 school year. If you are interested in serving as an elected officer, please email Evey Rouse at eveyrouse@comcast.net.
In addition to elected officers, PTSA committees always need your help. If you are interested in serving as a Committee Chair, CoChair or as a member of a PTSA Committee, please contact Lisa Miller at lmillerhsv@comcast.net. 2
PTSA Committee News