Home of Champions! This is How We Roll!

Wow!  What a great week by the students of Corsicana High School.  It feels great to see our students competing at a high level!  I will talk more about how impressive they have been later.

I have been following the NCAA finals (March Madness) and we all can see that Florida is still in it.  Like I said earlier, they will probably win.  Of course I am rooting against them.

National Assistant Principal's Week
This week is National Assistant Principal's Week.  Please let our wonderful assistant principals know that you are thankful that they are at Corsicana High School.  They are some of the hardest working individuals on campus.  I am thankful that they work hard for the students, teachers, and families of CHS.  Our school could not run as smooth or as efficiently without their hard work.
Thank you Elmer Avellaneda, Laurie Denbow, Shonna Franklin, Shade Boulware, and Patrick Harvell.

SAT Prep
The SAT prep course has begun.  This is a great way to improve your SAT score.  We have a large number of students who will be working many hours after-school and on Saturdays.

STAAR Testing
This week we will have our first round of STAAR EOC testing.  We will have STAAR English I tomorrow (Monday) and STAAR English II Tuesday.  Students, your teachers have prepared you for this day.  Make sure you get a good night's sleep and get a good breakfast each morning.

Benchmarks
We will have benchmarks on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week.
Algebra I-Wednesday
Biology I-Thursday
US History-Friday

Please remember that on all testing dates we will report directly to our testing rooms.  All students should be in class by 7:40 am.  We will begin all tests at 8:00 am sharp.

Registration
Registration is almost complete for Corsicana High School.  We are a little behind this year because of the changes to some of our graduation plans.  The counselors will be finishing up any students who have been absent and also changing requests of students that may need to change a request.  We hope to have this process finished by next week.  We will begin building the master schedule after that.

UIL Academics
A big shout out to all of the students who are on the UIL academic team.  What a great showing from all members of the team.  We believe that we have just about quadrupled our points over last year!  That is amazing!  As a school we came in 3rd overall.  I am very proud of this!  Our goal is to win the competition next year.  We can do this!  While visiting each competition this question kept coming up:  "What are you guys doing in Corsicana?"  People are taking notice of us, and I love it.  I will include a complete list of results when I get them all.  I hope to have this by the end of the day tomorrow (Monday).

UIL One Act Play advances to the Area competition!

One-Act Play
Best Actor
Tiano McDonald

All Star Cast
Christian Minniear
Danny Phillips
Accounting
1st Place Team
1st Walter Torres *
3rd Ben Crocker *
4th Caroline Kennemore *
5th Claire Vadasy *

Spelling
2nd place Team
3rd Ana Garcia *
5th Harisse Bautista
6th Dilia Yleizah


Honorable Mention
All Star Cast
Veronica Reyes
Donovan Hailey

Outstanding Technical Awards
Kayza Mallett
Hailey Herrin

*Denotes Regional Qualifiers
Current Events
1st place Team
1st Leland Cook *
5th Kaitlin Griffin *
Walter Torres *
Sandra Cortez *

 Computer Applications
6th Grayson Watkins

Literary Criticism
5th Taylor Clift

Ready Writing
2nd Courtney Reeves*

Social Studies
6th Leland Cook

2nd Place Speech Team
Poetry
1st Christian Minniear*
3rd Tiano McDonald*
5th Lexie Nelson

Prose
4th Reagan Fraze
5th Caitlin Pohland

Lincoln Douglas Debate
2nd Todd Warren

District Champion Current Events Team 

District Champion Accounting Team

One Act Play Advances!
Our UIL One Act Play team "Moby Dick Rehearsed" competed yesterday (Saturday) in Whitehouse and turned the place completely out.  They did a spectacular job!  They have advanced to the Area One Act Play competition Tuesday, April 8th at Tyler Junior College.  The entire cast did an amazing job.
Individual awards are as follows:
Best Crew-Kezia Mallett
Best Crew-Hailey Herrin
Honorable Mention All-Star Cast-Veronica Reyes (Pip)
Honorable Mention All -Star Cast-Donovan Hailey (Starbuck)
All-Star Cast-Christian Minniear (Ishmael)
All-Star Cast-Danny Phillips (Stub and other Characters)
16-AAAA Best Actor-Tiano McDonald (Ahab)
Go Tigers! #HomeofChampions

UIL One Act Play "Moby Dick Rehearsed" Receiving Awards

Girls Soccer Wins!
Wow!  Our girls soccer team continues to roll in the playoffs.  They won their playoff game against Woodrow Wilson this past Friday.  They will play Waxahachie in the sectional playoffs at Ennis Friday, April 4th at 7 pm.  Go Tigers! #HomeofChampions

Navarro County Youth Expo
Shout out to all of the students who participated in the Navarro County Youth Expo. The following students sold their animals in the expo:
Josiah Clagett
Ashley Howard
Nathan Griffin
Carley Casbeer
Austin Roughton
Brody Ushery
Chelsea Vandiver
Drew Miller
Nathan Griffin
Heath Boyd
Ty Tidwell
Welsey Devorak
Brayn Reagan
Jacob Farmer
Mikayla Jones
Emily Stovall
Spencer Edmonds
Sarah Hoffman
Colton Stallings

Golf!
Shout out to the golf team for doing a great job at district.  Another shout out goes to Brody Phillips and Maddy Hodge for advancing to regionals.  We are all very proud of you!  Go Tigers! #HomeofChampions

CHS Golf Team

Automotive Technology-State Champion
Shout out to Ben Burris for winning the Skills USA Automotive Technology state championship this past Saturday in Corpus Christi!  All I can say is wow!  Ben beat 26 other district winners from across the state, including the defending state champion!  Go Ben!  Ben won tools and $10,000 dollars in scholarships!!! He will represent Corsicana High School and the state of Texas in the National Skills USA automotive technology contest June 23-27 in Kansas City, Missouri.  Go Tigers! #HomeofChampions

Automotive Technology Team

Tennis
The tennis team received 3rd place overall in the Longview Tournament.  Our tennis team continues to do great things! Go Tigers! #HomeofChampions

Band
Band did an amazing job at their pre-UIL concert.  They have been working extremely hard to prepare for their competition.  I know great things are coming for them! Go Tigers! #HomeofChampions

Grayson Watkins Accompanying the Band

Baseball/Softball
Our baseball team had a big win over district rival Whitehouse this past Friday.  They dominated Whitehouse and defeated them 11-3.  Please do not forget that this is the same Whitehouse team that was ranked #2 in the state just a couple of weeks ago.  Softball had a tough week against Lindale and Whitehouse but will be back in the win column this week.  Go Tigers!  #HomeofChampions

With Isaiah and Veronica after the OAP Competition

Please stay updated with all of the CHS happenings right here.

Animals, Plays, and Sports, Oh My!

This week will be a very busy week for many of our students and faculty members.  Two of our biggest events of the school year will take place this week.  We will have the UIL academic competition and the Navarro County Youth Expo going on simultaneously.  Many of our students will get the opportunity to show their academic skills when they travel over to Lindale for the big competition.  The UIL competition will close with the One Act Play competition Saturday at Whitehouse.  Please click here for more information on the 16AAAA UIL competition.  I know all of our students will do great!  Go Tigers!

March madness is in full swing.  This year has been very interesting with many underdogs knocking off powerful tradition rich basketball programs.  Who would have ever thought that Mercer would beat Duke.  It goes to show that anyone with hard work can rise to the top!  Florida will probably win the tournament, even though I do not want them to win.

Pathways
Did you know that Corsicana High School will have almost 40 different pathways through 5 endorsements beginning next year?  There will be no school in all of Navarro County that will have as many pathways available to their students.  In addition to theses pathways Corsicana High School has a large number of Advanced Placement courses and Dual Credit courses available to our students.  Stop in to see all that we have to offer.  For detailed information on available pathways please click here.

Digital Citizenship

A digital citizen is one who knows what is right and wrong, exhibits intelligent, technology behavior, and makes good choices when using technology.  In the 21st Century, your digital footprint is one of the most important aspects of your personal and professional life.  As a school we must do a better job of teaching digital citizenship to all of our stakeholders.  Responsibility as it relates to social media sometimes must be taught.  Let's all work together to teach digital citizenship.  

STAAR Blitz

The STAAR end of course exams for `English I and English II will be next Monday and Tuesday.  The English department will host three STAAR after-school tutorial sessions for all English I and English II students.  The sessions will be from 3:30-5:00 on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday of this week.  Transportation will be available for all students.  We will have pizza, drinks, and door prizes each day.  See you there!  

District Co-Champs

Congratulations to our boys soccer team!  They are the district 28AAAA co-champions!  So proud of our boys soccer team!  Our girls soccer team has also qualified for the playoffs.  We will let you know about playoff games as soon as the information become available.  Go Tigers! #HomeofChampions 

District Champion Soccer Team

Extracurricular Updates

I had the opportunity to attend the Bluebonnet Relays in Ennis.  It was great to see so many of our students participating in track and field.  Not only are they participating, but they are doing an outstanding job.  The running events started off with a bang with Corsicana burning up the track.  I want you to know that I was fired up!  You should have seen me.  I was all over that field representing the "C".  The varsity track teams will be competing at the 87th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays this weekend.  Please click here for a complete schedule of the relays.  Go Tigers! #HomeofChampions  

The baseball and softball teams played great games against district rival Nacogdoches.  There was lot's of hype surrounding both games and the Tigers ended victoriously!  Softball won 13-8 and baseball won 7-3.  Both teams will be in action this week against at Lindale and back at home against Whitehouse.  Go Tigers! #HomeofChampions

Our Ag Mechanics team received 2nd in class at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo with the trailer they built.  They have been doing awesome this entire semester.  

Golf will have their district tournament tomorrow (Monday) and Wednesday.  Monday the tournament will be at the Pine Dunes Resort and Golf Club in Frankston, TX, and Wednesday it will take place at the Eagle's Bluff Country Club in Cherokee County, TX.  Our golf team has been doing an amazing job this year!  Go Tigers! #HomeofChampions

Voter Registration

Construction Technology Students

Nathan Griffin Receiving a $1500 Scholarship

Girls All-District Basketball Selections

Herbert

Let's Kick it in High Gear!

I know that everyone is ready to roll at 100% after a full week off.  It is always great to get time off to get rested and rejuvenated!  We will will have a long stretch to the finish line with no extended breaks because of snow/ice days that we have had to take.  Please do not forget that we will attend school on Good Friday which is April 18th and Memorial day which falls on May 26th.

Testing

We will soon enter testing season at Corsicana High School and all schools across the state and the country.  It is never a popular time for anyone, but it is something that must occur.  I want to remind all of our stakeholders of the importance of state testing.  We work hard at Corsicana High School to teach the state standards and to teach them in the proper sequence so that our students are learning at optimal levels each day.  It is never our intent to give them "test overkill" but it is our job to ensure that they are ready!  Parents, we ask that you remind your child about the importance of the STAAR test.  Let's get it out the way on the first try!  At CHS we take the following STAAR tests: 

*Algebra I
*Biology I
*English I and II
*US History  

Our first STAAR EOC tests will be English I and II.  The tests will be: English I-Monday, March 31 and English II-Tuesday, April 1.  

Say No to Bullying
If you ask me about something I have zero tolerance for, I will quickly tell you bullying.  I simply do not like it!  I think it's stupid!  The biggest way for students to bully today is through cyber bullying.  The unique thing about cyber bullying is that it is often fueled by anonymity.  This is where someone creates a pseudo facebook or twitter page and use it to talk badly about another student.  This is not cool!  If we want to take the time out to say something about someone, try to say something nice about them or simply don't say anything at all.  Let's spend more time loving and uplifting one another.  We can surely get more accomplished that way!

Gear Up Shining Stars
The Region 12 education service center who manages our Gear Up grant has recognized four of our teachers as this month's Gear Up "Shining stars!"  The following teachers have been recognized: Amanda Waits, Cathy Privitt, Matt Stoddard, and Serena Bostic.  They were recognized because they each have a clear, ongoing plan for implementing the TI Navigator into their lessons.  Congratulations to these teachers! 

Where is My Counselor?

All CHS counselors are currently meeting with current 8th grade students at Collins Middle School.  The counselors are going over the new graduation plans and endorsements with the students and their parents.  They should be wrapped up soon and will be back at CHS to take care of any need you may have.  

UIL Academics

The UIL academic competition is fast approaching!  We have been working harder than ever to bring the hardware back to Corsicana!  Students, please make sure you are attending all of your mandatory UIL practices.  Our UIL OAP team has been working super hard.  They have attended and hosted several clinics in order to get better.  I feel that CHS will have its best showing at the UIL competition this school year!  Go Tigers!  #HomeofChampions 

Extracurricular Updates

Soccer! Soccer! Soccer!  Our boys soccer team is in the hunt for the district championship!  Let's go out and cheer them on to victory to help make this happen!

Softball started district play with a bang and picked up their first win against Jacksonville!  They have their next district game at John Tyler this Tuesday!  Go Softball!

Baseball has started off great!  They have played a tough schedule against many 5A powers and have come out victoriously.  They start district play at John Tyler this Tuesday!  Go Baseball!

Tennis is doing an amazing job as usual!  As the defending district and area champions they never disappoint with their championship play.  Their next tournament is March 21st in Waco!  Go Tennis!

Shout out to our CHS Band and CHS Calicos.  Each one of these group has just returned from out of state trips representing CHS!  The band went to Philadelphia and New York City, and the Calicos went to Walt Disney World!

Congratulations to all of the young ladies who made the 2014-2015 Corsicana High School cheer squads!  They are:

Mascots
Jamie Bonner
Jamison Teague

Freshmen Squad
 Madison Pond
Alyssa Cantu
Jayci Hightower
Beyonce Morales
Kayla Shelton
Ally Aldama
Isabel Robinson
Alison Andrews
Haley Ovalle

 Junior Varsity Squad
 Ashlynd Ray
Lauren Lane
Karen Oieda
Jessica Harper
Allika Roman
Taya Orth
Courtney Shirley
Macee Curry
Chelsea Vandiver

Varsity Squad
 Claire Vadasey
Dominique Williams
Alisa Horn
Tyshiana Anderson
Moesha Tolliver
Reagan Bounds
Emily Stovall
Kursten Smith
Caroline Kennemore
Caroline Talley
Dolcya Gilmore
Katie Brady
Delaney Johnson
McKenna Watkins
Emily Young
Jordan Bruce
Logan Melton

Please stay updated with all of the Corsicana High School happenings by clicking here

Senior Cheerleaders at Mock Tryouts

With Jasmine Rice-Headed to Prairie View A&M University!!!

       

Is it Really Snowing Again?

As I type this message there is snow on the ground in Corsicana.  I really thought all of this would be behind us by now.  I guess the Groundhog gets it right sometimes.  I do remember being out at the softball tournament yesterday enjoying the beautiful weather.  Well, it's gone!  I'm just hopeful that spring break is nice.

Breaking News: No School Monday, March 3, 2014.

February Students of the Month

Dual Credit Students With Joe Barton

Collins Scholarship
A big shout out to all of the students who qualified for the James L. Collins Scholarship.  They were notified this past Tuesday.  The Collins scholarship is one of the most outstanding scholarship opportunities in any one school system.  Good luck to all of the students who will make application toward this great scholarship. Please click the link to find out more about the James L. Collins Scholarship.

TAKS
TAKS retesting will be this week.  All students who are impacted by this have been notified and should report to the appropriate areas for their test.

Monday, March 3 - TAKS ELA Retest

Tuesday, March 4 - TAKS Math Retest

Wednesday, March 5 - TAKS Science Retest

Thursday, March 6 - TAKS Social Studies Retest

HB5
The second "New Graduation" meeting was a huge success!  Another huge turnout!  The final meeting will be this Tuesday at noon in the CHS media center.  Please click here  for more info.

Extracurricular Updates
Cheerleader tryouts will be this Thursday!  Good luck to all of the students who will be trying out for cheerleader.  Mock tryouts will be Wednesday at 7 in the competition gym!

Congratulations to all of the students who make it to state in FCCLA.  They are Christy Diaz, Karla Ramirez, Denise Garcia, Melani Betancourt, Jenny Garcia, Veronica Reyes, Sarah Updegrove, Ireland Francia, Abigail Gonzales, Kelly Delgado, Lynzee Scruggs, Vivian Zamudio, and Brendy Sandoval.  Congratulations to all of these young ladies!

Shout out to the baseball team for winning the West tournament!  Awesome job guys!  Go Tigers! #HomeofChampions

Shout out to the softball team for a great showing in the Corsicana Classic softball tournament.  It was great seeing them in action.  The best part was when I saw Mckayla Goodwin hit a homerun.  Go Tigers!  #HomeofChampions

Shout out to the boys soccer team for their tie against district rival Waxahachie.  Keep it up guys!

Remember that spring break is next week.  It will be great for all to have this much needed break! Enjoy!