Dear Cienega Families:

Welcome to the 2012/2013 school year! School is well underway with 1900 students and 210 staff. We said goodbye to several teachers who began new chapters in the lives in other school districts. We welcome our 13 new teachers to Cienega.

New electives have been scheduled and now include our Navy Cadet Program. We have had a few facelifts with the facilities and have created an exceptional learning and caring environment for your students.

Welcome to our new families - new to the Vail Community and incoming Class of 2016! You have entered an A+ School of Excellence; a city recognized "Be Kind" school, and a Commit to Graduate (C2G) National Model School. Cienega High School is a high-energy, dedicated school focusing on Connections High standards Success. We work to make connections with students and families, working to ensure that students are known, feel safe and comfortable at school. The Vail School District offers a guaranteed curriculum setting high standards to maximize student's potential because we believe that students can and will have success from our staff and programs.

If your son or daughter is interested in bringing their own "digital device" such as a netbook, laptop, iPod, iPad and would like to register the device to connect to Cienega's Wi-Fi, these devices are welcomed by teachers to use in class for note taking and extended learning activities. Students can register their devices in the tech office. We do not have lockers, so students would keep their devices with them in backpacks during the school day. A great alternative for note-taking and easy access to the MOODLE.

What is MOODLE?. A strange word for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. It is an open-source software package for teachers to post lectures, assignments, discussions, calendars, etc. This way when you son or daughter is not in school, he or she can access the work from the MOODLE for the specific teacher. No more calling in for missed work! Take a few minutes to Google MOODLE for more information Your student has a MOODLE password. Be sure to ask your student to share that password with you and show you each of their teacher's MOODLE page.

Again, welcome to the new school year. Students will make memories here to last a lifetime.

Respectfully,

Dr. Tricia Pe�a

Welcome senior parents and students!

I am John Tritz, the counselor for the Class of 2013. The senior year in high school is full of exciting challenges and opportunities. Exciting traditions are in place to celebrate our senior's successes and accolades this year. One of the traditions started last year is our "Wall of the Future". When a senior has been accepted to a college, signs military enlistment papers, or enrolls in a technical or trade school, we want to acknowledge this achievement by hanging a plaque in the front office. For every accolade mentioned on this wall, the senior student will be placed in a drawing for a free iPad to be given away at Honors night next May!

Other important information:

Seniors needing a transcript will now need to request them electronically through parchment.com. We no longer manually process transcripts for students. Go to: http://parchment.com  to request a transcript.

Fall Testing Deadlines for SAT and ACT:

All seniors attending a 4 year College or University must take the SAT OR ACT. It is strongly recommended to take it this fall if a student has not already done so. Practice tests are available in the counseling office.

• Scholarship opportunities are listed and updated on the Cienega Website on the "Counselor Page." View the site often for regular updates.
• Financial Aid information will be available in January, look for details in future Cat Chats!
• Students with a 3.5 unweighted core GPA that have no "C's" or lower in any core classes, have EXCEEDED all three sections of the AIMS test and scored a 28 on the ACT or a 1300 on the reading and math portion of the SAT test qualify for a 25% tuition waiver from any of the three state universities. The Spring 2012 tests were the last tests available for a student to qualify. Students can still qualify for the tuition waiver if they exceeded TWO tests and have a score of 3 or higher on TWO AP Exams.
• I look forward to working with the students and parents of the class of 2013! You can contact me at 879-1843 or tritzj@vail.k12.az.us 

VAIL RANKS #1 AGAIN 

The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) today announced the Vail School District as the top-rated, multi-school district in the State of Arizona.

Vail School District received an "A" grade based upon the 2011-2012 school year. All twelve of Vail's elementary and middle schools also earned an "A" grade for the school year.  

See more    

POETRY SLAM CLUB... WE NEED YOU! 

VOLUNTEER CORNER 

Hi and Welcome to the Volunteer Corner!   

I'd like to say THANK YOU to the following volunteers who helped get our school ready for the new year!

Reyna Peery              Gaylynn Blancett        Teresa Denson
Joe Grossi                 Jenni Palmer              Maggie Griffith
Colleen L-Bigman       Araceli Gomez            Michelle Rottler
Rachel Lyman            Susie Brettel              Robyn Waier
Corrine Gresham        Brad Olson                Gabrielle Varvel
Michele Spooner         Regina Tiedemann     Andrea Gomez
Kiki Ngo                     Leslie Weatherford     Peggy Johnston
Missy Blair                 Ashley Bingham         Marcia Zuta
Ali Garrett                  Ana Escobar              Tracy Conklin
Odia Duran                 Heather Rascon         Kathy Thitchener
Michelle McClellan       Erika Vareles             Rhonda Mack
Renee Fischer             Charles Othon           Brenna Clendaniel
Kayla Good                 Allie Bingham            Kiana Good
Glenaver Charles-Emerson

Also thanks to all the volunteers that just showed up to help, it's a big job and we couldn't have done it without you!

Here's a big shout out to our band parents, they've been working extremely hard getting uniforms ready, sets built and painted and all around task masters!  Thanks to:

Sharon Banken        Gary Banken            Barry Bahrychuk 

Frank Carrizosa        Kathy Coffman         Mike Coffman       Nicole Delgado         Lisa Delbert             Kim Gauthier         

Kim Kenner             Mike Kenner             Vivian Leitel
Ramona McHenry     Nancy Niemeir         Doan Ngo               Kiki Ngo                  Sergio Pizarro          Christina Pizarro   David Prather          Don Ringuette          Robin Ringuette   Jennifer Vandivort    Michelle White         Marc White

Please remember to sign in and out with the front office whenever you are on campus.   

SAT TESTING AT CHS  

WORD OF THE WEEK   

Week of 8-13-12 

adjective

not genuine, authentic, or true; not from the claimed, pretended, or proper source; counterfeit.

Week of 8-20-12 

adjective

commonplace or dull; matter-of-fact or unimaginative: a prosaic mind.

Week of 8-27-12  

noun

acuteness of mental discernment and soundness of judgment.

MATH TUTORING  

CHS 2012-2013 STUDENT CALENDAR   

Connections
High Standards
Success

Cienega High School

Vision Statement

Cienega High School creates an educational environment utilizing partnerships among community, parents, and staff to assist students in maximizing their academic potential and promoting life-long learning.

Special Education Secretary Patty McKnight 879-1804

Special Education Counselor

Rebecca Carrier - 879-1825 

Communications Coordinator

Elizabeth Taggart - 879-2878 taggarte@vail.k12.az.us 

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Would you like an extra 4 pages in your yearbook that you design?  This year, you can buy an extra 4 pages to be put in only your yearbook.  Go to yearbookyourself.com  

for more information.