Dear Parents,

I would like to thank all of the families who joined us for the Meet & Greet and Open House events held last month. The school year is off to a great start, and I was excited to see so many families participate.

During the evening I shared that one of my goals is to protect and preserve the "Tradition of Excellence" at CDO. Part of this tradition has always been a strong sense of community and the level of parental support. In order to maintain this high level of excellence on our campus, we need more parents from our community to partner with us to support student achievement and school programs.

Research on parental involvement found, regardless of family income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to have better grades, regular attendance, better social skills, and graduate and pursue a postsecondary education. (http://www.nea.org/tools/17360.htm)

There are a number of strategies I would recommend to stay involved and informed regarding your students' progress in school:

• Communicate regularly with your student's teachers. Email is the best way to ask questions to teachers if you need information regarding a specific class.
• Sign up for and use the Parent Portal. This will allow you to monitor their grades and attendance.
• Have regular conversations with your student regarding school and how they feel they are progressing.
• Contact and get to know your student's counselor. They can be a valuable resource to you as your student moves through high school and prepares for post-secondary opportunities.

Parent involvement is also critical to our school in order to support school-wide projects. Our Parent Organization raises money to support the work of our teachers and to facilitate various school functions. Project Grad is a parent and community supported project that creates a safe option on the night of graduation to help them celebrate their accomplishments. Site Council is another avenue for parents to participate in the sharing of information and making decisions to support CDO students. Too often these important functions are left to a small handful of the same dedicated and faithful parents. If you are interested in supporting CDO in any of these areas, please contact my office and I will help connect you to someone who can help you get involved.

Together, we can preserve the CDO "Tradition of Excellence" for years to come!

Sincerely,

Paul DeWeerdt

This week's tip: It's never too early to start talking about college and careers with your children!

I frequently ask my son (who is only nine years old), when it fits appropriately into the conversation, where he wants to go to college or what he wants to be when he grows up. Of course, the answer often changes depending upon his favorite mascot (Sparky often leads the pack), favorite colors, or a commercial that he recently saw on tv, but the reality is that he's thinking about college! On the flip side of that tip is that it's also never too late! So, even if you haven't been talking about college, it's not too late to start.

To help you explore college options with your student, there are several college fairs coming up that you might be interested in attending. The largest one in town is Tucson College Night (http://www.tusd1.org/contents/depart/counseling/college.asp) which will take place Tuesday, October 22 from 6:30-8:30 pm at the TCC. Tucson College Night usually includes over 200 college participants and is a great way for you to do a lot of college research in one night! The NACAC National College Fair will be held at the Phoenix Convention Center on Sunday, October 13 from 11:00a-3:00p. The National College Fair also hosts close to 200 colleges. In addition, the National Christian College Fair will be held at Pusch Ridge Christian Academy (9500 N Oracle Rd) on October 24 from 6:00-8:00 pm. These are all great opportunities to find out more about your various college options!

You can also encourage your student to take advantage of the many college representatives that we will have coming through our counseling career room this year. You can find all of the scheduled visits on our counseling calendar (https://sites.google.com/site/canyondelorocounseling/). The representatives are there to share information about their college with students so that students can make a good college choice for themselves. These visits are for all grade levels of students, and students can pick up a permission slip a few days prior to the visit in the counseling office.

Upcoming Visits:

• September 16, 9:30 am - Grand Canyon University
• September 19, 10:00 am - University of Alabama
• September 19, 11:15 am - Washington University in St. Louis
• September 25, 12:30 pm - California Lutheran University
• October 4, 9:00 am - University of Redlands
• October 9, 9:00 am - Pima Community College
• October 10, 8:30 am - University of San Diego
• October 11, 11:00 am - Gonzaga University
• Many, many more the week after Fall Break!

In addition, please don't forget to mark your calendar for our upcoming College Planning Nights:

• September 24, 6:30 pm for IB Seniors and Parents
• September 25, 6:30 pm for Seniors and Parents

These events will both take place in the CDO Lecture Hall.

On a related note, the counselors will begin their fall classroom guidance lessons the week of September 23. During these lessons we will be meeting with all grade level students through their English classes to work on their ECAP, discuss graduation requirements, review to ensure they are on track for graduation, discuss college entrance requirements, and engage in 4-10 year planning.

A Note to Parents of Seniors

The University of Arizona has changed their admission policy slightly for this year, offering "Wildcat Promise I" and "Wildcat Promise II" deadlines before switching back to their traditional "Rolling Admissions" policy. This means that students who have a completed application (application, transcript, and fee) on file by October 1 will receive an admissions decision on November 1. Students who have a completed application on file by November 1 will receive an admissions decision on December 1. After November 1, the U of A will revert back to rolling admissions (students will receive an admissions decision approximately 6-8 weeks after completing their application in its entirety).

ATTENTION AIMS:   

For Juniors & Seniors that have yet to pass all three portions of the AIMS.

Tuesday, October 22^nd - Writing

Wednesday, October 23^rd - Reading

Thursday, October 24^th - Math

If you are unsure if you need to take an exam, please see your counselor.

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