Hello Clipper Families and Happy New Year,

I hope your student has had a good first week back from our break. It is hard to believe we only have 3 weeks for the 1st semester to come to a close. Please see below for information and reminders regarding:

• END OF SEMESTER WEEK – EARLY RELEASE SCHEDULE
• Reminder - No School For Students Jan 12
• Update from the College and Career Center
• Senior Scholarship Information
• December Clippers of the Month
• Congratulations
• Gear To Share - January 19th Game Event

As with prior years, our students will participate in the End of Semester Week during which they will wrap-up their first semester coursework. To accommodate for assessments and/or other course activities happening during this week, students will have an early release schedule all four days. Please see this link for the schedule. Also note that bus pick-up Jan. 23-26 will be at 12:45 PM.

Also as a reminder, students will not have school on Friday, Jan. 12 due to teacher and staff professional development. There will also be no school on Monday, Jan 15 in observance of Martin Luther King Day.

Thursday, January 25 - 6:00 to 8:00 PM

Newburyport High School will host the Greater Essex County College Planning Night on Thursday, Jan 25th from 6-8:00 PM in the auditorium. You are invited to attend our Greater Essex County College Planning Night. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION. This is a great event for junior families; however, we encourage families from grade 9 and 10 to attend as well.

Tuesday, March 5 - 1:30 to 2:30 PM

Newburyport High School will host the seminar, Future Pathways: Alternatives to Success Without a College Degree. This will be a good event for families to attend if you have a student interested in learning about other options for after high school beyond high school.

Last school year, donors provided well over $500,000 in scholarships to students in the graduating class. It is clear that Newburyport is a very special community.

Senior families, please be on the look-out for an email that was sent to you and your student from Alice Crupi. This has important information around applying for scholarships. Following the correct procedures and meeting deadlines are essential so that our Donors are able to follow their process in making student selections.

I'd like to congratulate and commend Kylee Farrell, Logan Freeman, Heather Mendez-Heavilin, Alexandra Paciulan, and Sydney Pearl on their very successful toy drive and donation to Toys for Tots. Working collaboratively with. Mr. Shwan Bleau, they organized and marketed an impressive collection for this service organization. Way to go!

Congratulations to the Investment Club. With 50 plus members strong, the club has participated in a semester-long investment competition that involves over 900 public and private schools in Massachusetts. The club was given $100k in virtual money to invest throughout the semester. I am excited to announce that the Newburyport High School Investment Club placed first. Be sure to be on the look-out for the press release in the coming months. Congratulations again to all of the students part of the club along with their advisor, Mr. McCarthy.

Good luck to Cedar Schumacher, Evan Lagueux, and Josh Burrell who have earned a spot to audition for the all-state concert, which allows them to compete against the best musicians in Massachusetts. If selected, they will have the opportunity to perform at symphony hall. All three students have been selected as top musicians in the northeastern district and will represent Newburyport at this Saturday's concert.

The following students have been recognized as December Clippers of the Month. Accomplishments for these students range from embracing learning and demonstrating growth in the classroom as well as collaborating and persevering through difficult tasks in and out of the classroom.

Addison Bentley, Julia Bentley, Briggs Lauranzano, Sophia Mattheson, Ani Mellett, Soma Mirzayee, Lucy Rimer, Noah Tarkan, Benafsha Tashi, Benjamin Warnat

The Gear to Share program collects new and lightly used sporting equipment for students in need across the region. This year the program is sponsored by the freshmen class with Lottie O'Brien as the main point of contact for questions. On January 19, Boys Basketball will host Pentucket. If you have any equipment to donate please bring it to the game.