WATCH D.O.G.S. kickoff event

Attention all DADS of Perritt, Central, and Peake Students - ‘Dads and Kids’ Pizza Night! 

Arkadelphia High School, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Nov. 4, 2013

On Monday, Nov. 4 from 5:30-6:30 p.m., we will hold our annual “Dads and Kids Pizza Night” beginning in the Little Theater at Arkadelphia High School. Perritt, Central and Peake are joining together to make this easier on all you busy dads. A presentation will be made about our WATCH D.O.G.S. ® program, and then FREE pizza and drinks will follow. The WATCH D.O.G.S. ® program is an excellent tool being used by schools across the country, which helps them to be positively impacted by the committed involvement of fathers and father figures in their children’s lives. The goal is to have these men spend at least one day a year at the school to be an extra set of eyes and ears and a positive, male role model.

Moms, here’s your chance not to cook that night! Send your husband out with the kids. Dads, granddads, uncles, step-dads and dad friends, please be a part of this life-changing program that is designed to help reconnect dads with kids, and kids with dads.

Flyers were sent home requesting R.S.V.P. for Pizza Night, but if you did not receive yours from your child's school, contact the office where your child attends school to inform them of your plans to attend Pizza Night and of your interest in participating in the WATCH D.O.G.S. program. If you are representing children from more than one school, you only need to R.S.V.P. once.

Perritt Primary: 870-246-2260
Central Primary: 870-246-2872
Peake Elementary: 870-246-2361

Parent/Teacher conferences & Echo training at AHS

2013 fall parent/teacher conferences

Parent/teacher conferences are a crucial part of staying involved with your child's education. Please make plans to attend if you have not already. Conferences will be held on Thursday, October 24, from 2-7 p.m. district wide. In order to meet with your child's teacher at Perritt Primary, Central Primary or Peake Elementary, please make an appointment in advance. Goza Middle School and AHS conferences are drop-in. Classes will not be held on Thursday or Friday, including the PreK program at Perritt Primary. APS's Early Childhood Centers at Gum Spring and Peake Rosenwald will be open as usual.

Echo Parent Training 

Conference Day, Thursday, October 24, 2-7 p.m. 

Echo is an online learning platform used to organize daily instruction, track student grades, and to share documents and resources. Echo training will be provided during Parent Conferences. Please join us in the Hub for one-on-one or small group training.

What to Expect:

• Receive an Echo account and login information 
• Learn how to check your child’s progress and grades
• Find out how to review assignments
• Understand School Wide Learning Outcomes and Grading system

SIMPLE Giving

Students lend a hand to help sort donated food items into backpacks, which will be sent home with needy students for weekend use. Pictured above helping with the SIMPLE Giving effort are, clockwise from front-left, AHS students Cadet Captain and senior Moises Carrillo, Cadet Private and sophomore Logan King, Cadet Corporal and sophomore Landon Simmons, Lieutenant Colonel and senior Army instructor Michael Shepherd, Goza Middle School counselor Vanilla Hannah, Cadet Private and freshman Jordan Martinez, Cadet Private and freshman Stephany Quintero, and Cadet Private and sophomore Nigel White.

SIMPLE Giving

Charitable giving made simple is the goal of the northwest Arkansas non-profit Champions For Kids, and their SIMPLE Giving program provides donations for children in our community. From late August to mid-September, patrons of the local Arkadelphia Walmart purchased 885 food items and placed them in the SIMPLE Giving donation bins. At the conclusion of the donation period, students in Arkadelphia High School’s JROTC program organized and packed the donated items into backpacks for needy students to take home for weekend use. Many students depend heavily upon school meals for nourishment and don’t eat regularly when out of school. Donations to individual students at each campus in the Arkadelphia Public Schools was determined by referral from each schools’ counselor.

The APS Wellness Committee, chaired by Dr. Virginia Anderson, officially accepted the donated items and said that the community will have another chance to participate in the SIMPLE Giving program.

 “Thank you, not only to the local Walmart and Champions For Kids, but also to our community for purchasing and donating the food,” Anderson said. “We really appreciate this generosity.”

According to Champions For Kids, the purple, SIMPLE Giving donation bins will be back at Walmart from October 28 through November 11 to collect personal care items such as soap, shampoo and deodorant.

For more information regarding SIMPLE Giving or Champions For Kids, visit championsforkids.org. Contact Anderson regarding the APS Wellness Committee and other ways of helping APS students in need by e-mail at virginia.anderson@arkadelphiaschools.org.

APS News Service 

sean.ruggles@arkadelphiaschools.org

AHS senior, Seth Daniell, named as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist

AHS senior Seth Daniell

AHS senior, Seth Daniell, named as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist

Congratulations to Arkadelphia High senior Seth Daniell on being named a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist. Daniell is one of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 59th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Daniell was chosen as a Semifinalist out of 1.5 million high school students who entered the competition as juniors in 2012, according to a news release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. He was selected based on his 2012 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test scores. Daniell and his fellow Semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of the U.S. high school seniors. The Semifinalists include the highest-scoring entrants from each state with the number of Semifinalists being proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

“To proceed in the competition, the Semifinalist and their high school must submit a detailed scholarship application with information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received,” the scholarship program’s release states. In addition, a Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

The National Merit Scholarship program expects approximately 90 percent of Semifinalists to advance to Finalist level. The students will be notified in February of this designation. Awards totaling $35 million will be divided among the most deserving 8,000 students between April and July 2014. Those awarded the scholarship will join more than 300,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.

"Annie Get Your Gun" presented by the AHS Choral Department

AHS seniors Kenny Taggard and Abby Root play the lead roles of Frank and Annie.

One of Broadway’s most celebrated musicals, “Annie Get Your Gun,” will return to the stage in Arkadelphia, presented by the Arkadelphia High School choral department. Full of familiar Irving Berlin tunes, such as “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better),” the show was one of Broadway’s most popular in the 1940s and has delighted audiences in local theaters ever since.

The greatest box-office hit of Berlin’s career, the musical comedy still resonates with audiences as Annie Oakley tries to outshoot Frank Butler, star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The comedy grows with songs such as “You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun,” but romance also develops with “They Say It’s Wonderful” and “Who Do You Love, I Hope?” The show includes larger production numbers, such as “I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning (and the Moon at Night).”

Seniors Abby Root and Kenny Taggard play Annie and Frank. Both are in their fourth AHS musical. Another veteran performer is senior Rae’Vyn Britt, who plays Charlie Davenport. Senior Shavonica Wilson is a student director and member of the chorus, while senior Rachel Flowers plays Mac. Other key figures are Preston Jones (Buffalo Bill), Jessica Cornelius (Dolly), Seth Daniell (Tommy), Julie Williams (Winnie), Emmanuel Cooper (Chief Sitting Bull) and Katlynn Williams (Wilson). Alexandria Hunter, Cabb Batson and Paige Bateman play key roles as Annie’s young siblings. Local pastor Roger Cushwa appears as Pawnee Bill. AHS choir instructor Laura Cornelius directs the performance.

Other students in speaking and singing roles include Makayla Bird, Christia Livsey, Caleb Cornelius, Gabby Hess, Danielle Savage, Camille Tedder, Ashley Prudhome, Mehkia Wilson, Patience Prince, Rebecca Dobbins, Jazimine Arnold, Ashley Brittain, Aswa Khan, Tamera Stevens and Halee Newborn.

“Annie Get Your Gun” opens at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 3, in the AHS Little Theater. There will be two shows on Saturday, May 4 -­ a matinee at 2:30 and an evening show at 7. The final performance will be Sunday at 2:30 p.m. on May 4.

Tickets are $5 in advance and $7 at the door. Contact the AHS office at 870-246-7373 for more information.