Greetings Panthers,

 

Happy Friday.

Valentine’s Day:

As a reminder, Tuesday is Valentine’s Day. We hope that the continued love, joy, and community feeling we are building at PHS continues on this day.

However, in order to continue focusing on the learning environment, we cannot accept deliveries for students.  Please have all chocolates, flowers, and Valentine's sentiments sent to your homes.  

Students, please make sure that any gifts that you exchange amongst yourselves on Tuesday can be either stored in your backpack or lockers. 

Large items like oversized teddy bears and balloons may not be allowed in the hallways/classrooms, so we ask that you please leave that at home.

Upcoming Important Dates:

• 2/20 Planning & Prep Day/Student Holiday

• 2/21 College/Military Enrollment Presentation

• 3/01 School Day SAT or ASVAB

• 3/06 Career Fair

• 3/13-17 Spring Break

• 3/20 Career Night

• 4/07 Student/Staff Holiday/Bad Weather Day

• 4/19 STAAR EOC - Eng I

• 4/20 STAAR EOC - Eng II

• 4/26 STAAR EOC - Bio

• 4/27 STAAR EOC - US Hist

• 4/27 College Night

• 5/1 AP Testing - US Gov (am), Chemistry (pm), Span Lit (pm)

• 5/2 AP Testing - Environmental Sci (am), Psychology (pm)

• 5/3 AP Testing - Eng Lit (am) Comp Science A (pm)

• 5/4 AP Testing - Human Geo (am), Macro Eco (am), Statistics (pm) AP Seminar (pm)

• 5/5 AP Testing - Euro Hist (am), US Hist (am), Art History (pm) Micro Eco (pm)

• 5/8 AP Testing - Cal AB (am), Cal BC (am), Comp Sic Prin (pm)

• 5/9 AP Testing - Eng Lan (am), Physics C: Mech (pm), Physis C:Elec ( 2pm)

• 5/10 AP Testing - Span Lang (am), Bio (pm)

• 5/11 AP Testing - French Lang (am), World Hist Mod (am), Physics 1: Alg (pm)

• 5/11 STAAR EOC - Alg I

• 5/12 AP Testing - Music Theory (am), Physics 2: Alg (pm)

• 5/20 Senior Prom - Miami Night

• 5/24 (seniors) 1st Graduation Practice

• 5/25 (seniors) 2nd Graduation Practice

• 5/25 Last Day of School (Early Release)

• 5/31 Graduation at the Pfield

February is Black History Month:

February marks the celebration of Black History Month. Our team is working on a video presentation highlighting Black History month that will be ready before the end of the month. Stay tuned for that!

In the meantime, I would like to share some of the many significant events throughout history related to Black History representing each day in February. This list was put together in a CBS article found here: Black History Month: Historical Events Calendar - CBS New York 

Black History Month

• February 1, 1960 - The Greensboro 4 sit in re-ignited the civil rights movement.

• February 2, 2009 – Eric Holder was sworn in as the first African American Attorney General.

• February 3, 1870 – On this day the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified giving African-American men the right to vote.

•  February 4, 1913 - Civil Rights Activist Rosa L. Parks was born.

• February 5, 1934 – Henry "Hank" Aaron was born in Mobile, AL.

• February 6, 1993 - Tennis Great Arthur Ashe died.

• February 7, 1791 - Inventor and Surveyor Benjamin Banneker began to help lay out Washington D.C.

• February 8, 1944 - Harry S. McAlpin became the first African American journalist to be admitted to a White House press conference.

• February 9, 1995 - Dr. Bernard A. Harris Jr. became the first African American Astronaut to walk in space.

• February 10, 2007 - Pres. Barak Obama formally announced the start of his Presidential campaign in Springfield IL.

• February 11, 1989 - Reverend Barbara C. Harris was ordained as the first female bishop of the Episcopal Church

• February 12, 1909 - The NAACP was founded.

• February 13, 1920 - Andrew Rube Foster organized the National Association of Professional Baseball Club (Negro League).

• February 14, 1920 – Mammie Smith became the first African American woman to make a record.

• February 15, 1965 - Singer and Entertainer Nat King Cole died in Santa Monica, CA.

• February 16, 1970 – Joe Frazier became the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.

• February 17, 1963 – Basketball great Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. February 18, 1688 – The first formal protest against slavery was passed in Germantown, PA.

• February 19, 1992 - John Singleton became the first African American Director to receive an Academy Award Nomination for Boz N The Hood.

• February 20, 1895 - Frederick Augusta Douglass died in Washington D.C.

• February 21, 1965 - Malcolm X was assassinated.

• February 22, 1989 - Colonel Fredrick Drew Gregory became the first African American Astronaut to command the Space Shuttle Discovery.

• February 23, 1868 – William Edward Burghardt DuBois was born in Barrington, Mass.

• February 24, 1842 - Entrepreneur, Abolitionist and Inventor James Forten, Sr. died in Philadelphia, PA.

• February 25, 1870 – Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi was sworn in as the first African American U.S. Senator.

• February 26, 1926 - Theodore "Tiger" Flowers became the first African American Middleweight boxing champion.

• February 27, 1988 – Figures skater Debbie Thomas became the first African American to win a medal at the winter Olympics.

• February 28, 1977 - Comedian Eddie "Rochester" Anderson died in Los Angeles, Calif.

 

National School Counselors Week:

National School Counseling Week 2023, “School Counselors: Helping Students Dream Big,” sponsored by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), is celebrated from Feb. 6–10, 2023, to focus public attention on the unique contribution of over 100,000 School Counselors within U.S. school systems.

Please help me thank our amazing school counselors at PHS! You can get to know our team of counselors (and other support staff) by checking out their website: Staff | PHS Student Services 

School Counselors are actively engaged in helping students examine their abilities, strengths, interests and talents. School Counselors work in a partnership with parents as they encounter the challenges of raising children in today’s world. School Counselors help students focus on positive ways to enhance every student’s academic, career and social/emotional development. They work with teachers and other educators to provide an educational system where students can realize their potential and set healthy, realistic and optimistic aspirations for themselves and are certified, experienced educators with a master’s degree in School Counseling. The combination of their training and experience makes them an integral part of the total educational program.

Pflugerville High School Performance Indicators:

Each year campuses receive state and federal performance reports of various kinds. In addition, campuses and districts build continuous improvement plans to celebrate success and identify areas to grow. All of these reports can be found online at the Pflugerville ISD website.

In addition, I have linked each of them below:

Congratulations - PHS 3rd 9-weeks Panther Pride Awards:

As I mentioned when we celebrated the 1st and 2nd Panther Pride Award Breakfast earlier this year, PHS  began some work on reestablishing our core values as a campus, post-pandemic. Ultimately, we created the image below that defines the characteristics we value in students, staff, parents, and admin here at PHS.

 

 

To make this more than just an image, we use it as a means to recognize students who exhibit these traits.  

 

On Wednesday morning, we held the third of four Panther Pride Breakfast Ceremonies and honored the following students for the following traits. Please help me congratulate them!

 

Congratulations PowerLifting:

Good morning Pflugerville Pfamily! The powerlifting teams competed in the Georgetown Invitational powerlifting meet on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. Out of 6 teams that participated the girls’ team placed 3^rd and the boys’ team placed 2nd.  Please help us in congratulating our athletes. 

Congratulations PHS Swimming:

The Pflugerville High School Swim Team competed in our regional swim meet this past weekend at Texas A&M University. All of the swimmers who competed qualified for the second day of swimming in either their relay or individual events. The following swimmers achieved their personal records:

Zach Garza 200 Individual Medley at 2:09.15

Isabella Kelly 100 Back stroke at 1:05.32

Armando Estrella 100 Breast stroke at 1:05.45

We are extremely proud of our Panther Swim Team, congratulations!

Congratulations - PHS Sends TWO students to All-State: 

Please help me congratulate Steve-Ryan Benhamou and Jackson Cutter on their journey to TMEA All-State Band!

Congratulations - Coach Dale Waggoner - PfISD Coach of the Month:

Please help me congratulate our very own head baseball coach Dale Waggoner who was just named DISTRICT Coach of the Month. Coach Waggoner cares deeply about his students in his class and his athletes. He is a great example of an all around great human being. He also has a passion and talent for ensuring our baseball field has the best grass :).

(Congratulations!) PHS Staff Plaque Recent Recipients:

Check out and help me congratulate our recent recipients:

A Word from Nick Howell in the College Career Center:

Good Evening PFISD Families,

The College & Career Team would like to invite all families in 9-12^th grade to attend one or more of the opportunities below. If you have any questions, please contact your College & Career Counselor. You will also see electronic PDF advertisements for the events.

College Application Night – On February 21^st, 2023  we will host our annual College Application Presentation at Weiss High School from 6:30 – 8:00p (Time Change). During the presentation, we will detail many aspects of the college application process (General Tips, Auto Admission, Deadlines, Essays, Resumes, Interviews, etc.). We encourage all families in grades 9-11 to attend if their student has an interest in attending a college or university after high school. Please register Here.

PFISD Create Your Future Event (Career Fair) – On March 6^th, 2023 we will host our community-wide Career Fair. During this event, we encourage all families in 9-12^th grade, previous students, and members of the community to come out and speak to recruiters from colleges, military branches, trade schools, and workforce, employers, etc. to learn about opportunities available to them. This is a great opportunity to find a job now, learn about different careers with various levels of post-high school training, or speak with individuals from various colleges or military branches. If you are interested in attending (do not need to be certain), please register Here. We will send registered attendees a list of organizations.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at our events this Spring.    

Nick Howell

College Application Help!

 

Do You Need More Time in Credit Recovery?

Seniors, graduation is just around the corner! If you are working on credit recovery and want to spend more time on completing your courses, please note the open times below. This is open to juniors and underclassmen who have enrolled in credit recovery as well.

Credit Recovery 

Mon- Thurs 4:30pm - 5:30pm 

Sat 8:30am-11:30am

A Word from Our Parent Liasion:

Parents, Students, Faculty and Staff,

I appreciate you joining forces with me, PHS faculty contributions and student support to create an African American History Month celebration at Pflugerville High School in 2022-2023. With the support of administration, we will focus on the theme: Honor, African American Military Heroes and History.

The origin of Black History Month is associated with the noted African-American historian Carter G. Woodson. In 1926, he initiated the celebration of Negro History Week during the second week in February. February was chosen because that is the birth month of Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist and social reformer, and President Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery. The celebration was expanded to the entire month of February in 1976 by President Gerald Ford; since that time, every president has designated February as Black History Month.

On Feb. 11, 1986, Congress passed Public Law 99-244, which designated each February as "National Black (Afro-American) History Month."

On November 11,  1918 at 1100, the armistice between the Allies and Central Powers went into effect. Like all other American soldiers, the African American troops reveled in celebration and took justifiable pride in the great victory they helped achieve. It was not without great cost: the 92d Division suffered 1,647 battle casualties and the 93d Division suffered 3,534. Expecting to come home heroes, black soldiers received a rude awakening upon their return. Back home, many whites feared that African Americans would return demanding equality and would try to attain it by employing their military training. As the troops returned, there was an increase of racial tension.  Despite this treatment, African American men continued to enlist in the military, including veterans of World War I that came home to such violence and ingratitude. It was not until 1948 that President Harry S Truman issued an executive order to desegregate the military, although it took the Korean War to fully integrate the Army. African Americans finally began to receive the equal treatment their predecessors had earned in combat in France during World War I, and as far back as the American Revolution.

Black people have fought in every United States war, from the Revolutionary War through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ninety African Americans have been awarded the Medal of Honor. Yet, throughout most of American history, black service members were placed in segregated units. Desegregation didn't occur until Jan. 26, 1948, when President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 directing the armed services to integrate.

Active-duty service members number 1,319,283; of those, 227,974, or 17.3%, are African American, as of December 2021. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2020, the Black or African American population was 41.1 million, representing 12.4% of the U.S. population.

Double Victory: The African American Military Experience conveys a sense of appreciation and respect for the military service of African Americans from the American Revolution to the War on Terror.

Dr. Luther Baker

Most sincerely,

 

Zack Kleypas
Principal
Pflugerville High School

“Keep improving, always, in all ways.”