Administration

December 2015

Volume VI Issue I

Dr. Earl JohnsonPrincipal

Ms. Angela OwensAssistant Principal

Mr. Ken SeyboldAssistant Principal

Dr. John ShelbyAssistant Principal

Mr. Bob SawyerDean

Mr. Rich WeberAthletic Director

To download a pdf version of this newsletter, go to www.academypublishing.com/schools/

matanzas/matanzas.php

Make good choices - Hold yourself accountable - Strive for excellence

high schoolR3535 Old Kings Road North

Palm Coast, FL 32137

Message from the PrincipalGreetings Pirate Nation! There is a lot of truth to “time flies when you are having fun!” The first half of the year has been very exciting. The winter break is upon us and the faculty, staff, and students are continuing to build capacity for learning. Congratulations to all the fall sport teams for setting the tone for the school year. Kudos goes out to our performing arts department for exemplary performances; Mr. Dodson even allowed me to direct the band. We have one of the premier performing arts program in the state. Congratulations to Ms. Hicks and her TV Production students for placing in the Florida “Learn to Save” Challenge PSA Contest. The video illustrated the importance of financial literacy. Our cheerleaders are continuing to prove their excellence by winning the UCA Central Florida Regionals. The next stop is FHSAA States in January and UCA Nationals the first weekend of February at Disney. Congratulations to the Teacher of the Year, Ms. Michelle Czarnecki, and the Employee of the Year, Ms. Pamela Brown. All teachers are facilitating learning in the classroom to ensure our students will become productive citizens in our society. On behalf of the Matanzas High School Family, I would like to wish each of you a safe and restful winter break. We are looking forward to continue the journey of becoming a Premier High School in the Nation. Thank you Pirate Nation for all that you do!

Go Pirate Nation!

Sincerely,Dr. Earl Johnson

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Celebrating 10 Years at Matanzas

Parent Resource Guide It’s here! The 2015-2016 Parent Resource Guide is now available. Inside, parents will find useful information about Student Services, Registration, Graduation Requirements, Parent Involvement, Resources, District Calendars, and much more!The link and QR code are as follows:

Yearbook Yearbooks are on sale for only $70! Order yours soon because the price goes up on January 1st! For purchase, see a Journalism student, Ms. Daly (dalys@flagerschools.com) or buy online! Visit www.yearbookordercenter.com and enter the code 10214.

Nurse’s Corner Just a friendly reminder that it is against school policy for students to carry any type of medication on them while in school unless you have been authorized by your physician or parents and the record is on file. If you had permission last year, you must complete all necessary documents again this year. Your paperwork does not carry over each year.

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NHS News The National Honor Society has been busy with several projects this fall. In October, the members raised money to purchase senior stoles, by selling Halloween Boo Grams. They also just finished collecting hundreds of canned goods for the homeless shelter in Bunnell. Members are also tutoring Math on weekly basis. NHS members are also involved in providing a happy holiday for an MHS family.

TestingFriday, December 11, 2015BiologyU.S. History

Monday, December 14, 2015 and Tuesday, December 15, 2015Algebra 1 RetakesFSA Algebra 1FSA Algebra 2FSA Geometry

Wednesday, December 16, 2017 and Thursday, December 17, 2015Make Ups

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Who's Who At MHSAthletic Secretary

Clarice DiasAttendance Clerk

Kelli DorriesBookkeeper

Chris MacDonald & Sharon JacksonCopy ClerkPam Brown

Discipline Office SecretaryMaryann Mlinic

Guidance SecretariesVeronica Polchinski (Counselors F-K, R-Z)Kathy Summerlot (Counselors A-E, L-Q)

Media ClerkJudy Rosell

MISVicki Apperson & Teresa Sorrentino

RegistrarKathy Ryan

ReceptionistDana Haygood

Secretary to the PrincipalLauri Normandin

Testing SecretaryRebecca Bower

Vision StatementMatanzas will become a premier high school by inspiring all students to be college, career

and life ready.

Mission StatementBy providing a challenging and meaningful education, Matanzas High School prepares

all students for success and empowers them to lead lives of significance.

MottoMake Good Choices

Hold Yourself AccountableStrive for Excellence

SGA Our Matanzas Student Government Association has been very busy! So far in this past month alone, our SGA has put together Red Ribbon Week, the Matanzas Afterhours Haunted House, and conducted a canned food drive for Feed Flagler. Our Red Ribbon Week was very successful, featuring door decorating contests. This took place October 27th – October 30th and was founded to remember fallen DEA Agent Kiki Camerena, and to promote drug awareness. SGA also created a haunted house, with the help of our Thespians and theater department. On October 28th, Pirate families and others from the community toured the deathly frightening school. Each hallway was decorated with themes including an Insane Asylum, Haunted Hospital, Clown Hallway, The Purge, Hell Rider, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Walking Dead. Lastly, in November, SGA hosted a canned food drive. Congratulations to the winner of this contest goes to Mrs. Allison Winfree’s class!

Red Ribbon Week Door Winner: Mrs. Kimberly Keen

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The Fall Season of sports at Matanzas was truly one for the ages with many “firsts” for the school including our Pirate Football team’s first ever St. John’s River Athletic Conference (SJRAC) Championship to cap off the best season in school history. This also included our first ever Bowler qualifying for the State Tournament (Erik Erwin). With this Fall success, it has positioned our school in 4th place in the St. John’s River Athletic Conference (SJRAC) heading into the Winter Sports season. The winter sports have gotten off to a fast start with another historic first as the Lady Pirates soccer team beat FPC for the first time in program history with a convincing 4-0 victory. The Boys Soccer team then followed up in dramatic fashion after trailing 0-2, they scored three goals in the final 7 minutes with the last coming in the final 7 seconds to defeat FPC on the road. This runs their unbeaten streak to five games against the Bulldogs. Our Girls Weightlifting team is also off to a great start as they begin the season 11-1. We also recently saw the commitment of two Pirate Athletes to Athletic Scholarships during the early signing period. Kylie Allen, became the first swimmer in school history to the next level by signing her Letter of Intent (LOI) to attend Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia. Bailee Hurd also signed to play Lacrosse for St. Leo’s University. A well deserved achievement for these two talented Lady Pirates!

We are looking forward to seeing the Pirate Nation rise up and support all of our Winter Sports and propelling them to success through a unified and cohesive brand of school spirit. Get out to the gym, fields and field house to support our Pirate student athletes in starting a Mutiny!!!

“The Hook” • December 2015 • Issue #1Matanzas High School

3535 Old Kings Road NorthPalm Coast, FL 32137

Published Five Times Per Year

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Football Season ends...Pirates are Conference and County Champs! The 2015 Football season started with an upset win over in-county rival FPC and the season ended with another win over a local rival Pedro Menendez 28-20. The Pirates finished the season 8-2. In their tenth season of varsity football they accomplished their first winning season, their first county championship, their first conference championship, a six game winning streak, their first AP top ten ranking in 6A, and their first undefeated home schedule. In this is season of first’s, our student athletes endured many adverse situations and many pitfalls but their commitment and resolve won out as they accomplished the best record for any football team in school history. The future is very bright for Pirate Football. Our players, coaches, and administration want to thank our fans, our sponsors, our boosters, our band members, and our cheerleaders for making this season the best in school history!!Bowling Matanzas Boy Bowlers had a fantastic bowling season, finishing place once again at the Volusia/Flagler Districts Competition held on Oct 26th ay Sunshine Lanes in Deland. In addition, the bowlers missed out on going to states as a team by a mere 5 pins in that fifth game of double elimination game action, losing to Deland High 209 to 205. Senior bowler Erik Irwin qualified for the State Tournament Competition, by bowling 255 and 626 at districts. That 255 game allowed him to go on to States, held in Orlando on Nov 4th and 5th, where he finished 60th out of 160 bowlers. This season, four Matanzas bowlers had 10 or more 200 games or better. Co-captain Erik Irwin had led the team with 16 games and Joshua Massey had 15 games, and Curtis Payne and Anthony Godwin each had 10 apiece of 200 games or better. The team’s record finished up at 9 wins and 7 losses. Coach Novak expects big things from the team next season.

Student Act i v i t i e s - the Ar ts6

Princess Place A selection of students from Mr. Estevez’s AP Environmental Science, Mr. Feist’s Marine Science II, and Mr. Favale’s Photo II classes participated in a special field trip to Princess Place on Wednesday morning 11/18 to investigate and research the local marsh and wetland environment. While on site, the students were involved in conducting several predetermined experiments that were designed to actively collect specimens for later research and discussion. In addition, the students set up and positioned several future experiments that were specifically designed to gather certain types of information over the next month or two for later retrieval, examination and class discussion.

7Drama In November, the MHS drama students competed against 1300 other theatre students at the District 3 Thespian One Act and Individual Event competitions. Out of our 19 events (including our one-act “A Game”) we earned 10 Superiors, 6 Excellents and 3 Goods, with an honorable mention (2nd place award) for best in show Duet Acting Scene. The students worked incredibly hard and are excited to continue their work as we head to the State competition in March.

Please congratulate the following students!

• Edward Bazzell and Emma Grushkin- Duet Acting Scene: Superior and Honorable Mention for Best in Show

• Michael Pontarelli- Solo Musical- Superior

• Marcus Roberts- Monologues- Superior

• Kianna Longhway- Solo Musical- Superior

• Brittney Tellis, Collin Sloan, Kianna Longhway- Small Group Musical- Superior

• Max Wolf- Solo Musical- Superior

• Max Wolf and Edward Bazzell- Duet Musical- Superior

• Sierra Higgins- Makeup Design- Superior

• Collin Sloan, Edward Bazzell, Michael Delgado, Brittney Tellis, Elizabeth Stark, Ethan Caballeros, Alex Wells- ONE ACT Performance- Superior

• Collin Sloan, Edward Bazzell, Michael Delgado, Brittney Tellis, Elizabeth Stark, Ethan Caballeros, Alex Wells- ONE ACT Tech- Superior

• Natalee Novak- Monologues- Excellent

• Ethan Caballeros- Monologues- Excellent

• Collin Sloan and Kianna Longhway- Duet Musical- Excellent

• Michael Pontarelli and Collin Sloan- Duet Acting Scene- Excellent

• Marcus Roberts- Pantomime- Excellent

• Edward Bazzell, Max Wolf, Forrest Harrington, Rafael Soto, Michael Delgado, Michael Pontarelli, Andre Martins- Small Group Musical- Excellent

• Gabriella Dennany- Playwriting- Good

• Ethan Caballeros, Natalee Novak, Michelle Taylor, Adrianne Weiss- Pantomime- Good

• Olivia Reynolds- Costume Construction- Good

Dance The students in the Dance Department are really working hard to prepare for their upcoming dance performance. We have a wide array of styles and music because all of the pieces being performed are choreographed by the students themselves. Come and enjoy an evening of Dance on Friday December 18 in the Pirate Theater at 7pm.

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Amanda Kraverotis

Matanzas HS386-447-1575

Flagler County School DistrictMatanzas High School

3535 Old Kings Road NorthPalm Coast FL 32137

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8Band Congratulations to the Pirate Band, who received straight superior ratings at Marching MPA!