August 18, 2022,
Dear CHS & CHARIHOtech Students & Parents/Guardians,
We look forward to welcoming students back for the 2022-23 academic year. As we move to a new academic year, trust that we will continue to set the bar high. Over the past couple of years, our students have shown us that they know how to be adaptable and to persevere through uncertain and challenging times. As always, we reflect on what worked well, look for areas of growth, and hold ourselves, and each other, to high standards. We continue to take pride in providing high quality instruction by high quality teachers. Each semester, we ask our students to demonstrate and show growth as Self-Directed Learners, Collaborative Workers, Respectful Citizens, Quality Producers, and to have a Growth Mindset. As such, we are proud to share the following achievements of our students and faculty from this past year:
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CHS is a Top 10 High School in the state of Rhode Island (as recognized by US News & World Reports)
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The Rhode Island Interscholastic League named Chariho High School the School of the Year in Athletics
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CHS was one of five schools recognized at the State House for our ongoing commitment to AP (Advanced Placement) participation and student AP success
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A student-led Mental Health Awareness Club was created and featured on Channel 10 news
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We returned to URI for the Class of 2022 Commencement and we had a record turnout for our Senior and Underclassmen Awards nights!
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CHARIHOtech students were featured on the news for their collaborative work across programs in creating a green power electric car
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75% percent of all AP students scored a 3 or above on their AP exam. A score of “3” means that a student has proven him/herself capable of doing the work of an introductory-level course in a particular subject at college. Students outperformed both state and global data for the majority of AP subject areas; this was seen across both the Humanities and STEM fields. This is a huge achievement for our students.
The year ahead brings some new areas of focus for our administration and student leadership teams:
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Graduation Project: Members of our Student Advisory Board and School Improvement Team created a revised Graduation Project that will begin with the incoming 9th grade class starting this academic year. Students will immerse themselves in a project of high interest related to the essential theme: What inspires you? The new project ensures students find meaning and purpose in what they produce. We look forward to introducing our new Graduation Project to this year’s freshman class.
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Student Advisory Board Leaders: We look forward to working with the largest SAB Leadership team to date! We have 19 student leaders who will meet regularly with the administration team to offer input, ideas, and suggestions on ways to make CHS the best it can possibly be! We then invite all members of the student body to join us for full membership school meetings, scheduled once each quarter.
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A Focus on 8th to 9th Transition: For the first time, a student-led panel met with the entire 8th grade class and shared a presentation on the “Top 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming to CHS”. During this presentation, our high students answered 8th grader’s questions related to the transition to 9th grade. Additionally, this past summer we scheduled ‘meet and greets’ with the principals, followed by small-group tours hosted by student leaders with the intent of preparing our incoming 9th graders for the transition to the high school. Our Student Advisory Board plans to continue to find ways to support this critical transition period for our incoming students.
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Kindness & Respect: In mid June and early August, we met with a student group to discuss ways to ensure CHS & CHARIHOtech are welcoming and accepting environments for all students. We look forward to continuing to meet on a regular basis with this student team to make our school as inclusive as possible. Our driving goals are kindness and respect for all.
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Parent & Community Outreach: We have some new messaging formats to share with you for the year ahead. CHS now has it’s own FaceBook (chsadmin401) and Instagram (chsadmin401) pages, make sure to follow us! We also have a new monthly blog, Charger Happenings, click HERE to learn more! We look forward to hosting our Open House in early October and stay tuned for our welcome back video coming in late August.
As we head into the first week of school, we will be adopting our typical block schedule (the version that we used pre-COVID), which can be found here. We will no longer have assigned seats at lunch and our hallways will follow our original, two-way traffic pattern. Our school day will run from 7:30am - 2:15pm. It is important that all students arrive on time as we will be enforcing our tardy and attendance policies with consistency.
As an administration team, collaboration and communication are at the forefront of what we do. Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time. We look forward to a great school year ahead as we encourage ALL Chargers to “Treat each other with dignity and respect.” and to Set Goals. Work Hard. Have Fun. See you on September 1st!
Andrea J Spas Gerald T Auth Jean N Bradanini
Andrea J. Spas Gerald T. Auth Jean N. Bradanini
CHS Principal CHARIHOtech Director CHS Assistant Principal
