Utica High School

Dear Chieftain Families,

We have already honored over 60 students as AP Scholars, two National Merit Commended Scholars, and have been honored as the WDIV Band of the Year, and we’re just getting start-ed! Sophomores should be settled into the big building and the variety of challenges in their classes. Juniors are gaining stride and our seniors are either anxiously waiting for admissions responses or getting ready to apply regular admission for post-secondary opportunities. The fall is a time of quick movement and excitement!

It is the first of November which is the official end of the first marking period, Quarter 1 (Q1). Utica High School will distribute reports cards electronically. The first marking period grades will be sent electronically to families at the end of the day on Friday, November 8, 2019.

To receive the report cards, parents will need to have a secure PowerSchool account. Parents who do not have access to a PowerSchool account will need to register for one prior to Mon-day, November 4, 2019. The report cards will then be automatically e-mailed to the address that is used to register the PowerSchool account. If you already have a PowerSchool account, you do not need to take any further action. The report card will be automatically sent to you.

Please note: If you have a child in elementary school, those report cards will be issued at the end of the day on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 after scheduled parent-teacher conferences.

November is also our deadline for registering for AP Testing. The deadline is November 8, 2019. Per the link on our website (under How Do I), students can submit either full or partial payment for the exams that will begin in May. This is a change in College Board policy and we realize this is a huge change! We will be working with students and our AP teachers to ensure that all of our students who should be taking the AP Test have that ability. UHS students average over 60% passing rate, well in-line with international averages, and for that $98 investment the return is typically 12 – 14 times the value in courses. A typical 4 credit col-lege course that costs $350 – 450 a credit is $1400 conservatively. This is an investment in future college costs! The free/reduced lunch student test fee is now officially $9/test and will show up that way when you register on the Class Trak payment site.

Our Chieftain athletes have had an incredible fall! I’ve congratulated their efforts in our Chieftain Weekly Emails and on social media and continue to boast of the quality and character of our athletes and athletic programs. The students continue to impress on and off the field. Though many of our fall seasons have ended, some are heading into playoffs this week and we expect they’ll give their all! And, of those athletes, 196 of them (up from 182 last fall) maintained a 3.0 GPA or higher putting them on the MAC all academic list. That’s impressive! Thanks to our incredible cheer team for being on the sideline at every football game and cross-country districts and our Tribe who along with the Division 1 rated UHS Marching Band set the tone for our games and success!

As we head into the first full week of November, we’ll look forward to our first theatrical performance from our Utica Thespians as they put on the play, Puffs! Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic on Nov. 21 – 23, 2019 at 7pm. Those tickets are available at www.showtix4u.com and are $9 for adults, $8 for students, and $6 for 12 and under. As our mission also talks about the creative and the compassionate young thinkers we hope to develop at Utica High, our find arts contributions are amongst our most important. Along with our incredible artists, we’re be-ginning a new tradition at Utica High this November with the Class Act Chieftain Awards. These will be given out every two weeks are based on student and staff nominations of students who commit acts of kindness and character to others! One of those lucky students will have the opportunity for front-row parking as a result. We’re excited for this new tradition to begin!

There will be no school on Tuesday, November 5th, for Election Day. Additionally, there is no school Wednesday, November 27th through November 29th for the Thanksgiving Holiday. This year must be flying by, as the Holiday Season is not far off! This is an important time of year, a time to be forward thinking about those things that are most important to us, a time to remember to be grateful for the time we are given. As this season ramps up there will be many opportunities to support the Utica High School community and our broader community as students develop their service projects, raise money, adopt families, and help to create solutions for our Utica family in need.

In that vein of thought, I hope you are all able to spend some quality time with your families over this season. I hope you’re able to, as I will, give thanks and reach out to the community. I am truly thankful to be a Chieftain and work and with these wonderful students, this incredible staff and our amazing community. Thanksgiving will always be my favorite holiday as we get to celebrate the gifts we already have, not the ones we hope to get. In honor of that time with family, Utica High will have its first Wellness Weekend over the Thanksgiving Break. There will be no homework, no emails, no stress that weekend and nothing expected on Monday, Dec. 1, when we return! This time with family is important and essential to our students and ourselves, and we want to honor that! The next page of the Newsletter has more on that, take a second and take a look!

On behalf of my administrative team, the office staff, and of course, our amazing Utica High teachers, I want to wish our entire community a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Sincerely,

Sincerely, 

Tom Lietz
Principal

Utica High School Vision Statement: 

Empowering students to reach their full potential as members of a global community. 

Utica High School Mission Statement:  
The mission of Utica High School is to develop successful learners with the support of our community of educators, students, and parents. Our diverse student body will have an equitable, rigorous, and comprehensive education in a safe and supportive environment that promotes self-discipline, motivation, and excellence in learning. We aim to cultivate individual learners with active and creative minds, and a sense of understanding and compassion for others.